Great...the Mets get Santana, the M's get Bedard, looks like the A's or the Dodgers will get Blanton and we get Brian F-ing Roberts. How quickly did a great offseason (aquiring Fukudome) become a crappy one...Hendry: READ A NEWSPAPER AND DO SOMETHING!!! You have to keep up with the competition! Can our rotation get it done? Maybe/Probably...but I havent even heard that we had interest in Blanton...why not!? Go get somebody!!!!

Maybe I'm mad because I just want the season to start, but dang, Jim....c'mon, you're getting blown away here, dude!

Austin-I agree with you 100%.......If you look back to some of my recent postings on (titled-'Seven Days'), you see that without a quality upgrade in the Cubs rotation will leave the Cubs not only at home watching the World Series on TV, but watching the National League Championship Series on TV, just like last year.

The elite contending teams in both leagues have far superior starting rotations than the Cubs. Adding a Jon Lieber is not going to help, he will pick up where Steve Trachsel left off. Imagine if the Cubs had the Indians (Sabathia 19-7, Carmona 19-8, Westbrook, Lee, Byrd), or Tigers (Verlander, Bonderman, Robertson, Rogers, Willis), or Angels (Lackey 19-9, Escobar 18-7, J.Weaver, Garland, E.Santana), and or now the Mariners (Bedard, Batista 16 wins, Hernandez 14-7, Silva 13 wins, Washburn). I covered some of the National League starting staffs on a recent comment 'Seven Days', pitching, pitching, and more pitching is what the contending teams have, and the Cubs well they have, Z, Lilly, Hill, and ???????? I like Z but I wonder what he will do every start, can Lilly repeat last year ?, Hill-I hope he gets better.

Oh, and I forgot to look at the BoSox rotation (Beckett, Dice-K, Schilling-?, Lester, Wakefield, Buchholz-no hit).

Hillarious!!!Please keep it up. Saun...your voice sounds exactly as Len Kasper's.lol. no kidding, for real. Brian, you do not sound like Bob. This is great stuff guys.

With the three levels of playoffs now--the playoffs are a total crapshoot. The Cubs could load up with the highest payroll and even win 125 games in the regular season and still lose in the first round.

Given that, I want the Cubs to do all they can to remain competitive EVERY season. I want them to make the playoffs as much as possible so that we have as many chances as we can to win the World Series.

Santana was not even a possibility. Many reports said the Cubs didn't have enough to get Bedard. But let's assume they would have taken Hill, Marmol, and Pie for Bedard...I would NEVER do that deal. Bedard has a history of some medical problems and he is only signed for this season and next. Whereas Hill, who may end up as good as Bedard, is really cheap and under our control for a few more years, let alone the value of Marmol and Pie.

Even the Yankees have come to the realization that you have to cultivate and MAINTAIN your young guys to compete year to year.

Of your examples, the Indians and Tigers have not won a WS and I think the Tigers will regret gutting their system. They are very, very thin pitching wise for the short and long term.

I would love for the Cubs to add to the rotation. I just would not do it by overpaying with the few good prospects that we have. Look what the Mariners are giving up for one player...I think it is way too much.

You know what is great about the Indians, Tigers, Angels, Mariners, and BoSox staff??? The fact that we don't have to worry about them unless we make it to the WS and one of them do too...Don't get me wrong, I would love to get another quality starter, but maybe Hendry and the coaching staff knows something we don't and it isn't as urgent as some of us think. We will see how spring training goes then make our assessments on the off-season.

chad,

Worry not. No ballclub will trade away their rated A prospects (Marmol, Pie) for a historically slightly-above-avg pitcher (Bedard, ERA+ 118 for the past 4 full seasons, and only better than the mean of MLB starters).

For this guy, Cubs would need their B prospects--Vitters, Soto--and that's all the best young trading-chips we have, and not untouchable as of now.

The rest are C prospects (Patterson, Fuld) whom aren't wanted by a rebuilding team like the O's.

