Lot's of banter over the last 24 hours. While Aaron tends to take some heat on this site, I usually tend to agree with his observations regarding Hendry.

Who in their right mind would give Soriano a guaranteed 8 year deal with a no-trade clause? Similarly, the Marquis signing was terrible (it was then, it is today). And even Lee's # years/no trade contract has crippled the teams flexibility currently.

The Cubs never follow the blueprint of successful organizations like the Braves, who commit to the development of their own farm system v. peddling away its prospects for marginal (at best) returns (aka Traschel). All that means is that it must be time the Cubs go after Ibanez who's a Type A free agent because "Lou liked him" during his years in Seattle. Please!

This organization is in disarray from the top down. Since when does it take almost two years to sell a team? Talk about a laughing-stock bunch of buffons at the top. And for a team that sells out every game (before the season ever starts) and cha-chings $3 million "fans", they are making money hand over fist, yet still can't figure out an appropriate budget.

I know that many are enamored with Hendry's "track record", but it's deals like Soriano's and Lee's that are already coming back to bite us.

Final thought...it just gets tiring hearing the difference in commentary between Lou and JH. Either get on the same page, and tell the media a consistent story, or have one of them (likely Lou) go back to Florida, shut up, and show up ready for spring training.

The Cubs won't lose a sandwich pick if they sign a type a free agent. Those are compensatory picks, or in other words, additional picks given to teams who lose free agents. They'd lose their 1st round pick since it's not in the top 15 picks. If they signed 2 Type A free agents, they'd lose their 1st and 2nd round picks.

I haven't seen much out here re: Pat "The Bat" Burrell. He's a big left handed power bat that all the experts & Lou seem to think we need so bad. He made like $13M last season. Trade Marquis for prospects, eat 3M of his $9.7 which gives us almost 7M + Woods 10M and we can get Burrell + a decent lefty for the pen. While I realize Burrell is really not a RF'r, his D wouldn't be any worse than Hoffy or DeRo's. Just wondered if any of the faithful had a take on this guy? He's free as in no draft pick compensation, just salary is all it'll cost us, the lineup sure would look awfully scary with him in it. What's your take?

Bryan, Couldn't agree with you more. Certainly the Cubs are not the worst organization but the Tribune's and Hendry's management of the team have not been professional or competent enough to put together a solid product with a realistic chance of winning the WS...in fact the product at times has been painfully laughable or just painful. The same management that built their plan around marketing Sammy Sosa and hocking the future to get the highest sales price for the team now has the Tribune at the edge of extinction. One can only hope new ownership will have the goal to create a good baseball operation on the North Side that does not perpetuate the marketing hype and the lore of lovable losers and nice days in a nostalgic park with teddy bears for the kids and delusions for all. Hopefully the new regime will have an owner that admires and recognizes good baseball and sees investment value in long term franchise success. The first thing they must do is start looking for new leadership in the baseball operations and laying out a solid plan for the building a first class baseball operation, not the stuttering bumbling near sighted management that while getting the Cubs into the playoffs has made poor investment choices along the way... different leadership than the one which has created a team that is not capable of competing for a title, one with immovable parts and one devoting mega millions and eight years of team resources to a player that is nowhere near being a franchise athlete in left field.

Dave... pat burrell is a right handed bat not a lefty... Big left handed bat would be go out and sing Adam Dunn, numbers in wrigley with the rest of our lineup would be ridiculous...40+ hrs, 120+ rbi, obp of close to 400 which is his almost career obp..

Pat Burrell is a.) not left handed b.) an even worse outfielder than Dunn, Ibanez, Abreu, and hell even Hoffpauer. Pat Burrell was the worst defensive outfielder in the NL last year and whether he likes it or not, he's headed to the AL to DH.

Like you Bryan, I wish contracts were limited to a max of 4 years without trade restrictions. But if JH want to be thought about for players like Berkman, Oswalt and Lee of the Astros; Pujols and Glaus of the Cards; Santana, Beltran and Wagner of the Mets; and ARod, Jeter, Rivera, Posada and Matsui of the Yankees; and a bunch more, very long contracts with no trade provisions are the price of poker. It's almost a given that 1 or 2 years of those contracts are regretted (and lived with) by most of the competitive teams. Along with Lee and Soriano, don't forget our similar commitments to ARam and Z.

