Outshined_One

ESPN has confirmed it. 3 years, $16.5 million with an extra $2.5m possible through incentives.

I swear that a year or two ago, he signed a cheap contract for a decent number of years that went beyond arbitration. Edit: 5 years, $15m with an option for 2009.

For those of you curious, it's from Rotoworld. This strikes me as rather stupid. It would make more sense if the Marlins pick up some of Lowell's contract and the Rangers flip him to another team, but Texas doesn't have anyone in their system who can immediately come in and play 3B. I guess they could do something with Arias, but he profiles much better as a SS, especially from an offensive standpoint. Moving Michael Young to 3B wouldn't be bright, either. I'm curious as to what the specifics of this deal end up looking like if it goes through...

Think Henry Blanco, only younger.

$11m? What a joke.

Given the performance of Wainwright and the injury history of both Wainwright and Reyes, relying on one or both to chip in heavily to the Cardinals might not be the best of ideas next season. Then again, given the Cubs luck, both will likely end up pitching 150 innings apiece, be fully healthy, and post ERAs in the low threes next season.

Wow, that's a heck of a good deal. 4/40 is more market value for him, imo.

Speaking of PTBNLs, did the Cubs ever get a replacement from the Orioles for Crouthers since he retired?

See, I'd be fine with this justification normally and all, but the fact that A-Rod won the MVP while with the Rangers in 2003 despite the Rangers doing squat kind of blows the irrelevancy argument up.

The irony is annoyingly stupid. Face it, the Cubs would have been out of the race for the NL Central in April without Lee. He would have won this friggin' thing if the Cubs didn't have such a shoddy manager.

Leverage in negotiating with Furcal.

BA's 2004 Top Ten Prospects per Team report. They said he worked in the 88-92 range, but could dial it up to 95 when the situation called for it.

The fact that Sean Marshall is involved in trade talks is making me leery. Marshall is one of those high ceiling lefties who has performed admirably in the minors. He's had a history of success along with a few minor injuries derailing his numbers and playing time. He's a sinkerballer who can dial it up to the mid-90s. He has good secondary pitches. As far as I can tell, his injuries are unrelated and are not the lingering type. His ceiling is pretty good, to boot. Trading him to the Marlins in a deal for Juan Pierre might not be the best of ideas, imo.

I will officially laugh at anyone who goes ga-ga over Wilkerson, but doesn't want Dunn because of his Ks.

Remember the Todd Ritchie deal and how everyone laughed at the White Sox for how awful of a trade that was? Kinda odd to ponder about considering current circumstances.

I think it's more due to bunting and being able to move the runners over. Don't forget hustle. You gotta have hustle. And good chemistry, imo.

If acquired for a reasonable contract, I wouldn't mind him. That said, he won't get a reasonable contract.

Typical negotiating tactics, imo. If Hendry seemed willing to throw these guys into any given trade, I'd be more worried than if he decided not to trade them at all. Also, we don't know what kind of trade proposals Hendry has gotten involving those guys, save for the Marlins wanting to trade Pierre for Pie. For all we know, the Reds could have offered Hendry Milton for Hill and Murton, among other horrible deals.

They're also apparently in the running for Jim Thome, according to various sources.

Problem with the organizational attitude thing with Dunn and Kearns is two-fold: 1) As I mentioned, new ownership is taking over and will be the majority ownership. Considering there's a new group coming into town, I think that would likely herald a shift in philosophy of the organization...or at the least give Dunn and Kearns one more season to make an assessment. If the current GM, Dan O'Brien, is fired, Dunn and company will likely be choir boys. Also, with new ownership, I'd have to think that they would look to gain the fans' confidence. Shipping their two most talented players off to a divisional rival would be suicide. 2) Dunn and Kearns' main problems were with the Reds' former manager, Dave Miley. Ditto Junior Griffey. The problems with the departure of Danny Graves have been well-documented in Cincy. When Narron came aboard, apparently things eased in Cincy. Casey and Griffey both have the bad contracts. Both managed to up their value this past season. There are teams out there who would be willing to grab both, since I think they'd come cheaper than, say, Lyle Overbay and Carlos Beltran. Finally, Cincy fans don't "love" Cincy, despite what Chippy lead us to believe for many years ("The mayor of Cincinnati, folks!"). There have been plenty of grumblings about his lax attitude in the clubhouse along with certain aspects of his offensive production (DPs). He's expendable, as far as I can tell.

I think it might be a good idea for him to shake off some rust in AA, but I don't know that you make that decision right away. See how he finishes up his winter season, see how he performs in Spring Training, and then evaluate it. A couple months should be enough to help him get some rust off or help strike zone recognition. If he repeats AA, and puts up a BA around .300 again, I would feel very confident if he was able to rise his OBP to .370-.380 range. if he hits .300 with a .350 OBP again I would be worried. Oh, no doubt about it. However, given how he has been performing so far in the winter league (.245/.264/.408/.672, 12 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP through 49 ABs according to the latest update in the Minors forum), it's clear that he's still not 100% and that he still has some work to do. That's pretty much what I was basing that assessment on.

Congrats on the 100th post Ron! ;) Soon you'll be like one of us. All productivity will cease...mwahahahaha!

Stupid, stupid, stupid trade for the Cubs. The White Sox have made a concerted effort to get rid of Marte for some time now; he has no value to the Cubs. Garland is indeed a case for regression to the mean. He could be a decent pitcher and all, but I'd rather drop some coin to pick up a Millwood, Burnett, or a Washburn than ship prospects and Todd Walker off for him.

I never got the rumors that the Reds were looking into trading Adam Dunn. Seriously, looking at their team, you'd think he would be the last guy they would want to trade. Now, I grant you, he is due for a big raise, but he's worth every penny, imo. He's the kind of guy that you build your offense around for years and year to come. They also have Sean Casey and Junior Griffey on the books. They'd be so much better served trading both of them. Heck, if you even move just Casey, you can stick Kearns and Pena at the corners, then move Dunn to 1B where he could at least make use of his freakish height. I'd kill to have him on this team, but it makes no sense that the Reds would want to trade him, much less within their own division.

cough**jasonduboisbandwgn**cough, cough :P Don't forget the original, which ended up crashing into a tree.