The Phillies haven't had their WS celebration yet and the hot stove is already fired up. I think the Royls are going to be avastly improved team next season but this move is a bit of a head scratcher. This should signal that it will be a very busy off season for Royals GM Dayton Moore.


Royals acquired first baseman Mike Jacobs from the Marlins in exchange for RHP Leo Nunez.

Florida was willing to deal Jacobs because he's in for a big raise via arbitration and he'd have been a decent enough pickup for a contending team, but the Royals seemingly would have been better off simply handing first base to Kila Ka'aihue and Ryan Shealy. Jacobs smacked 32 homers this season, but it came with an ugly .299 on-base percentage and he's a 28-year-old with a career .262/.318/.498 hitting line that's mediocre for the position.

your knowledge of the royals organization is impressive.

I liked the Hawaiian in the little bit I saw him play. I don't think the problem with the Royals was hitting.

I would have thought they would be better this year. While they played hard, they were still bad for long stretches.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

cubs should go after:
derek lowe
carlos beltran
jon garland
adam dunn
brian roberts

And pay them all in Old Style or...?

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In what dream world are you living?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

not that they could get all or even a few of those

Its just a list of players, who will be available in one way or another this off season, that i think would look good in a Cub uniform.

Griffey, OC, and Uribe are available as well. Get a few more Old Styles together and bring them up north.

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how bout Uribe being "the one with the ring" outta that 3some

so you dont think the cubs can afford any of my list?

OC has a ring with Boston in '04

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oh yeah. my fault. I always think of renteria on the 2004 Sox for some reason. Maybe to block out the fact that he was busy helping the philthy southerners to 100+ wins. Actually Renteria made the last out of that series. Only player to ever make the last out and have a walk off hit(97) in the World series.


I dont know what the hell i was thinking

LONGSHOTS
derek lowe - probably goes back to boston
carlos beltran-might get traded
jon garland-probably wants to stay in California

These 2 are probably more realistic

adam dunn
brian roberts

Some older players didn't get their options picked up by their respective teams, including the Tigers & Edgar Renteria, the White Sox with Ken Griffey Jr. & Toby Hall, along with the Angels & Garret Anderson. Additionally, could Manny Ramirez be joining the "Evil Empire"? The Yankees are said to be interested in bringing Manny back to the American League, along with the Blue Jays, the Giants & maybe even the Dodgers, but all agent Scott Bora$ has sent are a couple of voicemails since they got bounced by the new champions from Philadelphia.

What about Rafael Furcal? The most important thing for Hendry to accomplish this off-season, is to get a true leadoff hitter. Whether it's Furcal, Roberts, or someone else. If they got Furcal, they could move Theriot to 2nd base. Then they could move DeRosa to RF if Fukadome doesn't show more in the spring. Or they could just use DeRosa as a utility guy. I know he's coming off a career year. But they really need a bonafide leadoff man.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Have you watched Beltran play baseball?? He's a solid player, but he's "Carlos Beltran" because of his performance in ONE playoff run. Is he an upgrade over what the Coo / Sock have now in CF? Yes. Is he worth the $$$ that "Carlos Beltran" is going to command (either as a FA or in trade value. Sorry to drunk to remember what he is or bother to look it up)? NO!

adam dunn would be perfect in the lineup, but there is no way they get him without unloading soriano, and i dont think that is happening.

dunn is a good fit offensively because, even though he strikes out a lot, strangely he has a good eye. he "works" a lot of walks (not all of his walks are intentional) and does not strike out on horrible pitches often. he strikes out a lot due to a huge swing, but id sure like to see him cleanup with ramirez behind him and lee in front of him. those of you who are down on lee could likely see a pretty decent return to form for him if a bona-fide power threat like dunn was behind him. the problem is the defense...they would have one of the worst outfield defenses anywhere with he and soriano on the corners. oh my, that would be pretty hard to watch.

