But I guess things are different in San DIego.

 They were light years better than we were last season with a fraction of the payroll? They knew they couldn’t afford to resign him and identified that and made a big move to net some solid prospects. That’s what smart teams do. Us on the other hand…we hold until too late and expect something of value for nothing.

I think Xavier Nady is still available!

Guyer is very fringy. Red Sox have a better farm system. Not sure why it is so hard to believe that they could come up with an offer we couldn’t match.

It came across as Hendry-bashing. Your comment makes more sense. Sure, getting him would have been great. It would be great for any team. (Presuming he’s healthy — at least one report says he won’t pick up a bat until March.)

It’s not happening. We have to move on.

Our Top 10 prospects list is not only lacking in top talent, but it also contains 2 large-ish reaches in Simpson and Golden (what does it say for the rest of your organization when a Top 7 spot is available to a guy who’s never pitched?) and it also contains a guy the team ostensibly forgot to protect for the Rule 5 draft.

I just hope they enjoy their sleepy room!

he has turned himself into a pretty good 3rd baseman, but anybody who thinks he can play 1st obviously has not seem him stumbling around over there.

we don’t if JH did offer up these players and SD still turned the offer.

The Cubs have prospects in the system who can match, or exceed, the generally accepted value accepted by SD.

Incorrect.

Kelly is a top 10 prospect in all of baseball. Jackson is our only asset who could even sort of be in that discussion, and he is “generally accepted” to be closer to top 20.

Rizzo is a top 50 prospect. The Cubs may not have another player in that area.

Further… the Padres may have been looking for a couple of particular TYPES of prospects. They got an elite SP prospect, a highly regarded 1B replacement, and a toolsy OF who might be a top 100 guy. Given the pitching the Padres had, they may have been looking for some bats.

The Cubs could have provided a potentially elite SP (Archer or McNutt, though neither is anywhere near as regarded as Kelly)… but the Cubs have very little to offer in the way of position prospects.

 You stated that …The Cubs could have easily matched what the Sox paid in this trade. They simply weren’t willing to do so.

My point is how do you know this? I’m not denying it’s possible.

I dislike JH and think he’s a rotton GM. But how do I know this is his fault? I’d like proof. If it’s your opinion that’s fine. But you seem to view this as a fact.

Looking @ cot’s baseball contract site is enough to make anyone feel a little sick. :(

but, again, we really dont’ know what was Hendry’s fault and what was other factors.

Like I wrote, I was 50/50 on brinign Hendry back because, on the positive, he’s bought the front office into the 21st Century and in line with other front offices. We are starting to see a resurgent farm system.

However, more importantly, the decision has been made. It’s silly arguing about it now. This round has to be given time. I get that you think Hendry should be gone, but the time for that argument was before Ricketts made the decision. Now is not that time. Once this round has been played out a bit, then we can discuss again, but that time won’t be until at least Aug 1.

But who exactly is the $3M backup catcher??

I disagree wholeheartedly with the decision to tender Koyie Hill, but it is rather unlikely he will make much more than $1M.

If they Cubs – one of the largest of the large-market teams – are unwilling to pay true market rates for elite players, then what the hell are we all doing here?

We’re hoping for luck. And that’s a lousy place to be.

First, the Cubs have the attendance and revenue to support one of the top payrolls in baseball – if they get a cable network deal set up, they should be able to match Boston $ for $.

Second, the big $ for Gonzales will not kick in until 2012 – when, as often noted here, several high dollar contracts are rolling off. As long as payroll is planned to stay near current levels, the money is there – unless you agree with TJ’s “second coming of the Wrigleys” thesis.

Third, the team has no prospects in the system now for 1B who have potential that is anywhere near Gonzalez’s reality. The team is currently kicking aroung the idea of paying $5M to $7M for a high mileage 1B off the scrap heap. How is AGon not a major upgrade over anyone the Cubs are looking at over the next 3-5 year for the position?

Fourth (and least), the Cubs look really bad in contrast to their cross-town rivals. Dunn will be a useful player/bat in the AL and the Sox had the guts to pursue the idea of getting better. The Cubs are pulling back into their shell, content to be a bad team for the forseeable future.

This just sucks out loud.

This goes a LOT farther back than today.

Remember back in 2005, when they made a half-hearted offer for Beltran in order to placate the masses, and then tried like hell to sell us on Jeromy Burnitz?

Remember in 2006, when Jim Hendry traded for Juan Pierre, literally everyone on this site was horrified, and then 6 months later he said “I don’t think anyone was against the Pierre trade at the time….”

At that moment, I realized… Jim Hendry is “that guy”. The guy in your fantasy league who chases irrelevant stats like steals and saves, and who gets dazzled by anomalous, obvious “career” years from mediocre players.

Almost everything that has happened since 2005-2006 has been a flailing reaction to the failure of the previous year’s Big Move.

Unfortunately for us, the early signs of the Ricketts regime indicate that we’re headed back to “Cubs Circa 2005” – i.e., pretending to play with the big boys, but always-always-always taking the cheaper path. Paying 75% of the $$ for 50% of the production.

for whatever reason the Cubs lost out on it, so be it

That moved never, and I mean never should of have been made if Milton wasn’t signed in the first place. That was a horrible move that no GM in baseball was willing to make. MB should of receive one year and one year only and not from the freaking Cubs.

and then we lowered the payroll. I also believe that we threw in money with the Lee and Lilly deals, so there wasn’t much money to be gained there.

Most teams trade veterans to save money and spend it on other free agents. We now use it on “player development.”

The deal for Dunn wasn’t ridiculous by the way. He’s one of the best power hitters in baseball and he’s worth every penny of that contract. We’ll see if you change your mind after he hits 5 HR’s in the Cubs/Sox series this year against us.

so that we could overpay for Milton Bradley. How did that work out for us?