according to fox sports(ken rosenthal per mlbtraderumors.com); no deal for bradley close. the M's a major longshot, texas somewhat of a longshot; and the rays-cubs can't agree on the 2011 salary split.

if ricketts persits all offseason of not budging on moving bradley to the point the cubs sign no RP, 2b, CF of substance; then god help tommy ricketts if he shows up to the cubs convention.

2003 changed things tommy: 101 yrs and counting, there is no grace period, cubs fans demand a title:

recap of money available:

1.14.48M based on avg tix increase of 4.82 based on 3M fans

2.14M saved on gregg, harden, johnson(if reed comes back; not more than 1.5M so still 12.5M saved)

3.3.2M saved on miles/heilman trades

4.est 2M on LF bleacher billboards

total of 33M.

plus what we don't know:

1.no more tribune shareholders so no more payouts at year end

2.capt morgan club open year round and was packed during season; all to the cubs; none to be shared w/ visiting teams

3.3 concerts last year; will there be 3 again this year.(all proceeds belong to cubs)

4.no one talks aboout the 17% the cubs get from the rooftop profits; but at 100 for a bucs/reds type game and 150 for a cards/chisox/dodgers game; there must be money there.

5.gate receipts from away games; the cubs annually are in teh top 5 of road attendance; we all see the cameras show the HUGE amout of cubs fans at road games; milwaukee is wrigley field north for pete's sake.

plus there is mlb properties inc monies, satellite radio monies, mlb network monies, the HUGE tv contracts w/ fox, espn, tbs, that every team gets.

and we can't find 7 or 8M of the 12 M bradley is owed for 2011 to trade him for burrell??.....are u kidding me........

tommy ricketts: 101 yrs and counting; there is NO grace period.

aaron:

let's start off w/ the obvious; u did not read my post in it;s entirety.

no cheap shots on cubcloy; just pointing out he does not provide examples of a bad GM JH is; just opinions, rants, baseless thoughts. provide examples like miles sucks. and the poster bryan stating the cubs failures began w. sori and uncle lou is plain stupid; lou has 3 winning seasons; not done since 1970.

2nd; jason bay will get a 4 or 5 yr offer-currently reported at 4 yrs, 64M, he wants 5 yrs. so yes he does almost make 18M a year.(and the economy is diff. now which i pointed out and u did not read)

ur mlbtraderumors.com article points out that JH has had questionable FA moves; however is a strong trader.(read the last paragraph of the article) so what is your point> of saying JH is a bad Gm when the article points out the OPPOSITE.

(and the article states hairston for sosa was bad; completely forgetting fontenot was a throw in.(who's been serviceable)

jose ceda, garrett olson, felix pie and ronny cedeno have done squat in the majors; what the hell is your point?---they have ZERO all star appearances; cedeno was so good the M;s traded him to the bucs; did garrett olson even pitch in the majors last year and ceda was hurt.

i never said gregg was good; but until ceda does something it's a wash.

bay/sori and lackey/big Z comparisions i did by hand, w/ a calculator.........please. and let's not forget big Z is 28, lackey is 31.

u have no clue on the Dlee post; i;m almost embarrassed for u; but u asked for this:

lee signed his contract after the 2005 season; u know the one when he had 100 extra base hits; 46 homers, 109 rbi's and hit .335. hmmmmmmm.and was 2nd in mvp voting to pujuols.(and a WS title in 2003).

what do u think he was gonna get in the open market; konerko rec'd the same contract from the chisox; compare the 2; almost identical except dlee has more SB,2 gold gloves, and look at last year's totals...dlee was much better.

u continue w/ more factual errors' mentioning JH ad 3 divisions in 9 yrs; he started in 2003; that would make 7.......hello, bueller.

and your last 3 paragraphs are pure crap; did u even read what i wrote; 101 yrs and counting; no championship. hmmmmmmm.........does that sound like the old regime as u mention it; utterly stupid comment by U; every post i mention 101 yrs and counting; so obviously i;m not happy w/ a division title; do u realize there is 99% chance there is no one alive today that remembers the cubs winning it all; think about that; u would have to be at a minimum of 105(4 yrs old) to remember it; and being 4 would be debatable to recall it. my 4 yr old would not remember it.

aaron:one more time for U;101 yrs and counting; no grace period, tommy ricketts......see ya at the convention.

