David

Was he horrible, or could he have been better? I don't think he was horrible when you look at the complete year, I think he was horrible in a few stretches. Defensively, Theriot is rarely going to make hightlight plays, but he is going to make the plays he should be making. His range could be better, but he isn't a liability defensively. He's a smart player, who maximizes his abilities. Offensively, he was very streaky in 2007. It was also his first full season in MLB. His OB% was below par, but I will not be surprised to see a better year out of him. Scoring 80 runs is a respectable number in MLB, even for a first year guy on a playoff team. I don't understand all the hate. He was horrible. The Cubs had the worst SS production in the NL last year and he was largely responsible. Yet, the Cubs were VASTLY improved at SS in 2007 from 2006 - and they made the playoffs. There is a very good chance he'll be better in 08 than he was in 07. The fact that the Cubs had a bunch of garbage at SS in 2006 doesn't make the slightly less malodorous garbage at SS in 2007 look any more appetizing.

I'm not even sure anymore. I've heard in a couple of places now that Benson might permanently be even slower since his last injury. I was on the 'fix the line and watch everything else get better' bandwagon before, but now I'm pretty worried about RB and WR, too.

well, I never siad they would get Hill. I said they wanted him and Colvin and the deal stalled. Now they want 4 guys if they can't get those 2. It does matter who the O's want, they have to sign off on the deal just like the Cubs. I am just passing along info, not making any judgements. Yea, I realized you never said that. I just wanted to point it out before the overreaction train started going.

you'd be satisfied trading 7 players off the 40 man for 2? think about that You bet..You acquire Roberts and Fontenot and Cedeno are expendable. You acquire Crisp-where are Pie and Murton gonna play? Marshall is 5-7 starter now. Marquis has been on the market for months. Ceda and Gallagher are 3A pitchers this season anyway, because Hendry was silly and signed Lieber and Wood. so who are you going to use to fill those other 5 roster spots? According to a Orioles writer last night, the Cubs may also have to take Jay Payton in any Roberts deal. Re-signing Kerry Wood is always a mistake. His last two innings have proven he will always be a thrower and never a pitcher. Nice WHIP, though! So you add Crisp, Roberts and possibly Payton. Patterson is a possibility but I think he needs to play more in the minors. Lahey or Ascanio probably makes it as the last RH in the pen. LH relief is Eyre and either Cotts(yuck!) or Pignatiello(yuck!). Unless we acquire someone, our options are few. Hart is my first call-up. I sure wish Petrick would take a step up this year and be ready also by midyear. No thunder on the bench, unless Jake Fox matures as a hitter and I never want to see Ward in the OF. looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool @ bolded

Well, regardless, the O's could've asked for whatever they wanted. That doesn't mean they ever had a chance in Hell of getting Hill, and obviously, talks have progressed since then and the packages since discussed do not involve him at all.

Didn't you JUST say in the above quotes that every team's goal should be to make the Super Bowl? And even if you meant to win it, while that may be true, you're wrong about the 2006 season being as insignificant as the Packers 2007. The 2006 Bears were NFC Champions and played in the big game. That's not insignificant. And it's more significant than losing in the conference championship game.

This guy keeps coming in here at random times and posting stuff like this as though he has some form of inside info. Does anybody know who he is? I am Peoriaman! :) That is what the O's wanted. They call cedeno, Marshall, etc "spare parts". Roberts is an all-star and they want one very good major MLB player in return. That is Hill. Ok. I'm just curious. Where are you getting this from? Nobody else (besides delusional O's fans who overvalue Roberts) has seriously suggested that Rich Hill was ever potentially part of a Roberts only deal, AFAIK. I know he was mentioned in some Roberts/Bedard rumors. That aside, there's no way Hill would ever be sent in a deal for Roberts only, anyway, so it's barely worth discussing.

What's the deal with the draft? I know it was supposed to be set for sometime this week, but I haven't heard anything since.

At one point, when it looked like he couldn't reach an agreement with the Pads, it looked like Greene might be available. That's what really helped fuel Meph's Greene bandwagon.

This guy keeps coming in here at random times and posting stuff like this as though he has some form of inside info. Does anybody know who he is? he is sean gallagher's dad right? No. That's peoriachiefs39 something or other, I'm pretty sure.

This guy keeps coming in here at random times and posting stuff like this as though he has some form of inside info. Does anybody know who he is?

you'd be satisfied trading 7 players off the 40 man for 2? think about that You bet..You acquire Roberts and Fontenot and Cedeno are expendable. You acquire Crisp-where are Pie and Murton gonna play? Marshall is 5-7 starter now. Marquis has been on the market for months. Ceda and Gallagher are 3A pitchers this season anyway, because Hendry was silly and signed Lieber and Wood. Without even getting into the rest, why on earth do you want Crisp, and who are you trading Pie for?

