good point cliff.

Aaron - I couldn't agree more. I have been an avid offseason reader of this site for 2 years now and agree with most all your points. JH has to be ready just in case the bottom falls out on Fukudome and the Colon signing has been the topic of conversation between myself and friends/coworkers for weeks now. Also, not sure who mentioned it but I agree with the Kenny Lofton back-up plan or platoon role with Pie. I think he could do really well in helping to groom Pie also.

Ryan, right there with you. Wood brings something to the team that most players don;t have. The "it" factor they talk about with QB's.

Just my 2 cents. I would argue that the signing of Wood DOES make the team better if it equals getting him for a full season and 60-70 appearances. He only made what, 22 appearances this year? I think had he been on the 40 man the whole year it could have equalled a couple of more wins early on, when the bullpen checked itself out for a month.

Plus,I think that given his loyallty to Chicago, he brings an intangible to the team. And, lets face it, he was the only guy that I saw in the NLDS that didn't look like a deer in the headlights.

Jim,

Right on with comments about Pie...

Jason,

LOL....that's what I said last year too about Hendry simply signing our own FA, not necessarily getting the team better.

I firmly believe that you either must bring up your prospects and give them a full shot, or if you're not willing to do that, then you MUST trade them while they have value. The only top prospects Hendry's traded that have improved the team drastically were Choi and Hill for Lee and ARAM....That's it folks!!!! And we've given up the following with nothing to show: Moore, Cherry, Rapada, Mitre, Nolasco, Pinto, and I guess you could even count Hamilton---though we never truly had him. Sure, we get the proverbial PTBNL.

Point is, Hendry has more mistakes than he has good signings/trades. Guys he got that actually helped: Grudz, Karros, Lofton, Simon, ARAM, Lee, Lilly, Eyre, Howry, Soriano, Ward, and Clement.

However, consider what happened when we bombed, and basically gave most of those guys away, not getting much value for them. It's pretty sad that he continues to sell very very low, and buy very very high. Floyd=overpaid, Pierre=gave up way too much, Marquis=way way overpaid, Dempster=overpaid for his numbers, among many more are just a few of the examples.

Okay, you wanna prove you're a good GM Hendry?!?!? If you're not going to give Pie, Patterson, Hoffpauir, Gallagher, Hart, Soto, Cedeno, Murton, Samardzija, Colvin, Kroeger, Veal, and Holliman true shots at playing, then FU$%ing TRADE THEM ALREADY DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so frustrating to watch this team operate sometimes....It's like we'd rather overpay for a veteran than we would want to give a young player a chance----one that could produce the same, and has a higher potential than a veteran player would.....it's just a vicious cycle, and one that needs to stop already.

Okay, fine, go after Fukodome, but if you miss out, you better be prepared to trade for Jason Bay, Crawford, or Dunn, and be willing to take a flier on Colon. No more of this: "we don't wanna give up the farm for someone" Oh really jackass? Are you gonna play them----give them a chance? No, you're not going to, because you're going to overpay for a dumbass veteran that can't give you much more than a young guy would, and you will subsequently trade that has-been veteran for a PTBNL like you always do, while your "prospects" rot away in the minors and you lose them in the Rule V

Anyway, that's just my take...sorry for getting emotional.

By the way, I love the Wood signing, that was a great move and I can rest easier now

David...no, but I really like your thinking. I would like to see Clement back but I remember an interview he did prior to the Red Sox series at Wrigley. He appeared to be very happy he was no longer a Cub.

I have read the Pirates are interested, as well as the Padres. Someone on XM mentioned Clement and the Reds today in the same sentence....but I think they were just throwing out names after the Reds spent so much on Cordero.

Neil, One more guess ... any chance it's Matt Clement. I wouldn't mind bringing him in under an incentive based contract.

Why are so many of you ready to ditch Pie after a whopping 177 career at bats???????? I don't get it. He has everything you need in a center fielder, give the kid a FULL chance before you toss him away. Also I would really like to see what Murton can do with a full season. Not an AB once a week.

No Way we have what it takes to get Santana unless we are going for a 70 win season.

Right on Jason! I'm drooling! I only would defend Marmol because he was spectacular all year, EXCEPT when it counted the most againsta Arizona. Still, we all mentioned here that he will never have a year as good as this one...it is impossible. Anyway, he can be a back up to Blanco because he was a pretty good catcher!!!

