Backtobanks

Is there any SP, reliever, or 2B the Cubs haven't been linked to?

First you say you don't want to rush Castro (or Barney) and then you're willing to turn over the starting SS job on a contending team to him. I don't have a problem trading Theriot when we have a capable replacement. I'm not sure you would be able to get much for him with the marketplace the way it is and capable FAs floating around.

Next offseason at the latest. By then his value will be much less. He'll have played his age 30 season, he'll be making millions and due for another raise regardless of performance. If you want to get any value out of Theriot, you trade him within the next 6 months. Castro may be ready before then, and there's enough depth to hold ground without him for a bit. I repeat the message in my earlier post, how much value does Theriot have? Teams haven't exactly been lining up to jump on the Hudson, Kennedy, Cabrera, and Lopez bandwagon. If we could get somebody in return that would be a reasonable upgrade to the Cubs current roster, then great, but to trade the starting SS on a team that hopes to contend because some posters don't like him and he's asking for $800,000 more than the team is offering is ridiculous. The idea is that because of youth and inexpensiveness he would command quite a bit in a trade. I don't necessarily think so, but wouldn't be opposed to shopping him around to get an idea of his value around the league. I wouldn't trade him for peanuts, however, and I don't think too many others on here have supported that. The Theriot-haters claim that he's soon to be on the wrong side of 30 and that he's making too much money. As for "trading him for peanuts", I'm not sure how much he would be worth. I agree that Hendry might want to float his name around to get an idea of what someone might be willing to pay for him, but in this marketplace I can't see how we would get too much.

Next offseason at the latest. By then his value will be much less. He'll have played his age 30 season, he'll be making millions and due for another raise regardless of performance. If you want to get any value out of Theriot, you trade him within the next 6 months. Castro may be ready before then, and there's enough depth to hold ground without him for a bit. I repeat the message in my earlier post, how much value does Theriot have? Teams haven't exactly been lining up to jump on the Hudson, Kennedy, Cabrera, and Lopez bandwagon. If we could get somebody in return that would be a reasonable upgrade to the Cubs current roster, then great, but to trade the starting SS on a team that hopes to contend because some posters don't like him and he's asking for $800,000 more than the team is offering is ridiculous.

The key words in that sentence are "prospects" and "ideally". Until Castro or any other prospect can prove themself at the ML level, we need a ML level average SS. I really hope Castro is the real deal, but we've gone through decades of hype about positional prospects without much to show for it. Also, everybody jumping on the "Trade Theriot" bandwagon needs to realize that Hudson, Kennedy, Cabrera, and Lopez didn't get any teams too excited about signing them.

With everything neutral, I would think the Cubs would be co-favorites with the Cards for the division. If most things go right (rebounds by Soto, Soriano, Fontenot, Marmol, etc. and health for Aram and Soriano) the Cubs are better, but if most things go wrong like last year (a ton of injuries to key players and off years from others) the Cards are better. I was amazed that Tim Dierkes from MLBTR thought that the Cub injuries in 2009 weren't out of the ordinary. I agree that the Mets' injuries were extraordinary, but the Cubs had their best hitter out for half a season, their power-hitting left fielder playing on one leg (and their reserve OF out with a broken leg), their catcher out for weeks, and two of their starting pitchers out for quite awhile. I wonder what the Cards' record would have been with Pujols out for half a season, Holliday playing on one leg, Carpenter and Wainwright missing multiple starts, and Molina missing a few weeks.

Do you think he'll wear a Cub hat when he get's into the HOF? =D>

With the budget leash that Hendry has, I'm sure he checked the medical records carefully. There would be no reason to take on a serious injury risk with Gomes, Dye, Baldelli, and Johnson available.

ESPN's Keith Law ranks the farm systems, from the Rangers at #1 to the White Sox at #30.

Great signing by Hendry. Compare the numbers of Bay and Nady from 2007 & 2008 seasons in Pittsburgh: 2007- Nady .278/.330/.476/.805 Bay .247/.327/.418/.746 2008- Nady .305/.357/.510/.867 Bay .282/.375/.519/.894 Bay .293/.370/.527/.897 in 49 games with Red Sox after trade. Obviously things happened after 2008, but for those 2 years together in Pittsburgh you could make an argument for Nady being as good as Bay.

