USSoccer

That's like calling Ben Affleck an outstanding actor because he has an Academy Award.

Gee, I wonder what aspect of his game they're going to try and sell to the fanbase. Could it be his...defense? I can't wait to watch him field groundballs at SS for the Cubs, as we lose games 4-1.

Tell me, TELL me that Bruce Miles and the rest of the beat guys are going to rip this to pieces, and not just focus on the "HOF leaves Chicago" crap. Tell me that they won't try and spin the Gold Glove Izturis won, and that his 2004 was a good season. Tell me that someone will call him out.

That says something about the level of critical thinking present on that board. I, like Goony, would also like to take back everything I said about needing to move Maddux. I hope the commisioner's office voids the deal. It would have been 1000x better had Hendry done nothing.

of course not. he'll just walk away at the end of the season with the cubs getting nothing for him. oh, and the infield will be neifi-cedeno-izturis-lee. On the bright side, the $4m we just wasted on Itzuris could help prevent Aramis from opting out and leaving, but that would have required Hendry to do some actual thinking.

I think that he won't be able to escape criticism for this train wreck anymore. He cannot hide behind the Ramirez and Lee deals after the past 2.5 seasons. Hendry got worked by Colletti, and we are somehow in a worse position for 2007 than we would have been otherwise.

So we paid the $3m on Maddux's salary AND took on Izturis' joke of a contract? We'd better get another prospect back. Hendry just pissed away $12m over 3 years.

06:$3.1M 07:$4.15M :shock: 08:$5.45M club option($0.3M buyout) Oh. My. God. That contract makes me yearn for Neifi's deal. We're going to pay $9.5m for a guy who can't put up a .300 OBP?

Sergio Pedroza. 2005 third rounder, with a .998 OPS in low A. That's the guy. Thanks, Seth. IF we got another prospect along with Neifi Izturis, it's not Guzman, and I'm sure it's not Kent.

It gets better. Tampa traded Julio Lugo for Joel Guzman and another minor leaguer....

Cesar Izturis is terrible at baseball. What a waste of a trade. Completely pointless move..like we needed another bad middle IF. That said, I said I wouldn't complain about a trade for Maddux.

Cesar Izturis is terrible at baseball. What a waste of a trade. Completely pointless move..like we needed another bad middle IF.

I wonder what we got....

Surprised? Really? All Hendry cares about is ceiling. What he nevers gets is anybody capable of reaching their ceiling. I expected a AAA reliever or a toolsy no hit slick-gloved middle IF. It's just I have such low expectations of Hendry at this point.

I'm pleasantly suprised that we got someone who had a ceiling for Walker.

We get it. You love Ramirez. What is wrong about acquiring a pretty good MI prospect and getting a top of the rotation guy? I don't think Santana's a top of the rotation guy. I don't think Aybar is anything special. It's not a matter of me loving Ramirez. It's me thinking that it's not a wise deal. If you want to trade Aramis, it has to be in the right kind of deal. Santana & Aybar, IMO, isn't the right deal. It assumes that you can trade for a replacement 3B AND aquire a power hitter in the offseason. I have doubts as to Hendry's ability to do that. If Hendry's here, the safest course of action would be to keep Aramis and build around our current core, which isn't as bad as our record indicates this season. I think we contend more easily with Ramirez, Lee, Z, Prior and Barrett here to add pieces around. Why do you question Hendry's ability to get players(3b and power hitter) in the off season? He acquired three of the core guys you listed (Lee, Ramirez and Barrett) through trade. How many people were excited about bringing Michael Barrett in to be the Cubs starting catcher? He did a pretty nice job there. Gee, why would I question the ability of a GM who has completely wasted the last 2 seasons with his various FA signings and inconsequetial trades? Hendry has long passed the point where he can point to Ramirez & Lee (salary dumps) and Barrett and say "Look what I did!" He's made enough terrible decisions to warrant a total lack of trust.

We get it. You love Ramirez. What is wrong about acquiring a pretty good MI prospect and getting a top of the rotation guy? I don't think Santana's a top of the rotation guy. I don't think Aybar is anything special. It's not a matter of me loving Ramirez. It's me thinking that it's not a wise deal. If you want to trade Aramis, it has to be in the right kind of deal. Santana & Aybar, IMO, isn't the right deal. It assumes that you can trade for a replacement 3B AND aquire a power hitter in the offseason. I have doubts as to Hendry's ability to do that. If Hendry's here, the safest course of action would be to keep Aramis and build around our current core, which isn't as bad as our record indicates this season. I think we contend more easily with Ramirez, Lee, Z, Prior and Barrett here to add pieces around.

