cubsfan26

This isn't a bad signing if it's just for a 5th outfielder incase we end up trading Pie or everyday CF in Triple A. I would assume that this will either be a minor league deal, or 1 year major league contract thats under 900,000.

I don't want him at that price, but 2y at 18m with a vesting option, or 3y at 27m I might consider. I have a feeling Hendry will add incentives based on health or games played in his contract, and get him at 7-9m base salary. I think Bradley will be a high 800 OPS or low 900 OPS guy playing half his games in Wrigley.

FWIW Milton Bradley has averaged a 880 OPS against RH pitching over the last four years(three of the four years were in pitcher parks). Including a 850 OPS or higher three of the last four years(940 and 937 the last two years). From 2000-2004 Bradley career against numbers against RH pitching was 737. So his 790's career OPS against RH pitching was due to earlier in his career.

The problem I have with adding Dunn(besides his defense), is I think he would struggle in the postseason. Guys who hit HR's and walk alot with a low batting average, usually feast on the average to bad pitchers. But when facing good pitchers who don't walk alot of guys or give up alot of HR, Dunn is probably gonna struggle more then most other good hitters. Thats why I personally feel there's a difference from a guy hitting 230 with a high OBP then a guy hitting 280 with a high OBP. Bradley health problems is an issue, but when the guy has played he's been very good the last two years, and seasons before that he played in horrible hitters parks.

From Bruce Levine today http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2008/12/cubsrumors1213.php#more

What Bruce Levine said on the radio today. http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2008/12/cubsrumors1213.php#more

Just because they have two CF already, doesn't mean they have two good CF, or ones that can hit against LH pitching. I wouldn't call Gaudin terrible in throughout his career. He did have a 3.09 era in 06 in 64 innings. In 2007 he pretty much had Jason Marquis type numbers out of the rotation with a 4.42 era in 199 IP. Last season he had a 3.12 era in 46.1 IP(3.39 era on season including 6 starts in total of 82.1 IP) out of the bullpen on August 21st. Then on August 22nd he got bombed with the wind blowing out and raised his era to 4.11 out of the pen(3.95 era overall). He then pitched a scoreless 1.2 IP, to bring his era back down to 3.96(3.87 overall). Then of course Gaudin got hurt, and when he came back he got bombed and gave up 7 runs in 4 IP, because he wasn't 100 percent and trying to rush back to make it on the playoff roster. So really Gaudin had a 3.09 era in 46.1 IP(3.39 in 82.1), but gave up 13 runs in his last 7.2 IP. So Gaudin wasn't terrible last year, he was only terrible in his last 7.2 innings, and for at least 4 of those he wasn't 100 percent. I know the guy has high WHIPs, but 25 year olds who can have low to mid 3 era's out of the pen, and who can be bottom of the rotation starters, with good stuff is worth 2m. Many teams would like to have a pitcher like Gaudin, and I think Rotoworld said it best.

](*,) ](*,) Why do you keep saying this? What makes you believe they need to clear salary to sign Milton Bradley? Don't tell me you believe Muskat article. If her information was actually correct DeRosa would be off the table in trade talks for Peavy(which he wasn't), and Kerry Wood would had been offered arbitration. The payroll currently is at 134m, before agreeing to contracts with Gregg, Wuertz and Cedeno. If we keep all those guys(Wuertz might be gone), the payroll will probably be just above 140m.(possibly 139m if Wuertz is traded) The payroll this year IMO is gonna go beyond 145m, and probably closer to 147m. So that gives us more then enough money to sign Milton Bradley, and backload it to 5-7m the first year. Trading Marquis will just go to a contract we offer Randy Johnson or another pitcher. Just what the Cubs need more backloaded contracts. How about not overpaying for a 3rd CF and a reliever that put up worse numbers than Howry last year? Then the Cubs would have enough money to fill an actual need. Bradley making 2-3m extra in 2010 isn't going to kill us. Overpaying 3rd CF are you kidding me? Please just stop with that junk. I guess you feel comfortable with a career 223 hitter in Pie(who doesn't hit LH pitching well) and Fukudome who hit 217 in the second half as our options in CF and off the bench. First of all Johnson is our 2nd CF right now, and if Fukudome doesn't get it together, he will be our first CF next year. I'm sure Pie will get a chance to take Fukudome job if he's not traded, but I'm not counting on him coming through in this situation. I hate when fans don't realize how important having good depth is. During a 162 game season, guys get hurt, or guys don't perform like their suppose to. When those things happen(they do almost every season), it's nice to have other options to go to. Think back from 04-06, when that happen, and what kinda options we had. It makes no sense to want a guy like Milton Bradley, without good depth on this team. Odds are the guy will start in 100 games, and in games he's playing it's gonna be really nice to have a guy who hits LH pitching really well in his place. As for Cotts, I can understand you're point there. But the guy has a good stuff, he just has been able to put it together besides 2005. I guess the Cubs thought it was worth giving him a 300,000 raise to see if he could have a good season in a free agent year.

