NorthsideAvenger

Come on dudes, you're missing the point. Counsell could be the Cubs answer to David Eckstein, I mean....c'mon........the dude has WON two World Series championships in his career, so he's got to be good for something, right? Right? (End of sarcastic post)

I could definately live with a one yr deal with Floyd.

We all KNOW the Bears are not the "Goldne Boys" of the NFL. In fact you can make the case that the Bears are the Pistons of the NFL, in that the Bears do anything opposite of what the NFL is trying tobuild around. The NFL want more offense, the Bears provide stiff defense, etc, etc. And because of that....the Bears get no respect until the WIN the Super Bowl. Look, I don't care what the pundits say here are the facts: 1: The Bears are easily Top 2 team in the NFL (arguably the best team in the NFL). 2: Rex Grossman is a very solid QB. Now while hemay never be a Peyton Manning type dominating QB, or a Mama's Boy like Phillip Rivers, Rex Grossman will be as important to the Bears as Manning is to the Colts, and Rivers is the Chargers. 3: I believe the Bears will beat the Pats.

Or misses significant time due to an injury.

(preface: take this with a grain of salt) Some poster on another site is saying that he has heard that the "Cubs were close to signing Julio Lugo" and that he heard it from the Chicago media. I can't find a link to prove this guy right/wrong, and for all I know it is heresay, cause I didn't hear anything about it. So if anybody has heard this report, please acknowledge and keep me from going crazy.

Haha. To think that we are contenders after signing one good free agent after a 66 win season... :lol: I didn't say the Cubs as a contender, did I? But after retaining ARam, and locking Soriano, that CAN'T be worse the 66 wins again. And my point is still the same...there are only two legit WC teams that have the money (perhaps) and are contenders....the Dodgers and the Giants. And the Giants are resign to letting him go. And the Mariners, while his home state, looks like they may be heading more into rebuilding the contending, and why waste a few yrs in Seattle, and not winning. Coupled with getting Soriano, I believe Schmidt would help instantly make the Cubs a contender. Moreso then adding mulitple guys like Meche/Westbrook and Lilly.

Haven't the Mariners fielded calls about the availability of Sexson and Beltre? Not to mention they traded Moyer last season. Meche is planning on leaving Seattle. It seems to me that Seattle is currently in an state of unknown. They don't know if they want to compete for the West, or should they rebuild. And that "indecision" could eventually lead Schmidt away from his stance of only pitching on the West Coast. I mean think about it....Anaheim is looking for hitting. Oakland can't afford Schdmit. The Padres are looking at 2nd tier pitchers. The D'Backs and the Rockies seem to be relatively satisfied with their pitching. So really the ONLY West Coast team that he could look at---outside of San Fran---is LA. With the current state of Mariners baseball being unknown right now, I don't see Schmidt wasting time to go "home" just to be part of a rebuilding. So that COULD lead to Schmidt having to decide how important is it for him to stay on the West Coast .v. having a chance to play for a contender.

Veal in any deal is a high price...If the Cubs are to trade him they better get someone with proven major league hitting ability...We've heard for years about can't miss prospects that miss Wouldn't that also apply to Veal? Why does Veal have more value than Dukes? Dukes is more likley to be an impact major leaguer than Veal. On any prospect list, Dukes is rated higher than Veal. If we had Dukes and the Rays had Veal, I bet we would be saying we wouldn't want to trade Veal for Dukes. To get something, you have to give up something. True, if I (or the Cubs) were to trade Veal, you would think you want a PROVEN major league hitter, not another unproven prospect. With that said, I am a believer that pitching HAS MORE VALUE then hitting, since it is harder to find. And I wouldn't trade Veal for Dukes. Veal for Baldelli....maybe. Veal for Crawford, I'd seriously considered. Veal for Young, I would also seriously considered. But Veal for Dukes would have to take alot of CONVINCING to make it happen.

Blasphemy. Recant your statement....

You know he signed that deal at 28 and will be 36 when it's done. LOL, Vance.

Runs Created: Pujols- 150 Howard- 138 Win Shares: Pujols- 39 Howard- 31 OPS Pujols- 1.102 Howard- 1.084 Nope. The right guy didn't get. I'm no fan of Pujols, but I just get upset when the voters screw things up. They messed it up last year and once again this year. Pujols had a little MORE help on offense then Ryan Howard. Pujols had (admittedly they are still playing off their reputations) Edmonds/Rolen/Eckstein/Duncan, whereas Howard only had Utley and MAYBE Rollins. Pujols would had been a "bigger name" to win the award, but I still think Howard was the right guy to win the award. If Philly lost Howard that would be Royalesque, when the Cards lost Pujols for 1 month, they weren't great, but they stayed afloat till Pujols got back. So again, I believe the right guy won it, and stats DON'T always tell the whole story about certain players.

