YearofDaCubs

Cubs Get: Harden, Tejada, Bedard, cash, prospects Orioles Get: Prior and Zito Athletics Get: A lot of really good prospects likely involving Rich Hill and Nick Markakis That I could live with. Oh come on, that's just silly. As is trading Prior straight up for Tejada, imo. Seriously, this is borderline ridiculous. I feel like Jim Hendry secretly lost a bet with Jim Bowden, allowing Bowden to run the Cubs' 2006 offseason. Agreed. This is ridiculous and the first thing I did think of was this was a Bowdenesque trade. This trade proposal is far from ridiculous. Some ridiculous things: Signing Perez for way over market value Signing Jones for way over what he deserves with Pie in the wings Tejada is arguably the best SS in baseball, if not he in the same class. Prior is a very good young pitcher who has put up good numbers for one year and has been injured for two others. Other teams don't care if they were or were not freak injuries. Prior has a lot of hype, good perherials, but not much else from a convential perspective (wins and losses). People here know the story of wins and losses for a pitcher but few else do. One could say they wouldn't do the deal given the Cubs needs but the proposed trade is not ridiculous. Tejada is going to be 30 years old. You can find an OFer that can surpass Tejada's numbers far cheaper than giving up Prior. Good luck trying to find a pitcher like Prior if he indeed is traded. It is ridiculous because how many good years do you expect from Tejada? Look no further than Nomar who within one year broke down.

Cubs Get: Harden, Tejada, Bedard, cash, prospects Orioles Get: Prior and Zito Athletics Get: A lot of really good prospects likely involving Rich Hill and Nick Markakis That I could live with. Oh come on, that's just silly. As is trading Prior straight up for Tejada, imo. Seriously, this is borderline ridiculous. I feel like Jim Hendry secretly lost a bet with Jim Bowden, allowing Bowden to run the Cubs' 2006 offseason. Agreed. This is ridiculous and the first thing I did think of was this was a Bowdenesque trade.

You know if this trade goes down what a damn fool Hendry is. He had an opportunity to sign Tejada 2-3 years ago when he was a FA and Hendry didn't even bite even when we all knew AGone had to go. Now 2 years later he is willing to trade Prior who is 25 years old for Tejada who will be 30? This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time.

Yeah, talk to us when you have been waiting close to 100 years for a WS win and then we'll talk.

WOW, Levine just said on ESPN 1000 that it is indeed true Prior's name has been mentioned for Tejada. Hendry has lost his mind.

I will give Hendry the benefit of the doubt that this trade will not happen.

I dont care who is thrown in. A Tejada for Prior deal is never a good idea.

Guh? I sure would love to hear what Hendry thinks is a good trade that involves Prior. i feel like i just got punched in the stomach. your not alone. If Prior is traded, I don't know what the **** I'll do. Prior for Tejada? I hope to God something like this does not happen. Hendry would be a bigger fool than I thought.

03 was a long time ago. Not a good idea to rely on some of our aces who have been injured the past two years. I can understand saying that about Wood, but Prior? I don't think line drives to the elbow are a frequently recurring injury. How quick we are to forget how much time Prior missed in 2004. Since then Prior hasn't been exactly "lighting it up" either.

03 was a long time ago. Not a good idea to rely on some of our aces who have been injured the past two years.

Pierre's 2005 would still have gotten Lee another 25 RBI's for us last year. Feel free to call me on it at the end of the season. Pierre will be a big plus I dont doubt Pierre will be a plus but you scoff at the idea of how effective Wilkerson and Bradley could have been for us.

Personally, I don't think Corey is even close to the 2nd part of that equation. It's mental with Corey, but it's just not from being stubborn. He's just too tight out there. He's worrying too much about not striking out. He also has flaws in his swing (too long and too much of an uppercut). It's like a baserunner at 1B looking to steal, you step too far away from the base (say 15ft) and start worrying about getting picked off, you won't get a good jump. UK you just said it. I don't think Corey will be successful with the swing he has. As far as getting a new IF. Keep dreaming and counting on Hendry to make the miracle moves we keep hearing about but never come to fruition. Steve, we should all hope Pierre's year last year was an anomaly or else your perfect leadoff hitter will put us in a tough spot.

So basically you want us to throw all of our valuable chips to get Zito who is due a huge contract next year with Prior and Z coming up as well and after trading all of our valuable chips, try and acquire another RFer when we couldn't even find one before? Sorry, I don't see it happening.

