KingCubsFan

Hence why I said "shred of leverage." On top of that it just makes the organization look crappy. Zambrano has done more than enough on his own to make himself look like a mess. The organization piling on serves to accomplish...what? Meatballism, rolling merrily along, yet again. Oh, and teams DO want him. To say otherwise is absurd. Teams are always convinced they have the staff or the change of scenery to make a talented but troubled player click. They just don't want him where they have to give up anything of significant value because they know the Cubs are effectively over a barrel right now if they want to trade him. Multiple teams have taken chances on Milton Bradley, and he's an even worse headcase than Zambrano. Teams took chances on seemingly washed up junkie Josh Hamilton. There will be teams that want to take a chance with Zambrano. Well, yeah, if he was a free agent I'm sure some team would want to take a chance. But as a trade asset, I still don't think he's worth anything, which is what I was talking about. And you make it seem like these type of anonymous comments are part of an organization-wide directive to tear Z down. I can't see Ricketts being on board with something like that.

Zambrano had zero value before things came out in the press, and he has zero value after. It's not like each MLB team operates in a vacuum, and the only way they find out about other teams' players is through Gordon Wittenmeyer's hard-hitting journalism. I'm pretty confident every MLB team knows more about Carlos Zambrano than we do and is aware of numerous instances that we've never heard about. And that, coupled with the fact that he's not the pitcher he used to be, is the reason nobody wants him.

That's not happening. Ricketts won't build a new stadium with his own money, and governments are finally figuring out that those ridiculous numbers thrown out by owners involving economic growth and benefits for the community with a new stadium were, well, ridiculous.

Hopefully this applies to Baez too.

It would be like if Ryno had stayed on and become bench coach. I think everyone is staying. I think we're going to hear some awful stuff about the team having come together and starting to play up to its capability now that people are back from injuries, we're going to hear about how great the draft was (and it was), and that it's going to be Hendry/Quade for 2012. Actually, Ryno as bench coach made sense, and so does Hendry as scout. Olders GMs move into scouting all the time. He's not an up and comer who has been earning promotions. He's been in his position for a decade, he's older, has had health problems and is under contract. If he wants the money he is owed, he will stay on in whatever capacity they want him. Nobody is going to be banging down his down to lead their team. I don't think that part about the money is true. The Cubs can try to reassign him, but Hendry is within his rights to say no and collect his paycheck instead. The contract he signed almost certainly comes with the title of GM and the club would be breaking the contract if the tried to make him something else. The contract says he has to be the GM? It probably doesn't allow for him to get demoted, but I'm sure the contract isn't voided if the Cubs "promote" him. It doesn't seem like it would be difficult for the Cubs to spin a a new title for him as a promotion. Like jersey said, its not like he has another GM job waiting for him as soon as he leaves the Cubs. While he wouldnt be happy about being moved to another position, it would make sense for him to accept the move and jump ship if that opportunity ever comes up again. Or he could say 'screw the Cubs' and look for a similar position (as the one the cubs try to offer him) on a different club. But the chances of him making the same amount of money the Cubs are playing him for a lesser role is slim to none. Edit: Of course this is all based on the premise that the cubs are really planning on doing something like this, which I don't believe is likely. By all accounts, he's well-liked and respected in the baseball community. He won't have a GM job waiting for him, but it's very possible he could have some type of senior consultant position.

That list has Andreoli signed. Doesn't he project as a 4th outfielder?

I'd be really surprised if Hendry was fired. My guess is that it will be something along the lines of "We've made progress the last month or so....I'm encouraged by what I saw in the minor leagues...we just signed a great draft class...we're heading in the right direction."

Why does Keith Law hate the Cubs so much?

He had a .900 OPS in June and has a .900 OPS in August so far. If he wasn't injured in July, his overall numbers would be a lot better. I'd like to see a little more consistent power, but overall I think he's comfortably placed himself in the top 10.

Found this interesting from an MLBTR article that discusses Scott Boras clients. I didn't realise how much of a favorite the Cubs were to sign Fielder. Whatever these front office guys are saying, I really hope that Ricketts steps in and tells them it's what needs to be done as he did during the draft. Ricketts seems pretty hands-off in terms of the actual team. He didn't dictate what to do at the draft, it seems like he basically sat there and encouraged Wilken to take whoever he thought was the best player, money aside. I'm sure he does the same thing with Hendry. The problem is that Hendry may think it's better to spread it around and overpay for a bunch of mediocre veterans. Since it seems like Hendry will be back, this offseason should be entertaining. It will either be awesome (Pujols/Fielder) or comically bad (a bunch of Edwin Jacksons and guys that play with heart).

