SAMMYWHO

I seen it flash across ESPN. Not a bad signing because if I seen it correctly it was for only a couple mil. The sad part is he shouldn't be that much of a downgrade from Lilly.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Lou gives a hoot about Jacque Jones being happy. He's not that type of manager. I think Lou will recognize Derosa's abilities vs lefties and Jacque's inept skills against them. The only thing going against the idea is promising Derosa the 2nd base job.

The tigers last year didn't win but they were pretty solid 1-9 until of course the famous trade with us.

I would like to get involved in the Marcus Thames + an upper tier pitching prospect for Eyre. It's been rumored on Ben Maller and CBS Sportsline for awhile now that Detroit wants a late inning lefty reliever and I think if Hendry has something up his sleeve with getting rid of Jacque Jones contract, maybe we should keep him and shed the 2 years of Eyre's. Also on Ben Maller I found it very interesting the Angels seemed intrigued on trading Chone Figgins for Pedro Feliz. I personally want in on that deal. We can do way better than Pedro Feliz. Chone Figgins at the top of the lineup with Soriano, Lee, Ramirez to follow would be stellar. Especially if Figgins could play shortstop reasonably well. Thoughts

Pipe dream? Joke

Adding Victorino might show Piniella or even Soriano that we have a true leadoff hitter. Soriano hitting even 2nd would be using him better I think.

My personal opinion is Eyre is the biggest risk to have a down year of those three. I also have confidence in Ohman and Cotts to handle the other side. Plus like others have stated, he might have ran himself out of town with his mouth.

It's been stated on mlb.com that the Phils want an 8th inning guy to set up Flash. We have a surplus in Wood, Eyre and Howry. I've read they want to use Wood in the 8th until they're sure he can handle the closer's role. I know that's not news to any of us but on the mailbag on the mlb site the reporter hinted for the first time I seen that they do intend to use him as a closer but first he has to prove he's healthy. As far as Eyre is concerned, he's getting old 33-34 making pretty good dough and some of you think he was a Dusty supporter so he might have run his mouth out of town. Thinking of our surplus and having my mancrush on Victorino, I propose trading them straight up. Here's Victorino's line from last year with promise of improvement: G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG 153 415 70 119 19 8 6 46 172 24 54 4 3 .346 .414 .287

I would like to see Cedeno rebound and Theriot get a real shot. Platoon Derosa with Jones and trade Izturis.

Yes, but that's quite different than next great thing. The next greatest thing was seeing his stats here in Iowa and then watching what looked like a productive call up. He hit over .300 his first year in the bigs. I realize pitchers didn't know his weaknesses but it's not like he came out of nowhere like Marshall last year or Rich Hill out of A ball. This guy was supposed to be a position prospect that was going to make a difference. I still would be against trading him like a Corey situation. If it's in the right deal, Church, Wilkerson or something we could use then fine. I personally want to be remembered as not giving up on him and hope that he has a sophmore rebound in a Cubs uniform.

I remember everyone wanting him to be the starting shortstop for along time because of his defense and his cost. When Furcal was rumored to be coming here I thought they wanted him over Walker at second. But I could be wrong on that as Walker was on his way out I think.

I'm not Bruce, and I can't tell you whether the Cubs gave up on him, but Cedeno's track record in the minors never indicated he'd be a good hitter. His OPS was below .600 in 2002 and 2003, for example. His one good year in the minors consisted of only 245 at-bats. His BABIP in AAA was .393, a number almost impossible to sustain. His OBP has always been driven by his batting average. At one point last year, he was seeing fewer pitches per plate appearance than any other qualified batter in MLB. I can't really comment on the likelihood of his defense improving, but it's doubtful that he'll ever become even an adequate hitter in MLB. I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on him yet. I think if he can play third he wouldn't be a bad option for the bench. I'm just not ready to trade him for a bag of balls. I realize he was lost at the plate most of last year but his "career year" was back and forth from AAA to the majors and he showed alot of promise. I realize he didn't have the patience we all would like to see but that was under different management. I'm hoping Hendry can now see that we need to improve the OBP as a team and I think hiring Oakland's old hitting coach will definately be an improvement. Alot of players including Barrett, Jones, Ramirez and Cedeno should see improvements in their patience with the philosophy of looking for their pitch. The OBP problem can't get any worse can it? I'm hoping that alone with what Bruce said will help Cedeno get back to his call up year.

