Though I'm not a proponent of the contract negotiated by A-Rod, his production is well over double that of a certain $160m guy named Soriano. From what I saw in '07 he's not worth the millions given to him either.

It's what the market will bear.

I know that 300 million is an obscene amount of money, but I can't fault Boras for the Marketing clause. IF one thinks about it, the Yankees and MLB are going to make a TON of money on any new HR race. Look at what happened this year in small market San Fran. The circus that will bring in New York will be ridiculous. I can see the Yankees promoting it by saying that the HR crown is back where it belongs in pinstripes blah, blah, blah......

Anyway, I can't fault Boras or Arod for wanting a piece of that since he's the one doing all the work. Still, I don't think anybody but the Yanks would go for that crap, and I, like Aaron, would tell him to go straight to hell.

Living in Atlanta I get to see Andruw Jones a lot. While his overall stats are still somewhat attractive (good summary in the above post), the guys is definitely on the decline (though he's still only around 30 y/o). Andruw can't lay off the breaking ball, is typically behind in the count (we see enough of that), has forgotten how to hit to the opposite field, and now tends to get overpowered with the high fastball. Most importantly, he tends to fall into that J. Jones mold of "whatever happens,happens". He's very complacent, and has also battled weight issues the last couple years.

I think we need a sparkplug in the OF, so if we can't get a Fukodome then I'd like to see either a Rowand or (yes) a Kenny Lofton in the OF (the guy can still make things happen).

Interesting to read in the Atlanta paper over the weekend how they now have this young kid with a great attitude and 5-tool skills to take over in CF. The Braves have shown that they can develop young talent, and play them! I think the Cubs need to do the same with Pie, Patterson and Soto. Youth, energy, and fundamentals.

I totally agree with all of you on Wood. I really think he'll be back ... Hendry has to realize we have no one to replace him and if we meet the dollars offered by other clubs, Woody will want to come back to the Cubs. It may take $10-12 mil for 2 years, but we need him in the pen.

Unfortunately it seems that no matter what happens with Fukudome, the Crawford thing is not gonna happen. Depending on which of the rumors you believe, either the Rays and the Cubs have not discussed Crawford or the Rays have turned down some combination of Hill, Marmol, Cedeno and Patterson (and are holding out for a Hill, Marmol, Cedeno AND Soto package). It seems every year, Crawford's name comes up in trade rumors involving the Rays and various other teams the Rays always want way too much for him. Great player, but not worth that type of talent.

I like the idea of A. Jones (if Fukudome doesn't happen) which has been mentioned a few times in posts on this site recently, but will Hendry consider adding another expensive right handed bat to our line-up which already features righties D. Lee, Soriano and Ramirez? I think you need to overlook Jones' average in the .220's last season as bad luck ... just 20 more hits over the course of the season and he'd be in his more typical .260 range. His BB/K ratio (often an indicator of a decline in talent) wasn't much different that it's been over the last few years. He'll bounce back next season.

ARod is an amazing player but his contract is ridiculous.

Hindsight is always 20/20, I'm sure we all lobbied for players that turned out to be a bust last year and doubted some signings that turned out to stellar. And it will happen again this year, just part of the normal speculation process.

I like Hank White as a backup, if he's healthy. I think he's a good mentor for the pitchers and will be good to help along Soto.

I love the idea of Crawford, but I think it will cost too much. I really hope we land Fukodome.

Aaron:

As far as the FA's that Hendry signed last year

I was all in favor. Only Marquis turned out to be a major question mark. I wasn't thrilled about the Neal Cotts/Dave Aardsma trade, even though that turned out to be a push. I agree with you on Fukodome if we land him great, if not, I really hope

Geoff Jenkins isn't the answer. One thing I know,

this platooning in the OF has to stop. As a matter of fact, I hope Lou goes to a set lineup and give guys a day off every now and then.

Okay,

Here's my take on it all.....

1)Hendry better sign Wood, or he indeed is the idiot I think he is. Does he not know the dearth of relief pitching out there, much less fireballers that can touch 98-99?

2)If we don't get Fukodome, I believe Hendry will go to plan B, which, given his history of signings----you don't even wanna go there, unless you want a Burnitz-Jones type of signing

2 (a) If we don't get Fukodome, we have to trade for Crawford...which might mean unloading Pie

2 (b) If we can get them to take on Marquis, Marshall, and possibly Dempster, along with a Patterson, then we'd be much better off

3) If we find out Fukodome is interested, then I definitely think Matsui would help him adjust, and despite what I said before, I'm intrigued by the idea, because I forgot he used to be a shortstop, and as we all know---it's a position worth upgrading....switch hitting shortstops with speed that have a .380 OBP in the leadoff spot are pretty hard to come by.

4) If we don't want Marquis, or if we're planning on trading Marshall in exchange for an OF bat, then we better look to sign Colon

5) Boy am I glad we don't have AROD now that I think of it.....a "marketing clause" in a contract for doing your job?!?!?!? If I was an owner, I'd tell him to get lost....I mean, think about it....You pay all expenses, all costs associated with running and operating a stadium, t.v., and advertising, and a player and his faggo# agent have the audacity to to come to me, and say, "well, mr. owner, we want to profit off of doing our job, so we want part of your marketing profits over me doing my job....after all, $27 million is not enough to live on these days." I would've said f#$ck you asshole, get outta my office, and don't let the door hit you on the way out----wait----come to think of it----I'd slam the door on them on the way out. Wow, AROD is seriously turning into Bonds before our eyes---in an egomaniacal sense---though he could've used roids too---who knows.

6) Boy I sure ate my words with Zito and Schmidt last year. They didn't come anywhere near meeting expectations last year....Actually, I wasn't clamouring much for Zito because we had Zito Jr. in Hill anyway...but still, I get to eat crow on all my shenanigans with that

7)I think either bringing up Ritchie or letting Fox handle back-up catching duties would seem prudent as Blanco just can't hit at all, and he never overcame injury last year.

8) If it's true that it takes players about a year to adjust to day games, I'm really intrigued to see what kind of years Soriano and DeRosa can have next year....Soriano might just have 50 home runs in that case, and DeRosa might push 100 rbi's

9)Did I mention there's a dearth of pitching talent out there right now for relief? In that case, we better make sure Wood signs with us, or we'll have to make some trades, or hope to sign Affeldt, Gagne, or others.