jmajew

My buddy at work said he also heard it on Mike and Mike. He also said he hear in the report that he was going to the Blackhawks.

Supposedly it is being reported on ESPN 1000. It is also on the cubs message board.

Does this save the Sox any money? If i recall correctly i think Cabrera makes 8 mil a year. If that is the case are the Angels sending over some money?

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2007/02/12/1171296729_0298.jpg http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/18/180204.jpg Eh, who cares DLee was part of the 03 Marlins that killed a generation of Cubs fans Griffey was also in a contract dispute. My point was that you cannot trade a star player that took a hometown discount to stay with their current organization. I think you guys didn't quite catch my intention.

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2007/02/12/1171296729_0298.jpg 1) Nomar was in a contract dispute as well. He was in the last year of his deal and he wanted Jeter money and the Red Sox were not willing to pay that. 2) You also clearly missed the point about hometown discount as well.

Very simply Derek Lee and Paul Konerko are both the faces of their franchises. Which is why neither of them will be traded. You cannot trade high character players who are still productive and signed for below market value to stay with their current teams. It is extremely bad PR, and it may hinder you from signing future players or getting "hometown discounts" from current players.

I think Crawford should only be plan C. We need to try to improve the offense without giving up pitching. I would much rather sign Fukodome or Jose Guillen. Preferably both and then trade Pie for Khalil Greene. Could you imagine a lineup of Soriano, Fukodome, Lee, Ramirez, Guillen, Greene, Soto, DeRosa?

What if you could use the extra 12 million to get Fukodome/JD Drew (just an example). So you would have Soriano and Fukodome/Drew for 30 million compared to A-rod for 30 million.

Both players will be overpaid but who will give you the better performance for the money.

Tejada would clearly be the choice over Renteria. I don't think it would cost that much to trade for either player as well. I can concievably see Marshall, Patterson, and Petrick getting the deal done. Plus Tejada and Renteria are in the last year of their contracts, so I don't see trading three prospects for him as that big of a risk. Soriano, DeRosa, Lee, Ramirez, Tejada, Murton, Soto, Pie/Jones is a vastly improved lineup over what we had this year. This lineup would be in the top 5 in offense in the NL. Assuming our pitching doesn't regress, this will improve our team considerably. To add...I don't think this lineup would be as streaky either with non BA dependnt OBP from Murton, Soto, DeRosa, and Lee all in the lineup. Plus either of Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, and Tejada would be able to carry the team from time to time.

A) He'd get more money. B) It may be the only way that team feels it can afford him (by trading away another contract or two). C) Depending on that trade, it wouldn't necessarily make the other team worse, on a net basis, and, if they are already good, (Angels for instance) that net improvement may be viewed as a big enough improvement. As a generic example, Team X could trade away an overpaid mediocre player whom that team can replace from within, a good but not great player the team wouldn't necessarily miss (especially since they are adding ARod) but whom the Yankees could afford and make use of, and a solid prospect or two. The players Team X give up hurts a little, but getting ARod helps a lot. Add in the fact that he theoretically gets $33m more than he'd get by opting out and signig the contract, and I think he'd be up for it. The Biggest reason for A-Rod to do it is that more teams will be able to afford him, since Texas would still be paying some of the contract.

The Cubs best bet to get A-Rod is to work behind the scenes and get Boras and the Yankees to agree to trade Aramis for A-Rod. The Cubs can't afford to add 20 million to their payroll for one player. Hendry/Piniella know this. No matter what in order to get A-rod we will have to dump a lot of salary. With Soriano, Ramirez, Lee, and Zambrano making what about 70 mil between them I think we are in trouble.

I know i'm late to this a bit but I love this lineup. I could see it being our lineup next few years. With the one exception of Pie in for Monroe. We can have Jones, Pie, Murton do a little three man rotation.

I think everyone can agree here that Theriot is an average SS. However, he has intangibles that in some people's minds make him more important to the team than he actually is. I feel pretty confident in saying that if we had Izturis starting all year over him our record would not be as good as it is today. I liken Theriot to a guy like Aaron Rowand with the 2005 White Sox. He was a very average player but for some reason his intagnibles made him extremely valuable to that team. (Note: Eventhough today he has turned into an All-Star) There are some players who play with such fire and passion that they help up the energy of the rest of the team. Some examples of these players on other teams here in Chicago at this time are Andres Nocioni and Mike Brown (too bad his Bear career is likely over). I know all of this is just a matter of opinion and I wish I had statistical data to back it up but I unfortunately don't.

