I HAVE MIXED EMOTIONS ABOUT THIS __RUMOR__FIRST OF ALL THE CUBS NEED OFFENSE BESIDES LEE AND RAMIREZ. pRIOR AND WOOD AND ZAMBRANO TO ME HAVE THAT MAGICAL INTEREST THAT YOU ARE JUST WAITING TO SEE SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPEN. yOU HAVE THREE YOUNG GUNS THAT COMPETE VERY WELL WITH EACHOTHER. I ACTUALLY ENJOY WATCHING THEM PITCH MORE THAN THE CUBS OFFENSE. HEALTH HAS BEEN THE ONLY ISSUE THAT HAS STOPPED THE CUBS RECENTLY. MIGGY WOULD BE GREAT BUT I FEEL IT WOULD BE CHEAPER AND SAFER TO PLAY CEDENO AND KEEP PRIOR. BESIDES THE CUBS HAVE ALWAYS LIVED BY "DON'T KNOW WHAT U GOT TIL ITS GONE!"

THERE WAS A PITCHER THAT GOT REALEASED FROM THE DODGERS ANYONE KNOW HIS NAME?? JEFF WEAVER IS HIS NAME. SAY THE TEJADA DEAL GOES THROUGH AS PATTERSON,PRIOR,HILL DEPART THE CUBBIES AND TEJADA AND BEDARD COME TO CHICAGO I STILL THINK THERE CAN BE UPSIDE TO THIS. iF THIS DEAL GOES THROUGH I WOULD IMMEDIATELY PICK UP JEFF WEAVER!!! THIS GUY IS A WORKHORSE AND HIS NUMBERS ARENT TOO BAD. HE WOULD BE SOLID STARTER WHO COULD PITCH U DEEP INTO BALLGAMES. AS MUCH I WOULD HATE LOSING PRIOR, PICKING UP A PLAYER LIKE TEJADA WOULD BE HUGE.. I THINK HE WOULD FIT IN PERFECT FOR THE CUBS AND BE A GREAT TEAM PLAYER, AND GET ALONG WELL WITH EVERYONE. RAMIREZ,PEREZ, TEJADA ARE ALL FROM THE SAME COUNTRY. IF WE GET BEDARD IN THAT DEAL AND PICK UP A GUY LIKE JEFF WEAVER, IT WOULD STOP THE BLEEDING A LITTLE BIT. AS MUCH AS I LIKE PRIOR, I KNOW HE HAS HAD FREAK INJURIES, BUT HES LIKE A WOOD WHAT HAVE THEY REALLY DONE FOR THE TEAM. WOOD STRUCK OUT 20 BATTERS, THATS THE HIGHLIGHT OF HIS CAREER THATS IT!! HES DONE NOTHING SINCE. I WOULD NOT TRADE ZAMBRANO FOR ANYTHING!!! THAT GOES DOWN I WONT BE A CUBS FAN ANYMORE. PRIOR I CAN LIVE WITH. WOOD I AGREE NEEDS TO BE IN THE BULLPEN, HE DID GREAT IN THAT ROLE POSTING TRIPLE DIGITS ON THE GUN. ANYWAYS PRIOR FOR TEJADA I WOULD DO IT IN A HEARTBEAT. SAY TEJADA ENDS UP IN CHICAGO, CEDENO MOVES TO SECOND, WHERE HES IMPRESSED THE CUBS BRASS PLAYING SECOND BASE IN WINTER BALL. YA DEAL WALKER TO GET A DEAL DONE FOR ANOTHER PITCHER. YOU WOULD HAVE PEREZ AS A BACKUP AT SECOND AND SHORT. YOU HAVE MABRY ON THE BENCH WHOS A REAL UPGRADE OVER MACIAS I WAS STARTING TO THINK THAT MACIAS WAS SIGNED TO A LIFTIME CONTRACT WITH THE CUBS. YOU HAVE HAIRSTON AS A BENCH PLAYER WHO CAN PLAY MANY POSITIONS. I LIKE THE DEPTH WE WOULD HAVE IMAGINE A LINE UP WITH

1.PIERRE

2.CEDENO

3.LEE

4.RAMIREZ

5.TEJADA

6.JONES

7.MURTON

8.BARRET

I CAN LIVE WITH THAT!!! BOTTOM LINE IS THAT SAY THIS HAPPENS THERE ARE STILL MANY POSSIBILITIES FOR QUALITY PITCHING OUT THERE. JIM HENDY WONT BE DONE WHEELIN AND DEALIN IF THIS DEAL GOES THROUGH. HE WILL ADDRESS THE PITCHING SITUATION. TEJADA IS A ONCE IN A LIFTIME CHANCE FOR THE CUBBIES I SAY GET E'R DONE.

i really really really hope that this trade does not happen; but if it does i hope that Hendry has something up his sleeve yet.

