Backtobanks

When I saw the story, I tried to figure out how the Cubs could get involved in a 3-way trade and perhaps get Crisp or Pena.

Z - outstanding ARam - pretty darned good Lee - pretty good Soriano - pretty good DeRosa - meh (pretty minor dollars in the grand scheme) Lilly - meh to blech (but tradeable if he stays healthy) Marquis - double blech The top 4 guys are a pretty solid core, though. Yeah, Soriano's going to be overpaid. The others are worth their money, though. Well, you do think more highly of this bunch than I do. I don't suppose you think they're worth the whole $90M? That's enough money to pay a whole team. My guess is that Lilly & Marquis have been traded away by 2009. That brings the price down to $70 for Zambrano, Ramirez, Lee, Soriano & DeRosa. That doesn't sound nearly as bad to me. Marquis is due $9.88M in 2009. It will be very tough to find a taker for that. Lilly? Could be tradeable, but probably not without eating some salary. I coud be wrong about that. I don't have much confidence in Aram's work ethic or his ability to age gracefully. I foresee sagging fitness, resulting in a parade of nagging lower-body injuries cutting into his playing time. Lee will regress from his 2005 numbers and his wrist injury might have longterm effects. Z is great but I wouldn't pay any pitcher what he will get. Soriano's is the contract that will turn out to be the real stinkbomb of the bunch. I HATE that contract. Boy, you must have been a Cub fan for a long time to be that pessimistic. If they're paying $10 million per for mediocre pitchers in 2006, Marquis and Lilly might be bargains by 2009. I don't see any real reason why Lee shouldn't rebound. As for the other contract issues, baseball owners are rolling in money and they will end up passing the additional costs on to the fans anyhow. If you look at what the Cubs (and a few other teams) spent this offseason, you realize that these owners have been pocketing a ton of profits over the years.

I've been saying the same thing. Also, I'm wondering about 2008 too. With a few of those no-trade contracts, the starting rotation doesn't seem to have much room for anybody for 2008, especially if Prior and/or Miller make healthy returns. I can't believe we can't put together a package for Church with some of this young pitching. I still think Hendry should go after a superstar SS (Tejada, Young, Renteria, etc.) using some combination of Jones, Izturis, Eyre, Dempster, Marshall, Guzman, Novoa, etc. At midseason (or next winter) you might be able to add players like Miller, Marquis, or Prior. Maybe I'm prejudiced, but I see a lot of players on that list that could help many teams (depending on their needs).

Dayn Perry from Foxsports.com has a column about the Cubs and what needs to happen for them to win. Nothing earthshattering or that we haven't discussed here on NSBB: Lee must stay healthy. While it's not likely he'll ever again be as dominant as he was in 2005, he is capable of returning to his typical "very good but not great" self. Provided he avoids injury. The annual refrain is that Mark Prior needs to work 200 or so innings, and this year is no different. He's finally throwing off a mound, and he says his shoulder is feeling much better. Of course, that's also a familiar song and dance. Manager Lou Piniella needs to resist the temptation to bat Soriano in the leadoff spot. Soriano is a great power source, but he's not an on-base threat, which is what the table-setter needs to be. Bat him in the middle of the order, where his home runs will mean more. Jacque Jones must be platooned. Religiously. Jones has never been able to hit lefties, and with Matt Murton on the roster (and now out of a starting job) there's no need to run him out there against port-siders. Speaking of Murton, if Floyd is hitting as he did in '06 and not like he did in '05, then Murton needs to regain the starting job in left. Kerry Wood needs to work out of the bullpen and eventually become the closer. Wood isn't warming to the idea of pitching in relief, but it's clear he'll never be able to stay healthy as a starter. Giving him the closer's job should sate his ego. The pitching staff needs to continue racking up the strikeouts. The Cubs' team defense, particularly in the outfield, is lacking. So the pitching staff, which led the NL in whiffs last season, must keep the ball out of play as often as possible. That means missing bats, as they're accustomed to doing. Carlos Zambrano needs to be signed to a contract extension sooner rather than later. Zambrano, who's eligible for free agency after the upcoming season, wants a new deal, but the Cubs are stalling. This is important because Zambrano is emotionally fragile at times and prone to distractions on the mound. If there's one important player on the roster who doesn't need this manner of distraction, it's Zambrano.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Cedeno at Iowa, at least until he gets his confidence back.

