Pagan is a backup.

Marshall is a good #4 or #5 starter.

To get Santana, you probably have to trade Rich Hill...you can't just give them all prospects. Have you heard of any of the Twin's AA or AAA players? Probably not. Guess what? They haven't heard about ours...so our value of Pie, Cedeno, Veal, and Gallagher is not equally shared around the league. Every team loves it's own prospects more than any other team...just like children.

How about Miguel Tejada! That would be a great upgrade for us. Adding that pop at SS would reduce the need for large pop in the OF (because you already have Soriano) and may make Patterson and Pie attractive for their speed and defense in the OF, and Murton for his high average.

Soriano, Patterson/Murton, Lee, Ramirez, Tejada, Soto, DeRosa, Pie, Pitcher

What about Lofton in CF as a safety net on Pie? Lofton could bat #2...sweet.

Sign Prior for 2 years...no point in losing out on a comeback after all this time...and not like you are paying $10M/yr either. If he rehabs well, and pitches in the minors well, and he doesn't go in the rotation plans for 2009, he will still have greatly increased his trade value at that point.

Glendon Rusch is highly sought after???!?!?!?!

This shows you how stupid GMs in baseball really are.

They look at other team's garbage and see gold.

Unreal.

Trade: Cedeno or Theriot...don't need them both. Dempster or Marshall. Murton needs to be a starter or get traded...I don't seem him as a good bench guy...I think he needs consistent at-bats to be at his best.

Don't sweat Kaz Matsui...he had one decent year...not even a great year. Big deal.

He is this year's Julio Lugo...stay far far away.

I heard on the radio tonight (can't remember which station) that Kaz Matsui is signing with the Astros for $15 mil/3 years. Haven't been able to find anything online about it.

Wow! Mention a trade for Santana and the board comes alive :-)

I think the Cubs are beginning to be able to think like the Yankees and Red Sox... use the farm system not so much as a way to build your team, but rather as a way to cultivate bargaining chips to go get proven players.

I'm all for giving up Pie and Prior for a Santana - and whatever else they want. I don't think in the long run though we've got enough players to compete with some of the other packages... although I think being in the NL might be attractive to them over the Yanks and Sox since they won't have to see Santana on the mound against them as much :-) Pie and Prior might be nice, but they aren't Hughes (NY) or Ellsbury (Bos)

The best trades are the ones you don't see coming though :-) Winter meetings should be fun.

agustin rexach,

You need to be more insulting if you are to sound like Carrie Muskat.

Gizmo and Phil (above), G's package of players for Santana trades too much of the Cubs future and P's has too many players with known concerns in my view. I've seen comments that, unless the Red Sox include Ellsbury instead of Crisp in a package, the Red Sox are not serious contenders for Santana. The Yankees, Angels and Dodgers seem better positioned to trade for him. JimK

Kbutler, Marshall is talented, but his numbers fall below Lilly and Hill--two other lefty starters. Marshall slumped some at year-end. With more right handed hitters to match up against, the typical staff has more right handed starters. So possibly trading Marshall for the Cubs is dealing from a position of relative strength. Regarding Pagan, It would be good if we can improve over Pagan and still have Pagan off the bench. JimK

I say trade prior for some prospects and then package that with pie, cedeno, and marshall. It's alot but if anybody in the league is worth it it's definitely Santana.

All i want for Christmas is Johan Santana.

Not to sure how much response I'll get hear, as they aren't the hot topics but I have two questions about players that I do not really understand what the Cubs are doing with.

1. Angel Pagan. I know his numbers were never spectacular but he was a solid outfielder, showed patience at the plate as well as hitting potential and a little bit of power. I have also heard that a former mets coach claimed he was faster than jose reyes. I know he was sidelined with colitis but I wondered if there was any updates on him and why he seems to be constantly left out of the cubs plans.

2. Sean Marshall. Besides the fact that he was about 90 times more effective than Steve Traschel as a fifth starter he was extremely good at times. He finished the season, I think, with a lower ERA than Zambrano and although he didn't get as many wins, he was still very effective and if I remember right he had a 2.32 ERA in June. I dont understand why the Cubs have absolutely no confidence in him. I know he is similiar to Rich Hill but he still is a very effective pitcher, I think, with a huge upside.

Any comments anyone can give me on this would be greatly appreciated.

I don't understand why people say the cubs don't have enough money. I thought they make a ridiculous amounts of money. Am I missing something here?

Lets be fair here. Given their record of exstremly inaccurate reporting the NY Post might as well be the Weekly World News with a picture of Gizmo in his Rambo outfit capturing Ossama Bin Laden on the cover. I would do Pie and others for Santana, but I don't think its going to happen.

Am I sounding like Carie Muskat??? If so, sorry I do not intend to. LOL!

"Likely be interested" does not mean they would give up touted talent for him...it means that after all the time and money invested by the Cubs they would likely be willing to take a risk by signing him this year if an extension can be reached. Something like the Dempster project or many others that might pay off. The Cubs are probably very interested also but do not feel like committing 3 more million to Prior for less than a month of play and then having him leave to another team after the Cubs have financed his rehab. I really wish he bounces back and I think he can, but for what I’ve read he does not feel too attached to the Cubs organization and is not planning on agreeing into that extension.

