frostwyrm

This is what I was talking about in the ARod thread. Some teams just don't like to have rebuilding seasons.

That's the other thing. As a starter Marmol's trade value is only a small fraction of Crawford's. Marmol hasn't proved anything at the big league level except as a reliever. Neither has Joba but he's widely considered to be an untouchable than most anybody would love to trade for. Just because he hasn't "proved" capable as a major league starter doesn't mean he holds minimal trade value. Comparatively minimal trade value is what I'm talking about. Crawford is a very good and proven everday position player in the prime of his career with an extremely desirable contract situation. In terms of trade value he's in whole different class from Marmol.

That's the other thing. As a starter Marmol's trade value is only a small fraction of Crawford's. Marmol hasn't proved anything at the big league level except as a reliever.

From TB's perspective, they'll want as much pitching with as little service time as possible. Gallagher, Marshall and Marmol fits that bill. Yeah, we wouldn't be happy with the Cubs making that move, but Tampa and Chicago are quite different as far as motive to deal. Tampa is going to look for salary relief and cheap young pitching. The Cubs aren't as concerned about cost and just need some production. Regardless, I think the Rays can and will get a much better offer than Gallagher, Marshall, and Marmol, and I doubt even the Rays would be dumb enough to take an offer for Crawford in which the centerpiece is a relief pitcher.

I wholeheartedly approve of Hendry's demanding a 2009 option. Without the option Prior is a lousy gamble for $3M+.

Marmol won't get it done. The Rays will certainly get a much better offer, something that doesn't have a relief pitcher as the centerpiece. If the situation were reversed and the Cubs were trading Crawford we'd all be demanding a lot more than a reliever for him. I really think Hill will have to be made available if the Cubs want to make a competitive offer.

That one victory was "huge?" How? Houston was already effectively eliminated by then. They were in last place and 11 games back. I fail to see any special significance in that game relative to the other games that Trachsel pitched in, all of which he lost.

Great example is the 2001 Chicago Cubs team that won 88 games. With so many bums getting major playing time it's a miracle that team won 78 games, let alone 88. Regardless of W-L record, that was NOT a good team.

I don't see how we get Crawford without giving up Hill. Besides his youth and productivity, Crawford's contract situation is far too desirable for us to get him without giving up top talent. Pie and Patterson haven't proved anything at the MLB level yet. They're not close to Crawford's value right now. Marmol has value but you can't expect a relief pitcher to net a star position player.

I'm not all for moving Murton, as I'd much rather put him in RF and see what he could do, but I do agree that if we're going to trade him, it should be for a bigger improvement. I have to imagine some GM values Murton more than Hendry apparently does. I'm not sure that Baltimore for Tejada really matches up, but maybe there's a 3rd team that could put Murton in a corner OF spot and give Baltimore something that would net us Tejada (not that we'd only give up Murton, but that he'd be a key piece). Of course, if we trade Murton, we have to fill RF with something. And an OF of Soriano, Pie, and Jones doesn't look that appetizing to me. I'd be ok w/ just adding Peralta, but not for Murton. I'd rather have Murton in RF too, but there's not a chance in hell Lou actually wants Murton as his everyday RF, therefore I'll be disappointed if he isn't traded. He's worth more to the Cubs as trade bait than as a bench player.

Maybe he really wants Geoff Jenkins or Shawn Green and he's just making a show of interest in Fukudome to get Jenkins/Green to lower their demands.

I don't see how Marquis can be dumped with us eating only $4M unless we take on a big pile of someone else's trash. Marquis makes $10M in 2009. That by itself is a dealbreaker for any sane GM. If we bundle Marquis with a prime prospect like Pie or Patterson then we might get by with eating only $4M, though I'm skeptical. Marquis's contract is just awful.

I'm all for moving Murton since he really doesn't have a future with the Cubs but we shouldn't waste one of our best trading chips for a marginal improvement, which is all Peralta would be. I'd rather package Murton with others for a player who will make a real impact.

Abso-stinkin-lutely. I'd welcome 4-3 back with open arms. I agree. It would be a good deal for the Cubs, but I really really doubt Ned would need to eat any of Pierre's contract to get Jimbo or most other GM's to pull the trigger if Kemp/Loney are part of the deal.

