WrigleyField 22

Nice Pickup. The last 2 spots should have some good competition between rehabbing Miller and Wood, Rusch, Williams, Guzman, and Hill.

Like Luis Montanez.

There are much worse ways to use a first post. "BIG TRADE COMING! I've got connections!" And then post some ridiculous rumor. Welcome. Oh and I don't have anything signed. My sister however does have a hat with most of the Cubs team from 1997 signature, but not Sosa and some others. She was a "honorary bat girl" and got to have a short conversation with Mark Grace. Edit- My family also has an autographed hat of Mike Spidale, minor league CF for the White Sox. I know White Sox... but he is an alum of my high school.

I'm just gonna kinda list some random offseason thoughts I've had -I would like more depth at DE and OLB... a good solution? Find a guy who can effectively back up both. Maybe Leon Joe could fill this role, he has great physical assets. He may not be big enough though, and if he filled this role you would need another LB. -I hate Muhsin, and would cut him if I could, but I know thats not realistic. It would be tough to go draft another WR becaue that would create a logjam of guys ith potential ut who are unknowns. Bradley, Gage ,Berrian ,Draft Pick However if around the 4th round you see a WR who could be a return threat, you could bring along slowly, and he is the BPA, definately go for it, your depth would be Muhsin-Bradley-Gage/Berrian-Rookie. -A good target at TE could go a long ways. Improvements from the QB and WR could make an average guy a lot more servicable, but if you have a chance to get a difference maker (or at least a true starter) in the first go for it. If however you see a huge discrepancy between need at TE and BPA, just go for BPA. -We will need a new 3rd corner/nickel back. I would like to see a guy drafted 2nd or 3rd. The best way to ensure that Tillman and Vasher do good is to make sure they know they have to earn their job-create competition. If I had a choice over the type of guy we drafted, it would be a type that you can mold into and eventual cover-corner, not a bigger 'physical' guy like Tillman. -OL Depth. I love our O-Line, but it is the oldest area on the team. In fact its the only one thats not ultra-young. An OT in rounds 2-4, along with some later pick ups at OG/C in rounds 6-7 would be good for creating depth. -Either in the 7th round or through UDFA, pick up a kicker to go to camp, just to give Gould some competition. -I wouldn't get a QB later in the draft, unless it was a clear BPA who slipped through. Unless you have plans to ditch Orton/Grossman, a rookie at QB would just leave to little experience. Another Jeff Blake type would be fine for 3rd string. As far as UDFA QBs go, absolutely invite a couple to camp. It doesn't really hurt you. -The only positions I didn't mentin were P, S, RB. Maynards good. No need there. RB is set, we are three deep. The FBs we have now or many cheap options you could find in FA would do just fine for how much this position is used. At saftey I like Harris and Brown. Johnson is okay, and I don't like Green. Bring in a late round pick or project guy and let them compete at camp.

I thought Spears could play SS.

At one time Piazza and Nomar probably would have been shoe-ins if there was a WBC. By the way what team is Piazza playing for?

Matt Stairs career line .267 .361 .489 Don't be hatin on Matt Stairs.

Must have been one of those baseball cards without the player on it..... Or maybe the picture was of Barry in long sleeves with batting gloves and one of those ski mask-type thingson his head because it was a cold day...... Or maybe people are just stupid

Juan Pierre. . "I'm really happy to be a Cub". . "When I found out I called him and said, YES SIR! We're back together again" (to Derrick Lee) "I have to admit I have a Ryne Samburg Throwback jersey, and when I found out I tried it on, to see how I looked as a Cub. I looked pretty good, so. ." "If you walk in my house, there is a big picture of the Ivy, blowed up, with me there. ." I beleive alot of the players enjoy playing here and have said they do. Ryan Dempster said he loves playing here. Lee says there's nothing like the energy in Wrigely Feild. And some of them do and just never say it to the media. Okay, well you proved me wrong, but I'd still spcifically like to hear Prior say it.

Don't be dissing the sandwich. If search function wasn't disabledI'd go find that Ruben-loving thread from a while back. Mmmm, now I want one.

Gives some hope that if Hendry is set on getting Lugo he won't have to give up as much. I hadn't realized Jackson had been so bad. Tampa better hope they have something they can fix. Also anyone know about the other guy? Top 10 prospect in their system? Top 15?

I am just glad he did not say he was mad about the trade rumors. However, his words about wanting to stay didn't put a lot of faith in me. I read the trib article, and he basically said he liked the city a lot. He didn't really mention the Cubs organization. I can't blame him. Another guy who could leav, Dusty, also didn't seem like he had much interest in stayng with the organization. He said he didn't lik moving. Didn't say he wants to win with the Cubs. Now, I don't want Dusty to return, but when are we gonna hear someone say how much they wanna play for the Cubs and this organization. I mean, apparently Prior could pitch on the south side and be just as happy, becuase he really just seems like the city.