It's a fact: the Yanks were the #1 successful club in MLB in the decade of 2000's. No other club is even close. You want evidence? Here's evidence:

Let's get the obvious out of the way so we can move on to the more compelling debate. As painful as it is to write (and for many to read), the decade's best team is the franchise that has dominated so many of the past nine decades and the team likely to dominate the next decade as well. The New York Yankees.

Feel free to curse.

No other team is close. No matter the criteria, the Yankees come out on top. The Yankees won the first World Series of the decade, and they won the last. They played in two others. They won their division eight times and reached the postseason nine times. They won 45 games more than the nearest team. They had some of the greatest players in history (Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Derek Jeter). They had the decade's best closer (Mariano Rivera) and some of the best starters (Clemens, CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte). They opened the most expensive stadium in history and were so good, fans paid $2,500 for a ticket to see them. Well, a couple of fans did.

[+] EnlargeJim McIsaac/Getty Images

Derek "Mr. November" Jeter got to do this twice this decade. And the Yankees not only spent more freely than a targeted congressman in an election year (nearly $1.9 billion in combined payroll), but they grew so ravenous that they started stealing two bases at once.

Want to read more? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=4750589

bryan-STOP before both feet get surgically placed in your mouth:

ur mad that a top 3 payroll won 2 divisions as a "non-accomplishment" yet the yankess won the WS w/ the highest payroll by 50M!!!---and have had this situation for the past 5 plus yrs and did not win:---so using your logic the yanks WS win this year should not count-right?

and therefore cloycub's point on missing on girardi means what?--since he had the TOP payroll this year too.

Cubs1967,

Ease off the booze there big boy...seriously. Taking cheap shots at other posters is lame, and you must be related to Hendry or something, because your love fest for him is sickening.

Really? You want to debate about his history of deals? Why don't you take a look at his history for yourself:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/05/jim_hendry_trad.html

now that's just trades. It doesn't include the multiple extensions and FA deals signed after players were coming off career years. Hendry has been chastised for this not just on this site from me and other posters like cloycub, but from the national media. He's looked upon in the league like a chump, and everyone can take advantage of him. Don't believe me? Just look at recent trades he's made, and compare them to similar trades for similar players throughout the league, or...in the absolute best example: DeRosa for 3 minor league pitchers not even on the Indians top 30 prospect lists (anywhere...not a single source even had a single one of them on a prospect list for them), then...the Indians turn around and trade him for 2 top prospects in Perez and Jess Todd...oh, but for good measure, let's throw in the trade for Aaron Heilman. Do you realize that Heilman alone cost us 3 players with good trade value and all 3 former top prospects (Olson-obtained from O's for Pie, so inadvertently Pie, and also Cedeno)

In a majority of circles this trade alone would make you look like the laughingstock of the league, especially considering he was a throw-in with the Putz deal in that 12 player 3 team trade. But, as a precursor to this trade, Hendry REALLY out-did himself with stupidity. He traded a flame-throwing 100 mph pitcher (Ceda) who was just 21 yrs old at the time of the trade, and who was coming off throwing 23 1/3 IP of HITLESS pitching....Yes, we all know he missed last year with arm problems, but he was just 21 years old....so that alone, unless you're getting a very good player in return, is a trade you do NOT make. The fact that Hendry went after Gregg of all people, when the Marlins were WELL known to be prepared to non-tender him, rendering him a free agent, AND he was coming off knee surgery, AND he was coming off 9 blown saves. So, please Cubs1967, do tell us all why this was a wise decision.

