davell

He's done a very nice job with some of our minor league arms. He's probably deserving of the promotion honestly. But, part of me wishes he was still working on the minor league side of things, since he's done well there.

I just don't want to be in a situation where our payroll can get to $140m one year, so our payroll is at 138 mil, then we need to aquire a SP at the deadline, so the payroll goes up to $145, then we need to resign our 3B, so now it's up to $150. And then all the sudden we are spending more than intended, and become the Florida Marlins for the next 3 years while we wait for our payroll to go down. I wouldnt mind a $120 million payroll if we knew with a contending team we could go up to $140. Or I guess the best solution is to hire a GM that can plan for stuff like this ahead of time so that we don't have to wait 3 years for all the big contracts to start coming off the books. There's no reason why a reasonable budget and long range planning can't solve that situation without having to dip down to $110m, ever. Next year, we will have 80ish mill committed to the following team C SOTO 1B 2B DEWITT SS CASTRO 3B LF SORIANO CF BYRD RF COLVIN SP ZAMBRANO DEMPSTER WELLS GORZELANNY RP MARMOL CASHNER MARSHALL We'll also have plenty of youngsters who could be ready to contribute by then as well. So unless you can sign an ace and a bigtime 1B next offseason as FA(AGON isn't going to hit the market now and I seriously doubt Pujols does, leaving Fielder as the only real option at 1B and there are ZERO aces turning FA next offseason, unless CC opts out or Carpenter and Oswalt don't have their options picked up) there is no reason whatsoever to go out and spend unnecessarily just to keep your payroll at a certain level. I'd much rather spend whatever is left over on our system. And then spend on FA when the needs and the available players are actually a match.

I think everyone is at least a little bit frustrated by the lack of activity. But, in a year where it's obvious that we have little to no money to spend whatsoever, what do you want or expect him to do? Sure, trading for A-GON would have been great, but Hoyer may have just felt more comfortable dealing for guys he already knew more about. Hendry is bargain shopping this offseason. And you don't find those at the beginning of FA. You wait until teams have their needs filled and see what's left over. Sometimes, it works out great, sometimes it doesn't. But, that's the position Hendry has put himself in at the moment and anyone expecting rabbits to be pulled out of a hat here are going to be sorely disappointed.

I have a major issue with that. First, there's no reason why it should drop that far. Second, that will result in a very painful couple of seasons and no ability to go out of the system to get impact players for at least a few years. Could not agree more. If the Cubs HAD to keep their budget at that range, OK, fine, it's more than workable, but ultimately they don't. In the end this is a team that makes ungodly amounts of money, especially when they have even the slightest bit of sustained success. I should probably backtrack a tad here. Especially since Ricketts has said 2010 was a profitable year for the Cubs. I don't mean to KEEP it there forever, not by any stretch. But, if 2012-2013 we were around that number(and spending tons on player development in the process) I wouldn't have an issue with it. Reasoning it out, if the Cubs have a bunch of good, young cheap guys, the payroll WILL drop some, unless the Cubs go out and "spend, just to spend" and add on some more burdensome contracts in the process. Even the Red Sox payroll dropped a decent amount for a year or two, before heading back skyward in 2010.

That's the thing: No one can answer that without it being a guess. My thinking is Ricketts doesn't want to do something like this, because of the slight possibility of extreme backlash from the fans. In other words, I don't think he'd give the fans nearly enough credit for understanding what's going on with the team. I'm all for it. Pick a direction and go: All in right now or build for 2-3 years from now. Just don't half-ass it anymore like you're doing currently.

Yeah, I don't realistically have an issue if our payroll dropped to the 110 range. You can build an excellent ballclub with that. But, as others have already said, I DO have a serious problem with Hendry being the one to try to do it.

Cubs plan to sell a mediocre team as much more 1. Sign a stopgap 1B that fans can look at his best seasons and dream that'l replicate them here. Carlos Pena, come on down. 2. Sign Brandon Webb. Cub fans can dream about him winning a Cy Young award for the Cubs in 2011. 3. Sell the fans on the youth movement(ie Castro, Colvin, Cashner, Coleman, Archer, Brett Jackson, Carpenter, and Jay Jackson. Along with anyone else they may rush to get up here. But, the key is selling these guys(some rightfully so, as the future of the Cubs) 4. Sell the Cubs that Aramis will be back and better than ever in 2011. 5. Sell the fans on Z "turning the corner" and will be dominant all year next season. 6. Most importantly, sell the fans that Quade made a huge difference last year, as his 24-13 record PROVES that, beyond a shadow of a doubt. And voila, there's our contending 2011 Chicago Cubs, according to Ricketts and Co.

Davis, almost without question. Houston just dealt for Wallace last year and won't be ready to trade him for a bag of balls. He's their "answer" at 1B and I'd be shocked if he doesn't get at least one full season as a starter in the majors to prove what he is or isn't for them.

Yeah, I have zero interest in Wallace.

Yeah, that's my thinking towards him. His career window is likely relatively short enough as it is, and with the Cubs seemingly going with the rebuilding route for the foreseeable future, it really seems like Soto's value to the team would come more from the nice prospects package he could net them in a trade sooner rather than later. That's the problem with this half assed approach they appear to be using. If they are going to tank 2011, at least do it in a way to significantly improve your chances for 2012-2013. There's no point in wasting things like Marmol/Soto/Casto's still affordable seasons while waiting for other contracts to leave. By the time they can afford others they will be offering big raises to new guys and still won't be able to go after the big time free agents. Don't pay somebody to take Fukudome. Deal Wells, Marmol, Byrd, Colvin and maybe even Soto. Take your lumps now instead of prolonging them for the next 3 years. Totally agree. I'd add Gorzelanny to that list, too. I agree as well. But, I wonder if Ricketts isn't more concerned with public perception and losing money from a lack of ticket sales by using this approach. He grew up in an era of where the Cubs losing, but being a middle of the road team was par for the course. He knows(or thinks anyway, because I'm not so sure at this point) that Cub fans will settle for this. And he'll still be able to pocket tons of money from a fan base accustomed to losing, as long as they have a sliver of hope. A firesale would take that sliver away and he's probably wondering if he could get away with it. He grew up with the half-ass approach era and is probably going to continue right along with it, because while it's definitely not a winning formula for fans, it probably is for him being an owner.