Why wouldn't I be high on Rolen? A career .890 OPS to go along with the best defense out of a third baesman in the game. There seems to be this misconception that Scott Rolen is brittle, like a JD Drew, or something. Even if he gets hurt, he still plays... I sometimes wonder if people are talking of the same Scott Rolen: 2001: 151 games 2002: 155 games 2003: 154 games 2004: 142 games 2005: 56 games Is there something I'm missing? Fluke shoulder injury on a collision with Alex Cintron cost him the 2002 playoffs. In 2004, he did miss some time, but still managed to play in 142 games. You can argue that it cost him the playoffs that year, too, but I would beg to differ. In the NLCS he hit .310 with a 1.045 OPS. If anything, it was him cooling off. Last season was also a pretty fluke injury, when he collided with Heep Sop Choi. Now, I'm not saying that it doesn't matter how you get hurt... it's just, what are the chances of these happening? Clearly, if Rolen is getting hurt, he's still battling through it. Look at the games he's played since coming to St. Louis. He does seem to always have lingering injuries, but as I've already said, he plays through them and plays at a very high level. And to then to address the second point you made: on that list that I provided where I went through player-by-player -- who on there is such a significant loss that we'll end up losing 11 wins from last year's team? I'm not saying that the playoffs are a lock -- fluke injuries and whatnot always seem to pop up. However, I think that St. Louis has just as good a chance as anyone to make the playoffs. The nucleus of the team stayed intact; given the elite talent they have within that nucleus, they're going to win a lot of games. BONUS: Quote from Ponson: Sounds sincere to me. He's content on turning it around. I hope this signing works out well. One thing to consider about shoulder injuries is how that will affect his swing. Shawn Green comes to mind. Had shoulder problems and never came close to his numbers again. Whenever a player has a serious injury which is what Rolen had you do have to question how he will come back. I still say Cards take the division because their nucleus of players i svery solid.

Wow, that is just nuts. You would think that half their team will break down during a onth into the season because of their age. Is their GM Sabean younger than these guys?

No offense to you but I hear that all the time on the board how somebody has a gut feeling something big is about to happen yet it never does. I'm not as optimistic about getting Tejada and others.

This is where I disagree a little. As the LH half of a platoon, and facing all RH starting pitchers, Jones would get the lion's share of the playing time, since LH starting pitching is scarce. I absolutely agree no team would give a player $5.33 million per year to face only LH pitching, but it is not unthinkable for RH pitching, and Jones really does need a platoon partner, as he is certifiably horrible vs. LHP's. Ideally platooning Jones would make RF more successfull but lets be realistic. I doubt I see Hendry pulling a move to sign a guy just to platoon with Jones. It's not his MO.

Are they cost cutting moves or baseball philosophy? Given what they've paid for such mediocre veterans, the contract they gave Baker, the never ending stream of advisors to the GM and whatnot, as well as the money they've paid draft picks, I wouldn't say this is entirely cost cutting. Well, whatever it is it stinks.

Mr. Miles, It is my impression that Hairston is not well liked by Dusty. He made a number of comments about him missing signs and base running gaffes. Is this the case? Dusty seemed to have a distaste for Hairston right from spring training, for whatever reason. Hairston missed a number of signs during the season, and that certainly didn't endear him to the boss. But as the year went on, Hairston seemed to grow on the Cubs a little more _ Hendry also said as much at the winter meetings. He can be a valuable guy to have on a team, and he certainly wasn't the only Cub to make mental errors. How can the manager blame the players for mental errors when he himself has his share of them.

Getting Tejada would be huge but I would HATE to see Cedeno be part of the trade. I would add another minor leaguer instead.

I know UK in the past has mentioned that we have moved away from scouting in Central/South America. I don't think that is a good move at all considering how much talent is out there. These cost-cutting moves by this organization really disturbs me.

Watch us draft another pitcher in the first round.

Levine was just on and said the Cubs have been talking to the O's about Tejada the entire time and look to be front runners for him if they decide to trade him. Also said Walker and CPatt are more than likely gone. I missed some of the other stuff.

Over the top? No I don't think so. I as well as others want us to win the WS. That isn't happening with Jacque Jones.

Is it just me, or is Lovie Smith the exact opposite of Dusty? The best players play, period. If you suck, you're gone. Yes he is. I love the way Lovie coaches.