Shilzzz

not really, unless the Cubs interest in him turns out to be false. If he's willing to leave the West Coast, the Cubs should be able to outbid the Cards for him. I don't see why the Cards want him anyway - just sign guys like Kip Wells or whoever off the scrap heap, and turn them into good pitchers. the cardinals would be tough if they signed schmidt. carpenter schmidt wainwright(whose k/bb ratio was eerily similar to carpenter) reyes wells if duncan does what he normally does they will still be the team to beat, soriano or not we need pitching.

marquis yes, meche probably not(at least year two on)

I'm going to go with him sucking, just like the last 3 years. I'm thinking Jeff Suppan part deux, maybe on a lesser scale. I'm think Kent Bottenfield/Jeff Weaver esque turnaroud. Which is fair, because then the Cards can take K. Wells---after his career yr---and trade him Tampa Bay for Carl Crawford after then 2007 season. That seems fair. it's a one year contract.

That sounds like they did some checking into it at least. Sounds like they actually talked to Hendry. John Heyman is a very good reporter, who wrote for Newsday before SI. He has many, many baseball contacts. Maybe the offer isn't a formal one, but you know the discussions have taken place. Indeed. Heyman is one of the best in the business. I trust Bruce, because the local guys tend to have a better grip on things than national guys. That said, even the greatest reporter isn't going to have every story. I live in Milwaukee and Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times scoops every single Bucks story. Gery is the guy with Bucks info. Despite that he was on the radio about 3 hours before the TJ Ford-Charlie Villenueva trade saying that there is no truth to the rumor of that trade. Bruce Miles is by far the best Cubs reporter, but I'm hopeful with the Heyman article seemingly supporting the SF report, that there is more truth to these Schmidt rumors than he thinks. Again, I obviosuly don't know more than Bruce, but this Heyman report is a very positive thing because he used his own sources, not the SF newspaper's like what ESPN is running with. well even the tribune said that they've had at least preliminary discussions.

we should probably wait until the roster becomes more clear of how it ends up(at least after the winter meetings) before we start claiming .500 and all that (not so)good stuff

I don't see how this eliminates them from Schmidt talks. schmidt doesn't want to go out east anyway.

NICE!!! no counsil for the cobs

You know Kip Wells wouldn't be a bad idea. I would take a chance on him. too late, he's winning the Cy Young award next year with the Cards probably

On further review (DVR): "I know the Cubs have offered him a three-year deal", and the graphic on the screen said "Reportedly offered 3 years, $44M deal by Cubs" :shock: :D how does peter gammons know? did he see the contract?

reading the actual linked article on rotoworld i'm not as pleased. hendry seems very, maybe too, cautious about going after a big name and may settle for a couple middle of the road starters. meh

woot!

yeah there's an 11 page thread on this already

it sure is nice to dream, the two most devestating ramirez's of all time hitting back to back :shock: =P~ but its not going to happen. but holy crap would that be amazing. soriano, lee, ramirez, ramirez. wow.

meh. drew isn't coming here anyway.

what is your point? how about this Lee 04 OPS 125, IsoD 61 05 OPS 110, IsoD 59 06 OPS 125, IsoD 55 Soriano 04 OPS 98, IsoD 44 05 OPS 110, IsoD 41 06 OPS 135, IsoD 74 (go ahead and take away the IBBs, it's still a vast improvement in an area Lee is getting worse at) not sure why K/BB ratio is in the discussion. we're not talking about pitchers and I thought the general view was strikeouts are not a strong consideration amongst those with the sabr mindset. Just presenting the facts that Soriano and Lees production is a lot more similar than people think. The K/BB tab on the comparison was just random, I was scrolling through all of them looking at the differences. I really don't get your point though. So you are saying that Soriano had one fluke patience year because he was hitting in front of Felipe Lopez/Jose Vidro/Royce Clayton and Nick Johnson/Jose Vidro? If you do isolate out his IBB from 16 to his normal 5 or so, then that takes his IsoD down 10 points give or take a few. So on the whole you are saying that his patience is worse than Lee's, right? 2006: Lee - 27.2 VORP Soriano - 48.2 VORP 2005: Lee - 24.7 VORP Soriano - 39.5 VORP Soriano is vastly superior your numbers for 2006 are wrong. bp has carlos lee split into two different players since he changed teams in midseason. lee as a brewer had 27.2 vorp, and lee as a ranger had 20.0 vorp, giving him a total of 47.2 vorp, making him very comparable to soriano. also, wasn't soriano playing second base in 2005? that would make it kind of hard to compare their vorp's for that year since they are no longer playing different positions. the two vorps would be added and not ratioed?

i would rather have zito than neither.

i fully expected hendry to vehemetly persue zito this offseason, as he seems to have been enamored with barry for a while. with that this contract offer, if true, is not going to be enough to sign him initially may be just a gateway to more serious talks between boras and the cubs(what with boras and hendrys seemingly great buisness relationship). knowing hendrys past it would make sense that the cubs be more likely to end up with zito than schmidt.

anybody else think that maybe, just maybe hendry has the intent of going into spring training with cotts in mind as a starter and is not planning on trading either of eyre or ohman?

The Cubs get a sandwich pick between the first and second round. well at least we will get something hopefully worthwhile out of that trade.

so pierre ends up a type b free agent. what kind of compensation does that give us draft wise?

:shock: whoa. i have been on a crusade for people to stop putting him in the three slot for next year, but damn... that would be some tasty crow.

maybe it's greedy, but i still want one more pitcher. i just have a hard time slotting hill into the #3 spot from the get go(not that i'm the one doing it, just saying). give me schmidt + westbrook please.

He has Ceaser with 3 I believe. :oops:

the only reason that doesn't bother me yet is that it's sullivan saying it. bruce would be another thing. Which part are you talking about - Soriano in right or Cliff Floyd? Bruce has reported that Soriano could be playing RF. i know bruce was the first to report the right field thing... was speaking more about the floyd talk. that would be terrible.

how is the interleague games go this year? are the cubs playing the al central, east or west? thanks