YearofDaCubs

I have to say though at least it feels good hearing the Cubs involved in all of these rumors. I just hope we improve the team enough to finally win.

14 mi is a lot of money for Drew but I believe he would make the most difference from the available FA's

We are in no rush to offer abritration, as long as it is by the deadline. If team signs him today we can still offer arbitration and get the picks Isn't Pierre a type B free agent? If so, then the Cubs would get no compensation per the new labor agreement, right? We get a supplemental pick. The Giants don't have to give up anything. Thats the difference. I think. Teams that lose a Type B free agent will now earn a sandwich pick instead of taking selection from club that signed player. Link Thanks. A sandwich pick for Pierre would be terrific! Agreed.

I believe that is the most likely scenario too but I can't handle another year of Pierre here.

I'll kill myself if we end up with Pierre again.

Have you guys seen this? http://www.allcubs.com/2006/11/projecting_mark.html

Trading Barrett would be dumb. Our offense right now already is pretty bad and making it worse won't help the cause.

The 3 I would not like to see moved are..Eyre, Howry and Wuertz.

Now I'm officially worried about this team.

Because we know if the Cubs sign him they will give him 9M a year?To sign Meche so early and considering what other options are out there I think Meche would get at least 8mil per IMO.

Scouting directors don't think about cost efficiency. They are excited if they find an unknown nobody who winds up having one decent season in the majors. yes, people on internet message boards are much better sources for determining the quality of a signing In all fairness considering the moves Hendry has made in the past you can make a case for it.

or Lilly :) Actually Wolf would be a very intriguing possibility.

Maria Kanelis who now works for WWF. She won some contest and now works for them.

Best news I've heard all day. If we get Lugo and get rid of Izturis I will be a happy man.

Let's put it this way..We leave Soto as our backup catcher, not resign Blanco, not sign DeRosa take that money and sign Lugo as our 2B. I would rather have Lugo and Soto over DeRosa and Blanco.

I agree with most of what you said. If you sit by and wait to sign Derosa, he might be signed by someone else and then everyone would jump on Hendry for not signing "someone like Derosa". Maybe Hendry is looking at Meche, Lilly, etc. because he knows that Schmidt and Zito are definitely going to the East or West coast and he doesn't want to risk losing out on some starting pitchers. Too many of us just criticize without knowing all of what might be going on behind the scenes. A perfect example was Brian Giles last year. Everyone jumped all over Hendry about Giles, but then it became obvious that he had no intention of leaving San Diego. I highly doubt people would jump on Hendry for "not signing someone like DeRosa" if he makes the necessary moves to get us into the playoffs. Signing DeRosa an unproven commodity, Blanco to another overinflated deal, and mediocre pitchers will not get us back into the playoffs. I think the Derosa signing was a good one, and yes people wold have complained constantly on these boards if we went into the season with Cedeno and Theriot at 2nd and they didnt perform well, there would be a ton of post about "Why didn't we sign a guy like Derosa". Derosa proved himself as a solid full time possition player last year, if you dont believe that your simply ignoring his numbers from last year. I do agree that Hendry has been over paying for mediocre players in alot of other areas and thats going to wind up killing us in the areas where we need a big upgrade. Hendry is going to do everything he thinks he can to save his job by trying to do what he thinks will make us a winning team. He's just digging his own grave though by signing guys like Rusch and Blanco to contracts that are way over blown. If he can get Gil Meche for cheap then it might be worth the risk but for more than 1 year or big money is another mistake. The DeRosa signing was a huge risk. He had one good year and that was during his contract year. His career numbers are pretty bad aside from last year. If DeRosa puts up the same numbers as last year and keeps that pace for the remainder of the contract then yes it was a good deal made by Hendry but I'm skeptical DeRosa can actually put up those numbers. I would rather have seen Giles or Lugo as our 2B for next year. Heck, even Durham who I'm not so high on due to his age would have been a good move for us. We need to win and here is Hendry taking risks with unproven players and overbloated contracts yet again. DeRosa is unproven. If you think Hendry would sign Meche to a 1 year deal you are mistaken, if he indeed signs Meche I can guarantee you it will be for at least 3 years and at least 8mil. Bank on it.

True. You can go by what the dimwit says, though. He says that DeRosa is the starting 2B. Both Hendry and DeRosa have said he was signed to be our starting 2B.

If the Red Sox end up with Drew I would like to see us make a trade for Crisp.

I agree with most of what you said. If you sit by and wait to sign Derosa, he might be signed by someone else and then everyone would jump on Hendry for not signing "someone like Derosa". Maybe Hendry is looking at Meche, Lilly, etc. because he knows that Schmidt and Zito are definitely going to the East or West coast and he doesn't want to risk losing out on some starting pitchers. Too many of us just criticize without knowing all of what might be going on behind the scenes. A perfect example was Brian Giles last year. Everyone jumped all over Hendry about Giles, but then it became obvious that he had no intention of leaving San Diego. I highly doubt people would jump on Hendry for "not signing someone like DeRosa" if he makes the necessary moves to get us into the playoffs. Signing DeRosa an unproven commodity, Blanco to another overinflated deal, and mediocre pitchers will not get us back into the playoffs.

At what point do we start looking for a new GM?

A gamble on such a player would be fine. If Jim gets him for 1 year relatively cheaply, great. If he signs him longterm at big money, that's not a gamble, that's throwing away money. It's scary how Hendry throws money left and right to mediocre players, it's sickening. Bloated contracts list: Dempster Rusch DeRosa Izturis Blanco

What I don't understand is why anybody would want DeRosa. I think he's a decent bench guy, but not at 4.3 million. But he's not here to be a bench guy, he's here to be your starting 2B. Huge difference.

Westbrook would make the most sense for us.

We really need a good GM. We have the payroll to make a difference yet we are still looking at middle tier free agents, why?

Agreed. This is an eh move but you're right Soto could have been our backup.