A New Era

There's one half of our stellar IF defense for next year getting a single. Go Ronnie!!

What is that? Can directTV users get that, or not?

I now absolutely believe Barrett will be traded in the off-season. He's no great shakes defensively and the direction the Cubs are moving does not seem likely to deviate. I absolutely beleive you don't absolutely beleive that. With a MI of cedeno/izturis players like Barret, Lee, and Ramirez will be sorely needed. I now beleive JH will go after Carlos Lee and a SP in the offseason. .

JH isn't going to let ramirez leave. Now more than ever since he's got his "defensive" MI now. JH will keep ramirez and sign carlos lee, a SP, and hopefully try to improve OF at other positions as well. if that's the case then great. but i really don't think it's going to happen. one, maybe two of the three, but not all three. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. After all, his job DEPENDS on doing these 2-3 things. And he has the money now with Wood and Maddux's money. the only problem with that is that i can guarantee that the payroll will be cut back to somewhere between 85-90m, and nothing higher than 90m. carlos lee and barry zito as free agents, while re-upping Aram is going to be tough with those parameters. No, the payroll will not be reduced to $85mil. That would be a terrible PR move and a HUGE disaster. Honestly, the Chicago cubs HAVE to go out and get Carlos Lee and Jason Shmidt. Otherwise they really risk the chance of decreased attendance. I seriously beleive that. After this horrendous season, they KNOW they have to get ALOT better. Trust me on this one.

Nah, usually the guy has to fly into Chicago, get a uniform, get a locker, get settled, and so on. That'll take more than four hours to do. We'll probably see him tomorrow. Yay neifi today. :lol:

yes... realistically available names. As for Lugo I dont consider him a realistic option... because there was never a reliable rumor that had him coming to the Cubs. Nice way to back off your challenge. So you are basically saying all we could have gotten is Izturis and you would rather take him over. . . . . Izturis!??!? :lol: Who else could we have gotten?

Are we talking about possible names on the market prior to the trade deadline or overall in baseball? well.. both..I am trying to be realistic. There was no chance that the O's would have even talked to the Cubs about Tejada. And overall in baseball..... well as I said... I would rather have Mr. Furcal but that wont happen any time soon. So you were discussing realistically available names and not guys like A-Rod, Jeter, BJ Upton, and so on, correct? I would make a case for Julio Lugo over Izturis, in that case. Yeah but Isn't Lugo owed about $11mil a year? That would severely limit our ability to go out and get a carlos lee type.

why are you taking personal shots at me again? ummm.. whats that supposed to mean? Abracadabra!! ::there ya go:: I agree with TC. But we really need that OF offensive aquisitions this offseason now. And a SP. why are you guys taking personal shots at me.......... thats not very nice. WTH are you talking about!? Do you know what TC means? TOPIC CREATOR. I AGREE WITH TOPIC CREATOR. THAT is YOU!! I was just adding now we REALLY need some additions like Carlos Lee, ect. . Jeez.

Will we see Izturis today?

JH isn't going to let ramirez leave. Now more than ever since he's got his "defensive" MI now. JH will keep ramirez and sign carlos lee, a SP, and hopefully try to improve OF at other positions as well. if that's the case then great. but i really don't think it's going to happen. one, maybe two of the three, but not all three. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. After all, his job DEPENDS on doing these 2-3 things. And he has the money now with Wood and Maddux's money.

JH isn't going to let ramirez leave. Now more than ever since he's got his "defensive" MI now. JH will keep ramirez and sign carlos lee, a SP, and hopefully try to improve OF at other positions as well.

stop being an A** because I am sure if you were making that kind of money and were a member of a struggling team... weather it be the Cubs or even the Royals... you would want to help them turn it around, just as these two said they wanted to do. Hey man, I'm on your side about Cedeno and Izturis. But this ain't the cubs.com. You can't post like that here. .

Abracadabra!! ::there ya go:: I agree with TC. But we really need that OF offensive aquisitions this offseason now. And a SP.

