javy knows my name

I think I posted in a different thread that I'm convinced it's all about opening up the closer spot as they negotiate with Wood. OK, that's bush league though. You could keep something like that behind closed doors. Why box the entire organization into an important decision like that with 5 months to go before opening day? Now if they make further changes and Demp isn't a starter, they look like liars. If they kept it "behind closed doors", how does Wood know they've done it at all? Announcing it publicly would be a way to prove to him that the larger role he wants is actually open. And as Beertown Cubbie has pointed out, could be beneficial if they're trying to move Dempster (which I also believe). Really, I can't think of any other (good) reasons why they'd announce something like this now, while they're negotiating with Wood. A whole lot can and probably will happen by spring training, and if Dempster is indeed in the rotation, he'll either be decent or he'll be back in the pen. Hopefully. Didn't Wood say he wants to try to start again? Or was that a similar type of ploy to up his asking price? Yes, he did, and to no one's surprise. And if anything, this hurts his asking price because there aren't many GMs who would gamble with him in that spot for any significant amount of money. My bet is that he'll stay with the Cubs as long as we don't insult him with a lowball offer. I think he realizes that we are one of his best chances to ever start again, because we've already invested so much in him.

If he admits to being under it is so not an insult.

That's quite a cynical assessment of the best thing we've got to predict future talent. I must say the bolded part made me laugh out loud, though.

IBL?

i'm pretty sure A-Rod ends up with the Angels. It's a good team, and the media scrutiny is like 5% of NYC Plus a billionare Latino owner in a heavy latin market. Angels are the best fit for A-rod. But since when has Boras ever put his client in the best place for them? Kevin Millwood, Jeff weaver, and now ever Kenny Rogers all left places they were comfortable for the money. A-Rod does not care about where he plays, he is in it for the contract status. Plus Moreno has said it does not make good business sense to put 20-25% of the payroll into one player. While I think A-Rod would bring the Angels twice what they pay him in revenue, will they go 10 years on a contract? How can you say A-Rod doesn't care where he plays? If this were all about money, he'd have signed a huge contract already with the richest team in baseball, who also enjoyed a $72 million subsidy for his services. Boras knows this, and since all Boras wants is money for A-Rod, it seems that A-Rod overruled Boras. Now, if you made the argument that A-Rod only cared about staying away from New York, I'd buy that. The Yankees asked to meet with him to offer a reported 5yr 150 million extention. It wasn't enough according to Boras. If he cared where he played, why did he go to Texas in the first palce? He loves Lou Piniella, he should have stayed in Seattle with Lou and that team. He went to Texas for the money. I absolutely refuse to believe he walked away from the richest team in baseball in search of more money, when this richest team in baseball had $72 million free dollars with which to negotiate.

Because he plays in a big market!! Seriously, Silver Slugger = Gold Glove with more subjectivity. They both make me hate all baseball writers.

(!!) I'm putting the over/under on Yanksfan's age at 16 (!!)

And I think this: :)

Is that English? He just missed a "to" in there! Jeez! where exactly can a "to" be placed in there to make it a decent sentence? ;) That's correct, if haughty, english for you

The comparison isn't to Barrett as a Cub, it's to Barrett as an Expo. Infante and Barrett are both guys who were highly regarded as potential offensive assets at important defensive positions. They both had initial struggles that resulted in their never getting a real opportunity, thus deflating their values below where they should be. Hendry saw Barrett as a guy who could come back and be an asset, and it's possible he'll do the same with Infante. If Infante could find Barrett-like production in the next couple of years, he'd be a steal at the current price

Is that English? He just missed a "to" in there! Jeez!

The Winn hate is over his horrible contract. Obviously, trading Marquis' (literally) equally horrible contract negates this. Other than his age, I don't really understand the objections to the deal. Much better than breakeven for the Cubs.

