Little Slide Rooter

Did he say the Tigers won't or he wouldn't?

We knew that's who the Cubs were likely targeting but last I'd heard was the Tigers didn't want to trade him if they didn't have to. If they're willing to listen that makes things more interesting and leads me to believe, personally, that the hold up in a Garza deal might not be Turner, but who they're asking for to go along with him. Assuming a starting pitcher is what they seek, judging by what's available I can't imagine who else would qualify as the right deal.

Green?

He does qualify as a still young, once fairly well regarded prospect so Theo and Co. aren't likely to dump him for nothing. Baker's the far more likely bet to go.

While the pen might not look as strong but their is no shortage of options. Beyond the veterans Marmol, Shark, Russell and Corpas there's Carpenter, Dolis, Beliveau, Gaub, Castillo, Maine, and Weathers. Maybe not better better but Younger and deeper.

It could just be that anything that was going to get out is already out. If all has been agreed upon and it's just a matter of paperwork at this point there's probably nothing else we're going to here until the official announcement.

Guys like Suppan and Wolf are exactly the reason I was really concerned about the contract Maholm would get. He's a veteran, left-handed, and can pitch 150-200 innings without being awful. I really thought that would get him a deal of some significance from somebody, not a below market value one year deal. Both were ill advised and hopefully they're a big part of the reason why pitchers like that aren't getting 10m/year anymore. Both were guys that had never been anything special, especially Suppan who earned his payday as a result of 2 starts in the previous NLCS.

Was that not the best way to say that I doubt that it's about looking out for his family? It could be better argued that when dealing with that much money it might be in the better interest of his family do stay put and sign with the Cubs or even another mid-western team for 2-2.5 mil rather than 3-3.5 some 700 hundred miles away?

It was weird to talk about Cubs or nobody else in the first place, but not weird to actually hold out for the most money possible now. He owes it to his agent (does he have one still?) to at least try to create some leverage. He is definitely doing a good job at trying to create leverage, by getting the fans worried that he won't re-sign just prior to the convention. Can't blame the guy for looking out for himself and his family. It would sure be sad to see the Wood family on food stamps and digging through the dumpster behind Browns.

It was weird to talk about Cubs or nobody else in the first place, but not weird to actually hold out for the most money possible now. He owes it to his agent (does he have one still?) to at least try to create some leverage. Neither scenerio would necessarily have been weird. I don't think that anyone would have held it against him if from the beginning he'd said that he wants to go somewhere for more money or even a better chance to win. It does now look a bit weird for him starting out saying that he wants to stay with the Cubs or retire and then decide that he wants closer to market value, defeating the purpose of the hometown discount which is the only reason for te Cubs in their current state to bring him back. There are two alternate scenerios I can't think of: A. Wood said he wants to retire a Cub and it was the media who twisted that to mean he'd only sign with the Cubs or nobody or B. he or his agent felt that the organization was going to use him for marketing and PR purposes to keep fans coming and paying outrageous ticket prices for a team with no real star power and he said to hell with that, if I'm going to be a glorified mascot they'd better pay me more.

Nah. I don't think we've spent much more than 10 mil all together this offseason. While by no means do I condone giving Wood 4 mil, whether we're talking about highly touted outfield prospects or tasty pork sanwiches, I don't think it would come between us and the Cubans. We have a lot of money to play with.

Interested to see what happens when Thomas and Griffey get on the ballot in a couple of years. How can you justify voting Thomas and not Bagwell? I hope one of these era sluggers gets in somehow because I think that would slowly open things up for everyone else that deserves to be in there. It's a disgrace that people aren't voting for Bagwell just for playing in the wrong era. I think Bagwell will get in. Thomas has to. No question about Griffey. Until he stated getting hurt he was the ultimate 5 tool player. These guys were the elite of an era and the writers need to get off their high horse and if there is going to be a hall of fame, everyone of them should be in it. And while they're at it, let in Shoeless Joe and Charlie Hustle. It's time. Have you ever considered the reason gambling has basically been a non issue in baseball since 1920 is because of the lifetime ban that goes with gambling on games or throwing games? I understand it seems harsh, but I would bet that PEDs would quickly become a non issue if a lifetime ban from baseball was step 1 of punishment.(I am not advocating this but making the point) I would like to hear what some of the writers were thinking in voting in Larkin but not voting Trammell. Maybe true with Rose. However, there was no conviction or even solid evidence against Joe Jackson and he was given a lifetime ban along with 7 others, some of whom deserved it more than others as an example set by an old man who died nearly 70 years ago. Maybe he did know more than the books and movies tell us and he overplayed the illiterate hick card as a defense, but I think he's served his time.