One NL executive was quoted as saying that 29 teams would likely be interested in Prior if he was indeed being shopped. That doesn't sound like a worthless trading chip to me.

Prior is worthless as a trading chip right now. He will be rehabbing most of 08' and will be a free agent in 09'. Not very useful for anybody and only makes sense for the Cubs to keep him if he agrees to an extension.

A report out of the Twin Cities states that the Red Sox appear to be the front runners for Santana. They are offering Coco Crisp, a SS prospect, John Lester, and AA pitching prospect.

That said, I can't believe we can't produce a better package of Pie, Prior, Cedeno and Marshall (or Gallagher or Hart). Now whether the Cubs have the $$'s for an extended contract to Santana is certainly another matter.

Would Pie, Cedeno, Prior, Gallagher, and Veal get the job done for Santana?

AH, that's right, I forgot about the chicken.

Right now, I'd take someone like Geoff Jenkins.... and let him platoon in right with Murton.

Nick, I believe chicken after midnight and water was that special combination....the leader was Stripe???LOL!

JimK..it is not dreaming about Santana, it can be done but not with the guys and money that you mentioned. The Cubs easily could land Santana with their farm but the problem is the cost and is it worth it. For example: a package of Vitters/Samardzija/JakeFox and Marshall could get that deal done faster than the Yankees or RedSox. Fact is teams do not want to give too much for a one year rental without insurance of a long contract. We could do it…I just don’t know if management can see how easy it is. Backload the damn contract and after the WS package him to the Yankees…..Helooooooooooooooooooooo be creative JimHendry, your time is about to expire! WIN NOW not when your fired.

Sincerely,

Gizmo

To the Santana dreamers: Pie, Prior, money, etc., won't get Santana when others will pay two or three frontliners plus, and he isn't a free agent. We need to focus on a lefty outfielder with some power. On the doable deals' agenda could be Ethier from the Dodgers (experienced, young and a hitter)and Seth Smith from the Rockies (young, inexperienced and a hitter who hit well at AAA and in his few playoff at bats). Maybe the Rockies would keep Smith and trade Hawpe and a prospect to us for Marquis, Marshall and a prospect. We could make up for the loss of Marshall by signing the Rox free agent lefty reliever, Affeldt. It appears the Rays' Crawford is off the table, but he's still on this dreamer's list for the outfield. Fukudome remains something like mystery meat to me. JimK

Augustin, you are right about Pie's offense, hopefully he is able to figure it out before ST, and I completely forgot about Pagan maybe being back in the picture again.

I love the annology. Pour little gizmo wouldn't even have a chance, even if he got water on him and turned into crazy gizmo, he still wouldn't be able to defeat the forces of Santana and Big Z.

Alright I am in! Go get him Hendry!

Nick, I don't see it happening either but to be honest…what hole are you talking about? Pie is still a question mark regardless of his upside. We do not know if he can hit. And now that I come to think of it Santana is the difference between getting to the WS and not.

Picture this; The Reds have acquired Cordero and have a solid ace in Harang plus a good #2 starter in Arroyo and that rookie that is at the very least mlb ready. If they decided to go crazy and spend all the money required to get Santana [like they once did to get Griffey]………Wouldn’t you think they automatically have an honest shot at the division? IMO they would probably be the favorites to win it.

Now Picture this: The Cubs are probably the favorites right now to win the division

[as- is]. The addition of Santana would make us, without a doubt, the favorites to win the National League Championship. Granted, the games still have to be played and it is a difficult commitment…but yet a safe one. He is never injured, plus he and Big Z in the NL Central would be like Darth Vader and the Emperor fighting Gizmo. At first glance it looks impossible but if you think of it…it is better than signing the Padillas’ and the Lohses’ don’t you think? Those two would cost the same Santana would cost per year and he is 4 times better. It makes sense.

A full year of Soto should provide a little more offense and we have internal options to fill the outfield Murton/Patterson/Pagan/DeRosa. Give the outfield to the farm and save the money to sign Santana.

Yeah….go ahead…kill us.

Here's an idea: What about Pie and Prior for Santana? I don't like the idea of trading Prior, because I don't feel like we'll get fair value in return. Unless it's Santana...

That's a big gamble on the Twins' part, with Prior's health concerns, but they may feel it's worth the gamble. And I'm sure they would demand Pie, at least. Maybe Cedeno as well, since they just traded their shortstop. But I'd still do it.

Of course, if Santana could be had without giving up Prior, that would be ideal. Imagine a rotation of a healthy Prior, Zambrano, Santana, Lilly and Hill. Wow.

Sorry guys, I'll go back to dreaming...

pitching wins championships...id say get the santana deal done

Barry,

It would be great to have Santana, could you imagine a rotation on Santana, Zambrano, Lilly, and Hill, with those four who cares who your fifth starter would be. With saying that, I really don't see that happening. Plus, that would open up one more hole we would need to fill in the outfield.

To all my doubters,

Santana to the CUBS?? To get Santana for any combination including Felix Pie makes sense. We will trade Prior and get some quality prospects in return. Creativity is the name of the game CUBS Fans. I have faith that Hendry can make it happen. I scoff at those of you who were on the "anything we have to do" bandwagon a few years back. Now, I'm on board and lets win the SERIES!!!!

We can rebuild our Farm Syatem and win. It's not impossible friends....