YearofDaCubs

Burnitz can give you .280/.355/.470? He hasn't done that outside of Coors this millenium. No, but he can give you 22hr and 73 rbis which is what Green had last year. For what it will take to trade for him and take on his 8.5 mil salary you think he will be such an upgrade over Burnitz? I don't think so. You might as well sign JJones or Encarnacion then.

I dont know why some of you are so enamored with Green. His numbers aren't that great and let's face it since his shoulder injury he hasn't put up more than 28 homers in a season nor has he hit close to 100 rbis after his injury. Burnitz can probably give u the same type of numbers so how exactly is this guy an upgrade?

If Walker indeeds go I would rather have Hudson over Neifi but that isn't saying much.

If I had to take a guess I bet you Baker doesn't like him and gave the word to his puppet GM that he has to go.

Sorry, but I don't really see us ending up with Tejada. I say 2% chance IMO. That being said our OF options available are terrible. Aside from getting Pierre what upgrade have we done to put us over the top from last year? Start Cedeno over Nomar? When Nomar came back and was playing good our offense still stunk up the place. The OF options are similar to Burnitz so what exactly has our GM done to put us over the top offensively? Sorry, I don't see it. If Hendry really thinks Pierre is the guy to put us over the top he is mistaken. He is one piece to the puzzle, we need more.

The blame should go in many directions. Hendry's not a dictator. Perhaps the biggest blame goes towards whoever's in charge of drafting hitters. The Cubs inabilitiy to draft good hitters is a killer. As for Hendry and Baker, I give Hendry a B- and Baker a D. The Trib, I give a B. Wendell Kim F. I give MacPhail a D, Hendry a C and Baker an F.

They were not willing to cough up the extra 5-6 mil to upgrade the OF in 2005 when they traded Sosa. Instead we ended up with Burnitz. MacPhail has said that he feels the Cubs should NEVER go after the best free agent available on the market because of cost and years. He also said he will never move the salary up to the point that we hit the luxury tax. Obviously we don't need to hit the luxury tax but the first quote is disturbing. To me it tells me we have limits on what we can do and who we can acquire. That was also obvious when the higher ups would not allow Hendry to put up the extra 2mil to get Furcal. MacPhail as a business man has been very successful and I'm sure the Tribune loves him. MacPhail as an Executive for the Cubs and making sure all is done to put a winning team on the field has been pathetic.

At the very least we hold on to Patterson and keep him as a 4th OF.

Obviously, Jacque Jones is only speculation, but would you be pleased with Hendry's offseason if he goes into 2006 with Jones in RF, Pierre in CF, Murton in LF, Cedeno/Perez at SS and Cedeno/Walker at 2nd with the usual suspects (Ramirez, Lee and Barrett) at their respective positions? Nope. The Cubs have the same problem most teams have though cause there aren't many good RF's out there. They need to start producing more hitting talent from within. I totally agree with you but the forsight was lacking 3-5 years ago to solve this problem. Even if we draft an OF now they will not be available for a looong time.

What OF did he specifically miss out on? Drew, Maggs, Beltran and there were a couple others. Say what you want about injuries and what-not but if we had any of these guys we would be a much better team. The difference between Burnitz and the others was 4-6mil so I don't buy the story that he was handcuffed. And if he indeed was and the higherups didn't want them to spend the extra money what does that tell you about this Organization? Do they really want to win if they are not willing to put up 4-6 mil extra? Well, if you're going to disregard facts, what can I say rather than Ordonez would have been an awful signing. Oh yeah, and what facts am I disregarding? There were more options available than Ordonez. I suppose most people are expecting Hendry the Moses of GM's to pull a ARam like trade this offseason. Like I said, a little forsight be it a FA signing or trade last year and we wouldn't be having this problem in RF. Unless of course you think Jacque Jones is a good enough player to put us over the top. This has been discussed here on various occasions. The Trib wasn't willing to expand payroll to pay for Drew, Beltran or Maggs. Even if they had the money, I highly doubt they would have wanted Drew @ 5 years or Beltran @ 7. That just tells me that they could give a crap if the Cubs are a winning team or not. This organization is going nowhere with these clowns. They are butchering and removing bricks out of Wrigley Field this year to add a restaurant and more seats yet here we are with probbaly less the payroll than last year.

