Backtobanks

Seattle needs a catcher - trade Montero to them for Brad Miller (basically salary relief). Put a package together for Lucroy.

Staying with the "unusual" ideas theme - Javy plays 3B and Bryant goes to CF. He's played the corners (OF), has decent speed and arm, and has no future at 3B because of his height :lol: . Then we can spend all the money on pitching.

Sign Austin Jackson, Justin Ruggiano, and Samardzija. Trade Baez (+?) for Ross or Salazar. Rizzo, Castro, Russell, Bryant, Scwarber, Jackson, Soler, Montero. Rotation - Arrieta, Lester, Shark, Ross/Salazar, Hammel, Hendricks. Bench - Coughlan, Ruggiano, Ross, LaStella, ??? OF versatility with Ruggiano and Jackson able to cover all 3 OF spots, Coughlan/Bryant able to cover corners. Still should be some money and/or prospects to tweak the bullpen, bench, or whatever.

Obviously it would take quite a bit more than Soler (or Baez) to get all three, but I've been pushing to acquire a pitcher and a CF in one deal for awhile (Miller/Teheran plus Maybin, Quintana plus Eaton, etc.).

I'm not a fan of Blackmon. He's only a 2.0-2.5 win player (by both standards) and doesn't play great defense in center, and his overall offensive numbers aren't that impressive even with the Coors effect. If anything Hendricks alone is an overpay for his services when you take age and team control into consideration, IMO. The problem is that every CF we mention has some issues that make it not a perfect fit. From too expensive (Heyward, Fowler, Gardner) to injury affected (Eaton, Span) to mediocre (Blackmon, Maybin). I've accepted the idea that we have enough firepower offensively that we can deal with a mediocre (offensively) CF for a year or two until Almora/McKinney/Happ are ready.

That's more like it. Those rumors of $80 - $85 million for him scared me away. A trade for Ross or a trade for Teheran plus Maybin in addition to signing Shark would look great.

I really, really don't want to give up both guys in a single trade. Normally I wouldn't want to give up both in one deal, but for Fernandez and Ozuna I think it might be worth it.

Are you implying that Maybin and Ross are young? Cameron Maybin will be 29 all of next year. He's not that young. Tyson Ross will be 29 (almost) all of next year. He's not that young. Get a year or two out of Maybin until Almora/McKinney/Happ are ready. Ross at 29 gives us a few years. If Bosio "fixes" Teheran you've got a solid starter for a long time. For the money to spend on a big-time FA, go after Heyward or Upton for RF. Rizzo, Bryant. Schwarber, Heyward/Upton, etc. would provide enough offense to compensate for Maybin in CF.

Much of the discussion since my post on acquiring Teheran, Maybin, and Ross ignored the fact of getting Maybin also. Solving 3 spots with young controllable players is going to be expensive in terms of players. Give Bosio a chance at Teheran and we might have a long term starter.

The Braves look like an obvious trade partner picking up Teheran and Maybin in one deal, but there's no reason we can't go after Ross too. Baez goes in one deal, Soler in the other (plus other prospects). Find somebody to take Hammel and his salary and then use whatever money we have to go after Heyward or Upton. Rizzo, Castro, Russell, Bryant, Maybin, Heyward/Upton, Montero with a rotation of Arrieta, Lester, Ross, Teheran, and Hendricks.

Cubs sign Price and Heyward? There must be another ticket price increase coming tomorrow.

Somebody brought up Ben Revere's name in MLBTR chat today and the moderator suggested Revere for Hendricks. Not a blockbuster, but it would give us a CF for a couple of years. Thoughts?

He's certainly a great defender, but I think the Sox may overrate him and ask too much. The sample size is too small to have any idea what kind of offensive numbers he can put up.

Saw a couple of stories that mentioned the Hoyer and Hahn both said that they would be willing to trade with each other if it improved their team. Also, one story mentioned the WS might listen to offers on Eaton. Time for the blockbuster deal that I've mentioned a few times - Baez/Castro + Almora/McKinney + Vogelbach + ???? for Quintana + Eaton.

SP Jeff Samardzija may be among their offseason free agent targets, write Paul Sullivan and Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. As well, Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago writes that the team may be interested in Alex Gordon or Jason Heyward.

