I am so disappointed because we did not offer Rich Harden arbitration. However,we can still resign him hopefully.Jake Fox can replaced Reed Johnson. Kevin Gregg I could not wait for him to get out of town.

Prospects lost! BAD MANAGEMENT!

No quick and easy fixes for the mess the Cubs are in. The Cubs are shot for the next five at least. Really. The damage JHendry has done with poor talent evaluation cannot be mended on a limited budget. In 2006, after JHendry and Dusty had run the Cubs completely into the dirt, the fans were quite disgusted, and seats were empty [the seats had been sold before the season started, and fans didn't bother to come and watch the trash on the field]. Management feared that attendance would fall and lower the value of the Cubs, so Hendry was given an open checkbook to go out and sign a bunch of free agents to reignite the fire of Cubs' fans. SO he way overpaid for Sorry-oh-no and other pieces of trash. Now that the checkbook is closed, and the economy is shot, JHendry cannot build a team by just throwing money at the problem. If he is to be successful, he must build it with talent evaluation of what he already has on the ML level, the minor league level, and astute trades. But JHendry is incapable of doing that, so the Cubs are shot for years to come. The cure for the Cubs will be to (1) acquire good management that can accurate evaluate talent, and (2) spend the time to build up a minor league system. This will take 4-5 years minimum AFTER JHendry is fired. So the Cubs are shot for at least 5 years, and more than likely, decades to come. Ricketts ain't no savior; he's a businessman looking to profit off of his investment. So don't look for him to open his checkbook to deliver a winner to Chicago. Look for him to make financially viable decisions to milk the most $$$$ out of the Cubs. In other words, business as usual in Chicago. This is how the Cubs dealt away Bruce Sutter for 3 pieces of trash. Sutter wanted a raise. Etc, etc, etc.

do any of you see a possibility of the Cubs acquiring both Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson...

Would be an enormous addition especially with Lilly starting the season on the DL and the uncertainty of Randy Wells. Edwin (who is only 25) really matured into an allstar last season and a move to the NL should only further help his development.

Cubs get :
Curtis Granderson
Edwin Jackson

Tigers get:
Josh Vitters
Andrew Cashner
Sean Marshall
Jake Fox
Mike Fontenot

This would give the Tigers two top prospects (while allowing the Cubs to keep Marmol and Castro) and give them cheap MLB ready players which is what they specifically said they wanted in Fox, Marshall, and Fontenot.

The Cubs would fill out the rotation with a young stud to slot as the 3-4 starter and fill their need for speed, defense, and CF.

Then all we gotta do is find a way to turn Milton Bradley into Luis Castillo or sign one of the Orlando's and we are set and I bet you all money we'd be the favorites again!

Anyone??? anyone??? Bueller???

that package might not be enough for the tigers evern though jackson had a terrible 2nd half and Granderson can't hit lefties. Both are young and can help u win but they might ask for castro vitters jackson fox and mike

I don't think the Tigers would make that deal ... maybe if another quality prospect like Jay Jackson was subbed in for Fontenot.

Edwin Jackson definitely had a rough second half thats for sure. But again, he is only 25 with a LOT of MLB experience for that age, he was an allstar last season and has pitched decently now for the past two seasons both in the AL (one in the brutal AL East). He would not be facing the pressures of being an ace and would likely slot in as our 4th starter behind Dempster ahead of Wells and I really believe that he could continue his progression at an accelerated rate in the NL Central.

Youre right that it may not be enough to get them both but I still think it is a solid starting point for two allstar caliber players that fill many voids on our team.

Maybe; Cashner, Vitters, Jay Jackson, Fox, and maybe add in Marshall. Would you guys all be in favor of this?? I for sure would be any trade that would net us that talent while still keeping our top prospect is a great start.

This team is going to stink in 2010, so why trade our promising prospects? I'd have Castro, Vitters, Jackson, Cashner, Fox, Castillo on the opening day roster, and just let them play.

To create a major shift, trade Zambrano, Fukodome, Theriot and perhaps Soto as well and just commit to a major youth rebuilding process that may take a couple years to complete.

