Soul

If it's one thing that the Tigers have shown us, it's that if you overpay a player, they will come to you. With the potential of A-Ram off the books, as well as the Tribune kicking up the payroll and several other chunks of change from departing players, Hendry has the opportunity to overpay for talent. Given the dire straits the Cubs are in (if or when Ramirez leaves), that's the only recourse Hendry has. As you say, the Cubs don't have the minor league talent for trades, but they do have baskets of money at their disposal. I think the important thing to keep in mind is, will Hendry overpay for the RIGHT players. In that instance, I don't think he's the best judge. He's shown the ability to pay who he wants what it will take, but Since Ramirez is the best FA bat available, why wouldn't you overpay to keep him, instead of overpaying for the overrated Carlos Lee? You have 3 "premier" offensive FA's: Ramirez, Soriano and Lee. If you were going to overpay one of them, Ramirez would be the one to do it with. He's far and away superior to Lee, and he's better than Soriano as well. Interestingly enough (perhaps ironic?), I trust Ramirez's glove more than Soriano's......and Ramirez came with the poor defense tag firmly attached. He's certainly not great, but I think he's made at least some improvements since joining the Cubs where it seems as though Soriano has only regressed. I'm starting to think this entire offseason hinges on Ramirez. I can see a lotta lotta air being let out of that shiny new Jimbo/Lou balloon if he gets away.

Anyone who thinks we're going to acquire both ARod and Soriano is sadly fooling themselves. With all due respect, of course. Look. If ARam walks, our offense is going to be lacking in power in '07. There's no way around that. Hendry will be lucky to pull off a deal or acquisition for ONE of the top free agents out there. It might be just Schmitty----and that's it. Big deals don't grow on trees, and neither does the kind of money that pays $15million/yr. There's nothing in Hendry's history that shows he can pull off multiple cream-of-the-crop deals in a single offseason, anyway. I'm not even sure he can grab even a single top player, to be honest. He was making those deals in '03 and '04 dealing from a position of strength. And even then it was basically one big deal per offseason. Now the shelves are empty. It's a whole different ballgame for Jimbo, and he's holding a poor hand.

Add to all this the fact that I really like ARam. I know he's a little lazy sometimes, but he seems like a really good kid. Mostly just quiet and productive. Oh well, enough of my crying. I hope Hendry pulls off a deal to keep him. Doing so would be a significant achievement given the level of interest ARam is already drawing.

Agreed. But "love of Chicago" or not, Aramis was gonna opt out of this contract. The time to be upset was the beginning of 2005, not today. Understood. I would only plead that March/April '05 was like, blur-bad deal-blur-more Neifi-blur-Wood/Prior hurt-ouch-bad season coming, etc. You know?

I don't think "love of Chicago" is enough to keep a good player around if the money's better elsewhere and the teams are playoff contenders. That's just my HO.

It's Lou time! Give 'em the buckeroonies! Reign of Terror! RAH! 8)

So would you say after two weeks go by if nothing is done it's alright to panic? Because this still feels "panicky" to me, despite it being a formality. It's too bad we couldn't have done some sort of deal before the end of the season to avoid it coming down to this. But, alas, it doesn't always work out seamlessly like we would want.

Why, that's Sammy money!!

I believe we are in serious trouble right now. I'll second that. The window is closing quickly. I agree. What I had meant to say was, if we lose Aram, we're in the kind of trouble that isn't likely to be resolved for '07. In other words, no Aram likely = no chance for a positive '07 beyond some rebuilding takeaways for '08.

Just to add to what raw said, the Dodgers have supposedly targeted Aramis and Soriano as their two biggest FA targets. It was bound to happen. Aramis has alot of value. A bidding war over him with another team is a fearful proposition. The grass has to be looking mighty green on the other side of the fence right about now. Though I thought I heard Aram say he would prefer to stay in Chicago. Saying something like that is usually the baseball equivalent of pillow talk. Lose Aram and we are surely in serious trouble for '07. I'm willing to say that right now.