It can be argued that the Trib has elevated payrolls to be competitive--which I don't take as organizational disarray. Sam Zell, usually about as shrewd a deal maker as there is, certainly rues the Trib deal and its attendant massive debt undertaking. That put him in the extended process of putting a number of Cubs' and related real estate combination deals on the table. That effort was further extended by the collapse of the financial system and the mysteries of the owners' fraternity. It can be argued that JH has performed quite well given all the realities of his situation.

Your point re. JH and Lou may be a precurser to emerging problems. Lou has no shortage of egotism, and he has biases to go with considerable managerial talent. Now, he has "manager of the year" to go with his world series ring and self confidence. Lou has exhibited blunt opinion that aren't consistent with JH's more constrained views.

Lou has a possibly limiting affliction that might be called Loumonia. I've said that Loumonia in matters like Peavy is likely the eventual course (we don't sign him)--but Lou needs to defer to JH in the poker games that owners, GM's and agents are now playing. (And I will be more than glad when the off-season poker games and the misinformation that goes with it are over.)

As has been said before, at the end of the day this team has gone to the playoffs 3 times in the last 6 years, including back to back for the first time in 100 years. JH is the person who helped put those teams together. Bash if you must, but results are there.

The Tribune being at the edge of extinction has nothing to do with their management. It's called the internet, and has newspapers in general on the brink of death because advertising (where they make their money)gets lower and lower each year.

The Cubs turned a major corner years ago when we finally got on track of hiring good experienced managers. Starting with Don Baylor, then on to Dusty Baker, and now the Lou Pinella era. Certainly better than the Lee Elia, Jim Riggleman, and Tom Treblehorn choices.

The long term contracts and no trade clauses are signs of the times. Most everyone jumped up and down when we got Soriano. Hendry did what he could do to get us the biggest fish in the pond. Unfortunately Soriano has run into leg issues the first two years and hasn't produced the over the top numbers we expected, but still produced very well. Let's hope for a healthy season and see what he does.

Bryan...I've been saying that consistently for the last 3 years with Hendry. Before that, I thought he'd be like Frey, Himes, Lynch, and others before him, and actually be held accountable for the Cubs failings and lack of player development. I thought, "no way can this jackass survive 3 managerial changes, right?" Wrong, that jackass is front and center now, and steering this organization into more losing seasons ahead. Sure, we may....may...make the playoffs next year. HOWEVER, after he's mortgaged the future trading top talent for two bums (Trachsel and Gregg), I have little faith that he will be able to right the ship...here's my top ten reasons why:

1)"but losing Jose Ceda, Wood and potentially two draft picks in the past month is not the way many thought Jim Hendry would begin the off-season." Neil said it best right there...How does trading your top pitching prospect, getting rid of your dominant closer (yes, folks, he might've struggled, but so did Marmol, and Wood was largely dominant), and then make the inexcusable gaffe of non offering arbitration to receive the compensatory picks to replenish your system---help your team for the present AND future?!?!? Oh, I get it...because he might've accepted...which brings me to my next point...

2)Really Jim?!?! You really want to go that route do you? Okay, so it might've cost us 9-10 million for one year of our dominant closer and arguably, the face of the team...Where do I know of a contract that seems to match up with that...hmmmmmmmm...Oh, yeah, Jason freaking Marquis. You jackass!!! You offered a below average pitcher 3 years and $21 million after the game's two best pitching coaches couldn't turn him around, and you did it because your BFF was arrogant enough to think he could turn him around...well, hasn't happened, and now we're stuck with a back-loaded deal that's hard to trade, when you could've found at least one of your pitching prospects like Marshall to fill the void.

3)So, I guess signing Burnitz, who was a Type A I believe...must've really been worth it, huh? Didn't you realize that signing players in the 30's to long-term deals just after they had career years is a recipe for disaster (Burnitz, Lee, Dempster, Soriano---come to mind?) Burnitz cost us picks, Lee has handcuffed us with the idiotic no-trade clause you handed out, Dempster will not be close to his 2008 numbers---mark my words, and we're handcuffed by Soriano's albatross contract for the next 6 years....Thanks for nothing!!! (Oh, forgot to mention, that all of them except for Dempster--b/c he just signed the contract--came nowhere near their previous numbers before they signed their deals)

4)I'm still struggling to find out why you thought signing the lead-off man we so coveted, and you worked the entire offseason to get (Furcal), but gave up when you called the Dodgers offer "absurd". Really? So what do you call the 3 and $21 million for Marquis (sorry, couldn't resist coming back to that)?

