cubsfan26

This is completely and utterly ridiculous. What's so ridiculous about that statement? It's on the mark, besides a couple of good trades, overall his handling of free agency has been terrible. The farm system has not produced a quality position player in years. Despite the 2 division titles, he's left this team in a precarious position with the ridiculous deals to Soriano, Fukudome, Zambrano, etc. Hendry has given this team 3 division titles in 6 years, something not many GM's have on their resume over the last six years. As for a precarious postion? What year is it? Hendry has put us in a postion, were we should be right back at the level we were last year, if not better. Soriano is still a 17m dollar per year type of player(in this market), and Zambrano is still a good pitcher. Both guys will help the Cubs win in 09, having them on the team is a postive not negative. Yes it's possible in 2012, that having Soriano/Zambrano on the roster at their cost will be a negative to the team. But I didn't know anybody could look into the future and say it's going to happen for sure. I agree with you about Fukudome, but it's also only the first year of the deal. If he ends up being the player we thought he would be the final three years, it won't be a horrible deal. I'm not saying all Hendry signings have been good, but most of his bad signings were minor. Every almost every GM, has a bad contract or two on their roster, especially the big market teams. But when were talking about Hendry bad signings over the last six years(thus far) being Glendon Rusch, Latroy Hawkins, Neifi Perez, and Jacque Jones(this one ended up being not that bad) I think we should feel pretty lucky. My biggest issue with Hendry is the farm system, since he became GM the system seems to have gotten worse. I know the GM isn't the guy who makes the picks in the draft, but he needs to find the right people to get it in better shape. I know he's tried by bringing in Tim Wilkins, but that so far hasn't worked out. We have gotten, some good unexpected production from the farm in Soto, Theriot and Marmol though.

According to Bruce Levine both sides have agreed to table the discussions for the next 10 days. That time frame would mean the talks would resume a week before the Winter Meetings, December 2nd. It sounds like the Cubs are trying to focus on what their going to do in RF for the this week. So I wouldn't expect any updates on Peavy this week. Levine did say the Cubs still are the only team in the running for Peavy though.

FWIW Lou said on Chicago Tribune Live yesturday, that the Cubs will give Samardzija a chance to start this spring, and that he will have a chance at winning a rotation spot.

You all know who you are. i i was looking at old threads on desipio the other day for some reason and there was a really good one where people were like "WE ROSTERED THAT WORTHLESS IDIOT GEOVANY SOTO AND LET ANDY SISCO GO???!?!??!?" That was a bad move. Sisco's perceived value at the time was extremely high. If they weren't going to roster him, they should have traded him before the R5 draft came around. They could have built a heck of a package for a really good player around him. At the time, Soto wasn't MLB ready, and wouldn't have stuck with anyone. No one else in the league had high perceptions of him either at the time. Obviously, in the long term, Soto was the right keeper choice, but that move shouldn't be evaluated as if Hendry only had two options at the time: keep Soto and let Sisco go for nothing, or keep Sisco and let Soto go for nothing. He could have gotten value back on Sisco and kept Soto, or he could have kept both. I think the perceive value of a player, causes fans to overrate these guys. Personally I was upset when they let Sisco go for nothing. But I don't think Hendry is an idiot or most Gm's are in this situation. We as fans think we know how valueable these players are, but the GM's know how valueable these guys are. I'm sure months before Hendry even allowed Sisco to be in the rule 5 draft, he tried to trade him for something worth wide. I think he's in a simliar situation with Donald Veal this offseason. Too me it would seem like Veal would have some value still, since he was a high thought of prospect just a few years ago and still has good stuff. But I'm sure by now Hendry has shopped Veal name around alot, and knows he probably can't get anything of good value in return for him. So it's then up to a GM to decide, do I keep this guy on the roster. Even though he is probably less likely to make it to the majors then others, even though he has more upside? Do I just trade him for whatever I can get for him? Or do I take my chances he either won't get drafted or won't stick on a major league roster next year, and I have him back? In the Soto/Sisco(I know those weren't the only options) situation it worked out good. Just imagine if we let Soto go in the Rule 5, and some team decided to keep him as a cheap back up catcher for a year. Soto being ROY on another team, and the Cubs not making the playoffs this year(Soto not on the team would have made it alot tougher), could have caused Hendry to lose his job. Thats why sometimes with trade and other things us fans should sometimes just wait and see, before we start to chew out the GM.