Kevin every body in the CCO has an invitation for fishing...[Neil allready paid for the membership]

Hey I aked my wife and she said.............Are you Crazy???LOL

I am glad Wood was signed, but the praise can only go so far because:

A. He has never been a closer...he may not be suited for it. If I remember, Wood often had a bad start to games, before he settled down. I would like them to build him up to be a starter again.

B. He was on the team last year. Similar to the signing of Aramis Ramirez last year, the team didn't get any better today...it just didn't get worse.

Barry,

Sorry, but Kevin was dead-on with his remarks...to get a truly talented player in a trade, you have to trade a talented player, unless you are dealing with the Marlins, and then MAYBE you can get away with just a bunch of prospects and/or cash.

Can Miguel Cabrera play the OF anymore? I know he played some in 2003, if I remember correctly. I would rather unload the farm for him, then spend too much in proven players for Santana.

How about Miguel Cabrera for: Marmol, Hill, Pie, whoever our 3B prospect is, Marshall, Murton, and Cedeno. I would only make the deal if Cabrera can be signed to a long-term contract first. (at least 4 years total).

If you think that is a lot, then let's break it down:

Marmol - great...so great that we just signed Wood to close instead of him.

Murton - best .300-hitting no-power OF on the market.

Cedeno - best AAA SS, like, ever.

Pie - see: Patterson, Corey

Marshall - a good #4, maybe someday a #3 pitcher. You can buy one of those every offseason. If you are in a small market, you hang onto Marshall...but since this is the NL Chicago club, you don't need to.

Hill - this one hurts, because he continued to improve, and his potential is vast, but he is about 28...two years younger then the wily ol' veteran Wood is. Not a young pup, and no guarantee he will continue to improve. If he never gets better, he is a decent #3 pitcher. On the World Series champs, the Red Sox, he may not even make it on their rotation at all...think about that.

In return, we get a young version of Manny Ramirez, with hopefully less drama.

Imagine if you trade the rest of the farm for Crawford (can he play CF?).

Soriano, Crawford, and Cabrera...best OF in baseball.

Agustin:

Do I get the fishing invite or do I have to post more?

Jim usually calls me after he has rewound the tape on anything good that happens to our Cubbies during a game....by that time it's ancient history. He's a much better resource for news and rumors that doesn't seem to bother his colon as much.....

Agustin:

That would be great news!!!!

May he or she be born the day /night of a Cubs Win!

Kevin...if you are a friend of Jim, you are a friend of mine! But tell me something, do you close your eyes when the opposition comes to bat or leave your home tv to later come back to the cco site to check if the Cubs blew it or not? He can't watch!LOL!!!CHicken!! Hey man, I totally agree with your post and everybody would love Santana but he is off limits.



The lack of good[not even great but just plain good] starting pitching in the MLB is almost unbearable. Mediocre guys like the Silva's/Padilla's of the world get huge contracts for being slightly average? Marquis is probably a good signing for what the market offers. I say that the KWOOD signing was a good one just because of the depleted market...sign Prior for the same reason and stick with all of them Marquis,Marshall, Hart, Dempster,Gallager, Samardaja ect. It will pay off because one of them will work out and the others are trading chips at mid season. ...............I have been drinking a lot and I am talking a lot! Hey I think my wife is pregnant cause she is acting strange and she does that when she is Pregnant. I will let you guys know....with the pregnant rumor mill!

First of all, I want to throw out some props to Kevin I. He is the man who hooked me up to this site

and coined the phrase " A deer in the headlights" in regards to Ryan Dempster. Uh Barry, No way do I part with Theriot in your Santana trade scenerio.LOL

Though I read this site daily I tend to leave the witty banter to my friend Jim (Tinley Park). I feel as though we are reading the same scenario with different twists everyday. Let's assume we all could part with the usual suspects: Cedeno, Murton, Pie, Patterson, Fontenot, Marquis, Dempster, Ohman (Please), Samardzija , Weurtz, etc. I just named 25% of our 40 man roster and could probably name another 20 guys (Cotts, Guzman, Pagan) before it started to hurt! The bottom line is unless he's a problem (wife beater, drugs, armed robbery, fill in the blank) Santana will not be had for any combination of those 30 guys....including Theriot! If we want him it's going to cost us!

