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Umm. All of 'em. Okay, so name a contender whose numbers 2 and 3 starters are as likely to get hurt and regress as Harden and Dempster Haha. Yeah, right. I'll get right on that. Any player can get hurt or regress. Uhh yeah, but what players are as likely as Harden and Dempster? It's not jyst a chance, it's a good chance. So you say "all of em" when I ask what teams are that suspect, and then why I ask to give an example you sau "haha, yeah right" Well played. I already gave examples. I said ALL OF THEM. That's not an example, that's a blanket statement because you have no answer. Name one contender who has a number 2 that is as likely to get hurt as Harden and a number 3 who is as likely to add a run and a half onto his ERA as Dempster. Just one Someone already did up above. The World Series winner. And they named a few more as well. I'm done here. I have work to do, and as much as you would like to give me some sort of homework assignment, I'm going to go do my own work. I've never been a big Hendry fan, but I am not complaining about this particular decision to back off on an 8 for 1 deal for Peavy. That's just silly. Not only that, Peavy is no lock to be be the stud in the NL Central that he was in the NL West. Doesn't mean I wouldn't love to have him. Just not for the entire farm. The phillies are an awful example, and I already explained why. I never said question marks, I said injury and regression. The phillies aren't counting on Brett Myers to be Rich Harden, and they aren't counting on Joe Blanton to be like 2008 Dempster. They know what those guys are, and they're built around that. We're built around Harden being healthy and Dempster being good.

jake peavy is in your rotation, so sure one of those three guys can do it. i'm not really concerned about it if my first four are peavy, z, lilly and dempster. probably, yes. so you held on to ronny cedeno. he's not getting you a ramirez-level replacement at 3b anyway, so who cares? The bottom line is that giving up DeRosa, Marshall, Vitters, Pie, Cedeno, Hart and Guzman for Peavy owuld be foolish, especially when Towers has no leverage. That is bastly overpaying, even Axelrod acknowledges that.

Are you kidding me? Nope. Not at all. Marshall and Pie would be a nice package for Hermida. Maybe even Marshall and Vitters. Maybe it's not enough. If so, look elsewhere. I'm just baffled that anyone would think you just keep throwing more and more names at someone in hopes that it will be enough when it is obviously clear that the other team has zero leverage. Wait, so Marshall and Pie would have been the 7th and 8th best players? Okay.

Umm. All of 'em. Certainly most, anyway. All of the NL Central for sure. Brett Myers as a #2 is surely a questionmark. As are John Maine and Javier Vazquez. Is Kershaw the Dodgers #2 now behind Billingsley, with Lowe and Penny gone? Huge upside but definitely a questionmark. I'm not talking about question marks, I'm talking about injury and regression. With those teams you're pretty know what you're getting and aren't really counting on those guys to be great. We're counting on that from Harden and Dempster. The bottom line is that if Harden and Dempster get injured and suck, the rotation is not good. That is relevant because there is a pretty good chance both of those things happen. If Harden and Dempster get injured and suck, then Lilly and Marquis/Marshall/Johnson move up the ladder and instead of being a vastly better rotation, it's a similar rotation. I really don't think you've had a look at what some of these teams have going on right now. There are still FAs yet to sign, but it's not pretty a lot of places. Just to give an example, the Mets now show Santana, Maine, Pelfrey, Niese, Knight. Ugh. The Cubs could lose two guys and still beat that 2-5. Yes but the Mets will likely have a better offense and bullpen. Plus the Mets aren't that great. We're trying to be better than everybody else, not comparable.

Umm. All of 'em. Okay, so name a contender whose numbers 2 and 3 starters are as likely to get hurt and regress as Harden and Dempster Haha. Yeah, right. I'll get right on that. Any player can get hurt or regress. Uhh yeah, but what players are as likely as Harden and Dempster? It's not jyst a chance, it's a good chance. So you say "all of em" when I ask what teams are that suspect, and then why I ask to give an example you sau "haha, yeah right" Well played. I already gave examples. I said ALL OF THEM. That's not an example, that's a blanket statement because you have no answer. Name one contender who has a number 2 that is as likely to get hurt as Harden and a number 3 who is as likely to add a run and a half onto his ERA as Dempster. Just one

i would not miss any of those players. The point is, why buy at full price when you can pick it up discounted later? This is a poker game, and Hendry is gambling that he can get Peavy cheaper, and imagine he's right. yippy skippy, we'll get to keep kevin hart, a mediocre AAA middle reliever. won't that be great. Or he'll get to keep Marshall and Cedeno. Or DeRosa and Marshall. Or DeRosa and Pie. ok, we'll see if the cubs get peavy w/o trading derosa and pie. they're not trading for livan hernandez, guys. you may have to give up sean marshall, your 25 year old #7 starter, or ronny cedeno, your backup ss, or mark derosa, your 34 year old 2b who is under contract for one more season. come on. Marshall is extremely valuable when Rich Harden is in your rotation. Without Marshall who iflls in for him when he misses half the season? Samardzija? Guadin? Guzman? DeRosa is also more valuable than you're making him out to be. He's not just a 2B, he can play everywhere. That would be especially valuable if we sign Bradley. Would you seriously trade DeRosa, Marshall, Vitters, Pie, Cedeno, Hart and Guzman for Peavy? That is a bad trade, any way you slice it. Plus, what happens if you need upgrades at the deadline? What happens if the bullpen sucks, or Ramirez goes down for the season? What do you have to trade? Absolutely nothing.