I honestly don't think that if the Yankees had actually given Jeter 6/200, it would affect anything else they want to do. Must be nice.

I'd guess the Cubs didn't want to trade for and then sign the guy, and only got involved late when they realized a deal was going to happen with somebody. They also might just want their name out there on big guys while settling for the mediocre 3rd tier guys they were after from the start. I agree on both of those points. Which is really disheartening considering all the money coming off the books next year. I'm really starting to think we're going to settle into a payroll around 100-110 mill longterm. Which would make AZPhil's comment about Ricketts wanting to run us like the Twins is much more accurate than being ran like the Red Sox.

Both Stark and Heyman have recently tweeted that the White Sox were who the Red Sox were concerned about. We got involved late evidently, which pisses me off if true, as we should have been involved all along. Not to mention the fact that there's no package the White Sox could offer that we couldn't have trumped rather easily......

Someone within the Dodgers has already shot this down, saying it'd be too expensive to go out and replace him on the FA market. Kind of makes sense from their standpoint really. Unless they'd prefer Pena(for more money) over Loney.

What sucks is this: Soto's best years are going to be wasted by us. Having a C in his prime and not being paid big money at that time is a humongous asset to have. I wish we had the pieces to surround him with right now, but we don't and evidently we can't afford to go get them. Next year, with over 40 mill coming off the books(but a very weak FA class) I guess it's POSSIBLE we could make some noise and give him some solid help. But, with his age and his past weight issues, it's really going to be tricky with him. His 3 arb years are more than enough for me, as far as keeping him goes. I wouldn't want to be the team that gives him a 3-4 year deal at THAT point, that's for sure. I hate the thought of trading away an asset like this.(much moreso than dealing Marmol anyway). But, if we got back enough, I'd do it. But, it won't happen, as we're not going to go into "full-rebuild mode, even if it'd probably help us out longterm.

Most likely Peoria, assuming he has a solid ST.

Loney sounds like the perfect guy for Hendry. Youngish, left handed, flashes of power, excellent defensively. To me, he's just a guy. But, I can see Hendry thinking of this as a major coup.

Sickel's list is out...... 1 BRETT JACKSON B+ 2 TREY MCNUTT B+ 3 CHRIS ARCHER B+ 4 HAK JU LEE B 5 CHRIS CARPENTER B 6 JAY JACKSON B 7 HAYDEN SIMPSON B- 8 BRANDON GUYER B- 9 REGGIE GOLDEN B- 10 JOSH VITTERS C+ 11 ROBINSON LOPEZ C+ 12 AUSTIN REED C+ 13 ALBERTO CABRERA C+ 14 MARQUEZ SMITH C+ 15 ROBINSON CHIRINOS C+ 16 DJ LEMAHIEU C+ 17 RAFAEL DOLIS C+ 18 BRETT WALLACH C+ 19 BROOKS RALEY C+ 20 SU MIN JUNG C+ 21 AUSTIN KIRK C+ 22 JIN YEOUNG KIM C+

Yes. That's exactly why this was beyond dumb on pretty much all levels.

Yep. I think you could even put us and the Soriano deal into this category as well. But, the bad thing here is this WILL affect the rest of this market, in all likelihood.

HAHA this better not be true. There should be no hesitance in doing any deal involving Colvin for a much better well established player. Colvin is far far far from being someone Hendry is scared to deal. Come on Sweet. We won't trade them anyone considered good. That'll get A-GON here for sure. Maybe Jimbo's holding out for Hoyer to accept that Fukudome for A=GON swap........

As a FA signing, a bigtime player is almost always going to get more than he's worth. I'm not sure I'd give him 8/160, but he's elite. No doubt about that and his stats would look better if he gets away from Petco and gets some protection around him. I have a feeling the Red Sox were thinking more of a Ryan Howard 5/125 type deal than a 8/180 Texeira type. I'm pretty shocked though, if this actually does fall through. They certainly had to have an idea of what he wanted before he was even dealt to begin with. Or you would think so anyway.

Not to mention, they're probably still going to get one of Werth or Crawford as well.

I seriously wonder if we could have afforded the 8 mill it took to get Berkman. Pena, Laroche, Johnson, Overbay, and Davis appear to be the beautiful options for us at this point.

Butler would not be the worst option and its possible his HR totals could reach the low to mid 20's. He is young and has a great bat, possbily with hitting him between Ramirez and Soriano (whoever hits 5th) could be beneficial for him. He'd be the perfect project for Jaramillo. He hits a ton of doubles, and is a big guy, so it's not out of the question he could hit around 30 homers. Why on Earth would the Royals want to trade Billy Butler? He's not some ruined failed prospect who needs a change of scenery, he's actually good and he's still well below his prime and he's entering his 1st year of arbitration so he's going to still be affordable for the Royals. They have no reason to trade him The reason they can deal him is because they have Eric Hosmer waiting in the wings. They also have Mike Moustakos on the other side of the diamond coming up at the same time. And TONS of pitching. It makes sense to trade Butler and add something else that they may need in order to make a bonafide run in a few seasons. And they'd get more for Butler now than in the future.