From MLBTR: Twins, Mariners Are Atop Washburn's "Wish List" By Mark Polishuk [January 26 at 6:29pm CST] With the likes of Ben Sheets and Jon Garland now signed, FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi provided an update on Jarrod Washburn, one of the few high-profile arms left on the rapidly dwindling free-agent pitching market. Morosi quotes a source who said that Garland only wants to play in “a limited number of places,” namely Minnesota and Seattle. The Twins have made one attempt to sign Washburn: an offer worth roughly $5MM that was rejected earlier this month. Given Minnesota's signing of Carl Pavano to serve as the veteran anchor of their rotation, Washburn would've been a luxury that the Twins may feel that they can live without. As for the Mariners, we've heard some whispers that they might be interested in bringing Washburn back to the city where he pitched from 2006 to last year's trade deadline. The M's have already spent a lot of money this offseason, but Washburn might be enticed to return to a familiar situation for a contract akin to the one he turned down from Minnesota. Then again, Washburn is a Scott Boras client, so a bargain could be hard to come by. Another source tells Morosi that six teams "have inquired" about Washburn. Aside from Minnesota and Seattle, we've heard Washburn linked to such suitors as Milwaukee (who are probably out of the running after signing Randy Wolf and Doug Davis), Kansas City and the Mets. Morosi also points out that the Cubs could join the Washburn sweepstakes in the wake of missing out on Sheets. Can't see how the Cubs would get involved, especially since they didn't seem to be serious suitors for Sheets. Another case of idle speculation by a sportswriter.

Since he hasn't pitched in quite awhile, it would have to be a very low base with incentives.

From MLBTR: Padres Agree To Deal With Jon Garland By Mike Axisa [January 26 at 4:19pm CST] The Padres have agreed to a deal with free agent righty Jon Garland, reports MLB.com's Corey Brock. Financial terms are still unknown, though it's a one-year deal and is still pending a physical. The 30-year-old Garland earned $7.25MM with the Diamondbacks and Dodgers last year, when he made 33 starts with a 4.01 ERA. Moving to Petco Park will certainly help boost his overall numbers. We heard that San Diego had about $5MM left to spend last week, and they wanted someone durable that would contribute sure innings. Garland definitely fits that criteria, having made at least 32 starts and thrown at least 191.2 innings every year since 2002. The Mets and Dodgers were two other teams connected to Garland recently

From MLBTR: Twins Agree To Terms With Jim Thome By Mark Polishuk [January 26 at 5:05pm CST] Charley Walters and Kelsie Smith of the St. Paul Pioneer Press are reporting that the Twins and Jim Thome have agreed to a one-year contract. LaVelle Neal of the Star Tribune (via Twitter) says the deal is worth $1.5MM, with an additional $700K available to be earned in incentives. Hope it leads the twins to the AL Central title over the WS.

I love posters who overreact to some rumor. We should have fired Hendry when he signed Ankiel, Posednick, Contreras, etc. As I 've posted before, Hendry gets bashed whether he makes a move or not. It's not a matter of whether he gets the deal done. The idea that these are the players he deems worthy of pursuing is very troubling. Though even that would be too presumptive, perhaps. First of all, the rumor may be somewhat (if not entirely) fabricated by some writer assumes the Cubs could be interested. Secondly, it's like reading too much into the waiver wire in August -- "Who was put on waivers!?!" -- many players are, and little is actually intended by the GM's action. Likewise, Hendry probably "shows interest" in a great number of free agents he has very little interest in actually signing. You need to feel out the market and inquire on demands. Plus the rumor was from just one guy . . . on Twitter . . . maybe I should have started and stopped with that one. I was just ready to post basically the same thing you posted. Hendry contacts dozens of agents to get a feel as to whether their client can help the team and fit into the budget. As for these sports writers, most of them just make up everything based on who's available and what a team needs. Go back and look at the predictions as to where FAs would sign and check their accuracy (or lack thereof). Most of the speculation on NSBB is just as accurate as the "experts".

