Moises a loo

I see why you are having such a tough time grasping this. YOU are the one that's NUTS! It is BOSTON that is desperate, not the Cubs! The Cubs would be dealing from a position of strength, and regardless wouldn't be putting Soto or any regular, other than Soriano, in such a package. Most teams wouldn't be willing to give up such an offensive threat, and that makes a deal for Soriano even more attractive. Remember, I didn't say this was GOING to happen, only that it might. But if the Red Sox were indeed willing to see Beltran as a real offensive threat, how much more valuable would Soriano be to them? Are you Alfonso Soriano's mom or something? No, the old timers on this board know who I am, but for your info, I am someone that reads a lot of "lines", and because of my pedigree in the game, I know what needs to be done, and how to get it done. I am also able to read between those "lines", and keep my ears open. Although my contacts in the game are diminishing due to age and health issues, I still have a few of those, too. I'd love to believe you have a clue what you're talking about. Most people here would love to believe Soriano has positive trade value. But most people here live in reality, where it's clear that Soriano's contract was atrocious even when they thought he could stay healthy and play center field. Now that we know he can't do either of those things, the Cubs are stuck paying a superstar salary to a pretty good but declining player who is already more trouble than he's worth.

I see why you are having such a tough time grasping this. YOU are the one that's NUTS! It is BOSTON that is desperate, not the Cubs! The Cubs would be dealing from a position of strength, and regardless wouldn't be putting Soto or any regular, other than Soriano, in such a package. Most teams wouldn't be willing to give up such an offensive threat, and that makes a deal for Soriano even more attractive. Remember, I didn't say this was GOING to happen, only that it might. But if the Red Sox were indeed willing to see Beltran as a real offensive threat, how much more valuable would Soriano be to them? Are you Alfonso Soriano's mom or something?

When Aurilia was on the Reds, he was their Mark DeRosa.

MAYBE if they "threw in" GEOVANY SOTO and picked up like 60% of Soriano's contract, Boston would consider it.

Here is a good explanation of Dunn's value that I am stealing from a Reds board: Dunn is a substance versus style argument in many respects. Dunn's game is not aesthetically pleasing to many (most?) people. That doesn't mean he doesn't have value and lots of it. The reason for looking at stats is that not everything is as simple as it appears. Some guys look good, but aren't; and some guys don't look good, but are. Dunn has something in common with the under-appreciated grinders we knew in school or at work: He looks bad, almost no one looks at Dunn and thinks he looks like a great player. He looks bad due to his lack of quickness, soft-looking body, lots of K's, low BA, lumbering in the outfield, and most importantly because he doesn't visibly burn with Pete Rose's intensity. But, despite all outward appearances, the statistics tell us that Dunn creates a lot of runs by avoiding outs and hitting home runs. This doesn't mean he's the greatest player in the game or anything like that, but it does mean that he is very likely to be undervalued if we grade him on style points. The Reds misused him for some of the same reasons fans were so frequently frustrated by him. People see 6'6" and 250+ pounds hitting 40 HRs and figure he's a classic power hitter. He's not, he's a good (not great) OBP guy with freakish, almost historic power. The framing for Dunn confuses people. He ranked higher last year by OBP (17th in majors) than by SLG (31st). I think this is true most years of his career. If you think of him as a guy who gets on base and scores runs, the HRs are a huge bonus. If you think of him as a guy who drives in runs, the Ks and the low RBI totals are huge minuses. What is odd about Dunn is that we think of guys who derive a good portion of their value by not making outs as quick, good defenders. Of course, if Dunn was quick and a good defender with his other skills he'd be one of the very best players in the game. He's not, but that is hardly a crime no matter what Marty and the Cowboy told us every night. The Reds can do a lot worse than a guy who OPS'd around .900 like clockwork. His defense means his value isn't as high as his run creating stats indicate but the Reds will have to do a lot better than somebody like Taveras to replace Dunn's value in LF.

I want the Nationals to miss out on him because I have a delusional fantasy that they'll be so desperate to make a splash they'll take on a large portion of Soriano's contract to get him back.