5)Zambrano, Marshall, Samardzija, Hart, Gallagher, Hill, Wood, Marmol, Wuertz, Guzman, Ascanio, Wells, Pignatiello---these are all pitchers who came up through our system...
-Z, Marshall, Gallagher, Hill, Guzman, and Wood were all starters for us at one point
*Gallagher is no longer with the team

Soto, Fontenot, Theriot, Cedeno, Pie, Hoffpauir, E Patterson, Murton, and McGehee are all position players that played for us last year that came up through the system
-Soto and Theriot were the only starters, and they're looking to replace Theriot already even though he had over a .300 avg and OBP in the .380 range
*E Patterson and Murton are no longer with the organization. McGehee was a September call-up.

How is it that in 6+ years at the helm, that you only have one solid fixture in the everyday lineup that you developed---Soto?!?!?! Unless...your theory is, "well, Burnitz, Jones, etc., had good track records, and DuBois, Pie, Hoffpauir, etc. had not proven anything at the MLB level." I guess that explains it all then----it's better to give career underachieving veterans the benefit of the doubt because they have average MLB statistics, whereas it's not in the organization's best interest to give our position prospects a full shot, because we just don't know what we can count on----better to have a .250 avg, 20 hr and 75 rbi season from a veteran that we pay $5-10 million per year than it is to potentially have .290, 30 hr and 85 rbi from a rookie that we pay $400,000...Yup, Jim, you're a GENIUS!!!

6)He must've called shuttling Corey Patterson, Pie, and Murton back and forth between the majors---"giving them every opportunity to succeed"---because he sure has, hasn't he. You know, with playing once or twice a week in a pinch hitting role and late inning defensive replacement---sure is a confidence builder, isn't it? We all hear "sophomore slump" used around the majors...Murton and C Patterson had decent rookie years 24 years old and 22 years old respectively...In the case of C Patterson, he found himself in a starting role yet again, and excelled before going down with a knee injury, while Murton was forced to the bench with the Soriano acquisition. In both of their cases, they began to be used less frequently the following years, and consequently, struggled to find a groove. In the case of Patterson, the coaching staff was so inept, it wasn't even funny. I wholeheartedly believe that if he were with Gerald Perry, his OBP would go up, and we'd have a dramatically different player. With Pie, he's been shuttled back and forth so many different times that it's tough to find out what we really have with him.

It's no wonder then, that we found a ROY at catcher in Soto after giving him the chance to play everyday, rather than once or twice a week if he struggles. Every other team out there that I know of, allows their kids to battle through struggles at the MLB level withou relegatin them to the bench. The Cubs, on the other hand, have NEVER been patient...Why then, are the fans so patient??!?!?hmmmmmmmmm...a most interesting thought.

7)Trading ANYTHING for Steve Trachsel was a mistake...trading one of your top position prospects---Scott Moore, and a top relief prospect---Rocky Cherry----is inexcusable

8)The last 3 offseasons, his priorities were this: find a lead-off hitter: failed; fix the starting rotation and get more power: signed Lilly and Marquis and Soriano to accomplish that(both were underwhelming choices at the time, and he only caught lightning in a bottle with Lilly...would Zito or Schmidt have been better...Hell no, they have problems, but it was the fact that Hendry spent big money on underwhelming pitchers to begin with, and happened to luck out with Lilly); get more OBP: signed Fukudome. As someone aptly pointed out either in the Sun-Times or on here---can't remember which---but with Japanese position players, teams hope to get Ichiro when he's the exception rather than the norm. What you saw at the beginning of the season with Fukudome was the exception, but what you saw at the end is what we should come to expect as the norm given historical data on Japanese position players. As teams adjust to them, they don't make the necessary changes. You have to be extremely balanced with your swing to do that, which is why Ichiro has excelled. Hideki Matsui is off-balance with his swing somewhat, but has been able to get away with it because of his power, whereas Fukudome is a cross between Ichiro and Matsui as a slap-hitter/gap-hitter. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, and at 32 years old, you're expecting Fukudome to just change his approach all of a sudden?!?! Giving him 4 years and $48 million when he hasn't played a single damn game in the United States has yet again, handcuffed this organization.

