WrigleyinEngland

Whats the likely return? i guess there would be no possibility of getting Greene so could we get a Ceda type prospect trade?

Going to Vegas and LA for my honeymoon, i've managed to convince my other half that going to see the cubs at dodgers stadium is a great idea!! Anyway looking for help regarding tickets etc, is it easy to get Dodgers tickets ? do thier individual tickets go on sale similar to the cubs? any other info on ballpark cool bars etc would be very welcome!!!! hope to see some of you there!! 8-) 8-)

Batting him 2nd is an awful idea. Why would you put someone that's going to struggle getting on base that high up in the order? If you want him in a non pressure situation the 8th spot is perfect. I think the whole seeing fastballs in the 2 spot is a dying myth. Why would a pitcher throw Pie a fastball when he can get him out with breaking balls? No matter where he bats in the order Pie will see plenty of breaking balls. 385,346,358,349,341,410 are his OBP totals when he has more than 200abs the only time he has struggled to get on base was his first and only season in the majors. With a career OBP of 358 he would actually be a better lead off hitter than Soriano if he can replicate those type of totals. He would be a perfect #2 hitter with his speed and his Left handed bat before Lee, Ramirez. I just don't think sticking him in front of the pitcher will help him see better pitches and succeed.

I'm not even sure he's ready to hit in the majors at all and if i can get K Greene from San Diego or Bedard from Baltimore i take that option. I would like him to see some fastballs so i'd at least start the spring with him at #2 or #7. If you hit him at #2 you could take the pressure off him by getting him to bunt and some hit and runs if Soriano gets on. If his bat does catch up with his glove he definetely would be a top of the lineup candidate. I certainly like his upside in the #2 hole rather than the riot.

Just listened to the Q & A from the convention. He definetely is going to use Pie at the bottom of the lineup ( He states it's to have a little speed at the bottom) this has to mean one of 2 things, they are counting on Pie not hitting at all and have him as a dead rubber at #8 playing him due to his abilities in the field or b) they can say anything they like as he's going in a deal to get a better player. I can't believe that anyone would think it is an advantage to put a guy who struggles with off speed pitches and balls out the strike zone at #8 it's a recipe for him not to succeed (except the days he hits in front of Z!!)

Rogers is talking about Texas looking for pitcher and mentions Gallagher, I would have to give serious consideration to ever watching this team again if we traded Gallagher for Byrd brain.

Tonights Sports Central is from the convention, on air at 7pm-9pm, WGN appears to have it from thier web site.

Signed as a guy to help out FuK, hell of alot cheaper than the great Kazou!!!!!!

"We're going to try to be real aggressive the next three, four weeks before camp and try to come up with somebody else before we get there,"Cubs GM Jim Hendry. Guessing we may still see a move for Roberts...........

BTW $4 Mill buys you Jason Kendall these days...........

At least during the cold months Lou won't wear out the turf asking Dempster and Marquis to throw strikes. It's not like we're talking about the final piece in the puzzle at $3.5 Mill i think he's worth the risk.

very very little When healthy he's been perfectly average. Blah, blah, blah. He's not healthy, hasn't been in years. There's no reason to think he can stay healthy. You have to do 2 things to earn your money as a pitcher, actually pitch, and pitch well. We don't know if he'll pitch well, but we can be fairly certain he won't actually pitch all year. There's no reason to think Marquis can pitch well in the 2nd half so maybe we can pitch lieber after the ASB when Marquis implodes and starts throwing BP.

My god some people overreact on here to a contract that will have little or no effect on the team as it will probably enable Hendry to deal Marquis or Dempster and $3.5 mill isn't going to affect whether we can make a deal at the deadline. Lieber has a chance to be league average which is a hell of alot more than i can say for Dempster. If it doesn't work out you have Gallagher , Marshall or Hart to try and plug the gap. It may also pull the wool over a few Gms eyes in that we are dealing from a position of strength and they may stop asking such ridiculous prices. What about this for a rotation if possible, shift Marquis and Dempster then give the Twins Pie,Veal,Gallagher,Ceda for Santana you end up with Santana Zambrano Lilly Hill Lieber/Hart

I don't know what's worse, my fate of looking at this thread every day to see nothing has changed or the fact that Hendry is probably trying to unload any young talent we have for a one year rental or an upgrade similar to juan Pierre. ](*,) ](*,)

I can't believe the object of this off season was to aquire Fuk and call it a day. We narrowly won the central last year and some could argue only won because the Brew Crew imploded they are unlikely to do that again. Hendry added 2 peices to an already stocked bullpen and made our rotation weaker by moving Dempster in to it. We have adressed RF but ignored the gaping hole at SS and CF. We continue to look in to possibilities of upgrading a position where we are ok(2B) all this with relying on Soto producing in his first full season as a catcher. If this is the plan then this is an even worse one than the 'catch the ball' faze we were promised in '06.

