Wheelimus

Is it possible the number includes potential incentives? That would be a good way to go, 5 years 55 million, with an additional 1 or 2 million in incentives for, say, winning the MVP award (though i'm not sure if you can even do incentives on awards). He won't reach that but if he did, we wouldn't mind too much...

I'd have no problem taking him off of the Brewers hands if he's the best we can get. He's a guy who, if he has a bad year, you're probably gettings a .260/.330/.470 line. If he has a good year, then you're getting a .290/.370/.500 line. I could live with the former (assuming we upgrade in center and Neifi is not in the lineup) and would be thrilled with the latter. At worst he's a .050 upgrade to Burnitz in right field, at best he's a full .100.

...wasn't released either. He left as a free agent. And yeah, in retrospect, not topping Atlanta was probably a bad choice :lol:

I have to assume they got to pick one of those 5 and then two more lesser pitching prospects. If that's the case, mildly surprising they took Pinto over Guzman.

And sadly, you can't work pinch hits into a contract as an incentive :wink:

If Burnitz wanted to be a 4th outfielder, he'd be perfect, and with his .750 OPS is sufficient insurance to an outfielder going down (as, we could probably plug him into any outfield spot and make it for a few weeks while we deal for a replacement to the hurt guy). But sadly, he'd start over Murton on Dusty's team...

Hehe, they could just put a wall up to make the Green Monster look small, and put them in the Hoosier Dome :lol:

What's funny is Holla has better numbers last season and better career numbers. So, you know, if we didn't have a mildly [expletive] garden gnome for a manager, Holla is probably the better bench choice :lol: (obviously this is in jest, Mabry can cover a whole lot more positions than Holla)

INDIANAPOLIS!!!!! :D

You mean getting this guy means we can get Macias on the first greyhound to Iowa??? GIVE HIM WHAT IT TAKES :lol:

Thought it might be fun to just compile all of our various "here's what I'd do" trade and sign ideas. I'm going to just assume that Howry is signed, and start from there. 1) 3 team trade between Dodgers, Marlins, and Cubs. Cubs get: Milton Bradley and Luis Castillo Dodgers get: Juan Pierre Marlins get: Todd Walker, Glendon Rusch, Jerry Hairston Jr., pithing prospect from Cubs. The Marlins continue their fire sale, saving $10 million minimum. They get Walker to replace Castillo, Rusch to add to their rotation, and Hairston Jr. to plug into center, all costing them no more than $6 million. The Dodgers give away Bradley like they wanted, and get Juan Pierre to replace him. The Cubs give up Walker who they've wanted to get rid of anyway, Rusch who becomes redundent with Eyre (I still hold it's stupid to trade Jerome Williams or put him in the pen, and if Rusch doesn't start, what on earth do we need him for?), and Hairston who they don't seem to care much about anyway. 2) Sign Rafeal Furcal, give him 5/50 if you have too, but try to tie that last year as a vesting option based on games played over several years. 3) Sign Kevin Millwood, most likely 3/30, if that doesn't do it, find a comparable pitcher. 4) Trade Rich Hill, Sergio Mitre, Roberto Nova, and whatever else prospect wise (not including Felix Pie) you need, to the Cincinnati Reds for Adam Dunn. I send money too if I have to. Whatever it takes to get Adam Dunn. Even throw him Jose Macias! He's not in my plans :lol: 5) fill out your bench with the best players you can find. I start with Tony Graffanino if he doesn't catch on as a starter (lets say 2 years, 4 million). Since I haven't traded him, Corey Patterson can be our impact bat off the bench (guessing he'll make around $3 million next year) and spell all the outfield spots. Maybe Doug Mientkiewicz too if he's willing to take a paycut after a down year (1 year, $1.5 million). And since I didn't get him into my lineup, Ronny Cedeno will be on my bench. Alright, I suppose this would be my team next year 1B - Derrek Lee - $8 2B - Luis Castillo - $5 3B - Aramis Ramirez - $10.5 SS - Rafeal Furcal - $10 RF - Adam Dunn - $7 (i may be off here) CF - Milton Bradley - $4 LF - Matt Murton - $0.3 C - Michael Barrett - $4 INF - Neifi Perez - $2.5 INF - Ronny Cedeno - $0.3 OF - Tony Graffanino - $2 OF - Corey Patterson - $3 1B - Doug Mientkiewicz - $1.5 SP - Carlos Zambrano - $6 SP - Mark Prior - $2 SP - Kerry Wood - $11 SP - Kevin Millwood - $10 SP - Greg Maddux - $9 C - Ryan Dempster - $4 R - Bob Howry - $4 R - Scott Eyre - $2.7 R - Scott Williamson - $2 R - Will Ohman - $0.3 R - Roberto Nova - $0.3 R/SP - Jerome Williams - $0.3 Would put payroll next year at around $110 million, but I may be off on some of my figures. Anyway, that's what I'd do :D

