Cubswin11

Strange that there's no mention of Heilman. It is an AP story though so they may be mistaken. Maybe Bruce can weigh in. Heilman seems to be Hendry's boy. Maybe Piniella just doesn't like him, we know how stubborn he can be and if players rub him the wrong way they aren't going to play. I would guess that Piniella might even rank 1 of Guzman or Gaudin in front of Heilman.

HAHAHAHAHA I love those guys. Haha. They're soooooo Gritty!!!!

Makes sense considering it has been reported he is putting close to $450 million of his own money into the purchase and then either getting other investors or a loan for the remaining $400+ million.

Do you think the guys made some kind of bet at the end of last season to see who could come into spring training with the most creative/disgusting facial hair? I mean Z and Gaudin especially can't be serious with their two looks they have/had.

I hope they go vs. RHP Theriot SS Fontenot 2B Ramirez 3B Soriano LF Bradley RF Lee 1B Soto C Kosuke CF vs. LHP Theriot SS Johnson CF Ramirez 3B Soriano LF Bradley RF Lee 1B Soto C Miles 2B

grady sizemore? i can hope. Roy Halladay or Brandon Webb through trade and Roberts, Lackey and Bedard through FA.

I hope they keep him stretched out as a starter in Iowa so he could come up and join the rotation if somebody gets injured.Unless Samardzija made serious progress this offseason I think he starts in AAA as a starter to stay stretched out and to work multiple innings. It was clear his secondary stuff was lacking last year and he would get hammered if he starts this year and hasn't improved on that stuff. His Slider/Split/Change all need work and he needs to throw more strikes. Plus we got that guy in the Rule 5/V and even if he sucks he will probably start the season in the BP so we can at least see if he has anything and not just waste money. I think Guzman will start in AAA as well as a starter to get stretched out and get regular work, unless he has a really good/healthy spring. I think Gaudin could be the sleeper for the #5 spot. I know he was real bad with us last year, but he was putting up good numbers in Oakland before the trade and he was injured with us. Also he wasn't terrible in his 1 season as a starter, 34GS 11W 199IP 154K 100BB 4.4ERA 1.5WHIP, it looks like he just needs to limit his BB's and he could be an effective #4/5. Those are pretty much Marquis like numbers, except with more K's and BB's, but the same results.

It's sad that we could now sign Hudson to 1 year deal for what we are paying Miles for two years, and Hudson will have better numbers in that 1 year than Miles will have in his 2 seasons here combined. :cry: :cry: :cry: I think we should still sign Hudson for a 6-8 mil. deal, he gives us a great #1/2 hitter, GG defense and a great clubhouse presence. Fontenot will still get ab's as Hudson does have health issues and it pushes Miles from getting 2-3 starts a week to 1 at max when everyone is healthy. Now that the Nats aren't signing him who are his suitors? Dodgers? Back to the D'Backs? ATL and move Johnson to LF? STL would be a great fit but they won't pay the money.

Yeesh, how long did you wait to draft a catcher? You should've been able to get a much better catcher than Ramon Hernandez in an 8-team league He was one of the guys taken through autopick my computer was screwing up and made the last 8ish picks, so I am guess it took the better rated players like Pence, Lee, Ichiro, Young, etc. before it took a catcher. I think Hernandez can have a decent year in Cincy though.