I'm still not satisfied with how our farm is coming. But of course, people grow up. Players might get better. For example, Bedard had his best season in 2007:

ERA+ 146, BB/9 2.82, K/9 10.93, which are all way above his historical performance (ERA+. 2007 might be his career year (a decline to his mean might be coming this coming season), though his improved K/BB looks real (he might rebound very quickly and stay at the top of the league).

I really hope Soto and Marmol won't end up like Theriot, drown down a long stretch of a full season.

Let's see more W waving in the blue Chicago sky!

In my perspective... as long as JH acquires Roberts (without giving up the farm) I will consider this offseason a success. Our offense and defense will have been addressed and we will be considerably better in these aspects. At that point we can go into spring training hoping that some young pitcher is ready to step up which happens quite often (why not the cubs, why not this year). THEN... JH can address any other move he needs during the season (probably a front end starter, Burnett type).

With Roberts our offense, defense, bench, and bullpen will be set in my opinion. If JH only has to address 1 or possibly 2 rotation spots before the trade deadline the Cubs will be in pretty good shape. Plus, with this scenario we will still have much of the farm leftover going into the year... especially if we can unload Marquis, Murton, and 1 or 2 of Marshall, Gallagher, and Veal for Roberts. Just think how happy us faithfull would be with this scenario, the Indians fall out of contention, and JH pulls off a midseason deal for a stud like Sabathia.

Damn you McFail/Angelos! Quit sitting on your hands and pull the trigger!

The best GM's will make the best trades depending on what type of talent they have acquired and developed in the minors and the best GM's know personnel and acccumulate the required information and insight on the players. Trades and free agency are a crapshoot and should not be the main strategy for putting together core talent; they help put a team "over the top" or solidify a dominant position. History is the best evaluator of the GM.

I agree that success in one set of playoff series is hard to predict and if you get in every year your chances of winning it all go up. You get in consistently if you have a well constructed team with solid reliable pitching with sound defense and least an average offense. This should be the organization's goal as they do not have a dominant team as it stands. If the Cubs acquire Roberts they will have average to good pitching, good defense, and good offense with a manager who know how to get the most out of his players.

Shaun:

Any luck landing that opening ceremony DVD?
I struck out on my end.

I would rather see Jim Hendry acquire a quality starting pitcher and give up the farm than acquiring Roberts. DeRosa is our 2B-man!!!!!!!!!Speed at the top of the order......Pie, Theriot, Soriano=100 stolen bases...wow, what was I thinking!

So in reading CCO, I got to thinking about possible deals, and at first, I thought the Cubs needed to make 3 moves to really be contenders for the WS next season.

1. Sign either Kenny Lofton or Shannon Stewart as insurance in Center.

2. Marquis, Gallagher, Pie and Cedeno for Roberts.

3. Murton, DeRosa, Marshall, Fontenot to San Diego in a 3-way trade where they send some prospects of equal value to the A's and we get Blanton.

Perhaps those moves are the fan goggles. But then I got to thinking about Blanton, and I did some research and found something interesting. Last season, he had 34 starts, 20 of which were quality. He started 19 games away from Oakland, where he had 9 quality starts, and he started 15 in Oakland, where he had 11. That means over half of the starts he had away from Oakland were not quality. This is interesting when you consider that ESPN ranks Oakland as the second best pitchers park next to only PetCo in San Diego, and Wrigley is ranked as the second best hitters park behind Fenway and one slot above Coors in Denver. So is Blanton the answer? Absolutely not. He is a guy who benefited from a huge pitchers park, and in cozy Wrigley his numbers will look a lot worse. He's not going to put us up there with Arizona and San Diego.

Also, I don't think the Roberts trade should happen. Here is why: First, Soriano would have to adjust to hitting lower in the order, and that might take time. Plus, we'll have to give a lot up. What we should do is let things play out in the first half, let some of the young guys who we retain jack up their stock in AAA, and then, and I can't believe I'm saying this, root, root, root for the White Sox and hope they push the Indians down into 3rd by enough that they want to jettison Sabathia at the deadline because they know they can't sign him again. Our chances of acquiring him, or some other front end pitcher, will be much higher if we hold on to some of those guys we would trade for Roberts. We don't need to have a stellar first half, thought I don't think there is any doubt if we stay healthy with the roster we have right now that it'll be better than last year, so I think we should see what we got and make a move later. That's my input.

