Now or never
yumy...@sbcglobal.net
Hendry and the rest of the Cubs management need to decide if they are
serious about the 2010 season. If they are serious about the season
then they need to stop screwing around with Milton Bradley and make
some real deals.
The first thing they will have to do is eat Sorianos' contract and get
a real left fielder. Jason Bay is still available. Pick him up and re-
sign Reed Johnson (I think he is still available). That gives us an
outfield of Bay, Johnson, Fukudome, Bradley, Fuld and Hoffpauir. That
should be enough to make us competitive.
After that we'll need to strengthen our bench and starting pitching.
Its kind of a shame we didn't make more of an effort to re-sign Rich
Harden, 6.5 mill plus incentives for 2010, that doesn't sound too bad.
Oh well, I have a sinking feeling that "wait until next season" is
going to mean 2011.
Lance
Claude
<yumy...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:6ffbdbe8-9659-4655...@k4g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
>
> After that we'll need to strengthen our bench and starting pitching.
> Its kind of a shame we didn't make more of an effort to re-sign Rich
> Harden, 6.5 mill plus incentives for 2010, that doesn't sound too bad.
Well, I do agree with this part of your post, but it would have been
impossible for the Cubs to get him at that price. I'm not sure of all the
technical stuff, but I believe in order for the Cubs to re-sign Harden, they
would have had to offer him arbitration. That could have led to a lot more
than what he got. If it still works the way it used to, the Cubs would have
had to made an offer---Harden makes a counter-offer, and then an arbitrator
makes a decision between the two. Even if the Cubs did not offer Harden
arbitration, I believe they could not then negotiate with him until May 1.
I think he's a bargain at that price.
Mark Anderson
> The first thing they will have to do is eat Sorianos' contract and get a
> real left fielder. Jason Bay is still available. Pick him up and re-
> sign Reed Johnson (I think he is still available). That gives us an
> outfield of Bay, Johnson, Fukudome, Bradley, Fuld and Hoffpauir. That
> should be enough to make us competitive.
There is no way they would eat Soriano's contract and not eat Bradley's.
Soriano could bounce back next year. If I were the Rickett's family, I
would stand pat with what the Cubs have and let the chips fall where they
may. Why expend 10s of millions of dollars to eat contracts and then
sign new contracts that might have to be eaten in the future. Since this
is the first year the Ricketts own the Cubs, they'll need time to develop
a real strategy. Financially it's less risky to go with what you have
and hope everyone performs to their potential than throw more money at
this problem hoping that will make a difference. Hendry created this
mess so let Hendry get us out. Then next season they'll eat what's left
of Hendry's contract and get someone who knows what they're doing in that
job to find a replacement for Lou and start the rebuilding process.
I don't expect anything until 2011 or 2012 but if the stars align, who
knows.
yumy...@sbcglobal.net
> <yumyum...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
Is it required that they go through arbitration? I thought that are
free to make a deal with their player and they only go to arbitration
if no deal is made. They probably couldn't have gotten the a deal
quite as good as the one Harden signed, but they might have been able
to come up with and incentive laden deal that would have been
acceptable. It seems like they just on Harden.
Lance
Claude
<yumy...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:23fe08c5-333c-488c...@v30g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Obviously, they didnt tell me what went on. But I would imagine that Harden
wanted more than that from them and a committment beyond one year. He
probably figured that he could get more on the open market, so he asked for
arbitration, it was denied by the Cubs, and he became a free agent. I'm
sure he was disappointed by his subsequent market value.
Frank Sereno
Claude,
I don't think the Cubs made an offer to Harden, period. Just like they never
made an offer to Kerry Wood last year. I'm not even sure that that Harden
asked for arbitration, just that the Cubs didn't offer it.
?
> Hendry and the rest of the Cubs management need to decide if they are
> serious about the 2010 season. If they are serious about the season
> then they need to stop screwing around with Milton Bradley and make
> some real deals.
>
> The first thing they will have to do is eat Sorianos' contract
Even Jim Hendry doesn't have that much room in his stomach.
> That gives us an
> outfield of Bay, Johnson, Fukudome, Bradley, Fuld and Hoffpauir. That
> should be enough to make us competitive.
>
> After that we'll need to strengthen our bench and starting pitching.
Wow, it all seems so simple when you spell it out like that.
> Its kind of a shame we didn't make more of an effort to re-sign Rich
> Harden, 6.5 mill plus incentives for 2010, that doesn't sound too bad.
Rich Harden? I thought the Cubs were done with arm injuries waiting
to happen who can only go 5 innings?
> Oh well, I have a sinking feeling that "wait until next season" is
> going to mean 2011.
It's already been a century...what's a few more years?