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-Not vastly overpay for a guy who can't stay on the field. -Not overpay for Aaron Miles. -Actually get something in return for DeRosa -Not overpay for Aaron Heilman -Not overpay for Kevin Gregg -Not fail to offer Wood arbitration and lose a first round pick -Not obsess over "getting more left handed" and end up signing a bunch of crappy hitters -because of it -Not give Ryan Dempster a ridiculous contract -Not turn a solid bench into an atrocious bench Any of those would have been nice If Wood accepted arbitration then Hendry would have vastly overpaid for a player who can't stay on the field. (#1 and #6) First of all, Wood mostly stayed on the field last season. Bradley didn't even have to play the field last year and he still couldn't stay healthy. Plus. even if Wood did accept arbitration, we wouldn't have been overpaying for him. As for the DeRosa thing, are we still pretending that trade was made for Peavy? Why? Even if it was, that doesn't change the fact that he got a poor package.

ok

ok :roll: Thats all very debateable stuff, especially saying overpaid on some of those guys, when the market would say otherwise. I'm sorry but many of you same people been saying this same type of crap about Hendry moves the last two years. So I'm willing to bet you're dead wrong about half of the things you just said. You guys always think you're right, without giving the benefit of the doubt to someone who has proven you wrong the last few years. You're already assuming negative results from these guys, by saying we overpaid. Just like you did, with MANY of the previous Hendry moves the last two seasons. Sure you guys were right a few times, but were wrong alot more then right. Was there really a need for the eye roll? You say it's all debatable, so debate it. I don't see you debating any of that stuff, you're just criticizing instead. The market says otherwise? Really? Look at all what outfielders are getting this year and then tell me we didn'toverpay for Bradley. Abreu and Dunn are comparable, if not better, and they're likely going to settle for one year deals. Burrell got 2/16. Don't act like I'm just criticizing Hendry because he's Hendry. He's done a lot of good things over the past couple seasons and was starting to change my opinion on him, but come on. Nothing I just listed was untrue. You're talking as though I'm looking for ways to criticize Hendry, when I think the opposite is going on. I think you're looking for ways to defend him at all costs and determined to give him a free pass.

-Not vastly overpay for a guy who can't stay on the field. -Not overpay for Aaron Miles. -Actually get something in return for DeRosa -Not overpay for Aaron Heilman -Not overpay for Kevin Gregg -Not fail to offer Wood arbitration and lose a first round pick -Not obsess over "getting more left handed" and end up signing a bunch of crappy hitters -because of it -Not give Ryan Dempster a ridiculous contract -Not turn a solid bench into an atrocious bench Any of those would have been nice

okay, so who do you think are the best and worst of the on-air talent so far? i haven't watched enough to accurately choose, but i do know that al leiter needs to stop saying words

I don't want him running with the way his legs are breaking down. Honestly I'd tell him to sit his ass on first until he shows he can actually stay healthy

We'll see how good Jim Hendry is without buckets of cash to bail him out

I don't have a link for this so I'm going to have to post the whole thing, even though it's really long I'm starting to think it's actually possible that Jim has gotten word that he's not going to be able to add Peavy's salary

Pie for Olson was "forecasted" to a degree. There was definitely a lot of talk about that in the months prior to the trade, and not just because of Peavy. Interest in Heilman was forecasted. Interest in Bradley was forecasted. The trade of DeRosa was forecasted the day before it happen. Maruis to the Rockies was forecasted. Bako has been forecasted and it looks like he's about to sign. Of course you can't put a lot of stock into rumors, but you can't write them off completely. There's obviously a lot of truth to them most of the time.

Huge improvement over any game in JAN basically... what didn't you like? maybe i don't know what i'm talking about since i was busy and didn't see the whole game, but every time i turned it on they were getting worked

and yeah, our goaltending situation is really nice right now. outside of thomas/fernandez, who has a better duo? i'm probably missing somebody

Nice win to get but I still don't like how they played

I know Shea it's a bit of a pitchers' park (ESPN park factors have it that way over the last several years, at least), but how is it for home runs? Heilman has gone from 5 to 8 to 10 home runs over the last 3 seasons

another awesome pp the ducks are going to tie this game. it's only a matter of time

Thanks, Ricketts. You're a dream come true for us, Cub fans. I'm putting no stock whatsoever into that article since it was clearly just speculation (not to mention the article still says "Jeff Peavy"), but that's an interesting thought. It would make a lot of sense as to why Olson was suddenly traded.

