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Is that because Hendry is a nice guy, or because Aramis loves us more than we love him? fixed

Once the contract details come out it's likely to drop his 2007 price a million or two It could also be slightly frontloaded.

We'll see. He's gotten "busy work" out of the way already. There are rumors(likely false) of him already going after a big FA, Drew.

If you think about it, that kind of contract might not be all to suprising if Hendry really is changing his style. Last year he was the slowest GM in baseball, and made barely any moves at the beginning of the offseason. Now, he will make a quick strike at a top FA target. That would be his final offer. If Drew and Boras took to long to look at the offer, and weren't definitive on an answer, Hendry will have moved on to another target for the the OF in a week or so. At least im hoping thats what this kind of large offer would mean. I don't see any of Boras guys signing quickly. Especially if the Cubs and Red Sox are both interested. He will use them to drive up the price. good point. I dunno, at 15per how much more can he realistically drive it up. Maybe add an option year, but I can't see much else. Who knows if this even has any truth though. We shall see.

Well heres how I would break it down. With the lineup I would be fine having one unkown or just plain bad player as the number 8 hitter. That could be Izturis(SS), Theriot(2B,SS), or Pie(CF). I wouldn't mind Pie staying in AAA for a bit and Izturis at 4.15 is an expensive backup and had to move, whereas Theriot is valuable as a backup. Plus I'm sure Hendry will ove having a good defender at short, so its a likely scenario. That leaves 2B, CF, and possibly RF as places to upgrade. Second base we should really look for a top of the order guy. Murton will be able to handle the other spot: Loretta or Trade for Giles would be my top two choices. Number one on my wishlist regardless of all else, is JD Drew. He could be CF or RF. Another CF possibility is a trade for Andruw Jones, and if we can make a trade for him and Giles, that could be convienent. Need to sign him to an extension though. For RF, we may just need a platoon partner for Jacque, Craig Wilson? I also wouldn't be opposed to Catallanotta and using him at the top of the order, but then you have to move Jacque. The one thing that wold negate a lot of this is if there is a complete blowup in NY and the Yanks want ARod out and he uses his NTC leverage and all we have to do is give up a little talent and take pretty much the whole salary. For the bench I would look into trading for Branyan for 3B or signing Helms/Graffanino/Aurilla. Pagan can stay as 5th OF, Theriot, Soto also good cheap options. That leaves spot for a 4th OF and another bat. Dave Robertswas mentioned, but as a starter. I would take him for the bench though. Some power would be nice too. Jose Cruz Jr? David Dellucci? Trot Nixon as part of platoon? Craig Wilson as mentioned before. So for the position player my list of targets (with my prefernce bolded) JD Drew Andrum Jones Marcus Giles Mark Loretta Craig Wilson -- Branyan Helms Dellucci Nixon Cruz Aurilla Graffanino Pitching Wise: Right now I'd say we have 3 rotation spots taken with Zambrano, and the gazillion headed monster of Hill, Miller, Prior, Marshall, Mateo, Guzman, Marmol, Ryu ready for two spots. I'll assume Hill easiy takes one as the fourth man and the others battle for the fifth spot. That means we need a number 2 and 3 SP. Zito Schmidt Matzwhatever- dependent on winning the bid obviously which I dont believe we'll do. Wolfe(under normal cirumstances its a nice risk, but we have a lot invested into injury risks already, so I'll say no, but put him down anyways) Mark Mulder Ted Lilly Vincent Padilla Miguel Batista Jeff Suppan Iwaga The way the market is, no matter who you get you will be overpaying for. Only three of those guys are worthy of being called number 2 pitchers and maybe a few more worthy of being called number 3 pitchers. It honestly doesn't look to good. Trades are another possibility, I havent heard much about who may or may not be on the market. Bottom line though is with the money we have tied up in injury risks the guys we get better last. Bullpen is fine as is, not neccessary to get anyone.

heh, I read and responded to this post before seeing Aramis signed. I was wondering why there wasn't bickering that this deal held up negotiations for Aramis and damned us all to eternal hell.

Alright, thats good to hear, becuse both him and Miller got less than I expected and now its out of the way so we can focus on important stuff.

I think I can break this down. •our exclusive negotiating window w/ ARam has closed. •Hendry may have never gotten past a paltry 5/73. •In a preemtptive strike against fan apathy, John McDonough set into motion a plan that will invite additional guest singers between the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th innings of every home game. •It was revelaed that Jim Hendry, due to anatomical shortcomings, is invulnerable to a swift kick to the "charlie brown." •The news had stunning, dramatic effects on NSBB posters. •USSoccer climbed into a full bathtub while holding his plugged-in toaster. •O_O reached new levels of anger for him, which is roughly 1/4 as angry as Gooney is on any given day. •OleMiss converted to radical Islam; JR bought a Prius •Treeman injected heroin into his forehead on Hendry's doorstep. He is now dead. •Sethuel tried to do so as well, but the needle didn't penetrate the six-inch layer of vomit covering his face. A full recovery is excpected. •ndistops bought a 6-pack and passed out 3/4 of the way through the first can. It should be noted it was a 6-pack of cream soda. •The angels or dodgers will swoop in and compensate ARam fairly. •One of Scott Brosius/Shane Andrews/Kevin Orie/Steve Buechele will be ARAM's replacement. •Last year's team will soon look like a juggernaut compared to waht we're going to assemble. •All hope is lost. hope that helps. So everyone overracted and a confused drunk got upset over nothing? I was expecting this all along. Chill guys. I'll wait to inject my forehead with heorin on Hendry's doorsteptill there is a rumor Aramis signs elsewhere. Geezee guys. Thats all I needed to hear, thanks. I fully expect for him to be signed elsewhere in like 2 days

at 3:30 (now 4:00) nonetheless.....