If the Colorado Rockies can make the World Freakin' Series with Josh Fogg, ANYTHING - really, ANYTHING - is possible!

Jim, no luck as of yet, I am still trying.

I refuse to give up.

Make sure everyone downloads the cast, it is a good time.

Maybe some of us need a refresher on the realities of our Men in Blue. On offense last year we had these rankings in the National League: Runs 8th, HR 8th, RBI 10th, SO 6th, BB 15th, SB 10th and BA 7th. Even with 100 fewer at bats, DeRo falls short of Roberts in giving our offense a needed boost: Runs DeRo 64, Rob 103, BB/SO DeRo 58/93, Rob 89/90, SB DERO 1, Rob 50, HR DeRo 10, Rob 12. Conclusion: Roberts (and Musha) would likely help our second tier offensive stats a lot, and (so far) we still have DeRo with his great versatility and good production. Although we need top of the rotation pitching, we need offense more. If JH gets Roberts, our offense should go from an average of about 8th in the NL to top 4.

Another reality is JH's $120-125 million budget--which means there are a few guys we can't afford. We ought to be happy with our mega-salary guys Soriano, Z, Rameriz, Lee and Musha and face the challenge of adding enough farm system graduates and $8-10 million a year types to get to the Series. That doesn't mean that we can't add a stud pitcher like a healthy Burnett, Lowe, or someone else once the season is underway. That player is likely in his last contract year and represents a cost of 1 or 2 prospects (outside our top 4) and some part of a $12 to $15 million salary. That addition would probably be the difference in a 5 or 7 game series. And won thing we all agree on: WE DO WANT THAT DIFFERENCE.

Sorry guys - I'm getting tired of the bashing of Hendry for not acquiring a starter. Here's why.

First off - the pitcher has to be markedly better than what we have already in the 4-5 spots.

For a free agent signing, the only question is "is the guy better and worth the money" - in the case of Leiber, the answer is "maybe - I suppose - kinda". But there really haven't been players worth chasing on the FA market.

The best pitcher on the market was Carlos Silva, and if Hendry actually HAD signed him for 4 years $48 million I would have been majorly ticked off. He's not better than our top three... and you'd have to be for that kind of money.

So that's the FA market - overpriced and remarkably thin.

There have only been 5 pitchers worth acquiring through trade that were both (a) on the market and (b) better than our 4-5...

Dontrelle - the Tigers traded HUGE prospects that had already tasted success at the major league level for him and Cabrera. For what the marlins got I would have jumped and told every other team (including the Cubs) to bugger off.

Johan - Cubs asked and likely could have offered the Twins more than they got... but it wasn't up to them - it was up to Johan. Wanted to play for an east coast team with spring training in Florida. The Cubs aren't either one.

Bedard - The O's took the viewpoint (and it's a valid one) that the deal offering the best prospect was the one worth going after. Adam Jones is going to be huge. George Sherill is likely their closer (who could we have offered comparable? Marmol? Wood? ...because they are the only ones that compare) PLUS they got three actually well projected pitching prospects. We couldn't match that.

Haren - this to my mind is the only one that we could have been made an offer comparable to what they actually got. But the D-Backs offered up five players - 4 of which were in their Baseball America top 10. So their offer was BIG. I would have traded that from our farm for Haren... but kudos to the D-Backs for beating the market to the target.

And now that all those trades are over and done, that leaves the last trade target on the market that's worth targeting... Blanton.

Personally I only view him as an above average starter. He (to my mind) would be our number 4. The rumor of what they are asking from the Reds is Homer Bailey AND Votto - which is simply insane. First off that's more than we could offer, and second is it REALLY worth it for a number 4? The Reds would be better off holding on to Bailey (and his low salary) in the same rotation spot and get to keep Votto.