So what makes you think Ernie is senile? The fact that he's happy, positive, and optimistic? I became a Cub fan in 1954 and Ernie was my favorite player throughout the years. His attitude and outlook hasn't changed in those 56 years, so I don't know what you're basing your comment about senility on. He certainly is an improvement over the sullen, greedy, media-hungry, steroid crazed players of today. The fact that he's always walking around somewhere in his own damn world. Sure, he's a happy, positive guy. But he's also pretty far out in left field most of the time. Edit: Also, "Drug crazed players of today?" Really? I should have used steroid-crazed instead of drug crazed. As for being "pretty far out in left field most of the time", I think most people today would think a person who is happy, positive, and optimistic all of the time is "pretty far out in left field".

I love posters who overreact to some rumor. We should have fired Hendry when he signed Ankiel, Posednick, Contreras, etc. As I 've posted before, Hendry gets bashed whether he makes a move or not.

So what makes you think Ernie is senile? The fact that he's happy, positive, and optimistic? I became a Cub fan in 1954 and Ernie was my favorite player throughout the years. His attitude and outlook hasn't changed in those 56 years, so I don't know what you're basing your comment about senility on. He certainly is an improvement over the sullen, greedy, media-hungry, drug crazed players of today.

Unless the O's want Fuld in exchange for Pie, I can't see it happening.

maybe, but that division sucks so they could still win it. oakland is the only team that looks crappy They can't be crappy because Beane is a genius and has worked miracles with his small budget. :mrgreen:

From MLBTR: ESPN's Buster Olney spoke to several people in the game about the Mets picking up Gary Matthews Jr., and the general thought is that he "can't hit for average, can't hit for power, his defense ranks statistically among the worst outfielders in the majors, and, to top it off, rival scouts have been reporting that in recent years he has been a clubhouse negative." No wonder why they had to pickup $21 million to get rid of him. Great pickup by Minaya. :-))

I'm waiting for someone to post all of the #4 and #5 starters on the other teams we play in April that should cause us to automatically assume we don't have a chance of winning any of those games.

The fact is they are starting the season without Lilly and he's coming off surgery. You prepare for the season that way and go from there. I don't give a crap about going into the season thinking, "hey if all these things workout we'll be alright". Of course if everything works out this team will be fine. But that's not how reality works. They are going into the season in a position of weakness, only 2 dependable starting pitchers, and that is before accounting for the inevitable speed bump. As of now they are last year's team, minus Harden and Bradley, plus Byrd and Silva. I don't see how that is even remotely an improvement. And last year's team was not an improvement from the 2008 team. (minus Wood, DeRosa and Edmonds, plus Gregg, Bradley and Miles). They need to replace Harden just to stay even with last year's rotation. I don't see why a $140m payroll team has to go into a season hoping a bunch of stuff will work out so they can have a chance. This team should be in a position where a bunch of things would have to go wrong to think they don't have a chance, and that's not the case. The only way a team goes into a season "where a bunch of things would have to go wrong to think they don't have a chance" is when the team is the Yankees or Red Sox with their luxury-tax budgets. Most teams don't have All Stars at every position.

Nady is coming off a pretty serious injury and Baldelli has a significant injury history as well. Why not take the healthy player? And although I'd definitely take Nady over Gomes if Nady was healthy, I'm not sure I'd take Baldelli over Gomes even if Baldelli was completely healthy. These guys provide more power off the bench, but Reed Johnson is looking better to me everyday. All these other candidates seem to have a lot of baggage (injury history, can't play defense, etc.).

No team is set with a guy coming off surgery who is going to miss at least the first month of the season. And it remains to be seen if they are set with Randy Wells. He also lists 2 terrible pitchers and an inconsistent one battling for the 5th spot. A quality starter would not be an extravagance. This team wasn't good enough to win last year with Rich Harden on the team, now they have lost him, and added Carlos Freaking Silva, which means they are that much worse. I agree with Crasnick that Sheets is more of an extravagance than a necessity for the Cubs especially with his asking price. Posters who complain about the rotation forget that most teams have question marks after their top 3 starters. Wells got in enough starts to give us faith that he ought to be a decent #3 or #4 starter. Assuming Lilly comes back on time and healthy, the only question mark will be the #5 starter and the Cubs have a lot of candidates for that spot.