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Another possible option from MLBTR: Marti, Gomez & Serrano Declared Free AgentsBy Ben Nicholson-Smith [August 4 at 4:49pm CST] The agent for Yadel Marti, Yasser Gomez and Juan Yasser tells ESPN.com's Jorge Arangure Jr. that the three Cubans have all been declared free agents. Marti and Gomez defected in December and a few weeks later their agent, Jaime Torres, said his clients were big-league ready. Now the bidding can begin... Torres tells Arangure Jr. (via Twitter) that three NL teams and two AL teams have expressed interest in signing Gomez and Marti for the stretch run. As Arangure Jr. points out, potential suitors would have to activate either player by the end of the month for them to be playoff-eligible. Apparently Marti could boost any team's rotation.

If Ryan doesn't pan out, Scott Downs might be a nice option. Downs, Grabow, Marshall, Guzman, Marmol, Gregg for important situations with Heilman, Stevens, and Shark in mop-up roles after the roster expands.

Hes better than Bradley, and cant be much worse defensively. I cant see him making it as a middle infielder, as hes simply not built for it. I cant see him leaping over a guy trying to break up double play. In a perfect world, we could trade Bradley to someone willing to take on a decent chunk of his salary, and use that money to get a 2B or SS. I don't think too many guys are going to slide into him trying to break up a double play. Seriously, anybody who thinks Fox could play 2B is smoking something. Fox can either continue in the role he's in now or be packaged in the offseason as a 1B/DH.

From Ben Maller at Foxsports: Mariners might trade Felix Hernandez in offseason? Felix Hernandez, P, Mariners - An American League assistant GM said of his team's pitch to Seattle for its young ace: "[GM] Jack [Zduriencik] listened but in the end he knew he couldn't possibly get enough to trade one of the best young pitchers in the game.'' The Mariners fear they will not be able to sign him long term and are starting to put out feelers. -- Boston Globe .....Ben's Take: Hernandez will end up with the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers, Angels or Cubs. Can you imagine the package it would take to get him.

From The Hardball Times vis MLBTR: [b]Jake Peavy from San Diego to the White Sox for Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard, Adam Russell and Dexter Carter Ladies and gentlemen, behold possibly the worst deadline deal in recent memory. Jake Peavy may or may not pitch again this year. Over the last year and a half, he's been on the shelf for roughly one-third of the time. And, he's locked into a deal that pays him more than he would receive on the open market today. Now, the current projection I have for Peavy may well be a bit harsh; when healthy, he's one of the top five to eight starters in the game, and that projection would imply he's somewhere around the 25th. But I don't feel comfortable just completely ignoring the injury history, especially since they included elbow issues last year. Just for the sake of argument, here's how Peavy looks if he essentially returns to '06-'07 form and stays there: It's still a terrible deal. Now, you know what? This is going to be a silent killer; like the Carlos Lee contract. What I mean is, nobody really pays attention to how bad of a contract Carlos Lee has because he's meeting expectations with the bat, and Minute Maid Park makes it look even better, so no perception exists that Houston didn't get the player they signed. If you were a .300 hitter, then signed a $15 million contract, and continued to hit .300, nobody calls you overpaid, even if you were only worth $12 million a year to begin with. The worst aspects of that contract (the $4 million or so a year he's overpaid along with the length of the contract the late years) are invisible; when you're watching Lee put up a .900 OPS, it doesn't immediately strike you that his overpriced contract comes at the expense of other areas of the roster, or that he's going to be a huge drag on the organization pretty soon. I imagine it will be the same with Peavy. Regardless of what happens for the rest of 2009, 12 months from now, all people will really think about is that Jake Peavy is one of the top pitchers in the game, and Kenny Williams went and got him. The fact that controlling fourth starters and middle relief pitchers like Richard and Russell through arbitration (instead of buying them on the open market) is a tremendous asset for an organization is just not what's on the mind of a ChiSox fan while he's watching Jake Peavy shut out the Tigers next July. The fact that what you're paying Peavy could have bought you much more value on the open market will be forgotten by then. Odds are Poreda is not going to be leading a rotation into a World Series in the next couple years. Carter may not have a year of service time before Peavy's contract is up. So, despite their value (both present in terms of trading capital, and future in terms of on-field), nobody is going to say "Oh ####, Kenny Williams blew it" anytime soon, or likely ever. So, unless Peavy continues to blow himself up with injuries, Kenny Williams is going to get praised for this move, whether in October, next July, 2011, or all of the above. But the people doing the praising will not be taking an adequate measure of the pros and cons of the choice he made at the time, which was abominable. If you saw a guy leaving a poker table with $50,000, you'd think he played like a master. But you weren't there to see that he sat down with $500,000. Kenny Williams is that guy. Adam Guttridge is a recent graduate seeking to continue his baseball career. Employment offers can be sent to adam_guttridge@yahoo.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] The charts didn't copy, here is the link: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/applying-the-guttridge-wang-trade-model-to-this-years-deadline-trades/

