rawaction

Good point.

That's fine if their names are Mitre, Koronka, and Salas.

I think it's good for Philly too, but I wouldn't consider their Howard production as being cheap. They are basically paying him what they are paying the WS for Thome. It kind of eliminates much of the benefit of pre-arbitration production. That's pretty much what I meant. Basically, they are paying Thome the money that Howard may very well deserve by the numbers he puts up.

Decent deal for the Phillies, IMO. Rowand's bound to rebound hitting in Philly, with a decent lineup around him. And they can afford it as they will likely get Thome-like production out of Ryan Howard for next to nothing. They now have a good core of Howard, Utley, Burrell and Rowand.

They didn't need an aging, oft-injured DH either, they had Frank Thomas.

Sox will get Pierre. I think they will be willing to give up more than the Cubs, fortunately. Of course, they could move Scotty Poddy to CF and get a LF.

Does this mean Michaels is out? Does this mean Abreu is NOT out, because of the cleared payroll? Rowand could have another big year in Philly.

I like the violent nicknames. The Fighting whatevers, and my all time favorites, the Washington Bullets. I used to call them the Bull-ette-s, because they were Jordan's b-s (fill in the blank).

Complete failure or not, it was a good trade for the RedSox.

No. He fits right in.

Petit's gonna be good, especially in Florida. But I think Florida could have gotten more in both cases. I still like the Texas trade better than the Boston deal for Beckett. I can't really see guys like Pierre, Castillo, and LoDuca being happy there. Rebuilding when they are 2 years removed from a championship.

7 starters, 8 in the pen, full bench. You'd think this team would want to get some everyday players eventually.

The Cuse stinks!

Pretty surprising. And chicago is the only one of the 3 that will make the playoffs. Wildcards will be one of NY/dallas (dallas) and TB/carolina. Carolina's winning the South. Chris Simms doesn't win division titles and Vick has looked like crap lately. What are you talking about? Both of them played a lot better than Delhomme last week. Both of them have played really well the last three weeks. Yeah, Vick had one of the best game's of his career yesterday. Simms had his best last week.

Wilmont came back strong from suspension. It will be interesting to see how Davis gets minutes for Wilmont, Strickland, Suhr (who's been playing well), Ratliff, Vaden, Monroe and Calloway for 3 spots. The key so far for the Hoosiers offense is making the extra pass. Way too many turnovers tonight, but on 75 baskets this year, they have 55 assists. They are making the extra pass this year and not relying on bringing the ball up and getting it to Bracey off of 17 screens anymore.

I sacrificed Enrique Wilson, but Modzilla wasn't pleased for some reason. Tough to impress him/her. Oh well, my dream of being a moderator is deferred :( Edit: Actually I think moderation powers are determined in sort of a BCS-style system. The moderators vote on a top 25 poster list each week. Also, the admins have their own poll too. Their polls are weighted with a group of other rating systems, including quality post points, humerous point posts, etc. Finally, the number of times a poster is warned either in a thread or via PM for pushing the line of offensiveness is added to their overall score. The persons with the lowest score when an extra moderator is needed have a faceoff in a hidden forum where they must argue a Cub related topic the best. After a two week period to argue, the thread is closed and a new moderator is determined. Wow. All I had to do is finish in the top 12 and I got an at large berth.

That's what I'm thinking.

