I agree too that even our grandmothers could have slugged 30-40 homers in that season...and yes he was the only star the Tribune paid for.

I just think Dunn is horrid for the Cubs. Yes he will knock out 40 or so homeruns which will help him drive in 100 runs and he walks about 100 times. BUT....here's the thing....his pathetic batting average (.247 career; including .236 this year and .234 two years ago) combined with his almost 200 strikeouts and his horrible defense....outweighs any plus in my eyes. I'm sorry, I'd rather take 10 or so less homeruns, for a batter who has a decent batting average and can field. If Soriano can stay healthy, I by far would rather have him. Yes he strikes out alot too, but his batting average is a career .282. And he may not look pretty in the outfield....but you can't argue that his arm in LF has been pretty awesome. The thing with Dunn, is he is a huge liability on defense....he needs to be in the AL as a DH. Plus, it's all or nothing at the plate with him. He's gonna swing for the fences.....jack about 40, come up short of the fence for about 20 doubles....and that's it. So, when he's up at the plate in situations where we just need a base hit...and he whiffs....are you gonna be happy? Pitchers know it's all or nothing with him and pitch him accordingly. Look at his splits...it says it all.

Bases empty he has hit .250 and hit 157 homers. Runners in scoring position his average drops to .225 with 65 homeruns. Runners in scoring position with 2 outs it drops further to .214 with 26 homeruns. Thats certainly not the kind of clutch hitter I think the Cubs need...especially as a definsive liability too.

As for Bradley....I just wouldnt take a risk with team chemistry. Whether the announcer was right wrong or whatever....the fact is this psycho went up to the booth to confront him in a rage and had to be held back. That's not normal. There's a reason he has been with 6 teams in 8 years. Not to mention he's also a walking injury and we have enough of that with our pitching.

However, that said I would certainly give Bradley a chance over Dunn.

Joe S.,

I tend to agree with all the points you made above, except for Sosa vs Dunn, and the Bradley thing.

Sosa was our big bopper, and that was true, but it was also in an era where my mom could hit 40 home runs. I make that point, because every team had big boppers then...it was a given. As for why we didn't win---that was one factor, but also, please keep in mind that the Trib ONLY spent big for Sosa, understand? Our pitching during the Sosa years was abysmal, and outside of 2003 where we had a good rotation with mostly homegrown talent, we did very well.

Fast forward to now...We've spent money on our rotation in locking up Z, trading for Harden, moving Dempster to the rotation, signing Lilly, signing Marquis. I don't have the exact figures, but that amounts to roughly $50 million/year in just our rotation. That was NEVER the case when Sosa was around, even taking into consider the inflation of contracts. That's why we didn't win.

As for Dunn, I would argue that he is one of the only true power hitters left post-steroids era (meaning 40+ HR average). Now that's saying something. He could be a HUGE boost to our lineup, and there's no denying we need a lefty power hitter, and there's no time to mess around with aging veteran like Ibanez who might not even crack 20 home runs next year.

As for Bradley, he's one of the most misunderstood players of our generation. Sure, he has fire, but in most cases, has been regarded as a good guy. He's just fallen on some tough injuries, which makes him an easier target for a lot of people. The incident with the announcer was also blown out of proportion, and a lot of false information was given at the time. I remember reading an ESPN article about it at the time, and how they thought the announcer stepped over the line. He's an injury risk, but that's about it...he's harmless, and would add a great bat to our lineup.

I do agree there are some changes to be made. I believe we will probably see one major trade sometime this off season.

I am fine with Soriano in LF and hope we can finally have a full healthy season.

If Pie can hit....he will have CF. This would be great to see him finally live up to potential and become our leadoff hitter.

RF...can Fukudome turn it around? I hope so. His defense in RF was great and would be nice to have his LH stick. If not, can Hoffpauir play RF all spring to be ready to take the RF spot?

I'm concerned about pitching too. As I've said before...I think something big is looming with Carlos....I sense this is the year he comes up with a significant injury. Harden is a time bomb. So, what do we do??

