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Maybe he will...remember, he posts late at night. I think I asked this awhile ago, but I don't remember getting an answer: what could he possibly be able to divulge on this certain day that he couldn't before. Obviously you can't say exactly, but can anyone give an example of how that even makes sense? From what I read, I'm guessing he won't divulge his information until after a deal is made. see, that makes a bit more sense. . . but it seems some people were expecting something Friday (I think I recall Donnie saying something about Friday, too.) I seem to recall something about Friday also, but I don't remember exactly why. It could be that Friday was the day they hoped something would be done, since that was the day teams could start talking to free agents. I'm pretty sure he said Friday because this was the day he'd have the source until.

The fact that they won 97 games after the whole thing happened is irrelevant. At the time they were coming off an 85 win season and a 3 game sweep in the playoffs. That's irrelevant too though. We can argue about this all day and we'll still have different opinions. You think it showed that he was reasonable. Fine. I think that it showed you can dick around and he won't walk away. Part of trading away good proven players is knowing how far you can string along and haggle the interested parties without losing them. MacPhail basically got a free pass with that. If every Gm had that advantage then nobody would ever be traded until right before ST started.

By saying "10 mil a year" you're making it sound like multiple years. 10 mil for one year is not a big deal. He's off the books next October no matter what so it's not a big gamble. gagne got 10 mil last year and was a disaster. Big deal, it was a bad 6 months and now the contract is gone. It's notl ike you have to worry about it crippling your payroll flexibilty over the next few years. As for me having things stuck in my head, why do you have it stuck in your head that he would have demanded 10 mil? Wood's quote was that he'd have done "anything" to stay with the Cubs. Sounds to me like he would have accepted a one year deal at a lower salary to fit into the tight budget of this offseason. Anyways, 10 mil isn't the key number. The key number is the difference between what Gregg will make and what Wood would have gotten. You ask how many closers get 10 mil a year (which was a poor example anyways since guys that make that much a year rarely accept one year deals). Well how often do mediocre 1.2-1.3 WHIP relievers get around 5 mil a year?

With the way Lou is, I just can't imagine him sticking with gregg as the closer as he's walking guys non-stop. I know Marmol walks a lot of guy's too, but he has the K's and the ability to not give up hits to make up for it. I could see Gregg walking 2 guys and then serving up a 3 run bomb in a save opp in ST and Lou saying "that's it, Marmol is closing" You would think that, but he stuck with Dempster as closer in 07. Even though Howry and Marmol were both pretty much lights out in the second half of 07. Gregg control as bad or simliar to Dempster, but he's also tougher to hit. As long as Gregg isn't blowing a bunch of saves Lou will stick with him. In 07 Gregg saved 32 of 36, and last year he was 26 of 32 before getting hurt and losing his closer spot, I'm sure the Marlins defense didn't help either. If he pitches anything like that I think Lou would stick with him as the closer. Dempster was a good example and I hope you're right, but i just have a feeling that Lou has Marmol as closer set in his mind

If anyone looked bad in that situation it was the Orioles, not Hendry. GM's want to know they can negotiate with someone in good faith without getting the run around or having the rug yanked out from underneat them (especially after things start getting leaked to the press). The Orioles have long had a front office reputation of being so completely unorganized and chaotic that they're almost impossible to deal with. There's a reason why that Bedard trade took almost 2 months to finally get completed. I'm not necessarily he "looked bad", just that he set a bad example. GMs know Baltimore's deal. My point is that if GMs see someone get messed with they know they can do the same. I'd say that most GM's would have told the O's to eff off after a couple months like Wren basically did with the Braves.

With the way Lou is, I just can't imagine him sticking with gregg as the closer as he's walking guys non-stop. I know Marmol walks a lot of guy's too, but he has the K's and the ability to not give up hits to make up for it. I could see Gregg walking 2 guys and then serving up a 3 run bomb in a save opp in ST and Lou saying "that's it, Marmol is closing"

Remember when DonnieD said he'd reveal his "source" on Friday if nothing had happened?

Well you can still do what Wren did while not actually closing the door. I'm sure that Towers could still accept the Braves package if he wanted. My point was just that it's not a good example to set that you can mess with a guy for 5 months and he'll stil be waiting on your every move. It's not a big deal, I'm just saying that it's not good.