So far, we have the following bad contracts left:
-Lee 2 years at $13 million per
-Marquis 1 year at $9.5 million
-Fukudome 3 years at $12 million per
-Soriano 6 years at an average of $16 million per

for just one year, that's an astounding $50 million in bad contracts, rivaling some team's entire budgets.

Here's where we could've used this money:
$9 million for Wood
$12 million for Dunn in LF
$11 million for Furcal at SS
$9 million for Peavy's contract this year
$9 million for Bradley in RF

the lineup would be:
Furcal-SS
Pie/Johnson-CF
ARAM-3B
Dunn-LF
Bradley-RF
Soto-C
DeRosa/Fontenot/Theriot-2B
Hoffpauir-1B

*to save additional money, Harden and/or DeRosa could be traded for prospects to save an additional $10-12 million.

The rotation would still be: Z, Peavy, Dempster, Lilly, and one of our young guys like Samardzija, Guzman, Marshall or Hart (if they're not in the deal for Peavy), and Hill if he can ever get it together.

In the pen, you'd have Cotts, Ascanio, Wells, Wuertz, Gregg, Marmol, and Wood

9)Hendry has repeatedly shown that he's not an outside the box sort of thinker. Hendry wanted to trade for Garciappara straight up, but the BoSox needed a first baseman, and we didn't have it. The trade was in danger of failing if the Twins hadn't been involved--an idea Hendry did NOT have in the first place. We hardly gave away anything of value in that trade from our system, but we met their needs, and the needs of the Twins to shed payroll. Similarly, in 2003, Hendry was trying to go after Burnitz, and was real upset when the Dodgers got him and we didn't...He wanted Burnitz to replace C Patterson in CF after his injury---a trade that would've screwed our chances over of even making the playoffs. It wasn't until the Pirates called, looking to shed Lofton's contract and a bad attitude (ARAM) that Hendry made that trade. Keep in mind, it was NOT Hendry that called the Pirates. Similarly, it was NOT Hendry that called the Padres either looking to get Peavy. It was the other way around, as the Padres called all teams that Peavy was willing to go to in order to gauge their interest in trading for him. The Cubs were on that list, hence talks began. The Padres are looking to get younger and shed payroll. Think we couldn't have used Scott Moore in this trade now instead of Vitters? The only prospects we have would deplete our system, and spare parts like Marshall and Fontenot---we need at the MLB level right now to help us out. Hendry is limited to trading Pie (key CF piece), Guzman (another key piece to our pen or rotation), Gaudin (not going to happen b/c he'd be too much for the Pads in salary), Vitters (our future at 3B after ARAM's contract expires), Hart, Veal (no use now after he was left unprotected), Samardzija (not going to happen...too valuable to us), Flaherty (if we can't land Furcal, and the organization is unhappy with Theriot's production, this would be a mind-blowing inclusion), Hoffpauir (too old to be considered a prospect for the Pads, plus they have Adrian Gonzalez already), Cedeno (again, too old to be considered a prospect, out of options, limited offense, and now eligible for arbitration--all damning factors to the Padres), Hill (head-case...not going to happen), Kroeger (again, left unprotected, and too old to be considered a prospect).....

Really, aside from taking out key pieces to next year's team, and in the case of Vitters---our future....how can we possibly trade for talent like Peavy?!? Which brings me to the top reason, and most damning of all to Hendry:

10)I've mentioned bad trades, lack of outside the box thinking, bad FA signings, lack of player development, etc. If you combine all of that, what you get is a handcuffed organization. If you keep trading away guys like Scott Moore, Rocky Cherry, Ricky Nolasco, Reynel Pinto, Sergio Mitre, Jose Ceda, etc., and all you have to show for it right now is Kevin freaking Gregg....then you're headed in the wrong direction. If you cannot make the necessary acquisitions via trade or free agency to add payroll because of budget constrictions, and you have the amount of bad contracts that we have on file, then you're in a world of hurt in the present AND in the future because it retards the progress of your organization.

When your team supposedly has two five-tool talent players (which, by the way, is very rare in baseball), and they're both in your organization within a few years of each other, and you have nothing to show for it, then you're organization is in a WORLD of trouble.

If your GM says one second that signing Furcal for the contract he got from the Dodgers was absurd, then turns around and gives an equally absurd deal to Jason Marquis---then he OUGHT to be fired immediately because he's essentially contradicting his own critical statement.

