Harry Chappas

My only thought would be that he has only done it for one year and his career as a whole is just picking up. You can't compare him to a Smoltz or a Rivera based on teh years they have been doing it.

My take on the cubs is this. They made some moves this offseason some were very newsworthy but none were all that earthshaking. They have 7 everyday players which may strikeout over 120 times (Patterson, Sosa, Ramirez, Gonzo, Lee and Barrett) plus the pitchers spot. I can honestly see them averaging about 9 a game. What will that do when the wind is blowing in and they need to move runners over? Their rotation is better than good but not great. I think Oakland's is great. This assumes no injuries. They had four guys lose double digit games and were all healthy. Zambrano and Clement were terrible at the end of the season. What makes anyone thinks they were not flukes. Maddux was a six inning pitcher last year what will he be this year? Andrew Jones catches everything in center, the cub defense is not that great. What happens after Ramirez launches one into the dugout four times in a game and K's four times? Wood has never won more than 14 games in a year and has flashes of brillance but can breakdown and be wild. Prior......well he is just plain awesome. Their bullpen. The old lefty is old. Borowski may have been a flash in the pan and he is old and hawkins and Farnsworth are capable of cracking under the pressure. There is a reason the Yanks went with Gordon over Hawkins and it wasn't money. Are the cubs better than the Sox, I am not as naive to say no but I do not think they are all they are cracked up to be especially when I feel the Astros rotation is better. IMHO

My two cents is that the casual fan looking to go will still go see a Brewer game in Milwaukee as it is something to do. Right now the only stories in baseball are the Yankees, cubs, Red Sox, maybe the Astros and ...... I think that is it. Unfortunatly the reminder of the seson will be the same way. Sure your Royals, Angels, marlins, Twins D-backs and such will make noise here and there and maybe even advance in the playoffs but at the end of the day it will be these main stories that garner all of the headlines thus taking the spotlight off of the sport and placing it on certain entities that others outside of these items will cling to. Sammy Sosa was huge because he played for the cub and at the time they were a nothing and a new entity was there to follow. Football is successful today because going into a season every team has a chance and all fans in all cities are excited. Sure there are things like a limited number of games therefore even if you go 0-4, you still may think you have a shot, hey 9-3 the rest of the way and we can get a wildcard. If in baseball a team was 0-41 (tigers last year) and a team was 41-0 (tigers in 84) what is the hope and therefore baseball is over in May and lingers like bad cheese throught the remainder of the summer and early fall. Then when the palyoffs come around your interest ahs passed and you look at your football team. This is in my mind where baseball will suffer. The cubs were huge becasue they added flair to the part of the season that matters most to the sport the playoffs.

The problem is is that A-Rod is a gold glove shortstop and could be one of the best players ever. Jeter as far as fielding goes is average (worst range rating in all of baseball for what that statis worth.) I would agree if it were Jeter moving but not A-Rod sooner or later IMHO, something will blow. Playing nice for the sake of winning I think will get old. Especially if the media gets involved. These guys reached this lever by working their butts off. Is A-Rod just goign to accept playing out of position becoming second fiddle. What happens if A-Rod doesn't make the transition to third as soomthly as expected?

Valentin and Ordonez for Jeter??? Jeter is a Michigan guy. Then we trade Jeter to Boston for Nomar, Nixon and Lowe. Why would Boston do this you ask??? They have the disgruntled Yankee captain and will overpay. Why would the Yankees do this??? Boston wants Ordonez after the season and I really don't see the ego's of two HOF shortstops playing nice together. Winning is one thing being the best shortstop ever is another.

If Boras wants to cement his name. Durham to the Yanks frees up the cash for the Giants to sign Maddux. If Maddux really wanted to pitch for the cub, I think he would've signed by now. If he ends up with teh cub it will be by default.

