Elliot, the Cubs seem to be shopping Todd Walker. Every week there seems to be another team, now granted a lot of those are just rumors, but when someone of the calibar of Jayson Stark reports what he did last Friday, I am going to put that info on this site. I agree with you about what you said about the defense and I really feel that is the reason the Cubs have been shopping Walker. Everything I hear is the Cubs concern over his defense, not his offense. Will he be a Cub in a month? Who knows. I am not going to throw out a name in a news report, just to make 'news'. I am going to give you and the rest of the CCO readers exactly what I am hearing or reading from reliable sources. Do I agree with everything the Cubs have done this off-season, of course not, but when I keep hearing a name, I am going to explore it. I do not know if you saw this, but I even went as far as to contact a Devil Rays site to ask them what they thought of Lugo and Huff, they were very nice and helped me share info on both Lugo and Huff that you cannot get from the radio or newspapers. I will tell you that if the Cubs do not have to give up too much for Lugo, I would do the trade. The idea of Hariston or Perez starting everyday concerns me. And if Dusty decides to platoon Hariston and Perez, I have concerns over what that could do to Ronny Cedeno's development. Cedeno has to have a stable second baseman, if he is going to play short for the Cubs, and if Cedeno has to deal with a new second baseman every other day, what kind of defense would the Cubs have? The middle infield needs consistancy, just think how many different guys have been at those positions over the past 3 years, and a three headed second baseman is not the answer.

Who would you suggest the Cubs go after to fix the problem I think we both agree to needs a solution?

Hey Neil, yes, I read your piece on Walker. You state that he was a good defensive player at 2B, but the guy's only played like 50 out of his career 780 games at 2B. That's a bit unproven to me. Don't get me wrong, I know you are not anti-Todd Walker, and I don't think there are many Cub fans that are.

People keep talking about the potential of Lugo's numbers if he bats in front of Lee and Ramirez. Now... I don't want to make anyone angry by thinking i'm jinxing the team, but Lee had, what, ONE superstar year? We need to be realistic. If he has a similar year as last year, I predict an MVP and a world series title. However, I like to see at least a string of superstar years before I sign the multimillion dollar check. Look at Adrian Beltre. The guy has one superstar season and gets the contract of a lifetime, only to have the same stats as Ben Broussard! Lee is a solid player and leader, and I wouldn't even take Pujols over him. But that's besides the point.

I forgot where I read this, it might have been from this website, but Ron Santo, who has long felt that the way to win at Wrigley was a potent offense, has recanted his words and thinks that defense and pitching is the key to winning at Wrigley. All those who think the Cubs offense is pretty potent, raise your hands. My hand is up. A lot goes to say about the Twinkies organization, who hasn't had a player hit 30 home runs since 1987 or something, yet are always in contention because of solid fundamental baseball. No, we don't need more offense. We need a defense so damn good that "Z" can throw his sinker all day and not a single ball will squweek past the infield. Anyways, I feel like i'm ranting and raving, but these are just my thoughts. I welcome any criticism.

Elliot, I don't think you will find many Cub fans who do not like Walker. My personal concern is that Dusty won't play Walker as much as he should play. He only had 400 at bats last year. I feel that there would be more pressure on Dusty to start Lugo if he did come to the Cubs. Lugo is also 2 1/2 years younger than Walker. Again though, don't get me wrong. If it were up to me, I would keep Walker and start him almost everyday !! I think we have seen that Baker just won't do that.

Elliot, you are overlooking the little things that Lugo could do for us. first off, him being surrounded by a bad team means that his offensive production can only improve. he will finally be around people that can consistently drive him in. also, he will make lee and ramirez better. having somebody on first who is a basestealing threat changes the whole pitcher's approach. instead of throwing breaking stuff, they have to throw heat which will have lee and ramirez drooling. if the pitcher decides to worry more about the batter, then lugo will have a free pass to second turning a walk/single into a double and scoring position for our rbi guys. same goes for pierre. yeah we have pierre for all that but why not have 2?

plus baker is always big on defense. lugo can still be taught. look at what he did with ramirez. he's actually a pretty good fielder now when he was one of the worst in the league when he came to the cubs. i'd say it's worth letting a prospect or 2 go when we can get similar ones back with trading walker. like ozzie guillen said, speed always shows up to play and look what podsednik did for him.

Elliot I think you have me pegged as being anti-Todd Walker and I am not. Did you see the post I did last week about Walker?

I am still against a potential Lugo signing. Neil, I know that the Brave's interest in Lugo is enticing. I have utter respect for the Braves organization, and I think that Bobby Cox can squeeze talent out of an orange. But let's break down Lugo's stats and compare them to Walker. Everybody talks about Lugo's great OBP of 0.362, but need I remind everyone that Walker's was 0.355. Plus, he struck out a mere 40 times, and during his stint with Boston, was the most difficult man in the American League to strike out. Granted, Lugo doesn't strike out much either, but he better not for somebody who wacks a mere 6 homeruns a year. Walker committed 6 errors in 413 total chances, while Lugo committed 24 errors in 758 total chances. Yes, Lugo has much more speed than Walker, I'll give him that. But Walker's a veteran who runs the bases well. Finally, Lugo played for one of the worst teams in all of baseball. Obviously, all the blame doesn't fall on his shoulders, but the fact that his team performed so poorly reflects the quality of its players, both individually and as a whole. I would love to upgrade at 2B. And I gladly welcome every reason in the world if somebody can convince me why Lugo is an upgrade over Walker. But the reasons I've heard so far (better OBP, which is not true; better defense, which is not true; and more speed, who cares we've got speedy gonzalez in center) simply don't add up! I firmly believe that Lugo is a DOWNgrade, and we'd be taking a step backwards with his signing. Oh yeah, I also forgot to mention that Lugo BATS RIGHT HANDED. He'd fit right in with all the other right handed bats in our right handed heavy hitting lineup. The Cubs get absolutely shut down every time they face a dominating right-handed pitcher, and in the national league, Smoltz, Pedro, Oswalt, Sheets, Peavy, Carpenter, and Clemens are going to mow through the Cubs lineup with ease. Now, we should sign Lugo because... ?