Why was extending Lee to a HUGE contract when he'd never had a season with more than a .281 avg, or more than 98 RBI in 8 prior seasons...Just think about that for a moment....his collective season averages prior to signing his massive extension were (8 yrs): .266 avg, 21 hr, 65 RBI

*now, I realize I'm including 2 abbreviated seasons for him in that, but even without them, it's still around a 25 hr, 80 RBI avg.

Let's just say that player is unknown, and you're looking at about a .278 avg, 25 hr, 80 RBI guy, and he comes to you, and asks for 5 yrs and $65 million (avg $13 million/yr)...I'd laugh in his face, and tell him no thanks...1 year at $10 million with team option, and load it with incentives (batting champion, hr leader, etc. to market value)...

I could go on and on about his crap moves....about the only true difference makers he's ever made were getting ARAM, Lee, DeRosa, and Lilly.

I can't even believe that you mentioned Bay and Soriano in the same post as if they're comparable. Really?!? Does Bay make $18 million/yr? Soriano was EXPECTED to lead-off, get 30-40 SB, hit 30-40 hr, and get 90-100 RBI...His only decent season with us thus far was his first one, with a .299 avg, .337 OBP, 33 hr, 70 RBI, 19 SB (the highest avg, hr, and SB he's had with us=PATHETIC!!!!)

I also think you fail to mention his poor draft history, and the fact that we've had the worst team in all of baseball like twice in his 9 years at the helm. Then, you go to his failures in the Rule 5, not getting Hamilton, instead opting for the more expensive and his man crush in Cliff Floyd, who was practically crippled when he signed him. Then, you go to not protecting Donald Veal when a lot of teams were interested in trading for him....it just blows my mind that this guy is still employed in any front office in a highly visible and top decision-making capacity.

Stop ripping on others like cloycub when you quite honestly haven't been doing your own research. Hendry has had the benefit the past few seasons of operating with a blank check book, and while he's been at the helm, the Cubs have consistently ranked at the top of the payroll bracket in MLB. You mention the Yankees and WS wins. Actually, even our new owner Ricketts mentioned that the goal is to get to the playoffs every year, and simply by law of averages, you'll win it all. Obviously, the goal is to win it every year, but just getting to the playoffs is the first step, and 3 playoff appearances in 9 seasons (2003, 2007, and 2008) is NOT acceptable with most teams, especially ones with that high of payroll. The Yankees, when they missed in 2008 were even considering firing Cashman and/or Girardi, because when you spend that much money, you simply cannot afford not to make the playoffs and get the additional revenue.

You are exactly the type of fan the old regime loved to have around. You were content with making the playoffs once or twice in a decade, and have back to back winning seasons, simply because it hadn't happened in over 40 years, and back to back playoffs hadn't happened in over 100 years. Do you realize how pathetic you make Cubs fans seem when you say stuff like that?

It's almost like you'd be okay with it if we finished every season of a decade above .500, but missed the playoffs every year. I bet that'd be almost like winning the World Series in your mind.

Face it, Hendry is an IDIOT!!!!!!!! Colossal failure, and dumbest GM in the league right now. He has made the Cubs into the laughingstock of all the league with the way he handled the winter meetings, and he continues to project his moves, thus reducing value of his players more than any of his colleagues, aside from the since fired "tampering" Kevin Towers.

Cubs1967,

You nailed it on the head. Very well said post. The Bay/Soriano and Z/Lackey comparisons are spot on. The Red Sox will most likely regret the Lackey deal in a few years. The one difference between the Lackey deal and the Z deal, however, is that with all the young talent the Red Sox are developing, they can afford to have a certain number of overpaid veteran free agents. If the Cubs were winning with a couple young star pitchers and a couple young offensive stars at a few postions, no one would complaining about the Soriano deal.

As as aside, almost all of the CCO posts praised the Soriano and Z signings at the time. Neil posted links to the original CCO posts on the Soriano signing a few weeks ago. The consensus was that the signing was a great move. CCO posters were also pushing very hard for the Z extension ... there were many who were "sure" that Z was a future 20 game winner.

a few more points on the JH haters:

seems there are more realistic points being made now then the junk from cloycub:

1.the yankees have had 200M plus payroll for how many yrs-did not win a WS till this year .........so let's stop using the "inflated" payroll of 140M as as excuse for winning; it's not.