Actually I hope the Reds make that deal because in my mind it actually makes them much less of a threat for years.

So....

What else would you have Hendry do?

Bullpen? Resigned Wood. For less than market value.

We have an issue with speed, obp, and defense in the outfield? Enter Fuku and Pie/Fuld... upgrades to both CF and LF. Fuku was the best overall hitter on the FA market, and Hendry got him... plus he's a huge defensive upgrade for anyone that's seen the videos.

Soto is an upgrade to Barrett - both with the bat and the arm... and with calling games too if the pitchers are telling the truth and not just trying to build confidence in the rookie.

And for those saying "read the papers" - the Cubs aren't getting bashed for their pitching. In fact I posted a Sporting News article yesterday that had them rated as the #4 rotation in the NL. (pre-Johan to the Mets though) Their point was that the Cubs have an issue with depth at 4-5... but even then the writer said that things could be good with the up-and-coming pitchers

If you "read the papers" the Cubs are criticized for their middle infield MUCH more than their pitching... and who are we pursuing now? A gold glove second baseman that stole 50 bases?

I love DeRosa... GREAT guy that bleeds Cubbie blue... but Roberts is an upgrade.... which also upgrades our bench by shifting DeRosa's priorities.

And I STILL hold out hope that the early winter rumors of the Cubs giving Roberts a look at SS (the position of his youth) is true. He's an upgrade of DeRo... but a HUGE upgrade over Theriot. And it still upgrades the bench because then we have the scrappy team guy on the bench.

Personally I think Hendry has done his job well this offseason. He's explored every trade (and you can find confirmation out there that he was at least inquiring about every one of the pitchers above). But sometimes you either don't have the trade bait that the other team is looking for (Dontrelle, Bedard), the player wants to be somewhere else (Johan), or the price simply isn't worth it (Blanton).

Hendry has improved the team where he can and is still trying to improve it - traded away the dead weight (which DOES make a difference) - and been active.

One last thing - for those saying "lets see what happens at the trade deadline for players like Burnett or C.C. if those teams are out of the races"...

THAT is the way to think! :-)

We are in GREAT shape when compared within the division (even better shape if we get Roberts) - which gets us to the playoffs... and a trade deadline "rental" for a front line pitcher puts us in GREAT shape for the playoffs too.

All in all - things are looking good in Cubsland

Only posting this because it means the O's can trade Roberts... the Bedard trade is now officially one-and-for-all official. Really. Seriously. It's finally over.

I have been checking on this site regularly lately and it's a great site, keep up the great work. I am so happy now that we don't have to hear or write anymore about Bedard Rumors. That was the longest trade to get done that I have ever seen. The Orioles have to be one of the most backwards orginzations. They could have had this trade done weeks ago. I would like to see Roberts in a Cubs uniform but only if we don't have to give up too much. I would trade Gallegher, Marquis, Cedeno and Murton. I believe we need to give Pie a chance and see if he can hit major league pitching. He can definitely play defense and run.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Bedard deal is 'official'. Waiting for another source before posting a report.....

A Seattle Times writer says the deal was official at 2 p.m. Chicago time. The 5 player deal as advertised.

I couldn't agree with you more Gary. The cubs are in an excellent position to repeat as central champs. It's refreshing to hear some positive comments and outlooks.

Bedard is finally traded, man.

Out of all the comments today, I think my favorite and the most on the the money is Zonks,

If the Colorado Rockies can make the World Freakin' Series with Josh Fogg, ANYTHING - really, ANYTHING - is possible!

Ain't that the truth

Gary you deserve a standing O for your post.

Thanks Lows and Jim - it's nice to be appreciated... but it's stuff I've said before too and people still are ticked about Hendry . Which is fine actually... hate the guy if you wish - it's your prerogative.... but it's the REASONS they are ticked that are getting to me. The reasons just aren't thought through.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion though - which is what makes this board so nice :-)