Hmmm... If LA ate half of Pierre's contract, would you take him if you got Kemp and Loney for Lee? Then spin Pie along with others to try for Cabrera or Tejada? I hate me some Pierre, but if getting him meant getting Kemp and Loney, I might... God that is a really, REALLY touch choice. Jimbo would take that deal in a hearbeat, but I don't think LA would have to eat ANY of Pierre's contract. He'd get Lee's salary off the books, get a good(in his eyes) leadoff/CF, and Kemp/Loney. Done deal.

Fixed. I agree 100%. That really is a move that needs to be explored. If Colletti is serious about adding veterans, then we need to assist him in adding them, especially if he's willing to dump on Kemp and Loney. I'd trade Lee and Marmol for both, honestly. Thing about Colletti is he appears to be regretting the Pierre contract. He supposedly wants to make a run at Andruw Jones. If he moves Kemp and Loney it's not unlikely he'll try to package them with Pierre, since it's the only way to make Pierre disappear without eating a big part of the $36.5M he's owed. Unfortunately Pierre is a type of player that Hendry actually values, so he might do a deal. This would put Pie on the trading block. I'm fairly certain Hendry learned his lesson on Pierre. Maybe not about overvaluing stupid things, but about Juan Pierre in particular. It seemed pretty clear he was ready to let him walk and didn't miss him. I don't think so. Hendry had a perfect chance to trade Pierre in July 2006 while he was riding a big hot streak but Hendry chose not to because he wanted to extend Pierre. Then in the offseason the market went totally insane and Hendry decided Pierre's price had become too high, especially with Pie waiting in the wings. I'm sure Hendry still considers Pierre a good but expensive player. Getting talent of the Kemp/Loney caliber might make him amenable to doing a deal. If I were Colletti I would certainly get on the phone with Hendry and discuss this.

Fixed. I agree 100%. That really is a move that needs to be explored. If Colletti is serious about adding veterans, then we need to assist him in adding them, especially if he's willing to dump on Kemp and Loney. I'd trade Lee and Marmol for both, honestly. Thing about Colletti is he appears to be regretting the Pierre contract. He supposedly wants to make a run at Andruw Jones. If he moves Kemp and Loney it's not unlikely he'll try to package them with Pierre, since it's the only way to make Pierre disappear without eating a big part of the $36.5M he's owed. Unfortunately Pierre is a type of player that Hendry actually values, so he might do a deal. This would put Pie on the trading block.

http://www.thediamondangle.com/archive/july01/kane/cabrera.jpghttp://msn.foxsports.com/id/7129848_36_2.jpg

Hendry should inquire about Miggy. We'll have to gut the farm but I think we're doomed in 2009 anyway so I say make a big push in 2008 and hope some new youngsters emerge in 2010. We're committed to win-now strategy so we might as well go for it. We'll worry about Miggy's weight later. http://msn.foxsports.com/id/7129848_36_2.jpg

Only part of the profile he doesn't fit is that he strikes out a lot, but so did Burnitz. Hendry excused that by saying Burnitz didn't strike out at the wrong times, i.e. he was clutch. In 2007 Jenkins had a .866 OPS with RISP so Hendry might think he's clutchy too. All things considered I can't see Jimbo not being at least somewhat interested in him.

Quit thinking like that...now its 2 years 14 million...still bad, but not as bad. Actually, it's $16.25/2. Even worse. And while I get the "only 2 years left" plan for making yourself sane, the truth is that we can't pretend that he didn't have an effect on our team in 2007. Both in performance and salary that could have been allocated in areas of greater need. He makes $9.88M in 2009. Will he even be more than a mop-up man by then? It's entirely possible he may be out of baseball altogether.

I'd tell Kerry he could start, but only if he takes a $500K base salary. He's such a godawful poor health risk as a starter that he doesn't deserve any more than that.

I think it will be between him and Green as possible candidates to fill a L/R platoon in RF. Probably true, but what should really happen is Murton leaves. He's more valuable as trade bait than as the RH half of a platoon. There's no way Lou wants him as his everyday RF, so that's not even worth discussing.

I expect Hendry and especially Lou will view Jenkins as a good replacement for Floyd. If Floyd leaves I'd be very surprised if the Cubs don't show some interest in Jenkins.

He wouldn't have to worry about that, assuming Murton is still penciled in to an everyday slot on opening day. It'd be Murton doing most of the sitting.