Little Slide Rooter

I agree. The title of this thread should be Roberts/Peavy/Granderson - The Tradition Continues. Bets on how many pages this one gets up to? It all depends how long before it starts getting way off topic and filled with random arguements and the powers that be decide its time to shut it down.

Im interested in him, but not if Castro or Vitters are necessary to make the trade work. Id also rather keep Cashner and Jackson, but if one of them are needed to make the deal, Id be OK with it. Detroit reportedly want major league ready players. Between Fox, Fuld, Colvin, Marshall, Gorzalanny, Samardzjia, and StevensI really think we can make something happen, and wed also probably have to kick them a solid prospect like Burke, Lee, Carpenter, Castillo, Archer, or Dolis.

Yup, sure looks like weve got this years Roberts/Peavy.

I get great comfort in the fact that there is no mention of any of this on MLBTR and the only Rick Ankiel-centric post on Rotoworld is about the Pirates showing interest.

3 way deal or not, it sure looks like Luis Castillo rears his head once again. So basically, we'll swap Bradley For Burrell, trade Burrell+prospects for Castillo and dish out a few more mil for Marlon Byrd. Or else, just swap Bradley for Burrell, send Burrell to an AL team for mid level prospects and then over pay for Castillo and sign Byrd. In either case, Bravo Hendry. Bravo. In this scenerio, Id be a lot happier just keeping Burrell and bringing in a defensive sub late in games as needed. It looks like getting Castillo is the best of the bad options. Burrell and Guillen are totally useless for the Cubs because they're DHs, so it's a matter of flipping them to the AL. I keep hoping for Hendry to pull a rabbit out of his hat, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So much for "lots of teams interested in Bradley" discussion we had awhile ago. I think the fine print under the lots of teams interested in Bradley rumor was that they were interested if they could get him for next to nothing with the Cubs eating the majority of the contract.

It becomes a topic, I wouldn't say it becomes relevant. And I would think Urlacher is done with children. The Hinsdale Oasis is only so big. I can understand it in the NFL and NBA where everyone on the field or floor has to work as a unit, but in baseball, I dont see how the teams like or dislike for Bradley should have any effect on their play. Hes all the way in right field, so if yur plsying 1st or 3rd base, it shouldnt effect you. The closest guy to him on the field doesnt even speak english, so I dont see how he could be bothered. The concept of a clubhouse cancer never made much sense to me. Whether you work as a fry cook at White Castle or an investment banker for Goldman Sachs, your bound to work with guys you dont like. So you dont hang out with them after work and get over it.

3 way deal or not, it sure looks like Luis Castillo rears his head once again. So basically, we'll swap Bradley For Burrell, trade Burrell+prospects for Castillo and dish out a few more mil for Marlon Byrd. Or else, just swap Bradley for Burrell, send Burrell to an AL team for mid level prospects and then over pay for Castillo and sign Byrd. In either case, Bravo Hendry. Bravo. In this scenerio, Id be a lot happier just keeping Burrell and bringing in a defensive sub late in games as needed.

was he your favorite player in 1989 you dick I WAS 6 MAN I DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER And who can forget his race war with Jeffrey Leonard.

It's official. No arbitration for Harden. No draft pick compensation. http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2009/12/cubs-wont-offer-arbitration-to-harden-gregg-johnson.html Gotta love Jim Hendry. He has to save up for his downgrade for his outfield downgrade. Is resigning Harden and Johnson and having Johnson and either Fuld or Colvin platoon in center really that much worse than ending up with Marlon Byrd?

Agreed. I guess when John Amaechi came out, it wasnt as interesting as if it had been Michael Jordan or Patrick Ewing.

This kind of quote makes me laugh. When games are won or lost based on which team has a better ops, let me know. Do you think fans care about OPS when Bradley throws the ball into the stands with one out? Do they care about OPS when he turns and throws the ball over the cut off man's head allowing a runner to take an extra base? Does anyone care about OPS when Bradley fails to come through time and time again? There is nothing wrong with looking at stats, but to act like they are the only thing that matters is silly. Bill James himself has said the player's personality and ability to get along with teammates is a very important part of the evaluation process. Sometimes you just have to watch the game and realize the guy is not as good as his numbers might be. Say whatever you want, but in the month of June when Ramirez was out, Bradley had 77 plate appearances and drove in 3 runs. To say he is productive is generous. Stats are how you judge how productive a player is. If we ignore stats, what do we look at to consider a player's production? Simply saying he missed a cutoff man a few times or he made a boneheaded mistake once is not not enough to make the decision that he's not a productive player. I don't have a problem with you saying his inter-clubhouse relationships should be considered, but if you don't take stats very heavily into the equation, you don't have much to go on in evaluating players. It's like looking at Wal-Mart's profits and saying that doesn't show it's a profitable company. I dont know, Aaron Miles and Joey Gathright both seem like nice enough guys. Maybe that should be the '09-'10 off season goal. Nice guys. screw productivity.

I think the best thing they could do is to decide to keep Bradley, then immediately get the PR wheels turning and try to mend fences between Bradley and the fans. Correct. I think the rest of these guys are geting paid enough that they can get over it.

While Barry Larkin is HOF material, I dont know if he desrves to be a first balloter, however, due to the slim pickings, he just might be. Same goes for Robby Alomar. Dawson and Blyleven also have a pretty good shot. Todd Zeile and Shane Reynolds are 2 of those guys who make one wonder what the qualifications are to be on the ballot. There seem to be a few of those every year.

A lot of people seem to assume that hes nothing more than a part time player because he hasnt played a full season as a full timer. With the other options being Luis Castillo, Mike Fontenot, and Aarin Miles, I would love to give him that chance, but unfortunately for Jeff, Luis Castillo seems to be in the cards.

Do you think Castros really ready? The last thing we want is to rush the guy.

Baker is the most likely to start at 2B, unless we end up with Luis Castillo. As for the vacant outfieold spot, MIke Cameron and Marlon Byrd are the most likely, but unfortunately, I wouldnt put it past Hendry to go after Garrett Anderson or Jermaine Dye.

seriously? Yes seriously. They waived goodbye to 2 of their biggest stars in Ordonez and Carlos Lee, and another, Frank Thomas was a non factor for nearly the entire season. The replace them with Scott Podsednik, AJ Pierzynski, and Jermaine Dye.

Isnt he still being paid by the Dodgers, and the contract money from the Sox would go to them?

I definitely think its a better move thn throwing at least 5 mil at Jim Thome or Vlad Guerrero. Also remember that the Sox pre 2005 season included some strange moves, like aquiring AJ Pyrzynski and Jermaine Dye who nobody else wanted. Kenny Williams is a smart guy.

If we were really building a team for the long term, John Grabow wouldnt have just been given a 7.5 million dollar contract.

Its an ugly contract, but we'd be getting him for the entirity of his prime. He'll be 33 when the contract expires, this is a guy you can build a teram around. Weve got some great players, but we dont have an A Rod, or Pujols. This is the guy. One of the top 5 in the game.

Yeah, I know the chances of him landing here are none-

The more I think about it, the more I feel that this trade happens, we flip Burrell to the AL for God knows what, and we end up with the 2009 version of Jeromy Burnitz in right field, so everyone be sure to pre order your Garrett Anderson jersey.

Wed have probably ended up with Dewon Brazelton or Colt Griffin and 2003 might not have happened. Steve Bartman would be at home quietly enjoying his headphones and turtleneck.