USSoccer

If he accepted a reasonable contract I'd sign him to PH, and occasionally spell LF and RF. I'm sure we could find him about 300 AB's and not kill ourseves with poor defense.

Agree with you that it was smart not to pick up the $11.5M option - that would have been too much. However, I think Hendry could have signed him to a 2 year $12M deal - similar to what the Giants gave him. My source indicated to me that Alou would have accepted it had Hendry offered it. But Hendry was too wrapped up in the Sammy saga to care about Moises - a move (or lack of) he now regrets from what I am told. If Hendry is incapable of doing 2 things at once I'm very concerned about this offseason.

How did Alou handle RF in San Francisco?

Bruce is the best, no doubt, but there are 2 others in this town, who I respect, and who seem to be in the know on many things. Much of what I read from Morrisey, DeLuca, and Sullivan is just absolute garbage.

And I feel that people would be more than happy if he let Ramirez walk and added Lee and Soriano, or if the replacement for Ramirez was Tejada or ARod, and he added a Jones like bat as the addition. If he lets Ramirez walks and does nothing, he'll get grilled. But as long as he does something that can be passed off as adding to the roster, he won't get killed. Lots of people want Ramirez gone, not to mention the group that isn't that desperate to see him extended. Can Ramirez still be traded before he "opts out?" He has until 2 weeks after the World Series ends to decide if he's going to opt out, and I think that's before you can trade players and such, so the only way he can be traded is if he doesn't opt out.

A preliminary guess tells me the majority of the media is anti-Ramirez. And most of them would be more than fine with Hendry letting him walk. And if he replaces Ramirez with ARod or Tejada, or loses Ramirez and gains Lee and Soriano, I'd bet the majority of fans would be fine with that trade off. I think you are correct in your assessment of the media being anti-Ramirez. And the feelings about Aramis from the members of the media that I have spoken to range from he's unlikable to he's very unlikable to he's just a bad guy (like Sammy). The story goes that Moises really kept Aramis in line (behavior-wise) in 2004 - after Moises departed, Aramis was "left to his own devices." Interpret that as you will - I was given no details. In talking to my sources, I just get the sense that Aramis is not liked in that clubhouse or by management - his lackadaisical attitude has irked a lot of folks on and off the field. There just doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency in keeping him despite is great numbers. The media (Bruce Miles not included) are stupid lemmings. I can count the number of good baseball beat guys in this city on 1 finger.

Talk is cheap, though. The Trib, McDonough and Hendry can talk about a World Series all they want, but if they don't actually take steps to make that happen, it's just PR talk. It's not unrealistic to think that Hendry would lose Aramis to FA, sign someone borderline average to play 3B and maybe sign Soriano and call it an upgraded offseason based on the Soriano aquisition. People who think critically would know better, though. I don't have the faith in Hendry to believe that he knows that contending without Ramirez would be extremely difficult. McDonough and Piniella are brand new, and under pressure to make an immediate positive impact. Meanwhile Hendry's job is clearly on the line. So right away, this situation with ARam will be a defining moment for this new regime. Pull through, and the PR talk is backed up. Screw it up, and it's a major step backwards right out of the gate. Both fans and the media will immediately see right through the PR talk and realize it's business as usual for the lovable losers. My gut says that everyone involved realizes that this absolutely cannot happen. I don't think the public (with a big assist to the print media and Bruce Levine) really would care if Hendry let Ramirez walk. A lot of them buy the whole "hustle" thing, and would view him waling as a net positive since "loafers" don't win championships.

He'd take it a step further and talk about whoever the new 3B is an upgrade somewhere as well. He's the ultimate glass half full guy, who always expects the best. That's why he can sign a guy like Jones and only think of the upside, or acquire Izturis and talk about how he led the lead in hits for 2 months. He will only look at the best aspects of a player, and ignore the likelihood/unlikelihood of that player actually performing at his best. He has yet to plan for setbacks with any of his acquisitions. He thought of Pierre as the guy who helped Florida with the WS, and not the guy he's been the majority of his career. He thought of Rusch and Neifi as the guys who put up career numbers in limited roles, and not the failures they've been throughout their careers. He's sees the topline potential, but not the bottom rung risk. Happily, there are no 3B available on the market that can concievably be an upgrade over Aramis in any category except RISP w/2 outs. You're right about Hendry. Nearly every aquisition in the last 2 years, he's trumped up some random positive and ignored the giant negatives.

