Backtobanks

Vitters is still very young and a few years away from the majors. It never hurts to have the depth to have options in the future. If ARam is still very productive, maybe Vitters might be taught a different position.

Even without assuming a Peavy trade, this makes the Cubs better. They got probably as much value out of Pie as they possibly could have. Now, you're probably right. But if Lou had given Pie a real shot last year, maybe we're pretty happy with our OF and don't need to sign Bradley. Maybe his 10mil goes better elsewhere. Lou bungled the situation and refused to ever give Pie a shot. Hendry did the best he could with that... I'll grant him this is about as good a trade as we were gonna get at this point. Your saying "I wouldn't have minded this trade so much" led me to believe you hated the trade. When in reality, you hated that the trade had to be made in the first place. Which are 2 different things. Also, I wouldn't blame Piniella. Hendry is the one who kept getting him crutches in case Pie didn't kill the ball. Lou went to those crutches after 2 games, but Hendry put them there in the first place. Here we go again, don't blame Lou....blame Hendry. I've posted often that one weakness of Hendry is that he lets the manager dictate to him instead of vice versa and he doesn't interfere with the manager's on-field decisions. Hendry has a long track record of pushing for youth and allowing them to play, while Lou is great with young players who produce immediately. If they don't produce immediately they are sent down or replaced with veterans that Lou has asked for. Pie's lack of playing time can be blamed on many things (lack of success, contending team, Lou's reluctance to use him, etc.), but not on Hendry or the fact that Hendry tried to obtain depth in CF (Johnson, Edmonds, etc.).

My big hope is that somehow Hendry can get Peavy without giving up Vitters.

Brewers 85-90 wins Reds 82-88 wins Cubs 81-87 wins Cards 76-81 wins Astros 72- 77 wins Pirates 65-70 wins The Brewers are not in the 85-90 win range. Yeah, for all of the "Cubs are worse than last year" discussion, what are the Brewers after losing Sabathia and Sheets?

It's amazing how everyone thinks Lou is awesome for leading us to back-to-back division championships, but the GM that put those two teams together is a doughnut-eating idiot.

He's a 37-year old extremely limited defensive player that can't come close to producing the numbers necessary at the positions he's stuck at, 3B and 1B. Teams just aren't throwing money to garbage guys like Aurillia this year. The demand for major league names to fill spots just isn't that high. Why pay a veteran $800,000 to take up at bats that a $400,000 kid who might have a future can do it? In normal times the kid is the better option, in uncertain economic times when tickets haven't even gone on sale yet it's even more of an obvious option. The problem is that we don't have a "kid" that can back up 1B and 3B and hit off the bench.

I agree about the Peavy deal and have been posting that opinion everywhere. If you follow the steps below, a trade seems likely. 1. The Padres can't afford him. 2. Peavy wants out and will only waive his NTC to one team (Cubs). 3. The Cubs have roster problems with Pie, Hill, Cedeno. 4. The DeRosa trade got more quantity than quality to add prospect pitching depth. 5. The rumors have the Padres wanting more young pitching.

I think you are absolutely wrong there. Hendry would be keeping Pie and probably would be giving him a better shot at winning a starting job. I am a fan of Hendry, but one of his faults is that he lets the managers dictate to him instead of vice versa. As I posted before, Lou is okay with young players as long as they produce immediately. If they don't, they're banished forever.

Yeah, he's a goner. Once Lou loses faith in you it's over. For all of the praise Lou gets about playing young players (compared to Dusty), he reverts back to vets if the young player doesn't produce immediately. I think Hendry would have given him a real shot, but Hendry listens to his managers' requests (sometimes too much).

Maybe with three weak classes coming up, other deserving players (Dawson, Blyleven, etc.) may get in.

To fit Peavy into the budget.

Trade is more likely, same way we got most of our good bats now. As I've posted before, a trade is more likely because of an overcrowded roster (Pie, Wuertz, Hart, Ascanio, Vicaino, Cedeno, Wells, etc.).

Actually, everyone has won one more recently than the Cubs. :mrgreen:

No kidding... I'd make that swap in a heartbeat. The rumor doesn't specifically say that it would be a 1 for 1 deal, so there might be other players involved. I would think the Cubs would need a backup middle IF though with only Fontenot, Miles, and Theriot on the team.

