vance_the_cubs_fan

My guess is he'll lose that rookie status as he's going to get his AB's.

I found this tidbit on http://www.dodgerblues.com (And for those who don't know, it's not a family friendly site.

He responded tonight by going 0-3, 1 BB, 1 R 1 K.

If we win the next 20 games we can be 500 by August 8!

There's no way I'd trade Barrett and maybe more for Mathis. Other than the heart of the line-up with Lee, Rodriguez, and Lee, the line-up leaves a lot to be desired. Pierre and Izturis are fast but not great offensive players. Murton, Cedeno, and Mathis could be a bad lower half. That offense could end up being as bad if not worse than the one we have now. The bench is atocious. The rotation doesn't look all that great either. I'd have to pass big time on this one.

Link I didn't see this posted anywhere, and thought it was newsworthy. He was immediately inserted into the line-up Saturday against Capuano. I'm eager to see how well he does this year.

Finished behind Yadier Molina in the voting. Yadier is at .244/.292/.343/.635 What's funny about that is I had an argument with a Cards fan before the season began. I said Molina would bat near 250; he all but called me stupid and said it would be close to 300 if not better and there was no way it would be lower than 275. I'm feeling confident that my prediction will be closer to the truth. Your friend was clearly talking about OBP! I wouldn't call the guy I had this discussion with a friend.

Wuertz should be in Chicago. I'd like to know what the front office has against him.

I live about 20 minutes from Smokies Park, and have been to see the Smokies several times so far this season. Quite frankly, they don't have much. Of course, I said the same thing last season when they had this scrappy utility infielder named Dan Uggla. AA is just not where the DBacks have their prospects right now. As has been stated, Montero looks like a decent catcher, but I wouldn't go much above that. There are some arms, but nothing spectacular. Other than that, I see a roster full of career minor leaguers. Honestly, there isn't a player on the Smokies roster that I would like to see the Cubs deal for. Thanks for the honest assessment. I guess I can hope that between now and Tuesday, Gonzalez gets promoted.

Please fire Dusty now.

That's good thinking. I was trying to form my team by only using FA signings. Obviously there's lots you can change with trades. The Dodgers have a lot of OF's now. Rather than sign Sheffield, I might see what it would take to get Drew off of their hands. Personally, if I could Walker to sign a one-year deal at the same salary of this year, I'd do that as well. I just don't find that very probable with this regime.

That's likely a 110-115 million team and I don't think the Trib is going to authorize that much payroll. Who cares how much money it would cost. I want to see a World Series in Wrigley. So do all of us, but when I post in these threads, I try to keep a little realism involved. If you want to go fantasy, why not sign every decent FA and have the Cardinals trade us Pujols. This is realistic. Im only adding 1 big contract in Zito and a couple of mid- small range deals with Floyd, Counsell, Payton and Catlanotto. It may be realistic, I just posted that it's possible depending on how much those mid-range guys ask for. But your whole line-up revolves around the Angels accepting a trade for Figgins and Lackey. I'm not sure they would be eager to trade either.

That's likely a 110-115 million team and I don't think the Trib is going to authorize that much payroll. I also think it's a little worse than Vance's proposal. Not bad, but the offense is still pretty weak. Ok. I was wrong. Your payroll is estimated near mine, aroun 102 million. But there's going to be massive player costs in those trades. I don't see the Angels trading Lackey and Figgins, and my guess Marshall would have to be part of the deal along with Pie and probably more. I like the roster I've constructed a bit better. It's deeper but has a few more injury risks.

That's likely a 110-115 million team and I don't think the Trib is going to authorize that much payroll. Who cares how much money it would cost. I want to see a World Series in Wrigley. So do all of us, but when I post in these threads, I try to keep a little realism involved. If you want to go fantasy, why not sign every decent FA and have the Cardinals trade us Pujols.

That's likely a 110-115 million team and I don't think the Trib is going to authorize that much payroll.

I thought about that, but given the estimate on the article which was what I was trying to go by, Soriano would have pushed my payroll to 105 million and I don't think the Cubs will go that high.

Thanks for the link, Jon. Unfortunately they don't have the date that Cowboys tickets are going on sale.

Pierre at least has hit well enough that I have no problem offering him arbitration. Hopefully he's a class A FA and will get us a first round pick.

I'm glad Zambrano got the win...and wow. Hellova game by The Riot. He won't start again until Thursday.

