UMFan83

The 2004 team was a serious contender. Should've won near 95 games and would've been a very scary playoff team. They just blew it at the end. That was by far our best shot. Injuries and a late season collapse took it away from us. Should have? There was nothing serious about the 2004 team. They were a blip above average. Really? I thought they were an good to very good team on paper. Prior just came off a season which he had a 2.43 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP and was 23 years old Wood had a very nice season as well Zambrano was probably the best #3 in baseball in 2003 and like 21 years old Maddux was a slightly above average pitcher Clement was also solid That starting pitching alone is borderline spectacular, with 3 Cy Young Caliber pitchers, another one (Clement) that would be a #2 or #3 at worse in almost every rotation, and a solid HOF pitcher at the backend of his rotation who had the brains to compensate for his eroding skills. The Bullpen was not very good, but the Lineup had by the end of the season, all starting position players capable of hitting double digits in HR, while 5 of them (Nomar, Sosa, Alou, Lee, Ramirez) had the ability to hit 30 or more HRs with 3-4 of them the ability to hit 40 or more. Sure the OBP was a huge issue, but that lineup was built to hit for power and average, and they did for the most part. What killed the Cubs was their bad bullpen, their lack of OBP, and the unexpected decline of Sammy Sosa. That team had to be a 92-95 win team on paper, it had to.

From Jon Heyman at SI.com:

I agree. Doesn't look (according to his numbers) like he has overpowering stuff, but I think with Fukudome comes Kuroda. Chicago doesn't have the Japanese market, nor do they have any Japanese players on their team to help one get acclimated to the MLB and US

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/story/2007/11/5/93248/2665 Yes please. I'd love to make a splash right away. Does Kuroda really project as a starter, though? What I've read is that he projects into a 3-4 starter...but I am not sure.

I posted that in the Fukudome thread. Would be an amazing pickup IMO. Not sure about Kuroda, but as far as Fukudome goes, if his OBP and SLG translate to even 85% of what he is doing in Japan, it would be a very nice move for the Cubs and get me excited about next year.

How about sign Fukudome and Kuroda, trade Pie for Greene straight up and then offer Marmol, Gallagher, Veal, Marshall, Murton for Crawford. Would kill our team longterm, but look at short term (assuming Soriano agrees to move down in the order) Crawford, CF Fukudome, RF Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Soriano, LF Greene, SS DeRosa, 2B Soto, C Zambrano Lilly Kuroda Hill Prior/Marquis Wuertz Wood Eyre Howry Dempster That is a World Series contender minus the bullpen Spend: Crawford - $6m Fukudome - $13m Kuroda - $10m Greene - $4m Dump Prior - (-$4m) Total - $29m Thats about double the Cubs plan to spend, but you'd have to think that the management would be more willing to approve $30 million in payroll increase if we are getting 4 quality players as opposed to 1 A-Rod or opposed to our wild overspending of last year.

Al on BCB seems to think this is very likely to happen, according to his 'sources' http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/story/2007/11/5/93248/2665

Tell me if anything of substance is said please

I hope it's something like "Wallace, Gordon, Noah and assorted crap for Kobe" Although if something were close to imminent, it would have broken elsewhere. It was just on..yeah, much ado about nothing. What did he say

If I could have one of those players for the same price, I'd pick Santana because I think that finding an ace through FA is nearly impossible (especially one as dominant as him) and significantly more expensive than a hitter at comparable value. But if it was just "money is no object" in general meaning I could spend as much as I want for anyone, and I could only get one of those 3 than probably ARod.

I love how he lists Murton as a "ready now youngster" even though this will be his 4th major league season. I know he's never been a full time starter, but still

FWIW regarding the Marlins suggestion http://www.miamiherald.com/591/story/292961.html

Yeah, I was 1) Roy, 2) Aldridge and 3) Thomas. If the Bulls got Roy, I wanted to trade BG for a big. His lack of PT is directly related to his inconsistent play and (as was the case on Wednesday) his foul trouble. I think Tyrus has a lot of potential, but I haven't seen anything from him offensively that would suggest that he is going to be a very good player. Who knows though, compare him and Shawn Kemp's first years in the league: MIN FG% FT% 3P% RPG BPG APG SPG PPG Shawn Kemp 13.8 48% 74% 17% 4.3 0.9 0.3 0.6 6.5 Tyrus Thomas 13.4 48% 61% 00% 3.7 1.1 0.6 0.6 5.2

Barrett is an A

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=723612&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=468

Ric Bucher was on ESPN talking about the trade. Here is what he said: NOW Kirk isn't in latest iteration, but his source at one of the 3 teams said that deal currently NOT agreed upon. Also he said Gordon is in new (currently not agreed-up deal), but also that Wallace could be.

I think he is....very good at running the Bulls offense, very good passer, very good defender. The problem is, he doesnt shoot well, he sometimes has trouble handling the ball, he doesn't get to the line enough, and frankly he is too short. But the questions are, who will play point if Kirk is gone? Thabo or Gordon? How will Skiles handle managing a superstar like Kobe? How many bandwagoners will we pick up? Will the Bulls still seem like a fun enjoyable team now that they arent a group of talented team oriented players who grew up together?

Don't also forget that Magic is the Lakers VP and could easily be trying to gain leverage in trade negotiations. Kinda strange timing that he also mentioned that the Lakers are looking to trade for Jermaine O'Neal at the same time.

Put an asterisk next to his HR record!!! (single game HR record)

BCB posted this yesterday http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/story/2007/10/30/143451/76

Apologize if its a repost, I did not see this posted yet. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=67739 He goes on to say that the Cubs payroll right now is $100 million for 21 players. Is this true? He says if we can move Dempster and Jones, we would have about $25 million to spend

I'd consider signing him, but $13 mil is just too much to address for starting pitching. I think we have bigger concerns.

I would love if the Reds roster included LaTroy Hawkins, Moises Alou, Kent Mercker, Sammy Sosa, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Ramon Martinez, Neifi Perez, and Jose Macais next year.

TNT says that not only isn't Kobe close to being traded (David Aldridge called it 'wild media speculation'), but the Lakers are reopening talks for Jermaine O'Neal in order to keep Kobe around

I'll put a month of premium against that spread. No way the Pats win by that much, if they win at all. You just pissed Belichick off. He is now telling his team to score 113 points this week, punctuated with Tom Brady purposely taking Delay of game penalties on 4th and goal from the 1 with 0:02 seconds left until he is backed up to his 1 yard line and then running 99 yards for the FU touchdown.