2.i did some research:

jason bay vs sori for past 5 yrs:

bay will get 5 yrs this year; not the 8 sori did; but the economy in 2006 was thriving; not the great depression like situation now so less yrs would seem reasonable.

last 5 yrs for bay:

.279 avg, .515 slg, 155 hr, 514 rbi, 59 sb.

last 5 for sori:

.274 avg, .521 slg, 164 hr, 399 rbi, 118 sb.

pretty much the same except for rbi-but bay was cleanup most of the time, sori was lead-off.

3. now let's do the same for lackey vs big Z. seems everyone thinks Zam's contract is nuts; but compare the economy now to back then; yet lackey gto about the same contract;

lackey last 5 yrs:

69-38. .645 win pct, 990IP, 837 SO, 3.49era, 1.262whip

zambrano last 5 yrs:

71-39, 645 win pct; 1011IP, 871SO, 3.65era, 1.32whip.

almost identical(yes the pirates and reds have been week, but the a's and mariners have been bad last few yrs too).

now is big Z's contract so bad??

just saying seems like alot of 20/20 hindsight going on here on JH.

i for one think the ricketts need to pony up 10M so JH can add a few players;

there is NO grace period; 101 yrs and counting.

Cubs1967, we get it you don't like that he is putting money into Wrigley rather than into the payroll.

This team peaked in 2008. That's as good as they were going to get with the talent in house. If Hendry was as good as you make him out to be, he could figure out how to succeed with a 140/150 million dollar payroll. The problem is he is not creative enough to. He only knows how to spend spend spend, now he can't spend anymore and Ricketts is giving him the opportunity to prove his worth.



This team got to the playoffs those three years, because the division was one of the weakest in the NL - PERIOD. He has killed this teams contention for at least the next 4 years.

You also forget, that there is a luxury tax in baseball. If you spend over the cap, you then have additional money you have to pay to the league for going over the cap. The Ricketts want nothing to do with that. If the Twins, Marlins, Rays, etc. can maintain successful franchises for small market teams with payrolls roughly around 75 million - then why can't Hendry?

Ricketts is holding Hendry accountable, which the Tribune did not. In order to achieve an order of success in this league, personnel must be held accountable, and the farm system must be the main stream line of talent to the major league team. You don't build a tower by starting at the top and working your way down - you start with the foundation.

I personally think this season will be fun to watch, because I know this is all of their last chances (Lou, Hendry, and numerous players). They are going to sink or swim because the train is coming thru in the form of Sandberg and company in years to come!!!

Okay, all you JHendry fans, admit it: the Cards had the highest payroll in the NL, didn't they? Ole Jimmy Eugene Hendry was a miracle worker to produce as he produced, going up against their budget. Why, the Cards just go out and buy a player whenever they need one. JHendry had to do it the hard way.

The best NL team of the decade? It's the Cardinals. Well, they were the National League's team of the decade by far. The Phillies might have matched St. Louis in world championships and World Series appearances (one and two, respectively), but the Cardinals won 63 more games than the Phillies, reached the postseason more than twice as often as the Phillies (seven to three) and won twice as many division titles as the Phillies (six to three). And they had probably the player of the decade (Albert Pujols).

Has anyone seen Mike McCaskey and Tom Ricketts in the same room at the same time?

The only trade that I didn't like or I thought was reasonable at the time was Derosa. Thats the only "bad" move. A good, positive, team player like that makes your whole team better.

Sorry trying to work and write at the same time.

Its easy to say that a trade or signing is bad after the fact. is what I meant to say.

Sorry Jerljr...

I don't believe most here are expressing concern/complaint after the fact of these deals. The "pressure of not winning in 101 years" is irrelevant. A great franchise is sustainably well run, and isn't looking for a one-time WS victory. And sorry, division championships, in the final assessment, don't carry much weight nor reward.

