b_wiggy_66

Muskat is clueless. THis is a good signing if Lou uses Floyd off the bench and when someone needs a rest. I have heard nothing but praise from both Hendry and Lou all off-season about Murton. I think even if Floyd is named starter, Murtons play will keep him in the lineup.

That stats stringer job would be pretty cool. Get to watch baseball and get paid. Nice!!

As long as Murton still gets his AB's and and starting spot I am in favor of this deal. If Lou does this right and uses them like the paper says, it will be putting our best players on the field.

Z's agent is Barry Praver. I also like the idea of a front loaded contract. Why not just reverse the money amounts on Zito's contract and call it a day. Good I thought maybe it was Boras

Where's Guzman? Is he no longer considered a prospect?

Who is Zambrano's agent? Also, I like the idea of a balanced or slightly front-loaded contract.

I like the idea as long as Theriot can show that he can play CF. His bat will be good in the lineup and they could bat him in the 2 spot if he batted like he did last year.

I like both ideas. If Thames comes Soriano would have to move to CF most likely. If Figgins comes he could play CF or if Pie impresses Figgins could be our super-sub. Figgins brings someone who would bat in the 2 spot most likely while Thames would bat lower with the power he has. I like Figgins better out of the two.

Players always get some sort of increase. I don't even think you can make less than before

It is imperative the Hendry re-signs Z this spring. This is from Olney's latest blog post: "If he were to opt for free agency next fall, he would be the focus of the biggest bidding war for a pitcher in baseball history. The Red Sox might be looking to replace Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield, the Yankees will have tons of money to spend with Randy Johnson and others set to drop off their payroll, and the Mets will still need a frontline-type starter. All of the big-market teams will be in play, plus the Cubs" Could be the biggest pitcher contract ever. We need to give Z whatever he wants before the season starts.

Wow! That is huge money for a #2 starter at best. Hendry should have re-signed big Z before this contract the price on him just went up to about this kind of money. I don't think we'll get a home town discount either. It will be amazing to see how much Santana gets when he becomes a FA. I bet the Yanks give him about 8 years $160mil.

Hail to the Victors baby!!!

Which contract for the player would you have rather seen for the Cubs?

Pointless discussion since it will be Izzy/DeRosa unless they get injured

Read the second sentence on this http://tinyurl.com/yllvyp which was on the first post.

I don't like this deal at all. Murton is our most promising OF and has the most consistent contact bat on the team. I am sick of us not letting young guys play. This is similar to bringing back Hollandsworth to platoon with Dubois. Granted they both stunk, but they had to trot out crappy Hollandsworth all the time. Let the young guys play.

Michael Young will be out there too. Either of them would be great pick-ups.

"Piniella says he's leaning toward either Izturis or DeRosa in the No. 2 hole. That's what Spring Training is for. Izturis has a career .249 (150-for-603) average in 152 games in the No. 2 spot with 29 doubles, five triples, two homers and 51 RBIs. DeRosa has a career .272 average (82-for-301) batting second with 18 doubles, one triple, and seven home runs." Dusty who?

Yeah, we fixed that problem. :D Okay, back on topic. Going back to my post where I quoted all the Rotoworld excepts on Ryan Church since December, what would be a fair offer for Ryan Church, and is he worth what it would cost? And finally, will Washington continue playing hardball, or will their demands come down the longer he isn't traded. (Using what Bruce Miles has heard through the grapevine as gospel that they are asking for the moon). I don't blame the Nats GM for asking for the "moon", you never know what you might get. The question is: is he willing to deal? My guess is yes, but after all the FAs have signed. At this point if I'm Hendry, I'd try to make nice with JJ. He's the best option. It still seems like their serious about Pie this spring.

Wow, some thread this turned into. I don't really have any stats to back this up but this is starting to get a little annoying. :wink:

I'm not the biggest Izturis fan, but if you look at him at 26 he compares similar to Omar Vizquel when he was that age. Vizquel had similar type numbers and eventually developed into a solid hitter. If you get the chance look at their stats from early in their careers. Lets see if Izturis will develop more, he is still young. Hopefully he will be one of Gerald Perry's new projects. Working on OBP. Izturis can't stay healthy. He's been on the DL with hamstring and back problems and has a surgically repaired arthritic elbow. If he couldn't keep his back and hamstrings loose in southern California I don't see him being able to do it in Chicago. I guess since I know he's staying at SS this year I'm trying to put an optimistic view on it. I don't really like him, but if hes gonna stay I at least think that he might be good. Oh no, my biggest fear ever. I'm turning into the ever optimistic Cubs fan. :x

Gross is worse than Jones. He batted .095 against lefties last year. Yuck. I would much rather keep Jones. I hadnt looked at his splits...but that was only 21 AB's Oops I read it wrong too. I thought it said 121 AB's so I guess you can't read to much into that.

Gross is worse than Jones. He batted .095 against lefties last year. Yuck. I would much rather keep Jones.

I'm not the biggest Izturis fan, but if you look at him at 26 he compares similar to Omar Vizquel when he was that age. Vizquel had similar type numbers and eventually developed into a solid hitter. If you get the chance look at their stats from early in their careers. Lets see if Izturis will develop more, he is still young. Hopefully he will be one of Gerald Perry's new projects. Working on OBP.

These points are all true, well made and well argued. But Ryan Church is not a free agent. The fact is, the Cubs have talked with Washington about him (as have other teams). Perhaps the Nationals are asking way too much (this is what I hear) for Church from the Cubs and other teams. This goes back to my point about taking two sides to make a deal. The Cubs aren't alone in not being able to pull off a trade, either major or minor. I was at the winter meetings, and there was virtually NO trade activity. All these GMs face to face, and the most that was going to happen was that somebody was going to catch a cold. Getting a trade done assumes that the team wants to move the player and is asking for a reasonable amount in return. I don't know if the Nats want to move Church. I do know they've fielded calls and have asked for a lot from everybody who has called. Right now we have: Blanco Theriot Pagan Ward Cedeno I think Cedeno should go back to AAA and work on his game. Pagan is alright but I'd like to have a few veterans on the bench to add a little veteran prescence in the clubhouse. I do think that our depth needs to be addressed and I think we need more than Floyd. Bruce, has Hendry been looking for some solid backups this year. Guys like Craig Wilson, Miguel Cairo, Aaron Boone, Shannon Stewart, Steve Finley?