As much as a bust Corey has been for us last year giving him away for peanuts might not be the best thing to do. I think at the very least have him for a 4th OF or pinch runner role would be good. Yes, it's a demotion and all but better than giving him away for a bag of chips.

What OF did he specifically miss out on? Drew, Maggs, Beltran and there were a couple others. Say what you want about injuries and what-not but if we had any of these guys we would be a much better team. The difference between Burnitz and the others was 4-6mil so I don't buy the story that he was handcuffed. And if he indeed was and the higherups didn't want them to spend the extra money what does that tell you about this Organization? Do they really want to win if they are not willing to put up 4-6 mil extra? Well, if you're going to disregard facts, what can I say rather than Ordonez would have been an awful signing. Oh yeah, and what facts am I disregarding? There were more options available than Ordonez. I suppose most people are expecting Hendry the Moses of GM's to pull a ARam like trade this offseason. Like I said, a little forsight be it a FA signing or trade last year and we wouldn't be having this problem in RF. Unless of course you think Jacque Jones is a good enough player to put us over the top.

5mil for Nomar? If healthy what a steal.

I don't doubt Pierre being an upgrade in CF but the simple fact remains we currently do not have a RF and JJones is not somebody I would have on my list. A little forsight by Hendry and we wouldn't be in this predicament.

What OF did he specifically miss out on? Drew, Maggs, Beltran and there were a couple others. Say what you want about injuries and what-not but if we had any of these guys we would be a much better team. The difference between Burnitz and the others was 4-6mil so I don't buy the story that he was handcuffed. And if he indeed was and the higherups didn't want them to spend the extra money what does that tell you about this Organization? Do they really want to win if they are not willing to put up 4-6 mil extra?

I blame Hendry for this mess and nobody else. He had opportunities to lock up OFers last year. He has the resources to make trades. he already overpaid for Pierre as it is. What does he expect to happen? Does he expect to pull miracle trades every year and fleecing the other teams? As far as I'm concerned Hendry made a lot of promises about improving this team and getting a good RF. When you are the one in need every other team's asking price will be set astronomically high. Good job Hendry, way to drop the ball yet again. I don't even think our payroll is going to hit 100mil wait and see. The Cubs might indeed rob all of us blind.

The typical Cubs moves look to be coming to fruition. How typical would a JJones signing be by the Cubs.

I personally do not see Pierre as a one year wonder for us. We gave up a lot of talent for him and I can see him here at least for 2 years. It's not Hendry's MO.

I personally think it was a good move for the Cardinals not to resign him. His velocity was way down and he started to come apart at the end of the year. Not saying he won't do good but in my opinion it's very risky for that many years and money.

What does it say about what the Phils are doing? I'm actually surprised they traded Padilla considering when healthy he is probably their best pitcher. I don't know exactly what it does say possibly rebuild a bit? who knows. I don't think Padilla was their best pitcher. He's basically and older Jerome Williams. None of his peripherals suggest he's bound to break out. He's got WHIP issues, a rather low K/9, and while he gives up more ground balls than fly balls, it's not a whole lot more and he is susceptible to the HR. Going from Philly to Texas isn't going to help things either. Myers and Lieber are better than Padilla, whose 14 win seasons in 2002 and 2003 will probably inflate his arbitration salary. I forgot they had Myers. Myers is better definitely.

What does it say about what the Phils are doing? I'm actually surprised they traded Padilla considering when healthy he is probably their best pitcher. I don't know exactly what it does say possibly rebuild a bit? who knows.

This is a very good move for the Rangers.

Too bad. I wanted him to go back with the Cards. I don't like this move for the Giants.

His offense is not a terrible option but I think he is bad on defense no matter where he plays.

I think you are right about the meeting with Bradley.