Sammy Sofa

Yeah, I could see that especially with all of the FA's they would garner quite a few draft picks. On the other hand if they resign pujols, sign Jackson and carpenter for cheap, then maybe add willingham also for cheap; I still dont see how we are better than them with Fielder, Wilson, and no Ramirez. Pena and Ramirez this year could very feasibly be more productive than Fielder and Baker/Flarhety platoon. I think most people would be pretty happy with 20 hr's and 50 rbi from that platoon at this point next year. If we can agree that first base and third base changes are close to a wash with possibly a slight upgrade; I think most would agree that we are more than one pitcher away from competing. I'm not arguing that the Cubs have the more appealing team. I'm arguing that the Cubs have the mean to sign him closer to or actually meeting his contract expectations. You're the one who presented the "they're building a team for him option," which doesn't make much sense because it's not a very good team, but will be a very expensive team AND he'll have to drastically reduce his contract demands.

Damn, that would make me feel better.

Is there a decent chance they'd get a pick? I figured it would be a no go with as bad as he was last year.

$22 million is pretty far from his asking price of $30 million. Couple that with them apparently not being willing to offer him more than 6 years, the only way I could see him taking something like $22 million is if they bend and give him the 10 years he wants. They're going to have to either bend on on the money or the years; he can shave a little off either way for the hometown team, but I'd have to imagine he'll be getting a ton of pressure from the union to not settle like that. And these other changes really don't sound all that impressive. Again, Rasmus gone = downgrade. In your scenario Furcal's bat is essentially replacing Berkman's = downgrade. Jackson is arguably an upgrade over Carpenter at this point, but then you have the question of what to do with Wainwright. His deal is effectively up this year as well unless they decide to go ahead with the team options in 2012 and 2013. If anything it seems like they're gathering pieces to potentially build a team post-Pujols as opposed to one "for" him.

How exactly should the Cubs have gotten those guys? Anderson was traded because 1B is locked down by A-Gon and they have Ortiz DHing. Uehara is obscenely good. Who did the Cubs have that would have been comparable offers? Please tell me where I said the Cubs could have gotten those guys? Regardless, I would have to say both the Orioles and A's won those trades and it seems to me that contending teams are getting desparate. Don't you think the Cubs could have gotten similar for Marshall as the O's got for Uehara??? Imagine what they could get for Garza! But, sadly it seems that Hendry won't trade these guys or even someone like Pena who's contract runs out after this year. If you didn't think the Cubs could have or should have gotten those guys then why even bring them up? If the Cubs couldn't fill the needs then it's completely redundant. And no, the Cubs couldn't have gotten the same or similar for Marshall. Look at Marshall's numbers. Pretty good, right? Look at Uehara's numbers and then try to contain your baseball boner. They're THAT good. He's disgustingly good. THAT'S the rare reliever that teams look at and think "yup, gonna have that guy close after we sign him to a new deal," not a soft tossing LH. And again, why would they trade Garza? He's young, an excellent pitcher and under their control for years. Trading him creates a gaping hole in a starting rotation that already needs a major pickup. Trading him like the A's moved Harden makes no sense. The A's can spare Harden. The Cubs can't spare Garza.

Jackson is also only signed through this year. Heath Bell is only signed through this year. So their plans to make a better team to get him to stay is a bunch of guys that they'll have to pay a ton of money to to keep next year, either via re-signings or options...and trading away Rasmus. Brilliant strategy. And Pujols is going to, what, stay out of the goodness of his heart? What about Carpenter? Either they use the team option for 2012 and pay him, too, or they let him go and downgrade the starting rotation. How are they going to pay Pujols anywhere near what he wants by adding all of these salaries?

How exactly should the Cubs have gotten those guys? Anderson was traded because 1B is locked down by A-Gon and they have Ortiz DHing. Uehara is obscenely good. Who did the Cubs have that would have been comparable offers?

If this year's Randy Wells is the Randy Wells we're getting from here on out, I agree we need a couple of starters. I don't think we can just assume that, though. And Wilson has been far better than a solid starter the past couple of years. He's one of the best pitchers in baseball right now. As for the lineup, you'd have to play the left/right matchups well, but both Baker and Soriano have destroyed lefthanded pitching in their careers and that includes this year for both of them. Against righthanders who you put behind Fielder would be more nebulous and would depend largely on how Jackson and Flaherty were hitting them. The rotation would still clearly have to carry the team, but I think with a top three of Garza/Wilson/Dempster, the rotation would be capable of it. Especially when you consider we could be looking at a Cardinals team without Pujols and a Brewers team without Fielder. A .500 team might win the Central next year. its looking less and less like Pujols is leaving the cardinals especially considering the team they are putting around him. What team? Furcal's contract is up after this year unless the Cardinals opt for the $12 million team option. That doesn't seem to increase the chances of bringing back Pujols since, one, Furcal sucks, and two, he'd be expensive. And they traded away Rasmus for garbage. If anything, they've downgraded the team and their chances of re-signing him with these latest moves.

