C.C.

I absolutely do not want the Cubs wasting precious resources on a "closer." The cash and talent spent to acquire somebody to do that job wouldn't be near as much of an upgrade (if at all) in the bullpen than it would be if it were spent on SS or CF. Wood Howry Eyre Dempster Ohman Wuertz That's a freaking stacked bullpen. (relievers not listed in order of talent, but in the likely hierarchy Lou sees them in... Wuertz for closer, w00t!) You can add Cotts in there also. Man, that is a stacked pen.

So at least 3 years and $24 million for Batista? The contracts just keep getting worse and worse. This is about plan D for the Cards, and they missed out again. I've seen rumors that they're talking to the Yankees about Pavano and still have interest in bringing back Suppan, but Suppan's contract demands might be too high. I'm really wondering what Jocketty will do next. He's missed out on quite a few pitchers and they need 2 starting pitchers to fill out their rotation. They can't be serious about putting Looper into the rotation. The Cardinals have been lying in the weeds so far this offseason, and I'm really interested in what they're going to do. I'd assume at some point they have to bite the bullet and fork over some cash. Pavano is a insteresting option if healthy. They are a very creative team, I'm sure they'll figure out something. I'm also curious to see what Houston does....

Not only that, but don't we nearly always lose when Belushi is in the booth? Please cancel that appearance. Please. Seriously, how do they think they are benefitting the broadcast. They aren't attracting new pop culture worshipping viewers to MNF with these cameos. All they are doing is advertising his show to the viewers who are already watching. And I know that a significant number of people have to turn the game off when these guys come on. It's unbearable. They barely show the game action, they talk about nonsense and ignore the field. They should offer Sunday Ticket subscribers a station with no broadcasters. It doesn't really bug me at all. Maybe I'm in the Minorty. Being a big film fan, I sometimes enjoy it.

Anyone know what our team payroll\salary stands at as of today? Is it 110 million?

It's not stupid to the team that gets the money for posting a player.

10 AM? Getting an early start, huh? noooo. Bloody Mary and omelete brunch on Sunday isn't abnormal in my perception of reality. It's never early for a bloody when you're battling a hangover.

I predict!!! Marquis will win the Cy Young! Another one of these bloodys and we may win the WS.

Unfortunately, something this place has had very little of this offseason! It's been hard at points to read this board when you have to wade through pages and pages of arguements that lack reason, an objective view, and have some really skewed logic. The negativity (and I can understand it a bit) on this board has been SO bad this offseason it's crazy! Despite that, this is still head and shoulders above any other forum, I just wish more people would heed jjgman21's advise above. And posts like this one ^^^^ What do they accomplish? This isn't a thread on debate tactics, its a thread on the signing of Jason Marquis. I don't like it. There is a good chance that he will not get better and you will be on the hook for 21+ over 7 years. The following young pitchers can outperform Marquis. Sean Marhsall Carlos Marmol Juan Mateo There was really no point to this signing. Just trying to remind people about what made this board great and how it seems as though it has gotten completely out of hand this year (96 loss season do tend to do stuff like this though). There are a lot of stubborn people on here and I doubt that much will change, hopefully people realize how they have been acting and try to tone it down. Now what does your post accomplish? You tell me that 3 of our young guys can outperform Marquis, fair enough, but where is your logic behind it? Tell me why they will outpitch him, otherwise your post is just as pointless as you think mine was. I can say player A will outpeform player B all I want, give me something of substance to prove that point. BTW, personally I dont really like the signing much either. Sean Marshall outperformed Jason Marquis last year. Is that not the kind of evidence you are looking for. Exactly. Marshall: 5.59 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, .270 BAA, 77 K/59 BB, 20 HR Marquis: 6.02 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, .289 BAA, 96 K/75 BB, 35 HR Marshall will be good in a couple of years. But he does not have a 4.45 carreer ERA like Marquis does. I don't like this signing particularly. But counting on Marshall is not a good idea. Seasoning him in AAA and viewing him as a possible future Cub, is a good idea. Yep. Why rush these kids? Didn't we learn our lesson with Wood and Prior? Let them build up the proper arm strength.

LOL. Are you taking a list of posters who don't like the Marquis signing, then(should Marquis actually pitch decent in 2007) call them out in every thread like this: "OMG Dude, you send Marquis would suck in Dec, but now he is good man! Dude you have to eat some major crow man! just eat the crow " Nope. I'm just pointing out that saying the rotation is worse off than last season isn't going to be true. Those that are negative right now will be pleasantly surprised. Lilly and Marquis will be fine. Hill will pitch well. Z is a beast. Maybe we'll get a nice surprise from Prior or Miller or one of the many rookies with potential. I couldn't agree with you more.

Probably because Wells hasn't had a season in which he was both good and healthy since 2003. Marquis sucked last year, but he has made his starts. That's most likely why Hendry was willing to overpay so much to get him. I'm a little late to this thread, but is there any reason to think that he will or won't bounce back from 2006? I think he will, but that's not to say I don't think he is criminally overpaid. That's a bad contract. At any rate, to say Marquis and Lilly can't post numbers as good as Marmol's 6.08 ERA or Guzman's 7.63 from last year is a stretch. So Marmol and Guzman aren't going to improve at all? Those two were going to be on the roster this year for very little money. It's not an argument about whether Lilly and Marquis will put up significantly better numbers than what Marmol and Guzman did last year, but whether they'll put up significantly better numbers than what Marmol and Guzman could do this year. If you start Guzman and expect him to pitch the whole season you are asking for trouble, he's been injury prone, and now is finally healthy. Let him do long relief and spot starts for a year. Marmol is still a work in progress and needs to do that in the minors.

