mg420

he has a great arm and great range has a very good glove but since his power is only average at this point (15-20 hr's), most people think he is best suited for center. it is alos the position he has played with the cubs since he was drafted.

look at the thread title

the posting fee is not a salary paid to a player so therefore has no impact on the luxury tax of a team.

no great loss if it happens. the cubs already have a righty version of wolf in miller.

he has played 189 games at ss in the minors including 36 games in 2005.

theriot?

And Jacque supplants Rivera or Anderson....in the immortal words of Bruno "eesh don't think so". See the key to a trade is that the guy you are trading to the team needs to fill a hole or be better than the players they already have. really? is that how it works? who would have guessed that? maybe because jones had a better year in 2006 than anderson has had since 2003?

from the la times on gmjr: "But he will be a defensive upgrade over Chone Figgins, he would provide considerably more power out of the leadoff spot, and he would enable the Angels to move Figgins back to third base and down in the order, or package Figgins in a trade for a power hitter." jones for figgins & willits perhaps? http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-angels23nov23,1,471400.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true

i still dont think he would be a bad option. he can hit 2nd and shouldnt cost too much in prospects. he would also be a temp fill in until pie is ready. there are not too many other options out there imo unless they want to pay roberts big $ for 3+ years.

with gmjr now an angel, i wonder if the cubs will pursue figgins to play cf?

cubs offer schmidt 45/3 according to bruce levine and this quote: "Jason Schmidt.... Bruce Levine on ESPN 1000 in Chicago reported on Monday the Cubs have offered Schmidt a 3-year, $45 million dollar contract. Levine said the Cubs are not interested in signing Barry Zito. And mentioned the fact free agents will want to come to Chicago after the signing of Soriano." link: http://mb9.scout.com/fchicagocubsfrm1.showMessage?topicID=29628.topic

has anyone actually seen cherry pitch? he could be another wuertz. since going from starting to relieving, he has been very effective. as far as rapada, i believe it was speculated previously that one or two of the lefties might be going to cleveland for westbrook. i still think it is likely to happen eventually but i just hope they take cedeno too.

I'd be happy with that...especially if we could sign Lugo as well. i think the cubs will go with theroit at ss if they trade izturis. i dont think they are in the running for lugo as they wanted him to play cf.

how is pie expendable when soriano is going to play rf? if anyone goes its jones and not pie or murton.

actually i read that soriano might be in right with jones moved to center and murton in left. not a bad idea if jones can handle center.

i would prefer 2 of these westbrook, meche, iwaga, lilly

my guess is that henrdy is trying to make up for losing furcal last year. i guess they learned nothing after the sosa contract. i really hope this doesnt mean that they are going to try to stick him in lf and trade murton.

Who are we not trading Pie to the Marlins for? not dealing = untouchable

Depending on who else they're asking for, I'd do that deal in a heartbeat. Would the Marlins do Pie, Marshall and Wuertz for Willis? why even suggest this since hendry stated that he is not trading pie? the marlins would make out like bandits if hendry were dumb enough to try this deal out anyway.

good. i would much rather have 4 years of drew than 5-6 of soriano.

why not? rapada is obviously ready and even if pignatello starts off the year in iowa, whose to say he wont get a call to the bigs sometime in 07? they also have campusano as a lefty bullpen guy. Why not? Big market teams that are trying to contend don't often plan their team around AA prospects who don't have exceptional arms and who haven't proven themselves in AAA yet. The Cubs are no different, and they most certainly are *not* counting on these guys as being big-league ready. "Rapada is obviously ready..." Obvious to who? His AAA coach said he has potential, but suggested that his location was far from optimal or what it might be future. Perhaps that pitching coach (and now the coordinator of their minor league pitching) can't see the obious, and perhaps having watched him pitch for amonth or two has clouded the obvious. Rapada's WHIP in AAA was 1.8. That's not all that obviously good. It's pretty shaky, in fact. Seems to me the Cubs are not acting any differently from what every org does: for prospects with unexceptional stuff, a guy often needs to produce in AAA for a while before his window of opportunity opens. Might it happen? Sure. But trading Ohman and writing Rapada into the big-league roster, that seems undesirable at this point. Pigs? He pitched all of 6 innings in AAA this year, with a WHIP of 1.4. The year before that, he pitched 47 innings in AAA, with a 5.51 ERA and a WHIP over 1.5. Is there a shot that these guys will be ready, perhaps sometimes this season, perhaps even right from the start? Possible. But assuming as much when they haven't done anything at AAA yet, most teams don't assume that, and I don't blame the Cubs for taking that approach. I do like Rapada quite a bit, and I think his sidearm stuff is unusual enough that it will probably be tough on big-league hitters too... if he can control it. But I think it makes sense to ask him to show he can locate it consistently in AAA for a while before the big shot. so the cubs are "planning their team" around a loogy now huh? if ohman is traded, the cubs still have cotts & eyre from the left side. somehow i dont think that having rapada in a mike meyer's type role instead of ohman would make or break the season.

i could also look like z hill meche/iwaga westbrook/lilly miller although he's not a lock to have a great year in the pen, i think it's much more likely that he does as opposed to being an effective starter. I agree with both of these posts. Most likely Cotts is not going to be in the rotation. Hopefully that will be because somebody from the wildcard pool emerges as satisfactory for the #5 spot. Whether that be Prior, or Miller, or Marshall, or Guzman, or whomever. But, I think it would be awfully risky to go into the season with Z+Hill + two other pickups, and assume Prior/Miller/kids can satisfactorily staff the 5th spot. What if nobody does emerge, as is hopefully not probable but certainly possible? Or, what happens the minute Z has a bad back, or Hill or one of the other pickups has an oblique strain or whatever? The miscellaneous pool might need to cover not only #5 but also one of the 1-4 spots for some period of time. Cotts adds some additional option that Aardsma, who is strictly a short/late guy, does not. Again, hopefully there would be no need to even think about it, because not only one but 2 or 3 of the miscellaneous pool are doing well. Plus, the Cubs are sold on having two lefties, and whatever posters might say, Rapada and Pigs are not in the picture for this year. But, Ohman is cheap, interesting, and under club control for years. Some really jazzy peripherals. He's got real trade value, I'd think. Hendry's not dealing him if it leaves him with Pigs as his 2nd lefty. But, now Ohman can be involved in a trade. And I think he could be a significant chip, more so than Aardsma could have been. I'm not suggesting that Ohman is going to get you Jason Jennings or something like that. But Ohman plus some other prospects and maybe you can getg somewhere. I also think having Cotts perceived as a possible depth option might reduce Hendry's urgency to sign an overpriced FA to that role. He might have been so concerned about the wildcard pool that he'd spend zillions not only on Padilla and Lilly but also on Marquis, or something like that. Perhaps acquiring Cotts might eliminate the urgency to pick up that 3rd free agent, and save a bundle of dollars that can be profitably spent elsewhere. why not? rapada is obviously ready and even if pignatello starts off the year in iowa, whose to say he wont get a call to the bigs sometime in 07? they also have campusano as a lefty bullpen guy.

That is 16 less strike outs in 65 less innings. You do the math. considering westbrook faces a dh & suppan a pitcher i wouldnt consider such a small the difference as meaningful.

does he? the last 3 years he's had 110, 114 & 104 k's.

Shall I start rattling off guys who pitch like Westbrook that get abysmal results? There's a whole lot more of them out there than there are successes, you know. who cares? westbrook like rogers and suppan gets results.