vance_the_cubs_fan

Since Z is pitching, I might watch this one. Actually, I had hoped to go to Houston to see these last games, but alas, the wife's class reunion is this weekend so I was unable to make the trip.

I hope the Cubs realize how foolish it would be to have Pie in CF in 2006.

I'm for signing Lofton for a number of reasons none of which have anything to do with 2003. 1. He'd be a cheap stop-gap CF until Pie is ready. 2. He'd answer the question of lead-off hitter without the Cubs having to throw money at Furcal. 3. Even anticipating a decline, he should put an OBP in the 340-350 range. While we might like better, that's surely much better than what we had from CF in 2005.

But he's saved us man!

My team name is lame....but I may change it later.

The Reds signed Jerry Narron to a one-year contract, effectively removing the "interim" tag he held.

Following the 2003 season, we were in no need of a closer. Borowski had been performing fine in the role. Of course, he should have been calirivoyant (sp?) and realized Joe would get hurt and lose velocity. :roll: anyone worth a salt could see we needed an upgrade at closer. jobo had a nice year out of nowhere but if you weren't scared every time he took the mound, then you have no pulse. much like we all knew we needed an upgrade at short over gonz.i certainly did want to trot jobo out in the ninth with a trip to the series on the line. I'm glad you're so claivoyant. I was confident with Borowski at closer. His numbers in 2002 and 2003 were very good. I guess I have no pulse...:roll: I guess no pulse is better than no brain.

The rumor in the Sun Times was Patterson and Walker for Giles. I don't see anyway that gets the deal done, but who knows? My guess is that the Braves would want a pitcher in there as well. Marte is projected to be as good as any prospect in the minors. The kid is supposedly one talented hitter. At Richmond this year, he hit 275/372/506. Prior to this season, I read more than one publication that labeled him the best hitting prospect in the minors. The Braves likely will move him to left unless they can convince Chipper to make the move back there to open a space for him. I don't see the Braves needing Murton for this reason, as well. Hmmmmm.. How's their minor league pitching look?? How deep are they?? Smoltz is 38, Hampton's hurt again and Ramirez has struggled this year.... Hudson's real solid, Sosa's blown it up this year and Davies is supposed to be real good correct?? Would they have much interest in Jerome Williams?? I wonder if they'd take Kerry Wood. Mazzone could probably make him a Cy Young winner. If Wood's smart, huge IF, he'd waive his no-trade clause. The Braves, I doubt, would have any interest in Kerry Wood's contract. They're already paying Smoltz and Hudson a nice chunk of change. They might have some interest in Williams. I could also see them being interested in Mitre or Hill as well. Smoltz signed for 2 year and 20 million last offseason right?? Kerry would be a nice replacement for Smoltz in a few years. If Chipper was willing to move to LF, there could be a blockbuster. 1-100 chance of that though. Kerry's deal and Smoltz's deal will end roughly at the same time, so that doesn't really make much sense. They could just sign Wood as a FA if the plan was for him to be a replacement for Smoltz.

Well, if the Red Sox are foolish enough to deal one of the most potent offensive players in all of baseball, who's to say what the Marlins would do? :D I think the big difference is that Manny is taking up 20+ million in payroll while Cabrera is still very inexpensive.

Murton's value wasn't nearly as high as it is now at the point those trades were consumated and Patterson was viewed as part of the long term plan of this team during the offseason. That would leave us with Dubois, Wellemeyer, Hill, and Mitre for Hudson or Mulder. It might have gotten the job done, but I'm not certain if that would have been enough to make Beane give up what he got. None of those pitchers equal what Meyer was believed to be at that time last year and I think that Beane would have valued Haren over the lot as well. None of those have the potential of Daric Barton either. So, no, I still don't think we had the players to make a deal at the time the deal was made.

I seem to remember reading (some New York rag) that Minaya was so pleased with Floyd's performance during their run at the wild card that he wouldn't think of trading him this off-season. So it may take a LOT to grab him from the Mets. If they're after Manny, can see Floyd being dealt and the Cubs getting in there as a 3rd team. Mets will go after Delgado before Manny IMO. Or perhaps a multi-team trade like Red Sox get Delgado, Marlins get prospects from RedSox/Mets/Cubs, Mets get Manny, Cubs get Floyd. Heck, let's drag the Marlins in on this, what do we have to do for Cabrera (given that the Marlins are tiring of his less than stellar antics). Would you deal Zambrano for Cabrera? Considering Wood's health and Prior's inconsisteincies, I don't think I could do that deal. I also don't think Florida is foolish enough to deal Cabrera.