Looking at the players we have under contract for 2007, I have C Barrett- 4.5 million 1b Lee - 13 million 2b - ? SS Cedeno- 350 K (est) 3b Ramirez- 11 million LF Murton- 350 K (est) CF ? RF Jones- 4 million SP Zambrano- 9 million (est) SP Prior 4.5 million (est) SP ? SP ? SP? Bullpen: Dempster (5 million), Howry (4 million), Eyre (3.5 million), Rusch (3.25 million), Ohman (1 million- est), Novoa (450K est) Bench: Perez (2.5 million), Bynum (400 K est) That's 16 players under contract for 68.5 million. Based on that assesment, I need four players for the bench, three starting pitchers, a 2b and a CF. If the Cubs allocate a 100 million payroll and buyouts to players like Wood do not count against it, I have roughly 31 million to play with. I'm going with the estimates in the article as I make my moves. First I'm going to DFA Rusch, so I'm going to need one more bullpen pitcher, but I'll still count his 3.25 in the payroll. The first deal I'll take is Sheffield at 1/9. That'll eat up a third of my extra cash, but if healthy I think he will be worth it. I'm going to shift Jacque to leftfield to make room for Sheff and Murton moves to the bench as a platoon partner for Jones. I still need a CF and 2B but I now only need to fill three bench spots. They project Schmidt at 4/45. I think that's a bit high, but I'll take him at that amount and hopefully structure it like this: 07: 10 million, 08: 11 million; 09: 12 million; 10: 12 million. So, Schmidt cost my 2007 team 10 million. I still need CF, 2b, and two starting pitchers. I'll fill out my rotation with kids from the farm like Guzman, Hill, Marmol, or Marshall. With those four, I'll also have some pitching depth. The kids will cost me 400K a piece at the most. One of those kids as well as Wuertz can finish out my pen at 400K as well. I'm now in need of three bench spots and a 2B and CF. I have my 25th man in Bynum, a 4th OF in Murton, and back-up 2b/SS in Perez. I'll use Soto as the back-up catcher and he's cheap at 350 K. I'm going to try to lure DeRosa with a 2 million deal to play for the bench. He can back-up at 3b/2b and OF. I'll likely retain Pagan for 500K and that's my bench. I still have to find a 2b and CF. I have about 9 million left to spend if I'm going to stay at 100 million for my payroll. I'm looking at several options. One is to bust the bank for Soriano. If I do that, Pie or Pagan will have to be my CF. I could go with Gary Matthews in CF and still have enough to pursue a player like Kennedy or retain Walker. (I have no delusions that Hendry would keep Walker, so I'm trying to look in other areas.) I'm going to go after Luis Castillo at 2B, and hope to get him for a deal aroun 2/7. I'm going to count him at 3.5 million against my 2007 payroll. Then I'll take Gary Matthews at 3/20, structured as 07:6 million, 08: 7 million, 09: 7 million. That takes my total payroll to 101.5 million. Here's my line-up: 1. Matthews CF 2. Castillo 2b 3. Lee 1b 4. Sheffield RF 5. Ramirez 3b 6. Jones/ Murton LF 7. Barrett C 8. Cedeno SS Rotation: Zambrano Schmidt Prior Marshall Guzman/Hill/Marmol Bullpen: Dempster CL Eyre Howry Ohman Novoa Wuertz/Guzman/Marmol Bench: Perez Murton Bynum Soto DeRosa Pagan I think that this team would have adequate depth and would be much better than the current product we're looking at.

Finished behind Yadier Molina in the voting. Yadier is at .244/.292/.343/.635 What's funny about that is I had an argument with a Cards fan before the season began. I said Molina would bat near 250; he all but called me stupid and said it would be close to 300 if not better and there was no way it would be lower than 275. I'm feeling confident that my prediction will be closer to the truth. I assume you meant that you said he'd bat near 250. Yes. Oops! I'll correct it.

Dusty doesn't like gingerkids or daywalkers.

Finished behind Yadier Molina in the voting. Yadier is at .244/.292/.343/.635 What's funny about that is I had an argument with a Cards fan before the season began. I said Molina would bat near 250; he all but called me stupid and said it would be close to 300 if not better and there was no way it would be lower than 275. I'm feeling confident that my prediction will be closer to the truth.

I'd trade him to the right team for the right package of players.

Cot's says that Eyre had a no-trade for this season and a limited no-trade for 2007-2008. Link