USSoccer

I really think Weaver is undervalued and gets a reasonable deal.

Good work listing all the various links, but I bet this goes through in the next few days, and then Hendry starts focusing on Tejada and a starting pitcher. You must have some inside info working for the oganization to know he will start working on Tejada and a SP. How do you know that? Pipe dreams if you ask me Actually, I happen to also think he'll try and sign or otherwise find another starter, if for no other reason than after this season our rotation is losing 2 of the guys in it.

I don't think too many people are surprised, just disgusted. Disgusted is an over- reaction. They have no idea what JJ will do in a Cubs uniform. I would have never guessed & most baseball people I have spoken to, would have never guessed that D.Lee would turn into Pujols in 05'. I'm willing to see it play out, before I completely chastise Hendry & Cubs management. This is why grading teams & GM's on their off-season is absolutely ridiculous. You know, maybe i'm just overtired, but I cannot understand how Hendry and the Cubs could sign a homeless guy off the street to play RF and people will say "you never know how it will work out". That's junk. At least Lee had the peripherals showing some sort of statistical bounce when he left Pro Player and came to Wrigley. Jones is bloody awful. Just terrible. Look at any metric you want. His BA sucks, his OBP super sucks, he K's too much, he's barely a 20 HR a year guy, he doesn't steal, his defense is inferior to Patterson's, and he doesn't deserve more than 1 year deal for about $4.5 m. AND to top it off, we're putting him with a coaching staff that will do nothing to get him to be more patient. So yeah, I don't need to "wait and see" how this turns out. I knew how Burnitz turned out, and this is going to be worse than that, for a couple extra years. Hooray.

The fact that Jones will likely be batting between our 2 best hitters makes it a nice 1-2 kick in the groin.

I don't think too many people are surprised, just disgusted. Echoed. I think people saw this coming. But that doesn't change the fact that Jones sucks in nearly every aspect of baseball, giving him multiple years would be like blowing a hole in the bottom of a boat, and that Hendry should have done a much better job in preventing this from being a viable option.

The Astros might also be willing to part with Lidge in a deal for Abreu which trumps anything we'd be willing to offer. That's what I was thinking, too.

nice deal for the rangers. Very nice deal. Otsuka is a good reliever.

Let me try and make myself clear. Jeff Conine shouldn't even be an option. He is not an option. You cannot even consider him. If the only other "option" is Jacque Jones for multiple years, at multiple millions of dollars...I completely disagree The trouble with that line of thinking is that you still have Encarnacion and Wilson as much better options for RF if you choose to go the FA route. Not that they're great or anything, but they are all better than Conine, who would be a okay bench player on a normally managed team.

Sure as hell won't tick off me. I'd rather go for broke and trade for an impact player than tread water and be in a position to count on luck and health for us to contend. If that means we gut the minors to a point, so be it. This window of opportunity the Cubs have has maybe 2 or 3 more years in it anyway. It's not 2002 anymore.

If Hendry lands Abreu or Tejada (for Hill or Guzman + Williams+ prospect) the only people ripping Hendry will be the village contrarians who feel the need to play martyr. That's a huge IF. Huff, Dunn, Abreu, Tejada, etc. have a lot bigger price tags than what we'd like. Same goes for top tier free agents either they're way too expensive or prefer to stay in San Diego. At this point the level of criticism will depend on how Hendry handles the lack of options out there. If he decides to make the best of it, minimize the risk and sign Wilson to a 1 yr deal, then the criticism will be muted when it comes to that move, but the criticism will shift to why we ended up with the best of a terrible group of FA options. And it's Hendry's job to plan ahead to make sure he doesn't put himself and the club in a spot where he's forced to overpay for someone as bad as Jones, or get bled for prospects for a player like Aubrey Huff. If you've put yourself in a spot where your free agent RF options are Jones, Encarnacion and Wilson, and you can't trade for someone better for whatever reason, you do the responsible thing and sign whichever one will take the cheapest deal in term of years and money. Minimize your risk. Look to upgrade in June or July. Strengthen the starting rotation to the point here it's a lock to be good. Signing one of them for more than year would be a stupid long term move.

I think I would too, but only if we knew we could sign Weaver or Millwood.

Uproot from what? Even you know there are plenty of doctors, flights to Chicago and nice areas in the VA. and MD. countryside for the Woods to live in from April-Sept. $12 million+ for a potential #1-2. HA!! Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I'm done arguing with you about Kerry Wood and his merits, but I will say that it's tough to get a pregnant wife to agree to do anything, let alone relocate where you live half the year :P And FYI, I am aware that the Woods live in AZ

Would you uproot your pregnant wife and move her 900 miles away from home when you're already a very rich man?

As always, your presence is most welcome!

Sigh. I will. Kerry Wood and his wife (from Waukegan, IL) are expecting their first child. Kerry Wood makes $12m/yr. Kerry Wood is coming off of shoulder surgery, and may or may not be ready to go at the start of the season. And finally, Kerry Wood has a full NTC. Thusly, it is hard to imagine a player on the Cubs with less trade value right now, or with less reason to uproot his family to go to Washington DC of all places. In conclusion, reporters everywhere show stunning laziness when it comes to doing background work on Kerry Wood. As far as the substance of the spahgetti thrown against the wall, Vidro and Church for Wood is, in theory, a fairish deal. You get a player with major injury concerns and a big contract and a young corner OF guy for a potential #1-2 starter in the final year of the contract. So, in the alternate universe that this deal might be legit in, it's not a terrible deal.