The reason the offense was so good last year was that the whole lineup top to bottom showed a patience that Cubs fans have never ever seen unless they watched the Red Sox or Yankees. There was no place for a pitcher to hide because every hitter did his part to swing at good pitches and let pitcher's pitches go by. This is what Dunn does as well so I don't think there's any question he'd fit in perfectly with the Cubs' lineup. The only real questions are his price tag and defense, and just because someone says he'd be the worst right fielder in the history of the game doesn't make it so. Bradley's injuries and well-documented attitude problems make him a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe he'd work out, maybe not. With Dunn, at the very least, his offensive contribution would be reliable and outstanding. Plus he's always RAKED at Wrigley, which is a nice bonus. If the Cubs can afford him, put me in the Dunn over Bradley, Peavy, and everyone else available column.

this is why i've been saying that i'm worried about hendry and lou's obsession with adding a pricy lh bat like ibanez/abreu. to add one of those guys and peavy, he pretty much has to trade marquis. i think he's worried about the possibility of trading for peavy, getting stuck with marquis, and then not having enough money to get that bat. Or he's just not panicking, like some people would.

Why not have both? I don't know if the numbers would work, unless they traded Harden too. Which wouldn't be the end of the world if they got Peavy. Seriously, though, would Dunn be any worse in RF than Ibanez or Abreu or Bradley? He should be the #1 target, IMO.

Am I the only one who'd rather have Dunn than Peavy or just about anyone else being mentioned?

I think they should trade Harden

Life would be a whole lot easier if Mark DeRosa were left-handed

Thank you. It's like people have already forgotten about Edmonds. Edmonds still sucks No, he just sucks again, because he no longer wears a Cub uniform. And is 87 years old.

Who's the black private dick, who's a sex machine with all the chicks?

Thank you. It's like people have already forgotten about Edmonds.

I'm Kurt Russell but the one in Escape from New York not the one In Tango & Cash. I had you pegged as the one from overboard. ;) Has no one here heard of Dexter Riley

Which is why I'm thinking that the Cubs never really had a realistic shot and Towers was just using us as leverage. In reality, the Padres would be stupid to trade Peavy to us. He's a top 5 pitcher and we don't have a legit centerpiece for a guy like that. Hendry got something out of it, too -- the fan base is excited again. Yeah....for a couple weeks. If we lose him to the Braves then the fan base will be even more depressed than when the rumors started. Now settling for re-signing Dempster is going to seem like a big failure. Disappointed, yes. Depressed? Not so sure. Hendry is collecting all kinds of credit for nearly pulling this off. Wouldn't it be funny if he and Towers were just doing each other a favor? Regardless, I'd say the Cubs are better off with the Peavy buzz than without it, whatever the outcome.

Which is why I'm thinking that the Cubs never really had a realistic shot and Towers was just using us as leverage. In reality, the Padres would be stupid to trade Peavy to us. He's a top 5 pitcher and we don't have a legit centerpiece for a guy like that. Hendry got something out of it, too -- the fan base is excited again.

I'd love to know where you're hearing this (DeLuca speculated on Harden as a name), because Harden in this deal would make absolutely no sense. If it were a three-way it might. The first thing I thought of when I heard they were trying to get Peavy and Dempster both was that Harden could go (Toronto might make sense) to free up salary and get a young pitcher for the Peavy deal.

So is this a good time to bring up the Jimmy Rollins thing?

I don't have a link but supposedly when the Reds asked about Holliday, they were told Cueto and Juan Francisco (A ball 3B) would be deal-breakers. I don't think the Cubs could get him even if they wanted to.

Left Field. I can't stop dreaming up wacky scenarios where some fool takes that contract. Also, am I the only one who thinks Pie and Fukudome might not be all that horrible?

Edmonds has played some first, right? Was he any good? They could pair him up with Rich Aurilia.

If Edmonds insists on big money and an everyday starting CF job, hopefully he'll have to look elsewhere. But he's the best lefty bat the Cubs have had in awhile; it seems foolish not to consider bringing him back under the right circumstances. Let's say the Cubs do trade Derrek Lee. Depending on the price and his willingness to accept a more dynamic role, the Cubs could have Edmonds as the primary 1b, with Hoffpauir getting lots of playing time as his backup. Also, I like the Fontenot/ Fukudome/ DeRosa love triangle in RF/ 2B. Pie and Johnson sharing CF. That gives them up to 4 lefty bats in the lineup against a tough righty, and that's assuming they don't sign Furcal, which would be outstanding.

Yeah, the arrogant dismissive piling-on thing? If you want me to slink away sheepishly you're gonna have to do better than that. Ignoring it would've been a better choice.