wtf is going on right now

\:D/ I love the overreaction. Were doomed, we swapped a crappy back up catcher for a crappy back up catcher, and added a pitcher that will help us in 09, while trading away two players who probably won't. We added a 999 OPS hitter for RF who's hit very well on the road in his career, and replaced Wood with a guy who might allow 2-5 more runs then him next year. We let a 2b who had 900 plus OPS last year(799 career OPS in minors) play more. We traded away Jason Marquis? and we will probably add another starter and bench player. Look at it this way. Added Milton Bradley More Fontenot/Miles lost Edmonds DeRosa Cedeno * Bradley is a stud when he's not on the field and not playing half his home games in horrible hitters park. He's currently healthy, and have passed all the Cubs physical tests(changed his offseason work outs to hopefully keep him healthy as well). He's a upgrade over Edmonds, and more dependable to come through against good pitchers. DeRosa was unlikely to match his 08 numbers, so there was nothing wrong with going with a guy like Fontenot who has done nothing but hit. If for some reason Fontenot isn't as good as we hope, it's not impossible to find a 780 OPS type 2b pretty cheap during the season. Cedeno is a better defender then Miles, but Miles is a much better hitter, especially the last two years. Added Kevin Gregg Aaron Heilman Luis Vizcaino Lost Kerry Wood Bob Howry * Kevin Gregg isn't much worse then Wood result wise, and Heilman was pretty simliar to Wood from 05-07 as well. Vizcaino/Howry is pretty much a draw, but Vizcaino stuff is still good. So I think there's a chance he's much better then Howry was in 08. With Guzman healthy, and Gaudin possibly being in the pen for a full year. There's a good chance the bullpen is better next season. Right now the only issue I have is rotation depth and outfield isn't quite as good with not being able to use DeRosa out there and Marquis in the rotation. But if we add another bench guy, and a starter better then Marquis(doesn't have to be Peavy). I will be happy with the offseason, and feel we have a better team in 2009. But thats just my opinion That guy might have been overreacting, but you're kind of doing the same thing be pumping up the Cubs. I don't think you can say Bradley "is a .999 OPS hitter". He had a .999 OPS last year. That doesn't mean he's a .999 OPS hitter. It means he was a .999 OPS hitter last season, and did it with a ridiculous BABIP while playing in a ridiculous park that could probably turn me into a .800 OPS hitter. Hes got a career 118 OPS+. We're more likely to get his career .827 OPS than his .999 OPS from last year. Personally I'd be very happy with a high .800's OPS. Also you can't downplay his injury problems that much. Sure they did physicals and he's healthy to start the season. Just like he was healthy before last season. And the one before that. And the one before that. Being healthy right now doesn't really mean anything. The injuries start when he's on the field. Fontenot is also highly unlikely to be a .900 OPS guy last year, and it's not like he wouldn't have gotten a ton of ABs anyways. He would have gotten plenty when Bradley got hurt and DeRosa played RF. Really I think if we kept the same exact team we'd hav been like an 89-91ish win team. With the moves that have been made I'd say they're more like an 87-89 win team now.

Nothing like being a player or two away from the World Series and then regressing with nearly every transaction (Bradley excluded). And people wonder why it's been over a century since the Cubs last won the World Series. I can't figure it out! How have they regressed? By getting rid of some of the dead weight on the team like Pie/Cedeno before they had no value/had to be cut? DeRosa and Wood say "hi." I'll make it easier: DeRosa vs Bradley (Bradley's better offensive threat/DeRosa's hardly hurt = tie up) Wood vs Gregg (Wood's probably just a little bit better/Gregg is younger and less injury prone than Wood is) Howry vs Heilman (Heilman please) Cedeno vs Aaron Miles (Aaron Miles, please) Pie vs Gathright (Pretty much on the same exact level with each other - Pie will probably be the better player down the line) I think this team is pretty much on par to what they were last year while saving some money. You're still leaving out the main fact.... which is that we were going to regress from last year even if we kept the same team. There's so much production we got last year that was very unlikely to be duplicated in 2008. Also, that Wood vs Gregg argument isn't really valid. It doesn't matter if Wood is healthy next year. We're talking about about regressing from last year. Last year, Wood was healthy for the majority of the season and was really good. We're not talking about whether or not Wood would be better this year, we're talking about regression as a team. 2008 Wood to 2009 Gregg will be a regression. Not that huge of a regression if Gregg pitches like he has recently, but still a regression.

pretty much the worst way possible to end a period

unacceptable

Or they just both got much needed rest

Nothing like being a player or two away from the World Series and then regressing with nearly every transaction (Bradley excluded). And people wonder why it's been over a century since the Cubs last won the World Series. I can't figure it out! How have they regressed? By getting rid of some of the dead weight on the team like Pie/Cedeno before they had no value/had to be cut? Wood? DeRosa? More than that though... we were going to regress even if we kept the same exact team. We got a lot of flukey type production last year that wasn't likely to happen again this season. Edmonds' ridiculous stretch... DeRosa's huge year, Fontenot OPSing over .900, Dempster having an ERA under 3, Theriot with a .387 OBP and hitting over .300 (although I guess that could possibly happen again). All that stuff was going to be lost anyways. Add in that we lost (Wood/DeRosa/Edmonds) more than we gained, I think they've clearly regressed. That doesn't mean all that much though, considering they won 97 games last year. It would be really hard for them to not regress.

actually he looks like rick wilkins

the foul ball off his leg?

now the ducks announcers are implying that the hawks are diving. i think that's what he was saying anyways