Ideally sign a top line free agent...but not likely to happen. I think you have to keep Marquis just for this reason. We will need arms. And frankly, for a #5 man, his numbers were decent and I'd rather have a veteran out there than a rookie. I think this spring we move the Shark to the rotation......Lilly is a workhorse....and if Dempster can come back at a decent cost....hopefully he has another good year.

As I stated in a previous post, it is a huge priority to get a TOP NOTCH closer...someone teams know the game is over if it gets to them. Just the presence makes the other team press as the game gets later...knowing they arent likely to touch the closer and set-up man. Thats HUGE!

I've already argued about Dunn. We've had power sticks...as mentioned above we had Sammy. Whether roids or not....he was still bopping like crazy. Let me ask you this....in 1998 Sammy hit 66, in 1999 he hit 63, in 2000 he hit 50 and in 2001 he hit 64....so there was our big bopper....and exactly how far did that get us in the playoffs??? The only season out of all four we even made the freaking playoffs...we did what we seem to do best and got swept in the first round. So why this constant argument over we need a huge bat in the line up?? If that were true....we would have killed people in the Sammy ERA....roids or not.

And Bradley??? Sosa was referred to as a clubhouse cancer above....well....thats kind of the same way Bradley has been through his career. He hasn't changed. As I pointed out in a previous post....he had to be refrained this year from entering the braodcast booth to "beat up" the Royals announcer who criticized him. Yeah...thats JUST who we need on our team! Perfect! We already have one prima dona on our team named Zambrano...we don't need another side show.

Aaron - I see your points. The k's and the average do bother me, but the rest of the stats look pretty nice. Also his age, I didn't think he was that young. I could see adding him now and I do think Hoff needs to get in there. However possible. If Lee stays then Lou needs to force him to take some days off.

Well, major changes need to happen on this team, and if you read between the lines of what Hendry and Louhave said, then it's clear that unless we offload salary, we can't add much at all, which might even mean we can't keep Dempster and Wood if all else is equal.

But glaring weaknesses are as follows:

1)Marquis-You NEVER know what you'll get from him (5th starter needs addressed)$9 million on the books

2)Bullpen-As it stands now, our only holdovers are Gaudin, Cotts, Marshall, Hart, Marmol, Guzman, Wuertz, Samardzija. Marshall, Hart, Guzman, and Samardzija are all technically starters, so we only really have Gaudin, Wuertz, Cotts, and Marmol as true relievers, and that's a scary thought. About $7 million on the books with all of them right now (mostly inflated by Samardzija's salary)

3)Lee-his numbers have fallen DRAMATICALLY over the past few years. The wrist injury can no longer be considered a problem, as it's been 3 years now. He's got to go. $13 million on the books

4)Soriano-enough said. For his salary, he way underachieves. Approximately $108 million left on his contract at about $18 million per on the books

5)1-3 in the rotation-Zambrano and Harden have health issues, and we don't even know if Dempster will be re-signed. That's approximately $35 million potentially on the books for 3 suspect guys (2 injury and 1 contract).

6)CF-Who plays here? Is it Fukudome and Johnson? If so, that's $15 million on the books for one position, and one "grinder" coming off a resurgence after being released by another team, and a completely flop in our Japanese import

7)RF-Seriously, if Fukudome goes to CF as Piniellas suggests, who plays here? An aging veteran like Ibanez?

-With Marquis, I say you have to go with rookie, if anything, just to save salary and the fact they can't be any worse than his output. Candidates include (in order of preference): Guzman, Marshall, Samardzija, Gaudin, Atkins, Hart

-with the pen, the FA market is really rough, and Affeldt, Lyon, our own Wood, and Gagne (don't laugh) might be the best of the bunch. I think you MUST re-sign Wood, and at least go after Gagne, who seems to have finally settled down (perhaps he can turn into a Lidge)

-With Lee, I say you trade him, and get whatever salary relief you can in exchange for one top position prospect, one top SP prospect, and one low-level RP prospect. If you have to sweeten the deal with adding players (ie-the proposed Lee to San Diego swap), then you ABSOLUTELY do it