Why? I don't understand what people are looking at that's being covered up by a thin grid or square. I mean, I get that people are apparently missing something they're looking for; I just don't know what it is. It's not like I can't see the hitter, and I really don't care if I can't see all of the catcher. I'm always following the ball then anyway.

In fairness to Meph, projections for Fukudome were universally good. PECOTA predicted .400/.500 for him, and even the lower end projections expected more than he ever showed over a full season. He's been a pretty big disappointment, and it's not like Meph was the only one banging that drum. Eh, true.

I apologize for spending 3 years after HS busting my ass to save up money to go to college, then working 40-60 hours/ week at 3 different jobs while in college AND working an unpaid internship that eventually lead to me getting hired on full-time. Wait, nevermind. I don't apologize. You should. I hope the misery practically smothered you.

Man, this is disheartening. I was really happy with the drafting and draft spending this year, but now it seems like an ominous omen, as if the new owners have potentially bought TOO much into the idea of developing your talent. I'm suddenly a lot less confident about them spending on guys like Prince or Wilson or Pujols this offseason. Depressssssssssssssing.

You're a spaz because you furiously spaz out in about 95% of your posts. That was a measured, well thought out, non-spazzy bit of analysis by raw.

I really don't understand what's it's distracting anyone from seeing. Isn't that where we're all looking anyway?

Yeah, I have to go work my second job so I can pay my bills this month. Poor baby has to go to a baseball game. I FIGHT YOU FACE.

Who said that? I'm opposed to offering guys 25%+ more years and/or dollars than everyone else. Such as they did for Soriano. And such as folks apparently want to do for CJ Wilson. BRAVO! Simply spectacular! A master at work!

So what? They would have been much worse without Dempster and likely wouldn't have replaced his production with that money.

He's NSBB's master of the ghastly hypothetical trade. This is new for him, though. Usually he comes up with insane, video game-esque trades where the Cubs get like 5 teams involved and somehow end up with someone amazing while giving up scraps. Now he's apparently moved on to inexplicably wanting to give up players who are actually decent bargaining chips for cast-offs and reclamation projects. Go figure.

You and me both. But then you'll miss all of the New England games.

He's only valued at $10.3 million THIS year. And his contract is staggered, so if they had paid him what you want he'd be making $31.5 million from 2009 through this year. His actual contract is $38 million. You're talking about a difference of $6.5 million dollars if you're convinced he's overpaid. This is why people take issue with the article you posted, since the author inexplicably says things like this... ...and actually left it in there.

How the [expletive] does that happen?

No, nothing.

Why? It just pointed out that Swisher was the move to make at the time just based on money alone, and I don't think Dempster is a #1 pitcher and he got #1 pitcher money IMHO Maybe #1 pitcher money 10-15-20 years ago...That's #3 money nowadays. Really? I'm going to have to look at the top 20 pitchers in salary and see where Dempster ranks Starting pitchers The highest-paid starting pitchers, by average annual value: 1. Cliff Lee, $24,000,000 (2011-15) 2. CC Sabathia, $23,000,000 (2009-15) 3. Johan Santana, $22,916,667 (2008-13) 4. Roy Halladay, $20,000,000 (2011-13) 5. Carlos Zambrano, $18,300,000 (2008-12) 6. Barry Zito, $18,000,000 (2007-13) 7. Jake Peavy, $17,333,333 (2010-12) 8. A.J. Burnett, $16,500,000 (2009-13) . . . John Lackey, $16,500,000 (2010-14) 10. Justin Verlander, $16,000,000 (2010-14) 11. Jason Schmidt, $15,666,667 (2007-09) 12. Felix Hernandez, $15,600,000 (2010-14) 13. Derek Lowe, $15,000,000 (2009-12) 14. Roy Oswalt, $14,600,000 (2007-11) 15. Mark Buehrle, $14,000,000 (2008-11) 16. Roy Halladay, $13,333,333 (2008-10) 17. Pedro Martinez, $13,250,000 (2005-08) 18. Ryan Dempster, $13,000,000 (2009-12) 19. Chris Carpenter, $12,700,000 (2008-11) 20. Bronson Arroyo, $12,500,000 (2009-10) . . . Pedro Martinez, $12,500,000 (1998-2003) 22. Kevin Millwood, $12,000,000 (2006-10) Here's his projected value courtesy of Fangraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=517&position=P#value According them he's been worth almost $31 million over the first two years (2009 and 2010) of his 3-year deal. He was paid $22.5 million for those years. He's owed $13.5 million this year and Fangraphs has him valued at about $10.3 million right now. Ryan Dempster has been well worth his contract.

He wasn't. Fukudome was expected to hit for a better average and (less better) OBP than Swisher and was considered a much, much better OF. The only thing Swisher arguably had on Fukudome at the time was power, and even then Fukudome was projected to hit 20-25 HR and slug .400-.450.

Let me put it this way: if singing Fukudome was actually the biggest mistake of Hendry's tenure and indicative of the types of "mistakes" he usually made, we'd all [expletive] love Jim Hendry. And the Cubs would probably be a LOT better right now.