Forget Dunn. We don't need another strike out artist with no speed and a liability on defense And we seem to be forgeting what we really need and that is speed, speed and more speed. With speed you usually have a great defense and singles are turned into doubles which in turn eliminates the great rally killer, double plays.Bring in a hitting expert and try to solve Pie's trouble. The guy is a 5 tool player and he certainly can hit because he has in the minors. I think it/s a matter of attitude which can be corrected. Also, tell Soriano to go to a lighter bat for better bat control and he won't strike out so often. Homers do not win games as much as good hitting, defense and pitching.

I know the rumor had been floated out there a few weeks ago. But what about Jeremy Hermida in Florida. he's supposedly available, still young enough to have upside, bats L, and should be relatively cheap. That way we can bring back Dempster and Woody with no problems.

I'm in the minority, I would love to see the cubs sign Bobby Abreu.

MLBTRADERUMORS.COM says the Cubs offered Dempster 3 years, $36 million

Joe S. By your reasoning on Dunn that he made 231 OTHER OUTS...how about this, D.Lee 623ab's subtract his 181 hits and 119 k's and he made 323 OUTHER OUTS, 102 more than Dunn, and ARAM's numbers 554ab's minus 160 hits and minus 94k's and he made 300 other outs...oh and dunn walked 122 times this year, Lee 77, Aram 74... all i'm saying about dunn is he is an on-base guy, with major power from the left side, which is what this club needs..Don't need to go into the playoffs again and have guys go 1 for 20 in a series with no walks...

When Dunn puts the ball in play it's usually a hit???? What??? The dude is a career .246 hitter. That statement is FAR from accurate.

Last years numbers: an average even lower than his career number .236 (ooo scaryyy). He had 164 strikeouts! Now, he had 517 official AB's. He had a WHOPPING 122 hits... If you subtract the 122 hits and 164 strikeouts from his 517 official at bats that leaves 231 OTHER OUTS. So, NO his strikeouts are NOT the only way to get him out. He freaking sucks!!

Regarding Ibanez, Abreu and Blalock. Personally, I think that since the Cubs didn't win it this year and are getting older, I think they should go into full rebuild mode. Since I know Jim Hendry prefers to trade away young talent than trade for it, that's not going to happen though. Since we're still trying to do it with the core of this team, chances are one of these 3 guys will be in a Cubs uniform, and that might not be bad. Ibanez and Abreu are over the hill, yes, but one of the best moves the Cubs made in the last decade was signing Moises Alou. Remember, when he signed with us he was 35 years old and people looked at him much like they are talking about Abreu and Ibanez, who will be 35 and 36 when the season starts. Alou was a great move, even though he was in his mid 30s and washed up when we signed him, and he went on to have two of the best years of his career when he was in his late 30s. Really, would the success of 03 and 04 have happened without him? Point is that Abreu or Ibanez might not be terrible moves, in fact they could help us tremendously, even though they are old. They aren't 38 or 39 yet, so chances are they still have a couple good years. Regarding Blalock, why don't we just resign Mark Prior and Nomar while we're at it and make Harden our ace? Guys, the reason Blalock isn't realistic is the same reason Milton Bradely isn't. They are too expensive and there is too much potential for prolonged DL stints, even if they just DH. In fact, looking at the last couple years, it's almost certain they will be injured and miss a bunch of time, especially if they have to play in the field every day. Plus Hoffpauir is a year older than Blalock, yes, but is much less of a risk for potentially equal or even greater reward. Could be a bust, too, but he also will cost us less and I think we can all agree that he's earned a shot.

Would love to have Dunn in wrigley..I know he strikes out a ton, but thats the only way you get the guy out..when he puts the ball in play its usually a hit...much better sometimes to strike out then hit into double plays, a la D. Lee...sure dunn would be a liability in right field, but sandwiched between lee and ramirez in the lineup would make up for any defensive negatives...Lee would get better pitches to hit, and Aram would have guys on base to drive in. Any thoughts?

As of now the only teams Peavy (who has full no-trade powers) approved the Padres to work with are Braves, Cubs, Dodgers, Astros and Cardinals. It is not believed he will even think about an AL team even with the Angels in Southern California. Much of the belief is it's between the Cubs and Braves. Braves have stated before they won't part with prospects....but who knows. Dodgers have chips to trade but Towers would probably not want to trade his stud horse to a division rival.

Since Abreu's been discussed, the new name must be Blalock. Blalock would be useful only if we trade Aram--since Hoffpauir could play first with production better than Blalock's. I don't see Aram traded, and I hope he isn't.

Abreu would be a be a big plus if we could get the 34 year-old for 3 years at $13 mil per. His line was .296-20-100-22SB and a .371 OBP last year. He'll probably get 4 years and about $60 mil from someone.

I think we would need to move Dome's $12 mil or Lee's $13 mil to have budget room for Abreu. He does speak to Lou's comments about needing offense. Hoffpauir at first and Abreu in right would vely interesting as Arte Johnson used to say on "Laugh In".

Re. Peavy, I still think he stays out West with the Dodgers or Angels. The Giants and Rockies have some quality trading chips too if they are OK with Peavy and have budget room.

I'm surprised that no one thinks most of our problems have been solved now that JH has traded for lefty reliever Buchter.

Blalock makes no sense for the Cubs. Abreu would be an upgrade over what we have, but that move wouldn't excite me. I don't see either of those things happening.

Neil,

We had a forum on here after we got swept about changes we'd like to see made. I had actually thought about Blalock, as I was looking through potential FA's, but as you know, I like to research a lot...

He's almost like Lee in many ways. However, his success came at a lot younger age. In 2004, at age 23, Blalock had a line of: 107 runs, 172 hits, 38 doubles, 3 triples, 32 HR, 110 RBI, 75 BB, 147 K's, .276 avg, .355 OBP, .500 SLG

Now, his career averages are right along those lines too:

90 runs, 172 hits, 36 doubles, 3 triples, 26 HR, 97 RBI, 58 BB, 123 K's, .274 avg, .337 OBP

Those are VERY similar to Lee's career numbers, so essentially, what we'd have to do is trade Lee, insert Blalock at first base, and hope he does well, and that gives us a lefty "power" bat (even though I beg to differ).

If anyone on here is for the Blalock idea presented by the media, then how come you wouldn't be for Dunn? Who, despite his lower average and higher K's, still has more power, OBP, and walks, which is what we need.

Could you imagine with all the walks that Dunn would rack up, how many RBI's ARAM would have hitting behind him? It'd be insane. ARAM might have 140 RBI.

Anyway, I don't even think Abreu would be a good idea. Aging veterans like him and Ibanez are never a good idea.