I don't recall a big Hooray! from the CCO folks regarding the Soriano signing. The Yankees, Rangers and Nats all knew something about Soriano. And as NO TEAM entertained Fonzie as "the difference maker", Hendry went against logical wisdom and gave him 8 years, huge $$$'s, and a no-trade provision. That was the start of the financial constraints that would continue to follow.

Very few here praised the Bradley deal, especially the 3rd year gimme option. There were NO GM's out there looking to give Bradley a 3 year deal, let alone 2 based on his track record. But, yet again, Hendry defied that reason and reputation, and now is dealing with those repurcussions.

I'm not going to rehash all the terrible moves, that's been expressed here way too well by many. Hendry can't live on the Ramirez and Lilly acquisitions forever. Every once in a while you beat the law of averages. And even in his case, when he finds a winner (aka Derosa) he still finds a way to mess it up later.

I'm in total agreement with many here...for having one of the highest payrolls in baseball, the results needed to be better. When you look at the current state of affairs, this is indeed tragic and embarrassing.

I belive the Yankees traded Soriano for ARod. It seems both those teams had a pretty good feeling about him. I also remember that the Nats preferred to keep him but were priced out of the market. I also remember that the Phillies were very interested in him and were the favorites to sign him.

Your earlier comment about how Hendry's downfall started with the Soriano and Piniella signings is absolutely rediculous. Since those signings, the Cubs went from a virtually last place team to three straight winning records, with two division championships.

Paul K....

All I can say is we can all enjoy 5, yes 5 more years of this disaster in LF.

And boy, third highest payroll and we achieved three consecutive winning seasons. Now that's achievement!

Keep in mind its easy to say after the fact that a trade or a signing is bad. Look at the situation, you dont sign top guys for 5 million 2 years. Especially to a team that has the pressure of not willing in 101 years. You got to give them the house. And I bet if you look back, a lot of people that are complaining now posted that they loved the Soriano signing or the Pierre trade and the Bradley signing were praising it at the time.

Oh and if you dont think that divison championships aren't accomplishments ask the Royals, Orioles, Nationals, Padres, Blue Jays, Reds, Rangers, Pirates, etc.

Not the mention teams that have only had one division championships.

Ask them if three division titles is an accomplishment.

We had the team two years ago.

Lets face it the team choked.

The GM can only do the best he can to give the team a chance to win. Then its on them and luck.

Hendrey has got us the top free agents(whether they performed like they should of, or not) and has made trades (the same, whether they performed like they should of, or not) to give us a chance to win. You guys are being unreasonable. But you got your opinion, but I really think you need to look again at what your saying.

Because to say that winning three division championships in 5 years is not a accomplishment is crazy.

Do you really believe that or are you looking for a scape goat. I lean towards the latter.

Just a comment about spending money on Wrigley field.

Remember just a few years ago Wrigley a portions of it falling apart. Its a 75 year old building. If you want to keep it your going to have to spent money on it.

I know its not fun for us fans but for a business its a necessity.

Floyd, by boring stick-and-move(lots) style boxing..

This won't be nearly as much fun as most of Pac-fights -- Floyd is not my favorite fighter. He is super-skilled but doesn't care to entertain anyone, except with his mouth

you also took Hatton and Cotto beat pacman as well. I take Pacman on points 7 rounds to 5.

Tinley Jim,

I would be thrilled if Pac-man knocks Floyd's block off! Pac has surprised me a lot... I saw him in life-n-death wars back when he was a 126 lb featherweight (Erik Morales, Marquez) -- Now at 140 and 147, he is making chopped liver out of everybody... its strange... but he is an absolute delight to watch.

I swear my [northern-earlier] comment was original...I had not read your take Baaron...but obviously we agree.

Congrats Cloyclub...your earlier comments were very well stated!

We can all debate to the max, but reality says that Hendry has had more than ample payroll (and time) to produce a winner (not a division champion) and has yet to deliver the results.

This team is in paralysis mode with handcuffed contracts and now the "payroll hose" being turned off.

