jtownie

Sounds like a great trade. Not sure how I feel about Lowe's contract vs his performance. but having Bradley and Castillo would be a huge upgrade at the top of the lineup. Lowe's contract breaks down like this: 2006 - 9M 2007 - 9.5M 2008 - 10M Just not sure if he is really worth that contract or not. 3.68ERA, 1.25WHIP, 5.92 K/9inn, and 2.66 K/BB. However, that ERA could be attributed to defense as his GB/FB is 2.92. Jeff Kent probably didn't help out a lot there. So would Cedeno be the SS then?

I wonder if this pushes the Trib to open the coffers even more out of fear that the Cubs fans may migrate to the southside. It's a bit of a stretch...

If he could play CF that would be even better. But as a utility player he should be a definite yes.

From what I've seen on-line the Yanks are paying A-Rod 20M per season with Texas picking up the difference. Add in that 1M per year is deferred until 2011. so the Yanks would have to pick up 25M basically unless the Cubs assume the deferred payments bringing NY's responsibility down to 20M. Then there's the whole NO TRADE clause I believe he has that will need to be waived.

While i definitely agree that Abreu is probably worth more than the package proposed it appears to me Philly might not be in the drivers seat on this deal. If they are forced to dump payroll GM's aren't going to be offering the best package. Throw in the fact that very few teams have the leeway to take on 14m for one player for one season let alone at least 1 or 2 more at that price. PHilly seems to be at a disadvantage. Just when you think Hendry has problems, Wade seems be in more trouble.

Not really, he actually can be very inaccurate with his arm. With DLee on the other side, it will be better, but he is a lot like Aram with the strong but inaccurate arm. Furcal's outstanding defensively. In fact, I don't know how I missed him when I was looking to see who could give Neifi a run for his money this year for the Gold Glove. Going along with this Furcal discussion I was looking on the Hardball Times today and was looking at Win Shares. Furcal had 27 win shares compared to Miguel Tejada's 26. Thought that was interesting.

i can't see any reason the brewers wouldn't attempt to keep him. he's done a great job up there. if rothschild leaves and dick pole becomes the pitching coach just like dusty intended in '03, we will be hurting. Looks like maddux is on a contract that takes him through the end of next year. Apparently so is Rothschild since Hendry said he hasn't been asked to grant permission to talk to Larry. So I guess we could ask to talk to Maddux. But like you said, I can't see the Brewers granting that permission. Does anyone have any stats on how Kranitz teams have done pitching-wise in the past?

What about Mike Maddux? I'm sure he is under contract with Milwaukee but from what I have read he has really gotten a lot out of his pitchers up North. We would probably have the upper-hand in recruiting him if he were a FA.

Anyone see that Paul Sullican reported this morning that Rothschild could be headed to Detroit to be pitching coach? Hendry said that he hasn't received a call asking for permission to talk to him so it's still in the early stages. Apparently Kranitz would be in line as replacement.

Didn't get a chance to listen or watch the game. Was there any intense booing at the end or any "Baker sucks" chants?

Brian Giles. While he isn't under-rated on this site I think the baseball world doesn't appreciate just how valuable he is to an offense. I would think with his career stats he would be closer to superstar status than he is.

Hendry seems to be one of the few GM's that has a good relationship with Boras. The Pawalek is just one example that I can think of.

Is an OF defense of Giles, Dunn Wilkerson that much worse than Murton, Hairston and Burnitz?

Didn't Wilkderson hurt his shoulder early in the season and has just been playing through it all year because it will require surgery? I was always under the impression that his power numbers have declined due to this. EDIT: injured forearm and shoulder. http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20050912&content_id=1207090&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp

Is Quentin capable of playing CF? Murton, Quentin, Giles....

Do you really think that Hendry would sell high on this one? Williams for Carlos Quentin, baby! Very interesting....Who do you slide into Williams slot? Kevin Millwood.

This is the most extensive list I have found in regards to players that will or potentially be FA after 2006. http://www.mlb4u.com/0607FA.html It's a bit deeper but there doesn't appear to be a lot of big names.

I haven't seen him talked about in awhile but I wouldn't mind seeing Dotel brought in under a similar deal to what Dempster and Williamson got over the past 2 years. Dotel would be a FA this off-season despite having TJ surgery?

