jdelaney5150

Why? If Roberts came, you would have Derosa and Fontenot as backup infielders. Still don't think the deal will happen, but cutting Cintron should not have any bearing on it.

That's not a MacPhail quote. That's Sullivan's own conclusion from the quote he gave. And what does it mean to pull an offer that the Cubs were clearly not going to accept? Seems like if it was really and truly dead MacPhail would have said directly "Brian Roberts won't be traded before Opening day" a la what the Marlins said about Mike Lowell in 03 two weeks before the trade deadline. OK well lets just pretend its not going to happen so we can all move on with our lives. We have a playoff contender to root for, even if I feel like over the last few days it is becoming increasingly evident that the Cubs are doing everything wrong. Fontenot over Murton? Marshall our LOOGY? Marquis still here? I agree, but that's why we have 100 other threads here. If you want to move on, all you have to do is stop looking in this thread. I'm content to keep engaging in pointless offseason speculation until exactly 1:20 P.M. CDT on March 31st.

That's not a MacPhail quote. That's Sullivan's own conclusion from the quote he gave. And what does it mean to pull an offer that the Cubs were clearly not going to accept? Seems like if it was really and truly dead MacPhail would have said directly "Brian Roberts won't be traded before Opening day" a la what the Marlins said about Mike Lowell in 03 two weeks before the trade deadline.

How does that article show that MacPhail says the deal is dead? The quote is ""We worked at it this long and we don't have deal. There's other sides characterizing it as an impasse. You make the judgment." That sounds totally non-committal to me and just says "we don't have a deal, and no one has altered their position in a long time." Unless there's more to it that he's not quoting, seems like a reach for Sullivan to draw a conclusion for the sake of getting some extra views. All that said, I don't expect the deal to happen.

Hey, this point actually helped me study for the CPA, because I had to look it up. The tension probably comes from a question of when it was that Schilling knew about the injury. If he knew about it or should have known about it (e.g. he had horrible pain for a month but intentionally didn't go to the doctor) before he signed the contract that is "fraud in the inducement" and the Red Sox have the right to cancel his contract. Even if they chose not to, when the Red Sox insured his contract it would have been with the warranty that Schilling was healthy as of that date. If it turns out he wasn't, by law it is an "innocent misrepresentation" and gives the insurance company the right to rescind the policy. I should add, though, that this is just general contract law. There is certainly a chance there is some baseball exemption, as MLB has a lot exemptions.

And then even if Fontenot doesn't play we can replace him with . . .De-Ro! But of course we'd absolutely have to resign Blanco.

Yeah, and definitely the biggest egg-laying job goes to the Phils, who are the only team to have lost at home. At this point you have to figure that the stats favor one of the four of the 0-2 teams rallying, we just have to hope we're that team. Honestly, at this point I really believe that the pressure is on the D-Backs. The Cubs know everyone pretty much expects them to lose now, so they really have nothing to lose.

UMFan that was a well thoght out response but all you really needed to say was: "If you are still writing columns about Bartman you are a loser"

I seriously can't believe they have game 4 scheduled while the marathon is still going on. People heading down for that game from the burbs need to leave at about 5:00 A.M. to make it. Really sucks for me because I'm running it and probably won't be done till about 1:30 or 2:00 and thus will probably miss the game. It also kind of sucks because I have never run it before and have heard a lot of good things about how many people come out to cheer you on while your running. Now, who's going to be out there instead of watching the game (I know I wouldn't be)? Oh well, I guess that's all the more reason I need to root for a Cubs sweep!

Where did you see this? I really can't believe that Game 4 would be at noon central with the marathon still going on. It's true that everyone will be done with the north side within 2 hours of the 8:00 start time but still, anyone who lives in the downtown area knows that traffic is just paralyzed from about 8-3 while the marathon is going on. It will really suck for me because I'm running it and I probably won't be done till about 1:30! Oh well, I guess that just means I need to hope for a Cubs sweep!

There is absolutely no way he'll be on the NLDS playoff roster. He has never pitched out of the pen before and keeping Z, Lilly, Hill, and Marquis is already one more starter than you're likely to need (depending on how the schedule lines up and where they stand in the series if game 4 is necessary). The only way I see him being considered is in the event of an injury to one of the starters. I just feel bad for Marshall. He pitched one of his best games of the year that Friday night against Arizona and then his only 2 starts after that he knew his job was on the line and he couldn't settle in. I just hope Hendry and Piniella still have him penciled in for the #5 spot next year. He's exactly what you want out of a #5: cheap, young, relatively consistent, and with a lot of upside still.

Weather in Miami doesn't look to be being particularly cooperative right now (or for the rest of the series for that matter). Pretty much constant at a 70% chance of rain. Might be in for a long haul the next couple of nights.

