davell

Nah, I wrote that for 2012. I'd expect this upcoming year he'll be in the 6-6.5 range.

I would not barf a fart yet, apparently nobody else has picked up on this "significant move". Kotsay will not get a 2 mil deal. I'm perfectly fine with giving him the "Chad Tracy" treatment. But anything more than that is dumb as hell.

Yeah, I know other teams get guys out of there, but I was thinking any relatively larger bonus has been given out by the Cubs over the last 2-3 years. I could be mistaken on that though.

They've got a better, younger, cheaper guy to replace him with in Hellickson? Even more reason why they would be motivated to get less in return for Garza. Not only did the Rays need to move Garza because of his salary doubling, but they already had his replacement waiting in the wings. I think Hendry got played. But, everything I had read said they wanted to cut their payroll this year from the 72ish area down to 50 mill or so. By losing Pena, Crawford, Burrell and Soriano, they had pretty much already accomplished that. Then they traded away Bartlett too. Plus, they lost Navarro, Wheeler, and probably Balfour too. I'm on Cot's while posting this and looking at their payroll obligations is getting pretty funny. At this point, they've turned themselves into the Marlins basically, back when they had a 30 million dollar payroll or less. They're rotation next year(Price, Niemann, Davis, Shields, Hellickson) will be making 9 mill total or so. No clue what they're going to do in the pen-but looking at who've they got, it's going to be less than 5 mill as well. Then, their everyday lineup, including Upton, Longoria, Jennings, Brignac, Rodriguez, Zobrist, and Jaso won't cost them but around 14 mill or so. It looks like they're going to cut their payroll in HALF to me. If I was a Rays fan(not even sure they exist) I'd be pissed as hell, considering how close they could be to contending. You don't think they contend with that team?! I would be ecstatic as a Rays fan Oh, I think they can. But, it's going to be much tougher now that Boston has amped their team up as much as they did this offseason. But, what I would be pissed about is the fact that they SHOULD be looking to add pieces that can put them over the top. Instead, they've done nothing of the sort.

Now this would actually get me pissed. 2 mill for him? That money SHOULD go towards restocking your system some. If this is true, it's a typical Hendry MO.......Waste money on a guy you can get the production out of for alot cheaper and probably from your system to boot.

They've got a better, younger, cheaper guy to replace him with in Hellickson? Even more reason why they would be motivated to get less in return for Garza. Not only did the Rays need to move Garza because of his salary doubling, but they already had his replacement waiting in the wings. I think Hendry got played. But, everything I had read said they wanted to cut their payroll this year from the 72ish area down to 50 mill or so. By losing Pena, Crawford, Burrell and Soriano, they had pretty much already accomplished that. Then they traded away Bartlett too. Plus, they lost Navarro, Wheeler, and probably Balfour too. I'm on Cot's while posting this and looking at their payroll obligations is getting pretty funny. At this point, they've turned themselves into the Marlins basically, back when they had a 30 million dollar payroll or less. They're rotation next year(Price, Niemann, Davis, Shields, Hellickson) will be making 9 mill total or so. No clue what they're going to do in the pen-but looking at who've they got, it's going to be less than 5 mill as well. Then, their everyday lineup, including Upton, Longoria, Jennings, Brignac, Rodriguez, Zobrist, and Jaso won't cost them but around 14 mill or so. It looks like they're going to cut their payroll in HALF to me. If I was a Rays fan(not even sure they exist) I'd be pissed as hell, considering how close they could be to contending.

They've got a better, younger, cheaper guy to replace him with in Hellickson?

2012 Roster C Soto(2ND year arb) GUESS-6.5MILL 1B 2B DeWitt(1st year arb) GUESS-2.5MILL SS Castro 3B LF Soriano-18 mill CF Byrd- 6.5 mill RF Colvin SP Zambrano-17.875 mill Dempster-15 mill Garza- 3rd year arb GUESS 10MILL Cashner RP Marmol- 3rd year arb GUESS 9MILL Marshall- 3rd year arb GUESS 3.5MILL Other money to be paid out Silva 2mill Ramirez- 2mill Pena- 5mill Altogether, that's a tad over 97 mill. Our current payroll projects to be right around 130. Which leaves us some room for possible optimism in the future anyway. Yes, we'll need a new corner infield. My guess is the Cubs HOPE Vitters is ready by then, but I don't see it happening and we certainly can't count on that for sure. But, you can find a stopgap, if you're the Cubs and still think he's eventually going to be the answer. You may need a SP, but you have McNutt/Coleman/Carpenter/Jay Jackson and as a group, one of them SHOULD be able to slide into the 5th spot by 2012. You need some bullpen help, but some of those guys will fill some slots and you can probably count on Wood being back again, assuming he's healthy enough to pitch. You also have Brett Jackson coming soon and it's likely he'll be starting by that point. The only question is whether it's because we've traded Byrd, Soriano's hurt or Colvin has proven he can't be a starter. Basically, alot of slots can be filled cheaply and we should be able to go add a true impact guy at 1B by then.

