NorthsideAvenger

high risk/high reward type move for the Cubs. I think Harrington will have a chance to be somoeday a solid middle reliever. Interesting move. Wouldn't it be a low risk/high reward move? Thank you for catching that. My bad.

high risk/high reward type move for the Cubs. I think Harrington will have a chance to be somoeday a solid middle reliever. Interesting move.

I don't care who it is---well figuratively speaking of course---anybody that can block Lou Piniella from being the next Cub manager would be fine with ME.

Why would you be disappointed. The Cubs didn't get in the bidding for Irabu/Nomo/The Matsui's/Johima/Ichiroi/Sasaki, etc, etc, (I grant that outside of Sasaki/Ichiro/H. Matsui/Iguachi the Jampanese imports have been "crap" at the major league level. It doesn't change the Cubs/Hendry's MO, of not looking at all arenas ML talent that can help their team. My guess is...Hendry won't even go near the bidding for the "latest Japanese rage."

But atleast Hunter provides SOME power, which Pierre doesn't. Hunter is a superior player to Pierre. But I don't neither in CF for the Cubs in 2007.

I doubt the Cubs trade Lee, unless they are in FULL, I repeat, FULL rebuilding mode, ala the Marlins. And right now, I don't see the Cubs in that mode, until either the current core gets really old, or really bad<---I mean worse then 2006 bad.

I don't want "Uncle Lou", it should be either Bochy (if he is giving clearance) or Girardi, with an improbable off-chance of Larry Dierker. Does anybody think John M, is going to highly "influenced" Hendry into hiring Girardi, and Hendry is going to fight for Piniella, and they settle for Bruce Bochy?

Let's say for the sake of argument, Joe Girardi is "hired" to be the manager of the Cubs. Does anybody know how his staff will look like? I know Rick Kranitz is a giving for pitching coach (and would be kind of a slap at Hendry who wants to keep Rothschild). But who else? I know Mike Quade, Alan Dunn, Pat Listach, and perhaps guys like Von Joshua will be giving opportunities for openings on Girardi's staff, but do we even have a sniff of a posible Girardi staff?

My guess is ARam would not excerise his opt-out clause, if he got a guarantee that the Yankkes would extended him for the money he wants. And, which btw, if ARam is waiting on who the Cubs hire as manager, wouldn't the same prinicple be used if he is a bargaining chip for ARod, cause, I'm pretty if Piniella replace Torre, follow through, I don't know if ARam would want to go to NY. NY media + Piniella "old school toughness"= an unhappy ARam, IMO.

Uh-oh. :( Personally, I think Piniella has already sign on to be the manager (we all know Piniella is a personal favorite of Steinbrenners) and I am think the Yankees are waiting for the right moment to make the announcement, to try and "control the PR" over such unpopular move. And we know when Torre is fired, it will be a UNPOPULAR move.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=insidedishlotstolikeabou&prov=tsn&type=lgns Didn't see this anywhere. What about Dumbrowski as Cubs GM? Good bad, neutral? (IDK, if I want him, cause he and Hendry has ties, which would loosen the "pressure" off of Hendry to produce a winner.)

If Boch is Hendry's choice (which is a real possibility - Boch was supposedly #2 behind Dusty in 2002), I hope the McDOnough and company blink. Hopefully, but we know McDonough is into the "PR" possibility of Joe Girardi. So, Hendry would have to CONVINCE the McD and company that Bochy is a better hire then the "PR Hero of the people" Girardi.

I say Mariotti, also. We also know, that the NSBB.com spokeperson who works for a Chicago area newpaper won't be writing that article.

=D> Spoken like a true Cub fan.

The People's Choice (Chicago area that is)/John McDOonough for manager: Joe Girardi: Jim Hendry's choice for manager: Bruce Bochy. Who's going to blink?

And Hendry should be located at the nearest bar, trying to drown out his sorrows of losing Piniella.

I don't see the Cards trading for ARod for the reason you mention--the 4 FA pitchers---but also they STILL have to address who is going to replace Edmonds and to a certained degree Encarnacion. Are they going to re-sign Belliard for 2nd base, or did they look for another option. And what about the catcher? The Cards is no longer a dangerous enough of an offense--excluding Rolen/Pujols---to hide an offensive liability in Molina (regardless of the "All-Star status" Molina seems to reach in McCarver's eyes.) The Cards have too many holes to fill, and their budget ain't nearly as flexible as the Cubs. I think the Cubs are going to get ARod, but it may take till December/January before it plays out.