Nah, by then they will have found the "new Albert Pujols" and can afford to let "Fat Albert" go.

How about: 1) Aramis eats himself off third base, but we can't move him to 1B because Derrek is already there 2) The pitching doesn't come through 3) We don't win the WS even though Soriano breaks through to a 1.00+ level of OPS What I was really saying is if we win the WS it is a good signing if not it is going to be a bad signing. I really think it boils down to that. The money is too much for the talent. The only justification is we win the World Series. If we win the World Series, it won't be because we signed Soriano. He's not a good enough player to take a 66 win team and turn them into WS champions. He might contribute, though, and I guess that's what you're saying. To be fair there isn't ONE PLAYER IN BASEBALL that can help win a World Series by himself---and that includes Albert Pujols.

Some people think I'm crazy for saying the Cubs need a "lefty" in the lineup. That truly do. I would seriously consider Barrett to Arizona for Estrada/prospect. And put Jones in CF. Mine is in bold. If and when Pie is ready (he needs atleast a 1/2 half to a FULL season in AAA, before he is ready) Jones won't be blocking Pie.

Wonderful Terrific Monds, III A name so cool, it need to be repeated three times.

per TCR. Interesting, and it does add some credibility that there is a deal in place, just waiting for the RIGHT time to announce it.

I, for one, think unless the Cubs lands a QUALITY lefty bat for the lineup, I think Jones has to be kept. I am not keen on an ALL RIGHT HANDED hitting lineup, unless all 8 hitters at either at the above-average to great at their position. Beisdes....I think the Cubs could get a better deal for Jones after 07 when he has only ONE YR LEFT on his deal.

Link. From what I can ascertain, Muskat is not a very good "beat writer". Rarely has she come up with insider knowledge regarding the direction the Cubs are going to take. It looks like she is taking info from various other sources and turning them into her own analysis. Her "analysis" is more opinion based then most others. Atleast respective reporters atleast "quote sources" whereas Muskat quote her own opinion as source. And that source isn't very reliable.

No thank you. I'm thinking more along the lines of say.....Guzman/ptbnl.

Personally, I thought the RIGHT guy won the MVP award. No disrespect to Pujols, but since Abreu was dealt, Howard was the LONE RANGER on the Phillies team that was expected to fade after the trade, but managed to stay in the hunt. I would not have had a problem with Pujols winning it, I just think the RIGHT player won it.

Kaplan also quoted unnamed agents as saying that Hendry's presentation was the best he'd ever seen and that Hendry's rep among players (past and present) helped seal the deal. Lou was active in this recruiting process and also met with Soriano separately. Hendry says he'll be pursuing pitching. As I posted earlier, there's some speculation that they wanted to sign Soriano early to boost credibility and improve there chances with potential FAs, such as Schmidt. hmmm schmidt? now your talking!!!! :D I mean honestly. If you were shmidt. And Hendry came to you with his plan to win. Then you look at the Cubs line-up now. With Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Barret, Jones in it, wouldn't you think you'd have a good chance to win here? Would the "winning" play a part in wanting to come over? The difference between not re-signing Ramirez. To now having Ramirez, Lee, AND Soriano. Makes this team look MUCH more attractive to FAs. Considering the other team that is supposedly going after shmidt currently resides in the Bronx, he has a better option. But it is a EASIER road to the World Series in the NL, then it is in the AL. Not to mention Schmidt has seen what the AL has done to pitchers going from the NL to the AL in recent yrs. (ie Beckett/Randy Johnson) My guess is....unless the Yanks GROSSLY JUAN PIERRE'D Schmidt, I get the feeling that it will be only Seattle as the only AL team he would be interested in. My guess is Schmidt stays in the NL (not saying the Cubs, but perhaps.....Arizona?).

Don't forget the Cubs are gettin a pick for Pierre, so the Cubs are winners on both ends.

Apparently all the money they made last year didn't make they play hard. Funny what a little optomism and a coach that demands playing hard every day can do. My point is there has got to be alot of positive energy around the club with the direction this off-season is going. Positive energy is a good thing. Martha Stewart, is that you? 8)

No he's only a type B Hey, that's something.

Yeah, it's nice to keep him in the NL. "Single... no, double to center!" "ending a streak of 18 4-3 groundouts." "thrown out trying to steal third and Kent will come up with the bases empty....again." And Kent says something under his breathe that can't be repeated.