Yeah I think a lot of the people who are coveting him don't have a firm grasp of his philosophy. As someone who pays close attention to the Twins, I agree with you. Very concerned about doing the little things the right way, putting the ball in play, situational hitting, values a lot of mediocre veterans, toolsy guys who can play defense, etc. However it is hard to argue with the results vs. their payroll. If he had $100M and could go after a big bat or two to compliment what they've developed in-house, who knows. He gets a lot of the credit for their scouting and development system. Who says just because he has 100 mil to play with he would be any better than he is now. I"m of the belief that big payrools hurt guys like Hendry and Ryan. There is too much emphasis on win now to accept a down year from every once in a while. He woudl be stuck every year trading away his best prospects for aging players. The Yankees are the perfect example of this. Only recently did Cashman convince Steinbrenner to allow him to keep his young guys to help keep the team good for the future.

Pitching is the key to this question and the Cubs clearly have the better pitching. Our 2-5 is better than the Brewers 2-5. Our Aces Zambrano and Sheets are equal, only because Sheets gets injured so much. Honestly though the Cubs offensively I think have a pretty bright future. Theriot has already proved he can be a bat 285 with an obp around 340 OBP, which is excellent from SS. Then all we need to do is show trust in Soto, Pie, and Patterson.

I know i will probably get slammed for this but Carlos Zambrano. Everyone says he is an Ace but I just don't see it. I think he is a very good #2 but not an Ace. Carlos is either lights out or he is terrible. He is too inconsistent to be considered an Ace. Here is a list of pitchers I would prefer over Zambrano. Peavy, Young, Penny, Webb, Hamels, Hudson, Smotlz, Oswalt, Buerhle, Sabathia, Santanna, Beckett, Dice-K, Halladay, Pettite, Wang, Bedard, Haren, Lackey...just to name a few. With that said I am still happy we signed him to the 5/91 deal.

Good luck with that. who would you offer? Pie, Marshall, and Guzman i think would be a pretty fair package for someone like Crawford or Bay.

In order to offset Soriano deficiencies, caused by his huge contract, we are going to need to make a strong run at a few younger alterntatives. We should really look at making strong pushes for Carl Crawford, Nick Swisher, Adam Dunn, and Jason Bay. We need to get some cheap young production to offset Soriano's expensive older production.

Honestly, you can't really compare them. Most of the time when someone else batted leadoff Soriano was not in the lineup and you lose his production. Personal rule of thumb, which every team shoudl use. Never give out contracts for more than 5 years. It can only end bad.

If RF is the big bat acquisition, then Pie plays CF everyday. With Pie's range, the RF doesn't need anything better than average or even slightly sub-average defense. I think possibly he meant the OF's are all CF's (Hunter, Jones, etc.), correct? Kind of. Even via trade, try to find someone that you think would be a big offensive upgrade in RF who wouldn't make you cringe every time a ball is hit his way. I've done a fifty-yard dash through MLB and there aren't any guys like that. I suppose you could sign one of the veteran CFs and play Pie or Jones in RF, but that doesn't appeal to me. Dunn-Pie-Soriano Burrell-Pie-Soriano Sounds like you're strictly talking FAs, otherwise you're then saying there isn't a RF upgrade in all baseball. I'm advocating the Cubs deal from farm strength (pitching) to get an OF (either CF or RF), then plug Murton or Pie in the remaining spot. Or include Murton in the deal and plug Pie RF if the target is a CF. There are quite a few options out there, and they don't have to be over the hill. A team stocked with young OF (say TB), but short on pitching might be willing to deal, even if the Cubs have to overpay a bit. Hell, I'd offer Hill and target Crawford, for example, then run Soriano, Pie, and Crawford as the fastest OF in baseball (with 60+ HR expectation). I'm all for going for Crawford. He would without a doubt be an upgrade. I just don't know how you would set up a lineup with him and Soriano. To me they seem to be very similar players. My preference is to trade for Burrell who will only be 31 next year. I'm pretty sure a deal of Murton and Marshall could net us Burrell. Then we would have an ideal lineup of Theriot, Soriano, DLEE, Burrell, Ramirez, DeRosa, Soto/Kendall, Pie. In my mind the mistake we made this offseason was signing Soriano over Carlos Lee. I would have much preferred a lineup of Theriot, DeRosa, DLEE, CLEE, Ramirez, Floyd, Jones, Kendall over a lineup of Soriano, Theriot, DLEE, Ramirez, DeRosa, Floyd, Jones, Kendall. But hindsight is 20/20. really not an issue... if you have a good player and a similar player is available, go get him: then you'll have two good players :) But seriously, lineup construction is not a big deal, at least not to the degree that it should affect out interest in Crawford. Hell, look at Pierre. JH went hard after him because he went after players based on what he expected a lineup to look like. As I said I am all for getting Crawford and I don't think we should be hesitant about trading for him. Crawford over the past 3 years has been at his best in over 600 ABs when he bats second. A lineup of Soriano, Crawford, DLEE, Ramirez, DeRosa, Soto, Theriot, Pie would be one of the best in baseball. A great balance of speed and power. Also I knew how I would set up the lineup. I just have a serous man crush on Theriot and I want to see him at the top of the order for years to come.

