Backtobanks

Gee, and Baltimore fans wonder why they suck every year in and out. Until Angelos stop meddling around, Baltimore won't be a very good baseball team for awhile. Angelos is a George Steinbrenner wanna-be. Even if all the rumored players are involved in the trade, Baltimore will still suck even if they make this trade. When the smoke clears and Roberts is traded to the Cubs, all Baltimore will have gotten for Miguel Tejada, Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts is Adam Jones and a bunch of guys who may or may not piece together a decent major league career. There is plenty of reason for Angelos to balk on this deal. I say screw it if they don't like the offers currently out there. Promote Eric Patterson and let him platoon at 2b with DeRosa. This frees up DeRosa to sub at other positions and slowly grooms Patterson at 2b, mostly facing RHP. The combination of Patterson and DeRosa is probably not all that far off from what Roberts can provide, but for less money over less years. When Baltimore is in last place on July 31 and they still have Brian Roberts, and Roberts is miserable and is speaking loudly that he wants to be traded, maybe the demands will soften and maybe Patterson will have increased his trade value. I'm not ready to start thinking about backup plans just yet. I'm still sticking to an opening day deadline, but I don't have a problem with putting a little pressure on the O's to make a choice. Roberts Fukudome Any back up plan you can come up with won't match the production you would get with Roberts and Fukudome batting 1,2. That's a whole lot of OBP and speed on the bases with DLee, Aram, and Soriano to follow. We've been begging for OBP at the top of the order for a long time now. We are one transaction away from having it. I know people are getting impatient, but I also feel some folks are undervalueing what Roberts would bring to our offense. I doubt that Lou will bat Roberts and Fukudome 1, 2 because he wants to seperate the lefties in the lineup. I would think it would be Roberts and then Soriano, with Fukudome batting 5th.

Doesn't hurt to ask.

I've suggested going after him for quite awhile. The latest from Jason Stark: My own guess at some useful relievers who may be available: Damaso Marte, Joe Nathan, Jamie Walker, Chad Bradford, Huston Street, Alan Embree, Kevin Gregg, Jon Rauch, and Chad Cordero. He would give us the loogy that we need. I'm not sure what we would have to give up, but it might be worth it in our "win it now" mode.

Taking on his $4.5MM salary is the key phrase here. Any team that would take on a player the calibur of Uribe for $4.5MM isnt thinking stright, especially if its one in a major rebuilding phase. Over at the Orioles Hangout, they had discussed trading Payton (if he didn't come to the Cubs) for Uribe. I think Payton makes app. $5 million, so it would come out about even salary wise.

I would expect the Orioles to grab him within hours, since they were talking about trading for him.

On the Orioles Hangout, some of the posters are proposing names like Votto, Bailey, Bruce, Cuerto, Encarnacion, etc. for Hernandez. #-o

Get the Roberts' deal done and let BRob, Theriot, and Pie steal the bases.

Woo, another 10 days These "experts" or "insiders" keep predicting "in 10 days", "next week", "very soon", "before opening day", etc. When the trade does happen, then you'll see all of them taking credit for calling it right.

The Roberts' trade could have an effect on Cintron. Cedeno sounds like a certainty and Patterson is a maybe in the offer.

I really like Murton, but he can't play CF and that's where the Cubs need somebody. Also (assuming the Roberts trade happens), DeRosa and Ward can cover the corner OF positions. Fukudome has said he would fill in at CF if asked, but he picked the Cubs because he was told it would be as a RF. It's a shame Soriano doesn't want any part of CF because Murton/ Soriano/ Fukudome would be a very productive OF if Pie flops. I guess the best solution would involve Pie being successful in CF and then everything else falls into place.

Well, the question was "What would it take to get Spilborghs?", so what would be a good price? Those numbers still aren't bad for what we're looking for (RH- 3 OF positions) plus he's still cheap and not a real threat to take Pie's job.

Ryan Spilborghs looks like the perfect fit for what Hendry wants: right-handed, plays all 3 OF positions, hits with power. Against lefties: .338(BA) .395(OBP) .510(SLUG) .905(OBS) He is their 4th OF, but I don't know if he would be available. How about Murton + Marshall for Spilborghs?

