Sammy Sofa

Oh, Sammy. You adorable rapscallion.

Mets for those of you who weren't -14 in 1969. Sadly, the realignment has all but killed that once incredibly heated rivalry. It was close to Cubs/Cards levels at one time. aye, I hated the Mets much more than the Cards growing up Me too. Still do. Probably always will.

I don't blame the Cubs for not getting in to the discussions if it's 12 years @ 30 million per. Relax, he's not getting either. It's just Boras setting the bar as high possible so he can get as much as possible. Like I said, tossing stuff like that out suddenly makes 9-10 years look great and $25-28 million per much more acceptable to teams previously on the fence.

I wouldn't expect Boras to do any less. Of course he's going to aim as high as possible before negotiations even begin. Saying 12 years makes 10 years sound much better, even if the team actually only wanted 7-8 years.

They have money. They just opt to not use it.

Was Texas even considered a player then? I remember the Mets as being the leaders but the details are fuzzy regarding the other "leading" teams. I actually think it would work best for a team that has a really low payroll. Florida has been raking in the profit sharing dough for a few years. I think they should seriously consider giving ARod the money to bring their payroll from $20-50m, still low. Trade Dontrelle and Miggy, and that should bring in 3-5 solid major leaguers. I really don't see ARod bringing in added revenue to a team like LA or LAA. But a team like Florida might actually benefit financially. Texas didn't falter because of ARod's contract. They struggled because they were paying big bucks to old and crappy players, like Juan Gone and Chan Ho. If a team avoids the mega millions busts, they can deal with ARod's contract. Do you honestly think that ARod wants to go to florida? Isn't that where he lives in the off-season?

that's the mouthpiece of the day Yes, it really is her fault when she interjects her opinions and they're terribly wrong. When a reader asks her about upgrading at SS and she says how solid Theriot is instead of some generic line about how they'll evaluate areas for improvement is a mistake. I'll bet Ryan Theriot himself would wet his pants to have ARod take his job. But to me it reads exactly like someone who is basically told what they can and can't say. The tone on Cubs.com has always been to spin current players as fixable or decent or whatever.

Couldn't be more true. I hope he pitches far, far, far away from the Cubs.

Seriously. Why does anyone even read her columns? We're all smart enough to know what she's going to say. Reading her articles and then complaining about them is just a waste of time and energy. I have a bad Cubs addiction and read just about anything that is written about them. Regardless of whether we know the motives, the fact is they/she tries to pass the stuff off as journalism and it bothers me. I don't read much of the stuff, unless I see a link to it elsewhere or am really bored/desperate for crap to read. Call me a fool for reading it in the first place (you'd probably be right), but I can't help but react to the ridiculous stories. And to top it off, it's an opinion that's often shared by many. If she was a rogue voice, that would be one thing. But she pretty much echoes the sentiments of the majority. And that's troubling. But again, is that really her fault? You keep insisting otherwise, but I don't see how she could possibly publish anything that isn't towing (toeing?) the company line. If people choose to only go to the official site for their Cubs news, well, they're gonna get what they seek out. If they choose to ignore the dozens of other quality sites/blogs/boards out there that provide contrary opinions and perspectives, well, she has no control over that. Cubs.com is never going to have the content that most of us would prefer to see it have...CM is just the mouthpiece du jour.

It's really not fair lump Wood in with those guys since he made, what, $1.5 million last year? More than what most cheapie young relievers get, granted, but let's not act like he's getting paid what those other guys are. Out of the 4, his salary was by far the least of their problems.

And you would be comfortable with that? Of course not. Seeing as they're not relying on him or Prior for anything, that's simply not the situation the Cubs are dealing with.

They're only "depending" on Wood if they have no other options.

Next we'll hear ARod is tight with Billy Jack.

Did you just name drop Billy Joe Tolliver? My god, that would have ended the name dropping thread if it were on the first page. Nice work. BTW, what in god's name do you think Billy Joe and AROD talk about when they hang out? Pretty soon, someone's going to tell me that Jon Kitna and Carl Everett are going to church together. Forget that, what the hell do Vitale and ARod talk about? I can't even wrap my head around that. Count me in the "he goes to the Angels" camp.

After 2 years, he's almost 35. He'll still be excellent, but the time for his last big contract is now. There's no way this deal is less than 6 years.

Besides having doubts that he could stay healthy, I'd rather be able to re-sign him for the 'pen so Marmol can be used in a trade.

Joke account strikes again.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! I'd like to say something a little more in depth, but that's about all I can muster. Sorry.

Negative = Me, KC, Jon, TT, Navin, CubsinNY, Rob (might have missed a few) Positive= Everyone else You missed me. I may have been more negative on the Soriano signing than anyone here. Can't find the link, but I remember stating that it would land on the short list of the worst contracts in the history of sports. Too bad search is still disabled. I complained about that contract so much I got sick of my own bitching. I found this on page 17 of the signing thread: viewtopic.php?t=36777&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=240 frost, I hated the contract too - I was right behind you a few posts down: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A five-year deal will be bad enough, but if it's eight years?? I just threw up in my mouth a little. Face it, if Soriano's signed Drew's *not coming*. Hendry will think he's done as far as the offense goes, with an OF of Murt, Sor and Jones. Next he will sign Lilly or Meche and call it an offseason. To clarify things, I think you'd have to struggle to find that many people here, if any, that actually "liked" the idea of signing him for that long and for that much money.

I can't wait until we have the Soriano contract haters remembering the thread where they remembered the thread where they hated his contract.

Slightly tweak it and I think you're right...though I'm not sure how trading Bedard helps them address that particular problem. But if Andy thinks the best way to improve the Orioles is trading one of the best pitchers in baseball, I'm more than happy to oblige. Well, they'd likely want at least a proven young starter and a good to great pitching prospect in return.

He just turned 32. You keep talking like he's 35 or 36.

Why does everyone want to trade away the farm for players? I would never send Marmol or Hill For Bedard and Tejada? Hell yes. Tejada is older, but he fills a HUGE hole very well...and Bedard is one of the best young pitchers in all of baseball. He's very likely better than Zamrano in the long run. And Marmol is awesome, but he's a reliever. This would definitely be trading up.

I think he ends up out west...probably the Angels.

You honestly think they wouldn't want Marshall or Hill (especially the latter) as part of a deal for Bedard? How exactly would you obtain him?