Hendry's downfall began with the signings of Soriano and Pinella. And the disastrous decisions just kept coming from there. He's done!

David F

Good set of comments. You are right on about the quality and value of some of our guys to be used in trades. I agree that most CUBS fans overvalue what assets that we think that we can trade. Out only hope for the future with all the back loaded contracts is that the farm hands develop very quickly. Or we are going to start to look like the Astros with a payroll of aging x-super stars, a farm system that is not productive and an owner who spends just enough to put fannies in the seats.

Cameron signs for 2 years at $15.5 million. Atkins signs for 1 year at $4.5 million. The JH haters are upset that JH is doing nothing while players are being signed by other teams. If JH made either of those signings, the JH haters would be saying how stupid he was for paying that much money for those players. I recall one suggestion that other day that JH should sign Atkins for $1 million plus incentives. Another saying that JH should have traded for Granderson as the Granderson package was equal to Colvin, Gorz and Marshall (any person familiar with baseball prospects throughout the league would tell you Colvin, Gorz and Marshall aren't even close to a package headlined by Austin Jackson (the Yanks best prospect and a better prospect than Castro). IF JH traded Castro for Granderson, most Cub fans would have said it was another stupid move.

It's fair to be critical of certain JH signings (obviously the Bradley signing was horrific and maybe JH should lose his job just for that alone), trades and drafts (his drafts have been terribly unproductive) ... but very unfair to be critical of JH for not being creative enough to make certain signings or certain trades that are just not realistic in the marketplace. If you want a free agent, you need to pay market price (which more often than not is too much). If you want to trade for value, you need to trade value. Other teams place very little value to no value on guys like Fox, Miles, Hoffpauir, Marshall, Gorz, Fontenot, Theriot and the mid level prospects that everyone wants to deal. Thinking that you can package a bunch of those guys to create enough value for players like Upton, Granderson, Uggla, and so forth just makes zero sense when you think about from the perspective of the other team.

Daid F:

You bring up two good examples of players (Cameron and Atkins) who are overpaid.

However, Hendry should be making trades.

Realistically, there are only a few free agents that Hendry should be pursuing.

Someone like Orlando Hudson for 2B and a 4th outfielder type of guy. Hendry needs to trade the cancer Bradley, he needs to trade for or sign an FA second baseman.

OMG Jim...has Orlando become your[Aaron's]Adam Dunn? LOLOL!!!Take care man!

Actually, It's Miguel Cabrera. I think he is the best hitter not named Albert Pulos. He just needs to loose weight and not bitch slap the mrs.

Neil,

Do you think Vlad Guerrero has anything left? Can he even play the field anymore?

Yahoo says the Angels wont give him a deal

Pacman or Floyd?

A true challenger at Mayweather's title has yet to be born. Sadly...you can't punch what you can't see. I hate Floyd, it will be a boring fight...but he will win.

BTW whom ever wins this fight shall be crowned as the best pound per pound boxer of our generation.

Baron ... I don't think so. He is a DH only at this point

"Hate Jim Hendry Site" Ha ha ha is there one, if not I will start it.

The feelings toward Hendry come from the following, in no particular order...

1. Not one particular contract MANY!!!!! Backloaded, No Trade Clauses, over market, under performing... Look at the payroll THERE IS NONE LEFT and holes to fill. If I am working my budget, and I go out and buy a huge excessive flat screen TV and suddenly it stops working, and I can't afford groceries My bet is I would hear about that. Please bring up the emotionally uplifting story that he signed Ted Lilly from the hospital...With an open check book.

2. The constant need to sign guys that you have been chasing, despite the fact that it is 3 years later, they are 3 years older and he over pays for them.



3. The constant need to sign guys coming off of career years, again over paying, especially if they are over 30.

4. Getting hosed on trades!!!!!!! Juan Pierre for Ricky Nolasco et al, Jose Ceda for KEVIN FREAKING GREGG (who was going to be non-tendered by the by), Derosa for minor league pitching, Marquis for who??? A guy who was released in ST, Jake Fox for minor league pitching...Please do me a favor and bring up the Lee and Aram deals because those happened when???