i would definitely feel good if somehow they could swing it, but from what ive read, dunn to the cubs is a longshot at best.

i hate soriano batting leadoff, but i still dont think that is the biggest problem to fix on this team. they need productive lefty bats first and foremost. i love derosa, but a defense with him in right every day is not a good defense. they need to have a true-blue left-hand hitting right fielder. and you know what, unless they can land a big-fish free agent to do the job, id give fukudome another chance, and bat his ass 7th or 8th. the guy is excellent in the field. there is no way id start derosa in right and have fuk on the bench. as a matter of fact, i wouldn't fuck with the infield at all unless they made a big deal that landed the cubs a solid power-hitting lefty in some capacity. this whole off-season should be about balancing that lineup a bit.

Ken Griffey Jr.'s agent has told the Seattle Times about a return to where it all began for the injury-riddled outfielder, the Seattle Mariners, and Ken Jr. is very interested...

The White Sox could also use Brian Roberts at second base, now that Alexei Ramirez will be taking over full time at shortstop. If the Padres' Jake Peavy gets dealt to the Cubs, B.R. might be out of the picture for the North siders. Andy MacPhail, or as "The SCORE's" Mike Murphy says "MacFail", wants to keep #1 in Baltimore black & orange and is trying to negotiate an extension for the Orioles' second baseman to stay at Camden Yards.

I don't think anyone has any idea (outside the organization) what the Cubs payroll is going to be. If they are going after Peavy, trying to resign Dempster, and still interested in Wood on a short-term deal (as Bruce Levine) said, they are obviously going to have another very big bump in payroll. We haven't even addressed the offensive side yet. While I'm sure the Peavy trade would further weaken the farm system, Hendry has been able to pull off trades in the past.

Last 4 seasons Derek Lowe has won between 12 and 16 games with an ERA ranging from a high of 3.88 and a low of 3.24. Pretty Consistent.

Ill give u Beltran being overpaid but Dunn is good and where do you get Garland is bad now? Only 14 wins this year

Not a Cub fan at all, but have to admit that Lowe throwing his sinker 80% of the time on the Wrigley grass would look awfully tough...


... then again he'd require an actual major league shortstop and probably an upgrade at second to boot.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Lowe is a sinkerballer. He's built like a hoss. He's got some playoff success. If the Cubs were to set their sights on him (and I know they're probably not) he'd be the best offseason move other than getting Roberts.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

According to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, the Nationals have picked up Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham from the Marlins for Emilio Bonifacio and a package of minor leaguers.


Sounds like a pretty good deal for the Nats. They can use all the pitching they can get.

olsen is a pretty good pitcher, and hails from crystal lake. nice deal for the nats.

Marlins holding a fire sale after "buying" / winning their two World Series titles made sense; doing it after a relatively mediocre season without a whole lot of talent coming down the pipe seems a little ridiculous.

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Willingham is a good young hitter.

Better than Tyrone, at any rate!

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

It seems like everytime the Marlins win a World Championship, they end up having a "fire sale" to cut payroll and the result each time is a dreadful season the year after the Marlins win the title. The reason appears simple. They can't fill Dolphin Stadium, and they've had trouble for years trying to finance a new baseball-only stadium. If Major League Baseball had a real "Commissioner" instead of the clueless Allan H. Selig, I bet Florida ownership would not have gotten away with selling off their players like pawns on a game board. If I'm not mistaken, former Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley tried to sell off his players in the mid '70s, and former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn put a stop to it. As far as the Marlins are concerned, I believe that their "fire sales" actually hurt their season ticket base & alienate whatever baseball fans they supposedly have.

Yankees to make record offer to Sabathia.

Also expected to make offers to Burnett and Lowe.

The Yankees staff may be very different come opening day.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I know we have a few Cardnal fans around here and I'm interested to hear your opinion on this trade. Khalil Greene does nothing for me but he is an upgrade over what they ran out there last season and it doesn't seem like they gave up too much to acquire him.

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