Backtobanks

Nothing new, Huff deal on a very back burner, Patterson won't be a member of the Cubs opening day, Jacque Jones probably will be offered a multi-year deal by someone else (KC) thus ending any possibility of the Cubs getting him, Bradley for Patterson deal is about dead, etc.

Unfortunately, that might end up being the best available option remaining. Why do you say "unfortunately"? Green is a left-handed bat that has consistently decent numbers. No he's not Abreu or Dunn, but he's better than Huff, Burnitz, or Jacque Jones. Vasquez is a good #2 (on some teams) or #3 starter who is overpriced, but not more than Millwood or Burnett. Wood comes back strong in May and you trade either Wood or Vasquez at the trade deadline.

Why not expand the deal to include Vasquez and Shawn Green. Together they make about $20 million. That would solve RF and SP problems. Maybe an offer of Patterson, Williams or Hill, Guzman, & Welly.

I agree completely. Let's get a decent RF and then look into strengthening the other positions. As for the rotation, if we can stay competitive until Wood returns, that would be like getting a front line pitcher for nothing. I think Murton & Cedeno will not only be fine, I think we have 2 future stars on this team, but only if Dusty has the patience to stay with them. Adding Floyd (my 1st choice) or Huff/Wilkerson and keeping Walker would be a solid lineup. Getting Floyd, Huff, or Wilkerson leaves plenty of money for JH to use at the trade deadline to strengthen the team. Anybody who thinks that Pierre and Walker at the top of the lineup with Lee, Floyd (Huff/Wilkerson), and Ramirez in the middle and Barrett, Murton, and Cedeno following can't compete in the NL Central is mistaken. Of course, the one wild card is injuries, but that's true for any team. Assuming Wood can return in May and JH can "tinker" with the roster, I'm confident that we can compete.

I didn't realize I was in bold.

Les Grobstein was on CLTV round table last night and started the usual whining about the Cubs. His comments included the Cubs still have 4 holes to fill (LF, RF, SP, and 2B). I don't know how a sports reporter can say the Cubs have a hole in LF. Right now the Cubs have a hole in one position (RF). They would like to strengthen or add depth to SP and 2B/SS, but those aren't holes. Also, he added that the Brewers are a better team than the Cubs right now.

Good, now let's get busy on getting a RF.

If there's any doubt that JH is trying to get rid of Walker, this deal would cinch it.

Why do you say that? Teams trade withing the division all the time. Sean Casey, the Captian of the Reds was just traded to Pittsburgh for a left handed pitcher. The Mets are most definately a player for Tejada. The sports talk radio here is polluted with the rumors. Yea, but it's not like Sean Casey is Manny Ramirez or Miguel Tejada.

I've posted before that I think Cedeno will match Furcal's production within 2-3 years. I think he has the makings of an all-star SS (or 2B) within 2-3 years.

I think that those teams would be looking for those ideally, but the question of how realistic those expectations are comes up. Long post ahoy! Regarding Tejada, the word is that he has a bad relationship with Ramon Hernandez and the Orioles knew about it. Yet, they still decided to bring him in. The Orioles also are looking like the 4th best team in the AL East. Their farm system has very few good players in it who are at most a year away from being ready. Their pitching staff is young, unproven, and/or sucks. They have good offensive players, but not enough to make up for the pitching problems. If anything, I think the Orioles are a few years away from competing for the AL East again. Tejada is angry at them and would likely be a distraction in the clubhouse if his relationship with Hernandez is as bad as I've heard it to be. Yet, Tejada is also signed to a good contract and has trade value. They could get some top prospects for him, especially pitching, which the Cubs have. However, given that the market for him is not that strong (I'd say it's Boston and Chicago with Atlanta as a dark horse), I don't think that they could reasonably demand a Zambrano or a Prior, if they are set on trading him. I don't think money is the issue with them, either. As for the Phillies, they're in a slightly different bind. It was mentioned earlier in the offseason that the Phillies would like to get out from under two of their three large contracts (Thome, Burrell, and Abreu). They already unloaded Thome, but in the process they got an extra outfielder, causing them to have a bit of a problem in terms of a logjam. Michaels, Rowand, Abreu, Burrell, and Victorino (with Bourne waiting in the wings) all will vie for playing time. Yet, with Burrell and Abreu's contracts, something tells me both will start no matter what, which could be problematic since they might not be able to start their best OFs. Now, in an ideal world, the Phillies would trade Pat Burrell, shift Rowand to left, and play Michaels in CF until Victorino or Bourne are ready next year. However, I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally don't think there's much of a market for Burrell, especially given his horrifyingly bad contract and his recent inconsistency. They could pawn him off on some team, but they'd still have to consume at least a portion of his contract. Also keep in mind that this is a team that should make a run at the NL East next season if they solidify their bullpen and rotation. They could also use a third baseman and a catcher in the near future. Abreu is the kind of guy who could help plug those holes and the Phillies wouldn't have to pay a dime of his salary. He has two years left and is towards the end of his prime, so they should get good value for him. I think the Cubs could provide the pitching they need as well as some help at 3B (Scott Moore) and C (Geovanny Soto) that could help at a cheap price down the line. I think there's a more reasonable chance they could get a stud pitcher for Abreu than Tejada would, given the market for a RF. There's more of a chance that some team will overpay for Abreu. However, I personally do not feel like he is worth Prior or Zambrano. His age is enough of a factor to make me pause and wonder how much longer he could keep it up. Edit: You know...what's bugging me in this whole situation is the fact that the Astros have been unusually quiet this offseason. Clemens might not return, which should free up money in the budget. They also have some interesting young pitchers (Hirsh, Nieve, Astacio, Magical Wandy, Buchholz). I'm not saying it will happen...but what if the Astros offered Roy Oswalt for Abreu or Tejada? Feasible scenario? I don't think anyone considers Soto or Moore as serious enough prospects to provide any solution "down the line."