Umm. All of 'em. Okay, so name a contender whose numbers 2 and 3 starters are as likely to get hurt and regress as Harden and Dempster Haha. Yeah, right. I'll get right on that. Any player can get hurt or regress. Uhh yeah, but what players are as likely as Harden and Dempster? It's not jyst a chance, it's a good chance. So you say "all of em" when I ask what teams are that suspect, and then why I ask to give an example you sau "haha, yeah right" Well played.

Umm. All of 'em. Certainly most, anyway. All of the NL Central for sure. Brett Myers as a #2 is surely a questionmark. As are John Maine and Javier Vazquez. Is Kershaw the Dodgers #2 now behind Billingsley, with Lowe and Penny gone? Huge upside but definitely a questionmark. I'm not talking about question marks, I'm talking about injury and regression. With those teams you're pretty know what you're getting and aren't really counting on those guys to be great. We're counting on that from Harden and Dempster. The bottom line is that if Harden and Dempster get injured and suck, the rotation is not good. That is relevant because there is a pretty good chance both of those things happen.

i would not miss any of those players. The point is, why buy at full price when you can pick it up discounted later? This is a poker game, and Hendry is gambling that he can get Peavy cheaper, and imagine he's right. yippy skippy, we'll get to keep kevin hart, a mediocre AAA middle reliever. won't that be great. Or he'll get to keep Marshall and Cedeno. Or DeRosa and Marshall. Or DeRosa and Pie.

Umm. All of 'em. Didn't the Phillies just win a World Series with that rotation? Yup. I rest my case. So because the Phillies won the World Series with a mediocre rotation, it would be okay for the Cubs rotation to be mediocre. Awesome.

Umm. All of 'em. Okay, so name a contender whose numbers 2 and 3 starters are as likely to get hurt and regress as Harden and Dempster

Because quantity matters? You can't just go throwing away every player you don't like. They still have value

Even his bat is mediocre

Not really. What contenders have a rotation whose second and third starters are that big of question marks? Harden isn't just a question mark, he's pretty much a lock to miss significant time. Dempster could very easily be a mid 4's ERA guy next season and it wouldn't (or shouldn't) really shock anyone. Well nobody really "knows" anything, but Zambrano's number has been getting worse each year, not better. Also I'd say Lilly has pretty much maxed out his talent.

I have my doubts that any improvement in RF will offset what will surely be a significant decrease in CF. Not to mention that DeRosa and Theriot will each probably take a step back

#-o lol so basically it's like... if two of our 3 best starters suck and/or get hurt, our rotation is questionable. cool.. You're acting like those 2 guys are extremely likely to stay healthy and perform like they did last year What are the chances of Harden missing significant time? What are the chance of Dempster pitching like he has his entire career? Yeah, it's not at all unlikely. It's not like I'm saying "What if Brandon Webb gets hurt and Dan Haren starts sucking?". No. Don't even try to deny that Harden and Dempster are huge question marks, and we're relying on both of them to be healthy and good.

#-o Instead of using a smiley how about you tell me how that's wrong

If those two things happen (with Marshall sliding in for Harden for over 1/2 the season and Dempster pitching just as an average starter) the rotation would still be well above average. Well above is a pretty vague statement. My guess is the lineup takes a step back, and if the rotation does to this team could easily miss the playoffs. I'm not sold on anything about this team yet. The only thing they've done so far is take a step back. The bullpen looks pretty questionable as well

No one would rather have Randy Johnson than Jake Peavy. But a rotation of Zambrano, Harden, Lilly, Dempster, Johnson with Marshall as the 6th starter looks pretty good to me. A ton of question marks in that rotation. If Harden goes down and Dempster starts sucking, we suddenly have one high 3's ERA guy and a bunch of low to mid 4's ERA guys. Unimpressive.

You may have missed my question yesterday when I asked if Churchill had provided you with specifics regarding player combinations asked for and offered. Anything you can share on that? He never said anything about that

Is there any doubt whatsoever that hendry will sign Ibanez?

Seriously though, I can't believe I'm the only one who isn't sold on the rotation as is. What happens if Harden goes down (and he will) and Dempster goes back to the way he's pitched his entire career? Suddenly that rotation looks pretty awful, and those 2 things are not unlikely to happen.

And Jim Hendry continues his quest for worst offseason of all time. Good thing we decline signing Wood so we could save money for Peavy. Next steps: sign Raul Ibanez to a multi-year deal, then get Cubs fans hopes up on acquring a player who is actually good...only to let them down again

awful

Abreu still has good patience, but I wouldn't say he "draw walks like nobody's business" anymore. He's gone from 124 to 84 to 73 in the past 3 seasons, delcining right along with his other numbers. He drew the same amount of walks as Theriot last year.