Blueheart05

MLB.com I just want to go on record and say that I literally laughed out loud when I read that. And he'll be like every other player that goes to the Cardinals and improve in every category while winning the gold glove. Stupid cardinals. ;) LOL, nah not even the Cardinals will be able to work their magic on him. He'll still strikeout 140 times, never sniff a walk, and hit .240. :lol:

I wouldn't call it typical pessimism. Encarnacion fits the Hendry model to a T. Typical pessimism would be saying if the Cubs traded for Tejada he'd come here and suck, or if the Cards got JJones, he'd magically be awesome. And I do believe there have been rumors that the Cubs looked into trading for him in the past. To add to that how many FA outfielders do you think are available? If you haven't noticed the market is dwindling and the amount of OFs right now is probably 2-4. Well, Hendry did say he hoped to get a RF via trade. Maybe he has something cooking behind the scenes. I certainly didn't hear anything about this Sox trade ahead of time.

Your question basically answers itself - you can't put that many "ifs" and assumptions into a question and not have the answer be luck. It's putting all your eggs in one basket and you have a team which could very easily end up in last place just as easily end up in first. I want a team that both on paper and on the field is above average and gets themselves into a situation where they can contend every year. Yeah, I agree with you. I was just responding to the posts about KW doing a great job last year simply based on the fact that they won the WS. No flaming please I don't care if it's luck or skill. I wont care about the number of seemingly stupid moves Hendry makes this offseason if the Cubs win the WS. It wouldn't matter he will look like a genius (and so does Williams). The Sox might be garbage in a few years because of some of his risky moves but it wont hurt nearly as much (from a fans perspective) because they have already won and are primed to repeat.

MLB.com Will this be the big time free agent signing that Mr. Hendry gets....the highly coveted Jones? Not if the Cardinals get him first. :) :wink:

A bit off topic yet potentailly great news: MLB.com

Ok, do the Sox look at what the Cubs might want and just chase after those guys lately, or what? Tejada, Kotsay... Exactly. I have a sick feeling that Williams is about to make a big move. He's going to trade Garland and get something sweet (Tejada, Abreu, Manny, who knows?) BTW, Blum says the Cubs are going to make some big moves. Believe it or not, he expects the Cubs to add another BP arm. :shock: For what it's worth, this guy has "anointed the Cubs Champs for '06." :roll: We'll see about that... How much money do the Sox have left to spend? Can they take on another another 10-12M? Just wondering. I don't know but they just got 5M back from AZ for VAsquez.

Ok, do the Sox look at what the Cubs might want and just chase after those guys lately, or what? Tejada, Kotsay... Exactly. I have a sick feeling that Williams is about to make a big move. He's going to trade Garland and get something sweet (Tejada, Abreu, Manny, who knows?) BTW, Blum says the Cubs are going to make some big moves. Believe it or not, he expects the Cubs to add another BP arm. :shock: For what it's worth, this guy has "anointed the Cubs Champs for '06." :roll: We'll see about that...

AP reporter Rob Blum is on MLB radio speculating that the Sox will look to get Kotsay for CF.

Q. What do the Cubs and Pirates have in common? A. They both lost their primary targeted free agent to LA. Colletti is really getting on my nerves this offseason!

I'd have to believe the Sox have the edge simply because Tejada wants to play for a winner and the Cubs are perceived as possibly the most disappointing team of the past 2 years. Will Tejada have a say? I don't know his contract situation, does he have a NTC?

Abreu is only a possiblity if Philly lowers their trade expectations. Insisting on Prior or Zambrano is not reasonable. Edit: From my understanding, Floyd could come if the Mets trade for Manny; the Cubs could somehow piggyback on a threeway trade or be an indirect beneficary of the Mets crowded outfield (assuming the Manny trade is consumated).

Who revealed this and when? Baseball is a business. If the Cubs would have made a good offer the Dodgers would have took it. Look what they got for him. Bruce mentioned it today on the radio and as I recall, he alluded to it in one of his recent posts here (when he said that it was essentially one sided--that the Dodgers weren't cooperating).