He didn't use him poorly...he just overused him Marmol in the closer role almost seems like a waste

I thought about that too

What was lost in doing that? Respect. He basically said to every other GM out there that he can be jerked around for months and you won't lose him Do you really think Hendry lost respect among other GM's because he has not satisfied your media obligation in telling you everything that is going on? Wait, what did I ever say about him not tleling us stuff? All I'm saying is that it's not a good example to set that you can be haggled for 5 months and not walk away So how did he lose respect, and from who? jesus christ. I wasn't saying that it has cost us anything or that it will cost us anything. All I'm saying is that it's a bad example to set. By the way, I remember reading an article on either BA or BP that was saying the same thing

What was lost in doing that? Respect. He basically said to every other GM out there that he can be jerked around for months and you won't lose him Like how Beane jerked him around over Harden? Or did Jim just bowl him over with his exorbitant offer that Beane had to say yes? And Beinfest's puppet in Florida? Yes you're right. Those examples completely prove that GM's didn't take note of the way the Orioles messed with Hendry for months. Good work. That last statement makes more sense if you read it as being completely sincere. So you're saying that the fact Hendry got Rich Harden proves that no GM will ever think "I can probably haggle for longer with him....the O's did it for 5 months"? Really? That proves that? Hell, it's possible that it's playing a role in the Peavy talks right now. I'm not saying it is, but we don't know that it's not My point stands that it set a bad example by allowing the Orioles to mess with him for so long. You can't deny that.

Do you not know how to read?

you wish bad things upon your favorite team because your feelings are hurt? what kind of backwards logic is that? because he wants their bad decisions to be punished instead of rewarded i still don't agree with the notion, but i don't think it has anything to do with his feelings being hurt... he was totally fine with letting wood go before this snippet about him being open to a one year deal came out. I don't know which is worse, the initial quoted post, or the 2nd reply. I cannot believe that some posters on this board either: (1) want to be right so badly that they wish ill upon members of their favorite team or, (2) Have such a man crush on Wood that they would wish ill upon a member of their favorite team. If Gregg comes over and accomplishes what ever Wood can accomplish at less than half the $$, then this is not a bad move,hurt feelings aside, correct ? I certainly do not see this as impossible, or even unlikely, as Wood was really not in the elite class last year in a position that most on this board feel is remarkably over rated to begin with. I liked Wood, but not for 10 mil. I hope Gregg has a great year as a Cub. I hope Wood has a great year for whoever he pitches for, except against the Cubs. I'll tell what's worse than both of those posts... someone who doesn't understand sarcasm And for the 485th time, nothing I said (which again, was not a serious post) was because of some man crush on Wood. I was in favor of letting him go if we had to give him a multi-year contract. Letting him go when we could have had him for one year is a terrible move for this team, especially when you consider how much gregg is going to get in arbitration Oh, and Gregg won't accomplish what Wood di, which is allow marmol to be used in the 8th where he;'s more valuable. We all know Marmol is going to close now....which make him less valuable and also makes him more expensive for the future Whatever. Just what the Cubs need, a 10 Mil, injury prone, closer. If Hendry offered that kind of money to anyone else in baseball to be a closer, you all would be throwing a freaking fit. Do not be in man crush denial. It is not becoming. Nobody KNOWS anything, but i put the odds at 50/50 that Gregg is fully capable of accomplishing what Wood did last year, and at a lot less money. No way is Marmol the closer with Lou at the helm, and Gregg on the team, unless Gregg bombs. By the way, in your world, who closes when Wood goes on the DL again ? You're so far off it's ridiculous. Man crush denial? You can go back and find posts where I made fun of people for letting their Wood man crush get in the way of thinking. You can also find posts from yesterday when I was defending hendry for making the right move. However,1 year for Wood at whatever is hands down better than Michael Wuertz...I mean Kevin gregg at about 5 million. As for gregg being a closer, Hendry has already alluded to the fact that Marmol will close, so you're wrong about that too. Who closes when Wood goes on the DL? The same person that will close next year anyways....Marmol. Bottom line is not only are we losing a very good rleiever, we're likely losing Marmol to the closer's role. The 7th and 8th innings are going to be a crapshoot every game now "Nobody KNOWS anything, but i put the odds at 50/50 that Gregg is fully capable of accomplishing what Wood did last year, and at a lot less money." A) Gregg has never had a season where he was even close to as dominant as Wood was last year B) Whether or not he accomplishes what Wood did last season (allow Marmol to pitch in the 7th/8th) won't even be in his control. We all know how impatient Lou is with guys who walk batters, so I find it hard to believe that he's going to sit and watch Gregg walk guys in the 9th inning every day C) 3-5 million is not "a lot less money" when you're talking about a one year deal