When the organization just can't seem to get over the hump, and you can't draft the right players, can't sign good free agents to be the missing piece, and on top of it, can't make astute trades to further your organization's progress, then you DESERVE to be fired...you and all your buddies. The Tribune gave you $130 million, which is well enough to not only put together a staff that can develop and identify young talent, but also well enough so that you can get the necessary free agents to the Cubs to the World Series.

Hendry and Randy Bush seem to think they're the Braves, but they're nowhere close to what the Braves were. The Braves had a young Chipper Jones-3B,Jeff Blauser-SS, Mark Lemke-2B, Ryan Klesko-LF, David Justice-RF, Javy Lopez-C, Tom Glavine-SP, John Smoltz-SP, Steve Avery-SP, Kent Mercker-SP, Mark Wohlers-Closer, Greg McMicahel-set-up,Brad Clontz and Pedro Borbon-middle relief, and Jason Schmidt-swing-man

*that's 6 out of 8 position players, 4 out of 5 starting pitchers, the closer, set-up man, middle relief, and a swing-man all developed in their system when they won the World Series, and were all together for many of the playoff runs. When they needed gap filler like Fred McGriff, Marquis Grissom, and Greg Maddux, then they'd go out and get them until guys like Andruw Jones, Jason Schmidt, Rafael Furcal, Kevin Millwood, etc. were ready for full-time positions. They wouldn't sign older veterans to lengthy contracts, thus blocking their progress at the MLB level for 3-4 years when that prospect is about 23-25 years old, and about ready. They'd sign guys for one or two year deals, just as fillers until the guys were ready, then they'd either let them go via FA or trade them for more prospects.

If you remember, the constant in their rotations was always Glavine, Maddux, and Smoltz. They'd always leave 2 rotation spots open, and they'd always seem to have a young guy as their closer like Wohlers, Rocker, etc. They also had a young catcher in Lopez for many of those years, a solid young third baseman in Jones, a solid young right fielder in David Justice, and a solid young LF/first baseman in Klesko. If you notice, they were pretty set at all corners, the top three starting pitchers, and at catcher with young, homegrown talent.

We have Soto and Zambrano and that's it for those key positions. I guess you could say we have ARAM too, since he was very young when we got him. But Soriano, Lee, Fukudome, Dempster, and Lilly are all in their thirties and NONE were developed by us.

If you look at teams like the Phillies, D'Backs, Marlins (if they ever spend the cash), and Rays----those are teams that are set-up for sustained runs at the playoffs, and thus, World Series. They have the likes of Rollins, Howard, Burrell, Hamels, Myers, Webb, Jackson, Drew, J Upton, Uggla, Ramirez, Hermida, Nolasco, Longoria, BJ Upton, Zobrist, Crawford, Kazmir, etc.---all key, young players at key positions that were all homegrown.

I'm sorry this post is so long...I have an article posted in the Community section that I encourage you to read---It's about the forecast in 3 years

Amen Aaron.....preach the truth brotha!!!

Aaorn thank God your not the GM.

Furcal- will see the DL aleast once in 09, most teams are shying away because of his back problems.
Dunn- you talk about giving a mediorce player a bad contract instead of giving youth a chance.
Bradley- clubhouse cancer NO THANKS

We can all see that you hate Hendry. Seems like your looking to point the finger at someone. If you think that Hendry makes all the decisions you misimformed. Like someone said earlier Hendry reports to his bosses who tell him what he can and cannot do.

Can you name one player that Hendry traded away that is producing and starting on another team?

Aaron....I'm sorry the post is so long too. Fry, Himes and Lynch are gone because the team didn't win. JH is still with us because the Cubs are winning. Your "top prospects" Scott Moore and Rocky Cherry who got us the no-help Trachsel are on no team's 40 man roster currently. So, I guess we sign them now for the minimum and our troubles are over. And they join some of our acquired guys on next year's all star team. Moore is capable of playing RF, in addition to third and first--but he peaked at AA.

Murton, EPat and Gallagher did nothing for the A's--although Gallagher may still be a 4-5 pitcher. We have a surplus of those. Donaldson could rise or fall. So how is having Harden and Gaudin for them an unmitigated disaster?