Because Larussa is a snake

Just did 2 drafts tonight on CBSsportsline (Format is kind of sucky, but I couldn't wait for Yahoo/ESPN to open up) here are my teams. This is a 8 team league H2H C- R.Hernandez 1B- Pujols 2B-Jose Lopez SS-Johnny Peralta 3B-Zimmerman OF-Bay OF-Markakis 0F-Holliday U/DH- Morneau P Cain Danks Ubaldo Jimenez Ervin Santana Wainright Street Matt Lindstrom Reserves Nelson Cruz Carlos Lee Hunter Pence Ichiro Chris B. Young Then I offered a trade of Morneau Markakis Peralta Ichiro For Halladay Hanley Francoeur Josh Johnson I also did a 10 team standard roto C-Soto C-Weiters 1B-Morneau 2B-Kelly Johnson SS-Hanley 3B-Zimmerman MI-Fontenot CI-Chris Davis OF-Milton Bradley OF-Conor Jackson OF-Matt Kemp OF-Jayson Werth OF-Swisher U/DH-Shin-Shoo Choo P Jose Arredondo Yovani Gallardo Halladay Felix Hernandez John Lackey Hiroki Kuroda Francisco Liriano Street Chad Qualls Reserves Giambi Mark Ellis Gerald Laird Zito Percival Chris Volstad Overall I think I did decent probably need another closer in both leagues, at least in the roto and I got SP depth to deal for one. I could also use a MI/2B in the roto but between Johnson/Ellis/Fontenot 1-2 of them should be at league average. In the H2H league I auto picked the last 5 or so rounds and it took all OF so I could use some more depth but that could be added through FA/Waivers. I could use a legit Ace and I think i got a decent trade out there and have enough OF depth to make up for trading Markakis/Ichiro and with Pujols at 1B Morneau is tradeable.

My main point is, had we waited instead of rushing to sign Miles, we might have been able to wait out a Hudson or a Durham and gotten significantly better production for the price. Hudson at $5 million for one season is incredibly more valuable than Miles at $4.5 for two seasons. It's most definitely a risk, but Miles' production isn't that difficult to find off the trash heap. But Miles Gittiness>>>>>>>>>>>>>>O-Dog's Gritiness, so we got that going for us... :unsure:

Will Hudson be ready by opening day? I know he had surgery on his Hand/Wrist/Finger area, maybe his medical reports aren't good or something. I know he started out asking for a 3-4 year deal for like 36-50 and obviously he wasn't/won't get that but I am surprised somebody hasn't at least offered 2@18 (like Renteria) or even a 3@24.

Hudson can't play right field when Bradley is hurt Really I don't see the point of signing Hudson and losing a first round pick. Is he really better than Fontenot? That's what Miles is for. Not ideal but we improve defensively at 2B and still have someone who can backup LF and RF. Also, Fukudome is an option to backup RF. The Cubs will likely blow their first round pick anyways. I'm talking about somebody who can oplay right field and actually hit. Miles is garbage and a significant downgrade from DeRosa. Plus he's only played one game in RF in his entire major league career....and only 5 in LF. So we'd had awful offense and awful defense. Really, I think this is a false report. I see no reason to sign Hudson. I don't see him as an upgrade to Fontenot and it's not worth giving up a first round pick so he can play againt lefties over Miles. I doubt Miles is our go to option for LF/RF when/if we have a injury. Johnson, Kosuke, Gathright and Hoffpauir will all get time out there when/if Soriano or Bradley get hurt. Miles will only see time in the OF if we have multiple injuries at the same time or a even less likely scenario where he is hot and Lou needs to find a spot to play him.

I would love for us to get O-Dog, great glove, great clubhouse guy, and well above average offensively for a 2B. Not to mention it likely significantly decreases the number of ab's and starts for Miles. Any idea what type of contract he is looking for? I would only think a 1 year deal and try things again next offseason. 7-9 mil. wouldn't be bad.

Howry(2.75), Affeldt(3), Winn(8.25), Roberts(6.5), Lowry(4.5), Renteria(7) are also combining for about $32 mil. That Roberts contract was really bad and that could be the difference in them getting Manny or not, Winn would have been tradeable last offseason or even during the year last year but when Dunn, Abreu, Garrett Anderson, and Griffey to a lesser extent can all be signed for less he is virtually unmovable. They will regret that Renteria Contract in years 2 and 3 when he is making 9 and 10+ mil. Lowry wasn't a terrible signing, it bought out his arby years and at the time he looked like a solid 2/3, but injuries have got to him but the contract looks bad now, especially when you consider he might not even be in the rotation this year with the rotation looking like Lincecum, Johnson, Cain, Zito, Sanchez.