Talk is cheap, though. The Trib, McDonough and Hendry can talk about a World Series all they want, but if they don't actually take steps to make that happen, it's just PR talk. It's not unrealistic to think that Hendry would lose Aramis to FA, sign someone borderline average to play 3B and maybe sign Soriano and call it an upgraded offseason based on the Soriano aquisition. People who think critically would know better, though. I don't have the faith in Hendry to believe that he knows that contending without Ramirez would be extremely difficult.

This is beginning to sound like the Sosa smear campaign. Is the Trib trying to drum up support for his not being resigned?

Here's hoping Hendry stays far, far away.

Vs. ARam and ARod. Or ARam and Tejada. Basically, I'll take the known quantity that is ARam and try and upgrade at SS.

Seconded. Bajillioned. Gild it.

It would have been nice to get a second goal going into New England. Although, if Dempsey's ankle prevents him from playing in the 2nd leg, it might not matter. That was a very good free kick from Mapp, although Wynalda was dead on about the wall doing a very poor job.

I like to hear an agent say this.

The Bulls haven't had a young player with this kind of ceiling since Pippen, and Thomas looks more polished than Pippen did his rookie season. Are you saying I was wrong for ripping im as a draft choice? :D

Huh?

Bonser, Wainwright and Utley all taken after Luis.

The problem is that we have a very good player in LF who probably can't play anywhere else. Lee can't play anywhere but left. Murton will come close to matching Lee's production, and at some point during Lee's next contract (and while Murton is cheap) begin to surpass it. Soriano is going to be overpaid, but if he can play CF, that's an area I'd take his SLG% from.

No, apparently we're talking about the Aramis Ramirez whose laziness is so shockingly awful that it kills orphans and kittens. Or maybe the Aramis Ramirez that didn't have a .950 OPS in the 2003 playoffs. Or maybe it was the Aramis Ramirez that was the ONLY player still producing in September of 2004. Or the Aramis Ramirez that didn't get hurt and miss the rest of 2005 hustling to beat out a ground ball to short. BTW, someone in a game thread this year broke down every one of the situations where ARam hit a home run. Very few of them came in games that were already out of reach. But yeah, keep ragging on our best offensive player.

IF Aram leaves we are left with a huge hole. However, it can be filled through either signing or players or trading for players. Keep in mind if you lose Aramis, you have to then aquire 2 above average offensive players to improve. That's much easier said than done. I never said it was easy but it is possible. If Hendry can do it I'd be surprised I think other GMs would be able to fill the hole a bit better. I think the odds of doing it are very, very long. Most GM's struggle to adequately fill 1 hole properly.

Is this another "Aramis is a lazy oaf who doesn't want to work" post? Lighten up Francis. No, it's not another "Aramis likes to loaf" post (and even if he did I subscribe to the "give me a lazy 900+ OPS guy over a 750 OPS hustler" philosophy). I'd hate to see him leave but I'm getting the same feeling that others have expressed here - that ARam will not be back. I should have phrased it better but I was only throwing out Piniella as a possible influencing factor if indeed ARam does walk. Some of the Cub players' public reactions to the Piniella hiring have been ... a little odd (Eyre). Sorry if it came off caustic. I can't see Piniella being that big a factor. If the money is right, Aramis will likely stay.

IF Aram leaves we are left with a huge hole. However, it can be filled through either signing or players or trading for players. Keep in mind if you lose Aramis, you have to then aquire 2 above average offensive players to improve. That's much easier said than done.

I don't think ARam is going anywhere, but obtaining ARod or Tejada is a step backward because ARam matches them in production and the Cubs don't have to give up players for him. The only thing with that is that Ramirez's money will come off the books as well, which will allow the Cubs to sign another big-time FA. Don't get me wrong-I'll be very disappointed if the Cubs don't re-sign Ramirez. I definitely think it is a big priority that the Cubs sign him. Right now, the team is looking at signing or trading for one big hitter. If Ramirez leaves, they will hopefully just take the money and go get two big hitters instead. There is not a single FA that can match Aramis's production.

Entirely different. In each of those cases he signed guys several months before they could reach free agency. He had the leverage of knowing those guys could get hurt and lose out on millions. Ramirez is already a free agent, even if he hasn't used the option. You should view him just like you'd view a normal free agent with no option. There is zero incentive for Ramirez to sign before free agency, even though Hendry keeps saying he doens't think Ramirez will use that option. If he doesn't think Aramis will opt out unless he gets a Lee-type deal he's dumb, and again, if they didn't want him back because of some stupid intangible reason, they should have dealt him.