ChiCubsFan

I'd like Oliver Perez.

Lidge was never ordered to be traded. He would only be traded if it was for a middle of the order bat.

Are you saying that his contribution will be greater for another team or that someone will make an offer based on an inaccurate projection of his contribution? Because if he truly wants to pitch one more year he'll have to take what the market offers. No, he'll have to take what HENDRY offers. I don't know what that is, but I know it will be way too much for a fifth starter.

I'd rather the Cubs think about 2007 and beyond, which means finding rotation spots for young guys now to both gauge what they can bring to the table, and let them work through whatever struggles they are inevitably going to encounter. Maddux's last 8 starts with Chicago will be meaningless when all is said and done. None of them will have any playoff implications (for the Cubs). In 2 years nobody is going to look back on Maddux's career and think about how wonderful it was that he got to start another handful of times in August and September 2006, when the team was 20 games under .500 and a pathetic joke across the league. I realize that. At the same time Greg Maddux is perhaps my favorite player of all-time and if we can't get anyone of any quality in return for him, I'd like to see him pitch 6 or 7 more times. I'm not saying it's going to be wonderful or I'll look back at these last two months with the fondest of memories. But I'd rather see him a few more times than seeing J.K. Ryu called up to get bombed. I guess I also think that people are overstating the importance of opening up a rotation slot for a youngster. Who is really knocking down the door to get opportunities to start in the majors right now? Who do we have that we need to evaluate for a starting spot next year other than Hill, Marmol (both getting starts right now) and Marshall? Furthermore, I don't think you gain a ton of information in your evaluation of a young pitcher based on 5 starts in the majors. and i think you're overstating the importance of getting to see your favorite pitcher pitch for your favorite team a few more times. Probably, I fully admit that. It's my opinion, nothing more. But can you answer the questions in my last paragraph? What will be gained by shipping him off just to ship him off and then giving starts to someone who may or may not be ready when you can't really make a good evaluation based off those starts? The only way the Cubs are really helped out in this whole situation is if we can land a quality prospect or more. If he starts for us the rest of the year nothing is gained and if we get C or lower prospects in return nothing is gained. Given that choice, I'd rather see him be the one to get the starts. I'd rather see what the kids can do so we know where we stand going into next year. Z, Prior, Marmol, Guzman, Hill. I'm sure Prior will be back on the DL by the time Marshall is ready to come back.

$9 million good? If he wanted to come back at $750,000 to be that 5th starter, fine, but the problem is Hendry feels obligated to pay him for what he used to be, as opposed to what he is currently. And people will worry about the "slight" of offering what he's actually worth. Waste several million on Maddux and you are going to have a tough time filling the many other needs this team has to fill. Just like wasting money on Rusch and Neifi makes it difficult to find actual producers. Oh no...not at $9 million. Never in a zillion years. Bring him back at a greatly reduced rate. The thing is he won't get offered a greatly reduced rate. We'll probably waste 7 mil on him. If he got paid like a 5th starter I'd love to have him, but he's getting paid like a #2 or #3 starter and not performing like one.

Who's on 3rd?

You know it will be Neifi.

What's the point of trading walker and paying all of his contract for some nothing prospect?

Jayson Stark says there are 2 teams Soriano can be traded to. One is an AL team and one is an NL team. Twins is probably the AL Team and Garza is probably off limits. Please Soriano to Minnesota!

I miss the midnight deadline. I remember a few years ago staying up late to see what the Cubs would do. The year I remember in particular they traded Scott Downs for Rondell White. I don't know why that one sticks out in my mind.

Interesting. Horrible trade for Boston if they give up Lester. If they are going to trade Lester, use him to get Schmidt or Zito.

Yeah, bad trade for the BoSox.

how about Ramirez and Navoa for Lidge and Ensberg No thanks. Ramirez is a lot better and 3 years younger than Ensberg. Lidge would be nice, but not worth the difference between Ramirez and Ensberg in my opinion. However, if Ramirez is believed by Hendry to want to opt out, then maybe you do it.