Wasn't Yao-Lin Wang given a pretty big bonus? Edit: Nevermind. Saw it in the other thread.

You must have missed the part where he started throwing at players because he was getting shelled and was frustrated. I've always been a fan of Zambrano, and I know people on this board love taking the position they view as contrary to the masses, but it's kind of surprising that people are going to such lengths to deflect the blame to others in this case. Z has a consistent history (probably most of which we don't even know about it) of erratic and selfish behavior like this, and it's been an unnecessary distraction for years for his teammates. Given that he's no longer a top of the rotation talent, there's really no reason to continue to put up with it when he can be replaced. With that said, although this particular incident is all on Zambrano, this situation is just another indictment on the entire organizations' ineptitude. Sure, Zambrano was really good, but class organizations either eventually get rid of these players and find adequate replacements (the Red Sox and Manny Ramirez) or find a way to have these players channel these emotions (the Rays and Matt Garza). The Cubs can do neither, and we're left with situations like this.

Seriously? The relationship is permanently damaged anyways, may as well try and put the money to better use. If we could, that wouldn't be a problem. But it's a guaranteed contract and Z wants to pitch. Unless I'm missing something major, there's no chance the union wont get all the money back. Obviously a long shot, and I wouldn't expect the Cubs to win. But it's worth a shot. And there could be things we don't know that could have led the Cubs to think this might work.

Seriously? The relationship is permanently damaged anyways, may as well try and put the money to better use.

I'm hoping for him to come back and then retire during the offseason. Save the $18 million for a different GM to use. Just let him leave now and put his money towards Dillon Maples and international players. There's not much of a reason for him to be here.

I doubt it, and he really shouldn't. I think September call-ups are for guys with a decent shot at making next year's team, or as a nod to aging minor leaguers who deserve a cup of coffee. Vitters in the majors next April would be insane. Let him play all next year at AAA, and if he rakes, then consider a call-up next September (or better yet, trade his inflated AAA numbers for better players). That would be a good idea if the PCL inflates his numbers next year. I can't see this organization doing something like that though.

I still remember Ryan Gripp's amazing season at Lansing: .333 .416 .526 .942. He was a third round pick too, but couldn't get out of AA.

I don't know who in their right mind would want Koyie Hill back, besides Jim Hendry. So, if Hendry is back again next year, this could be a moot point. Regardless, wouldn't you rather Clevenger playing every day down in the minors than backing up Soto? Unless, they traded Soto and had Clevenger and Wellington Castillo battle for the starting job in ST and brought in a better veteran catcher than Koyie to be the backup. not really. he'll be 26 years old and he profiles as a backup; it's not like he's joe mauer junior just not getting ABs. this is pretty much as good as he's going to get. Yeah he always profiled as a good backup. Plus he can play first base.

Should have gone to Notre Dame

I think I lowered my plate appearance requirement to 400 or so, which is why I got more.

Looking forward to having no option but Colvin in RF next year, were you? If Jim Hendry can't manage to find a corner outfielder for less than $6 million that can put up an OPS around .800, he's worse than I thought. How many qualified OFs do you think have an OPS of .800+? Certainly a down year offensively, but there's typically over 40 outfielders with OPS's around .800, not to mention guys with potential that aren't playing, guys in the minors, etc. Finding a mildly productive corner outfielder should not be too difficult.

Looking forward to having no option but Colvin in RF next year, were you? If Jim Hendry can't manage to find a corner outfielder for less than $6 million that can put up an OPS around .800, he's worse than I thought.

Thank goodness we kept Marlon Byrd at the deadline.

Hendry has been messing up with extra money to spend for years, not sure why it would change now. Can he spend 40 million to build an 85 win team? Sure. But I'd rather have a new GM put this organization in the right direction.

My argument was more that we'll have to add more valuable pieces through free agency in the coming years, since the Cardinals already have more useful pieces than we do and potentially have more coming up. And I never meant to conflate Hendry's contract status with the Cardinals. I was originally pointing out that the Cardinals may have just as much money as we do in the offseason and a better team in response to a comment that the rest of the division is bound to get worse this offseason.