USSoccer

it's getting amputated tomorrow :( Not. Funny.

any updates?

It's nice to see a player put Stone in his proper perspective...

If his injury history continues, he'd be a giant waste of that $8m, especially since he'd be coming into a logjam. This argument against acquiring a better 2B because the Cubs already have three of them doesn't hold up. Logjam? If Vidro is healthy, he's clearly the best 2B on the team. If he is healthy, he is starting. What logjam? Do you mean depth? What better time to acquire a player with Vidro's injury history than when you have great depth at that position to cover for him if he got injured again. Who would you rather have backing up the OF, Grissom or Hairston? I know, I know, neither, right? But given the choice, I would much rather have Hairston due to his ability to get on base, his relative youth and defensive range. If Hendry did trade for Vidro and kept Walker, Hairston would likely move Grissom out of the picture and Walker would be the best left-handed power bat the Cubs have had coming off the bench in years. Who would you rather have to step in for Lee in case of injury, Mabry or Walker? Vidro would also provide a great hitter in the two hole. Pierre Vidro Lee Ramirez Jones Murton Barrett Cedeno is better offensively and defensively than with Walker playing 2B and hitting in the two hole. The bench also improves... Blanco - C Walker - 2B, 1B Perez - SS, 2B Mabry - 3B, 1B, OF Hairston - OF, 2B with a possible 6th spot if Baker goes with a 6-man pen (Grissom, Sing, Restovich?). That bench would give any manager a lot of options to play the optimal match-up against the pitcher and would provide some decent insurance against injury. And as far as the money is concerned, let them spend it. They're roughly 10 million under budget give or take. Money is rarely much of a concern at the trade deadline because there are only two months of salary left to pay. And in case Hendry trades for a really good but expensive position player, the Cubs have some big salaries coming off the books next season (Maddux, Wood, etc.) which will allow them to keep such a player without needing to be under budget at the deadline. So how is trading for Vidro a bad idea? Because the past 2 seasons he's played in 110 and 87 games, respectively, and is coming off of a series of knee injuries, and makes $8m. If the Cubs can get him for the equivalent of Walker's salary, and for a small prospect cost, fine-then it's an appropriate risk/reward level. But if we're taking on all $8m, I'd just as soon save that money in case an impact player becomes available. As good of a player as Vidro was/might still be, he's not the impact player this offense needs.

I think they can still read, but Tim logs the IP's.

If his injury history continues, he'd be a giant waste of that $8m, especially since he'd be coming into a logjam. If Given recent history it's a pretty weighty if.

Then Rubby must have ordered the "hit"

If his injury history continues, he'd be a giant waste of that $8m, especially since he'd be coming into a logjam.

But what good 2B are we going to get for prospects? (Don't say Soriano)

Define "give away". Vidro + half salary for Brownlie + Wellemeyer. Then we'd have potentially 4 2B on the roster, unless you consider Hairston a CF and Neifi the backup SS. I don't know. 4 years ago Jose Vidro would have been a really great aquisition, a great 2 hole hitter. Now, I don't know. Do we really need another potential injury risk on a club already filled with question marks? Maybe if the Nats picked up all but the equivalent of Walker's salary, and then we flip Walker somewhere...but I just have this feeling that we should sit any bidding on Washington's 2B out.

Define "give away".

Yes, he's regarded as the third most important pitcher on the Cubs, but if I had to pick the best of those 3, I'd pick Zambrano. Even if all 3 are healthy Z is probably the best of them...

Since Florida is currently is cost cutting (or saving) mode, I highly doubt that Soriano's contract would appeal to them. $10M for one player would throw quite the monkey wrench into their plan to save in the short-term and stockpile young, cheap talent. And what better to work into their 'cost-cutting' mode than a $2.5 million second baseman? Who could you possibly want in return from Florida for Walker?

God, I had so much fun with Auggie's double play rant...

Yeah... fun... Ponson - 2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP, 1 HR Reyes - 2.1 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB (1 IBB), 0 K, 0 HBP, 1 HR :? Does this make Ponson the heavy favorite for the fifth starter's role? At the very least, he's right in the thick of things. So you're saying he has more than a FAT chance at making the squad? I'm sure the decision will WEIGH on LaRussa HEAVILY.

Has anyone but Baker been quoted on Wood's status?

Nice to see Jones getting hits off of leftys, even if it is just ST. Sing doing good things as well. Welley is done, though. Too bad.

I think the frequent use out of the pen would be worse that starting every 5 days, but I'd be happy if we could get him pitching, period.

He was probably a top ten pitcher those seasons, but we're talking now. You think he'll ever return anywhere close to that form? I never said he sucks, but I think he's average at this point. I think the 2003 workload might have permanently wrecked his chances to ever be a "great" pitcher, but he is still young enough to be very good. I don't know if his conditioning is lacking, or his diet, or what, but he's going to have to find a way to stay healthy, especially considering he's pitched the equivalent of 1 season the past 2 years. Something has to give with him. This is his contract year, so he has to do *something*, else I can't fathom how anyone would offer him any kind of contract. It's frustrating as heck, though, because since we didn't strengthen the offense, we have to have our starters be top 5 to content. Of course, with our luck, whoever gets him next will get a run of great health, and he'll win 100 games or something.

Injury prone, yeah. Average, no. There's a difference between being bad, and just being injury prone. Kerry is injury prone, but not near "bad". BTW, how's Ben Sheets' latest rehab going? :wink: Im not saying Kerry Wood is a bad pitcher i'm saying at this point he's average. Maybe that's due to all the injuries, but the last two years have been pretty average. Even in his best years ('01 and '03) he was only 8th and 9th in the league in era. Every year he's been in the top ten in K's he's also been in the top ten in BB. I don't think after all his injuries he can ever return to that 03 form, therefore I think of his as an average pitcher. Ben Sheet's rehab is going well, no set backs yet. He's on pace to start opening day for the 5th straight year. First ST game for him tomorrow. Only 8th and 9th in the league, eh? Out of how many starters? And that's not even factoring in BAA, WHIP, K/9ip... I'd say he's decidedly above average. Oh, for a bit of health!

Injury prone, yeah. Average, no. There's a difference between being bad, and just being injury prone. Kerry is injury prone, but not near "bad". BTW, how's Ben Sheets' latest rehab going? :wink:

I don't see how it could be, but even if it is, it's not like the Cubs would file an insurance claim and waive him...

Yep, I tend to agree with him on most of the points. Also, your link took me to another article. here's my link to the same article if anyone else has trouble http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=360511&root=us&cc=5901 Whoops! I must have been clicking about and messed up. Have you been readin the articles where Arena gets angry at the European press for continually asking him about Adu? Classic stuff, really.

On XM 175, they said this sets him back 4-6 weeks. The earliest we'll have Wood back is late May. That's if he has no complications with the knee and that once he is through rehabbing the knee, he suffers no set backs in his throwing program. He won't be able to begin throwing again until early to mid April and then still has to get his arm back in shape. So remember when we noticed that the Cubs had a glut of potential starting pitchers, and we wondered why? Prior, Z, Maddux, Rusch, Hill, Williams, Guzman, Miller... I really think there's more to this than just the surface explanation.

Good article breaking down why the US struggled against Poland: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=360503&cc=5901 It's funny how he echoes a complaint I have had against Reyna for a long time. Also, he touches on this discussion of where to play Donovan.