ESPN 1000 in Chicago is talking about the trade right now. They just mentioned Bruce Levine reported the Cubs have offered Mark Prior, Rich Hill and Corey Patterson for Miguel Tejada and Erik Bedard.

TUNE IN....

Hey I just heard on cubbiesbaseball.com that they offered a deal for Tejada they offered Mark Prior, Corey Patterson and Rich Hill for Miguel Tejada and Eric Bedard

Why didn't we just sign Nomar (who wanted to come back badly)? Oh wait I remember if we resigned him we wouldn't have to give up any prospects or pitchers, which seems to be the goal here. Or even maybe tried a little bit to get Furcal. If you trade Prior you have just lost a fan as well, and I don't think you want to be loosing fan support with the White Sox doing so much better than you are!

We need more starting pitching, not less. Since it is questionable whether Wood will return to the starting rotation, it is essential to have two high quality starters. If Wood were 100% healthy (something of at wet dream these days) maybe you consider making this move. Pitching wins championships at any level (I think the winner of the college world series about the last 5 years has had the 1st or 2nd best best overall pitching staff). Look at the White Sox and Astros, two very average offensive teams that cobbled together outstanding pitching staffs and won by manufacturing runs. If you aren't a fantasy team like the Yankees, especially in the national league, you get it done with pitching. We cannot afford to give up Prior at this point, and if it were me I would try to trade for another potential 1 or 2 type starter such as Zito to make the rotation deeper, potentially allowing Wood to stay in the pen to compliment Howry, Erye, and Dempster (potentially one tough pen).

Additionally, what gurantees do we have the Tejada would be happy in Chicago and would stay in the long term? What dynamic would he bring to the clubhouse? To me, this also adds an element of risk that is clearly not in play with Mark Prior.

I agree with Abby wholeheartedly. Also, since nick completely agrees with me, he is also someone I agree with.

Trading Prior or Zambrano will not agree with me, and, in fact, will likely require several weeks of Tums or Mylanta to settle me down. I think we all would agree that my wife would agree that no one wants to see me like that...agreed?

Prior, Zambrano, Wood (healthy), Guzman, Hill, Maddux. Those 5 should be our starters. If Guzman and Hill aren't ready, then acquire a quality starter (aka Zito).

Or you could call the White Sox...I hear they have 6 quality starters, and would probably be open to getting rid of the Cubs former #1 pick, Jon Garland.

I think Hendry is starting to lose it. If you can't trade Prior for Abreu, but you can trade him for Tejada, then Hendry doesn't know anything about baseball talent. I would rather have Abreu than Tejada, as he provides speed and power, and we could have used him more, as we needed an OF. We could use an upgrade at either SS or 2B, but at least we have Walker and Cedeno already there. So this whole thing makes no sense, and I wonder if ol' Hendry is starting to worry about losing his job, and is having foolish thoughts because of it.

I completly agree with Jason, pitching wins championships, if we would trade away Prior that would leave us with Zambrano, Maddux (coming close to the end of his career) Williams and Rusch, and a rookie, That is not a pitching staff that is going to win a championship. i already didn't like the idea of Rusch being our fifth starter. With the addition of Jones i think we have plenty of offense i truly believe he will have a good year. We need pitching that is going to shut a team down. Look at the Yankees yea they get to the playoffs every year but the get beat by a team with better pitching. If he is going to trade anyone i agree with going after Zito and Kendall. Please Hendry don't trade Prior or Cedeno!!!

Ok, someone educate me here - a freak accident fractures your elbow (probably not going to happen again) and we're considering letting him go? We have great pitchers, when they're "on"...problem is that they'll never all be "on" at the same time. Bringing in a great shortstop sounds good, but one left groin injury and you're useless for 4 months ..... Sounds too familiar. Keep Prior, we need depth there.

Larry Bowa said this morning he thinks trading Prior for Tejada is a good idea, but not Zambrano. Bowa said Z is now the number one pitcher for the Cubs and with Prior's injury history, he would make the trade.

Discuss...

Look at the years Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee, and Frank Thomas have had in the past for the White Sox. As soon as they were gone (or marginalized in Thomas' case) the White Sox won a World Series...simply because they got on base, and had great pitching. There weren't swinging for the HR every time.

Look at the Cubs in 2004...revamped...Aramis, Sosa, Alou, Lee, Walker, Barrett, Nomar (after the AllStar break), Patterson...those are hard-hitting, HR-focused, RBI guys. That wasn't good enough. Why? Because the pitching was poor, due to injuries, and, I believe, to Barrett's ability to handle the pitchers.

The Yankees have had incredible offensive lineups the last several years, but when they won their championships, they had great pitching. The Yankees' pitchers were poor last year, in general, or injured.

Boston won with Schilling and Pedro. The Marlins won before them with Beckett and other solid starters, and a team that got on base.

