Tedward

Walking over the Roberto Clemente Bridge and the view looking into PNC is pretty amazing. Pittsburgh did a hell of a job with that ballpark. Definitely a must see for anyone that hasn't been. My top three would be...Wrigley, PNC and Camden Yards.

Thanks for the info. UK, I completely forgot about him. I imagine Adrian Ortiz should be draft eligible again soon. I haven't kept tabs on his progress at Pepperdine, but IIRC I believe he was another guy we that we drafted high and were not able to sign.

The reason I don't do jerseys so much is that I get a lot of my auots outside ballparks, etc...and it's just very hard to lug a jersey around like that without it getting messed up. Also, my wall space in my office has gotten very limited. In fact, I have a binder full of 8x10's I haven't framed and hung up yet because of that. I would love to get some jerseys signed, but baseballs are so much better space wise. Sammy was an easy autograph to get pre-1998, after that nearly impossible. I got a bunch of Sammy autos early in his career, but only one (on my 2004 team ball) since then. I heard he wouldn't sign jerseys...but now that his career is in the dumpster, he may become more fan friendly again. Your best chance is to let a kid or a hot chick give it to him. Once in Houston, he only signed for kids and hotties. DKWG, Just to add on to Vance's comments, I was at the Orioles ST complex last February, and we were fortunate to get Sammy on a day where he signed (was about 1 week in to ST after players had reported). However, he only signed balls and only signed for kids. There were some interesting collectible pieces that people around me had brought that they were trying to get signed, but Sammy wanted no part of it. Also, in the swarm of about 50 kids that tried to get his sig. he only signed about 10 balls. Fortunately, my son was one of the ones he signed.

Thebaseballcube, the Orioles, and ESPN list Val's bday as March 1981, and Pie's as Feb 1985, but they say Val was 20 in 2004. I'd need some clarification. On a strictly numbers basis he does compare favorably to Pie, but what were his true ages in those seasons? And, Pie has nearly 1500 pro at bats, while Val has less than 1000, and apparently didn't play at all in 2005 while recovering from a torn labrum. I'm not sure he's a fair comparison to Pie when all is said and done. And no, I wouldn't trade Pie for Patterson. ESPN.com and the O's website both list that '81 birthday for Majewski. My 9 year old son will be pumped if this deal comes off. He got Val's sig on a ball at the O's ST complex in FT Lauderdale last february. :wink: He went on the DL with a shoulder injury about a week later.

Matt Harrington

Are there any career closers that you'd consider HOFers? What's wrong with Mariano Rivera? He's been able to dominate with one pitch. It's a no-brainer IMO, that he'll eventually get in.

If it's OFFER B, that OF prospect better be Markakis

I think Bedard could be a competent 2/3 starter if he manages to keep himself healthy. Markakis seems like he'll be a pretty good OF and Loewen looks like the ground ball version of Rich Hill. Along with Tejada, I'd happily have any of those guys in this organization. But, that kind of move just signals desperation and idiocy on Jim Hendry's part, in my opinion. I'm still concerned about Prior because some one must have thrown a black cat at him, but the fact remains that he has the potential to be the best starting pitcher in baseball and that he'll be under the Cubs' control until 2008. He is the kind of guy I do NOT want to find myself looking back on after watching him win a bunch of Cy Youngs and saying to myself, "I remember when he used to be a Cub...he was pretty good..." while drowning my sorrows in a pint of beer. He's on the same level as Zambrano, in my mind. The multiteam aspect of this deal has me curious, though. I'd like to know who the third and (potentially) fourth teams are and what players are rumored to be moved. Maybe he'll be shipping Derrek Lee off to Boston in exchange for Matt Clement! The 3rd team? My guess would be the Angels. Rotoworld says the third team is the Red Sox and Manny...surprise! Boston gets: Prior Baltimore gets: Manny CHN gets: Tejada and Bedard obviously others would have to be involved to complete the deal. I say skip Tejada. Prior for Manny straight up. It's hard to believe that Theo actually put Manny on waivers just a couple of years ago...