5. Ignoring Joe Girardi when he was available and instead going after the aging veteran, "What do you want me to do"

6. Not identifying and locating a subsequent replacement for your oft injured third basemen. Not only did he not locate one, he let 2 in house options go out the door in Mcgehee and Derosa. And went into the season with his manager telling him he was shorthanded. To fix this, he signed Ryan Freel, Joey Gathright Etc etc...

7. Not being able to recognize young talent and maximixe value of your current players to obtain said young talent. There are upgrades all over the place, but Hendry can't find em, or can't pull off the deal (See NTC and Backloaded contracts).

8. Chasing impossible deals and holding up your entire off season for one coulda shoulda woulda deals. Bradley, Roberts, Peavy (Remember him singing "Go Cubs Go" at the meetings last year).

9. Aaron Miles!

10. Yes the Cubs won back to back division titles WITH A 140 MILLION DOLLAR PAYROLL, BUT how many playoff wins? World Series?

Case closed!

cloycub: lots of holes in your arguements; more than in the swiss cheese sandwich i' eating here reading this:

let's go over your "slightly slanted: opinions:

1.let's see, ur right on ted lilly, that was bad wasn't it.......or how 'bout derosa, many teams wanted fukudome, including the chisox williams who told everyone he offered more, mcdonough did the 8 yrs on sori, who has had 2 good yrs compared to one bad, most of the contracts were backloaded becuz the tribune forced salary constraints. GM's don't determine the budget. point taken on the no trade clauses; too many of them, but honestly if big Z and sori did not have them, could they even be traded-NO.

2.u gave no examples, hard to prove a point w/o any. (heilman was traded for cedeno, please not that example).

3.no examples, sori?....he was the most sought after FA that year. he had no injury history. again, tough to prove w/ any examples.

4.pierre trade, yes bad. what had jose ceda done yet> derosa was traded becuz of salary constraints(and gaub could be great), marquis was bad, but again salary constraints(and didn't randy wells have a better year anyway), fox was gonna start where?, yes dlee and aram are his trades, so is grudz and karros for todd hundley, getting fontenot for sosa, signing dempster while recovering from TJ surgery, getting jeff baker for a AA player, getting grabow for junk, reed johnson cost nothing,every GM has winners and losers.

5.girardi-are u kidding. he won this year becuz of a 200M payroll; hmmm. what would another 60M do for lou?....at this point lou has won WS win(non-yankees) and girardi has 1 w/ 200 M payroll.

6.point taken.(aram is injured to the tune of 140-145 games per year; not 80 like last year. (and there was a replacement-jake fox who lou waited a month to play)........casey mcghee-please who saw that coming last year; want to bet who does better next year; soto or mcghee......talk about 20/20 hindsight.

7.no examples; let's go over young talent:wells a starter, marmol, a closer, guzman-set-up, marshall, swingman, theriot-SS, big Z, starter, caridad/berg/parker/gaub/stevens/all from the farm to complete bullpen, soto-C, dlee and aram were traded by using the farm, i think they have productive players from the farm.

8.roberts was bad; but O's demanded alot. peavy not done as they wanted 6 players; sox gave them 3; not even the same trade plus peavy was held up by zell.

9.yep-yuch.(miles hit over .300 the yr before and had lifetime .280 coming into last year; he got hurt and divorced-but still yuch)........every GM has a yuch....how bout 40M the bosox gave lugo...miles is traded now so hendry did correct it.

10.hendry had no at bats or IP in the divisional playoffs so how is it all his fault----which is why the ricketts cannot assume there is a grace period-NOT. raise tix prices; better raise payroll; clean bathrooms do the fans no good after all there yrs.

there is a diff spin on your 10 items; like i said; 5 yrs over .500 in 7 yrs.;

every team misspends; i.e.yankees at 30M for kei igawa, 15M for hideki irabu, 48M for pavano, and do U really think sabathia will stay healthy for all 7 yrs?

