Little Slide Rooter

A big market team that is in on talks for big market moves but only makes small market moves is operating in small market mode until they actually make a big market move. The Yankees and Red Sox are in small market mode. That's idiotic. They have much higher payrolls and much better teams and are in much better position than the Cubs going into 2012. Is it not idiotic to refer to a team who is potentially in the mix for Fielder, Darvish, and Cespedes as being in small market mode because they did hand out a 10 year contract to Albert Pujols or land any big fish yet?

A big market team that is in on talks for big market moves but only makes small market moves is operating in small market mode until they actually make a big market move. The Yankees and Red Sox are in small market mode. they don't have lousy rosters as of this moment though, that's a pretty terrible comparison At this point in the offseason, they havn't made any big market moves. The quote in question doesn't say anything about what the current roster looks like.

The Madoff Mets are cutting payroll by like $30m so I hope that doesn't happen. Now they're just the Mets. When they were the Madoff Mets they were spending some major coin.

A big market team that is in on talks for big market moves but only makes small market moves is operating in small market mode until they actually make a big market move. The Yankees and Red Sox are in small market mode.

Hard to believe that Gallaghers only 25. If he has any gas left in the tank, Dusty's the guy to drain it.

Out of curiosity, what's the story on Casey Blake? Is he hurt or something? Because a casual glance at his fangraphs page makes him look pretty appealing. He's 38 and he's hurt. Pass.

The funny part of this post is that you tried to make the worst-case batting line absurdly low, and it's still higher than his actual OPS from 2011. The media douches right now are focused on the trade itself, the relative value of the various players. Eventually, it's going to set in that the 2012 starting 3b for the Chicago Cubs is a guy who couldn't even hold a roster spot on the 73-89 2011 Rockies. My bet is that Headley was the main target but the Pads wanted too much. Other than that, we'd be looking at DeWitt/Baker. Would you rather he go Jim Hendry on us and give Wilson Betemit or Casey Blake a 3 year deal.

Disagree. It's a low-risk, low-reward trade that, in the most likely scenario, has us losing extra games in 2012 because we are running out a terrible third baseman who is going to get $1.5 to $2.5 million more than he is worth. Best case scenario Stewart bats .300/.450/.550 with 40 home runs. Worst case scenario he bats .125/.200/.275 and runs over Starlin Castro with his car. Even the most notorious media douches are indifferent at worst about this trade. I think Kyles the only person out there who has an actual problem with it.

Because the media doesn't know anything, and they know even less about what Theo is going to do. But when we're in on the Fielder and Pujols bidding they're wise and all knowing. While the media may act like they know more than they do, they likely know more than us. What they often do is take a tidbit of info and blow it up to seem better or worse than it is to get the reader to want to read the article. However, where there's smoke there's sometimes fire. My guess is that we do have spending money but not as much as we have in the past. We are interested in guys like Fielder, Darvish, Cespedes, and Solar but if the bidding gets out of hand we'll now out and find other ways to improve the team in a long term sense. They may not be as flashy as Pujols, Fielder, or Darvish but as excited as everyone was to put this front office together, it's stupid to turn on them just because we were unable to land a big fish this off season which many people, experts or otherwise didn't expect to happen.

Sounds extremely unlikely. Where'd he go, Baltimore? They'll keep anybody around for a full season. Soriano and $12 mil per for Flaherty? OK, I'll get back to Stewart. He may never amount to anything, but he's got at least as good of a shot to get there as Colvin or LeMahieu. And I'm somewhat intrigued by Weathers. Not a great move, but not horrible. Basically we got 2 higher ceiling players but are long shots whereas we gave up 2 guys who are better bets to be serviceable as a 4th outfielder and utility infielder.

I agree that the Cubs don't have a lot of assets, in terms of players. Their most available asset is the idle cash that they have sitting on the sidelines. Fielder is an asset that can be acquired by using the Cubs' most abundant asset, cash. They need to be willing to overpay a little to turn their cash asset into a player. I understand that by trading Garza, an asset, you can get more assets (prospects). I guess I don't have a problem trading him as long as the package they get in return is equal to or greater in value then what the Cubs gave up to acquire him just last year. As far as the idle cash goes, I just don't get how one minute we're serious about Pujols, Fielder, Darvish, and Cespedes and the next minute we don't have the cash to do anything big. It could be Theos MO, but there has been talk within the media, for what they're worth about the Cubs not having much available cash despite all that is coming off the books in the next 2 years, and while many don't believe it or don't want to believe it, including myself but theres also a part of me with the where there's smoke there's fire talk. I simply can't understand how a big market team with so much money off the books and more to come wouldn't be able to moneterily compete with the Angels and Rangers, especially when Ricketts even said that Theo and Co. have free reighn. Also, if they were to make a splash this would be the time because as far as offense goes, I can't imagine a bigger splash than Fielder, both literally and figuratively. I can imagine wanting to wait on pitching to see who actually makes it to free agency next year and worse case scenerio we have the same rotation we started 2011 with.

