CUBZ99

Looking at Byrd's stats he doesn't look that bad. .800+ OPS for the last three years at CF? I would take that. Sure he wouldn't be a huge upgrade over Bradley, but considering defense and the fact that Fukudome would move back to RF, I wouldn't be against signing him for a reasonable contract.

2 out of the last 3 seasons Carpenter has been with the Cards he hasn't pitched more than 4 games. Sure he had a better year than Z last year, but Z has by far been the more productive pitcher over the last 3 years.

There is no way that Byrd should cost more than Cameron in either $$'s or years. Having said that, I have no faith whatsoever in Hendry's ability to make those types of deals anymore.

Based on strictly viewing offensive production? I have to admit, I was surprised to see Holliday with a CAREER OPS of .932. That is pretty nice.

When you look at Z's and Carpenter's career numbers they are very similar. One has a career 1.29 WHIP and a 3.88 ERA, the other has a career 1.30 Whip and 3.57 ERA. Sure Carpenter had a lights out season in 2009, but he barely pitched at all in 2007 and 2008. I don't see how you can justify calling Carpenter a premium player but saying Z is not.

A whole lot of nothing is Ryno's own words. And who of the people bashing Sandberg in this thread have heard or seen words of his on this particular topic? If you have a source, I would love to read it. At one time there was some claim that his Yahoo column backed up this argument, but if you go back and read them, they were pretty bland. It would be interesting to see how the people that have followed his managerial style in the minors view him. Also, it would be nice to see how managing for 3 years or so has changed his mind on certain things. Does he view managing in the minors as more of an arena to emphasize fundamentals? What are his thoughts on what makes a successful team? Does he value OBP? How much does he know about other stats ?

While we're self-flagellating: "And introducing your new GM, Jim Bowden!" or Steve Stone!

If Cameron signs I would hope we just keep Bradley. Bradley is better than Cameron and keeping Bradley wasn't an option then, so I don't know why it would be an option now. Bradley is not better than Cameron. He was better one year than Cameron.

Maybe he is keeping Hendry to be the fall guy next year when the team is not upgraded. Better for Ricketts than dumping Hendry now.

In 2008 Bradley was an extremely productive player. Career wise he has only been above average. Yeah dude, extremely productive. He was only 16th on his team in VORP last year, between Aaron Heilman and Esmailin Caridad (I am not sure if pitchers VORP and hitting VORP can be compared and ranked against one another but whatever) If OPSing .999 isn't extremely productive, I have no idea what is. How would you define extremely productive?

In 2008 Bradley was an extremely productive player. Career wise he has only been above average.

Hendry is striking out on everyone so far this offseason. Maybe they didn't like what they saw? I think it is funny that Hendry gets crap no matter what. Signs folks early, FU Jim! Possibly waiting to see things materialize, FU Jim! A little overly sensitive? I don't criticize Hendry for every move he makes. Nor do I think he deserves to get fired just yet. I just think it is funny, in a tragic kind of way, to watch him crashing and burning this off season. He seems to have conditioned nearly every off season move on trading Milton Bradley, and if that was not enough he telegraphed and made it known to the entire league that he was desperate to move Bradley. Not exactly a recipe for success.

Hendry is striking out on everyone so far this offseason.

Amen, too bad Fox isn't around to play third on Aram's off days. That would be some entertaining baseball.

Yes.

Where did you expect Hendry to get the money for to sign Harden? We can't even sign a mid level player like Cameron or Byrd without dumping part of Bradley's salary. In regard to the Twins situation, it is possible that Hendry felt that he would rather take a chance that Ricketts would allow him payroll space to resign Harden, and it was better to take a chance with that than take some B-, C prospects from the Twins. Or its entirely possible that his medical records are so bad that the Hendry didn't want to blow $7 or 8MM on a pitcher that wouldn't contribute much to an already cash strapped team. In some ways I guess it is fitting to allow Hendry to hang himself with his past poor payroll management. It is just extremely painful to watch so far.

I'm not sure why. NY likes feisty. They like good players. And they absolutely love guys who walk. If he starts 0-20 there could be trouble, but as long as he's halfway decent he'll just be one of several guys in a great lineup. If he gets thrown out arguing with an ump, they aren't going to be pissed at him, they are going to be with him. And as long as he can get Jeter on his side, he'd be gold. Unlike in Chicago this past year, Bradley will not be anywhere close to THE STORY of spring training. He won't have to be some savior. It seems to me than scrutiny is the bane of Bradley's existence. Any amount of it, really. You're not going to get through a full season as a starter in NY, especially on the Yankees, without being the focus of some degree of scrutiny. Sure, he'll get lost in the mix a bit, but if he comes under fire, it'll be really bad. Quite frankly, I think Milton just needs to go a laid back market. And to be fair, I think the implication that Bradley was regarded as a savior for the Cubs last year is gross overstatement. His acquisition was the feature story of the offseason and he absolutely was portrayed as a savorior by many who were convinced all the problems lied in their right handedness and lack of fire. You qualify your statements well. Those "many who were convinced all the problems lied in their right handedness and lack of fire" entailed mainly Hendry, Bush, and Lou. Most of the media was critical of Hendry for the signing and thought that he was taking a major gamble for the type of money the Cubs were spending on him. Not to mention that nearly every story pointed out Bradley's lengthy injury history, and perceived poor attitude. The whole righthandedness garbage originated mainly from Lou.

Orioles got Millwood, so it looks like we can take Texas of the list of possible destinations.

Hendry couldn't get the old "surprise team" "deal going to happen soon" trick to work? Unless the Cubs can get significant salary relief in a trade, Hendry might as well hang on to him at this point. As it stands, Hendry appears to have no leverage. I can't imagine Bradley's trade value is going to get any lower over the offseason.

That apparently there are still lines of coke to be snorted before Jimbo gets dumb enough to trade Bradley for Silva. Maybe its a 4 way trade now.

I thought I read something that said Jason Bay wants to go there really, really bad. Just saw the rumor of Bradley for Silva. :cry: Hendry isn't that stupid is he?

Maybe its the White Sox! Kenny W. isn't afraid to make a trade for a controversial player.

I wouldn't mind seeing a deal for Granderson and Jackson, but the Cubs really need to retain some of their prospects like Castro and hope they pan out. They cannot continue to fill every hole that they have on their team via free agency and hope to be in contention if their payroll remains the same.

But wait, hes a clubhouse cancer, and all his teammates hated him I thought?................. Maybe he got along with Fox. Then again it might not look good for a fringe player to badmouth a team mate the day after being traded. Im pretty sure the majority of Bradley's ex-teammates normally have very good things to say of him as a teammate. I think he is generally very well liked in the clubhouse. Exactly. I'm having trouble thinking of any teammate situations. I guess he has had some issues with Lou, but I tend to give Bradley the benifit of the doubt there. Now if you want to talk about Bradleys relationship with fans and media, I have a "few" examples coming to mind. At least one example of a teammate situation was the incident between Bradley and Reed Johnson.

But wait, hes a clubhouse cancer, and all his teammates hated him I thought?................. Maybe he got along with Fox. Then again it might not look good for a fringe player to badmouth a team mate the day after being traded. Im pretty sure the majority of Bradley's ex-teammates normally have very good things to say of him as a teammate. I think he is generally very well liked in the clubhouse. I'm think you generally are wrong. What did you expect Fox to say? There is a reason that every organization that Bradley has played for hasn't made any great attempt to keep him.