Bruce, help me out please. It wasn't long ago that everyone (including most posters) thought that Ronny Cedeno was the next greatest thing. What happened to him offensivly and did the Cubs give up on him? I can understand the rookie mental mistakes causing some errors but somebody who hits about .370 at AAA couldn't of forgot how to swing a bat that quick. Please shed some light and I thankyou in advance.

The odds of him putting up numbers like he did last season are very small, and the cost of acquiring him would be very high. He put those numbers up in half a season. How could he not match them again? You could argue that he could nearly double them in a complete season, could you not??? Sorry, I look at rate stats. I have a hard time believing he's going to sustain a .533 slugging percentage. That's a .097 jump from the season before, which is pretty huge for a CF. Although, he's getting significantly worse covering CF, so maybe he's packed on the muscle... I'm not sure. He'll get better than he was in 05, I'm fairly certain. I just don't believe his jump last season was indicative of a real progression, and I'd rather not pay an outrageous price for him based on that. I'm not a Baldelli hater, by any means. I think he's a solid player... I just don't think he's as good as advertised... which means he wont be worth the cost. I think Baldelli is going to be a good one. He missed all of 2005 due to a torn ACL so maybe that has something to do with his fielding too. He's fairly young and hasn't played that much. I think he has a lot of upside but I just don't know if the Cubs have anything to offer to get him from the DRays. I think it's a match made in heaven. They can't develop pitching and that's all we can develop. Let's swap out strength for strength. I'd offer Marshall, Ryu and one other guy that didn't impress as much at the bigs last year like Mateo or O'Malley.

I would love for Prior to come back and pitch like we all know he can. And then do an interview here on Northside and not answer any questions of people who questioned his manliness. It's like you actually think he doesn't want to play. That's his life, his love, and probably all he knows how to do. Give the guy a break and give it a rest.

Phil Nevin, Chone Figgins and Shane Victorino would do it for me. I think alot of people wouldn't mind a Jason Michaels either.

I'd give him a chance at earning CF. If he couldn't handle it hopefully Pie would be ready. Wilkerson could be the left handed bat we need. I know alot of people were high on him around here not that long ago.

I apologize because I didn't see it had it's own thread. I would think it would still be a no-brainer to Trammell. Us over the Rockies anyday.

http://www.benmaller.com/ According to this site off of Fox Sports, Lou wants Alan Trammell as his bench coach. He's torn between the Rockies hitting coach and this.

I don't believe the Dodgers or Yankees would let us in on that conversation. We'd have to give up a little more than that I'd imagine.

Other than possibly Moore we really don't have any kids that could provide good power off the bench. Pagan might provide okay power, but not the kind of power I would want when I need a big hit late. One or possibly two, depending on Moore vets would be useful for that purpose. As far as the bolded part, I don't think thats neccessarily true. If you go after a bench player who has had only one or two good seasons that both came in the last 2-3 years then it would be true. If it is a guy who has consistently put up solid numbers off the bench other than one or two years he is a better bet to do well than a rookie who is not used to coming off the bench and is used to being an everyday player. Restovich comes to mind. Does Brandon Sing or any of our stud 1st base prospects play any other positions like 3rd. I agree with saving money. I'd keep Pagan as the CF backup. We need a starter and trade for a big outfield bat.

Pagan would be acceptable in my book with the right people around him. He covers alot of ground seems to have an average arm and looks to be patient at the plate. He impresses me with him looking to have a gameplan during most of his at bats. I know he's fallen off recently but I think if you save the 5+ mil you save from Pierre, I can accept that.

If thats the case, then it's fine, we'll hold on to him because his offense is good, but I'd like to know we at least explored the option of trading someone who's value might be inflated. It wouldn't surprise me if his value isn't all that high, but since neither of us work for big league clubs we can't know for sure. Good luck getting an answer on this one. I had a thread a couple weeks ago titled "What Would Barrett Net For Us" and it went nowhere. The only player mentioned that I recall was Barrett for Vernon Wells and then sign Molina. Then it turned into Barrett is better than Molina.

It would be just like Hendry to pay Zito everything he wants and then put him in the bullpen. My bad MPrior, I was thinking how well that has worked out for Hendry in the past. For example, Glendon Rusch and that's where he ended up.

I would go after Jason Schmidt and then Vincente Padilla. If I wanted an innings eater I would look at Jeff Weaver for 3-4 million. Before everyone blasts me on Jeff Weaver, he would be my last option just to say I signed someone. I personally think Hendry's going after his lefty, Barry Zito. You all know you have to have a lefty in the bullpen.