Neuby

Milton might be crazy but his Fire is something the Cubs have lacked for awhile.

the amount of teams that are after Pierre and the time it seems to be taking scares me on what in terms of talent the Cubs might be giving up

here's hoping for Milton Bradley

why isn't Prior pitching for the USA? I could have missed it but also where's Tim Hudson and Roy Oswalt.

I hope the cubs can get agressive and go get Abreu and Bradley. Keep Walker at second. Cedeno at short. Take a flier on a bargain basement starter or kick the tires on Jeff Weaver for insurance on Wood and call it an offseason. I am expecting to see steps forward from Barrett and Aram this year along with solid contributions from Cedeno and Murton.

I can't think that the red sox made that offer to the Reds for Casey. They have been trying to deal off his salary for awhile now and they would be getting some pretty good talent in return on that deal.

If Millwood signs with Mariners it leaves Hendry with two options for a free agent starting pitcher Weaver and Washburn .

williams + novoa/wuertz probably isn't as good as backe + qualls...but if the cubs throw in both novoa and wuertz (or perhaps ohman, who i think is expendable) + prospects, they could match/beat houston's offer. if the phils are looking for something along the lines of clement + trot, i don't know if the cubs can put together a similar package. That's what I was thinking. We can't match Trot + Clement, but we could probably match Backe + Qualls. What I couldn't figure out was when Stark said that Trot + Clement may not be enough. Trot is a platoon guy in the OF right now. He can't hit lefties, at all, and he hasn't been a full time starter for a full season since 2002. The Cubs don't have an exact replica, but Walker would give him a run for his money in terms of production (unfortunately, they don't need a 2B, but they do need 3B) and he's significantly cheaper. Likewise, Clement is an extremely expensive average pitcher. Yes, we all know he has the stuff, but we have to stop pretending he's a top of the rotation starter. Again, I think Jerome Williams compares favorably to Matt. No, he doesn't have the same stuff, but, from what I can tell, his ERA+ is right there, his career ERA compares favorably. And it's not like you can give Clement the nod on durability either, as he's failed to throw 200 innings for 2 straight years, and he's maddeningly inconsistent. If you can tie in a 3rd team, I see no reason why you can't throw together Walker (going to the 3rd team - who would send similar value back to Philly), Williams, Mitre, Wuertz/Novoa and a prospect and be considered along a Nixon/Clement deal. Philly saves money with the Cubs offer, gets, at worst, a slight downgrade in pitcher quality, but a significant upgrade in quantity, and fills multiple holes. 3 team deal Cubs get: Abreu Soriano Philly gets: Williams Mitre (sinker in Philly is a must) Wuertz/Novoa Mench/Dellucci Texas gets: Walker Matt Craig Cubs pitching prospect Texas frees payroll, gets similar production from 2B, might need more from Cubs pitching depth. Philly frees payroll, fills rotation spots with cheap innings eaters, fills a bullpen spot and gets a decent OF bat. Cubs fill RF hole, replace Walker's production with similar bat, take on salary and free up some 40 man roster space. I think Texas needs to get a lot more in that deal your probably looking at Patterson goinng to them in that deal also.

The Cubs, pushing hard for Marlins center fielder Juan Pierre, might be willing to part with right-handed pitching prospect Angel Guzman, but a number of other clubs are in the Pierre mix. The Nationals' Brad Wilkerson and Devil Rays' Aubrey Huff also are drawing interest from the Cubs. Nationals G.M. Jim Bowden has long been intrigued by Cubs center fielder Corey Patterson, and the Cubs have a number of young pitchers who might appeal to the Nationals.

I have to think Hendry is turning away from Pierre now and leaning towards making the run at Bradley which is great the Cubs need to take a risk on this guy because he has such a high upside. Bradley should also come pretty cheap in terms of players involved in a trade.

Hopefully Furcal takes are offer at 10 million tommorrow then Hendry can focous on going after Bradley for Center field. Sign either Burnett or Washburn to fill out the rotation , I think one of them ends up with the Cardinials. Go get that big bat for right field Abreu, Ramirez( my pipe dream), Dunn , at this point I would also take a look at Soranio.

It's not all his fault, but that pretty much is the definition of setting the market. This guy apparantly got less than the guys Jim signed anyway. the report I saw had Hector getting 6.1 million over two years. Didn't Howry get 3 millon? Sure he get less years but considering he's 6 years younger and has had sucess it makes sense.

wow this guys is 37 and has bounced around forever and he gets two years worth more than Howry? But thats right its all Hendrys fault for setting the market. :roll:

He does a lot of the little things right and the way Hendry seems to overpay for bench help Greenberg could be a nice cheap roster filler for the Cubs.

