Backtobanks

Furcal, at the price he is going to command, doesn't excite me. I think that Cedeno might be able to produce Furcal's number within a year or two for one-twentieth the cost. Signing Nomar for a low-base salary with incentives and moving Cedeno to 2B (trade Walker) would be my first choice. By 2007 or 2008, Cedeno becomes the SS.

Unless you're getting Arod, Cabrera, Pujols, Santana, or the like, I stand by my statement of not trading Lee, Aram, Prior, Zambrano, or Pie. Since none of those other teams would think about trading those guys, I can't see trading any of the Cubs mentioned.

I still think "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." You have 2 of the top players at their positions in baseball and you "consider" a deal that might improve the team while you have at least four other holes on the team and a poor excuse for a manager. I understand when people say nobody should be "untouchable" on this team, but I would think that Lee, Aram, Prior, Zambrano, and Pie ought to be darn close to untouchable.

With all of the problems that the Cubs have, I don't understand people suggesting trading Aram or Lee. I understand the fact that their value is very high, but these are two of the players you should build the team around. Using that logic, we should trade Zambrano, Prior, Barrett, and Dempster too. It took a long time to fill that black hole called 3B, let's not mess with it. Nomar at 3B for the whole season.....who's the backup? At least with Nomar at SS you have Cedeno to back him up.

I don't think it's that complicated. Sign Furcal. Move Cedeno to 2B. Trade Walker for a relief pitcher. Waive goodbye to Nomar. As for the other moves: Sign Lofton. Sign Giles or trade for a corner OF - Floyd, Abreu, Burrell. Sign (Millwood, Byrd, Weaver) or trade (Zito, Hernandez, Schmidt, Vazquez) for a starting pitcher. All those moves should easily fit into Hendry's budget. Trade Walker for an OF bat. Preferrably a middle of the order hitter, who's lefthanded. Agree w/ the other ideas. Oh and bring back Hairston and Rusch. Hoops, I agree with most of what you said. People are making this way too complicated and expensive. (1.) Resign Walker & Rusch (either or both made be used for trade bait) (2.) Go after Giles, Lofton, and Millwood as free agents. (3.) If Giles doesn't sign, go after Floyd. (4.) The fate of Cedeno and Walker depends on Nomar signing a low-base, high-incentive contract. If he signs, Cedeno plays 2B and Walker is traded. If he doesn't sign, Cedeno plays SS and Walker plays 2B. (5.) Any other needs to be filled by trades using: Patterson, Rusch (possibly), Williams, Hill, Walker (possibly), Mitre, Welly, and other prospects. Lineup: Lofton (Hairston as sub) SP: Zambrano Pen: Dempster Murton/ Cedeno/Walker Prior Novoa Lee Wood Wuertz Ramirez Millwood (possibly) Ohman Giles or Floyd Maddux Van Buren Barrett Rusch (possibly) Trade (??) Walker or Murton Williams (possibly) Trade(??) Cedeno ( or Blanco if he's catching)

Great job all season. NSBB has become my addiction. Sometimes I think all of the media reads NSBB because all of the ideas we kick around are then "suggested" or "reported" by the media. If we only had some influence over the Cubs' GM, we could solve most of the problems with the team.

Patterson's value couldn't be lower unless he had one of his legs fall off. I don't see him as an attractive trading chip. And for $12m per, I'd rather sign Kevin Millwood via FA and hang onto whatever prospects we'd have to give up. I agree that Patterson alone (or as the front person in a trade) is not much of a trading chip, but I would bet that Hendry is going to hear Patterson's name quite often as the throw-in in trade talk. I think there are a lot of teams out there that think they could "heal" Patterson or are willing to take a shot at him as the throw-in in some deal. He could be one of those players that needs a change of address.

What is your take on the rumors surrounding Hendry/Baker extending their contracts. So far, I would say thru the media it appears that Hendry will get offered a two year deal next Spring and Baker as well. The only difference is that Baker might not accept unlike Hendry. Stating a good start is needed, runs perpendicular to recent hints that Baker would be offered before the season. If you were to put odds on the situation, what are the odds of Baker being offered 2 more years before the season? I think that there is no way Baker doesn't sign the 2-year extension. For all of the griping and complaining, I think Dusty knows a good thing when he sees it. Dusty knows that the Cubs have a chance to compete every year with a large payroll and if the Cubs win their division, let alone the WS, he will be more popular than Elvis. As for more than 2 years being offered, the Tribune article made a big deal that Dusty always had 2 year deals until he signed with the Cubs. Obviously, 2 more years after 2006 will say a lot about Baker, Hendry, & MacPhail.

All of this was put into place so that nothing upstages the World Series.

I totally agree and I have posted often that I think Baker's managing and stubborness cost this team about 10 wins. That's not competing with the Cards, but it puts us in the playoffs as the WC. Also, don't forget batting Neifi, Corey, and Macias at the top of the lineup for much of the season.

Annoyed that they are taking so long or annoyed because he would rather leave? Annoyed that there is discussion about it. It seems to be a foregone conclusion that he will get a 2-year extension by spring training.

When I mentioned Kearns or Pena, I didn't necessarily mean for RF. Giles is what we need for RF, but we need to be prepared for the possibility that he won't leave the West Coast. I wonder whether Murton, Kearns, or Pena can play CF. It couldn't be much worse defensively than Nomar in LF.

Tribune headline states "Baker annoyed by contract extension talks". If he is annoyed, just think how annoyed all of the Cub fans are.