Ding! Ding! We have a winner. Unless or until you can get something of value for Jones in a trade, you play him in CF or RF using Derosa and Theriot against lefties. I'm sure Soriano and Pie (When he's ready) are capable of playing CF or RF. Bringing in some worthless veteran or minor leaguer until Pie is ready makes absolutely no sense. Acquiring Church for the right price would be a good move because he could easily slide into the 4th OF spot when Pie is ready.

If the Cubs are reviewing his medical records it could take awhile. Ouch. I didn't think of that, and I should have... Now I'm starting to get spring training fever. Why do I do this to myself every year? 8-) I've had spring fever ever since the Tribune started running 8 pages daily about the Bears. I'm a Bear fan, but the over-hype on the Bears is driving me crazy. Why do people consider this overhype? They are going to the Super Bowl. That's what happens. The problem is that the "overhype" started months ago and not in the last 2 weeks. I'm at the point where reading about our 3rd-string tight end's second cousin used to date Vince Lombardi's granddaughter is overhype. A special section or "wrap-around" pages leading up to the Super Bowl is one thing, but not in the middle of November. I didn't realize the trib was doing that since November. I only read it online and have noticed a huge pickup in stories during the postseason, but not earlier. You know, you don't have to read about the 3rd string TE's second cousin. I enjoy the "overhype" because it means that the Bears are worth talking about late in the season. I stopped reading all of the redundant Bears' stories weeks ago. It's great that the Bears are going to the Super Bowl, but I can't wait to read about baseball.

If the Cubs are reviewing his medical records it could take awhile. Ouch. I didn't think of that, and I should have... Now I'm starting to get spring training fever. Why do I do this to myself every year? 8-) I've had spring fever ever since the Tribune started running 8 pages daily about the Bears. I'm a Bear fan, but the over-hype on the Bears is driving me crazy. Why do people consider this overhype? They are going to the Super Bowl. That's what happens. The problem is that the "overhype" started months ago and not in the last 2 weeks. I'm at the point where reading about our 3rd-string tight end's second cousin used to date Vince Lombardi's granddaughter is overhype. A special section or "wrap-around" pages leading up to the Super Bowl is one thing, but not in the middle of November.

If the Cubs are reviewing his medical records it could take awhile. Ouch. I didn't think of that, and I should have... Now I'm starting to get spring training fever. Why do I do this to myself every year? 8-) I've had spring fever ever since the Tribune started running 8 pages daily about the Bears. I'm a Bear fan, but the over-hype on the Bears is driving me crazy.

Triple B, Short of the Cubs acquiring a right-handed platoon partner for Jones, I still think that when the Cubs are facing a lefty, Lou Piniella will consider using DeRosa in RF and starting Theriot at 2B. Hoops Essentially, offensively you are platooning Theriot and Jones. While Theriot is definitely an improvement over Jones vs lefties, we could do much better without costing much. I assume we are going with 12 pitchers, which means that our bench will be done with Floyd, Ward, Pagan, Theriot, and Cedeno. I could see Cedeno starting off in Iowa, but that leaves us a middle infielder short, not an OF. I don't think there's much of a chance that Cedeno will start the year in the majors. Theriot can play 2B, SS, OF - DeRosa can play 2B, SS, 3B, OF - Ward can play 1B, LF, RF - Soriano can play 2B in a pinch. Floyd and Ward will be counted on off the bench and in Floyd's case against many righties. Pagan is not a lock to make the team, but probably will as our backup CF. You're forgetting Blanco - which puts the Cubs at 13 position players (8 starters + Blanco, Theriot, Ward, Pagan, Floyd). I see Pagan not making the team and a surprise player to make it instead - this surprise player can play anywhere since Theriot and Jones can back up in CF. (Scott Moore?) Just came back to say I forgot Blanco...beat me to it. I would be fine with Cedeno starting in AAA and Pagan not making the team, but Moore is a lefty too, we need a righty. Disclaimer - This only applies if the philosophy of "best players play" holds true: After giving it some thought, I think the Cubs need a LH 2B to be our 25th man. The way I see it is this: - Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, and Barrett are the only players guaranteed to get a huge portion of their positions' at bats. - Since they are all right-handed, you would like lefty complementary hitters to be available to play the other positions to create the most balance in your lineup. - That pretty much guarantees switch-hitting Izturis a daily job. - It also provides an opportunity for J. Jones and C. Floyd to get at bats against righties. - That gives us a lefty hitter at #5, #6, and #8 in the lineup, but it could use one more at #2 for better balance. - The only position left is 2B and no lefty/switch-hitter on our current roster has had experience at 2B. - Maybe Scott Moore can get his chance there? Maybe Eric Patterson makes the team? Maybe a trade/waiver claim can bring in someone? Against lefties we have it set easily. Soriano, Theriot (2B), Lee, Ramirez, Murton, DeRosa (RF), Barrett, Izturis. We have no lefties who consistently hit lefties well enough to start against them. Forget the concept of balance in the lineup here! Where's Todd Walker when you need him.