You are right that the Cubs have faired poorly developing position players--but also right that high picks like Upton, Longoria, et. al. often do better than the middle rounder's that we have selected recently. That is partly a function of winnig. We added miracle draft picker, Wilkin (Sp) to get us some picks that turn out well (which we do need to do). Not doing better with position players is unacceptable--but that's but one of maybe 5 or 6 aspects of a GM's overall grade.

Your speculation that nothing but disaster awaits the team in three years is based upon internal player development and stupidity taking us down the drain. That assumes that we don't acquire more ARam's, DeRo's and DLee's (ah yes, wisdom at work), and that we can't do better in internal development. You forget that we are a big market/big budget team and that most of the great internal development teams are low budget teams with a lot of high draft choices--that they can't keep. (The Braves are an exception.) You are so narrowly focused on your development obsession (to the exclusion of the other possibilities for team building) that you are not credible. Please get back up on the balance beam, and show us some of your better stuff.

Aaron...I'm sorry, but you're a little too negative for me. Yea, some of the moves haven't worked out. That's the business in baseball. You have to trust your scouts and managers. If they don't feel guys are going to pan out and then they end up doing so for someone else, that stinks. But you can't argue to keep prospects over proven MLB talent (however mediocre it may be) and then say we don't trade our prospects smarter for better MLB talent. Doesn't make sense. He's not a fortune teller. Your forecast article is pretty bogus too. I'm not trying to be a dick, but seriously. Yea, some teams do develop their own, and do a good job of it. Others need to trade and sign FA to fill in where their home grown talent isn't sufficient enough to win. I don't think that after some of those teams in the late 90s and into 2000 we thought we'd be where we are now. Think of some of those starting line-ups...yuck. I'm not saying Hendry is awesome, but you can't argue with results. The past few years have, at the very least, been interesting and in the right direction. Am I that guy that says "hey, we tried and had fun along the way", absolutely not, definitely not...I play to win and any other thought is for losers...but at the same time I do see the positives and not all negatives. I don't always trust all the news about prospects, especially being a Cubs fan, but as a player myself I played with guys who could have, and should have been great ballplayers. They had the "tools" people love to talk about. It doesn't matter if you can't put it together. Are the Cubs the best team in the league talent-wise?? I don't know, maybe. Their numbers were pretty good, but believe it or not, numbers lie. If you're a stat-head, then baseball is NOT the sport for you. I'm sorry, but there is a personality in baseball unlike any other sport. Numbers do not tell the whole story. People who claim Soriano has had a good/productive couple years here are out of their minds. He has put up good numbers (ignore his paycheck please...)but in his spot in the line-up he's been very bad. His refusal to budge from it and be a team guy also hurt this team. When I think about the team we have RIGHT now and remove him from the leadoff spot...where do we hit him?? Do we really trust him as a 3 or 4?? Do we keep Lee at 3 after two "good numbers" but bad 3 hitter seasons in a row?? I would rather have 1996-99 Mark Grace hitting in the 3hole than DLee. My point is that yea, those dudes you metioned all look great on paper and I'm sure we'd win 120 games with Peavy, Dunn, Bradley(who I think is a great ballplayer) and Furcal. We were already the best team in the NL last season, that team will get us to where we were last year, number 1 seed in the playoffs. I want guys who will fill roles. I don't want an all-star team. We had that last year...though I thought last season we had a team with role guys, just in the wrong roles...if that makes sense...(it should if you think about the lineup and bullpen). I want what the Yankees of the late 90s had. I want what Boston has had the past few years. Give me some role guys. Numbers and people who try to crunch them to make sense are out of their minds and don't really understand the game. I'm not saying you don't understand baseball, Aaron, I just think you need to chill out on the negativity...we're not Jim Hendry...and he's never going to read this...so don't make us feel punished having to relive all the bad stuff...try to be positive. I know I needed a bottle of Maker's Mark and two monthes of bitching and hating before I could get my mind right to think about baseball again...but I'm excited for this offseason and hope things go in the right direction....right now.....so far I feel a little let down.

Certainly some energy online today. While recognizing the state of the market that drives some of the contracts we see today, I'm just not a believer in long-term contracts beyond 3-4 years, and certainly those attached with no-trade provisions.