If the people asking who Crane Kenney is are serious... http://www.tribune.com/about/bios/kenney.html

I didn't mind the idea of Fuku hitting 3rd, but what I really like about this is that it means Theriot would not be at the top of the lineup.

My position on Theriot at this point is just to hope that he can pull something like .280/.340/.380 out of his butt. It doesn't seem completely impossible, and I could live with it. Ronny is probably as good as gone, leaving us no other hope.

Me too but I'd love it to be a good SS instead! That's not happening. They don't see SS as a position of need at all, as absurd as that is.

We can only hope that the other move is for a SP like Blanton/Burnett/Harden... Not really likely, I guess. Hopefully, we pick up another (good) starter at some point this season, though.

I'm fairly sure that if the Cubs wanted Crisp, they'd have him already.

As for the comments about the moves... - He stands by his statement that this will not be the same team we see on Opening Day. - He obviously can't mention any names, but said that we all probably know what the first deal is. - The second deal is about as high profile as the first (whatever that means). - Takes two to tango. Jim has likely had many sleepless nights as he badly wants to get these moves done. He also started with a few comments about Zell... basically said that Zell isn't what he is being portrayed as. - When the Z deal came along, Kenney went to Zell to get approval. Zell asked for the pros and cons. Gave the go-ahead right there (obviously). - They are keeping their options open with regard to naming rights. He won't rule out an entirely new name but seemed to suggest that something less intrusive like the Bears naming rights package was more likely.

Just a heads up. We'll see if he elaborates at all on the 2 rumored high-profile deals from his last appearance.

per ESPN1000, the Bears pulled their offer to Ayanbadejo off the table.

1. Alex Rodriguez 2. Albert Pujols 3. Hanley Ramirez 4. Jose Reyes 5. Ryan Braun 6. David Wright 7. Chase Utley 8. Jimmy Rollins 9. Miguel Cabrera 10. Johan Santana 11. Matt Holliday 12. Ryan Howard 13. Grady Sizemore 14. Prince Fielder 15. Jake Peavy 16. Troy Tulowitzki 17. Victor Martinez 18. Carl Crawford 19. Alfonso Soriano 20. David Ortiz 21. Carlos Beltran 22. Brandon Webb 23. Vlad Guerrero 24. Ichiro 25. Derrek Lee 26. Russell Martin 27. Joe Mauer 28. Brandon Phillips 29. Brian Roberts 30. BJ Upton 31. Derek Jeter 32. Corey Hart 33. Josh Beckett 34. Manny Ramirez 35. Dan Haren 36. Robinson Cano 37. Justin Verlander 38. Erik Bedard 39. Aramis Ramirez 40. Cole Hamels 41. Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones 42. Adam Dunn 43. Mark Teixeira 44. CC Sabathia 45. Carlos Lee 46. Lance Berkman 47. Roy Halladay 48. Carlos Zambrano 49. Scott Kazmir 50. Francisco Liriano 51. John Smoltz 52. John Lackey 53. Chris Young (the outfielder) 54. Curtis Granderson 55. Brian McCann 56. Ian Kinsler 57. Magglio Ordonez 58. Jorge Posada 59. Khalil Greene 60. Carlos Guillen 61. Garrett Atkins 62. Felix Hernandez 63. Aaron Rowand 64. Geovany Soto 65. Chris Young (the weirdly proportioned pitcher) 66. Roy Oswalt 67. Aaron Harang 68. Ryan Zimmerman 69. Carlos Pena 70. Joe Nathan 71. Matt Kemp 72. Francisco Rodriguez 73. Dan Uggla 74. Gary Sheffield 75. Jonathan Paplebon 76. Daisuke Matsuzaka 77. Hunter Pence 78. Tim Lincecum 79. Rich Hill 80. Nick Markakis 81. Rickie Weeks 82. Kosuke Fukudome 83. Kenji Johjima 84.Fausto Carmona 85. JJ Putz 86. Takashi Saito 87. Jose Valverde 88. Todd Helton 89. Javier Vazquez 90. Nick Swisher 91. James Shields 92. Miguel Tejada 93. Brad Hawpe 94. Hideki Matsui 95. Travis Hafner 96. Edgar Renteria 97. Alex Rios 98. JJ Hardy 99. Chone Figgins 100. Billy Wagner 101. Joba Chamberlain 102. A.J. Burnett- picking for IMB 103. Bobby Abreu 104. Shane Victorino 105. Mariano Rivera 106. Placido Polanco 107. Kevin Kouzmanoff 108. Jason Bay 109. Josh Hamilton 110. Brad Penny 111. Michael Young 112. Torii Hunter

And more than tripled him in walks. Just sayin'...

PetCo has made a pretty substantial difference for him the past two years.

Yea, I noticed this. I'm a little worried about it, too, but it's way too early to be concerned about such things. We'll see.