YearofDaCubs

Dumb..

Fontenot is no DeRosa, period.

Agreed with the above pitchers. If not, put Marshall in the rotation and sign a lefty reliever. We probably need a better lefty reliever anyway.

I find it a slap in the face to all bears fans that babich is still the defensive coordinator of this team. If they were going to fire him it would have happened already. What a travesty.

Per Rotoworld: MLB suspended RHP Sergio Mitre 50 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

When you have a payroll of 110-130mil and you're team is in the NL central division how hard is it not to make the playoffs? I wouldn't necessarily call the team as winning consistently either. 2004-2006 were disasters IMO.

Bako is going to essentially make major league minimum. It doesn't cost them anything more to have Bako be on the major league squad and Hill on Iowa then to have Hill on the major league squad and another minor league player on the 40 man. It doesn't cost them anything in terms of dollars, but it's a roster spot filled by a horrible player. He asked why not just go with Koyie Hill. He already was assuming the Cubs would go cheap and really bad in that spot. If the Cubs wanted quality for their backup catcher, they should have accepted Blanco's option. Instead, they decided to go cheap for their catcher. There is no real difference between Hill and Bako. They are going to get paid about the same amount (in fact, the payroll estimate thread would say that Hill would make slightly more if he makes the team than Bako would if he does) and they have about the same skills. Yeah but isn't Bako already 36 or 37?

Not to get too much off topic but I agree why sign Bako when you have a really good def catcher in K Hill? Save that money and put it elsewhere.

I should have specified those 3 pitchers as pieces to the Peavy trade. But those were the pieces that might have been missing the first time around.

Lol. I believe it. I can see it happening actually. Why else trade DeRo for 3 scrub pitchers we have no use for? I think it was more than just a salary dump.

I agree. It seems he caught the Texas lightning in a bottle. He'll be fairly productive when he's healthy, but probably not nearly as good as he was last year. Anyone else sick to their stomachs knowing that we now have approximately $70 million tied up in Fukudome & Bradley for the next 3 years? Due to contracts, our offense will remain nearly exactly the same for the next 3 years. It better be good again. No, it makes me more sick knowing we have more money tied up to Soriano.

I think there's a good chance it will happen. Why else would we trade DeRosa for crap pitching prospects? I understand they had to move salary but I expected better than what we got from the Indians.

I love the move to sign Bradley but unfortunately it came at the expense of weakening our offense to get this move done. I think Bradley is going to be huge for us. He is going to be the Fukudome we were expecting at RF.

I think it's a good deal for the Rays.

Play at least average defense at 2b is one thing and can he sustain his success from last year throughout an entire season. I don't think he can.

This deal only makes sense if we are to acquire Peavy. I like Bradley but again we would be weakening our offense by trading DeRo to upgrade it a bit by signing Bradley. I'm not sold on Fontenot being the answer at 2B. To those that are sold on Fontenot this deal makes sense.

Of course we overpaid. We gave an unproven starter crazy money.

Nope I feel the same way.

The coaching staff helped produce the best team in the NFC that year. But they were probably 4th or 5th overall that year, and that was 3 years ago, not to mention not even the same staff. That ship has sailed. It was a fleating moment of glory that was unsustainable. How many seasons of mediocrity will it take for you to think the past continues to outweigh the present. More than two. We also had a competent defensive coordinator back then, now we do not.

I'm not a huge Lovie fan. He's a good player's coach but he looks clueless on game day and probably is. He probably relies on his coordinators a lot on game day. Lovie isn't going anywhere but Babich has to go. He's terrible. Let's face it this cover-2 scheme we are running is broken. Our blitzing packages were putrid. I'd like to see the bears run more of a cover scheme similar to the Panthers. We don't have the safeties to play a proper cover-2 scheme anyway. Why weren't the CB's hitting their man at the line? If you allow WR's to run free they will make plays, especially when you rely so heavily on safety help(ours suck) There's just so many things wrong with this team. For one, the drafting has been abysmal now for quite some time. We are of course still in need of a QB which I find pathetic. How come every other team can find an above average QB but we can't? We need more talent on offense. Getting rid of Bradley to sign Booker and Rashied Davis was freaking stupid. Earl Bennett? Who? Just another bust 3rd round pick. You can count on your fingers the players that were actually good this year which is scary on a 53 man team. Olsen Forte Alex Brown Lance Briggs At one point I thought we found our guy in Orton. He looked to have improved but completely regressed towards the end of the season. I don't buy the ankle injury. He had plenty of time to heal up from that and he still sucked. Of course I don't think it's all his fault, the guy has the league worst receivers to throw to. We had the most dangerous weapon in Hester and we somehow managed to make him a terrible kick returner and a mediocre WR. Great plan. We need to focus on WR, QB, Safety, and OL in this year's draft.

What a joke. I will not expect anything more than a 1st round exit again.

He's good but not that good and definitely not as good as that ridiculous contract he's about to sign. These contracts are just getting too crazy.

Wow, that's bad. We really need to find better personnel for our drafting and scouting. Wilken really hasn't made a difference.

I'm sure it's been said in this thread before but how is this guy any better than Pie?

If we can't get Bradley, I'd like to trade for a younger OF that can actually play a little defense and will be around for a few years. (Hermida, McLouth, DeJesus, etc.) If we can't get Bradley or Abreu, this offseason officially blows. We've actually found a way to downgrade the team instead of improving it and at the same time paying more for the product. Great job.