I have no interest in us acquiring a platoon player in Granderson or other question marks from other teams. Let's see our own farm system play at the ML level under the tutelage of Jaramillo and Sandberg.

Let Castro, Vitters, Jackson, Cashner, Fox and Castillo play now and deal Z, Fuk, Theriot, and Soto? ... the Cubs would lose 100 games and finish behind the Pirates. Those guys (except Fox) may be centerpieces of our future, but they're not ready now and need time to develop.

re-sign reed

harden / gregg - no big loss

and why do so many people want to trade the whole farm for a part-time player ? (granderson) - NO WAY.

Yanks let Pettite, Damon and Matsui go.
Marquis was offered arby by the Rockies.
Marlon Byrd offered by Texas.
DeRosa also offered arby.

Garland (P), Hudson, and Wolf were declined arby by LA Dodgers. LAA declined arby to Vlad Guerrero.

Not much to chose from on this list.

There have been a lot of questionable moves and there is still alot to be done before we go into the 2010 season, that is obvious.

BUT dont you all agree taht for as disappointing as last season was the Cubs still right now have more talent on their team than any other team in the NL Central (and are at least comparable to STL especially without DeRo, Holliday and whoever else they lose)

This is still a winnable division with the pirates being the pirates, the Reds always seeming to be 3-4 years away from really competing, the brewers with absolutely zero pitching, the Astros with not a lot of pitching or depth, and the Cards receiving many guys with career type years (piniero, wainwright, franklin, etc.) Plus Carps health is always an issue anyways.

We forget that even with a ridiculous amount of injuries and simultaneous career worst/down years (Soriano, Bradley, Soto, Gregg, Miles, etc.) that WE WERE IN FIRST PLACE AS LATE AS AUGUST

The cards literally cleaned out their top five prospects for DeRosa and Holliday so they likely wont be able to make a huge splash at the deadline either.

Also, consider this, what do you think Cards fans were saying going into 2009 after the Cubs won back2back titles and were the heaviest division favorites in the league.

Call me a homer but im still saying that we can win this division and if we can win divisions and get in the playoffs who knows what happens (83 win Cards, 2007 Rockies) also that brings us one year closer to our reshaped lineup, stadium, and youth movement...Its NOT all doom and gloom brothas.

GO CUBS!

I'm pretty sure we won't see any moves at all of note. It defies all logic. It's like how the Bears have operated, or how the Bulls have drafted in recent seasons. How many SF, PF do you have to have on an NBA roster. Apparently the Bulls feel you need 10 of them. I know not everyone on here is an entire Chicago sports fan like I am, but you can draw comparisons with all 3 teams. At least the Bulls recently (in the last 10-15 years) dominated the NBA. You can't say that about the Bears and Cubs. At least the White Sox have a GM with balls enough to try to do something to improve his team, making bold moves, and they've also won a championship recently.

When you get too conservative as a GM, you might as well find a new line of work. If any of you ever have gone to the casinos before, you'll know that if you're playing at the blackjack table, and you're betting the table minimum every hand, playing things conservatively, you'll end up losing money, unless you start upping the ante.

The Bears and Cubs are two franchises that have been notoriously stingy in both free agent contracts and trade negotiations, not willing to do whatever is necessary to field a winning product on the field.

I will say this though, the last 2 managers of the Cubs, Baker and Piniella, were quite a shift from their usual leadership choices that didn't have good track records prior to joining the Cubs.

back to my point though....

I'm not expecting anything good to happen this offseason for the Cubs, simply because Hendry isn't shrewd enough to pull off the necessary moves. We have needs in the rotation, OF, pen, and middle IF.

We have Castro as a middle IF option, and Camp, provided he's not selected in the Rule 5 (highly likely that he's selected), but that's it. For the OF, we have Hoffpauir, Fox, Fuld, Adduci, and Colvin as internal options. Hoffpauir and Fox have clearly fallen out of favor with the organization, and it's quite likely that both will be traded this offseason. Fuld and Adduci have no power/RBI potential whatsoever, and essentially they're the same player (only Adduci is younger), as both have above average speed and are both lefty. Colvin is a joke, and should've never been picked in the first round. He's a colossal bust as a top pick. I think Burke should be elevated higher than he is...But the most confounding thing about this offseason was the reluctance of Hendry to add Snyder to the 40 man roster. He almost certainly will sign with another team this offseason, and is currently hitting .375 in the winter leagues with power, OBP, AND has shown speed with his 12 stolen bases.