He does a lot of the little things right and the way Hendry seems to overpay for bench help Greenberg could be a nice cheap roster filler for the Cubs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2241012 Kinzer declined to characterize his negotiations with any team. However, the buzz around baseball is that the Cubs are leading this race. The Cubs have made no secret of their desire to install Furcal in their leadoff hole. And they've made him their top offseason priority. Furcal has gotten phone calls from Greg Maddux, Neifi Perez and Dusty Baker. It's believed the Cubs have squirreled away a major portion of their holiday shopping money to get Furcal signed.

this mornings round of papers has this as a done deal. Nice pickup up.

never mind I found it great call.

True. However, I still beleive Cpatt is right. Hendry is at his best when he is going out and "getting" someone. And not at his best when he is getting rid of someone. Getting: -Aram & Lofton for B.Hill & JoseK -Nomar & Murton for Agony & 2 Minor League Pitchers Getting Rid: - Sosa for Hairston & Fontenot (plus we payed 12 mil for sammy) - Farnsworth for Novoaa and...uhmm.. - Cruz for Anderson and Pratt There are negatives on both sides, like he got rid of hundley. But he got Macias*. But I think the information points to Hendry being better when he is going after his man. *Not that Macias was "his man" but, still. why would anyone get macias? Hendry got Richard Lewis from Atlanta for Cruz along with Pratt I think Nova can be better than Farnsworth. We also got Moore and a really Toolsy but not much else prospect in Bo Flowers.

I thinking Monday this deal will be announced along with Furcal resigning with Braves or Cubs by no later than Thursday.

There's no reason both can't be done, and in all probability, will be done. We've done the $$ analysis several times in other threads, the $$ are there. I was one of the first to applaud Hendry for solving this long-standing weakness in our bullpen--notice I no longer have the "Fire Hendry" part of my sig? And I still applaud the move. Now, if the offseason ends and he has left RF and CF and leadoff unsolved, THEN we have a serious problem, but I've seen nothing so far this offseason that suggests Hendry doesn't intend on addressing each area, and rather forcefully. We've been at the top of the list in discussions regarding Pierre and Furcal, we are usually mentioned in discussions of Austin Kearns and Kevin Mench and most promisingly, Bobby Abreu. This is progress, no? Give the man a chance, I think he's having a strong offseason so far other than the ridiculous Neifi thing--which we all know is driven by Dusty, anyways. Don im glad to see some else is waiting to see some other chips to fall before readying the pitch forks. Ohman Eyre Williamson Howry Dempster Wuertz/Nova/Guzman/Williams/Hill/JVB/Rusch Zambrano Wood Prior Maddux granted some of those bullpen arms will be dealt or slotted into the fifth spot maybe but I for one am excited to think about what kind of run this staff from top to bottom can put together when heathly. There is still money to spend and a lot of big bats that could be on the move Dunn, Abreu, Ramirez, Giles, Floyd ect. I still find it odd that AJ Burnett name gets tossed around by Hendry a few times and his supposed friendship with Dempster. I am betting on him being on the Cubs staff along with a big bat and Pierre/Lofton/Bradley in center with Furcal at short. Yes I keep telling myself the Cubs payroll will be around 115 million.

it says the Marlins are looking for young pitching and these are five Cubs hurlers that might be had for trade. Not anywhere did it mention the Marlins are getting three of these guys let alone two.

If Pierre is in the fold I'm hoping Hendry goes to back to Nomar and offers him a one year deal at 4.0 million with incentives. Then uses Walker along with Patterson and others to get an impact bat. Use the left over cash on A.J Burnett who I get the feeling with Dempster, Pierre, Lee, Rothschild, Hughes all being with the Cubs will be Hendrys under the radar target after he gets Manny , Dunn, Abreu.

Pierre for Pinto and two minor leaguers in the works.

Mabry is a left hand bat with power and a career 325 OBP , he can play first, third, and outfield. He can play all the postions well and has a strong arm from the outfield. Another added bonus is that he knows the NL central well. He would be a soild sign to are bench Mabry- first,third,outfield Hairston- second, outfield Perez-Infield Blanco-Catcher GreenBerg if he gets rostered along with Sing could compete for spots as backup outfielder.