Cloy, MAN you are 100% correct on these issues. 4 and 6 are great, just what I am pissed about!

Cloy,

STOP!!! FREEZE!! Take your hands off the keyboard and slowly back away from your pc. I'm afraid you are going to break the keyboard or hurt yourself since I could feel the rage all the way to my desktop.

Appreciate the looking out for the well being...

No rage, just a resigned understanding that the hand is what the hand is.

I think the Rickett's are going to have to come off their idea that they don't want to eat salary to move a player. I remember in the press conference one of them spoke up and said Jim knew better than to ask for this. I don't think he was joking.

If Jim had the option of paying all but say 4 or 5 million of Bradley's contract for each of the next two years, he could move him. Blue Jays, A's, Mariners or Orioles I suspect they would take a DH at this price. This money he could turn around and sign Byrd if that is who they really want.

It looks to me like making him take a contract back is only going to get us trash who'll take up a spot that could be used by a young guy or a cheap valuable veteran.

We could very well be in the same circumstance again next offseason if Soriano's off year was due to decline versus that bad knee that came out later in the season.

I am confused. We have money for new washrooms but no money for players. Why are we even spending our time discussing possible new signings? If we trade Milton, the transaction will be a wash for the 2010 season. Still don't see the where we find the dollars for more help in 2010. What ever we had went to pay for arbitration.

You want to talk history then look at payrolls. Any idiot should be able to win with the Cubs Payroll. There is no reason our minor league teams should not be good. A good GM could win with our old payroll. Any GM could win with this payroll.

The Cubs spend a lot of money and have a ton of talent on their team. At some point you have to blame the players for not getting it done. Soriano, Bradley, and Zambrano had abysmal seasons, and Soto may never repeat his rookie year. The more I think about it, who's more willing to have a good 2010, Burrell or Bradley? We're asking the Cubs to work a miracle in finding some gem out there for cheap and to get something of value for Milton Bradley. Who would you turn to? How would you try and sell it? It seems to me that they're built at least to compete, and you can't ask for the playoffs every year, unless you want to root for the Yankees.

a few things:

1. it seems this site has dwarfed into the "hate jim hendry site".......but in 7 yrs as GM, he has won 3 divisions and had 5 yrs over .500. compare that to any other GM........in cubs history. U have to go back to the 1920', 1930, 1940 to find similiar success.

bradley was bad, but multiple teams wanted fukudome and offered more. mcdonough is the one who gave soriano 8 yrs; hendry only offerred 6.(most baseball writers from chicago will verify this). mcdonough wanted a "splash". and big Z, after winning the division in 2007, most everyone wanted him to stay. anyway, just saying......

2.the red sox added $5 to their tix; signed lackey. payroll of $170M according to a mlbtraderumors.com article. cubs add $5 to payroll; we get new bathrooms..........huh> at some point the ricketts family is gonna have to answer for it..........there is NO grace period. 101 yrs and counting.......

Lackey - with a million innings on his arm, no surgeries, a yet injuries each of the past 3 years - and Cameron signed till he's almost 40 years old, combine for over 20M$ per year. That may not look like the smartest move in the near future.

Winning the title of "best Cubs GM in 50 years" isn't really much to brag about is it? Or even in the past 100 years? While you continue to yell at and blame Ricketts, cubs1967, because he has not "fixed" the team and not yet brought a championship to the NSide (in December) even thought has been owner for about 2 months now, I will continue to blame the guy that built the mess, dug the hole, whatever you want to call it.

I thought the Cubs were keeping the troughs to urinate in . . . just saying. lol

Hey, I rip JHendry because in winning 3 divisional championships, he has currently handcuffed the team for years to come.

Whoever is responsible for this mess: the janitor, Lou Pinella, JHendry, or those posting on this site--ought to be fired ASAP.

Rip, I completely agree with you on Johnny Gomes. He would be perfect on this team.

The Cubs' secret formula for success:

Find out what JHendry would do, and then do the opposite!

Sign Johnny Gomes and thereby replace Fox's bat.