If RF is the big bat acquisition, then Pie plays CF everyday. With Pie's range, the RF doesn't need anything better than average or even slightly sub-average defense. I think possibly he meant the OF's are all CF's (Hunter, Jones, etc.), correct? Kind of. Even via trade, try to find someone that you think would be a big offensive upgrade in RF who wouldn't make you cringe every time a ball is hit his way. I've done a fifty-yard dash through MLB and there aren't any guys like that. I suppose you could sign one of the veteran CFs and play Pie or Jones in RF, but that doesn't appeal to me. Dunn-Pie-Soriano Burrell-Pie-Soriano Sounds like you're strictly talking FAs, otherwise you're then saying there isn't a RF upgrade in all baseball. I'm advocating the Cubs deal from farm strength (pitching) to get an OF (either CF or RF), then plug Murton or Pie in the remaining spot. Or include Murton in the deal and plug Pie RF if the target is a CF. There are quite a few options out there, and they don't have to be over the hill. A team stocked with young OF (say TB), but short on pitching might be willing to deal, even if the Cubs have to overpay a bit. Hell, I'd offer Hill and target Crawford, for example, then run Soriano, Pie, and Crawford as the fastest OF in baseball (with 60+ HR expectation). I'm all for going for Crawford. He would without a doubt be an upgrade. I just don't know how you would set up a lineup with him and Soriano. To me they seem to be very similar players. My preference is to trade for Burrell who will only be 31 next year. I'm pretty sure a deal of Murton and Marshall could net us Burrell. Then we would have an ideal lineup of Theriot, Soriano, DLEE, Burrell, Ramirez, DeRosa, Soto/Kendall, Pie. In my mind the mistake we made this offseason was signing Soriano over Carlos Lee. I would have much preferred a lineup of Theriot, DeRosa, DLEE, CLEE, Ramirez, Floyd, Jones, Kendall over a lineup of Soriano, Theriot, DLEE, Ramirez, DeRosa, Floyd, Jones, Kendall. But hindsight is 20/20.

The Cubs have the potential to be a good team for the next three years. But there are a lot of "ifs" that surround this team. We need Theriot to become our version of David Eckstein and we need DeRosa to keep up his 800 OPS. Even though more realistically we should expect 750-775. Most importantly we need Pie to become the player he is in Triple A, or atleast an 800 ops version. I'm sorry if I believe a lineup of Soriano, Theriot, Lee, Ramirez, Jones, DeRosa, Pie, Kendall/Soto is one of the best in the NL. Our pitching will need some work after Zambrano-Hill-Lilly.

Yeah, quit caring about the team you love everyone. Yes that is exactly what I meant. Excuse me for being optimistic and thinking this little slide we are on is an abberation and thinking that the Cardinals are a bad team and that once we start playing better we will pull away.

Every team gets hot at least once during the season. This is just the Cardinals turn to get hot. A month ago the Cubs were the team that was going to win the division because they were hot. People need to quit worrying and wait till early september to start worrying. Anyone that is within 6 games at that time has a chance.