The reason the Cards won this year is because the league as a whole sucked bones. I'd rather build a good baseball team than rely on the entire major leagues to stink again next year. We're pretty far away though, IMHO. I'm thinking 2 year plan at the moment. Who knows though. Last year took alot out of me. I'm just hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe a few Lou moments to tide me over.

I like how Howie Long summed it up in one word: JEALOUSY. By the way, I got a good laugh over some SF fans who were crying that we were running up the score. # of points the Bears scored in the 2nd half: 0. We dialed it back nicely to save their feelings, thank you very much.

I agree, I just think it's entirely too early to be thinking undefeated, so I doubt they'll bother trying. I don't think they would do it anyway until there is only one team left undefeated. You're probably right, but I wouldn't put it past them to show up. Maybe Marino too. They hold it as a feather in their cap that they were the ones who beat us in '85, even though they suffered a most embarrassing loss in the playoffs that really signaled the last best chance for Marino to get to a Super Bowl (though nobody would have guessed it at the time).

This time it's in our house. If Bob Griese, Larry Czonka, and that cavalcade of jerks shows up, they ought to be denied admission.

Realizing Sammy was a steroid cheat was bad enough, and with him it wasn't even proven. Signing a proven roid pumper like Bonds is out of the question. There's such a thing as dignity, you know.

Great game. It's been back and forth the entire second half. Edit: The Broncos have now given up more points than the Chicago Bears. Woo Hoo! They've also scored 5 more than San Diego for the league lead in points scored. I think that game exposed Denver's defense a little bit. Indy completely had their way with them. There have been teams this year who were able to shut down Indy much better than Denver. And this was a home game for the Broncs. Still, very entertaining game to watch. Actually it was a great day to have NFL Sunday Ticket. 3/4 of the late games were great until the end, and a few of the early games were excellent as well. The Bears game, to be honest, was boring. I found myself switching around for better action. I've decided it's good to be a fan of a team that puts out laughers like today :)

So, we're close to replacing the driver, but the Car Dealer, the Bank, and the Car itself remain the same. If you've got a rusty old Dodge Neon, would it matter if you changed from Dick Trickle to Jeff Gordon? Maybe a little :) OK, that's my analogy for the day...

i wish i could gamble on things like this, but id be willing to wager that a team that does not currently exist will win the world series before the cubs do. OUCH. I agree. This is the worst time ever to be a Cub fan. All curses are gone except ours, now the Cards are going to win it----and with the worst team they've had in years, no less----and there really is precious little light at the end of the tunnel with our club. Go Bears. And Bulls.

Maybe a little talk with Billy Beane. I like what Lou says about woirking the count. Don't just take pitches without a plan, have a plan and work it the way a hitter should by making a pitcher pitch and hit your pitches and not his. Perhaps Dusty himself really doesn't believe in taking no walks and swinging at everything. Maybe that's really Hendry, and Dusty was just trying to carry out his plan. Which of course failed miserably.

This makes sense. Joe is very young, and let's face it that Nationals gig isn't all that attractive. I agree, once the Cub job was gone it was probably a foregone conclusion that Girardi would sit out this year.

Agreed. After what I've seen so far tonight, my level of concern just jumped 2 or 3 notches. This is bad news.

My best advice is for everyone to stop stealing copyrighted material and pay for the product. Seriously.

I don't think anyone should underestimate the 9ers. Not after that Cards game, and not after the sudden injury bug we seem to have acquired. I won't be thinking the Bears will blow out anyone. 9ers are better than the Cards, IMO. In fact, an argument can be made they were the weakest team on our schedule, especially after the egg they just laid in Oakland.

I'd imagine Muhammad will be fine, but Manning Jr. and Harris would be big losses. Probably more so Manning Jr. I heard Muhammed will definitely play, and Harris definitely won't. Manning says he will play, but the trainers aren't so sure.

I'll probably be flipping back and forth on this one. Sorry baseball, but the Bulls are on Comcast and this is my first chance to check out the rookie sensation, Tyrus Thomas 8)