jersey cubs fan

I'm all for the team being sold as quickly as possible, but regardless of whether the sale is completed over the winter I expect Hendry will still be here next season in order to ease the transition into new management. The big question will be his available budget. You're probably right, but I was holding out hope that a new owner would bring in his own GM. If the deal took place before November, I would suspect that would be the case. But if it doesn't happen before the winter meetings, I'm not sure they'd get in on-time to make the necessary changes. Anybody wanting a job is probably going to take one before then. I think the new owner lets 2008 get off to a start, and will operate under the "we're evaluating everybody" story until, or unless, the team falls apart early.

Few would. But is Derosa really making that much? $4.75, and $5.5m the next two years. Not "that much" but a significant enough chunk.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Modernize"? I could see him adding Wi-Fi, but thats about it. \ He'll think of creative ways to add premium seating, similar to what the Red Sox have done with Fenway putting seats on top green monster. The Tribune has already done that. I can't see where you can stick more seats. The Trib did it while being as unintrusive as possible to the existing aesthetic of the ballpark. Cuban will go beyond that. I think there's a lot of opportunity to improve the grandstand seating.

Isn't the big wild card in this the fact that the Trib is a publically owned company, and therefore the process of buying the asset has to be transparent? By the time the sale is made Tribune will not be public. Maybe, maybe not.

I wouldn't cry if ARod started at SS and Theriot started at 2B, with DeRosa traded, along with Jones and Marquis to trim some of the payroll.

A) He'd get more money. B) It may be the only way that team feels it can afford him (by trading away another contract or two). C) Depending on that trade, it wouldn't necessarily make the other team worse, on a net basis, and, if they are already good, (Angels for instance) that net improvement may be viewed as a big enough improvement. As a generic example, Team X could trade away an overpaid mediocre player whom that team can replace from within, a good but not great player the team wouldn't necessarily miss (especially since they are adding ARod) but whom the Yankees could afford and make use of, and a solid prospect or two. The players Team X give up hurts a little, but getting ARod helps a lot. Add in the fact that he theoretically gets $33m more than he'd get by opting out and signig the contract, and I think he'd be up for it.

I did not like the contract, and I don't like Soriano as a player. But he's not the same risk as a pitcher, and I don't think he'll compare to a fat alcoholic basketball player. I think Soriano has shown that he's going to give it his all. I expect him to be in great shape throughout the deal, even if he is putting up a .270/.320/.490 type line at the end of the deal. Whether or not this is truly an albatross depends on whether or not he stays healthy enough to play, and what they do with the ret of the team. I believe any competent owner can draw enough revenue to provide the proper level of payroll in order to win with Soriano on board. No, he's not ideal, and can be a problem. But it doesn't have to be a franchise killer as long as they operate smartly over the next 7 years.

Trading ARod for ARam doesn't improve the team all that much. It could. But not as much as they need to be truly great. I'd rather them try and be great. If you're looking at trading pieces and players, I'd deal them Lee, Marmol and others for ARod. But NY won't trade him. They'll let him walk away in a manner that you described. How can the Yanks trade ARod if he can just walk out of his contract? It's all about the money Texas owes. If ARod is in discussions with another team, he can get what they will offer + the money Texas owes, if he doesn't opt out. The only way to do that is to get the Yankees to trade him. The Yankees would most likely oblige, considering they'd get a lot more than the draft pick they would otherwise get for losing him.

And to this day, there is incompetence all over the league. We see it in our very own favorite organization. It was stupid for Texas to spend all that money on ARod. I won't argue with you there. They didn't have the components to compete. There aren't many teams that are in a position to: 1. Afford to pay ARod what he's worth. 2. Have the components to surround him with talent for the next several years. 3. The desire to spend that kind of money on a single ballplayer. No, there aren't many. But there are some. I think Anaheim would, could and should do it. I think both LA and SD could do it, but I'm not sure the Dodgers want to and I'm almost certain SD doesn't want to. As for Texas, the $26 million they spent on Chan Ho and Juan Gone were far more damaging to their ability to field a quality team than the $22 they spent on ARod.

If the Cubs replaced their 2007 SS production with a Renteria or Tejada level of production, I don't think they'd need improvement from Soriano and Lee to be among the best NL teams next year. The CF, RF and C situations would need to be stabilized though.

Trading ARod for ARam doesn't improve the team all that much. It could. But not as much as they need to be truly great.

The best chance for the Yankees to keep ARod is probably to can Torre and convince Lou to ditch the Cubs and their unstable ownership situation. Torre threw Alex under the bus a couple times when Lou never would have done that.

If making the playoffs is the goal than it was a good signing. i mean if we get arod great, if not, don't blame hendry or soriano for screwing things up...it just wasn't meant to be It wasn't meant to be? That sounds like a convenient excuse for any Hendry mistake.

