vance_the_cubs_fan

So it took you becoming a moderator to get this moving. :D No, it took me venturing back into my attic and noticing the boxes in the corner to get me to remember I needed to do it.

Ok...several months later, I finally got around to somewhat assembling prize packages. The leaderboard is as follows: SouthSideRyan 1090 Bixby 1085 Laura 1085 CubbieBum 1055 Sterling30 1040 karenmac 1030 rawaction 965 NCCubFan 950 AramisFan 945 vance_the_cubs_fan 925 There are ten packages, so we'll choose in order of finish. I'll PM when it's your turn and you can post your choice here or PM it to me. Here goes- #1Turn Back the Clock Package- Cubbiebum Brooks Kieschnick signed baseball, Scott Servais signed baseball card, Brian McRae signed card, Jose Hernandez signed card,and Cubs signed plastic batting helmet -(many sigs on the helmet at scuffed or faded, but it includes autographs of Anthony Young, Todd Zeile, Kevin Foster, Fergie Jenkins, Jim Bullinger, Mark Grace, Jamie Navarro, Brian McRae, and Jose Hernandez.) #2 Box of Crap- NCCubFan Eric Patterson Peoria Cheifs logo ball, Dave Hansen signed card, Cubs 2006 yearbook, Cubs 2006 media guide, and Ronny Cedeno signed 8x10 #3 Bobblehead Bonanza 2006 Peoria Chiefs Jody Davis bobblehead 2007 Peoria Chiefs Jody Davis bobblehead Matt Garza bobblehead Ron Santo Peoria Chiefs bobblehead #4 Books and More #1 Crazy 8 Cubs 2007 NLDS program HOF Yearbook 2005 (Sandberg/Boggs) HOF Yearbook 2006 (Sutter) 2008 Cubs media guide 2005 Cubs media guide 1977 Cubs roster book #5 Books and More #2 Banks to Sandberg to Grace Where's Harry? Zambrano Growth Poster May 5, 2008 Sports Illustrated (Fukudome cover) #6 Peoria Promo Pack #1- Laura Chiefs 25th Anniversary t-shirt Peoria Chiefs Greg Maddux jersey t-shirt 2006 Peoria Chiefs card set #7 Peoria Chiefs Promo Pack #2- SSR Mark Grace Peoria Chiefs jersey t-shirt Ryne Sandberg Peoria Chiefs jersey t-shirt Peoria Chiefs shoulder bag #8 Cajun Connection PackageAramis Fan Cajun Connection t-shirt Ryan Theriot signed baseball card Mike Fontenot signed baseball card #9 Cubs Autographed Cards Package - karenmac Autographed cards of the following Cubs players and coaches: Sean Marshall, Mike Quade, Mitch Atkins, Darrin Downs, Mark Holliman, Jake Fox, Gerald Perry, Paul Bako, and Ryan Dempster. #10 Cubs Past and Present Greats Package- Bixby Sammy Sosa 600th HR commemorative card (SGA on the night of Sosa's 600th HR) Derrek Lee autographed 8x10 Mark Grace 2005 DR Leather and lumber jersey card Aramis Ramirez 2005 Topps AS stitches jersey card

Tejada pleads guilty. Link. and furthermore... It doesn't look like this will affect Tejada's playing status for the near future.

I wish I could share Hendry's confidence, but after reading about that tear he had/has, I'm going to be anxious.

$5.5 million seems steep for a backup who can only really play 1B What if traded Luis Vizcaino (3.5) + prospect for Johnson (5.5). After adding in the 500K buyout for Vizcaino, the Cubs would only be taking on 1.5 million for Johnson. That's a deal I'd do if you could get Bowden to bite on it. Johnson would at least give us a decent bat on the bench, and allow Lou to comfortably give Lee an off day every now and then. Also, I think Johnson (while he's never played there) could be just as passable in LF/RF as Hoffpauir.