Imagine if they played in NY.

I pray that Hendry is not the GM of this team in three years. I'm hoping he isn't the GM NEXT year. These threads will be half as many pages if Hendry is gone. If we get another GM, the posters will blame everything that goes wrong on Hendry. It's like Bush blaming Clinton for the first 6 years and then the democratic congress for the last two years of his administration. The "rumor" had Angelos nixing the deal and you're criticizing Hendry. :-k

He was brutal, but he is amazing when he "accidently" finds his arm slot/release point.

The WS have never been in the forefront when large market teams are mentioned and Kenny Williams has always been given way too much credit for building something without the "OUTRAGEOUS" payroll that "free-spending" Hendry has while Hendry is bashed for whatever success he has achieved because he has this outrageous payroll and should do better.

White Sox: 2009: $ 96,068,500 2008: $121,189,332 2007: $108,671,833 2006: $102,750,667 2005: $ 75,178,000 Cubs: 2009: $134,809,000 2008: $118,345,833 2007: $ 99,670,332 2006: $ 94,424,499 2005: $ 87,032,933 So the WS had a higher payroll from 2005-2008 and the Cubs more than made up the difference this year. Exactly my point that the WS are a big-payroll team disguised as a low-payroll team playing 2nd fiddle to the big-spending Cubs.

True, Kenny Williams is definitely no stranger to making big trades or getting big name players. Griffey last year, Peavy this year. Is this sarcasm? haha no not at all, for the past 5 years Kenny has made big trades, whether it be out of the blue or long-speculated. It just seems like he's always out there making a phone call or acquiring a player or two around this time. Very agressive. Some of the players he has acquired via trade since 2004: Freddy Garcia Jose Contreras Matt Thornton Gavin Floyd Javier Vazquez Orlando Cabrera Carlos Quentin Nick Swisher Ken Griffey Jr. Horacio Ramirez Tony Pena Jake Peavy Sometimes I wonder what Ken Williams could do had he had Hendry's bankroll before the Soriano signing Check out the payroll from the south side and you will notice that it's not too much different from the north side. I always crack up when people act like the WS are this semi-successful low-payroll team.

Fox, Wells, Marmol, Shark, Hart (traded for Grabow), Soto, Theriot, Hoffpauir, Guzman,Marshall, Zambrano, Stevens, and Fuld are just over 50% of our current 25-man roster. While I agree that Hendry wastes $$ on role players and a few longer contracts than I would like, overall he has been successful at building a team that is in contention for the NL Central on a regular basis. Personally, I'll take Hendry over Kenny Williams. BTW, Konerko, Thome, Buerhle, Dye, Contreras, etc. have contracts that are pretty expensive and most are longer than they should be.

I'm not sure how you can state that Ascanio and Harrison >>>>>>>>>Grabow when neither one has done anything in the majors while Grabow has been successful for quite awhile.

Let's just hope Grabow does great and then the Cubs have the option of signing him to a "fair" contract or letting him walk and getting draft picks.