Well he did have to wait until after the world series... The tigers acted quickly when they picked up leyland on october 4th, 2005 the marlins acted quickly when they got Gonzalez and now the yankees have fired and hired a manager in the same day as well. Hendry knew in August that Baker wasn't coming back and he was to worried about offending baker to lay the ground work his short list of candidates. to me it shows he doesn't have a plan. just my oppinion. The difference between the Cubs situation and that of the Marlins/Tigers, is that both Leyland and Gonzalez were out of the playoffs/baseball when those job became openings. Baker was still "managing" the Giants at this time in 2002. And Hendry KNEW he wanted Baker, thus needed to be patient. So, you can't compare what the Cubs are doing right now, to that of the Marlins/Tigers, totally differnet situations. And you also have to take this into consideration, Girardi is the "overwhelming people's choice" in Chicago to become the manager, and anybody that Hendry eventually hires---if not Girardi---is going to be panned. So obviously, Hendry has to take his time and figure out if Girardi---the people's champ and McDonough's choice is the choice. If he isn't, and we know Hendry just lost Piniella, so Hendry has to figure out who else to put on his list of candidates. Not to mention Hendry still must "interview' a couple of minorities for the job. So, obviously the fans are not involved in some of the behind the doors situation. And just because Hendry hasn't hired a manager "like the Marlins or Tigers," doesn't mean he doesn't have a plan. We just don't know what his plan is.

To be fair, Hendry "Acted quickly" to snag Baker back after the 2002 season, and how did that turn out? So, I don't nec...blame Hendry for "moving at a snails pace" to find his next, and perhaps last manager as GM of the Cubs.

Speaking of which, has AJ Burnett's arm fallen off yet? lol...I completly forgot about Burnett. sheesh they are re-selling old Fords down there. ryan dempster. Matt Clement.

Of the 50 k's Albert had this yr in the regular season, 13 of the came at the hands of the Cubs (with Houston in 2nd with 8). Overall, Albert Pujols #'s of .206/.286/.324/.610--the Cubs held Albert Pujols to Nefti Perez's type numbers, haha---against the Cubs, was by far his worse numbers against any team in baseball in 2006. So if there was one bright spot, is that the Cubs held Pujols in check this yr.

As Hosak mention, there is no way the Yankees are going to get that kind of package. 1: Even if the Yanks/Rangers are paying most of the remaining part of ARod's contract, how many teams are going to the room to take on ARod's contract. I understand his contract yearly (after the Yanks/Rangers picking up alot of it) still consists close to 10-12 mill per, not too many teams can handle that kind of "acquisition." 2: Then you have to consider the mandate that if Steinbrenner wants ARod gone, he and presumably Cashman will want ARod OUT OF THE AL, so that he has no chance at coming back and biting in the butt, at no worst then the World Series, which means, you are looking at an NL team as the best bet to inquire/acquire abotu ARod. Now if you take both into consideration, there are about are about three teams that could fit into the catergory; the Dodgers, Rockies, and the Cubs. The Rockies have Troy T coming up, so they might not be all that interested. The Dodgers could acquire ARod, and then turn around and ship Furcal to another team as part of a three team trade. Or you have the Cubs, who could offer up a LEGITIMATE 3rd baseman and a coupe of solid young arms that might interests the Yankees. I fully believe ARod will be moved, and I willing to bet that ARod will be coming to the NL, one way or another.

Hendry is in tight situation right now....Lou Pinellia is, IMO, Hendry choice to replace Baker, but he knows that majority of people in Chicago wants Joe Girardi as manager. Which would put MORE pressure on Piniella to win (more then Baker faced inhis four yrs) because he wouldn't be "The people's choice". Now, this is prolly the reason why Hendry is going to move slowly to get a manager, in hopes by the time his deadline approaches, Girardi is hired by another organization(Nats), and he would be freed to sign Piniella. But the chances are, by the time he's ready to get Piniella, he may not be available, and Girardi would be gone, which would leave Hendry with the likes of Showalter, among other others (and sorry Vance, I don't see Dierker going to even get a call for an interview). And I don't want Piniella, simply because Rothschild would be guarantee back, when in reality the Cubs need a new voice at pitching coach. You know someone preaching outs on few pitches.

Would you bet a fiddle of gold against your soul? :D I'm glad somebody caught my drift.

I dont think he's the greatest, but would probably be better than whats available. I'm not sure about that. I think Torre has benefit from having an owner with deep pockets, and a very good stuff. Torre hardly does any "in game" stratgey. I think if the chance the Cubs ever got Joe Torre, the Cubs would see the "Pre-Yankee" Torre who went 888-1003 with the Mets/Braves/Cards and the "Yankee" Torre. IMO, Torre, dare I say, isn't as great of manager as the NY Media (and ESPN for that matter) hyped him to be. In fact, I believe Girardi would be just a good of a manager in 2007 as Joe Torre, wherever Girardi ended up.