mul21

League 1: 10-1 with 3 victories I didn't deserve because the other guy was awful that week. I was bailed out the last 2 Mondays by Warner and Lynch to pull of 5 and 1 point wins. League 2: 7-4 with 2 losses when I was in the top 3 in points of a 10 team league. I'm #2 in points overall and everything seems to be falling into place, assuming my receivers can perform decently and Addai remembers he was a 1st round pick.

Assuming Portis is okay, which I guess he is, I think you have to bench Bowe. This is the way to go. However, you're not going to know if Portis is healthy until late Sunday, so it might be wise to bench him. I have him and that's what I'm doing. Other wise, Jamal Lewis or DeAngelo Williams?

You all know who you are. i i was looking at old threads on desipio the other day for some reason and there was a really good one where people were like "WE ROSTERED THAT WORTHLESS IDIOT GEOVANY SOTO AND LET ANDY SISCO GO???!?!??!?" That was a bad move. Sisco's perceived value at the time was extremely high. If they weren't going to roster him, they should have traded him before the R5 draft came around. They could have built a heck of a package for a really good player around him. At the time, Soto wasn't MLB ready, and wouldn't have stuck with anyone. No one else in the league had high perceptions of him either at the time. Obviously, in the long term, Soto was the right keeper choice, but that move shouldn't be evaluated as if Hendry only had two options at the time: keep Soto and let Sisco go for nothing, or keep Sisco and let Soto go for nothing. He could have gotten value back on Sisco and kept Soto, or he could have kept both. I think the perceive value of a player, causes fans to overrate these guys. Personally I was upset when they let Sisco go for nothing. But I don't think Hendry is an idiot or most Gm's are in this situation. We as fans think we know how valueable these players are, but the GM's know how valueable these guys are. I'm sure months before Hendry even allowed Sisco to be in the rule 5 draft, he tried to trade him for something worth wide. I think he's in a simliar situation with Donald Veal this offseason. Too me it would seem like Veal would have some value still, since he was a high thought of prospect just a few years ago and still has good stuff. But I'm sure by now Hendry has shopped Veal name around alot, and knows he probably can't get anything of good value in return for him. So it's then up to a GM to decide, do I keep this guy on the roster. Even though he is probably less likely to make it to the majors then others, even though he has more upside? Do I just trade him for whatever I can get for him? Or do I take my chances he either won't get drafted or won't stick on a major league roster next year, and I have him back? In the Soto/Sisco(I know those weren't the only options) situation it worked out good. Just imagine if we let Soto go in the Rule 5, and some team decided to keep him as a cheap back up catcher for a year. Soto being ROY on another team, and the Cubs not making the playoffs this year(Soto not on the team would have made it alot tougher), could have caused Hendry to lose his job. Thats why sometimes with trade and other things us fans should sometimes just wait and see, before we start to chew out the GM. is this redflash in disguise? Nah, way too coherent.

Stare Oids.

Because in Chicago, Philly, New York, Boston and places like them, it's 25 degrees on November 1st a lot of times and that's not conducive to playing baseball. It sucks to watch these really good players have to fight the weather instead of just the other team.

Yeah, that's true for some of the games, but probably not for this one. What are you disagreeing with? The ticket availability and price? Or the fact the dome sucks to watch football? I'm pretty sure he's saying the giving away of tickets won't be as rampant this week because of so many Bears fans being around to buy them. And that place isn't terrible to watch the game when the Rams are doing well and people are excited. I'll be right next to the Bears tunnel for the game by the way.

I would think Bradley would take less to stay in the states and play for a winner. It should take less to get him here anyway just because of the tax situation in Canada. I'm not sure what the exact number is, but you pay something like 8-10% more in taxes up there than you would here.

Obviously not, but this may turn out to be a cost effective decision that ends with the Cubs getting 4 extra draft picks and having the ability to sign someone to help at another position. Granted, my whole scenario hinges on Gregg being reasonably effective and not blowing a whole bunch of games and Cubs management making the proper decision by leaving Marmol in the fireman role. Is it ideal? Probably not, but what other closer options are out there that won't cost $10-15M per year or a boatload of prospects?

On the bright side, he managed to survive doing that with a horrible defense behind him, and he's moving to a good one. On the negative side, everything else. His K numbers are like Howry. And he's coming to Chicago. You know, to pitch like Howry. Yea, no... And why are we only looking at 2008 numbers? Especially when somebody already showed that his numbers were skewed pretty badly by an approximately 2 week stretch where he forgot where home plate was and when he did find it he got crushed.

I'm pretty sure he's confusing you with JeffH, who would still bash Hendry even if he brought home 4 straight World Series titles.

SSR, I know you were being sarcastic for effect, but we certainly would not have been better of just releasing Ceda. Not only did we get a serviceable reliever back but also, as has been mentioned ad nauseum, the potential for 2 high draft picks next off season for the 2010 draft.

Also, enough with the $4-5 million per year savings. It's 4-5 in 2009 and then Gregg is off the books and that money can be allocated to other resources. If Wood gets $40 over 4 or $50 million over 5, it's a total savings of $35 or $45 million. Or and average of almost $9 million over the life of the deal. This is assuming Hendry doesn't lose his mind and sign him long term.

Soul, if you think the contract Woody is going to get will be cheap or reasonable, you either haven't been paying attention or don't have any idea about the concept of either term. He's going to get at least 3 years, probably 4 or 5, and more than likely $10 million per at the minimum. Not cheap or reasonable for any "closer", let alone one with the injury history Wood has. Not a risk that can be taken with as many backloaded contacts for aging players this team has to deal with over the life of what that contract would be.