Wow! Just shows how desperate teams are to get pitching. I'm thinking of picking up the ball again....

Cubs are stacked in the bullpen. They don't need more bullpen arms. I would be very cautious dealing Marshall. Not too many 6'7 left-handers can throw with control. I love how he keeps himself cool and calm under pressure. First: Just because the Cubs are "stacked in the bullpen" doesn't mean the Cubs bullpen is any good. Outside of Howry/Erye/Ohman, the Cubs bullpen is full of ??? and crappy pitchers. So I think the upside of Wagner is greater then that of guys like Novoa/Wuertz, etc. And I like Marshall, but if the Cubs can fill two needs with one stone, then you do it. Marshall may never be anything more then a 4/5 starter in the majors, and those are expendable. Cubs are a tremendous strength right now in the bullpen. A lot of people forget Dempster was pretty solid with regular work. Kerry Wood, Cotts, the kids filling in, Wuertz. Nothing wrong in the pen. Agreed. Pen looks strong for next year.

Cubs are stacked in the bullpen. They don't need more bullpen arms. I would be very cautious dealing Marshall. Not too many 6'7 left-handers can throw with control. I love how he keeps himself cool and calm under pressure. First: Just because the Cubs are "stacked in the bullpen" doesn't mean the Cubs bullpen is any good. Outside of Howry/Erye/Ohman, the Cubs bullpen is full of ??? and crappy pitchers. So I think the upside of Wagner is greater then that of guys like Novoa/Wuertz, etc. And I like Marshall, but if the Cubs can fill two needs with one stone, then you do it. Marshall may never be anything more then a 4/5 starter in the majors, and those are expendable. I agree I love Marshall's upside. It was when he lost focus he got into trouble. A sign of youth.

Love it! Clemens is next!

Do you really need another bullpen guy?

Manny? Are you serious? No way, no how, would Ozzie or Kenny go for Manny for the same reasons they got rid of Mags and Clee.

Yankee's aren't going to give up AROD...And quite honestly AROD is not going to go to the W.Sox.

I thought AM 1000 said they are pursuing him.

How far did we get? We replaced last year's $9m pitcher, Maddux, with a $10m Lilly, and added a utility player who takes on part of the Walker/Perez money, and Soriano. They've added Soriano. It's really not very far. Agreed it's not far, but there are a couple of other things that will help (overall, I think as-constructed this is a .500 team right now, no better): 1. No Dusty Baker. 2. Healthy Derrek Lee for 150+ games 3. Izturis sucks, but he's better than Cedeno 4. No Neifi freaking Perez, John Mabry, Freddie Bynum or other assorted stiffs. 5. Lilly > 2006 Greg Maddux 6. Additional year of experience and maturity for Marshall, Guzman and friends. Cubs need a bonafide #2 starter (Hudson or Penny are all I see out there) and a bat improvement in the OF or SS, then they could have a legitimate shot at a 85+ win season and a postseason chance. That seems about right. With a healthy Dlee and by some miracle Prior comes back then we are right there in the thick of things. You might be right on most of that, but I'm not all the happy with counting on things to go right in order to get a shot at 85 wins. I know every team has "If's" and dammit we are so due for a break!

How far did we get? We replaced last year's $9m pitcher, Maddux, with a $10m Lilly, and added a utility player who takes on part of the Walker/Perez money, and Soriano. They've added Soriano. It's really not very far. Agreed it's not far, but there are a couple of other things that will help (overall, I think as-constructed this is a .500 team right now, no better): 1. No Dusty Baker. 2. Healthy Derrek Lee for 150+ games 3. Izturis sucks, but he's better than Cedeno 4. No Neifi freaking Perez, John Mabry, Freddie Bynum or other assorted stiffs. 5. Lilly > 2006 Greg Maddux 6. Additional year of experience and maturity for Marshall, Guzman and friends. Cubs need a bonafide #2 starter (Hudson or Penny are all I see out there) and a bat improvement in the OF or SS, then they could have a legitimate shot at a 85+ win season and a postseason chance. That seems about right. With a healthy Dlee and by some miracle Prior comes back then we are right there in the thick of things.

It ends today...

Let's see Lilly try this with Sweet Lou! youtube.com/watch?v=1h8jFzndKFo

did everyone forget how much the cubs have sucked over the past couple years? Regardless, it's still a solid destination for players.

A) Lee won't play everyday. Lou has talked a lot about getting guys some rest. I see Derrek getting 8-15 days on the bench, so that's a few starts. B) Ward has 1700 innings at 1B, and 1560 in LF (296 in RF), so he's capable of playing out there. It's a good deal. I was surprised by his numbers last year. Not bad.

He actually played more games in RF last year. He can play both corner OF positions and 1B. Is he taking Jones' place?