C.C.

I'm with you! Can't wait for the season to begin.

And he never physically unprepared for a game. He's was never lazy. It's going to be interesting. I bet he has a decent shot at having a good year.

He'd be a #1. I think it'd be tough to take the #1 spot from Zambrano, but damn would that be a problem I'd like to have. I don't think Z will be the Cubs best pitcher this coming season. :? Hmmm...Lilly?

Just to save face with the fan base he had to.

Wow, that's great news! I know we have to be careful in getting excited about good news related to Prior, but this is outstanding to hear! If Prior is healthy we run away with this division.

If you analyze that Video it wasn't Wrigley.

If they do sign Clemens and then add Helton? Shhheeez!

Start the Gosh Darn game already! I can't stand all the mindless build up.

Good Vid. The season can't start soon enough. I miss Baseball!!!!

This story isn't funny in the least bit.

Good deal. I think the 2007 Cubs Opening Day roster is complete. C - Barrett 1B - Lee 2B DeRosa SS - Izturis 3B - Aramis LF - Murton CF - Soriano RF - Jones Bench - Floyd, Ward, Theriot, Blanco, 1 more (Pagan, Cedeno, Perez in the mix) Starters - Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Prior/Miller, Marquis Bullpen - Dempster, Wood, Ohman, Eyre, Cotts, Wuertz, Miller (of Prior is healthy) Lots of question marks, but a very high ceiling on that team. Looks like a World Series team to me.

Me either, but drinking heavily would probably be involved. That's always involved World Series or not.

Same here. Glad my parents retired out in Arizona. I'll be seeing them and the Cubs shortly!

If the Cubs are reviewing his medical records it could take awhile. Ouch. I didn't think of that, and I should have... Now I'm starting to get spring training fever. Why do I do this to myself every year? 8-) I've had spring fever ever since the Tribune started running 8 pages daily about the Bears. I'm a Bear fan, but the over-hype on the Bears is driving me crazy. Why do people consider this overhype? They are going to the Super Bowl. That's what happens. I'm just amazed (and maybe even a little dismayed :)) because I figured with the Bears in the Super Bowl I wouldn't even think about baseball until Feb 5th. But, here I am, mulling over whether I want to plan a trip out to Arizona or not. LOL, I'm hopeless. The Trib may as well have my checking account routing number. It's a sickness. I'm in full-on craving baseball mode right now. I thought the Bears might keep the baseball cravings down some, but it's not really helping.

Well, it's the same situation. It's fairly easy to find decent offensive corner OF in MLB. It's certainly much harder to find decent offensive CF. It just makes very little sense to me to move Pie to right so Soriano can play there just so we won't have to sign Erstad or Finley to a 1 year deal. If Cubs management is dead set that Pie is going to play mid 2007 or 2008 at the latest, they should get some kind of stop-gap that doesn't block him and quit fiddling with the Soriano in CF business. Pie's value is maximized in CF whether he plays for the Cubs or whether he gets traded. If the Cubs are thinking about the future payroll and worried about being unable to afford a FA RF, then they should just sign or trade for a stopgap CF and wait til Pie is ready and Lou is ready to play him. Hendry said during the Cubs Convention that they will not block Pie. When he's ready he's coming up.

Now if we could just get a major league shortstop, we'd have a really good team. I really hope that the Cubs keep the SS job open during the spring or trade for one as you said. After hearing Lou he will field the best team regardless of how much a player makes.

Actually Lou and the whole coaching staff was really impressive. They really are going to preach fundamentals, pride, swagger, and playing the game the right way. Alan Trammel seemed like a no nonsense type of guy. It was fun hearing what he had to say...And I like everything Rothschilds said. Espcially his view on why so many young pitchers get hurt.

During the convention Lou said that he really liked Murton. He said that a few times. He also said if Soriano will play CF we are set with Murton in LF, Soriano in CF, and Jones in RF.

The crowd gave the comment a huge cheer!

One of the best segments for me was the “The Boy of Zimmer 1989”. On the panel was Les Lanscaster, Ryne Sandberg, Doug Dascenzo, Dwight Smith, Jerome Walton, Mike Bielecki and of course Mark Grace. All of them really, really respected Zimmer. And I didn’t realize how much of a hardass Zimmer was?!? Smith explained that one time he didn’t see his name in the lineup card and he asked Zimmer How come he wasn’t in the lineup? Zimmer snapped back “Because I’m the manager!” The same situation happened to Grace when he wasn’t in the lineup and he asked Zim why he wasn’t in the lineup, and Zimmer snapped back “Because I want to win today!” Another great story was when they had men on second and third and Smith was up. He mentioned he was hitting .320 on the team and Zimmer wanted me to bunt. He went on to say I wanted to hit, not bunt the ball. So the play went on and he couldn’t get the bunt down and after the game Zimmer called Dwight into his office and told him. “If I say to you bunt, you bunt! And Smith said “I tried coach, I TRIED!” Then Zimmer picked up the phone and said “I’ll ship you back to Iowa, THEY TRY IN IOWA!” Dwight Smith said after that everything was “Yes, Mr. Zimmer!” Sandberg said you had no doubt that Zimmer was the manager because he would say it all the time. He demanded you play the game right. More Tidbits: Smith said that Grace would always say to other players “If you can’t hit .300, don’t talk to me”. They all talked about Dunston being a class teammate and human-being, and one of the more giving players they played with. They all said that the playoffs were still a painful memory, because they still think they were the better team. They all went on to say it was a true team. There were no egos and all the young players including Grace said they learned the game from Sandberg and Dawson.

my drunkeness assumes it has to do with the farm system. Are you drunk every night, or just the weekends? :P For me...During the season every damn day, in the offseason weekends...

I was at the convention he clearly said: "You don't deserve a raise". Before Prior started to speak...

Yes, THANK YOU. Now guys please stop arguing, you both agree on the same thing. Sheesh! I'm not so sure on that one. If Prior was a FA I bet he could get a 2/11.5 deal with incentives that could push 2/17.

I don't think that's the discussion. I think Prior could easily get more then 1/3.5. But I don't think he could get AJ type of contract or money unless he has a healthy season. He could possibly get a 1 or 2 year deal at 10 million. Some team would take that risk.

Do people forget the contract that A.J. Burnett got from Toronto after the 2005 season? Sure, he was coming off a season in which he threw over 200 innings, but he has as much of an injury history as prior, if not moreso. And if I'm not mistaken, Burnett's injuries weren't the fluke "collided with a baserunner" or "got hit by a line drive off the pitching elbow" type of injuries. If Prior was a free agent, I don't doubt that he would have been offered a nice multi-year deal, contingent on passing a physical. If he doesn't pass, they withdraw the offer. But his injury history isn't going to limit the initial offers to one-year deals. The key being he was coming off a season where he was healthy. That's not a fair comparasion. If Prior is healthy this year and pitches decent, sure, he'll get the big deal that AJ got. It is a fair comparison. The fact that he managed to stay healthy for one season doesn't erase his history of arm problems prior to that season or the fact that he had major arm surgery. While Prior may not be coming off a 200-inning season, he hasn't needed surgery on his arm. Two of his injuries have been flukes. There's no doubt in my mind that at least a few teams would have made him multi-year offers, contingent on passing a physical. Yet! That's the rub no one knows what's wrong with Prior. Everyone knew that AJ had surgery, recovered, and had a good year prior to his Free-Agency. Again, you can't compare the two. If Prior has a good year this year, then yes, he's in line for a nice multi-year payday. Teams don't know what to think of Prior right now. He has to at least prove he can take the mound, before a team offers him a multi-year deal.