So the A's get Bradley and Perez for a 2nd tier prospect. Sounds like a great deal for them. See, the difference between a good GM and ours. Colletti wasn't going to trade Bradley to the Cubs. And you know this because... Because it was revealed that Colletti and Dusty don't like one another. In hindsight, it seems that the Bradley trade talks hushed after Colletti took the helm in LA. That is pure speculation. In my opinion we were probably not offering enough. Well, I think Bruce Miles has some insight into it. Colletti was also working for the Giants when Dusty left and we all know he departed under a cloud.

So the A's get Bradley and Perez for a 2nd tier prospect. Sounds like a great deal for them. See, the difference between a good GM and ours. Colletti wasn't going to trade Bradley to the Cubs. And you know this because... Because it was revealed that Colletti and Dusty don't like one another. In hindsight, it seems that the Bradley trade talks hushed after Colletti took the helm in LA.

Rotoworldsays that he could be close to signing with the Pirates.

So the A's get Bradley and Perez for a 2nd tier prospect. Sounds like a great deal for them. See, the difference between a good GM and ours. Colletti wasn't going to trade Bradley to the Cubs.

Colletti was just officially hired as the Dodgers GM 11/16. Dusty met with Bradley after getting permission from the previous management. Furthermore, Colletti worked for the Giants from 1997-2004 where apparently he and Dusty clashed. Knowing this, it should have been easy to predict that the Cubs weren't getting Bradley. Unfortunately, their feud wasn't common knowledge. Link Link I think it's safe to assume that early November was before the 16th (which I'd say is mid-month).

How could that be true, don't they now have the money they would have paid Clemens?

From rotoworld...no way a mediocre player like Jones isn't going to make all the cash he can in this contract (which could very well be his last big money contract). We want him, we'll have to beat the Royals. Hello Jacque freaking Jones, our rightfielder for the next 3 years...at $6 million per :evil: The Royals offer is a blessing in disguise (at least as far as the Cubs are concerned). Mike Kiley also writes about the Jones possibility in the Suntimes but doesn't think Hendry would go multiyear. Jones wouldn't pass up a three year deal to play a year (or two) for the Cubs. At least I hope not.

I got an email from Cubs.com today that said any merchandise ordered by Dec 20 no later than 12pm ET will arrive by the 24th (third day air) and Dec 22nd by 12pm ET (overnight shipping). It applies to in stock items only. Pierre's jersey is not listed but Dempster's is available.

Well, if it's any consolation, Pierre scored 96 runs last year and 100 runs in both 2004 & 2003 (108 in 2001) and 90 in 2002. He'll get on base enough to make it close but everything depends on the guys hitting behind him. Link

In all fairness, the article that Rotoworld uses as it's reference actually contains wording by Hendry that says ideally he would like to keep Pierre long term. Rotoworld gives the impression that the Cubs got him with the intention of being a stop gap. Here's the article Here's another quote from Cubs.com:

Odd since Corey's strong work ethic has been mentioned often by many people in the system. Just because someone works hard at improving doesn't mean he will. First of all,there's no doubt that some people may work hard and still come up short; that wasn't my position. I contend that there are athletes that don't work hard at all because they depend on their athletic ability to get them by. IMO, it's nice to know that Pierre works on his game instead of just showing up with his natural speed. On the subject of Corey Patterson, I have heard that he's a very nice guy but I haven't heard too much about his "strong work ethic" in the last 2 years. By the way, is that the same Corey Patterson who, after being demoted, surprised his Cubs manager and coaches by telling a minor league coach that no one had worked with him on his swing (they had to read about that in the print media and on Fox TV)? He later denied saying those words. If you listen to the things Baker, Clines, and others have said about him it's easy to decipher that they think he's stubborn and uncoachable. His most ardent supporter (Jim Hendry) is now ready to ship him out of town. Of course, the Cubs are probably as much to blame for his regression as he is for encouraging him (by promoting him in 2000 before he learned plate discipline). Even in Corey's one good year of hitting .298 his OBP was .329 The only way he's going to get better is by working hard to resist swinging at everything thrown at him.

I think you mean Juan Rincon unless there's something I don't know about Ricardo. :wink:

I think they want to get his body ready for the rigors of a full ML season. The minors aren't nearly as grueling. He'll still get some time to rejuvenate himself at the end of the VWL so he's strong for Spring Training.