Can't wait for someone to chime in with the LaHair/Zuletta comps.

Did we suddenly warp back to the Theo thread? Cuz I'm sure this same post was made about 50 times at least in that thread. It was intended for the Stewart thread adressing the folks in the Stewart trade thread who were complaing about how little has been done so late in the offseason.

Heres the thing. When Theo took over as Red Sox GM after the 2002 season, he inherited a 93-69 2nd place team featuring Manny, Trot Nixon, Damon, Pedro, Lowe, and Nomar who was already a regular on the DL. His first aquisitions were Mueller, Millar and a young Twins slugger who hadn't reached his full potential due to playing in a weak hitters park. in 2003, They became a 95-67 2nd place team and won the Wild Card and the ALCS. Not a big difference. Now this would be the equivalant of us acquiring maybe Stewart, Orlando Hudson, and Gaby Sanchez or James Loney and them having a breakout season. If this was the extent of our ofseason, how would people feel? The next year, he acquired Curt Schilling in a big trade. They became a 98-64 2nd place team, which won the Wild Card and ultimately, well, you know. The difference being that he doesnt have Manny, Damon, Nixon, Pedro, and Lowe and a 93-69 team to work with. It's not realistic for us to think he'll get us to the World Series or even the playoffs as quickly as he got the Red Sox. Back then, he was an unproven wunder kind in his first GM job, so he had to play it safe, and he has a much longer leash now, but he really doesn't have much to work with coming in.

Stewarts arb eligible in 2012, so if he sucks and Vitters looks somewhat ready to take over 3rd base, theres our answer for 2013. If he looks good and Vitters impresses in AAA, in 2013 try shifting Stewart to 2nd and Vitters gets 3rd. If the both suck, Stewart goes away, Vitters stays in AAA and we move on to plan C, perhaps Headleys still available.

Fire everyone. It's almost mid December and we haven't overpaid for anything yet! I really hope there's more to come this offseason, but as far as this move itself goes you don't have to love it but I can't understand no being at worst indifferent. I sure would like to see these young players who will help us win now and in the future, but Fielders still on the table and Darvish, Cespedes, as Solar aren't even available yet.

I did. I'd have been fine with the Cubs matching, or even slightly exceeding, that offer. That said, I'm not upset over the offseason thus far, just slightly disappointed. We have such a desperate need for impact players and the two primary ones I wanted - Pujols and Wilson - are off the board. I had no interest whatsoever in Bell, Buehrle, or Reyes and I have no problem with Marwin and Colvin being gone, but I feel like we overpaid giving up DJ for Stewart and we gave away Flaherty for nothing to top that off. I trust Theo, though. Letting Flaherty go exposed never sat well with me. As for DJ for Stewart think in terms of potential. Stewarts been in the big leagues for 4 yeas now without much success, but there's the hope the a change in scenery and coaching can help him reach that potential as a possible star player. LeMahieu, on the other hand has a decent shot to be a serviceable big leaguer, but he'll likely end up somewhere between Aaron Miles and Mark Teahen as a utility guy with a bit of pop. 3rd base was one of out biggest needs and now we have te remainder of the winter to focus on 1st base, hopefully a front end starter, and maybe even a 2nd baseman. I'm very happy with this trade, probably happier than I should be. I just sincerely hope that it isn't the highlight of the offseason.

If the Padres still have any interest in James Russell I'd be more than happy to build a package around him for Orlando Hudson. Maybe Russell, DeWitt, and Castillo?

And would it suck that bad if a throw in in a minor trade turned out to be another Carlos Marmol?

And even if by this time next year Stewarts in Japan and Weathers is in Iowa chances are Colvin will be on the same flight as Stewart and LeMahieu will still be a scrappy little white guy with mild pop.

You do realize that Weathers and Stewart were both higher draft picks than Colvin and LeMahieu and that 3 of the 4 guys are all the same age and all 4 are essentially unproven. Colvin and Stewart are both getting a change of scenery, although I don't know how much playing time Colvin will get if the Rockies sign Cuddyer in addition to Car Go, Fowler, and Smith.

I guess I won't complain. LeMahieu seemed like a decent enough prospect but how much better than Aaron Miles is he ever really going to be. Weathers seems intriguing, but I wish we could have maybe found a way to work Jason Hammel into the deal instead who the Rockies were reportedly interested in moving at one point. I have hope for Stewart. Do your thing Rudy.

Byrd and Soriano should not both be on the roster. 1 at most. And why are we paying any kind of money to Rodrigo Lopez while Beliveau and Dolis are in Iowa?

nonsense Right now, Fielder is the guy who can make us good. There isn't going to be another FA like him on the market next year and who knows when another will come along.Between now and this time next year there will be plenty of opportunities to make the team great. Of course we could go with what we have now, sprinkle in a dash of Chase Headley and a pinch of Ian Stewart and hope to win 65 games.