NorthsideAvenger

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/rozner.asp?id=237727 And Mr. Rozner, is also making it sound the Piniella is the new Cub manager, the organization is waiting for the "RIGHT" time to make the announcement. AKA after someone else hires Giardi? AKA after the Nats hires Girardi.

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/rozner.asp?id=237727 And Mr. Rozner, is also making it sound the Piniella is the new Cub manager, the organization is waiting for the "RIGHT" time to make the announcement.

That is a good list, and the rankings I definately agree with, BUT.....I just don't see the Yankees trading ARod to ANOTHER AL team. I fully believe Steinbrenner will tell Cashman to trade ARod, but to an NL team. He doesn't want to face a potentially pissed-off ARod till the World Series. So I doubt the Angels/White Sox will be major players for ARod. And if they are, I suspect Cashman will be asking for the moon....ala either Santana and/or Weaver, Shields, Wood, and perhaps even Kendrick. But I fully believe ARod will be on one of three teams in 2007; The Cubs, the Dodgers, or the Yankees.

I'm thinking more along the lines of Jeff Francouer, comparasion wise.

(Incorrect answer buzzard) Soriano will be a bust, but the situations between Soriano and Beltre are FAR different. Beltre had one ONE great season, after several FAILED seasons, and his one career yr, came in on his walk year. Soriano has had atleast some decent productive yrs---with the Yankees at least---in his past. Maybe 2006 is a career yr, but he is a better bet to be worth his next contract then Beltre is on his contract.

I hope he likes the "challenge of the Cubs job" (sounds like a cheezy TV program back in the 70s, DUDE) from afar, preferably from San Fran.

How about we involved the Dodgers in a three team trade. So what about this: The Dodgers: Get ARod and J. Jones The Cubs: Furcal and Drew The Yankees: Chad Billensley/James Looney/Sean Gallagher/4th prospect. .

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.