](*,) ](*,) Why do you keep saying this? What makes you believe they need to clear salary to sign Milton Bradley? Don't tell me you believe Muskat article. If her information was actually correct DeRosa would be off the table in trade talks for Peavy(which he wasn't), and Kerry Wood would had been offered arbitration. The payroll currently is at 134m, before agreeing to contracts with Gregg, Wuertz and Cedeno. If we keep all those guys(Wuertz might be gone), the payroll will probably be just above 140m.(possibly 139m if Wuertz is traded) The payroll this year IMO is gonna go beyond 145m, and probably closer to 147m. So that gives us more then enough money to sign Milton Bradley, and backload it to 5-7m the first year. Trading Marquis will just go to a contract we offer Randy Johnson or another pitcher.

http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2008/12/cubswm2008_7.php That's a real underrated site by the way. They always have nice summaries of any radio interviews or Levine reports, etc. I agree I been going to that site all offseason, and it gives me bunch of information. I love all the recaps of the radio interviews.

Yes a few of those guys could replace the guys we might have traded for Peavy. But most of them would have been downgrades, from the players we gave up. Plus signing Wigginton, Burke, Redding and Gomes or Taveras would cost another 10m plus(and Peavy 11m). If the Cubs had a 200m payroll next year, maybe theory could be right, but we don't. Losing that amount of players, and replacing them with crap players or minor leaguers would have hurt us ALOT more then you realize. I guess you don't remember the days of Jose Macias starting at 3rd, Rey Ordonez starting at SS, Troy O'Leary in RF or John Mabry at 1b when we had injuries.

I certainly don't think he's terrible. He was a little down on my list, but he isn't the worst thing that could happen. He likely gives you a good year next season and then becomes a FA again, so no longterm commitment is a positive that leaves options open in the future. I'd definitely take him over Marquis by a considerable margin, and i'm not a Marquis hater. Johnson was good last year(better ERA+ then Zambrano, Lilly and Marquis), and I would be very happy if signed with the Cubs. I know he's not the pitcher he once was, but he's still good, and I think it would be kinda cool to see him pitch for the Cubs and get his 300th win.

Hendry loves to overpay for mediocrity. Why not just let Pie and Fukudome fight it out for the CF job in ST? Hendry is going to end up paying Fukudome $12MM a year to be a bench player. Granted his numbers were not great last year, but he would be an acceptable CF if the Cubs sign Bradley. It's called a platoon, and outfield depth. 3m for a guy who had hit 303/358/778 and 333/399/848 against LH is a good move. Bringing back Johnson was a no brainer, I'm shocked anybody is questioning this move. If you have an unlimited payroll it is a decent move. But then don't complain about not having enough payroll to make a trade for Peavy or needing to move players to sign Bradley. I would much rather have Peavy and/or Bradley than Reed Johnson. I never complained about the Cubs not having enough money for Peavy. I just said the amount of talent to give up for Peavy(top prospect, team depth, and all our good trade pieces) with the combo of taking on his contract at 5y-85m was way too much. Fukudome/Pie are both LH hitters, and both are question marks offensivly. At least we know Reed Johnson will hit, especially against LH pitching. Guys like Johnson are the type of players winning teams need to have. He can play all three outfield spots, pinch hit, pinch run and every play everyday for a few weeks and not kill you offensivly. Some don't realize how important having good depth is, over a 162 game season. Guys get banged up, or some guys have bad seasons. If you have someone to replace them on the roster already it helps alot. This was a major weakens Cubs teams had from 04-06, but it looks like Hendry has learned from his mistakes.

Hendry loves to overpay for mediocrity. Why not just let Pie and Fukudome fight it out for the CF job in ST? Hendry is going to end up paying Fukudome $12MM a year to be a bench player. Granted his numbers were not great last year, but he would be an acceptable CF if the Cubs sign Bradley. It's called a platoon, and outfield depth. 3m for a guy who had hit 303/358/778 and 333/399/848 against LH is a good move. Bringing back Johnson was a no brainer, I'm shocked anybody is questioning this move.

Don't believe that the Cubs have to cut payroll to sign Bradley. If that was true, why didn't they nontender Wuertz, and possibly Gaudin or Cotts? Thats 2-4m that they could have saved going towards Bradleys contract. I'm sure Muskat hears the Cubs are trying hard to dump Marquis salary, so she assumes they need to do that so they can sign Bradley. But I don't believe thats true at all, I think they just want Marquis gone, and wanna go after Randy Johnson. Or go after Peavy again, if the Padres call back.