I agree. I think ARod is as good as gone. But, I don't see any team coughing up 10/300. All a team has to do is see what 10/250 did to Texas, and that was during ARod's prime years. I could see a deal stretching to 10 years, and maybe something in the vicinity of 17-20m per, but I'm thinking ARod may not require the per year money to be of as much importance as the length of the deal and where that deal leads him. If I'm right in my thinking, ARod puts comfort and winning a championship ahead of dollar amount at this point. But, I very well could be wrong. 10/250 didn't do that to Texas, incompetence did.

I agree that either one would be better next year. Will they improve the team enough to win the division, The pennant and the World Series? Probably not. Especially considering both Soriano and Lee will probably decline next year. Than what do the Cubs have in 2 to 3 years? By then ARam would be declining also. If Renteria or Tejada were the last piece needed to get the Cubs over the top, I would say go for it. They are not long term solutions though and the Cubs are not as close to being a World Championship caliber team that some think. I wouldn't bet on Soriano and Lee declining. Plateauing, or a small step back perhaps, but I would not put money on either being significantly worse. No, these teams don't make them elite (although if either Renteria or Tejada plays at his highest ability it might), but I think they do improve them enough to give them a better chance in 2008 than they would otherwise have. And given the fact that they would not be blocking any significant prospects, I'd say go for it.

Boras still wants 30 mill???? does this not tarnish the value a little bit? I was thinking of offering 18 at the most. It's all just posturing, IMO. If ARod wants the big money, he will stay in New York and sign an extension that will give him that big money. If he hates New York enough, and wants to play for a winner, he knows he'll have to settle for less to do so. Maybe a team like Anaheim would throw that kind of money at ARod, but I doubt it. I believe a significant chunk of the Yankee hierarchy would like ARod gone as much as he would like to leave. My theory is he wants to do whatever he can to not make it look like he's leaving with his tail between his legs. And the Yankees want to do whatever they can to make it look like they want to keep him. If ARod wants an extension on his current deal, they will keep him, but Yankees fans despise ARod, and I don't think Yankees brass think that's good for business. Had ARod come through with a game winning HR or two this series, and the team made it deep into October, with ARod playing out of his mind, perhaps he would have won "true Yankee" status. But that didn't happen. I really see no reason for him to stay. I think somebody will be able to put together a package that looks like 10/300, and if/when they do, the two sides, ARod and the Yankees, will both be able to part ways while pretending they tried to stay together. Alex is going to be miserable if he stays in NY for the next 10 years, with Jeter declining right next to him.

That's because those 50 points are always better, regardless of what the other teammates did. in a vacuum they are. but the goal of baseball is to score runs, not have the highest OPS And you score more runs by having guys with higher OPS. roughly speaking, yes. there are plenty of exceptions No, not really.

Yeah, it's important to have your whole team have good stats, that doesn't chang the fact that it's important to have an individual with good stats. Baseball is a team sport, but it's more a sport of one on one matchups, between pitcher and hitter, with slight variables given to the quality of the defense behind the pitcher. You don't want one hitter with great numbers surrounded by bums. But that's obvious.

That's because those 50 points are always better, regardless of what the other teammates did. in a vacuum they are. but the goal of baseball is to score runs, not have the highest OPS And you score more runs by having guys with higher OPS.

There's a good explanation for this. Strikeouts are bad for hitters and good for pitchers. But they are only part of the picture. Many hitters can be productive and still strike out a ton. But it's very hard for pitchers to be any good without striking out anybody.

That's because those 50 points are always better, regardless of what the other teammates did.

He will be playing somewhere in California.

He's been dogging on ARam for years now. He hates him.

I hope every single person in NY, including sportswriters and people close to Arod share your opinion and let Arod hear about it all day every day until he signs with us. The funny thing is, they all know it's a stupid thought process, but they all share it. So, they try their best to shut up and not freak on him, because they are scared to death of putting this team all back on Jeter's narrow shoulders. But I enjoy egging them on right after ARod does something less than good, and you can just feel them wanting to agree with me and flip on ARod. But believe me, it may not be everybody, but what you said is exactly what is going on around here. I love it.

It's not about having no effect, it's about having a big effect in one year. DLee was a Cubs for a full year before his 2005 turnaround. He also had that season in his age 29 season, much like Sosa. So he was still in his peak range. Perry had one spring and one season to work with these guys. Many of them are in their 30's with well established track records and entranched methods. That's hard to crack. Hopefully he does some good with the Cubs younger players, and maybe he can even get a little more out of Ramirez, who is already a great consistent hitter. But guys like Jones, Soriano and DeRosa, on the wrong side of 30, probably aren't going to see much improvement no matter how coaches them.