I think he had better worry about making the playoffs first. Actually, the Cubs have needed another lefty in the bullpen since Cotts imploded. Gorzelanny and Marshall add a lot of depth to the starting rotation in case of injuries, poor performance, or team matchups. Also, don't forget the impact of this trade on the future. If Grabow doesn't meet expectations, he could net the Cubs 2 draft picks. Marshall and Gorzelanny could step right in as possible starters if Harden isn't resigned.

Obviously you like to exaggerate. There isn't a player involved in this deal that is going to amount to anything better than a 4th starter, a middle relief picher and a bench player. Hart, Ascanio, and Harrison didn't really figure into any Cubs' plans whereas Grabow & Gorzalanny could possibly help this year and in the future. In any case, Grabow will get us Type A compensation if we let him walk.

I'm amazed that people criticize Hendry for this deal without knowing the players involved. How about waiting to see who gets sent to the Pirates before we start the bashing.

Hey, somebody found a worse idea than trading for Teahen. If Ross came cheap enough, a .925 OPS against lefties isn't bad at all. There would be a roster crunch when Reed returned, but he'll be back close to roster expansion, which would make it a non-issue. The last thing the Cubs need at this point is another Reed Johnson. Fukudome slugs less against lefties, but his OBP is comparable to career averages. Fukudome is what he is, an above average defensive OF that gets on base at a good rate. Very similar to Bradley at this point. Fukudome and Bradley don't need to be replaced for the team to succeed, they need to be at the top of the order instead of guys like Johnson and Theriot. Ross has a better career OBP vs lefties than Kosuke (.355 for Ross and .351 for Kosuke) and he slugs 260 points better. It's certainly not pressing and I wouldn't give what Ross is likely to cost, but it's not a bad idea to make a significant upgrade against lefties and improve the bench depth. Might not be a bad idea to have those righties if we're facing the Phillies in the playoffs with their contingent of lefty starters.

UGH... Has any General Manager ever been so obsessed with getting players to fill a very specific need, regardless of whether those players are good or not? I'm tired of this organization fixating on certain areas to the point of acquiring below average and/or overpaid players just to fill them. In other words, please don't trade for Grabow or any other mediocre reliever. Either make a "good" move or no move at all. It probably happens all the time, it's just that all of us are only focused on the Cubs and Hendry. (It could be worse, right now the Yankees are looking at Corey Patterson)

A lot of discussion lately about former Cubs....Patterson, Pie (to the White Sox?), Nolasco, Cedeno, Downs (possible trade candidate), etc.

Today's Tribune mentions Cody Ross as a possible RH OF who can play CF. Put Ross in CF and use Fukudome to spell Bradley.

Fox in center. \:D/ Even with a broken foot, he could play center better than Dunn, Bradley, or Soriano. My question is: Is this another Steve Stone rumor?

I thought he batted righty. This is from the ESPN player profile: Full Name Kelly Andrew Johnson Birth Date February 22, 1982 Birth Place Austin, TX Age 27 Weight 205 lbs. Height 6-1 Bats Left Throws Right Experience 3 years Salary 2009: $2,825,000 Next Game: Braves at Marlins Wednesday 7/29, 7:10 PM ET

From Foxsports: Braves trading Kelly Johnson? Tim Hudson is projected to come back from elbow surgery in late August or early September. Omar Infante should be back to bolster the bench in mid-August. Wren feels their returns will be as big a boost as a big trade at the deadline. When Hudson returns, the Braves will have a surplus of starting pitching but that's a problem Wren is happy to take on. The Braves aren't prepared to trade Vazquez, who has been one of their top performers in the first half. Where they might look to make a deal is with second baseman Kelly Johnson, who is in a reserve role for now. -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution 27 years old with two very good seasons 2007-2008, but having a down year. The fact he bats lefty is a plus.

Must be a slow news day. With all of the media attention now, most trades are forcast before they happen. This is totally a non-story.