Wow, there hasn't been a pick since Friday. I hope it continues to go this slow when I'm on vacation.

You know what, yeah, Cintron is EXACTLY what this team needs.

0-7. 0-10 in Chicago (3 at US Cellular)

His reverse splits aren't typical over his career. He's actually hit lefties very well over his career (.820 OPS) and sucked against righties (.727 OPS).

Wow, only 8 pages long. People must not want to waste their beautiful sunday on the Cubs anymore.

Gallagher is in last place on cubs.com. Not surprising. I voted Gallagher. I think Pie has the highest ceiling, but Gallagher has a fairly high ceiling as well and I think he has a better chance to reach it.

I would consider a 3 year deal for him.

Belliard is a very underrated second baseman. Nice move by the Cards. EDIT: Actually, not so much. I was just remembering his solid June. He's a very streaky hitter. He'll have some great months and some terribly horrible months. Overall, not much of an upgrade (if any) over Luna.

How many rounds do we have left? I'm goin out of town Friday for a week and I won't have internet access. I figured we'd be done by now but it's moving pretty slow.

I can't see him being any worse than Pierre. I'm agreeing with you a lot lately, goony. But that statement is true. Jones might not have the range of Pierre, but I think he gets better jumps. His arm even when spiking the ball in the grass on a third of his throws is better than Pierre. That being said, wouldn't we want someone better than both on defense, all things being equal? More importantly, I guess my question is would it benefit the Cubs to move Jones to CF and find a RF bat (in that case who?) or keep Jones in RF and go with a Pie/Lofton (or someone comparable) platoon? A Lofton/Pie platoon isn't likely with both of them being left-handed. You could platoon Pie with Murton in LF, if you move Jones to CF and sign a big bat for RF. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought someone had posted that Pie is actually hitting lefties pretty well this season. If he can continue to do that, and you go with the outfield that I just listed, you could start Murton in LF, Pie in CF, and in RF, with Jones on the bench against some lefties. So in essence, you'd be looking at more of a Murton/Jones platoon. Yeah, I think I've seen that Pie is hitting lefties better than righties this year. I also don't think it would be smart to platoon a 21-22 year old with a pretty big ceiling. The next year and a half could be pretty vital to his development and he needs to play as much as possible. Exactly. He's going to need regular at-bats. So you either give him a regular starting role, do some sort of creative platoon like I posted (where he'd start in LF in place of Murton against righties and in CF in place of Jones against lefties), or you leave him in Iowa a bit longer to get his at-bats. The last option isn't necessarily a bad one, considering a) he's not exactly tearing it up at AAA now, and b) he's still very young. Why would you play Pie in LF and Jones in CF when Murton sits? I'd much, much, much rather have Pie's defense in CF and Jones's defense in LF when Murton sits. I think a platoon with Murton and Jones in LF and a BIG bat in RF would be best. If Pie continues to hit like he has been lately, I'd like to see a september callup and a chance for him to be our everyday CF in 07. However, I have a bad feeling that Pierre will get a ridiculous extension and Pie will be brought up in 07 to platoon with Murton/sit on the bench. I could also see Carlos Lee being signed to an outrageous and disastrous 6/65.

Although this is too early, I'll take the Carolina Panthers D. I really don't want to be stuck with a bad D.

Why is that? Patterson's 2005 would serve as a benchmark for Colvin next year(although Colvin will be 6 months younger) and I have a hard time seeing him putting those numbers up. And that doesn't even consider that Patterson is a 2B and Colvin may be a corner OF. I agree. I like Tyco but Patterson deserves to be higher than him for the time being. With Kendrick being promoted to the majors, Patterson is probably top 3-5 among 2B. I don't know if that says more about patterson or the lack of great 2b prospects, but either way I wouldn't rate Colvin ahead of Patterson yet.