I like Murton, Pierre, Cedeno, Aramis, and D.Lee. Barrett is ok offensively, but I worry he is hurting our ERAs a bit, but I can live with him. Jones is a mediocre player...I hope he has a career resurgence now, of course, but the last two years have me worrying. Finally...who is playing opposite Cedeno? Don't give me Neifi, please. I can live with Walker.

So I don't think we need Tejada, as much as we need another Mark Prior. I still say if you can somehow trade the farm system, and Barrett, and get Zito and Kendall, that would go a long way to helping the Cubs win a championship the next couple of years.

I am concerned that there is even TALK of trading Prior. Before last year's injury, there was talk of him being a top 5-10 pitcher in ALL of baseball. Yes Miggy is amazing, but pitching wins championships. Hendry is much smarter than that so I'm not going to fly off the handle though. If the trade is pulled off, I would hope he had another move, or two or three, up his sleeve.

Guys come on this is are chance to get a big huge offensive threat shortstop.I would do this in a second trade Mark Prior and Felix Pie(the 1 whose SUPPOSED to be great) for Miguel Tejada and Eric Bedard.Then we get a good replacement for prior and we still will get Tejada.You can even throw in Corey.Hendry if you are reading this please do it we need more offense!

Thanks

I totally agree with Chad. Pitching wins championships, just like the Sox did. We need more pitching not give up what we already have. We need another top starting pitcher . Keep Cedeno and Walker they will be fine if we get starting pitching. Cedenp hit 330 in the minors and over 300 with the Cubs. Walker is over a 280 lifetime hitter . What is wrong with that ? And we still have Hairston and Perez for backups. Get pitching , pitching. pitching

NOOOOOOOOO! Hendry better not make this trade. Tejada is not worth Prior straight up. We have a young SS in Cedeno that is going to be a very solid player. We should have got Huff and Lugo instead of Jones. This trade better not happen. I will have a hard time rooting for the Cubs if they do this and I'm a die hard fan, this might be my final straw if this occurs. How about you guys?

Prior will NOT go to the O's unless it is Tejada AND Bedard are pakaged together. I don't want the trade and it probably wont happen.

Pitching wins championships, and other than a couple freak accidents, Prior has been fine. I would rather have the big three anyday over Miggy.

Zito is going to cost you more than the group you just mentioned. Based on what it took to get Mulder and Hudson from the A's last year, I'd expect it would cost you three prospects (1) Pie, (2) Hill or Cedeno and (3) mid tier prospect. Patterson and Dopirak are not the types of player than Billy Beane typically has on his teams (high OBP) so I expect that the A's would not take then in a deal.

Also, I don't think you could get Tejada without dealing Prior or Zambrano. It would be nice, but not realistic.

Please please please don't tell me that Hendry is going to trade Prior or Zambrano. I love Tejada, but not that much. You spend half of every game watching the Cubs pitch to the opposing team. Your starting pitchers win you championships. I don't want to watch a rotation of Rusch, Maddux, Williams, Zambrano, and Hill. There is only one good pitcher out of the bunch...that means 4 out of 5 times that I am watching the Cubs, they would be more likely to lose than win, and crappy pitchers hardly make for fun ballgames to watch.

This is insanity. We sign a mediocre RF to a 3 yr contract, and we are also thinking of trading 1 of our 2 young stud pitchers? Huh?

How many championships did we win with Sosa hitting Tejada-like numbers year after year? None. Why? Because we never had good enough pitching. The closest we came was 2003, when our pitching was the best it has been since I can remember.

We should trade Rich Hill, Barrett, Patterson, and Walker to the A's, in exchange for Zito and Jason Kendall.

Now you have a catcher that knows how to call a ballgame, which will get our ERAs back down to 2003 levels, and you get a solid 3rd Starter.

The A's want to unload Kendall's salary, and they know they can't afford to keep Zito. You may have to throw in another prospect as well.

This would help so much more than Tejada ever would.

Why, oh why are we considering trading our number 2 pitcher??? I've read people dogging Prior recently....His worst era was 4.02 in an injury season, and he still went 6-4. His career ERA is 3.24!!

Why can't Hendry come to his senses and trade a few lower tier prospects for Julio Lugo??? If he does want to pursue Tejada, I would offer what I stated in an earlier post (3 way trade with oakland): Rich Hill, Patterson, Walker, Jerome Williams or Angel Guzman. I truly believe that would be enuf to pull that trade off.

Otherwise go out and get Lugo, plug him into the 2 hole (behind Pierre and in front of D-Lee), and let those 2 guys set the table for the heart of the order. Play Cedeno at 2nd base.......I would much rather have Lugo and Prior on the team, than giving up Prior to land a SS in Tejada. Again, if we can trade prospects (not Pie and Cedeno) to get Tejada, I'd do it (Dopirak is a kid people are talking highly of too).....

I wish Hendry would just give me a call.