I think there's more drama being discussed about here than is actually happening in reality. First of all, the notion that any buyer would accept buying the Cubs without Wrigley Field is ludicrous. That would be like someone selling a car but when the buyer makes too low an offer saying "ok, I'll give you the car but you have to pay me to get the key every time you want to drive it." Hence, that would not even be a proposal from the Trib company. All this talk right now in the press articles about "having to pay top dollar" should be seen in the same light as when an agent like Boras comes out and says about his client "we'll start the bidding at 5 years, $100 million." It's PR and making an attempt to drive up as many of the bids as possible. What sense would it make to say "yeah, really Canning is the only one we're gonna approve so even if his offer is lower it's gonna be accepted". It's a negotiation like any other. What goes on behind closed doors is another matter altogether. I believe that if the difference between bids is small (<5%), then Selig is likely to get through the candidate he supports. However, if it is larger than that you can believe that the Trib will fight for Canning (or whoever the low-ball bidder is) to match the highest bid or will pressure Selig to approve whoever the highest bidder is. In a lot of cases Selig may not care about the bad PR, but remember that the Tribune IS the media. You do not want to get into a fight with a company that can literally flood the market with one negative editorial after another about you.

The only bad seats at Wrigley are the 200 level under the covering. Anywhere else is a great seat. While generally this is true, there have been a couple of occasions where I have found myself right behind a pole that blocked my view of the plate (both in the upper and lower decks). Unfortunately, there's no iron clad way to avoid this (other than to pay mucho dinero to sit in the front sections or the bleachers).

BTW, for those saying that this is an extremely quiet trade deadline day, you must have short memories. In 2005 the biggest move made was the Cubs acquiring Lawton, which certainly didn't qualify as much of anything. I know it's falling on deaf ears, but I wish people would just relax. You can't solve a problem without knowing all the variables, and no one will ever know whether or not there was a good deal out there to be made. Now, if we wanna speculate, I think it's pretty obvious that the asking price was way too high for Dye, Griffey, and Dunn otherwise they would have gone SOMEWHERE (and then we would have some basis for criticizing Hendry). You also need to realize that all (or at least most) of these GMs will be talking and dealing with each other extensively in the future. If you get the reputation for asking high and then caving at the end, all anyone will do is just wait you out. Same thing if you lowball and then significantly up your ante at the last minute. Each deal (and non-deal) sets up the next one. I know everyone is disappointed, and I share that sentiment. But the truth is that we don't really know if it's Hendry's fault or not; nor do we know that "he tried his best" either, so how about we just concentrate on tonight's game and overtaking the Brewers?

Showing patience too.

Kinda like Wellmeyer a few years ago. Or "can't miss" Juan Cruz. Or a whole host of other possibilities that are "something" in the minors but never amount to anything in the majors. Minor leaguers are almost always gonna be an unknown. Hopefully this works in the Cubs favor. But it's not like Blevins was one of the Cubs top prospects for crying out loud. He's had a very good first half in A and AA ball. Juan Cruz had a decent ERA with the Cubs. To bad he never got run support. His stuff was good. Um, you guys are aware that players continue to exist after they leave the Cubs, right? Cruz disappointed as a Cub, but he is having a very nice year for the D-Backs this year, and is still just 28. Wellemeyer was and still is crap though . . .

Extras in Milwaukee. Good news is that the Brewers have already used up Turnbow and Cordero.

grumble grumble. That means absolutely nothing. There's nothing saying he can't be traded after he's at the ballpark. Wouldn't he have to go there anyway to clean out his locker?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Bowen won't play today, or even be with the team for the game. He just got traded today. It'll probably take him a day to get settled in and ready to go in Texas. It's being reported that Barrett is starting for San Diego, so why not Bowen for the Cubs? It's actually a little shorter of a flight coming east with the tailwind. who is startin for the padres tonight? Scheduled to be Justin Germano

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Bowen won't play today, or even be with the team for the game. He just got traded today. It'll probably take him a day to get settled in and ready to go in Texas. It's being reported that Barrett is starting for San Diego, so why not Bowen for the Cubs? It's actually a little shorter of a flight coming east with the tailwind.

Hey...win 6 in a row and we're at .500...we can do that! (no we cant...seriously...when was the last time we won 5 games in a row? 03?) 7/8/05 - 7/15/05 We won 5 in a row (and 8 of 9 from 7/8 - 7/19) We actually won 6 out of 7 at one point last season from 7/24-7/30 (but only 4 in a row) Apparently, we're good in July. It's just those other months we have problems with.

Cubs.com has it at $12 million flat http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070220&content_id=1808715&vkey=spt2007news&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

From MerriamWebster Main Entry: com·mod·i·ty Pronunciation: k&-'mä-d&-tE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -ties 1 : an economic good: as a : a product of agriculture or mining b : an article of commerce especially when delivered for shipment c : a mass-produced unspecialized product 2 a : something useful or valued < 3 obsolete : QUANTITY, LOT 4 : a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (as brand name) other than price 5 : one that is subject to ready exchange or exploitation within a market I am using definition 5.

Yeah at 200k you split the difference and go get a beer.