I can't quite picture Chip Carey doing that.

And I hope Hendry is right about Izturis. But, I'm very, very skeptical that Izturis will be any better with a bat than the worst SS's in the league. if he stays healthy & plays great defense, does it really matter what he hits? the sox & cards won the WS with guys who had .713 & .694 ops's respectively. Of course it matters. That black hole in the lineup has more of an impact than anything he does on defense, no matter how good his glove is. Those teams may have won with those shortstops, but it wasn't because of them. how many teams have won anything on the offense of their 8th place hitter? The problem becomes serious if and when Jones is traded and Pie gets to start. Pie as a struggling rookie, Izturis as a very weak hitter, and Blanco (somedays) as a defensive catcher all in the lineup at the same time makes for a really weak offensive team. If everything goes right (Lee, Soriano, Aram, & Barrett healthy and hitting along with strong pitching), the Cubs can get by with Izturis at SS, but a breakdown in any other areas would make it hard to have Izturis in the lineup on a daily basis. Being typical Cub fans, we expect a breakdown in some area.

Now if we could just get a major league shortstop, we'd have a really good team. I really hope that the Cubs keep the SS job open during the spring or trade for one as you said. I'm pretty much a Hendry supporter, but he does have a tendency to "lock" into one idea and not be able to work around it. Unfortunately, he seems to think Izturis is just what we need at SS, so I don't see him trading for another one.

I'm not sure the Indians would go for that trade, but I would love to see it. If Miller and/or Prior is healthy and Marquis/Guzman pitch decently, you would have a strong starting staff plus plenty of trade bait at mid-season.

Soriano in CF would probably cost him a few bucks in incentives since he probably wouldn't make the All-Star team with Beltran and Andruw Jones as competition.

Who? Tom Sizemore...although he makes Dukes and Delmon look like choir boys. Actually I meant Grady Sizemore.

While we're at it, I hear they have some kid named Sizemore who can play CF. Okay, I'm only kidding.

If we traded for Andruw, it would likely take an extension of a year or two to entice him to waive his 10/5 rights. For 2008, extend him, play Pie in RF, move Soriano to 2b, and make Derosa a supersub.

In my trade scenario, you could add J.Jones to Laroche, Bay, Nady and Paulino to drive him in. That's a pretty decent lineup and with your young pitching, you could surprise some teams this year and be contenders very soon.

If all of those things happen, I would think we could win 130 games.

Benmaller.com is reporting: The Braves aren't eager to trade Adam LaRoche but continue to listen. They've demanded another impact player along with Mike Gonzalez — preferably center fielder Chris Duffy, and the Pirates haven't budged on their initial refusal to include Duffy or trade any of their trio of promising young starting pitchers. ... Duffy could play left field and bat leadoff for the Braves, and be a potential replacement for center fielder Andruw Jones, who's eligible for free agency after the 2007 season. Is there some way we could get involved? How about: Braves get: Gonzalez and Duffy (Pirates) and Marshall (Cubs) Pirates get: Laroche (Braves) and J. Jones (Cubs) Cubs get: A. Jones (Braves) Braves get their reliever, a young starter, and their replacement CF. Pirates get 2 solid left-handed hitters and fill their hole at 1B. Cubs get their 1-year bridge to Pie in CF and a middle-of-the-order bat. Of course other players and money might need to be included, but this would be the basic framework of the deal. What do you think?

That's just sad. Even if he doesn't pitch an inning in 2007? C'mon he'll probably pitch an inning. Maybe he'll even squeak out a game or two.[/quote] With a ball or a towel?

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: Oh sir, you're not from around here are you? :wink: I am a Bear fan, but I must admit that I'm getting tired of reading 5-8 stories per day about the Bears. If they win Sunday, it will be two more weeks of whole sections (8 plus pages) of the Tribune devoted to the Bears. I am more than ready to read about baseball.

I don't remember where I read it, but I saw a rumor that if Bonds doesn't re-sign with the Giants, they might be interested in Jacque Jones.

I think he would also. The real question is whether his agent would allow him to sign for 5yr/$16mil per. Zambrano may love the Cubs, but someone wispering in his ear that signing with the Cubs is costing you $40 - $50 million might convince him to put his love asside.