I think that is a very interesting comment. I had thought the same thing. Clearly, Prior wasn't the same pitcher last season...starting the season on the DL with elbow soreness, and then being hit with a line drive on his elbow in mid season. It's a heck of a gamble for the Cubs to take though.

Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but if this deal involving Prior for Tejada goes down, doesn't Tejada have the right to ask for a trade after the first year with the Cubs? If so, I would have to think that the Cubs would want some guarantees from Tejada's camp before making a deal.

No. To my knowledge, Derrek's father was never replaced when he left the organization.

Why not? Burny was a type A and Nomar a type B. The Cubs didn't offer arbitration to either player, therefore no comp. pick

But, you can argue in a sense that the Cubs got that #1 pick back, and then some, when they acquired two former #1 picks for Hawkins (Williams, and Aardsma). Aardsma probably won't pan out, but Williams seems like a fair return for Hawkins. What I would like to see is that 2nd through 4th round money put back into players from the international market. I've been disapointed in the Cubs efforts to sign impact players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela the last couple of years. I'm not sure if that is Wilken's responsibility, or if that falls more on the scouts in those countries - Ortega & Serra. Whatever the case, I hope the Cubs use that money to find the next Felix Pie, Ronnie Cedeno, or Carlos Zambrano.

I think he turned down the first offer from the Cardinals because he thought the Mets were going to give him decent money. But the Mets moved on and the Cardinals didn't offer arbitration, so he was basically stuck with worse-case scenario. Interesting. Minaya is really hamstrung by the $8MM owed to Mastui. He had said previously that he wouldn't make a move to bring in a 2B unless he was able to move him first.

Well, if that's the case, he might not be playing CF with the Dodgers then. The NY Post is reporting this morning that the Dodgers may go to 5 years on Damon (eclipsing what BOS and NYY will do - 4 yrs). It also states that they've got a one year offer on the table for Nomar to play 1B. Seems to me if the Dodgers keep landing some of these guys that they'll have some chips to deal.

Thought it might be time to pop this one back up to the top again... I heard on the drive home from work tonight that that the Dodgers have offers in for both Kenny Lofton and Reggie Sanders. There has also been rumors in the past of a possible Lowe or Penny + extra's for Abreu. I just wonder if maybe Colletti might be willing to move Drew ? Maybe someone with more knowledge of the Dodgers payroll can chime in, but they sure are spending a bit of money this offseason...$13MM a season for Furcal, $4.5MM for Mueller... I realize they are a big market team, but I thought McCourt was strapped? I just wonder if the Dodgers are going to unload some of their guys once they are done with their FA shopping. Perhaps Hendry can move Williams & Walker with the Cubs picking up most if not all of Drew's salary. Granted, he's not as reliable (health wise) as Abreu, but he's younger, and does have the ability to post a .900 OPS when healthy ('when' being the key word, I know). I much rather prefer Drew than Jacque Jones, that's for sure.

According to Levine it would cost... Hill, KPat, Williams, Cedeno, and Guzman

Who'd be at 2nd? I would guess Hairston. TWalks not staying here, whether we like it or not. If Jim is REALLY good, he could convince them to take Hairston instead of RonnyC, but I don't think there's a chance on earth we could pull that one off. Maybe they'll agree to take Fontenot back instead. :lol:

Unless they make a very late last minute play for Grudz. Graffanino is also still available.

They cannot. Thanks. I had thought that maybe there was a deadline to have 40 man rosters set (before rule V), but I wasn't sure.

Why would Wood want to waive his no trade to go to PHL? Perhaps if his 07' option was picked up I suppose, but then why would PHL want to do that?

With potentially two spots opening up on the 40 man, does anyone know if the Cubs would be able to add two more players to the 40 man before the Rule V draft occurs?

on ESPNews last night, Gammons sounded pretty sure that Zito wasn't going anywhere... That means he'll be a Met by the end of the day. :lol:

He wasnt a free agent was he? cause we had to sign him before the Arby date didnt we? Nomar was indeed a FA. He reportedly had a multiyear offer with another team but turned it down and came back to the Cubs on a one year deal for $8MM.

Nomar