Let's look at the top ten in my opinion:

Soriano- not going anywhere

Aram

Lee

Z- not going anywhere

Lilly

Hill

Marmol

Wood

Derosa

Soto

Tied for 11th:

Howry/Gallagher/Hart/Marshall

We want to part with 1 of the top 10 and 2 of the 11's they might listen. Bye the Bye Theriot is probably #15 on my list...a throw in!

Just a few of my thoughts...thanks Jim (Tinley Park)

Barry, there is NO WAY the Twins take that deal for Santana. 1) why would they want 2 middle infielders? Niether of which has a proven everyday track record. 2)While they now need a CF'r, Pie again has not proven to be a regular at the big league level. 3) While Samardjia appears to be a quality arm, there really isn't enough minor league appearances to gauge his long term success on.

The Twins are looking for 1 major leaguer & 3 top shelf prospects. The only "major leaguer" the Cubs could float would be Soto & I think Joe Maurer is more than adequate in Twinkieville. We can't deal any other big leaguers either due to salary or need with the Twins. I guess we could float Lee or Ramirez but we all know that's just lunacy on the Cubs part. Long & short, it's a pipe dream & a deal the Cubs are better off not making anyway. How bout we try to pry Jeremy Hermida away from the Marlins or Andre Ethier away from the Dodgers? Surely we can dig up enough prospects for the Marlins or some package for the Dodgers after they deplete themselves on Miguel Cabrera...

The Cubs will never trade for Santana because they will not have enough money to give him a contract extension. The Cubs have too many contracts that are back-loaded. Plus, how did the Juan Pierre trade work out for us? He gone!

Barry,

I would make your proposed deal in a heartbeat if we could lock up Santana for 6 years, $120 mil ... problem is, I doubt that would be enough for the Twins. I don't think Cedeno, Pie, Samardja, and Theriot compares to the rumored Hughes, Jackson, Cabrera package. Hughes was a top 5 prospect coming into the 2007 season and pitched pretty well; Jackson is a very young, 5 tool prospect, with big upside (younger version of Pie); and Cabrera is a yound, solid (albeit without a ton of upside) CF. Pie was a top 25 prospect coming into the season and his stock has sinced dropped due to his poor hitting in 2007 and the AFL; Cedeno is potentially a decent SS with much upside; Theriot is a decent regular ss or 2B or top tier utility guy; and Samardja is probably a top 75-100 prospect with a high ceiling.

Ben,

Just a thought but, put Sori in center, Murton in left and Fuku in right.......

yea...barry...i dont see that happening..whos your center fielder??? is infante your starting SS?? and where is the 25 million a year gonna come from for santana? neat idea..but i dont think we have enough in our system right now

Gentlemen,

With respect to trading for Santana:

I was thinking about the following package:

Pie, Cedeno, Smardja and I know I'll catch flack for this but Theriot

Look, we are all split on Theriot but the truth is he had a very respectable year last year minus the last two months. He is a gritty, versatile player. Eckstein like.

My thinking is just this simple, the time is NOW!! You weight the costs of the future on today!! Players love Wrigley and we need to make this a destination of choice to all elite players to desire. We can be that storied franchise if we make the necessary hard decisions now. We have the skipper and the enthusiasm that change is here!!! Let's do it now!!! I have been watching semi-spectacular deals for 30 yrs!!!

We can always build our Farm back up again...... If you lock up Santana for six years we have quite the longevity of flat out ALL STARS!!!

am I nuts??

I surprised that its only 1 year, but then again whens the last time Woody pitched a full year. Great news anyway. Maybe through the course of a the coming year they will get a contract exstention. I really do believe that Kerry wanted to be a Cub all along.

WOW good news. Very surprised on the 1 year. Thought it would take atleast 2-3 three years to get that done.

So to the Hendry bashers out there... does Jim keeping the negotiations open and then signing Woody for under market value to only a one year deal to see if his arm doesn't fall off... does he get a pass now on being "truly an idiot"? :-)

I'm sure if Woody has a great year then Jim will get criticized for not "locking him up" (insert heavy sigh here)

Great job Jim!!!