bc2k

I think he's done a good job so far this offseason, but he did an even better job last year. He went against the grain and traded Lee for Podsednik and Vizcaino, then used the money saved in that trade to acquire AJ Pierzynski, Dustin Hermanson and Tadahito Iguchi. He chose not to re-sign Magglio Ordonez. He signed the World Series MVP Jermaine Dye, made a midseason trade for Jeff Blum who hit the game-winning home run in game 3 of the World Series, and most overlooked, picked up Bobby Jenks and turned him into a reliever. He also gave a chance in ST to nobodies like Pablo Ozuna and Chris Widger who contributed much yet accounted for very little payroll. And he won without having to trade his best pitching prospect, Brandon McCarthy, or his best position playing prospect, Brian Anderson. All on a $75 million payroll. You watching Hendry? Ohh how hindsight is twenty-twenty :?: Kenny Williams deserves compliment for making those moves because he didn't have hindsight knowledge of how his acquisitions would turn out.

I think he's done a good job so far this offseason, but he did an even better job last year. He went against the grain and traded Lee for Podsednik and Vizcaino, then used the money saved in that trade to acquire AJ Pierzynski, Dustin Hermanson and Tadahito Iguchi. He chose not to re-sign Magglio Ordonez. He signed the World Series MVP Jermaine Dye, made a midseason trade for Jeff Blum who hit the game-winning home run in game 3 of the World Series, and most overlooked, picked up Bobby Jenks and turned him into a reliever. He also gave a chance in ST to nobodies like Pablo Ozuna and Chris Widger who contributed much yet accounted for very little payroll. And he won without having to trade his best pitching prospect, Brandon McCarthy, or his best position playing prospect, Brian Anderson. All on a $75 million payroll. You watching Hendry?

Marte is a headcase. He looked like he was afraid to throw strikes in the playoffs. Against Boston in the ALDS, he faced three batters and let all three reach base through hit or walk. That's when El Duque came in from the bullpen with no outs and didn't let one runner score. Marte also had that Bizarre AWOL situation during the regular season that I don't really know the details about. He left the team for some reason, possibly because he thought he was hurt. The Sox are lucky to get rid of this headcase and his salary. Though if he pitches like he did in 2003, the Sox will definately regret trading him.

What's Rolen's ETA to return? 100% by ST, April 1? Please update us on his injury.

Does anyone know the budget Minaya has been given?

Pictures please.

Maybe if Baker wasn't so concerned about his personal goal of finishing .500, he'd have shut Wood down instead of having him throw out of the bullpen for a month. Had he done that, KW would be a month further along in his rehab. I'm not holding Kerry responsible; this one's all on Baker.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=1382311

Assume that Wood is healthy. Then you have Prior, Zambrano, Wood, Maddux and Williams. Potentially 3 great pitchers, then 2 okay ones. Guys like Williams can be successful on a good team with a powerful offense, but when you have no better than a middle of the road scoring offense, you can't win a ton of games with 4.00+ ERA guys in the rotation, in the NL. Replace Williams with a better pitcher, included Williams in a trade for a better RF, and suddenly the Cubs are a pretty good team. Right now, it's impossible to say they are any good. I'd be happy with that scenario and I agree about Williams. But will we have enough to trade for a top tier starting pitcher and RF?

Right now Rusch is in the opening day rotation. Wood is a big question. And the offense isn't good. You can win with mediocre offense (which is what they have), but you better have great pitching (which the Cubs are not ensured of). I forgot Rusch would be starting. I understand that good pitching wins games, but my question is where would another starter fit? I've heard hints that Wood might be behind, but he's certainly not going to miss the entire season. Prior and Z are healthy, Maddux is Mr. Steady, and the bullpen is already too crowded for Rusch. Hendry needs to fill holes before he starts spending on surplus.

Prior Zambrano Wood Williams Maddux We're set.

Maybe if Mariotti wasn't too busy getting his eyebrows waxed, he'd find the time to take that class.

Esteban Loaiza signs with the Athletics for a guaranteed $21,375,000; 5 million in 2006; 6 million in 2007; 7 million in 2008 with a 2009 team option for 7.5 million with a 375,000 buyout. http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/ESPNSports/story?id=1353508 Paul LoDuca was traded from the Marlins to the Mets for 19-year-old right-hander Gaby Hernandez and a PTBNL. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/13329457.htm

Do you guys think a trade was in place, a PC was scheduled to report it, and then the trade fell through? That's the only thing I could think of as to the confusion.

Here's hoping Milton wasn't listening to AM720. Wow, those clowns all but smacked his grandma in the face. They are horribly down on him. If we get Bradley, the Chicago media is going to be merciless. Boers and Bernstein were BEGGING for Bradley today on behalf of all columnists and talk show hosts in town. Yea its going to be bad. What a bunch of bs too. I will lose what respect I have for the CHicago media if they rip him before he even gets here. I dont remember them ripping Carl Everett like they have been Bradlely. To be fair, Everett had disagreements with his manager and said the Boston fans were racist. Bradley allegedly choked his pregnant wife on separate occasions.

720 is reporting........ that we should check up on our elderly neighbors during cold months.

On what day do the winter meetings end and the GMs go back home?

Exactly. I'd rather have Murton than Kearns.

Why and why?

Not tillman? Fixed. :wink:

I keep replaying the Mike Brown hit on Favre over and over. :D And the Peanut Tillman one too.

Favre has been hurried a lot this year. I'm amazed Favre hasn't been sacked that much this year. The hurries though have caused Favre to make some pretty stupid throws and that's where the INT's come. Bubba Franks is also starting today. Just looking at the numbers, the psychology of favre does seem like a reasonable explaination for that situation (he prefers to make stupid passes than get taken down with the ball) Right, which is why his games started streak is not as impressive as touted by the media. Favre is of the mindset to bail out with a bad pass instead of staying in the pocket an extra second and risk getting hit to deliver a better pass. Take today's game for example. There were a handful of plays where he felt the pressure and just got rid of the ball. Favre's manhood aside, he threw away another game this week. His teammates kept the game close, yet in the end it was another Favre failure that put the game in the loss column for the GB Packers. Yet the biased media kept fellating him on his incomplete passes, saying "great job by [bears defender's name] to break up that play" when it was an easy play to break up because Favre underthrew his receiver. Also no mention of Favre's poor throwing accuracy today either. I'm not upset that the Packers are making a bad decision by starting Favre over Rogers because with the way Brad Johnson is leading Minnesota to victories, the Bears can take all the easy Brett Favre-started wins they'll give us. It's like taking candy from a geriatric, should-be retiree.

Right, he does suck. But that wasn't the question. We're winning with him as quarterback because he's not losing games. I don't think the coaching staff changes anything until he starts losing games for us. Though the Bears are winning with Kyle "man-beard" Orton at QB, I still believe the team would be better with Rex "sculpted eyebrows" Grossman leading them.

! Could you please give me a link to that information? I'm not doubting you, I just want more info on it.