I agree with you, but you have to admit Roberts and Scott would make the Cubs much better offensively. Hermida offers youth and potential, but Scott offers more of a sure thing. I agree that Roberts speed would help, but that would also mean we would be taking DeRosa bat out of the line-up. As for Scott is he really much better then Edmonds? He doesn't hit for average, struggles some against LH pitching, and has about 20 HR power. DeRosa numbers were better then both guys last year, and he would either be on the bench or traded then. I would rather use those prospects and get Hermida, and hope Fukudome rebounds and can hit towards the top of the order. But I'm also really high on Hermida, so my opinion on this might not be the best. I would trade any prospect we have not named Vitters to get Hermida right now.

I rather have Hermida over both Scott and Roberts. Scott isn't really much better then Jim Edmonds, and Roberts is good but nothing special. While Hermida has a ton of upside, and I really think he's about to break out and be a quality middle of the order hitter. Plus from what I hear the Cubs aren't really looking at Roberts this offseason. Of course if Andy calls they will listen, but I doubt Hendry will go out of his way to get a deal done this offseason. The Cubs offered a ton last offseason, and Andy wouldn't pull the trigger. So were not gonna go through all that again.

http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/983 This is from Bruce Miles Blog, I didn't think Mateo was that highly thought of.

Bush, Capuano, Fielder, Hardy, Hart, McClung and Weeks are arbitration eligible. So those guys could get good size raises, and who knows if they will get a payroll bump or not. Plus they have alot of holes to fill, thats why they could be looking to trade Cameron. So they can get his salary off the books and hopefully fill a few holes.

I don't think Jim Hendry thinks of Burnett in the same level as he does as Peavy. He's willing to take on Peavy contract, and give up a ton of talent, because he probably feels like he's one of the best pitchers in baseball. While he probably thinks AJ Burnett is more of a middle class pitcher who's never reached his potential. So Hendry wouldn't give Burnett the money he would be willing to give Peavy.

Yeah I heard Burnett is only accepting five year deals, and would probably cost more then Peavy per year. I think the rotation is pretty much set unless they can get a pitcher like Peavy, or Randy Johnson at a reasonable price.

I wouldn't say everybody, I think most of us mentioned trading one of those guys if it means getting Peavy. I mentioned DeRosa since I believe he's most replaceable, and could net us a good prospect we could use in a Peavy deal. I don't think using Fontenot at 2b, with a veteran RH 2b in a platoon would be that much less productive. While it would be pretty hard to replace Zambrano, especially if he ever returns to 03-06 Zambrano. Derrek Lee is replaceable, but you can't do it cheap. A 1b better or simliar to Lee is either gonna cost a good amount of money, or prospects we won't have if we wanna trade for Peavy. Plus I wouldn't put it past Lee to have a rebound type season next year.

He was a guy I was looking at for the Cubs to sign cheap. But there's plenty of LH relievers just like him on the market.

The Cubs payroll is around 140m, but if we trade Wuertz and Cotts it could be around 138m. So say the payroll will be around 145m(heard between 140-150m), that gives us around 7m to spend. Then if we can somehow trade Marquis and get at least 5.5-6m of his contract off the books, that would give us around 13m. After that the only guy who makes sense to trade and clear some payroll is Mark DeRosa(5.5m in 09). Maybe DeRosa will get you a good prospect you can use in a deal for Peavy, and it would also give you some payroll room. We can use Fontenot at second vs RH pitching, and maybe sign a veteran like Mark Grudzielanek, Mark Loretta or Rich Aurilia cheap to play with Fontenot. So getting rid of a chunk of Marquis salary, then DeRosa salary could give us some payroll room. Then if ownership gives us a small payroll bump(say 148-150 instead of 145). Then I think we can pull off getting a good RF and Peavy. I'm just saying it's easier to replace DeRosa production with Fontenot and a veteran in a platoon, then finding a cheap replacement for Lee, and not losing too much production.