Ramirez agrees to $42 million contract I posted this earlier, but per Bruce Levine today he says Ramirez has reiterated his desire to stay repeatedly over the last 2 weeks.

What character issues did Brownlie have? I remember health issues, but not character. Maybe I'm imagining this, but didn't he holdout and reenter the draft after refusing to sign with someone? He held out for awhile after being drafted by the Cubs and talked about returning to school for his final year of eligibility, but he signed with the Cubs without returning to class. Okay, then I was imagining it. Being on the same sleeping schedule as a 10 day old really messes with your memory! I've got a 9-day old. Congrats! Congrats to you too! Boy or girl? A girl named Bailey. My 2-year-old girl, Eleanor, said the following just today, "I like watching the Cubs." I'm a very happy man... What did you have? A girl. Named Ryan Alicia. I'm a very happy, very tired man. She's our first. :D

What character issues did Brownlie have? I remember health issues, but not character. Maybe I'm imagining this, but didn't he holdout and reenter the draft after refusing to sign with someone? He held out for awhile after being drafted by the Cubs and talked about returning to school for his final year of eligibility, but he signed with the Cubs without returning to class. Okay, then I was imagining it. Being on the same sleeping schedule as a 10 day old really messes with your memory! I've got a 9-day old. Congrats! Congrats to you too! Boy or girl?

What character issues did Brownlie have? I remember health issues, but not character. Maybe I'm imagining this, but didn't he holdout and reenter the draft after refusing to sign with someone? He held out for awhile after being drafted by the Cubs and talked about returning to school for his final year of eligibility, but he signed with the Cubs without returning to class. Okay, then I was imagining it. Being on the same sleeping schedule as a 10 day old really messes with your memory!

What character issues did Brownlie have? I remember health issues, but not character. Maybe I'm imagining this, but didn't he holdout and reenter the draft after refusing to sign with someone?

Well I still have alittle. If the maddux and ramirez trade rumors come to fruition, that IMO is a step in the right direction to fixing the cubs. I'm giving hendry this trade deadline and this offseason to get the Cubs competitive for '07. If he fails. He's lost all respect from me. But the players in the trade rumors are very good players I would love to see on the cubs. I don't think it's a step in the right direction. I think it's a tremendous risk to think our system and coaches can get the best out of any young talent that comes our way. Hopefully it won't be the same coaches next year. We'll see about the ML level coaches. At this point, I'd not be shicked if they were all back. Will it still be the same minor league coaches and GM?

Well I still have alittle. If the maddux and ramirez trade rumors come to fruition, that IMO is a step in the right direction to fixing the cubs. I'm giving hendry this trade deadline and this offseason to get the Cubs competitive for '07. If he fails. He's lost all respect from me. But the players in the trade rumors are very good players I would love to see on the cubs. I don't think it's a step in the right direction. I think it's a tremendous risk to think our system and coaches can get the best out of any young talent that comes our way.

Which means nothing. There are 2 decent offensive players available this winter. There are 2 decent FA pitchers. NY is going to need a pitcher. LA is going to need one. Soriano and Lee are going to be wildly overvalued in that market. There is ZERO guarantee we'd be able to sign one of Zito, Schmidt, Lee or Soriano, and even if we did, niether of Lee or Soriano are better than Ramirez. Zito is okay. Schmidt is so-so, and is an injury risk. And if you were going to overpay one just to make sure you got one, why not overpay to guarantee you keep Ramirez, who's again, better than Lee and Soriano are? Ever heard of trades? Those happen in the off-season as well. IMO I would be happy with this trade. We need good SP NOW!! Add santana to Zambrano, Prior, Marshall, and Marmol and things are looking better. JH is pretty good at trades. And TRADES is the way I think Jim can redeem himself and really improve this team for next year. Yes, I have heard of trades. And looking at Hendry's track record, the best deals he's made we're absorbing salaries of players who's teams didn't want them anymore. And the last decent trade he made was in 2004. And he has very little top quality with which to deal. And thanks to the overpayment for Pierre, we have less depth with which to deal from. So yes, I've heard of trades, and I'm not optimistic that our GM has the ability to do anything of note this winter.