JC

On the contrary, I think Hendry has a storied history of overpayment. Off the top of my head, I would include: Baker Remlinger Alfonseca Estes Burnitz Macias Neifi

Rosenthal used the LA times as his only source. Round and round and round we go, where we stop, neifi blows? LOL!

Let me say this. I've been as hard an Hendry as anyone. But, it was a good move not matching any deal close to 3 yrs/$40M. That is insane money, even for the speedy top of the order guy that can catch the ball. EDIT: Then again, who knows? I supposed until we know differently, he could have matched it, or come close, and Furcal simply chose to go to LA LA land.

Thanks for the frightening imagery.

Another deeply thought out post about financial responsibility.

What's wrong with Murton and Pierre? For crying out loud Mabry wont start you sensationalist! Even Crusty said on the radio theres about a 0.1% of that happening. Its called sarcasm. Heck of an on point post there.

I seriously doubt anyone in the organization wants Mabry starting in right. Another OF is coming, methinks. I once thought it would be silly to expect Hollandsworth to be a starter...

Wow. An outfield of Murton, Pierre and Mabry...

I'd have a tendency to believe AramisFan if he says he talked to Len over PM, actually. I agree. I can't imagine someone with over 1,500 posts on this board all of a sudden starting a bogus rumor. A lie like that would be like signing your own virtual execution papers. I must confess that I'm now worried about the terms of the contract with reports of $13m/year from LA.

There is no way you get Manny, Lester and cash. But, you likely could land Manny with some cash. Subtracting Lee's salary from Manny's, that is an acceptable sum to take on. Then, explore what it would take to bring Helton to the Cubs. Heck, I'd even consider Doug M. for a year with Manny's production in the lineup.

Why is Cedeno at SS and Walker at 2B more complicated? After all, those are their natural positions, and we already have both under lock and key for 2006. They are too inexpensive. They must suck.

:D LOL!

Putting all of his eggs in the Furcal basket, even if he chooses the Cubs, was dumb. Here is why: 1. Hendry and Baker fail to recognize Walker as a legitimate leadoff threat. 1a. Hendry and Baker have an unhealthy reliance on speed at the top of the order. 2. Cedeno deserved more consideration to fill the spot as a cheaper alternative, thus freeing up money for the outfield. 3. Nomar wanted to stay in Chicago, IMO, as evidenced in part by his building a house there. An incentive laden contract with Cedeno as a backup was a plenty safe option at SS, again saving more money to fill outfield positions. I'm not saying Furcal is a bad player at all. But, the Cubs shouldn't be considering $13M/year, or even 10, when they had legitimate other options.

He still does. Do you expect any less than a 320/430/550 line from him next season? I meant before being embroiled in the current steroid controversey. I don't care what his line is now. As far as I'm concerned, his numbers are tainted.

Lee shouldn't be an untouchable, IMO. His year could have been (and may still be) of great value on the trade market. Mind you, I really like the guy, and am not looking to run him out of town. But, with the Cubs in need of lefty power (Helton?), the fact that 1B is position with some prosepects in the organization, and the market generally easier to fill at that position right now, I would have inquired into moving him to sure up the OF.

My favorite part was Baker blaming other organizations for the lack of fundamentals of players that the Cubs willingly brought in. Johnny B. Baker, supergenius.

You know, I can't stand blow hards like Murph on the radio. I really can't stomach listening to loud mouths like him. But, he held Jim's feet to the fire on a couple of issues that surprised me. Good for him. I wish more people would do that. However, the likelihood of repeat interviews declines exponentially.

I know that it is inevitable that responses of "he's innocent 'til proven guilty!" and "So, everyone that loses weight are roid monsters?" will follow, but the entire Bonds saga has been laughable. Even without all of the other crap (pre-73 homer season quote when asked if he worked out more to get bigger, "No, I actually worked out less and stretched more.") his behavior since the drug testing has gotten stricter is damning in and of itself. The saddest part is, we will never get to see what a fantastic player he would have been without the enhancements. The guy had all of the ability in the world.