Augie and his 2004 splits vs. Righties is gonna save us!!!!!! .385 .468 .519 .987 Plus that domed stadium(whatever its called) in Minnesota killed him in 2004, check his road splits that year!!!!!! .375 .462 .563 1.025 Do I also need to point out his splits hitting in the 4 spot? 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 He is a rally starter, check his splits with none on!!!!!!! 324 .432 .486 .918 Or leading off an inning? .400 .550 .600 1.150 Augie in 06!!!!

At one time he was pretty highly touted. Possibly will ensure Grissom isn't on the team? Is a non-French OF?

Eh, the deal struck me more as Ibanez being a throw in becase of salary and Reed being the real value in the deal. This deal minus the trading for Clement part would have been great before giving a spot to Jones. OF- LF-Ibanez CF-Pierre RF-Reednot sure he has the arm for it, but whatever 4thOF-Murton 5thOF-Mabry If you COULD do Hill,Patterson for Reed that would be nice

Jose Reyes projects as a backup catcher. Really, big deal if someone wants him really badly in the Rule 5 draft, chances are he's almost certainly not going to stick and even if he does, so what? As for your point about Van Buren, some negotiating 101 for you: you have a lot more leverage when there's no obligation on your part to move the player. Via the roster crunch, Hendry effectively gave himself that obligation, needlessly. Well from reports I've heard, Reyes could be a very capable backup catcher just based on his defense. If that it indeed the case, it would be a lot better to have your defensive specialist catcher at league minimum next year rather than paying whatever it is we are paying to Blanco. And Reyes is still very young. I would guess he will play in AA again this year, and will still be about average age at 22, correct? And I have to say that I don't know anything about mechanics, if Van Buren's mechanics are a concern, I'm glad we got something for him before we were left with nothing. Even if he was still healthy by next year, you might want that spot for Gallagher(who I believe is 40man eligible next year) or maybe even Grant Johnson. If you were in that position where you needed to get rid of him, then that leverage you speak of would be gone. Perhaps Hendry used that leverage this year,and that was the best he could do. Now I don't agree with all of Hendry's 40man moves, but I don't see the huge problem in this one.

I love Augie. I don't want to see him anywhere near our major league team, but hes the kind of guy you like to root for.

If he isn't at his highest value after the past two years, I doubt his value will rise much more. Hendry may make some stupid moves (in fact he does, plain and simple), but the one thing Hendry knows more than ALL of us no matter how smart we think we are, is the real value of a player based upon the leagues opinion. None of us know how much interest Reyes could have recieved if left available to rule 5 or how good of a player Hendry could have gotten for JVB. Trades are tricky because you always wonder what other offers may have been available, but with Hendry's good track record of trades, I'd be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm not even talking about the Lee/Nomar/Ramirez type trades, but even the small trades for Connelly, Barrett, etc.

Well although we fell WAY short of 100 the quality in this thread was good!Good job to those who contributed! 54) I'm drunk right now!

A thread like this worked in 2004 when optimism was sky high, kinda in 05, but we didn't get 100. At a time when optimism is at a low, will it work this year? P.S. If you are new to this, you should know the best responses are funny ones, but I'll try to not be so pessimstic and start it off with couple reasons why we might really be better (I'm not feeling real funny right now, also) Also please don't junk the thread with your stupid arguments why the Cubs will suck. This thread is the one place where we'll speak abuot optimism. If you don't like the idea of the thread just let it fall back to page two of the forum. 100) Healthy Wood 99) Healthy Prior(no lie rives hitting elbow) 98) Full season of MATT MURTON 97) A reliable closer 96) Hendry will choke and die on a donut that was just filled with too much jelly, forcing the hiring of a new GM who will fire Dusty and get rid of that stupid French guy in RF 5)The cool French Guy in CF will return to 2003-05 numbers

Here is an iterview with Ciaramella with RedSoxNation

Teach the prospects that control of the strike zone is the #1 priority. #2 on my list is to improve the flow of prospects from outside the US. Agreed

Thanks for the corretion. I had postd in my earlier thread that each was one higher than that. Maybe we could still try and get him on the fast track and knock out two levels next year, Daytona and WestTenn. Always a possibility. Murton started out in Daytona when he came to the Cubs and didn't post much in terms of numbers worth mentioning. Then he went to West Tenn the next season and the rest is pretty much history. The similarities between the two are enough for me to keep an eye on Ciaramella, though. I'll see what the Red Sox people have to say about him... I've been looking at Red Sox sites ad haven't found anything yet. By the way, was this anounced on the radio or is it on cubs.com?

Thanks for the corretion. I had postd in my earlier thread that each was one higher than that. Maybe we could still try and get him on the fast track and knock out two levels next year, Daytona and WestTenn.

So Jim knows when to hold em...knows when to fold em? Knows when to walk away and knows when to run? Jim never counts his money, when hes sitting at the table. There'll be time enough for countng... When the dealings done. Yes I changed one key word to make it baseball related. didn't want your awesome usage of kenny rodgers to go unnoticed