This is my sentiment. This is the first time in many, many years that players have become the bargains they are this offseason. Hendry should not be faulted for signing Bradley regardless of what Dunn or Abreu signed for. The Miles signing is bad because it's a 2-year deal for Aaron Freaking Miles, not because of the other bargains to be had. I don't really think anybody is faulting him for signing Bradley in this thread. I noyl brought him up because that guy brought up outfielders and how they is no market for them. I'm talking about Miles being a bad signing. But the Miles signing is a bad signing regardless of what Abreu got. Abreu could have gotten 4/40 and I'd still think Miles was a bad signing. Miles isn't a bad signing because we're paying him 2.5 million this year. It's a bad signing because he's Aaron Miles.

Link. We're used to these kind of stories as we approach ST every year, and Bruce does a good job breaking it all down. Bruce lists the first of his key stories as the fifth spot followed by Bradley, Fukudome, the middle infield, and the closer spot. While I agree with these, I think the health of Zambrano and Harden may be a bigger issue than any of these. While there may be a question of who fills the fifth starter role, I think one of them will do adequately behind the top four. On the other hand, if Harden or Zambrano miss significant time, the Cubs could be in a bit of a pickle. I'm also not concerned with who is the closer. I think either Gregg or Marmol can handle that role. While it may be a question of who does what in the pen, I don't think it really matters which one gets the role. A question that I think looms larger than who is the closer is the make-up of the bench. With Gathright, Bako, Miles, and Johnson making up the key components of the bench, it's just weak.

I liked the road grays with the cuba script better than the current road grays.

maybe we can round out the trifecta, and get lance "fat elvis" berkman on there as well I think he just injects himself with bavarian cream.

This is my sentiment. This is the first time in many, many years that players have become the bargains they are this offseason. Hendry should not be faulted for signing Bradley regardless of what Dunn or Abreu signed for. The Miles signing is bad because it's a 2-year deal for Aaron Freaking Miles, not because of the other bargains to be had.

All player salaries are related, regardless of position. It only is if that player will join your team for that same salary. Everytime people see a guy sign a deal, they assume he would have signed with the Cubs for that salary. Does anyone really think Abreu signs with the Cubs for 5m? Also if were complaining about Miles for 2.2m next year, shouldn't the Mets fans be complaining about signing Alex Cora to a 1y deal at 2m? They could use Abreu alot more then us, right now. Samething goes for the Reds who signed Jerry Hairston to 2m deal. There's a bunch of teams that signed middle infielders to simliar contracts that could be saying the samething right now. Again to bring up Miles and Abreu topic is just more pointless complaining. I'm not picking on you Dexter, just that people are even talking about this is silly. Simple fact is there was a market for back up middle infielders this offseason, and not one for ageing corner outfielders. Timing is irrelevant to this conversation. A GM has the ability to wait out a market. It's his job to get the best deal. To excuse him for potentially overpaying for a guy because of the way the markey shaped up doesn't make sense. In that case, it's the GMs fault for acting too quickly. Does anybody think Abreu signs with the Cubs for 5m? If the Cubs were interested in him right now, why not? Were the Cubs forced to sign an outfielder in January? Of course not. Thata rgument makes no sense. Also those guys you mentioed as comparisons all got less than half the total money Miles got, so I don't get the comparison. Why did we have to guarantee 2 years when they only had to guarantee one? Why do you always criticize people for "complaining just for the sake of complaining"? Which is worse....voicing reasonable complaints, or being determined to give Hendry and the Cubs FO a free pass? It's okay to question their moves you know. Also if you say there was no market for corner outfielders, why did we pay so much for one? Timing is relevant to the conversation. Waiting on the market is risky. Bradley's deal in light of deals from previous years isn't a bad deal. But after the market settled, there were and still are a lot of bargains. But there was no guarantee that these guys were still going to be out there. Teams with real needs and the money to meet those needs targeted players they wanted and signed them. If we knew that we could have gotten Abreu for this deal, then maybe it would have been a good idea to wait. On the other hand, there was no way to know that for sure. I'm more upset on the Miles deal. But that's not so much because I think the money is bad; it's just that I'm not high on Miles. This offseason has been strange because many players aren't getting the deals they would have gotten in the past. But assume Hendry gambled on the market and ended up missing out on Bradley, Abreu, and Dunn because he waited on a bargain. What would you be saying then? It's easy to look at all this in hindsight. But in reality, at least in comparing Abreu to Bradley, I think Hendry got the better player, even if he had to spend more to do it.