Even better than Neifi & Corey?

yeah I was thinking the exact same thing about bout macias and also agree with your ws teams I think that would be the ideal situation. How fitting is it that our 1-2 hitters made the final 2 outs of the season, leaving DLee on deck with the tying runners in scoring position. Perfect cap to this season. Especially when you #1 & #2 hitters are Patterson and Macias for the last game of the season.

I just don't understand Dusty's move of letting Maddux hit for himself with Oswalt in trouble and runners on 2nd & 3rd in the 6th inning. It was obvious that Maddux didn't have his best stuff and he was in a position to get the win. Instead, Maddux makes the third out, Maddux loses the lead in the 6th inning, Oswalt gets his 20th win, and the Astros win the WC.

The Dayton Daily News is reporting that Pena and/or Kearns might be available this offseason now that Griffey has proven to be able to play for the whole season. Obviously, they want pitching. If the Cubs can resign Rusch and use any combination of Rusch, Williams, Mitre, Hill, Welly, plus position players like Patterson, Walker, and prospects, I think that might solve one OF position. For free agents, Giles is the choice if we can outbid all of the other teams. The advantage of getting Kearns or Pena is that they are both young enough to fit into plans for the next 5 years.

Eh, he'd be justified in moving Dempster to a setup role if he acquired a comparable or better closer in the offseason. I don't think anyone would be mad about that. The thing is, if you look at his numbers as a closer, there aren't too many better out there. You can't make much of a case for bumping him for a guy like B.J. Ryan. Billy Wagner maybe, but you're going to have to pay lot more for him. If you give Dempster's jobe to B.J. Ryan, I would bet the farm Dempster would be pissed. If you ask me, signing another closer would just be redundant, especially if that closer isn't markedly better. We have a very good closer at a good price, and we have other problems to throw money at. The Cubs just signed their closer. End of story. Do you think Hendry is giving Dempster $15.5 million so he can see if there's a better closer available? I agree with you that there are plenty more holes to fill with the money rather than overpaying for another closer.

Most of the "deals" revolve around other teams taking Lowell. I don't think Lowell is on anybody "must-have" list. Somebody is going to have to pick up a ton of his salary if he is going to get moved (let alone moved twice).

The best part of all of this Pie/Murton/Cedeno or Greenberg/Murton/Cedeno speculation is the fact that obviously it means the Cubs got rid of Dusty. There is no way that Dusty is going to start (and keep in the lineup) 3 rookies. I would think that if they think Pie is ready, Murton or Cedeno would be packaged in a trade. I certainly hope neither gets traded because I think they both will be good, solid major league players for a long time.

If the Cubs could get Bradley & Castillo for Walker, Hill, and a prospect, I would jump at those deals. The Cubs would improve the OF, 2B, leadoff, and defense with those moves.

Why is it that so many teams have their top prospects at AA ball? A lot of AAA teams seem to be stocked with long-time minor leaguers and over-the-hill major leaguers while the future stars seem to be at AA. It seems to me that there used to be a natural progression from A to AA to AAA to the majors, but now many AAA teams seem to be a holding spot for major league bench-warmers. Am I right in my observation or is it just me?

Hopefully, Hendry & Baker learned a few lessons from the Cards & White Sox. Those two teams understood that the games in April & May count just as much as the games in August & September. You can't allow teams to get 15 game leads at any point in the season. How can we combat that? First, Hendry has to make sure that all of the holes are filled. Next, Baker has to go into the season with a set lineup and role for each player. He can't be platooning players, trying to figure out each pitcher's role in the bullpen (including closer), and experimenting daily with the lineup. Murton, Cedeno, and some of the younger pitchers need to understand that they won't be benched if they have a bad game.

What about resigning Rusch and using him in a package to get Wilkerson from the Nationals and then we don't need Lofton.

Has Hendry had the money to get the top guy?? Will the Trib even allow him?? Iirc he wasn't playing w/ much budget prior to 2002. They were paying Hundley, Gonzo, Alou & Sosa to name a few. He made a real nice pick up in Remlinger, and the Hundley for Grudz & Karros trade was pretty nice. Prior to 2003, they had a little more money w/ Hundley gone and he went out and got Hawkins, Walker and Maddux. I recall most people being pretty fired up. Last year he put a good amount of money into Nomar. Again I recall a lot of people being pretty fired up. I don't think they'll go after any FA who wants more than 4 years. The Trib's scared for some reason. However, I can see him making 3 or 4 signings for guys like Furcal and Millwood. Hopefully, it doesn't turn out like the year we got George Bell, Danny Jackson and Mike Morgan. :cry: EDIT: Can't believe I forget the Great Walker. I think Hendry will be doing great if he signs Furcal and Millwood. I have suggested in many posts that the Cubs ought to resign Walker, Rusch, and maybe Nomar (depending on Furcal signing). Using Walker, Rusch/Williams, Patterson, Mitre, Hill, Welly, and some of our other prospects ought to fill an OF position and a veteran reliever. A player like Lofton will come cheaply and be a stopgap until Pie is ready. 1B....Lee 2B.... Cedeno SS....Furcal or Nomar (Low base with high incentive contract) 3B ...Aram LF....Murton CF.... Lofton RF.... ??? (player acquired in trade mentioned above) C.... Barrett with Blanco as sub SP.... Prior, Zambrano, Wood, Maddux, Millwood/Rusch/Williams Bullpen....Wuertz, Ohman, Novoa, ???? (veteran acquired in trade above), Hill/Welly/Mitre/VanBuren/other prospects. Closer..... Dempster Bench....???????