I don't think I can understate how sad, and handicapping it is, to have to Dusty-proof a team. You literally cannot have a good veteran bench (probably the place veterans are most useful) if you have young regulars. You just can't. IT makes the formulation of a solid team so difficult. Agreed. It just compounds nearly every decision Hendry can make since Baker can't be trusted with any veteran players who still have the possibility of playing everyday. Note John Mabry. He had to sign a guy that was maybe the 4th or 5th best option, possibly because he hasn't been an everyday player in 10 years and thus Dusty would have much less temptation to use him.

I would take Reggie Sanders and run away laughing. He's a decent corner OF. Unfortunatly, Hendry probably found some obscure "he has the highest SLG% of guys that hit under .250 during day games in August and September" to justify thinking that Jones is worth more than a ham sandwich. He's awful, and if we sign him, he'll be awful between our best hitters, neutering the lineup every day.

Why do people insist upon taking a contrarian position no matter what the specific criticism of the Cubs, or Hendry? I posted this earlier, but it bears repeating-contacts and decisions on who is signed and retained can be fairly questioned and defended, some more than other. However, the decision to take a guy who needed surgery and waste a month when -the team was 4.5 back behind 6 other teams -he was going to give us 1 inning every 3 days out of the pen -The guy in question is one of your best SP when healthy was inexcusable no matter what logic you use. A setup guy was not going to take the Cubs from a .500 team and magically change them into a contender. Hendry, Baker, O'Neal and to a lesser extent MacPhail should have known better, and one of them should have stopped it. Instead, they deluded themselves into thinking that the team they saw after 110 games would be different than the one they would see after 135. That month is valuable, especially when you consider the past, recent history with Wood, our pitchers in general, and their collective extended rehabs. It was a stupid, ignorant and indefensible position, and defending the decision is nothing more than being contrarian for the sake of it. Even posters who are normally Hendry defenders should concede this single point, as it is without any question a move without a legit defense.

I'm more concerned with Dusty underplaying Cedeno than with him underplaying Murton.

Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, Mark Grudzelaniek,Eric Karros Juan Pierre, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, Matt Clement, Moises Alou, Michael Barrett, Ryan Dempster,Jerome Williams, Matt Murton! Oh the pain!!! Jim you shouldn't have! How dare you!!! TBCF, the point is that someone who's bright enough to at least take advantage of when guys like Aramis and Derrek are available shouldn't be as prone to making absolutely baffling decisions as often as he does. Also, the contracts given out to certain players, decisions to bring back others-those are all debatable, some more than others. However, delaying Wood's surgery to have him pitch relief in meaningless games is a decision with truly no defense.

For that alone Hendry, Baker, and Rothschild should be fired. Agreed. Bunch of fools. They have no clue. If no one brings this up at the Q&A at the convention, I will be convinced the questions are pre screened to the point of uselessness. If one of the NSBB'rs bring this up at the Q&A, and bring it up in a way that frames the question in such a way as to leave them no wiggle room out of explaining their idiocy, I will send them $50. what if i do it at the cubs caravan stop in peoria? im being serious If you can provide proof of the question, the non-answer, and photos of security hustling you out of the building, then you got it. But it's a first-come, first serve offer. Whoever pulls it off first gets it. I seriously want to see someone call the braintrust out for something.

For that alone Hendry, Baker, and Rothschild should be fired. Agreed. Bunch of fools. They have no clue. If no one brings this up at the Q&A at the convention, I will be convinced the questions are pre screened to the point of uselessness. If one of the NSBB'rs bring this up at the Q&A, and bring it up in a way that frames the question in such a way as to leave them no wiggle room out of explaining their idiocy, I will send them $50.

Doubt it. It's been reported that Boston has asked about Jeremy Reed and Coco Crisp, though. If Damon signs elsewhere, Boston would apparently be willing to deal either Clement or Arroyo for a CF. Also, if Aramis "is entering what should be a prime just as good as the prime Manny is leaving," that will mean that Aramis, like Manny, is one of the 10 best right-handed hitters of all time. Let's hope that's true. I don't have any doubts about Aramis's ability. I really, really think he has a chance to win an MVP award before this next contract is up.

I think you are misinterpreting the position of at least some of us. It isn't that we think he can bring that much more in a trade. It is that we think he has that much more potential value to the Cubs. People do recover from injuries. Guzman's recovery time from shoulder surgery really isn't that unusual. I can understand the argument to ship him out. I just don't agree with it for a player like Huff, who is in the last year of his deal and has major questions of his own. I think that's perfectly put.

I understand where you are coming from. But this isn't the deal that will hurt the team. Letting Sisco go and trading 3 arms for Pierre hurt more. Unfortunately, the Cubs are at the point where they have no choice but to trade pitching if they want to finish outside of 5th place in the NL Central. I'd rather NOT have Jacque Jones in RF. And the only way that or a similar move doesn't happen is if the Cubs trade their pitching prospects. For the 2nd year in a row, Hendry has backed himself in a corner in getting a RF. Juan Encarnacion 3 year stats: .265 .320 .434 .754 Aubrey Huff 3 year: .290 .350 .494 .844 Preston Wilson: .268 .332 .487 .819 J. Jones: .268 .322 .443 .765 You're probably right.