You have to think if you are the Orioles. Why would they trade Roberts for a downgrade at the position in addition to yet another back end guy for their rotation that would probably get shelled in their division? While I'm not agreeing that Marshall and Patterson is enough for Roberts, the Orioles are going no place for the next 2-3 years with or without Roberts. Marshall would certainly step into their rotation (#3-#5) and Patterson would probably start at 2B for them. Both of these guys would play and be under their control for quite a few years. Add that to the fact you save $12 million over the next two years on Roberts' contract and you might make a decent point.

We can argue about giving up our 3 top pitching prospects for Roberts, but that won't upset me half as much as giving up any pitching in this deal: Cubs Still Talking To Rangers About Byrd MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan writes today that the Cubs' talks for Marlon Byrd still have some life. Not much has changed - the Cubs would give up Matt Murton, but the Rangers want young pitching.

I said: How is my statement that everything prior to 2000 is irrelevant wrong? I'm not going to defend our track record on developing hitters over the past 10 years - it's not possible. However, listing every 1st round pick since 1965 is most certainly not relevant to the discussion. You can use the 1st round draft picks in the 1965-1980 to trade to the Giants or send to the Reds (Dusty will find a place for them).

Piniella: Cubs pitchers will bat 9th Cubs manager Lou Piniella was talking about the importance of the eighth spot in the lineup and used the examples of the Cardinals' Tony La Russa and Milwaukee's Ned Yost batting the pitcher there. "Thank God I haven't been hit with those questions here," Piniella said. Which, of course, prompted the question. "We'll just leave the pitcher right where he's at, and we'll let Tony and Ned do what they want," Piniella said. "I like it the conventional way." -- Chicago Tribune :lol:

I assume by the other thread, you mean "The Infamous 2nd Trade" thread. That thread was basically asking what the original two trades were and what happened to the second trade. I am assuming the 2nd deal (whatever it was) is dead. This post is wondering what moves will happen as a result of the Roberts deal.

Assuming the offer of Gallagher, Cedeno, Veal, and Ceda for Roberts happens, I would think there would be another deal (or 2) that would have to be made. Obviously, the Cubs would still need at least a backup CF and a loogy. If the deal is expanded to include Payton (and Marquis?), then you would certainly have to deal Murton someplace. As much as I like DeRosa, I loved the idea posted awhile back of DeRosa plus Dempster for Burnett. With Cintron, Patterson, and Payton, I would think DeRosa is expendable. Possibly one of those West Coast teams in need of a 3B would consider DeRosa. He's miles ahead of Inge and a better bet than a recovering Crede.

The optimist in me hopes you are right, but the realist in me says the deal is for just Roberts or Roberts and Payton.

When the "people in the know" said he was working on two deals that would make people happy, I certainly don't think names like Byrd or Crisp would cause people to pre-order WS tickets. To make people happy, I would think it would have to be Figgins or Burnett and possibly Nathan in addition to the Roberts deal.

Schilling is out for half the season. Does that have any bearing on a deal for Marquis?

Does anybody know who was involved in the the infamous 2nd trade that Hendry was supposedly working on? Everybody (Lou, Santo, and Kenney) all hinted that Hendry was working on two deals that would make everybody happy. Was the 2nd deal for Crisp? Was the 2nd deal for Burnett? Was it for Byrd?

Got to do something while waiting for Hendry and MacPhail to pull the trigger.

That's why I emphasized that he wouldn't be a threat to take Pie's job. He could play maybe once a week against a tough lefty. No! the guy that backs up Pie needs to be awesome defensively as well as being able to hit because guys like that are a dime a dozen. Besides, the Cubs have a long and storied tradition of never running a guy out to CF that wasn't all that great defensively. If the guy could hit and be awesome defensively, he would be the starting CF as soon as Pie hits his first slump. I want a guy that will not be a threat to Pie's job and future. If Pie proves a flop, then go out and get a starting CF.

That's why I emphasized that he wouldn't be a threat to take Pie's job. He could play maybe once a week against a tough lefty.