I make that deal for Chris Sale and walk away with a massive smile on my face. Sale is durable, doesn't walk many batters,racks up plenty of strikeouts, is only 26, and is signed for four more years at very reasonable rates. While possibly getting 30 homers from a middle infielder is mighty tempting to keep, its not as if we haven't been burned by toolsy hitters with a piss poor approach at the plate time and time again. And while I'm a fan of Soler I wouldn't let him stop me from acquiring an ace with no major flaws (in his prime). I highly doubt Sale is going anywhere, but what about Quintana? I can't believe he hasn't been mentioned yet. I've been a big fan of trading for Quintana for a couple offseasons now. Seems like Baez and Quintana as the main pieces could work well for both parties, but I also haven't seen any indication that the Sox might trade him. I've suggested going after Quintana several times. I mentioned throwing together a big package to go after Quintana and Eaton (highly unlikely, but worth a shot).

I think Schwarber is the most likely to be dealt. Its not certain, but its a good bet his value is at its peak after all those sexy postseason homers. He'll always be a defensive liability no matter where he plays, and an AL team in need of a DH would value him very highly. Either way you're right, that is going to make Coghlan very valuable in 2016. I doubt that the FO will be actively shopping Schwarber, but they ought to be listening to any offers from AL teams. If Beane offers Gray in a deal involving Schwarber, they ought to jump on it.

So you're saying there's a reasonably decent chance that he would have had the same value under Hendry too? As for Javy, he was signed at a very young age as a prospect and became one of the top prospects in baseball. Obviously Theo has improved the ml system and probably helped Javy in his development, but nobody can accurately say what would have happened under Hendry to a prospect with that much potential.

Many posters continually stated that "the cupboard was bare" and that Hendry depleted the organization of talent deeply and completely, so maybe you ought to get on them for hyperbole. My point in posting on this topic is all of the hyperbole about Hendry left nothing and Theo magically waved his magic wand and produced Rizzo, Russell, etc.

I hate to break it to you, but this isn't the year that those guys were traded so 0.5 fwar means nothing. Also, Hendry didn't force us to pick at the top of the draft for a few years - that was part of Theo's plan.

I don't know why he would necessarily be any different than what he is now. They saw his potential when they signed him and he still shows that potential.

You keep throwing this out there like it's some kind of key rebuttal. It's not plus for the old GM when the new GM has to clean up their mess. If you read the post carefully, it's not a rebuttal about cleaning up the mess. It's a rebuttal to the notion that "cupboard was bare" mentality that was being passed around in these discussions. Well it wasn't literally empty, but there wasn't all that much either. He left the team in a pretty [expletive] spot, and saying that there was a non-zero number of assets left isn't the positive statement you seem to think it is. Hendry was pretty bad man. There was Baez, Castro, and enough to trade for Rizzo, Russell, Wood, Grimm, Ramirez, Hendricks, Villanueva, Torreyes, and Black. Theo deserves the credit for having a plan and trading players that didn't fit in his plan, but apparently those players were valuable enough to acquire the players listed above.

You keep throwing this out there like it's some kind of key rebuttal. It's not plus for the old GM when the new GM has to clean up their mess. If you read the post carefully, it's not a rebuttal about cleaning up the mess. It's a rebuttal to the notion that "cupboard was bare" mentality that was being passed around in these discussions.

And the interesting thing is that I moved on from Hendry years ago, while many of you can't seem to stop bringing up his name.

I know AZCubs guy gets abuse for really being a Cardinals fan. But in the time I've been paying attention, BanktoBanks also seems like a candidate for a long-term troll. I'm sure he likes some stuff about the Cubs, but I just don't think I've ever read any of it. He's a Cubs fan, he just hates Theo. Gotcha. So before he was hired was Banks a pretty normal fan who would actually say good things about the team or was he always more on the side of negativity? And is this why people often talk about Hendry with him, because he was pro-Hendry? Since you're new to the site, I'll explain who I am and what I believe. I've been a Cub fan for over 60 years (hence the name). I enjoyed some of the years under Hendry (like most Cub Fans). Often I've "defended" Hendry when posters exaggerated "the cupboard was bare" mentality since Theo has taken over. I've pointed out that Theo traded many of the ML players left over from Hendry to restock the minor leagues. Many posters were so excited to have Theo that they refused to acknowledge anything that came from the previous FO. I've also pointed out that the situations are completely different - Hendry was a GM who was ordered to buy a winning team by his bosses, while Theo has complete autonomy to put his plan into place. I don't hate Theo (as some posters believe) and the "Boy Genius" was taken from one of the posters who was fawning over the fact we got him. I wasn't happy with tanking 3 seasons, but this year made up for a big part of that. I'm not into sabermetrics as much as most of the NSBB posters and I think you need a combination of sabermetrics and good old fashioned scouting. I was happy to read the article the other day where Theo complimented the scouts for all of the foreign signings. I have confidence in Theo improving the team over the winter and hopefully getting us a WS win. Hope you have a better understanding of who I am and what I believe.