Relative to Soriano, I don't recall too many people jumping around when he was signed expressing that he was the new franchise face of the team. The Yankees, Rangers and Nats all knew something about him, and yet we give him 8 guaranteed years. Soriano is no Pujols or a younger Jeter, "impact guys" that might warrant that long term loyalty. There is no way Soriano survives six more years in this contract (atleast with the Cubs). And while Lee is a solid, class guy, the duration and no-trade contact he has also handcuffs us currently. How hard is it for a GM to just say "no" to some of this ridiculousness?

And to points earlier, while the Patterson's, Murton's, EPat's haven't worked out, sitting them on the bench and expecting miracles when they get 1-2 at bats a week is unrealistic. As the vets need consistent play, so do the young kids in the system. We should just let Pie and Hoffpauer get their true shot, and see what hopefully happens v. spending another $8-10m on aging outfielders well passed their prime. It's about infusing new young talent into an established and evolving core that makes for successful franchises.

WOW......I don't even know what to say. Like Jim said, thank GOD you are not the GM of the Cubs Aaron. Holy Crap.......

Jim K said it best....the difference between JH and the other GM's you listed is that he actually is overseeing a winning team.

You bitch about Marquis contract. 3-years and 21 million(7 million average each season) is hardly out of line for an everyday pitcher. In fact if you actually used factual information you'd see that it was well UNDER what starting pitchers were being signed for that offseason. Let me help you:

2006 FREE AGENT PITCHER CONTRACTS
Jeff Weaver 1-yr 8.25 million
Orlando Hernandez 2-yr 12 million
Jason Schmidt 3-yr 47 million
Gil Meche 5-yr 55 million
Adam Eaton 3-yr 24.5 million
Miguel Batista 3-yr 25 million
Vincente Padilla 3-yr 33.75 million
Barry Zito 7-yr 126 million

A 3-year contract for a free agents is pretty much the low end. Not many free agent signings are less than that. The 21 million falls way under what the market was commanding that year. Sure, Zito and Schmidt were the "prizes" but look at the other pitchers and what they were getting. Marquis is lower than all of them (except the 2-year deal signed by Hernandez) So to say Hendry was crazy for that contract is nuts. Not to mention, Marquis has filled his role well. He has been a number 4/5 pitcher for us and has stayed healthy and produced 2 winning seasons going a combined 23-18.

Speaking of Zito and Schmidt, how many of us (myself included) would have loved to have signed Zito or Scmidt or both? Now THERE would be some contracts that would have us screwed. Kinda glad JH went and plugged in Marquis rather than those two.

You rant about trading prospects and mention Rocky Cherry and Scott Moore. Uhhhh...just what have they done since the trade?? lol NOTHING is what. Let's see Cherry pictched in 10 games for the O's in 2007 and had a 7.71 ERA and he pitched in 18 games for them last year with a 6.35 ERA. WOW sure wish we had him in OUR bullpen!! Scott Moore? In 7 minor league seasons is a career .259 hitter. Last year in 78 games in the minors he hit .247 with 7 HR's. Again....WOW wish we had him back!!!

You talk about Hendry's bad contracts, yet you want to throw 12 million (and probably a 3 year deal) at Dunn for a few homeruns, yet horseshit defense and extremely low batting average and tons of strikeouts. Then we can all blog on here during a close game and the tying run on base, the other team brings in their situational lefty to face Dunn and strikes his ass out. Fun times.
Furcal? 11 miilion? (and again at least a 3 year deal) for someone coming off of major back issues? I see your thinking. (No not really). 9 million (and 2-3 year deal) for Bradley? He's never had a full healthy season and has had tons of drama in his career.

So those are your WONDER signings and you have the audacity to bash JH?

WOW!

Aaron,
You can't have it both ways. How can you criticize Hendry for signing players to big contracts after career years that prevent the Cubs from other signings, and then get mad for not re-signing Wood or offering him arb? Offering Wood arb, would guaranty his return to the Cubs. He would jump at accepting it because no other team will offer him $10mil and lose a first round pick for a player with injury concerns that was a closer for only 1 year. He missed a month and still blew 6 saves. That is not top closer money material.

That said, I can still see him back with the Cubs. The market for a closer is not as good and if he ends up being cheap, I think the Cubs would entertain bringing him back.