-Soriano probably isn't going anywhere, but if anyone will take him, we'd gladly trade him for a salary dump of a similar performing player, or top prospects. He's just plain awful for his contract

-We have a decent amount of internal options for Zambrano or Harden in the event of injury, and I mentioned those for Marquis as well. But perhaps a better move to nsure there's not a significant drop-off would be to sign Randy Johnson on the cheap , or go after Derek Lowe

-CF, I think you have to finally give it to Pie, and have Johnson as a platoon. None of this Fukudome crap...He needs to be traded to the Padres (if they're even still interested in him)

-RF, you MUST go after Dunn or Bradley, depending on if you can offload Soriano and Fukudome. Dunn would be in LF, and Bradley in RF.

This seems to be the only way to improve the team---offloading ig contracts like Lee, Soriano, and Marquis, in exchange for to prospects and/or signing a FA like Dunn, Bradley, Randy Johnson, or Lowe

Sosa also did it with roids, had a selfish "me first" attitude that was a clubhouse cancer, including his own personal assistant, struck out a ton---and wailed away at pitches almost Fukudome-esque. His OBP was low as well, and, outside of the roid years, his average was pretty low as well.

Now, to Dunn. Here's his averages:

100 runs, 137 hits, 29 doubles, 1 triple, 40 HR, 96 RBI, 8 SB's, 114 BB, 180 K's, .247 avg, .381 OBP, .518 SLG, 8 GIDP's

Outside of average and K's, that's not that bad, and dwarfs all the rest of our players, save for ARAM.

I'm just saying with Lee's diminished skills, you have to start looking elsewhere. I'd love to add Beltran, Manny, and Dunn in an OF, but where do they all play, and at what cost? That's why I think you're better off with a 28 year old player in his PRIME, bashing 40 HR, 100 RBI, close to .400 OBP, etc. You don't try to hang onto the past with Lee, and especially with Soriano. You sign Dunn, give Hoffpauir a chance, and you maybe sign Milton Bradley, and after letting most of our FA's go, you might only be over our current budget by $5 million. If you trade Marquis, then you're under budget. Sluggers like Dunn don't come along very often, and most are locked up long-term. He's available. Why not get him?

I have to agree with Joe S. I'm not sure where all this love for Dunn is coming from. He can hit it far, but so could Sosa....and I couldn't stand all of his k's.

I'm still amazed that anyone feels that a player that strikes out almost 200 times a year, is lucky to hit .250, and is a defensive liability will be the player that puts us over the top.....

watching the World Series makes it even more painful to me, as I know we had it all, we just couldn't play as a team. I mean, guys like Howard, Utley, and especially Rollins struggled mightily at times throughout the playoffs, yet they still found a way to win. Rollins, with his struggles, got down that huge bunt. Feliz, who hadn't done much at all got a nice knock for them. Geoff Jenkins came up huge for them when they needed him. And though Baldelli hit that bomb, their pitching didn't bat an eye.

Wow, what a team. As I said before, perhaps the way over the top is getting a Manny Ramirez here. I also think that Dunn would set us over the top.

Look, we have our own "gamers" on the team: DeRosa, Theriot, Marmol, Fontenot, Reed Johnson (still upset he didn't see action), Soto. These guys just flat out want it. Edmonds and Dempster understood this as well, though we might lose both. Sadly, I can't say the same for Soriano, Lee, and ARAM. Those guys might come up big in the regular season, but can't translate that to success to the postseason and probably never will, and if we hope to make a World Series, step one is admitting there is, indeed, a problem

Should have been us!

Thanks for the update Neil, as always...

By my count, without signing any of our free agents (ie.-Howry, Dempster, Wood, Blanco, Ward, Lieber, and Chad Fox), we have 32 on our 40-man. Petrick's shoulder was suspect, so that might eliminate him. Additionally, Jake Fox and Koyie Hill might be off the list, so that's quite a bit of flexibility for trade, FA, or Rule 5 draft. I guess we'll have to see.

Aaron, I think you are right...don't forget about Jim Edmonds and Sam Fuld.

I honestly dont even care what this aritcle says