garsky

I think the Sox'd take Matt Karchner for him.

The impression I got from that bit was that he would only buy the Cubs from whoever bought the entire Tribune Co. Smart decision on his part to look into that option, since it seems the Tribune will be sold as one big chunk. So look for Cuban to attempt to buy the Cubs from whoever buys the whole Trib Co. The problem with that idea is that the Cubs are the only asset that generates significanlty more income than it costs to prodiuce the product. That's why the Tribune Company wants to sell the Cubs with the Trib. It's like making a team take a bad contract for getting a good player. The team will not sell the good player without the other team taking back the bad contract. I cannot see whomever buys the trib selling the Cubs. They are a cash cow. The rest is just a loss leader. It's Walmart 101. Ah, the power of ignorance. Repeat a lie long enough and it becomes truth. If you actually checked the balance sheet, you'd note that in 2005 Tribune Co. had $1.15 billion in profits, on $5.60 billion in revenues, for a 20.5% profit margin--no chump change, that. Of that profit, only $33.4 million -- roughly a third -- was from the radio/entertainment sector, which includes the Cubs. Revenue for that sector was $248 million, which gave the Trib a 13.4% profit margin. So, in reality, profit margins for TribCo's OTHER divisions are HIGHER that that of the Cubs. The reason why the Cubs are such a valuable part of TribCo have more to with the value of the asset when SOLD, and the prestige of owning a very rare commodity. If I may jump on my soapbox, the reason TribCo is perceived as being in trouble is because newspapers are seen as a dying breed, and the market insists on 20% profit margins for them nonetheless.

According to Arizona Phil, teams with no room on the 40-man cannot select a player in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft (since they are transferred directly to the 40-man roster). So no chance the Cubs will be picking up anyone for the ML roster.

Let us not forget that his agent is going to be pushing pretty hard for the extra $2 million, since that's $200,000 he won't see (assuming he gets a 10% commission). And the player's association is going to scream, too, if he doesn't keep the market as high as possible.

Felix Pie... Candy Maldonado... Cookie Rojas... stop, you're making me hungry!

According to CBS Sportsline: So not only does he not want to come here, he also only wants to play first base.

This, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with our GM. Well said.

According to CBS Sportsline.com: The Kansas City Star reported Monday the Royals "appear likely to switch Teahen to the outfield in spring training to accommodate the arrival of third baseman Alex Gordon." He's still cheap, so there's no reason for them to get rid of him.

Don't know if he's still skating on reputation or there's just a lack of good candidates, but Ausmus just isn't that great a catcher anymore. He does an OK job of blocking errant pitches, but he can't throw baserunners out to save his life.

If ARam does indeed leave--and I think he will--do we get compensation? I'm not going to panic if (when?) he leaves. But it'll require a lot more faith in Hendry than I've had to this point to be optimistic about 2007. There are a few decent options to replace ARam. The Cubs could sign Japanese gold glover Akinori Iwamura. Or, better yet, trade for Morgan Ensberg, who would give you power, OBP, and an outstanding glove. Or, if they could entice Boston to pay at least half his salary, Mike Lowell could be had pretty cheaply in a trade. There are also a couple of second-tier free agent 3Bs out there we can grab as a stopgap--guys like the aforementioned Mark DeRosa, whose 296/357/456 line isn't terrible. Or how about someone like Wes Helms? He hit 329/390/575 in part-time action for Florida last year. Jeff Cirillo hit 319/369/414 for the Brewers, and he can pick it pretty well at the hot corner. And the money we save can go right into 2 decent pitchers. Remember, the Cubs' biggest problem last year wasn't necessarily hitting--they finished 5th in the NL in BA (1 point behind the World Champs). But they finished 3rd from last in team ERA last year, giving up 65 more walks than the NEXT worst team. Substitute league-average OBP guys at the 1 and 2 spots in the order for Pierre and whoever Dusty happened to trot out there, and they'll score a lot more runs. And with, at worst, a middle-of-the-pack finish in team ERA, you're looking at the very LEAST a .500 finish. Take the $15 million ARam's going to get, add $2 mill and you have Soriano. Sign Schmidt for 4/48, and you have enough left for another good FA starter. Or to trade for a high-priced one. Like I said, it'll take a lot of confidence in Hendry, but I could envision a lineup like: 2B Theriot LF Murton CF Soriano 1B Lee 3B Ensberg C Barrett RF Jones SS Izturis P with a rotation of Zambrano Schmidt Hill Lilly, Meche, Padilla, Miguel Batista Prior/Marshall etc. That's good enough to win the NL Central.

I saw Frank Stallone play live at the Festa Italiana in Rockford, Illinois. A half-step above the Holiday Inn Lounge.

I was thinking this same thing... Sheets and Willis are probably the only two guys the Cubs could build a 3-way package around to get ARod. Maybe: Brewers get: Veal, Dempster, Izturis and a couple of million $ (for taking Dempster and Izturis off our hands) Yanks get: Sheets and Jones Cubs get: ARod

From the Contra Costa Times via SI.com: The A's need a new manager, and former Giants skipper Dusty Baker says he'd "be interested." Um, yeah.

From the Tribune via SI.com: Now, the blurb doesn't say they'd be shopping him, and it does ignore the fact that Vazquez is doing worse and getting paid more money (which would seem to indicate he'd be the one getting dealt), but still, Garcia is a proven innings-eater (only under 200 for the season once in his career) and may shave a few points off his ERA (currently 4.63) in the NL. And given that it would be somewhat of a salary dump, he may not cost that much. What thinkst?

The only smart move Andy MacPhail can make is to fire both Baker AND Hendry. I say this for two reasons, one economic, one baseball. Economically speaking, the Trib is in trouble. Their bond rating is just above junk status. They're having some serious shareholder trouble. The newspaper division just went through a wave of layoffs and circulation, ad revenue and classified revenue are all down. In the light of that, what do you think the sight of empty seats at Wrigley is doing to their execs? Hint: it involves having to change one's underwear. They can't afford to have their cash cow hurting; an easy fix would be to spend a couple of million dollars and remake the front office. I'd even go so far as to say they may allow a small bump in budget to allow a big-name free-agent signing; anything to make sure they don't have a problem selling tickets next spring. Baseball-wise, there simply cannot be a decent potential manager out there who doesn't recognize that Hendry's on the hot seat. Who'd want to work for a boss who is close to being fired? The Cubs will have real trouble trying to get a decent manager to take their job with Hendry halfway out the door. For once, I fully expect Andy MacPhail to do the right thing and clean house.