I just came to the realization that I was only caught up to pae 67 cuz i thought this was the old ARAM thread... this is new I guess.. WHATS HAPPENING

pk god, im only up to like page 67 and like ndstops very drunk but not cuz of the ciubbies.... simply put whats the deal? is the rumor only that hes not signing with the cubs or has another team swooped in?

I'm only caught up to page 60 but finding this thread 30 pages up is no good, especially drunk... god cubs!

I haven't looked at this since about page 9, but as far as salary goes, I'm hoping he'll take a slight pay increase for more guaranteed years. 5/60 - 5/65?

Peanuts An all-beef hot dog with mustard and onions (no ketchup) Best Answer.

If we lose Ramirez the more likely scenario to replace his power would be to upgrade in RF, CF, SS. Make 3B a place for young guys to fight over: Moore, Fotenot, Theriot. Lets say (keep in mind w/out ARAM we have lots of cash) Trade for Andruw Jones and sign to extention Sign JD Drew Sign Lugo Sign cheaper 2B (Loretta?) or trade for Giles type or Trade for ARod Sign JD Drew Sign Frank Catalanatto Sign cheape 2B Lugo/Catalanatto SS/RF Loretta/Giles 2B (or Murton, depends on 2B) Lee 1B Jones/ARod CF/SS Drew RF/CF Barrett C Murton LF Moore 3B Still should have enough for some nice pitching.

Nah, I just don't have class on Fridays and a buddy of mine came in from out of town. My sobriety (or lack thereof) was out of my hands tonight... On a side note, I type really well when I've been drinking. Granted, it takes a whole lot longer, but it still usually comes out fairly nice. same here(edit-as far as typing, i have 8AM)... as long as im not really gone my typing is fine although i care a lot less about capitilization and punctuation.. takes so long tho And just for the record (I got six so far) WrigleyField 22 Rob Treeman Yeti WeGotWood98 YearofDaCubs add on, please

it must be something abot matzukawhatever he leads us cubs fans to drink... thats at least five i've seen most likely it means that he will lead us to drink after he signs for 5/75 and goes on the DL

QFT hi

the deadline is four business days from wednesday at 4 pm local time. they're almost certainly not going to announce their decision tonight, but it's not like i need a lot of prodding to stay up all night when i'm already drinking and i don't have class till 8:00AM tomorrow. fixed for me

The injury that kept him from making that 3/3 was a broken hand by getting hit by a pitch. If not for that he may have very well been healthy for 3 straight years.

I read on another message board, a rumor that they are meeting at 2:00. That's be 10/11 cental here. Assuming it takes a little while to discuss it then get word out, we may ll know around 12:00. I'll be up. http://realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=579920&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=48 second to last post on that page.

It's gonna hurt so bad when this turns out to be false.

that grain of salt is so small... mmmm im savoring the taste... i need more salt. I wont be happy until I have a whole block of salt.

I don't see how this fits with Aramis at all. Most likely Aramis is just waiting to play the FA field right now unless we blow him away with an offer. I'm sure Hendry has enough time in his schedule to keep in contact with Aramis and sign Miller to a deal. For all we know Miller was a quick sign and only will cost 2mil dollars, hardly something to worry about. And this like others have said could just be insurance. Hendry may have a plan to get a Ace and innings eater but things could always fall through. If he misses out on the Matzazwhatever bid and Schmidt signs with Seattle like it looks like, the only Ace left is Zito, and there will be a lot of competition for that. At that point he would probably have to explore trading for an ace (or the closest he could get) and what do you know, with Miller on board some of those young guys are a little more expandable. The innings eater type might bail out and he can't get any of those guys, but with Miller plus a ton of young arms it won't kill our season. Again we have flexibility to trade for a guy too. Going into the season Hill might revert back to his old major league self and we will want more options. Zambrano ________ ________ Hill Miller/Prior/Marshall/Guzman/Mateo/Marmol/Ryu is probably the rotation now. Someone like Marmol could be expandable to be tried out at closer, a role some believe he will exceed in. Now if this deal is more than 3mil, I'll start complaining. Until then it looks like good insurance.

So the idea would be Roberts as a 4th OF and insurance if Pie doesn't step up and take CF? I could live with that as long as we upgrade SS and 2B. However the article mentions him at leadoff meaning he would be handed the starting job. I dunno, it really depends on the look of the rest of the offense.