What drives me nuts about it more than anything else is how baseball is treated differently from football and basketball. This will ruin A-Rod's reputation. This will only add more ammunition to the people who argue that everyone in baseball is on steroids and is a cheater. It will hurt baseball. However, nobody talks about basketball and football in the same way. Cripes, Shawne Merriman testing positive got very little attention. When the Williams DTs tested positive for a banned substance, everyone automatically believed them when they said it was for a weight loss drug. No one seems to notice when guys in both sports look like they belong in professional wrestling. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the NFL and NBA were just as tainted by the PEDs scandal. Yet, nobody says a freaking thing about it. However, this will lead to another Congressional hearing with another player's career destroyed. It'll be sickening and a waste of money. That's what makes me the most angry, why does the government/congress need to get involved? Are they really bettering American's lives by spending tax payer's time/money on figuring who took what performance enhancing drugs and when? There are far worse things that are going on in the World/America that congress needs to be spending time and tax dollars on. We are in a financial crisis, companies are laying off employees left and right, we are in two wars, millions of house are being foreclosed, not to mention time/money that can be spent on fighting world hunger and diseases. But no the government needs to go on a witch hunt and find out every player that ever took steroids in MLB. I will say it again how is spending time/tax dollars on this issue bettering the lives of Americans?

I think it will be him or Trammel.

Somebody needs to fill the mighty hole C-Patt left and that's not a 1 man job...

I'd offer Aurillia and Nomar both a 1 year deal for about 2mil. and whoever accepts first gets the backup 3B/1B/emergency SS/2B and primary pinch hitter role. I would then look into a minor league deal for Jennings, Mulder, Livan Hernandez, or Odalis Perez and invite one to ST to battle for the 5th spot/swingman and see if we can pull a Edmonds with one of them.

If they hold on to him, I still say they are the best team in the NL. They don't have the starting pitching Billingnsley-Ace potential but young Kershaw- Unproven at ML level, wasn't great last year in his time Kuroda- solid 2/3, 2nd year in the majors will teams get a book on him or will he remain effective? ? ?

They have done some nice things, but unfortunately they play in the AL East and it's going to take a lot for them to beat out the Sox, Yankees, and Rays the next 3-6 years, when the O's should be getting most of their young guys up. It's just an incredibly hard division, the Blue Jays would be serious contenders in any other division in baseball.

I remember when we signed him and people were saying it was an awful move and that Schmidt and Zito would be such better options. Lilly has been worth every penny we have paid him the last two seasons and next to DeRosa I think he is the best FA signing Hendry has made.

Seriously? Seriously? I hope to GOD he takes them up on the offer, and I hope to GOD they get stuck with the 2008 Red Sox Manny who does what he wants, when he wants if he wants to. They could easily spend that money better. Get Dunn, Sheets, and Wolf for probably the $25M they offered to Manny. I don't see why the Dodgers aren't spending more money on pitching, their offense should be good enough as is to win that division. A core of Kemp, Ethier, Furcal, Martin, and Loney is above average and Dewitt, Loretta, Blake, and Pierre are nice complementary players. Their rotation looks below average and they need to add someone Billingsley Kershaw Kuroda Schmidt? Vargas/Estes/Stults? I think the Giants, D'Backs and Rockies can compete with that, but if they add Sheets they could run away with the division if he gives them 25-30 starts. I think Sheets has a much bigger impact on the Dodgers than Manny would plus they save some money and could look into locking up Martin and some of their young guys long term. I think they should have tried to match up earlier this offseason with the Bluejays and tried trading Martin/Wade/Kershaw for Halladay and a prospect and signed Zaun and Blanco/Pudge to split the catching duties.

We got 2 spots on the 40 man open right now, with saving 2 mil or so on Wuertz I think it's possible Aurillia/Millar/Nomar could be signed soon.