Well, it looks like the Seattle Mariners didn't get a chance to talk with Jim Hendry. I saw on ESPN news this morning that Jim Hendry and the Cubs agreed on a three year deal.

 This, in my opinion, completes the "five year plan", the Cub's front office set a couple of years ago when  they signed Derrek Lee. The only one I think has a contract that exceeds that is Soriano.

 I like this deal. Not too long and not too short. Hendry is in his prime and teamed with Piniella, I think sky's the limit... unless the new owners disagree.

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/comments/hendry-close-to-extension--162012.html

What do you guys think? Poll coming....

I've learned some very sad news today. As many of you may have heard, Paul Newman passsed away at age 83. In my opinion, it is always sad to see somene go, especially one of the greats in the movie industry.

(I figured I'd start a FanPost due to the fact that Paul is a legend and due to the fact that every BCB'er probably has seen at least one of his movies.)

Here's a link from an article:

http://www.turnto23.com/entertainment/17571763/detail.html

My wife found this video. I say fake. Anyone can confirm this?

http://www.funnyjunk.com/movies/1455/How+Does+She+Make+That+Catch/

If not, Hendry, get this beast!

Have to get to seventy five words..... wish this would change so everyone doesn't have t oread text like this all the time!!!!!! Still not at seventy five words, gotta be getting close now..... nope... still need ten more words..... almost there... need four more... yes!!!

I know it's early, but how serious is this? How much will this hurt the team? Only good thing I can say is that when he went down with the calf injury, the Cubs did fine without him. But if he's out for a spell, do we dare go after a true leadoff guy? Or do we look at the farm system? Again, I know it's early, but just curious what you all think.

Before everyone freaks out saying this is only June, I jus twanted to know what people's opinions are.

I think we will lose one of Eyre or Howry. I think Dempster stays at an inflated price. Cendeno will replace Theriot, as much as I hate to say it. Wood will stay but not as closer. I'll sleep on it and post more later. Wife wants me to shut off computer and go to bed.

 I can't get some oof the posts to work, but if you look at the Padres news on this site:

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/mlb/padres/

You'll see a couple of links to the story. Here's some other links that I got to work:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_j-Rm94kXiyI0ABLFizagzk8WGgD90N47U80

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080516&content_id=2712769&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Does this sound familiar? From MLB.com:

"Prior experienced discomfort in his shoulder while preparing for a bullpen session while at the Padres Spring Training facility in Arizona."

Prior was my favorite player. I hated to see the Cubs let him go. But Hendry, the Cub's staff knew what they were doing. Kudos to them. 

It seems as though The Big Hurt has been released due to his poor performance. The funny thing to me is that they paid him the remainder of his salary. They must have wanted that roster spot.

Kinda crappy if you ask me. He's a future HOF'er and he led the team in RBIS and HRS last year. Think of fan reaction if we released D Lee (typically a slow starter) in previous years or Soriano (his slow start this year)!

Here's a link to the article:

 http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Baseball/article/416530

Man! Just when the Cubbies have an offesive outburst, I can't see crap! I'd rather listen to WGN radio, in this case. I'm beginning to like comcast sports Chicago! time to head over to Cubs.com. Wow. I didn't realize that we're back at the minimum word or character limit again.  I sure hope the picture returns soon! (Al, sorry for the add on! But I just wanted to vent!)

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080323-national-league-central-teams,1,6935467.story

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080323-national-league-central-predictions,1,4300091.story

 I thought these were nice reads. So how far off or how close do you think these predictions are?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that more than Soriano's contract? Anyhow, the Tigers seemed to lock him up long term. Any thoughts on this deal?

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080323/SPORTS02/803230664/1050