What was lost in doing that? Respect. He basically said to every other GM out there that he can be jerked around for months and you won't lose him Do you really think Hendry lost respect among other GM's because he has not satisfied your media obligation in telling you everything that is going on? Wait, what did I ever say about him not tleling us stuff? All I'm saying is that it's not a good example to set that you can be haggled for 5 months and not walk away Well part of the reason that all of us(except for David) are freaking out right now is because he refused to haggle and walked away prematurely. I'd rather a GM stay in a conversation too long than walk away too soon. I'm pretty sure he wasn't in danger of walking away too soon when they were still discussing Roberts into spring training Anyways, what Wren said doesn't automatically mean he's walking away So if you don't think Wren is walking away, what is he doing differently than Hendry other than announcing to the media that he will look at other pitchers. It's already been reported that Hendry is doing the same. And if everyone could stop making me defend Hendry on the day this quote from Wood came out that would be aces. I think you're misunderstanding. Nothing I'm saying has anything to do with hendry's pursuit of Peavy. I was talking about the Roberts fiasco from last offseason. I have no problem with hendry still being in the Peavy talks

What was lost in doing that? Respect. He basically said to every other GM out there that he can be jerked around for months and you won't lose him Do you really think Hendry lost respect among other GM's because he has not satisfied your media obligation in telling you everything that is going on? Wait, what did I ever say about him not tleling us stuff? All I'm saying is that it's not a good example to set that you can be haggled for 5 months and not walk away Well part of the reason that all of us(except for David) are freaking out right now is because he refused to haggle and walked away prematurely. I'd rather a GM stay in a conversation too long than walk away too soon. I'm pretty sure he wasn't in danger of walking away too soon when they were still discussing Roberts into spring training Anyways, what Wren said doesn't automatically mean he's walking away

What was lost in doing that? Respect. He basically said to every other GM out there that he can be jerked around for months and you won't lose him Like how Beane jerked him around over Harden? Or did Jim just bowl him over with his exorbitant offer that Beane had to say yes? And Beinfest's puppet in Florida? Yes you're right. Those examples completely prove that GM's didn't take note of the way the Orioles messed with Hendry for months. Good work.

What was lost in doing that? Respect. He basically said to every other GM out there that he can be jerked around for months and you won't lose him Do you really think Hendry lost respect among other GM's because he has not satisfied your media obligation in telling you everything that is going on? Wait, what did I ever say about him not tleling us stuff? All I'm saying is that it's not a good example to set that you can be haggled for 5 months and not walk away

you wish bad things upon your favorite team because your feelings are hurt? what kind of backwards logic is that? because he wants their bad decisions to be punished instead of rewarded i still don't agree with the notion, but i don't think it has anything to do with his feelings being hurt... he was totally fine with letting wood go before this snippet about him being open to a one year deal came out. I don't know which is worse, the initial quoted post, or the 2nd reply. I cannot believe that some posters on this board either: (1) want to be right so badly that they wish ill upon members of their favorite team or, (2) Have such a man crush on Wood that they would wish ill upon a member of their favorite team. If Gregg comes over and accomplishes what ever Wood can accomplish at less than half the $$, then this is not a bad move,hurt feelings aside, correct ? I certainly do not see this as impossible, or even unlikely, as Wood was really not in the elite class last year in a position that most on this board feel is remarkably over rated to begin with. I liked Wood, but not for 10 mil. I hope Gregg has a great year as a Cub. I hope Wood has a great year for whoever he pitches for, except against the Cubs. I'll tell what's worse than both of those posts... someone who doesn't understand sarcasm And for the 485th time, nothing I said (which again, was not a serious post) was because of some man crush on Wood. I was in favor of letting him go if we had to give him a multi-year contract. Letting him go when we could have had him for one year is a terrible move for this team, especially when you consider how much gregg is going to get in arbitration Oh, and Gregg won't accomplish what Wood di, which is allow marmol to be used in the 8th where he;'s more valuable. We all know Marmol is going to close now....which make him less valuable and also makes him more expensive for the future

Jim Hendry(or possibly Lou) think Kerry's a health risk and are throwing a tantrum about the 3 weeks he was on the DL this season. Because of this they didn't want him back under most any circumstances. This is my out of my ass theory. Basically they're playing the role of the moron Cub fans who want to get over Prior/Wood. If that was true then they wouldn't have re-signed him after 2007

What was lost in doing that? Respect. He basically said to every other GM out there that he can be jerked around for months and you won't lose him

If what we're reading is true, then Hendry let personal stuff get in the way of making the best decision for the organization, and that's pretty pathetic.

By the way, Hendry should take notes from Wren on how to have some balls and not get jerked around for too long. Even if Wren is just posturing, at least he stepped up and put a stop to the back and forth waste of time stuff. hendry let the O's jerk around way too long last offseason.

the same reason people thought other GM's would want Ronny Cedeno last year. wishful thinking Other teams wanting Cedeno make a hell of a lot more sense than the Padres wanting Gregg

YEAH! That'll show 'em!!! I don't really want that to happen...but yes, it will show em. It will show Hendry that he made a huge mistake and he will have to take the deserved heat for it and we'll suffer through a bad year and the window will be more shut. awesome i already said i wasn't being serious Jesus.