It is pretty obvious that the best the Orioles are going to do this year is finish 4th in their division. It might be hard for Angelos to admit he needs to start over, but if he realizes that then this is a good deal for the Orioles. Of course, a lot depends on what their scouts have to say about all of these players, but I've written that I think Cedeno will match Furcal's numbers within 2 years. I think he will be getting a future all-star in CF, SS, and 2 middle of the rotation starters by 2008 and will have lots of money to fill in holes for the next few years.

Get Mench and platoon them. As for the fact he can't hit lefties, Patterson can't hit either righties or lefties.

Marquis is a better hitter.

I think they could get Abreu or Tejada. It's just not likely. If they want to give up Zambrano or Prior, which isn't going to happen. For what we are offering (Walker, Williams, Patterson, Welly, Novoa, etc.), I repeat anyone who thinks the Cubs have a shot at Manny, Abreu, Dunn, or Tejada is delusional.

I think anyone who thinks the Cubs have a shot at Manny, Abreu, Dunn, or Tejada is delusional. Having said that, it is fun to speculate.

"washburn and millwood are both still out there. To not make this deal to avoid using rusch is just piling stupidity upon stupidity (the initial stupidity being signing rusch in the first place). Rusch is going to pitch for the cubs this year so you might as well improve the offense." The problem is that the Cubs won't have the money for Washburn or Millwood if we get Tejada. Also, we wouldn't have much money for a RF either.

I think you can work out a way to get all three OF (Murton, Floyd, Bradley) their fair share of PA. I'm not saying that Murton hasn't "earned" a starting chance, but why leave him as the only option. He's a risk too. At least if you have Floyd, Bradley and Murton, you have some insurance if someone gets injured, "goes off the deep end" or whatever. You might be able maximize both Floyd's and Murton's potential with a platoon. I'm certainly not against Murton being the full time LF, but why not add in Floyd if you can? Let's say you start with Murton in LF and Mabry is your 4th OF. What do you think is going to happen if Murton has a bad April and/or just has an overall slight sophmore slump? Hello John Mabry in LF. :pukel: Thank you. Depth. It's a good thing. I'm all for depth and my point was to get a RF in place before we start adding platoon players. My problem is that too many of you are getting like Dusty, meaning let's be ready for Murton to go hitless in 2 games so we can bench him. I'm not suggesting that we don't have a decent substitute for him, but my impression of Murton is that he is going to be a very solid OF for quite a few years. Also, he strikes me as the type of player who can avoid prolonged slumps.

Why don't we get 1 OF before we get 2 OFs and start talking about a platoon. Also, anyone who doesn't think Bradley and/or Floyd are questionable hasn't been paying attention. I think Floyd is the best option, but he has had a career full of injuries and Bradley is liable to go off the deep end any minute. I still don't understand why some of you still want to replace or platoon Murton. He has earned the starting job until he proves he doesn't belong there.

Browsing the White Sox MLB boards, they have been saying that Mackowiak fills a couple important roles as utility man. They said if center fielder Brian Anderson fails, Mackowiak can fill in. Or, if Joe Crede has to go back on the DL because of his bad back, Mackowiak can fill in there. Also, as you'd expect, there's a certain South Side chest-beating about how successful Mack has been against the Cubs and how he is from Oak Lawn, a Southwest suburb. Mackowiak is a good addition to the WS, but if Marte returns to the form he showed before last year, The Pirates got the best of this deal. A lot of Sox fans were fed up with Marte's 2005 season and yearly regression. The fact that Mack costs less than Marte is an added bonus. Some said they were happy to have a left-handed bat off the bench.

The Yankees are going to sign Nomar and then trade for Tejada. Jeter will move to CF, Tejada will play SS, Arod at 3B, and Nomar will DH.

These baseball writers now have to "invent" stories to keep their names in the news until spring training. Furcal went for the most money in the fewest years so that he could be a free agent again at 30 years old.

Isn't that the break-even point of SB effectiveness? I wouldn't call that "can't steal to save his life". I think one of the "experts" on Baseball Tonight said that Pierre started last year with a leg injury which hampered his base stealing.

Speaking of Scott Elarton, why don't we talk to the Indians about Coco Crisp and we can send them Williams and Welly to replace Elarton.

I think these baseball writers now have to "invent" stories to keep their name in the news until spring training. Furcal went for the money and also the opportunity to hit the free agent market again at 30 years old.