I don't see why the cubs don't solve this problem by offering Florida Pie,Gallagher,Veal and any other prospect for Hanley Ramirez. You may say florida has no motivation for moving him but i think 4 of our best prospects might get thier attention.

My only worry is that we got about as good as it's going to get out of both Lilly and Marquis last year and if there is a significant drop off we will be in serious trouble with or without Gallagher and Marshall waiting in the wings.

I can't really disagree with alot of this but i would like to at least see if a club would part with a #2 starter for a package built around Pie. Would Atlanta talk to us about Hudson for Pie/Gallagher/Ceda?

I'm totally not in to Blanton, if i'm trading Pie i want at least a Bedard/Hughes/Haren type in return. That's not to say i wouldn't add to Pie to aquire one of those guys.

I went out to chicago last year around the home series vs CIN and SD, Pie got brought up and i was sat in the bleachers when he threw out Branyan at home turned to my friend and said we'll be watching this kid in CF for the next 5+ years. After that he was messed around a little by being hit at 8th etc and not remaining full time in CF. I would just like him to be given the chance to make CF his position. Find a RH centrefielder who can handle tough lefties put Pie 2nd or 7th in the lineup and see how he goes. As for trades i don't think anyone would offer Hendry a player that he values as highly as he views Pie.

Hoops, Do you really think Hendry has the motivation to move Pie/Colvin? One is his baby and the other is wilkins. I can't imagine a deal where he would think about including him, this is mainly due to the fact that i don't believe other GM's rate Pie as highly as Hendry does.

if you think some people talk alot of BS on this site you should go take a look at the Orioles Hangout. Now that the trade appears dead Brian Roberts is the 2nd coming of Sandberg and just from switching leagues would crush NL Central Pitching. Our offer was totally unacceptable and we should only come back when we're willing to discuss Pie/Hill. I need some of what they've been smoking.............

Move on Mr Hendry and find us an acceptable addition to the rotation. From what i've read over the past month both on fan sites and through the local press over there the Orioles are run in an even shoddier manner than the cubs. Owners vetoing, cloak and daggers sources etc can we deal with an actual MLB baseball franchise please. I also thought the deal was horrible so if it all just goes away i will settle for Marshall and Gallagher stepping in to the rotation when Dempster and poss Marquis fail.

I'll probably get flamed for this but here goes.......why is it when i look at other teams trades alot of the time i could see the cubs beating that package or it being a reasonable price to pay for a player. When we are looking at players that you wouldn't class as difference makers the first names that appear in return are Pie/Hill. An example would be if you look at Bedard they would want Hill/Pie which makes no sense as we open up another hole for a player who is 1yr from FA. However if you look at Santana who would clearly be worth Hill/Pie and more (providing he signed an extension) we don't have enough according to various media outlets. So i think to myself which of the following is true..... 1.Our prospects are all crap and we have nothing to trade to get a quality player 2.Other teams inflate the value of thier prospects far better than we do ie New York seems to think Hughes/Melky+1 is the best offer the Twins will get for Santana but what about Hill/Pie and one of Gallagher/Veal/Petrick/Ceda? 3.We hold on to our prospects way to long until they flame out and have little value. The opposite of this would be Detroit who get Cabrera and Willis for 6 prospects. The majority of these combined will never have the benefit for Detroit that Cabrera will provide. 4. We have a useless GM who has no clue how to evaluate talent and run a major league ball club. Anyway that's my rant out the way! What i'm trying to say is that we never seem to make a clever deal for a player who will significantly improve our ball club. We overpay for the likes of Pierre (Lofton would of done as good a job that year)or we go after players who marginally improve us ie Roberts(i'm yet to read a convinving argument that we will be far better off with Brob at 2B than DeRo)

Really like getting Roberts, hope Soriano moves down the order but.........4 and 5 in our rotation now looks horrible, Our first 5 hitters will be as good as anything in MLB but 6/7/8 of Soto/Theriot/Pie just plane scares me!.