Soriano numbers put him at the level of others guys making the same amount of money he does. How he plays from 2012-2014 will determine how good or bad the deal is. Hopefully Soriano is one of those players who still performs pretty well at 35 plus years old.

The Royals are gonna actually want something of good value for DeJesus. Not our back up SS, a Double A pitcher who can't throw strikes, a crappy middle reliever in Kevin Hart and Jason Marquis. If were gonna get DeJesus and Mahay, were gonna have to trade guys like Pie, Marshall, Hill, Theriot or Fontenot. The Royals been playing DeJesus in LF so this trade doesn't make them have to trade DeJesus.

Be realistic Theriot hit over 300 in almost 150 games last year, there's no way he loses his starting job this offseason. He will either be starting with the Cubs, or traded to another team to start. So most likely if the Cubs actually do get Furcal, Theriot will most likely be at 2b almost everyday.

Thats a interesting thought, would you guys trade Harden to a contender in a three way deal, if it means getting Peavy?

Whose fault is it? Nobody, thats baseball and the price we pay for being such a good team. The farm isn't good, but most teams farm systems would be weaker if they just had the ROY just come up through their system. Then guys like Marmol, Theriot and others come up through the system the last few years. Not to mention having to trade Sean Gallagher to get Harden, because Rich Hill fell apart. A year ago at this time, the Cubs might have had enough to get a Peavy done with a good Rich Hill and Gallagher around. Thats why I said thats just baseball.

Good news

Of course if we traded Pie for Teahan it would be a horrible trade. But relax, Pie for Teahan is just the writer coming up with idea's. I'm sure his source said the Cubs are asking about Teahan, and he just came up with names that are being shopped on the Cubs. I remember a few years ago a writer wrote the Cubs could trade Pie for Gerald Laird. So don't believe every rumor you read. As for the Gregg trade, not everyone thinks thats a bad trade, and nobody knows if it's a good or bad trade yet for sure. But how is there a Peavy fiasco?? The Cubs would like to trade for Peavy, and Peavy would like to come here. It's not our fault we don't have the prospects yet to get a deal done. Don't blame Hendry because people are getting excited about Peavy, and we haven't been able to get a deal done yet. If you think Peavy trade talks is a fiasco then I would just stop reading the Peavy rumors.

Peavy trade to the Cubs isn't close because it's not like we can trade guys in our system to get him right now. We need to find a third or forth team that would be willing to give us the right players to get something done. It's a very hard trade to pull off, and not Hendry fault if he can't get a deal done.

I heard Kaplan on Chicago Tribune Live tonight. He said the Cubs are done trying to trade for Peavy, and those prospects will go towards adding a leadoff hitter. He said the Cubs will try to trade for Chone Figgins(writers raved about how good he was) or Brian Roberts. Then mentioned Ibanez, Abreu and Bradley as opitions for RF. But I would pay very little attention to these comments, until we hear this type of info from a better source. He's said stuff like this in the past, and the Cubs have gone in the oppsite direction. Kaplan hasn't shut up about moving Soriano out of the leadoff spot all offseason, so it's not a surprise he thinks or hopes the Cubs will add a leadoff hitter. FWIW Kaplan also said he thinks Ryan Dempster will win 20 games next year.

From everything I heard this offseason is the Cubs are looking for a LH power bat. So I don't think they have alot of interest in Furcal or even Brian Roberts. I don't think they've ever said power bat. Every quote from Hendry and Lou has been "left handed athletic guy" I think there looking for a guy to hit towards the middle of the order, from most articles and things I heard on the radio. Thats why we keep hearing names like Hermida, Ibanez, Abreu and Bradley for RF. Piniella said we need to add some LH hitting, get younger and more athletic though. But Hendry only has so many options he can pick from.

I would probably take Teahan over a guy like Griffey for RF. But he's towards the bottom of my list, as RF options. Trading Pie in a deal for Teahan would be awful. Teahan value is more at the level of Kevin Hart or Ronny Cedeno at this point.

From everything I heard this offseason is the Cubs are looking for a LH power bat. So I don't think they have alot of interest in Furcal or even Brian Roberts.