Hello;

I haven't been able to keep up as much as I would like, so if these are stupid questions, please forgive my ignorance.

1.  I read that Fox has finally played 3rd base now.  How did he do?  Was his defense awful or serviceable?  Maybe if Fontenot goes back to his normal position, he'll hit better like we all hoped he would.  I had thought this would be a good idea for a while, and wanted to know what you all thought.

2.  As for 2B, why wouldn't anyone consider Ray Durham?  He actually played pretty well last year (I thought so, at least).   At least as a stopgap, why wouldn't the Cubs consider this?  I know there are money issues, but how much could the guy possibly cost?  I mean, it's June and I think he's still not signed.  How much could he possibly be asking for?  And wouldn't he want to sign just to prove that he can still play a la Jim Edmonds (possibly to get a contract for next year?)

For everyone who would note that he would cost $$, I would wonder how much he could possibly be asking for given his situation ($1-2 million?), and that we paid $750K to Paul Bako to do nothing.  Wouldn't Hendry have the flexibility to do this much?!  2nd base is a disaster!

I am still wondering how we could give Miles that kind of money and not at least look into Orlando Hudson.

3.  I am sure this has been discussed before, but I can't find it on the search engine on this website.  With Vizcaino, he was actually posting a decent ERA (the rare times they actually threw him out there) when we released him.  We received nothing in return.  If they were essentially not going to give him a chance, why didn't they just release him before the season and keep Gaudin? Not that Gaudin is any better, but they were sitting there hemming and hawing about Guzman vs. Gaudin at the start of the season.  If you aren't going to give Vizcaino a realistic chance, why not release him and not worry about making a difficult decision between two young pitchers?  Thank goodness they didn't let Guzman go.

4.  Any word on ownership and what is holding this up?  There has been nothing in the news about this for a while.  I thought that JP Morgan/Chase agreed to finance the deal and that this was done.  What is the problem now?

Thanks again for all your wisdom, and sorry for asking things that may very well have been discussed elsewhere but that I can't seem to find.

Nickler

Hello;

I haven't been able to keep up as much as I would like, so if these are stupid questions, please forgive my ignorance.

1.  I read that Fox has finally played 3rd base now.  How did he do?  Was his defense awful or serviceable?  Maybe if Fontenot goes back to his normal position, he'll hit better like we all hoped he would.  I had thought this would be a good idea for a while, and wanted to know what you all thought.

2.  As for 2B, why wouldn't anyone consider Ray Durham?  He actually played pretty well last year (I thought so, at least).   At least as a stopgap, why wouldn't the Cubs consider this?  I know there are money issues, but how much could the guy possibly cost?  I mean, it's June and I think he's still not signed.  How much could he possibly be asking for?  And wouldn't he want to sign just to prove that he can still play a la Jim Edmonds (possibly to get a contract for next year?)

For everyone who would note that he would cost $$, I would wonder how much he could possibly be asking for given his situation ($1-2 million?), and that we paid $750K to Paul Bako to do nothing.  Wouldn't Hendry have the flexibility to do this much?!  2nd base is a disaster!

I am still wondering how we could give Miles that kind of money and not at least look into Orlando Hudson.

3.  I am sure this has been discussed before, but I can't find it on the search engine on this website.  With Vizcaino, he was actually posting a decent ERA (the rare times they actually threw him out there) when we released him.  We received nothing in return.  If they were essentially not going to give him a chance, why didn't they just release him before the season and keep Gaudin? Not that Gaudin is any better, but they were sitting there hemming and hawing about Guzman vs. Gaudin at the start of the season.  If you aren't going to give Vizcaino a realistic chance, why not release him and not worry about making a difficult decision between two young pitchers?  Thank goodness they didn't let Guzman go.

4.  Any word on ownership and what is holding this up?  There has been nothing in the news about this for a while.  I thought that JP Morgan/Chase agreed to finance the deal and that this was done.  What is the problem now?

Thanks again for all your wisdom, and sorry for asking things that may very well have been discussed elsewhere but that I can't seem to find.

Nickler