CubfaninCA

Am surprised to see this as your backup plan goony. Never expected Furcal and Soriano. Actually I can see this lineup... CF Pierre SS Furcal RF Bradley 1B Lee 3B ARam 2B Soriano LF Murton C Barrett

Link LA has the most laid back fans out there. Takes a lot to rile them up. My guess is that most Dodger fans want Bradley gone. He was supposed to keep the Kent thing within the organization, but Bradley decided to run to the media and call Kent a racist. Hopefully, Dusty keeps him away from the "Cubs good ol boys." :)

If only Hendry could sign Giles and bring him off the bench. :wink: Randall Simon was great. Great character & clubhouse guy. Always enjoyed seeing him hi-fivin everyone. Bring him back and bring back Bobby Hill and DuBois as well. What the heck.

you're joking right? bradley has had several altercations with the police, fans, the media & management not to mention his pregnant wife. unless kent was at each of these occurences egging him on, i would say bradley is/has the problem. Iirc he had a major altercation w/ fans right before the 2004 playoffs. Can't remember if he was suspended for the playoffs or not, but heck of a time for a meltdown.

is that when the quarterly chemistry report comes out? By July we should have a good idear of what we have. If Bradley's serving a long suspension, I'm sure the pro-Bradley's will catch hell just like the pro-every prospect, pro-Matsui's, pro-Choi's, pro-Farn's, etc. :o That's the beauty of it. he's cheap. If he is suspended, who cares? We can run Hairston out there every day until we can pick up a better replacement. Just don't count on his production. He'll save money to put better offensive production elsewhere (if hendry is smart). I really don't see the downside. Where is it? The downside is possibly having a mere utility guy playing CF for half the year and possibly the playoffs. Of course, Pie could be ready by July... Picking up Bradley looks a lot better if he's picked up to play CF, not RF.

who's complaining?

is that when the quarterly chemistry report comes out? By July we should have a good idear of what we have. If Bradley's serving a long suspension, I'm sure the pro-Bradley's will catch hell just like the pro-every prospect, pro-Matsui's, pro-Choi's, pro-Farn's, etc. :o

You're not giving Bradley enough credit here, I don't think. After Beltran, he's the best all-around CF in the NL. Jones doesn't hit for high enough average, Edmonds doesn't run and his average is falling every year now. I do agree the #2 spot would be the ideal place in the order for him, though, especially if Furcal is signed. Finally there'd be some guys on base for Lee and Ramirez. You could use Bradley at leadoff if there were no other options coming on board this offseason, but that negates some of Bradley's XBH ability; I'd prefer to see him get some RBI opportunities that a leadoff hitter likely won't get. No doubt he's a great talent, but he's far from reliable. Living in Orange County, I listen to lots of LA radio and have followed the Bradly soap opera the past 2 years. He's a volatile dude, so I have my reservations. Hopefully, the Cubs have a really good backup for CF, if they get Bradley cause he could miss some time. Furcal and Bradley batting 1-2 looks great on paper. Of course, Nomar @ SS looked great on paper too. Altogether, I'll take him cause I think Dusty can manage him to some degree. I'm just waiting for someone to poo poo Bradley by throwing out his numbers for last year or perhaps the anti-Pierre/Soriano argument doesn't apply here.

Bet this thread will reach 200 posts by 5 p.m. CST. : GO!

Getting Bradley would please many on the board. Chemistry just isn't much of a priority. The "I told ya so's" will be waiting to pounce tho. Could get interesting around July. :o If Dusty wants him, bring him on. Bradley would be a nice 2 hitter.

Hasn't Floyd played RF in the past? Even if the Cubs wanted Giles, he's a long shot. Chicago is not New York or Southern California. Sorry.

Quite dramatic. Guess we should disregard the reports of Hendry inquiring about Abreu, but regard the reports that Hendry has no interest in Giles. Nice glass half empty filter.

It's still too early to panic. Abreu, Dunn, Wilkerson, Floyd and Bradley could all be available via trade & the Cubs have lots of assets to deal. Lets see what happens @ the winter meetings first....

Don't see how the Eyre singing's redundant. Williams may be on the move. Perhaps the Cubs can get Wilkerson.

I'm guessing he's waiting around to see what Anaheim does w/ Manny, and is using NY to raise his price tag. Am guessing SD and Anaheim are his first choices, but wouldn't be surprised to see Giles take NY's money and run. As for Bradley, can see him being NY's 2nd or 3rd option.

Dusty-proof the lineup by getting a 1 and 2 hitter and Soriano could fit in nicely as a 5 or 6 hitter. The Cubs still need a power hitter in the middle of the order and I don't want the 5 or 6 hitter taking a bunch of walks anyway.

Am thinking Giles is priority 1 or 2 for NY. They're probably going to throw lots of money at either Burnett or Millwood too. It's always difficult to beat NY when they really zero in on a player.

Hawkins, Rojas, Alfonseca, etc. were good before becoming Cubs. If you gripe every time the Cubs sign a reliever via free agency, you're bound to be correct 95% of the time. It's a snake bitten organization. lol how was alfonseca "good"? How long you been following baseball?? Since 2002?? Alf had a good stretch from 99-01. Then he became a Cub.

Hawkins, Rojas, Alfonseca, etc. were good before becoming Cubs. If you gripe every time the Cubs sign a reliever via free agency, you're bound to be correct 95% of the time. It's a snake bitten organization.

1. The Cubs make the playoffs and possibly take it all. 2. The Cubs gotta pick up the option.

Oooh, good question. The scuttle-butt on this bd. has often been "why are we paying so much money to a middle reliever?" Darn good question. Wish I had an answer. That's one way to look at it, I was thinking that a lot of people love to ride wood for his injuries limiting his pitching time, yet would be fine paying a closer similar money (on an IP basis). Well, for better or worse, the cost of closers and relievers has gone exponentially in recent years. I guess we'll all just have to deal. Easy to see why when you look at the yankees, angels, and white sox. what seems to be missed is that the angels and white sox largely produced their dominant pens with cheap young talent or re-worked cheap talent. The Cubs seem to miss the boat on giving their young pitchers a chance. Maybe Hendry and Dusty didn't watch KRod and Jenks. Its hard to believe with as many live arms as the cubs have drafted in the last ten years they haven't produced a single effective reliever. So I have to ask, are they not there or are they not getting the chance? I tend to think the latter - particularly after watching how dusty and baylor before him, have handled wuertz, wellemeyer, farnsworth, etc etc. The Cubs suck @ drafting and developing talent. Not many relievers from the organization move on to other org's and do well.

The Cubs have 3 times as many injuries to pitchers as the Cardinals??

I don't know his status, but I remember people talking about Brown for closer last year. I wouldn't mind taking a flyer on him at a very low cost. He could be a solid #5, or possibly come out of the pen somewhere. Well, Brown for a million out of the pen wouldn't be bad. With the Cubs propensity for injury, Brown probably could get 15 starts.

Well, apparently he likes Texas since he's from there, but I can see your point. TX is one of the last places I'd want to be. :)

For RF how about Abreu for Wood? I know a lot of people around here want Abreu for spare parts but I think this deal would make a lot of sense for both sides. edit: I forgot about Wood's NTC Only way I could see Wood for Abreu is if Wood's sent to TX and TX sends Blaylock to Philly. No one in their right mind would waive a NTC to go to Philly.