You're also not as big a fan of Archer and Lee as I am as well. This may work out, I just don't like the package we had to give up. If we're going to give up two of our highest rated prospects, I'd like to see us get a guy more clearly an elite performer than Garza has been. My only question with the trade is whether this package (or slightly better) would have put us in the running for Adrian Gonzalez. Of course, there's the huge difference in future dollar commitment to take into consideration, as well. Yeah, but we're going to need a bigtime run producer, no matter what. And if Fielder makes to FA next year, he'll definitely be rumored to be on our list. With the money coming off our books next year, we'll have enough to get him(or A-GON if we had traded for him). My guess is they looked at it as Fielder/Garza>A-GON/Any FA SP from next year's class.

Unless Pena has an unbelievable year, I can't see the Cubs offering arb to him, in fear he'd accept. If the Cubs miss out on Fielder or whoever next offseason though, they may not have much of a choice, but to keep him anyway. As far as Dempster goes, I can't see him leaving here early. It's his option, not the Cubs. In fact, part of me is worried we'll give him an extra year or two on top of that. As far as the Pac Rim goes, I'm waiting to see where the Boras client(Sung Hyuk Han) is going to sign. To me, he's a "must get" for us. We get anyone of importance over there as it is, so we better land him, even if he's going to cost quite a bit more than what we're used to paying out for Int FA's.

I think he's banking on the 49ers sucking next year and then reuniting with Harbaugh.

I was looking through our system last night and thought we needed to go hitting heavy in this upcoming draft. Losing Lee, Guyer, and Chirinos makes me think is a true necessity now. I know Archer is the top guy, but we've still got plenty of intriguing arms. You move past Brett and Vitters and our system is pathetic as far as hitting goes, unless Golden comes through and even if he does, it's still weak as hell. If one of the bigtime pitchers is there for us in the 1st, I think you have to take them. And that's where the strength of this draft is at. But, after the 1st round, I can honestly say I hope we take hitting with maybe 8 of our next 9 picks.

Do we even know if Silva's been cleared to pitch yet? I don't think he's going to be a factor whatsoever for us this upcoming season, nor do I think he's tradeable.

Yeah, I usually respect what Law says, but Cashner out of the pen is a positive for the Cubs? That's laughable. It's also not appearing to be true either.

Jones, Dareus, and Ingram are all in.

Yeah, we need a hell of an IFA period and draft in order for this system to replenish what we lost. Of course, we could still wind up as sellers at the deadline, helping this cause out as well.

I definitely think we gave up too much here. But, you get a proven commodity(3ish type starter anyway) with some solid upside left in him for a guy who's blocked(Lee), 2 bench guys who will be useful(Chirinos and Guyer) and a possible stud(Archer) that at least we have depth to replace(Cashner, Carpenter, Jay Jackson, McNutt). Not ALL of those guys are going to pan out obviously. The only real hope is we've dealt one of them that won't.

And some poet named Perez!!!!!! And some other guy who's not significant, but hasn't been named yet either. But yes. It's a deal.

In the end, I think Hendry held out as long as possible on including Archer. Probably wanted Carpenter or Jay Jackson in that spot, but Friedman held out and eventually got who he wanted out of Hendry.

No idea how the Silva thing plays out, but if he's got heart issues and misses all of 2011, the Cubs at 6 mill(and Mariners as well, since they pay 5.5 mill in 2011) could receive their money back through insurance claims on him.

From all indications, Cashner is going to get a shot at the rotation.

Calis says 3rd player we're getting back not significant either. Wonder if this means we're going to trade Gorzelanny now?

Heyman mentioned that it was yet to be determined. No idea if he means a PTBNL or if he means we're still deciding between a couple of guys that will be determined today.

I'm pretty sure he made Tampa's top 30 list last year. He's probably our 4th OFer, with our current roster. Should have said 5th OFer, keep forgetting we still have Fukudome.

I'm pretty sure he made Tampa's top 30 list last year. He's probably our 4th OFer, with our current roster.