Actually, Hollandsworth was told by Hendry that he was signed to be the starter. Didn't Dusty or Jim state at the convention that he'd start at least 140 games? I may have made that up. I seem to remember Baker saying that Hollandsworth would start 140 games. I refuse to believe that any knowledgable baseball person would say something like that and actually mean it. Hendry doesn't make out the lineup card so it would be silly for him to say who will or won't play. I thought when they signed Hollandsworth Hendry said that he told Todd he would be given every chance to win the starters job but that it wasn't guaranteed; even though Baker was not going to let Dubois be an out-right starter. Sometimes I think Hendry has an idea in his head of what he wants done with the team and when Dusty refuses to follow suit he doesn't say anything. Sort of a passive-agressive type mentality. Hendry makes comments that seem to be in-line with the thinking around here but he always says "it's up to Dusty what to do with player A."

Talk to the Dutch. They are masters at holding back the water. Something like 3/4 of their entire country is below sea level. Touring the canals and massive [expletive] systems throughout the country, particularly near Rotterdaym, is awe inspiring. They have a flood break dam that has massive, MASSIVE doors to control water flow. During the tour I took when I lived there, the guide said that it would take a flood of biblical proportions (See, Noah) to breach it. Further, these Dutch engineers have been utilized farther north on the Mississipi previously for irrigation and flood control. They are brilliant, and any recovery should start with them providing a plan. I'd like to think our engineers would say the same thing about our [expletive] systems. http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.fema.brown/story.sandbag.drop.pool.jpg I'll take the Dutch. LOL! Yeah, it's a good point. While I think we need some help in the levee department I'm just wondering if there were huge faults that the Dutch could have made a difference in or not. This is just so disturbing and painful to see. New Orleans won't be the same. I'm glad I got to see it before it got flushed. As long as the spirit stays alive they can build on that!

I didn't realize it was so difficult to say, "Hey, try to go to the right side with the runner on second and no outs." Seriously, nearly the entire roster has been turned over since his arrival. We know he has input with Hendry. If his players are that lacking, or that unable to learn, who's fault is it, really? Dusty needs to shut up in the worst way. Wouldn't it be nice to hear Dusty take some of the blame. He keeps making excuses. It seems to me that great managers take responsibility for the teams failings instead of finding someone else to take the fall. If it's not the media, then its because of injuries, then it's the broadcasters, then it's fans, back to the media, and now it's because the players apparently refuse to learn fundamentals. If I'm Hendry I have to wonder why the players aren't listening.

Talk to the Dutch. They are masters at holding back the water. Something like 3/4 of their entire country is below sea level. Touring the canals and massive [expletive] systems throughout the country, particularly near Rotterdaym, is awe inspiring. They have a flood break dam that has massive, MASSIVE doors to control water flow. During the tour I took when I lived there, the guide said that it would take a flood of biblical proportions (See, Noah) to breach it. Further, these Dutch engineers have been utilized farther north on the Mississipi previously for irrigation and flood control. They are brilliant, and any recovery should start with them providing a plan. I'd like to think our engineers would say the same thing about our [expletive] systems. But regardless, greater changes need to occur. I'd say we should rely on our Federal Gov't but it's 4 days into it and our president stated this morning that "We will take of it." Does it scare anyone that there just seems to be very little sense of urgency? Either way, this is a HUGE mess. You can try to restore it but the fact is a lot of the historical architecture is gone! Can you replace that? Especially since it is going to be underwater for at least 2-6 months? That's a ton of damage to try to recover from. It's going to be at least a year before they can even get into the city to see what can be rebuilt. Thankfully the French Quarter didn't flood....that's something they need to build upon.

Actually I think I read something today or yesterday that said the deal almost died because Minaya didn't want Murton, so Hendry gave him Harris and took Murton instead. Regardless, I'm not exactly sure what Hendry values but it sure seems like the team wants to rely more on the SLG than anything else. I draw that conclusion based on the fact that our team seems to live and die with the long ball, regardless of the number of men on base. Obviously I've done nothing in regards to stats to back this up yet. I guess I would just like to know what the mission statement for Hendry is. I don;t have any exact quotes but we seem to just get generic answers like "we are looking into the best quality player we can get." It's like reading a Joe Morgan chat.

At the 10:20 AM CDT Sportscenter Update on ESPN Radio 1000, Bruce Levine did say that the Cubs and White Sox have been discussing a Todd Walker trade. Hoops would he be playing 3rd?

has the article about the Cubs asking Corey to play Winter ball been posted? I guess he isn't very happy about it...