From MLBTR: Levine also notes that the Cubs have an eye on Mariners pitcher Aaron Heilman, a player they've shown interest in before. Levine speculates that Ronny Cedeno could be a fit for Seattle.

If we can't have Cuban, let's go for Ricketts. Cubs' New Owner Might Push For Peavy By Ben Jones [January 9 at 5:35pm CST] Barry Rozner of the Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill.) believes a new Chicago Cubs owner might increase general manager Jim Hendry's payroll budget, which would make room to acquire Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres. Especially if that new owner is Tom Ricketts. Ricketts will want to win and win fast, so if it's him and it happens soon his first call might be to GM Jim Hendry with the news that he can up the payroll and get Peavy out of San Diego, Rozner writes. Ricketts is the CEO of a Chicago investment bank named Incapital. Rozner wrote that Ricketts is a local guy who loves the Cubs and will have only their "best interests at heart. He even, reportedly, met his wife in the bleachers at Wrigley." Peavy has been the subject of trade rumors since the offseason began, and the Cubs have been mentioned often in the same sentence.

Getting back to the original topic, if we get Peavy we don't have to worry about the Reds, Cards, Brewers, Astros, or Pirates. To tell the truth, I don't think we have to worry about any of them even if we don't get Peavy.

:-)) Despite that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the show? Yeah, he's not misunderstood. He's a loon. But he can be a successful loon if he stays somewhat healthy. Thankfully he only had to pass a physical and not a mental test.

I still think the Peavy deal is going to happen, but I can't see the Cubs signing any FA pitchers. Most are too expensive or worse than Marquis. My thoughts are that there has to be some kind of deal to correct the roster situation. There are too many players that have some value and some of them are out of options.

Reed is worthwhile. The other two leave enough to be desired that they shouldn't be considered viable options for a supposed championship contender to fill in 40 games missed by one of its 3-4-5 hitters. Hoffs 2009 Projections: Marcel: 287/351/449 ZIPS: 286/323/505 Hoffs 2008 MLE vs righties: 317/350/610 I'm not saying hes going to be great or anything (and he needs to work on his defense in the OF), but hes a guy that shouldn't hurt you filling in on the meaty end of a platoon for a bit. Although, that would leave you with a big dropoff for PH in high leverage situations. I know you have to take these kinds of predictions with a grain of salt, but those numbers are a hell of a lot better than anything Burnitz, Jones, FLoyd, or Ward ever gave us, and I'll take it more than happily. Too bad Hoff's numbers will be at AAA or for another team. Unfortunately, I can't see how they keep him on the roster. Gathright will make the team because of speed and defense.

I still think a Peavy deal is in the works. If that doesn't work, I would love to get Greinke. I do think there should be a decent pitcher available (barring a Peavy deal) using our many trade chips (Pie, Hart, Wuertz, Atkins, Castillo, Hoffpauir, eyc.).

You admit that he has had success (because of the larger checkbook), so how can you criticize him as a GM. A GM's job is to build a contender using the resources available. Hendry has done that.

Unfortunately, Hoff doesn't have a spot on this team. Pie (and Hill?) to the O's for Olsen. I think the Peavy deal will happen with Olsen, Stevens, Hart, and Vitters going to the Padres. Maybe we can get another mid-level pitching prospect for Viscaino and make the Peavy deal without including Vitters. Atkins, Castillo, Olsen, Stevens, Hart, and a mid-level prospect?

As I posted before, many of the transactions don't make sense standing alone right now, but if we get Bradley (likely) and Peavy (hopefully) everything will be great. I think we would have received something more valuable for DeRosa if the plan was to keep what we received. I'm as impatient as anyone on this site, but give it time to play out. I think Hendry is still working on the Peavy deal, but has told Towers to shut his mouth about the negotiations.

They dumped DeRosa for youngsters that almost certainly won't help this year (Stevens might). I don't think Soriano will be traded (unless BroLight has some insider information), but Hendry has already proven this offseason that he'll dump some of our offense for future minor league help. The stated reason for "dumping" DeRosa was to add offense (Bradley). I still think the secondary reason was to get prospects to add to the package to get Peavy.