frostwyrm

I never said he was dead set, but I think he wants to go. As for talking to the Cubs, one major reason: They can't negotiate with any other team until 15 days after the World Series ends. The only team he can talk to is the Cubs. So, they can use this window to "negotiate" with the Cubs in order to leak parameters to would-be suitors. Yeah, with an offer from the Cubs on the table Aramis can enter free agency with a firm starting point for the bidding. Should speed things up a bit.

Bruce, do you think it gets done? Eventually, yes. The agent is doing a little squeezing right now. You're definitely the authority Mr. Miles, but I still feel Aramis is walking away. I think he wants to sign with a consistent playoff-caliber team. I'm not so sure this is all about money. Maybe warm weather too, since both LA teams are interested. I wouldn't blame him if he joined the Dodgers. I think change of scenery is involved here too (maybe ties to your warm weather idea). I just get the sense that Aramis doesn't want to be here anymore. And again, for right or wrong, I get the sense that Hendry really doesn't want to extend the deal beyond the 2 guaranteed years and option year. We'll know something by the 11th - the day Aramis can declare free agency. If he declares free agency on November 11th, I think there is very little chance he will be a Cub in 2007. Could be he's already decided to leave and is just using the Cubs to squeeze more money from other teams.

Bruce, do you think it gets done? Eventually, yes. The agent is doing a little squeezing right now. You're definitely the authority Mr. Miles, but I still feel Aramis is walking away. I think he wants to sign with a consistent playoff-caliber team. I'm not so sure this is all about money. Maybe warm weather too, since both LA teams are interested. I wouldn't blame him if he joined the Dodgers.

It's likely that no GM wants the embarrassment of having Bonds wearing his team's uniform while breaking Aaron's record. Bear in my mind that that would be a photograph tatooed on every baseball fan' brain for decades to come.

From Alou's standpoint, why take a part-time role in the NL when he could easily get a full-time DH gig? DHing would also greatly increase his chance of staying healthy. If you were trying to sell Alou on the idea of joining the Cubs as a part-timer, how would you pitch the idea so as to make it sound compelling and reasonable? It seems impossible to me.

I'd like to see any other 100M teams lose two aces from their staff and an all-star 1B and still compete. Should we have counted on Wood? No. DLee? Yes. Prior? Yes. Up till this last season, darn near everyone thought he had just suffered some fluke injuries (Giles, Hawpe, etc). It shocked everyone (ok, maybe not the pessimists) when he pulled up lame in ST. We won more games in '04 than we did in '03. It just took more wins to get in the playoffs that year. That's improvement. In '04 with Z, Wood, and Prior we were looking at a dynasty. Hendry doesn't prevent Wood from throwing back to back starts in high school, Prior from Giles, Prior from Hawpe, or DLee from Furcal. Lets pull up some old threads to analyze the claims about people still wanting Wood/Prior. viewtopic.php?t=26396 -The rotation was mainly a concern of who the last starter (Z,Maddux,Wood,Prior) was going to be. Everything else was about the lineup. viewtopic.php?t=26264 -Looks like one post that directly questions the health of the whole staff viewtopic.php?t=26690 -More of the same viewtopic.php?t=27088 -A little more split This list is not at all a complete sampling of views, but by pulling up 4 threads regarding pitching 3 of them seemed to have a general consensus that we could count on Prior AND Wood. I'd be interested to do a much more thorough reading of posts from last offseason, and I have a feeling that as the offseason progressed there was more and more questioning about the health of Wood or Prior, but it looks like thats pretty much true that the fans still counted on their health. Hard to point fingers. After this year, though we won't see any of that. Thanks for the research, WF22. Incomplete though it may be, it is more than anyone else, including myself, has taken the time to put forth thus far. Ultimately, if fans want to hold Hendry solely accountable for the won-loss records of the Cubs since he has taken over, they are more than allowed. He has failed at providing a consistent winner and succeeded at improving the talent and results in some seasons since he has taken over. But because the last few seasons have been worse than the ones immediately following his take over, the more recent seasons will outweigh the previous ones in many people's minds. So be it, I say. He needs to get it back or get out. The proof will lie in the pudding the coming two seasons. I agree we should hold him accountable, but it is possible, there is a little more "I told you so" going on than should, at least as it relates to the starting pitching. I know there was at least one pessimist here because I remember writing even before opening day that the 2006 team was going to stink so bad that a quick fall from contention would be for the best. Even before spring training I had zero faith in Kerry Wood contributing anything at all as a starter, and by March my faith in Prior had plummetted. If the search feature was enabled I could dig up the threads and say my "told ya so"s.