I get the feeling his plan is to address pitching right now, only diverting from that side to go after Furcal, and then address the offense through trades. Not a terrible plan, not at all, they say "everyone needs pitching", and if we want to turn trade chips into bats, we've got 'em. Rich Hill, Michael Wuertz, Roberto Novoa, Sergio Mitre, Welly, Rule 5 arms, etc., all expendable under the right circumstances. One positive of addressing pitching through the free agent market and bats through trades are, for once we may have spots open on the team when the contract tender deadline passes. Every year there are surprises. We could probably stock our bench just through that. He has a lot of work to do, but he's off to a decent start even if he is overpaying (which, honestly, worries me less than it should. We'll have the top payroll in the NL, for once we're acting like it and just taking who we want instead of haggling for dollars, and maybe missing out on other players who get sick of waiting).

If we get Howry, we have the makings of the best bullpen in the NL, presuming Dempster remains a dominent closer. Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Williamson, Ohman, and Rusch/Williams (whoever isn't our 5th starter), with Wuertz/Novoa/etc. left to fight it out if Dusty is stupid again and wants a 12 man pitching staff. Give me that any day of the week. I'm becoming more and more resigned to not getting Giles though, Hendry has so many trade chips he's going to HAVE to spend some of them, so I think that might get us our impact bat. I really wish he'd wow Cincy, they need pitching and we have it to give. And I want Dunn! :lol:

you mean line drives right on your pitching arm tend to injure it? I never knew! :lol: Yeah, Prior is not injury prone, none of his problems are because his body was breaking down (see: Wood, Kerry).

Thing is, giving him up is a classic Cub move, sell the future for the short term. We have a glut of pitching. EVERYBODY needs pitching. Make that work and hold onto your potential future all star. I mean, the kid is 20, give him a few more years to develop that discipline.

exactly, I'd eat every $ Vazquez is owed if I can get Carlos out of it...

Hehe, yup, Adam Dunn meets my criteria for a young stud corner outfielder who isn't in their 30's :D

I wouldn't care who he put in as manager, because I don't doubt that Cuban wouldn't yell at them if they were doing stupid things. And would Valentine be WORSE than Dusty Baker? I think not. An inanimate wood plank would beat Dusty out...

I don't give Pie up for anything, unless it nets us a young stud corner outfielder. And I'm not talking someone in their 30's. Hill, now, I'd give him up in just about any good trade.

I'd think Patterson and Hill would be about a wash for Blalock and whatever pitcher the Rangers could give. I'd give those two up for Beckett, assuming we can deal Lowell afterwards.

Actually, Glendon had the option, but he never declined it and never filed for free agency. He's ours to do with as we please. On that front (but off topic) did Neifi actually file for free agency? If not he's another tradeable player (not that anyone will want him).

wow, if Choi gets's let go, we better be all over him. Now THAT is a bat to have on your bench. He was doing great in Florida (.388 OBP) before the Dodgers got him, and he just hasn't done much since.

Well, if I were the Cubs i'd take them at their word and immediately get involved. Really, if Giles has to choose between playing center for the Yankees, or right for the Cubs, which will he choose if the money is close? I think he's seen how the Yankees wind up feeling about Center Fielders who can't cover the ground. I'd run hard at Giles right now.

You wouldn't take a guy with this in his favor on our bench? Career .343 OBP Who plays a position we could actually use a pinch hit specialist from? Really, who are we going to get who would do better than that as a pinch hitter? Who'd you rather have as the first bat off the bench when they need to get on base, Macias or Hill?

The worse this offseason gets, the more I wish we wouldn't have told Nomar to go screw himself. Just look at his stats after coming back from his groin injury .318/.347/.531/.878 I would take that on this team any day of the week. What we should have done was promise Nomar regular playing time where we could find it, and see if he was willing to give it a chance. That means if we can't get a overall better shortstop, Nomar plays short. If we do, but can't get a better overall corner outfielder, Nomar plays a corner. If we don't have an everyday starting spot, then Nomar plays short/left field/third/first, and gets 3 good starts a week. I think he would have listened so long as we promised to trade him to a contender if we fell out, or he wasn't being used enough.