I can't see that. If he's willing to keep coming back to the Cubs on reasonable terms I'd have to imagine he'd be comfortable waiting out roster manipulation in the meantime. My guess is it would be more about not wanting to come back to a completely overhauled crappy team and/or feeling Theo is lowballing him. It's also not impossible that they'd been lowballing him while overstating their desire to bring him back with a pretty good idea that someone would eventually make him a better offer and he'd take it. That way, they'd be able to make it more palatable to the fans as an amicable split with the Kerry will always have a place in the organization and we look forward to working with him again spiel.

Doubt it. If they wanted Wood back as much as they'd earlier reported I'm sure they'd risk someone of the 40 man.

Yuck. I guess Theo thinks he could be traded for filler at the deadline, otherwise you just DFA him in September when its time to call-up the McNutts of the world? They've done enough wonderful things over the past few weeks for me not to question this.

Porcello recently opted out of his existing contract, and now they're working on arbitration or a long term deal. Are they able to trade him before they've reached some kind of agreement with him? Also, I just checked out motownsports.com, which I think is the Tigers version of NSBB to see if they had any insight or rumors we havn't heard. I didn't come across anything mention of any kind of impending Garza deal. Kind of odd considering how big of a trade it would be.

Why would a vesting option be better than a club option? For some reason I saw club option and thought mutual option, just a brain fart. My main point is that Maholm has potential to be a quality 3 starter, and if he can be that, I'd prefer that we have him under control by the time we're contending, which realistically, I think will be 2014 although 2013 will be fun to watch due to the young players coming up.

I like it. I just wish that it was a vesting option and that there were 2 of them just so that if he were to end up a solid mid rotation pitcher or better we keep under control when we're more likely to contend.

Interested to see what happens when Thomas and Griffey get on the ballot in a couple of years. How can you justify voting Thomas and not Bagwell? I hope one of these era sluggers gets in somehow because I think that would slowly open things up for everyone else that deserves to be in there. It's a disgrace that people aren't voting for Bagwell just for playing in the wrong era. I think Bagwell will get in. Thomas has to. No question about Griffey. Until he stated getting hurt he was the ultimate 5 tool player. These guys were the elite of an era and the writers need to get off their high horse and if there is going to be a hall of fame, everyone of them should be in it. And while they're at it, let in Shoeless Joe and Charlie Hustle. It's time.

Weren't the Padres interested in Maine at the time of the Stewart trade? Just send him over for a C level prospect.

It's looking more and more like the writers are going to stand their ground and keep McGwire out of the hall, and there's no reason to think they won't to the same to Sammy, but can they really do the same to Bonds and Clemens? The Mark and Sammy show did a great job of bringing fans back to baseball but Bonds and Clemens are two of the greatest in the history of the game.

That and what the Cardinals gave up for a few shotty months of DeRosa. Of course, that was looking a lot worse for them in 2010 when Chris Perez was looking like a world class closer and the Cardinals didn't go ahead and win the World Series without even having an established closer for most of the season. [expletive] Cardinals.

1 year at 4 mil is by no means unreasonable for a back end reliever if you're a contender. If that's what he's asking for someone will give it to him.

Would the Tigers be interested/have a need for Byrd? He could be another guy traded to clear a spot. Their outfield as of now is Delmon Young, Austin Jackson, and Brennan Boesch and I don't know if Byrd is any better of an option than any of them for the Tigers. They also have Ryan Raburn as a utility IF/OF so it wouldn't make sense to add another righty to that mix. If they feel that Byrd is a better option than Young, also a free agent after 2012 I could see them taking him off our hands for an additional prospect and then flip Young elsewhere.

Ugh. I never know which reports to believe anymore. A week or so ago, I believed everyone who said that Garza was going to be traded in the next day. On the other hand, the morning before Z was traded their was a report out of Venezuela that the Cubs and Marlins were discussing a trade for him and I assumed that they were getting the rumors we'd been hearing all along a few weeks late.