Little Slide Rooter

Kuodas had a nice, low key run in the big leagues, but he's going to be 37 at the start of the 2012 season, and I can't see Epstein going after him. However, to a team in need of a short term middle of the rotation guy, he could ne a good pivkup.

Barney has been advertised as a strong defensive player all along. It's the offense that has been in question. He was pretty solid, but I still se him as a career utility guy and would prefer an upgrade when one comes along.

I was listening to highlight of Theos session with Mulley and Hanley earlier, and wow, I knew that kind of thinking existed in baseball, and I've heard that kind of talk, but I never though that I would in respect to The Cubs. Almost like an out of body experience.

Obviousely, Fielder and Pujols are the top guys, with Fielder being more realistic. But what if we don't get either for one reason or another? What then. Nobody wants LaHair. Nobody wants Pena. I guess it's time to put this to a poll. There are a few less realistic options that I wont even list like trading for Justin Morneau or Adam Dunn. Morneau would be my choice if the Twins will move him for cheap, but realistically I have to go with LaHair for now due to the cost and lack of obligation. I know at one point someone suggested trading for Kendry Morales if the Angels sign Fielder. I like Pena and all, and if he'd some for like a 2/10-12 deal, I'd be all for it, but I don't see that happening.,

I think our front office might value the draft pick more than the likely return, assuming he's Type A. That's also an option. My point is, there should be 0 urgency to railroad him out of town this offseason unless someone offers up something of value, be it cash and/or prospects.

But still, assuming Fielder or Pujols don't happen, how much do we want to pay and how many years do we want to give plan C,D, Or E? Sure, LaHair could be another DuBois, but he could also be another Ludwick and have a few decent years in him. i'm willing to take the chance if we can't get what we really want, especially if this is a tread water type of season, in which case I say trade Byrd for a DeRosa type package.

Im also very much for keeping Z, and I've explained why before. While he's nowhere near an 18 nil pitcher, he's certainly a solid 3 starter in most big league rotations or a 4 in any other. Do you want to pay a mid rotation started 18 mil? Absolutely not. However, if you have to pay him 18 mil, would you rather he pitch for you, or for the Orioles or Marlins with little to nothing in return while we have Casey Coleman or Rodrigo Lopez in his place? Also, for 2013, he has an 18 mil team option with a 9 mil buyout, and there's nobody who expects The Cubs to excercise the option and this is essentially a contract year for him. This being said, if there's ever a year for him to be on his best behavior and look like an 18 million dollar ace, this is the year. If he does, an July rolls around with The Cubs in contemtion, great. If not, that's when you trade him.

I know there are a lot of people here who strongly disagree, but if we were to miss out on not not even bid on Fielder or Pujols, LaHair would be my next choice. Not saying he's better than the remaining options (Pena, Kotchman, Cuddyer), but I dont think the others would be enough of an upgrade to likely pay a multi year 8 figure/year as opposed to LaHairs league min, plus the fact that there's 0 commitmant and we can move on as soon as another option is available.

Unless Theo has some interesting trades on the horizon, losing Ramirez and re-signing Pena doesn't look good for 2012. Yeah, if we dont sign any big free agents, its by Theos design, not mssing out. It would be do to rebuilding, so Pena wouldnt be back and like it or not, LaHair would be probably be given the chance at 1B and go from there, unless he had his eye on another young guy who he could get at a reasonable trade price like Chris Carter or even James Loney.

I'm pretty sure Prince weant back to eating meat a while ago.

I guess we can rule that out as part of the comp. I was kind of interested to see what he could do in the NL though. Oh well.

I'm trying to decide what this means for the prospects of a Fielder or Pujols signing. Probably no to Pujols because of the age comment, but Fielder seems to fit right in what he wants.

http://www.naturalprogramming.com/monty_python_foot.jpg

I'm going to go out on a limb an assume that he's been placed on waivers multiple times.

As little value as Z has now, if anything he should be traded in July. This essentially being a contract year for him, if he'll ever look like an ace it would be 2012 and if we contend, super if not, he'll have more value in July than he does now.

Paul LOL. For some reason I confused him with Pat Mahomes, who we also had at one point.

Ted Lilly glove slam, you have been dethroned.

That's a terrible comparison. I think it's a very good comparison, aside from the whole Mike Napoli being good at baseball thing.

Albert Pujols - Cardinals Prince Fielder-Cubs CC Sabathia-Yankees CJ Wilson-Red Sox Jose Reyes-Mets Jimmy Rollins-Brewers Aramis Ramirez-Angels Carlos Beltran-Giants Jonathan Papelbon - Red Sox Francisco Rodriguez - Orioles Heath Bell - Padres Brad Lidge - Phillies Joe Nathan - Cardinals Jonathan Broxton - Mets Ryan Madson - Phillies Mark Buehrle - Marlins Michael Cuddyer - PhillieS Carlos Pena - Brewers Yu Darvish - Rangers Edwin Jackson - Nationals Johnny Damon - A's Ray Oswalt-Yankees Jason Kubel-Twins Kosuke Fukudome-Mariners Pat Maholm-Cubs John Grabow- Anyone but The Cubs Casey Kotchman-Orioles Jim Thome-Yankees Juan Pierre-Marlins Ryan Theriot-Indians Wilson Betemit-Phillies

On a scale of 1-10, how great was TLRs reaction to the Napoli double? A gif must be born.

I'm actually surprised that nobody has since petitoned to change their screen name or subnic to LUMPY CRITIC.

I don't know if I agree with that. The guys he mentioned are a step above role players. Epstein is a guy who should be able to change the face of a franchise for years to come. I know that he only had a year left with the Red Sox, and the relationship had expired, but it's all about supply and demand. Say you have a car you plan on junking. All of the sudden, some guy comes to you and says hey, I really want your car, how much? Unless it's a close friend, chances are you're going to try to get as much for it as possible, but hopefully not getting too greedy. It's reasonable to ask for a few thousand for it, assuming it's still in good shape, but if you ask for $10,000, then that's just greedy. What if your car told you he didn't want you to drive it anymore, and the perspective owner already filled out the paperwork to move the title into that new person's name, which is perfectly acceptable because you gave them permission to talk to the car. The bottom line is that Theo was under contract with The Red Sox for another year, and whether or not he would be let out of it was up to Henry. I'm not saying that he should be doing it the way he is, but he has the right to do so. To be honest, I think he's doing it more to spite Theo than The Cubs. They shouldn't be doing what they're doing, but they have the right to, so they're trying to juice us for whatever they can get. I'm sure they planned it this way from the moment they granted Ricketts permission to talk to him. It's capitalism.

I was actually very confident from 2003-2009. Especially in the early '00's when we had what looked to be one of the best young pitching staffs I'd ever seen, not to mention some very good young hitters like Patterson, A Ram, and later D Lee. It was hard to imagine those guys not getting us to a few World Series, and be one of the elite teams in baseball.

I must be part bear then. bear is also a term used for burly gay men. According the song/movie Convoy, it can also mean cops, at least to truckers.

I don't know if I agree with that. The guys he mentioned are a step above role players. Epstein is a guy who should be able to change the face of a franchise for years to come. I know that he only had a year left with the Red Sox, and the relationship had expired, but it's all about supply and demand. Say you have a car you plan on junking. All of the sudden, some guy comes to you and says hey, I really want your car, how much? Unless it's a close friend, chances are you're going to try to get as much for it as possible, but hopefully not getting too greedy. It's reasonable to ask for a few thousand for it, assuming it's still in good shape, but if you ask for $10,000, then that's just greedy.