If Hendry worked that hard to get a deal close to being done, I'm sure he has a plan to fit both Peavy and Bradley in the budget. Lets not forget their also interested in Randy Johnson if they trade Marquis. Right now I believe the Cubs have at least 5-6m to offer Bradley for next year. Which is enough if they backload his deal so he only makes 6m the first year.

I figured Gaudin wouldn't get that much more then 2m. When you factor in most of his raise from 07-08 was the fact that he was starting in 07. Then after the way he fell apart in late August and September last year, due to him falling down drunk. I'm glad he's back I think he will be a valueable guy in the pen this year.

What I don't get is why does AJ Burnett get 5y 82m. But why is their such a little market for Ben Sheets? If I was a Braves fan, I would be glad the Yankees got Burnett, and try to get Sheets at 2-3 years for 12-14m per year. Sheets 08-31 starts, 198 IP, 3.09 era 07-24 starts, 141 IP, 3.82 era 06-17 starts, 106 IP, 3.82 era Burnett 08-34 starts, 221 IP, 4.07 era 07-25 starts,165 IP, 3.75 era 06-21 starts, 135.2 IP, 3.98 era So yes Burnett is a little more durable, but I don't think there's a huge difference between the two guys.

The Cubs probably only have 5-6m in their budget right now, and Bradley will get at least 8-9m. But that doesn't mean we can't sign Bradley and backload the first year of his deal.

Good moves, I was worried we were gonna do something stupid with Gaudin or Wuertz. If the Cubs didn't want one of those guys back thats fine, but both guys have trade value.

Peavy is demanding to pick up the 5th year at 22m, so the deal ends up being 5y/85m.That still averages out to be 17m per year over 5 years. Thats not Sabathia or Santana money, but it's alot when you factor in you're also giving up 6-7 players for him.

For anyone still hopeful of getting this done, the problem with that analogy is neither the Yankees or Red Sox emerged with Santana in the end. When they walked away, they stayed away. Another key difference is that Santana didn't have a no-trade clause, which gave the Twins more bargaining power. They weren't forced to work with only certain teams as dictated by Santana. Yes he did, and he would only waive it if they sent him to a east coast team that was willing to give him the contract he wanted.

And our top prospect, starting 2b/depth, and most of our trading chips, seriously just stop. Hey who cares if it weakens our team, and we only win 87 games next year, we have JAKE PEAVY!

That's odd. Well we know Hendry has always been really high on Pie. So he probably isn't gonna just trade him for a bad young pitcher who wouldn't be in our rotation, or average prospects. If MacPhail said Pie for Brian Roberts, I'm sure Hendry would listen. I heard Hendry say Pie would have a chance to beat Fukudome out for the starter against RH pitching this spring. So if Pie has a big spring and Fukudome struggles, Pie might get a chance. I find it very unlikely that Pie plays over Fukudome. Fukudome isn't being paid to be a 5th outfielder. I'm sure every effort will be made to improve Fukudome's plate approach. A bad young pitcher? I don't generally hear the term "bad" thrown around for a pitcher with a career minor league ERA of 2.96 and a career WHIP of 1.16. Or how about his minor league career average of 1 K per inning? Or how about his career of better than 3:1 K/BB rate? Those numbers look a lot like our very own Sean Marshall over his minor league career. What I see with that deal is is it deepens our starting rotation while still keeping a potential deal alive for Peavy. It doesn't take away the fact that he's been dog crap in the major leagues. Olson is a good fit for a bad or rebuilding team, he would have no chance to pitch in our rotation.

Please tell me that Sean Marshall wasnt one of the main obstacles in this deal? While I can see Hendry not wanting let let DeRosa go, I would give up Marshall for Peavy in a heartbeat. It was the combo of Marshall on top of DeRosa, Vitters others and the money. Just like a year ago when the Twins wanted Ian Kennedy thrown in with Phil Hughes and others for Santana, and how they wanted the Red Sox add more players after they were offering Lester and others. It comes to a point were you're just giving up too much when you factor in the money will have to pay, and the talent you will have to replace. If winning didn't matter next year or we only cared about winning in Peavy starts then this would be a good move, but otherwise it's not. The Cubs didn't make the trade, because it wasn't a good trade for us, it's as simple as that. Hendry made the right move here, when you factor in the amount of talent we would be giving up, and what it does to our roster next year. Then factor in we would have to pay Peavy only 5-6m less then we are for Zambrano deal. Thats why Towers needs to lower his demands, yes Peavy isn't making Santana or Sabathia money, but he's still making alot for the talent he's asking in return.