Voted for Dixon. Tebow wins it next year before a single game is played

So you want the cubs to acquire left handed hitters AND improve against left handed pitchers. You do realize that for the most part those are opposing needs. I'd love for someone to tell me why we need left handed hitters. I believe that term you are looking for is mutually exclusive. Well, that might be a bit strong. Maybe Abe thinks Jacque's one year of moderate success against lefties means most lefties hit well against other lefties? (Wow, thats a lot of lefties). And no, the Cubs don't need more lefty hitters, righty hitters or switch hitters; they need patient hitters.

I agree. My point is that that's not a whole lot better than Zito's for a MUCH better pitcher. Edit: I see that above I stated he wouldn't get that. Probably too conservative on my part.

Whats that? The CUBS are going to move Dempster into the rotation? The very same brainstrust that gave Neifi Perez and Henry Blanco multi-year deals? Holy Jeez, I want to trade my first born for him!!! Maybe that will work on Colletti and SABEAN. Believe it or not, I actually thought this post through.

Though I'm a lifelong Cub fan, I almost feel sorry for another team. Almost.

i'm pretty sure A-Rod ends up with the Angels. It's a good team, and the media scrutiny is like 5% of NYC Plus a billionare Latino owner in a heavy latin market. Angels are the best fit for A-rod. But since when has Boras ever put his client in the best place for them? Kevin Millwood, Jeff weaver, and now ever Kenny Rogers all left places they were comfortable for the money. A-Rod does not care about where he plays, he is in it for the contract status. Plus Moreno has said it does not make good business sense to put 20-25% of the payroll into one player. While I think A-Rod would bring the Angels twice what they pay him in revenue, will they go 10 years on a contract? How can you say A-Rod doesn't care where he plays? If this were all about money, he'd have signed a huge contract already with the richest team in baseball, who also enjoyed a $72 million subsidy for his services. Boras knows this, and since all Boras wants is money for A-Rod, it seems that A-Rod overruled Boras. Now, if you made the argument that A-Rod only cared about staying away from New York, I'd buy that.

This was my point. They will say that, and Santana will get more, but not proportionally to Zito, i.e. what he deserves based on Zito's outrageous contract. He will get what the big boys are willing to pay and I don't think anyone can get him what he truly deserves - something like 8/160. Just like A-Rod will not get his 10/350. Edit: Go Hawkeyes! I grew up in IC.

Between all the speculation surrounding A-Rod's future contract and now with the Twins showing interest in shopping/not resigning Santana, there is one overwhelming question: If Zito can get 8/127, what could Santana command!?! The answer: not all that much more. Just because Santana is light-years better than Zito does not mean that a GM is going to be forced to give him, say 9/200. When guys like Zito get that type of money, it does not necessarily help the Santanas/Zambranos/Oswalts of the world. If anything, it puts a sort of cap on future contracts, and I have to think that significantly more talent is not going to go too far over that cap. The superagents can quote those contracts all day (I see Boras mainly hammering in Soriano's contract on A-Rod's behalf), but I don't see GMs being forced to pay 10/350 or 9/200 (despite whatever Jon Heyman's dumb a$$ says). Thoughts?

I never want to hear anything Jon Heyman has to say unless it's being ridiculed on FJM.

With his offensive production, who cares? I'm curious if ARod still wants to play SS. He seems to be pretty vain and I'm not sure if he wants to make that switch, has anyone heard him (ARod) mention this at all? What now? I'm just curious on what ARod thinks about this. Imo, it will be his decision and not the clubs that want him. It makes a lot of sense to me that he would not want to advertise a preference one way or the other. Bidding wars are fun, and if he really does get close to 350 over 10, I think he'd play catcher.

Heyman is an idiot. All he did was list the top six markets with no attention paid to needs or possible packages. The Cubs are, by far, the least likely of those six to sign Santana.

Rolen for Garza in any capacity is highway robbery. I would hate your team even more if this went down.

I'm not surprised, given the piss-poor FA selection of CF and his above average defense there. He might be the only guy to be had at a somewhat reasonable price. We all know Torii and Andruw are gonna make wayyy too much money. I say package him with Murton and Marshall/Gallagher and get an impact player.