What if he factored Abreu's contract into the equation? Would it still be proof of players gaining momentum? With only 2 years on the deal, it's pretty difficult to justify knocking Abreu down the list of potential candidates. The one thing the Cubs have going in their favor is the money they have to spend. If Abreu was a free agent and was willing to sign for 2/30 right now, I'd be on that deal in a heartbeat, an that club option in 2008 also gives the team a chance to keep him for three years without risking a longterm deal in his late 30's. I started this Abreu talk months ago, and I'm extremely happy that it's picked up some steam this offseason. From a baseball standpoint it doesn't make sense for Philly to trade him, but they are in a "we need to change what we're doing mode" and might just be willing to go in another direction by trading Abreu. There's not one prospect in the system that I'd refuse to deal for Abreu. And if you know my history of prospect love that means a lot. Couldn't agree more. We don't need to save money and go cheap in RF. He isn't cheap, but I also don't think he's overpaid. Like you said if he was a free agent and we were talking about a 2/30 with a club option, it would be a great deal. He'll only be 33 when the two years are up. Obviously the fact that we would have to give up players to acquire him in a trade is a negative, but I don't think we would have to give up a king's ransom for Bobby. Last year he put up a .286/.405/.474 line and it was almost the poorest season of his career. At the age of 31 I don't think the decline was caused by age, he just had a dreadful second half which a lot of people attributed to the home run derby. In 2004 he hit .301/.428/.544 and was 40/45 in stolen bases. I'd give up Felix for Abreu too. I think he has at least 2 more years of .900 OPS baseball left in him.

If Texas is giving up Danks and Blalock, there's nothing the Cubs can do (within reason) to beat that deal. If Florida then wants to trade Blalock, that's where the Cubs can get involved. Blalock could be a key piece in getting Abreu to the Cubs. You don't think Pie and Williams or Pinto would match that? No. Blalock is a former AS 3rd baseman. He's still pretty cheap, and just 24 years old. Down year or not, the Cubs don't have anything to match that. Pie is probably a better prospect than Danks at this point, but not that much better. And not when you consider OF talent is easier to find than LH starting pitchers. Williams is still just 24 also, but doesn't have the upside of anyone else involved in the deal. But in terms of cost, Pie and Williams will cost less than Blalock will when he gets to his arbitration years (assuming FL keeps him). Williams gives them a solid starter, and allows them to maintain the illusion of competition. Pie would replace Pierre when they deal him. Diamond and Danks probably aren't ML ready. Williams is. Pie, along with Hermedia and Cabrera, would give them a really young, strong core of players, 2 of whom will be cheap for 3 years. I think it's comparable. Blalock signed a 5-year, $15.25M contract before the 04 season, with an option for a 6th season. He'll be cheap for a while. They're already saving a ton going from Beckett and Lowell to Blalock. I don't think saving an extra $3M will cause them to take less talent. And Blalock gives them more of an illusion of competing than Williams, because he's a named player who gained recognition by winning an All-Star game, the first one that "counted", IIRC.

I was just gonna say the same thing. If San Diego, St. Louis, and New York are out of the equation, it probably comes down to Cubs vs. the LA teams. And that would come down to the Cubs interest vs. the Dodgers uncertainty.

If Texas is giving up Danks and Blalock, there's nothing the Cubs can do (within reason) to beat that deal. If Florida then wants to trade Blalock, that's where the Cubs can get involved. Blalock could be a key piece in getting Abreu to the Cubs. You don't think Pie and Williams or Pinto would match that? No. Blalock is a former AS 3rd baseman. He's still pretty cheap, and just 24 years old. Down year or not, the Cubs don't have anything to match that. Pie is probably a better prospect than Danks at this point, but not that much better. And not when you consider OF talent is easier to find than LH starting pitchers. Williams is still just 24 also, but doesn't have the upside of anyone else involved in the deal.

I could care less if the team was all RH, as long as they were good. The problem is Rowand almost walks by accident. A career best 32 in 600 trips to the plate this year. That's why he's a bad fit.

If Texas is giving up Danks and Blalock, there's nothing the Cubs can do (within reason) to beat that deal. If Florida then wants to trade Blalock, that's where the Cubs can get involved. Blalock could be a key piece in getting Abreu to the Cubs.

I think this is a decent deal on both sides. Lowell could probably get at least close to his career line of .340/.460 playing in Arlington. And Beckett is worth the risk to anchor the rotation of a team that's pretty close to competing seriously. For the Marlins they get a young 3B who's probably not as bad as he was in 05, and they get a young pitcher who could flourish in that park, under their control for 6 years.

Don't the Marlins threaten a firesale every year, then end up signing a big name free agent? Delgado and Pudge come to mind.