WE NEED PEOPLE WHO CAN ACTUALLY GET ON BASE. You can get that from other positions. If Izturis returns to his 04 form his 330 OBP will be just fine from the 7 spot. If we can hopefully sign Carlos Lee or Soriano this offseason we will be set. Pierre, Barrett, Lee, Soriano/Lee, Ramirez, Jones/Murton, Izturis, Cedeno. What makes you think Hendry will do ANYTHING to get OBP at any position? Huh? I don't know. But the fact that no one can predict the future is reason enough to be optimistic. YOu can't assume that something is going to happen a certain way. We need to patiently wait till the offseason and see what he does. If he does go out and get Lee or Soriano this will have been a great deal. So sit back and relax and hope for the best. There is no reason to be negative. That's how I'm viewing it. I like Izturis at SS and Cedeno at 2B. Now. I EXPECT Jim Hendry to go out and get Carlos Lee at LF and either Zito or Shmidt at SP. Or equivalent of those 2. And possibly even upgrade CF or RF in offense as well. If he can do that, I can be happy about this team. BUT, that stuff has to happen.

He knows there are millions of cubs fan staring at him through the TV saying "You STUPID #$!*!!" And he's nervous.

Wohoo now we have a solid D MI with Cedeno and Izturis!! Ofcourse now not only do we have to add a big OF bat, we also have to make up for an additional .050 OBP somehow just to reach where we were. .

comcast sportsnet JH on.

Just heard on the score.

I'll say this. Hendry BETTER make Dusty play Fotenot, Theroit, or heck, even Patterson MOST of the rest of the year. Otherwise Dusty will soon find out how many games you can loose when you have Neifi EVERY DAY. . . . . . .. . (ofcourse he won't ever actually figure it out). .

I would be for Santana and Aybar for Ramirez. Remember there is still a chance he could resign with us next year. But you are right, and it looks likely no changes will be made by Hendry. I'll just have to hope JH can build around those men properly. Is a line-up of Pierre Walker Derrek Lee Ramirez Carlos Lee Barret Jones Cedeno Really that bad? Not at all. I'd like to have a rotation including a top teir SP. But how likely is it for one team to sign 2 top teir players in the off-season? Very unlikely. JH will likely have to trade for one, and sign the other. Most likely Carlos Lee will be in Cubbie blue next year, and we'll have to get a good SP via trade. He will probably try to resign Maddux for $5 mil next year to be #5. Zambrano #2 Prior Marshall/Marmol Maddux

I was already worried when they said Angels are now cooling off an ramirez and shooting for soriano.

Well I still have alittle. If the maddux and ramirez trade rumors come to fruition, that IMO is a step in the right direction to fixing the cubs. I'm giving hendry this trade deadline and this offseason to get the Cubs competitive for '07. If he fails. He's lost all respect from me. But the players in the trade rumors are very good players I would love to see on the cubs. I don't think it's a step in the right direction. I think it's a tremendous risk to think our system and coaches can get the best out of any young talent that comes our way. Hopefully it won't be the same coaches next year. Bingo! Laroche replacing Ramirez at 3B, Santana added to the rotation. And a few prospects. All for 2 players that might not be here next year (with all the opt out talk).

But it also mentioned maddux. So that means OUR trade might be one of the "likely" ones. This is very good.

Which means nothing. There are 2 decent offensive players available this winter. There are 2 decent FA pitchers. NY is going to need a pitcher. LA is going to need one. Soriano and Lee are going to be wildly overvalued in that market. There is ZERO guarantee we'd be able to sign one of Zito, Schmidt, Lee or Soriano, and even if we did, niether of Lee or Soriano are better than Ramirez. Zito is okay. Schmidt is so-so, and is an injury risk. And if you were going to overpay one just to make sure you got one, why not overpay to guarantee you keep Ramirez, who's again, better than Lee and Soriano are? Ever heard of trades? Those happen in the off-season as well. IMO I would be happy with this trade. We need good SP NOW!! Add santana to Zambrano, Prior, Marshall, and Marmol and things are looking better. JH is pretty good at trades. And TRADES is the way I think Jim can redeem himself and really improve this team for next year. Yes, I have heard of trades. And looking at Hendry's track record, the best deals he's made we're absorbing salaries of players who's teams didn't want them anymore. And the last decent trade he made was in 2004. And he has very little top quality with which to deal. And thanks to the overpayment for Pierre, we have less depth with which to deal from. So yes, I've heard of trades, and I'm not optimistic that our GM has the ability to do anything of note this winter. Well I still have alittle. If the maddux and ramirez trade rumors come to fruition, that IMO is a step in the right direction to fixing the cubs. I'm giving hendry this trade deadline and this offseason to get the Cubs competitive for '07. If he fails. He's lost all respect from me. But the players in the trade rumors are very good players I would love to see on the cubs.

Does anyone else find this exciting? Even if it doesn't happen. We're hearing about getting some pretty damn decent guys for Maddux and Ramirez. :D