GO COLTS!

I disagree with that, but it would have to take some extremely productive measures. Getting an above avg. CF'er and an elite OF'er would eliminate the trouble of not landing Castillo or overspending on Furcal. With the growing rumors about Manny wanting to go to the Angels, I wonder if Hendry will look west to G. Anderson, Finley or Vladdy daddy (yeah, right :cloud9: ). Finley and Anderson are terrible options when you consider age and injury problems and we all know Vlad isn't going anywhere. For the record, I wouldn't want Finley or Anderson. It just seems like team that may have a surplus of big name outfielders which may grab Hendry's attention. We all know that Hendry gets tunnel vision about players he gets enamored with (Burnitz, Barrett, Neifi). And, he has expressed interest in Finley in the past. Thus, it seems like a reasonable suggestion. We shall see.

I disagree with that, but it would have to take some extremely productive measures. Getting an above avg. CF'er and an elite OF'er would eliminate the trouble of not landing Castillo or overspending on Furcal. With the growing rumors about Manny wanting to go to the Angels, I wonder if Hendry will look west to G. Anderson, Finley or Vladdy daddy (yeah, right :cloud9: ). Hoops brought Finley to the table yesterday, straight up for Patterson. I am not on board with that move. And Vlad...ah, that is a dream for us !!! I'd rather keep Patterson in that scenerio, too.

I disagree with that, but it would have to take some extremely productive measures. Getting an above avg. CF'er and an elite OF'er would eliminate the trouble of not landing Castillo or overspending on Furcal. With the growing rumors about Manny wanting to go to the Angels, I wonder if Hendry will look west to G. Anderson, Finley or Vladdy daddy (yeah, right :cloud9: ).

When was the last time you where in Pittsburg? I was there last year for a few Cub games over the couse of a weekend. The city is alive and well. The downtown is thriving and they have new shopping and tourism attractions. IMO, the problem is that they haven't been good in a long time. If the Steelers can sell out Heinz field, the Pirates can sell out PNC. Why would I want to go to Pittsburgh? Yikes! So what, they threw a bunch of government money to bring alive downtown. So did Cincy. It still doesn't change the fact that they're both old economy cities. Both places should be one sport towns. Send the baseball franchises to the East or West Coast or to Chicago. whatever. I just find it funny (not really) that you would bag on a place you know nothing about. The old economy you talk about was gone a long time ago. But to each his own I guess. Yes, it's gone and what has replaced it besides a bunch of government money??? I've taken quite a few economics classes and read often, I'm not just wingin it here.... They don't have much of a shot going against the big dogs, NY, Boston, SoCal, Chicago & Houston. The Cardinals survive on a rabid fan base, good management & tons of luck. For the most part, baseball's a rich man's game. They need a salary cap. But, that still doesn't address the issue about competetiveness of small market teams, which has become a facet of this discussion. Why don't they have much of a shot? The Marlins have no fan base and are repeatedly juggling their payroll to cut costs. And, if you are dismissing Oakland simply because they have Beane, that seems unfair. The Pirates have as much of a chance as anyone to land a Beane-type GM if they chose to go that route. Cleveland has been growing competetively for two years now. If you're waiting for them to be one hit wonders from 2005, not only was it not applicable for this year, but 2006 should be another good year. Competetiveness is more a function of an organization than fan base or revenue. Higher revenue should make it easier in theory to be competetive, but it neither guarantees competetiveness, nor does a lack of revenue preclude competetiveness.

Could one be Justin Jones? I thought the Marlins inquired about him a couple of times when he was a Cub.

There is this annoying little thing called player choice. Numerous reports have stated that Hendry did ask Nomar to play LF, and that Nomar said basically 'no thank you'. If Nomar had said yes, several writers have indicated a deal would have been done already. It isn't always Hendry's fault for not pursuing/acquiring the public's desired target. The players have a say. Though I'm not saying they don't exist, I haven't seen such reports. In fact, I thought there was a recent report in which Nomar told a potential suitor that he would consider playing in the outfield.