The good thing I see with payroll flexibility is that we did get rid of Neifi-which probably wouldn't have happened without the Izturis deal. Would people have taken Maddux and Neifi for Robinson and Izturis? At that point, I think it's at worst a lateral deal overall. Exchanging Neifi for Izturis was a downgrade. Neifi has similar skills to Izturis' but he makes less money and seldom gets hurt. If the Tigers offered me a straight up Neifi-for-Izturis trade I'd take it, although I'd have to hold my nose while signing the paperwork. Similar yes, but Izturis will probably put up 50-80 points better in OPS than Neifi does next year, if not more. Also, if you think he hurts the ballclub with being in there, wouldn't you want that player to be hurt more to allow other players to get that playing time? Fragility is never desirable, especially in a player who make $4.45M. Izturis may have a slightly higher OPS when he plays, which may not be very often. I'll take sturdy Neifi at $2.5M over glassbody Cesar at $4.45M.

The good thing I see with payroll flexibility is that we did get rid of Neifi-which probably wouldn't have happened without the Izturis deal. Would people have taken Maddux and Neifi for Robinson and Izturis? At that point, I think it's at worst a lateral deal overall. Exchanging Neifi for Izturis was a downgrade. Neifi has similar skills to Izturis' but he makes less money and seldom gets hurt. If the Tigers offered me a straight up Neifi-for-Izturis trade I'd take it, although I'd have to hold my nose while signing the paperwork.

One thing that bugs me is that Izturis is a guy who has had chronic hamstring and back problems that have put him on the DL, and this while playing in southern California. Does Hendry believe the frigid April/May weather in Chicago is therapeutic for tight hamstrings and backs?

Maybe I'm wrong, but to me that sounds like a very weak offer for an established MLB star with a good contract. If the Cubs were shopping Crawford we'd all want something more.

What's that now? What does Pierre's negotiating skills have to do with the cost in trade for Crawford? It gives us a picture of the market for speedy basestealer/leadoff OF. Crawford and Pierre both fit that description, but Crawford is vastly superior to Pierre and has a really good contract situation.

If it's true that Juan Pierre just turned down 3/21 that only make me even more sure that it will take Hill to get Crawford. Compared to Crawford Pierre is a worthless pile of puke.

DH, or PH. If they could get him to sign for 4 million to mostly platoon with Jones and pinch hit, they could limit his defensive liability. I don't know why he'd accept a part-time role on an NL team when he could go to the AL and DH every day, and maybe even stay healthy too.

Alou is a DH. He can no longer stay healthy while playing defense, and his defense is terrible anyway.

If Aramis really is disliked in the clubhouse that's a problem, but I think winning would make everybody get along tolerably well.

Ramirez is an effete snob.

Texas is already eating $10M of his annual salary. ARod costs $16m per year for 4 years. I'm guessing Zambrano won't cost that much. I bet Z will get that much or something very close to it. Look at what AJ Burnett got. Z should be in line for a few mil more annually than Burnett. AJ didn't come close to $16m per, he only got $11. I think Zambrano might get close to what Roy Halladay got in his latest extension, 3/40, which is 13.3m per. Unless the market has declined I expect Z to get significantly more than AJ. We'll have a clearer picture after we see what Zito and Schmidt get.

Texas is already eating $10M of his annual salary. ARod costs $16m per year for 4 years. I'm guessing Zambrano won't cost that much. I bet Z will get that much or something very close to it. Look at what AJ Burnett got. Z should be in line for a few mil more annually than Burnett.

Texas is already eating $10M of his annual salary. I'll take ARod then.

Z is great, but he's going to cost a fortune after 2007. So will ARod, so it comes to a question of which superstar gives you better bang for the buck. I'll take ARod, assuming the Yanks eat about $10M per year of his $27M annual salary. If he can still play SS I'd be willing to pay more.

I agree. Retaining or replacing Aram is not enough by itself. We also need to add Soriano in CF or ARod at SS and get Jones a platoon partner.

Before the 2004 season Dusty actually asked Hendry to bring back Eric Karros and Randall Simon for a 1B platoon. Even Jim was smart enough not to go there.

Would you take Pie for Crawford? IMO the Rays would be foolish to take anything less than Hill. Pie as part of a package. You mean Pie as the centerpiece, and a bunch of lesser prospects added in? If I ran the Rays I wouldn't take that. Crawford is an established MLB star, young, with a very attractive contract situation. I don't see why they would have to settle for anything less than Hill.

This doesn't help small market teams stay competitive. They lose their talent to free agency and get no draft pick compensation. I don't like that.

Nah, you get steadily diminishing returns on every dollar above ~120M. Even if you spend $300M it would be hard to win 125 games.