Couple of things. Soriano was a SS until he made it to the majors. Now Jeter (worst in range % in all of basball) will have another player change positions (gold Glover, not Gary Glover.) Also if I were Kerry Wood or any other Free Agent pitcher, Pedro etc. I would sit back and hope to make it through this season healthy as John Hart and Texas would make great bedfellows for Kid K, as would Pedro and the Yanks and oh where would Boston fit in. Esteban pitching lights out could be huge to us this year and leave us another arm short.

Don't the Giants draw well over a 3M fans and play in a huge market. Their current payroll is $74M. I think they could easily stomach $84M, although I am not part of their front office so what do I know, especially if Alfonzo (he is with them rignt?) can be dealt to the Yanks.

Wow will the cubbie kool-aid be swimming tomorrow on how the cubs were played in the whole affair. I wouldn't be surprised if the deal with the Giants was on the table all winter and Boras was allowed to field offers as he appears tight with Giant Management. Here will be the Chicago media take; Hendry made a run at it as oppossed to if this was the Sox, they played it cheap.

I really don't think he knows what is going on. To use the reasoning that Hendry and Boras hadn't spoken in 2 or 3 days is weak.

San Fran is the fourth team and the team that has courted him all along. The thing with Maddux is he needs a good to great defense behind him to win. Find the team with this and you have your winner. Ding, ding, ding St. Louis, IMHO, if Matt Morris doesn't f*** it up.

To agree with your point further. Curt Schilling did not turn it on until Roger Clemens ripped him. Schilling was 28 at the time. Imagine someone telling him this when he was 24. Think what Jon Garland could be if he had the right mentoring and I am not talking about Don Cooper, I am talking about somebody leading by example. Maybe a Loiaza can do this......

While all of your points make great sense this trade is about a team that has a glut of DH/1B power types and another team that has an average pitcher who may really turn it on and be a good #3 or he may be a moody clubhouse cancer. There is risk on both sides. We need pitching as badly as they need hitting. If talks were going on I would throw Lee for Ishii.

Hell we are still trying to field the 2001 Indians. Just a matter of time before we try to field the 2002 Twins.

You do know you are an embarrasment to the southside irish.

How many people do you think go there to get stuff signed to try and make a profit off of it? An autographed ball for Buerhle if he wins the Cy Young = price of addmission. I always thought this was a decent percentage of the crowd. I was not there this year but it seemed to a draw for those that wanted Baines, Thomas, Ordonez, etc. in the past.

ML = bigger strike zones and hitters that know it is easier to get to teh majors by hitting not walking. Reed does both and therefore is highly touted.

He may have a moron for an agent or what if he just does not want to play here? The guy can not hit in cold weather therefore he may give a discount to a San Diego, Texas, Tampa, etc. the warmer the weather the better the player. The money thing could be a smokescreen.

Sorry but I really have no faith in Cotts learning how to throw strikes. Control and plate discipline can not be taught, hence trading Cotts and Borchard would not be a bad thing. Trading Honel and Reed would. If Cotts threw strikes in the minors we would have something to work with.

The reason this can come about is the Mariners lost $10 in salary and it opens them up to do some things. Imagine what would happen if all of a sudden Konerko walked into the White Sox front office and said, "I quit, rip up my contrct and save teh $8M for this year." This along with Maddux to the Dodgers (sale finalized) make the landscape very different then what it was a week ago. I think the Mariner deal may have to include Koch with us paying half his salary.

I forgot about Cliff. Our bullpen has some promise to it. Soriano would start here and probably cost us Cotts.

The fact this is coming out of Seattle makes it more reliable. If KW is awake the next two weeks could be huge. This trade would be nice. What keeps Seattle (huge pitchers park) out of the Maddux race? We could garcia for the salary pick-up.

Maddux will not sign with the cubs if LA offers equal or more money. The team is still the team that screwed him yers ago I think the whole cubbie thing on Maddux is just BS press to keep their name in the paper.

Right.

Ryan Meaux