Here's how I look at things right now:

Miles vs Castro = Castro
Hoffpauir vs Snyder = Snyder
Fontenot vs Camp = Camp
Fuld vs Adduci = Fuld

*those are about the only borderline/minor moves that I can think of. I'd be willing to wager a LOT of money that Hendry keeps Miles, Hoffpauir, and Fontenot on the team next year. Given the available alternatives, it makes you scratch your head, doesn't it? Furthermore, I'm not even including free agent alternatives like Felipe Lopez, Rick Ankiel, etc.

I would even do an analysis of other players too:

C-Soto vs potential of W. Castillo = W. Castillo
1B-Lee vs _____ = there's no better options, so Lee, but for ONLY this season, NO extension
2B-(see below...you'd simply switch Theriot to 2B)
SS-Theriot vs Castro = Castro
3B-ARAM vs ____ = even with his injuries lately, you have to love your chances with ARAM...he's the ONLY stud on our offense
LF-Soriano vs Fox = Fox. Fox was exposed to breaking balls late in the season, but his bat speed is far superior to the diminishing bat speed and health of Soriano. Both are equally brutal in the field, but I'd take my chances with Fox.
CF-currently empty, with Fuld, Adduci, and Fukudome as internal candidates. I actually like taking a chance on Ankiel here, based solely on his power potential
RF-Fukudome/Hoffpauir/Colvin vs Snyder = Snyder. Based upon his early season production prior to injury at AAA, and now, his production in the winter leagues. This former first round pick of the Indians appears to have it figured out, only problem is...Hendry doesn't have it figured out. If the Ricketts and Hendry are serious about winning next year, I think they should go with the following lineup:

Castro-SS
Lopez-2B
Lee-1B
ARAM-3B
Ankiel-CF
Fox-LF
Snyder-RF
W.Castillo-C

That's a perfect lefty/righty balance, good power from Lee, ARAM, Ankiel, Fox, and Snyder all in a row, all with 20+hr potential, and you have great defense/range up the middle with Castro, Lopez, and Ankiel, then you have great defense with Snyder in RF. Soriano and Fukudome become extremely expensive bench players, but that's what you have to do in order to win games...you make the tough calls, and not worry about pride.

Bench becomes: K Hill, Soriano, Fukudome, Baker, and Blanco. Everyone else, like Miles, Theriot, Fontenot, Hoffpauir, Fuld, Colvin, etc. either become trade bait or DFA candidates.

You could make the case, that for a reasonable price, like a Marshall, Fox, and Jay Jackson for Granderson, that he'd fit in CF for us, but I wouldn't trade more than 3 players for him and certainly NOT elite prospects like Vitters, Cashner, or Castro, or even Hak Ju Lee for that matter.

The problem is, Hendry is too concerned what the players think, and thus, has made the previously tough Piniella into a softy that doesn't demand much of his veteran players (at least in 2009 we saw that). After his comments in early Spring Training about his big bats not showing up, Piniella appeared to have been silenced by Hendry or something, because we never heard him complain about them after that.

Again, I fully anticipate the following players from our system to be selected in the Rule 5: Camp, Maestri, and Papelbon (I'd include Chirinos, but it says he's a Rule 55, and has been re-signed, so I have no clue) In all 3 cases, they would've been better options than Miles, Mateo, and Patton on our 40-man roster.

Am I off base here, or do you guys think Hendry has completely lost it? I mean, just look, as soon as he's not given a blank check to fix all his mistakes, he's exposed as a terrible GM who never had a clue how to build a winning team. Money can often put a band-aid on certain problems, but when it runs out, mistakes are out in the open, and that's precisely what we've seen with Hendry.