You're all treating this as if it's a 5 year, $12 million per deal. It just wouldn't be on that level, can't be seen in the same light at all. Who is this going to allow us to sign that will make us so much better? Answer me THAT. ?????????????????????????

Wow that is some interesting logic Yeah, that makes no sense. this deal was done because of the decision to not bring back wood. it wasn't a choice between keeping woody and trading for gregg. The end result is, Gregg will be there instead of Woody. As for saving 4-5 million -- that seems like a pretty small amount of money for a team to be unloading an all-star pitcher with a 1.085 WHIP when they're already spending over 100 million and talking about taking on more. you're talking about a 4-year commitment to a guy with an arm put together by duct tape. i don't necessarily like the trade for gregg or even gregg himself, really, but woody was long gone and the deals had nothing to do with each other besides the fact that we needed another body in there. Going with Gregg instead of wood this year is only a difference of $5 mil, but it's a difference of over $30 mil over the lifetime of his would be contract. you really want to make that commitment? i don't It's change for this team with a payroll that might push $150 million and will undoubtedly expand even more as we go along. With an uncertain ownership situation and a crapload of backloaded contracts.

Wow that is some interesting logic Yeah, that makes no sense. this deal was done because of the decision to not bring back wood. it wasn't a choice between keeping woody and trading for gregg. The end result is, Gregg will be there instead of Woody. As for saving 4-5 million -- that seems like a pretty small amount of money for a team to be unloading an all-star pitcher with a 1.085 WHIP when they're already spending over 100 million and talking about taking on more. It's horrible logic to think this way. And you're not just saving $4-5M. You're saving $25-35 million over 4 years and you're not getting locked into what could turn into an awful contract based on Wood's injury history. It may not be an ideal situation, but sometimes you're forced to take the lesser of two evils.

Yes, this. Especially the or more part that is more likely than the 3/30.

People really need to stop suggesting this as a possiblility. The Padres don't want a 5M mediocrity as their closer. So Hendry sees Gregg as a solid reliever for the price who has closed for two years but people around the league wouldnt? I have a really hard time believing that. The Cubs are competing next year. The Padres are not. Pretty simple. Also, off track thought here: Padres want him because it's an "expiring contract" that they won't be tied to long term and with as crappy as their farm system is, they want the 2 picks to help start the rebuilding process. Just an out there thought without anything to back it up.

He either sucks or he's awesome. There is no in-between with this man. Getting rid of Kerry Wood places another tally in the "sucks" column. You'd rather have him handcuff the payroll further by giving an oft-injured closer a 4 year $40 million deal? And what's with the Dempster injury stuff? He had TJS 5 years ago and hasn't had any issues whatsoever since. I can see doubting he can reproduce his production from last year but the injury stuff is way off. It's more a health question. 200 innings is a toll on anybody's arm. He did it 3 times in his 20's then got injured. Now he's got one 200 inning season under his belt after 4 seasons where he averaged 63. Right, but how many of the huge number of guys that have had TJS have either had to have it done again (besides Chad Fox) or had major elbow issues again? His shoulder is fine and the TJS corrected the elbow issues. I have about 5 times as much faith in Dempster staying healthy through the next 2 years than I d in Kerry. I'd love to have him back, but not if he's looking to break the bank on 1 final contract and not give any kind of hometown discount in either years or money.

He either sucks or he's awesome. There is no in-between with this man. Getting rid of Kerry Wood places another tally in the "sucks" column. You'd rather have him handcuff the payroll further by giving an oft-injured closer a 4 year $40 million deal? And what's with the Dempster injury stuff? He had TJS 5 years ago and hasn't had any issues whatsoever since. I can see doubting he can reproduce his production from last year but the injury stuff is way off.

If this is what ends up happening, I don't think there can be a whole lot of complaining. Saves money and doesn't tie up a bunch of cash in a guy who, while we all have some emotional attachment to, hasn't gone through 2 consecutive full seasons being healthy since 2002-2003. If Gregg is either spun to the Padres or used as the closer with Marmol as the fireman, I don't see the big issue with the deal. Set up guys, especially ones in AA, are pretty darn replaceable pieces, especially if you get 2 picks for Wood and another 2 picks when Gregg walks after next year.

How much is Gregg making? Is it possible that this is a necessary piece to get Peavy? As in, did the Padres want a closer to replace Hoffman without having to spend a ton or give up anything more to get one?

[hijack] Nothing personal towards you, but why is it that practically everytime any sportswriter is mentioned on this board, there's invariably someone who comes in and says that said writer sucks/is garbage/knows nothing/is an idiot? Seriously, I don't think I've seen any sportswriter not catch flak here (save Bruce Miles, who I assume gets a pass from some people because he posts occasionally). I don't read the sportswriters regularly, but damn ... they can't all be anti-Cubs biased, rumor-mongering, sensationalist baseball morons, can they? [/hijack] My 2 cents: It's because their bosses have demanded that they become sensationalist morons who spew completely irrational ideas that have no base in reality or coherent thought. It's unfortunate that they have to pander to the lowest common denominator to sell papers instead of actually being good journalists and writing things that make sense.

1. Use the quote button. It's at the bottom right of the post you're quoting. 2. That line is against crappy/injured Cardinal pitching. They haven't had a decent regular season since they moved into that park. And like I said, his power numbers outside of Coors are not nearly what I'm looking for if I'm about to pay a guy $14M.

My guess would be $$$$$$$$$. Although I'm sure they could do better than the Cardinals offer even if that is the case.