I don't think the Cubs could have competed with either the offer for Mulder or Hudson. In hindsight, we might feel we have the prospects to match, but we didn't. Hudson was traded for Meyer, Cruz, and Thomas. We surely could have found someone as impressive as Thomas, but we didn't have a pitching prospect that rated as highly as Meyer and Cruz was coming off a phenomenal season in the pen. I don't see that last year the Cubs had the bullets to match the Braves offer. Mulder was traded for Haren, Calero, and Barton. We likely could have matched Calero and possibly matched Barton with Dopirak, though Barton was still viewed as the better prospect. I don't think we had anyone that Oakland would have valued as much as Haren. Mitre might have drawn some interest, but it would have taken more than that. To match either of the above deals, it likely would have taken the Cubs adding another high level prospect. I just don't think at the time we had the players that could have matched what Oakland believed it was receiving at the time.

Those two starters have put the Astros on their backs. If it weren't for them, I doubt the Astros are within sniffing distance of the wild card. Also, if they continue pitching like that, they could be very dangerous in the play-offs.

The rumor in the Sun Times was Patterson and Walker for Giles. I don't see anyway that gets the deal done, but who knows? My guess is that the Braves would want a pitcher in there as well. Marte is projected to be as good as any prospect in the minors. The kid is supposedly one talented hitter. At Richmond this year, he hit 275/372/506. Prior to this season, I read more than one publication that labeled him the best hitting prospect in the minors. The Braves likely will move him to left unless they can convince Chipper to make the move back there to open a space for him. I don't see the Braves needing Murton for this reason, as well. Hmmmmm.. How's their minor league pitching look?? How deep are they?? Smoltz is 38, Hampton's hurt again and Ramirez has struggled this year.... Hudson's real solid, Sosa's blown it up this year and Davies is supposed to be real good correct?? Would they have much interest in Jerome Williams?? I wonder if they'd take Kerry Wood. Mazzone could probably make him a Cy Young winner. If Wood's smart, huge IF, he'd waive his no-trade clause. The Braves, I doubt, would have any interest in Kerry Wood's contract. They're already paying Smoltz and Hudson a nice chunk of change. They might have some interest in Williams. I could also see them being interested in Mitre or Hill as well.

I believe this is an excellent point. This offseason will be very telling. For the first time, the Cubs have obvious openings in the same positions that could be filled by top free agents. The only time this has occurred in the past could have been Pudge and the Cubs opening at catcher. My belief and fear is that Hendry will target and sign Furcal. I'm hoping he moves in another direction, however.

John Randle? That's him. Thanks.

Following the 2003 season, we were in no need of a closer. Borowski had been performing fine in the role. Of course, he should have been calirivoyant (sp?) and realized Joe would get hurt and lose velocity. :roll:

Mary Anne winning in a landslide.

Some of the best trash talking is done on the field away from the cameras. From what I've heard, Lewis does an excellent job of this. I'm drawing a blank, but there was a defensive lineman who played for the Vikings that was a notoriously trash talker.

While Hendry may not have always gotten the "big fish" per se, he seems to do well in getting the players he is known to have targeted. Prior to 2003, it was known he was looking for bullpen help and he signed Remlinger who was the hottest commodity there. After the 2003 season, he targeted and signed Hawkins. While those two signings didn't really pan out, they were the needs that Hendry had zeroed in on. I think if he sets his mind to a task, he's likely to pursue it. Of course in some ways, that frightens me. It could mean that we severely overpay for Furcal if that's the direction Hendry thinks we should go.

While the NL East hasn't been the AL East, it isn't always a cupcake division. There have been good teams in the division. Cox and Shuerholz have done a phenomenal job. Winning that many divisional titles in a row is unheard of, regardless of the division.

Dusty has more excuses than embattled former-FEMA chief Brown. Maybe the two should get together for a drink. I've been sick of Dusty for awhile, but it keeps getting worse. It's time for the clown to go.

I'd say the Braves success is combination of Shuerholz and Cox. Both have contributed greatly to it, and both work extremely well together. I've said it before, and will say it again, but over the last two decades, the Braves have been the best run organization in baseball, if not all sports.

The rumor in the Sun Times was Patterson and Walker for Giles. I don't see anyway that gets the deal done, but who knows? My guess is that the Braves would want a pitcher in there as well. Marte is projected to be as good as any prospect in the minors. The kid is supposedly one talented hitter. At Richmond this year, he hit 275/372/506. Prior to this season, I read more than one publication that labeled him the best hitting prospect in the minors. The Braves likely will move him to left unless they can convince Chipper to make the move back there to open a space for him. I don't see the Braves needing Murton for this reason, as well.

Vote Nomar.