If the Cubs are deciding whether Samardzija is in the bullpen or the rotation they need to bring Wood back.

why would the cubs not want woody back? i mean w/ wood we would have the best bulpen in the bigs w/ 3 guys haveing closer stuff in wood,gregg, and marmol, and thats not inclluding the shark who if not for his starting profile would be a phenominal closer with his stuff, so resign wood first of all then snag jp with out giving up marshall and fontenot then we WILL have the best complet pitching staff starter goes 6 inn then have gregg 7th, marmol 8th then wood 9th and then raise the big blue W. also throw in the shark in ther to plus that would do great for harden on his arm,

guys i just found out some bad news cubs former henry blanco's brothe carlos 39 had been kidnapped and found shot to death on monday morning, go to www.cubs.com and they have a special page on the info i send my prays regards to the whole blanco family,

How can we be lovers if we can't be friends?

lol!

Wow...thats ugly. BTW my comment above had nothing to do with what coutz posted. That is very sad.

Back to baseball. One reporter says that Abreu was dropped by the Yanks because the $16 mil he would have received in arbitration is way more that $10 to 12 and 3 years that he'll likely get on the market in these uncertain times. For a team needing a highly productive, 3 hole, lefty bat, Abreu looks like a bargain to me. Bobby will be 34 in March and has had 6 straight years with 20 or more HR's and 100 or more RBI's (as I recall research a couple of weeks ago). He hits both lefties and righties well. He stole 20 bases last year, and I think had 3 errors and a decent number of assists.

My guess has been that it would take 3 years and about $40 mil. We have Wood's 9 or 10 mil and assuming $12 to $14 mil becomes available, wouldn't Abreu be an excellent addition? He would only be 36 when his contract is over. He moves Lee to the 5 or 6 spot and may enable moving Soriano down too. I can see the 1-2 slots being occupied by Theriot and DeRo or Fontentot for example. (Or maybe Coco Crisp when we make a deal with the Royals. Crisp is a big city guy. Remember you heard it here first.)

I would rather have Dejesus than Crisp. I doubt the Royals will trade Crisp after just getting him.

Agustin....Have you ever heard about money? I'm reminded of the lady of the night who says, "It's a business doing pleasure with you." Of course, Agustin, it would be different if you were talking true love, to do lists and full time supervision.

I just don't know about Abreu for the price tag of $10-12m per year for 3.
Granted the numbers (around 20 HR's and 100 RBI's), but I tend to think that Hoffpauer, if he played daily, can produce 15-20 HR's and likely 75-80 RBI's in the process, and he earns what, a half-million? And he's 7 years younger than Abreu.

I know everyone will say that he's unproven, but that's the same storyline given by many here re:Soto last spring. Hoffpauer has proven he can hit at every level. He deserves a chance to show it on a fulltime basis in the bigs.

Bryan I couldn't agree more with you. Abreu would be better defensively but at what cost would signng him or any other aging vet.

Is Woody able to file for unemployment?

I was really surprised the Cubs didn't offer Kerry arbitration, the way they are treating him really sucks.

And, as others on here have mentioned, this is a 97-win team that won back-to-back NL Central titles...There is not a lot to improve. I could see us getting Peavy, Roberts, or Randy Johnson, and Furcal was an interesting possibility.

To be honest, none of the other names mentioned as perhaps coming to the North Side 'float my boat,' so to speak. And no way I trade Atkins or Vitters.

Aaron - a certain amount of disagreement with the GM is understandable - heck even expected... but you're really taking things too far.

As for Marquis - I agree that his contract is a bit of a handicap now, but I for one am glad we had him under contract last year after the complete flame out of one of our youthful in-house players - Rich Hill.

And Burnitz....

You bring him up every time you make an argument as THE prime example of how clueless Hendry is.

The simple fact is - Hendry signed a guy that had 110 RBI the previous year (granted hitting half the time in Coors) to essentially a one year contract with club options. When the guy didn't pan out he (and this is important) DECLINED TO EXERCISE THE OPTION.

Burnitz might have been a mistake - but he was a one year mistake.

You think the Angels don't wish they'd signed Gary Matthew's Jr to a shorter deal? Or Pierre with the Dodgers?

Let it go man - life's too short.

Regardless of your personal feelings on the way to run a baseball franchise - this team had the best record in the NL last year. The team is GOOD.

I wouldn't mind seeing Abreu and Peavy added. I would rather have a #3 left power bat over a true leadoff guy. Abreu's numbers are so consistent. If we can get lucky and still have enough for Roberts, then we are destined to win the World Series next year.

Nice deal for the Braves today in picking up Vazquez. I would think this increases our chance of acquiring Peavy.