I wonder if the Nats could be convinced to trade Johnson for a small price? He would make a nice back-up 1b/ bat off the bench.

So the Brewers replace Sheets and Sabathia with Looper? I have to say, while I think our team may not be as good next season, I think pretty much the whole division has taken more steps back than we.

At least there will be no guilt from me when I root for Big Donkey. Had he gone to the Cardinals or Astros, I would have been a little upset.

TURK WENDELL!! And as funny as is it is that Wendell is accusing Sammy, he was his teammate and even he only offers inuendo and speculation. He never once says somebody heard Sammy talk about it or that someone in the clubhouse saw Sammy juicing. As small as the Cubs clubhouse is and as divisive as Sammy was there, you'd think if he were doing it, someone would know and someone would talk.

I'm torn on the issue of TO myself. Without being in the locker room, I don't know how divisive he was last season. I do seriously worry about our receivers without TO. I think RW11 can replace some of his production, but Crayton fits better as a #3 receiver rather than a #2. So without TO, we need another solid receiver. I'm not convinced that Austin or Hurd fits the bill there either. Without a first round pick, the Cowboys would have to wait until the second before even looking at receivers. With needs at safety, o-line, and line backer, I'm not sure letting TO go is a wise choice. But then that's simply looking at production and ignoring what might be going on in the locker room.

There's a lot of rumbling that TO is done in Dallas. Many think the rift between Owens and Garrett is too great to be repaired. On the other hand, others point to the fact that Dallas would take a significant hit to release him and that they have no player who could readily replace his production as reasons Owens could stay. Also rumors that he could be traded to the Raiders are also increasing in intensity.

The biggest problem with your opinion is that there was no testing before 2003. Because of this, we really don't know what happened or what didn't happen. Now, baseball has a strict system in place. If you're caught, you face suspensions. Before that, there was no real way to know who did what when. We can speculate and guess, but that's all it is. Frankly, I'm not going to get all that worked up about it. It's all contextual anyways. I can take these numbers into context, just as we can take pitching numbers into context that come from the dead ball era.

While not a current big name, I wouldn't be surprised if Bagwell's name was on that list somewhere. And just because I never liked him, I wish Biggio's would be too.

As I've said before, if the Brewers don't sign him, (which now looks out of the question) I assume a team will wait until after June 1 to get him. At that point, Sheets is going to be looking for only a 1-yr deal for the remainder of 2009 so he can hit the market healthy for 2010 and hopefully get a better deal. If an adventurous team was willing to lose the pick, Sheets probably could be had on a deal that is really cheap for 2009 with incentives and a reasonable but substantial pay for 2010. If teams wait until June, Sheets will be less willing to allow a team to lock him up for 2010, or at least that's what I've been told.

I haven't seen any recent pictures, but last season Andruw was approaching becoming the size of a car. In all seriousness, this is a good move by the Rangers. There's relatively little risk, and Andruw is still young enough to have a few good seasons if he gets his weight and motivation issuses worked out.

I'll have to agree with you here. Sammy was one of my favorites when he played, and I still remember how much I enjoyed him. I was at the Cubs-Rangers game when he hit 600. Even though I was a Cubs fan, I stood, cheered, and relished the moment. The fact that he may or may not have juiced took nothing away from that. It is definitely in my top five coolese in-person sports moments.

I've come to the point that I don't really care who used. If a player I don't like is revealed, like Clemens, I'll probably make a big deal of it just to aggravate my friends who are fans of Clemens, but frankly, I don't care all that much. My guess is more players were doing it than not.

Am I correct in my thinking that if he's found guilty, he could be deported? Some of you lawyers out there help me out here.

I don't think so, unless they can somehow get out from under Tejada's contract. From the indications I've gotten, the Astros are at the limit for spending.