Bringing in a nut job who wont play more than a 100 games and over paying him is not progress.

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Again, what is it you wanted him to do?

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

Get somebody better than Aaron Miles? Guy has a career year for the Cardinals, and they let him go.

Get something more than sunflower seeds for Mark DeRosa. Sure the guy isn't going to win a gold glove, but he's a solid bat and will play just about anywhere you ask him to.

Offer arbitration to Wood. If he stays, its a good arm in the pen. If he declines, at the very least you get comp picks for him.

As it stands right now, I'd pencil the Cubs in for about 78-80 wins. Considering how many games they have against the Reds and Pirates, thats not a very good record.

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Frank, who you crappin man, you don't care what the Cubs do or don't do, remember? You don't like the Cubs. You just like stirring the big blue pot

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

Stand pat if this was the only option.

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There was no shortage of ideas in this thread.

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=25212

I wanted Abreau as a free agent and for them to trade Fontenot, Derek Lee and if need be a few minor league pitchers, for Roberts. I would love to save all the 13.5 million Lee's contract calls for and put Hoffpauir at first. Roberts takes over as the leadoff hitter and I'm as happy as can be. Still not sure the Roberts thing can't happen. They can put something together yet. Bradley is a decidedly better hitter that Fukadome was the second half of last season. But Fukadome is a vastly superior fielder and runner. With the injury history Soriano has had as a Cub as well as the history established by Bradley, it's probably a very good idea that they have capable back-ups.

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Go Cubs!!!!

i dont like 3 years 30 mil to a guy who has played basically 1 full season in his career, and saying 140 games is a full year is a stretch at that. i like the guys track record as a hitter, but i dont get this. i hope he stays healthy, maybe the cubs catch lightening in a bottle, but for around the same money you maybe could have had dunn. id take 160 games of him every day doing what you know he is going to do (including the defense and the strikeouts, everyone knows that goes with his package) than 100 games of bradley (if you are lucky) and plugging and playing bad slap hitters out there the rest of the season.

There is no difference on defense, so why not a younger, more healthy bad OF'er. I suspect a difference of 3 mill a year.

you are going to risk the whole season on a career minor-leaguer playing first base? we arent talking about hiding him in the outfield somewhere, you want him moving right in and starting at first base after one big minor league season?

absolutely dead on.

The BEST thing about this signing, is that the Adam Dunn talk should stop soon. He may be the single worst outfielder in Baseball. Manny Ramirez is probably even better than this butcher. If they got rid of D.Lee and didn't already have Hoffpauir, I would think of signing him as a first baseman. But never would I want him in a Cubs outfield. Bradley is no gold glover, but he's still far superior when compared with Dunn. One thing both have in common, is a very good on base pct and OPS as well. Dunn's batting average is lower, but he walks so much, that his on base Pct. is still very good. Bradley, with the BEST on base plus Slugging pct. in the entire American League last year, should look good between Ramirez and Soto.

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Go Cubs!!!!

There is no difference in defense?

I find that terribly hard to believe. What do you base that on?

You guys would be crucifying Dunn by the 2nd week of the season if he was playing RF everyday for the Cubs. Dunn could hardly play LF, much left RF at Wrigley.

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

The Cubs already trot a guy out to the outfield daily who can't play out there anyway, so whats on more to the party?

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The question was what would we want to have seen Hendry do. That was my answer. I think Hoffpauir is the real thing. Injuries slowed him from reaching the majors before, but the guy has a great swing and I just really believe that he would do well. Plus, we are talking about replacing a guy who had more at bats than any other Cub, yet while batting third on the team that led the league in runs scored, had just 90 RBI and hit into more double plays than anyone in Baseball in 2008. I like Derek Lee. I think he's a class act and a fine defensive player. But I think he was one of the real disappointments last year and I would move him now, while he still might have some takers. Plus Hoffpauir didn't just have a big minor league year, he did very well with the limited opportunities he had at the major league level as well.

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Go Cubs!!!!

bradley is a career .967 in right. dunn is a career 963. dunn plays EVERY day and produces the power lefty they need. bradley is constantly hurt, hasnt played a full season in the outfield since 2004 (and that wasnt really a full season). what makes anyone think he is a good or even adequate right fielder?

You have a man-crush on Dunn, don't you??

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Go Cubs!!!!

Steve, Bradley played 165 innings in the outfield last year, why is that, 2 reasons are pretty clear.

1. Rangers didnt want him to get hurt.
2. He is a bad outfielder.

Bradley is going to be on the dl at least two times next year, he wont put up or even come close to the numbers dunn will put up, dunn is a better player and like i said and the stats prove it, their defense is the same.

Bradley is a cliff floyd ( i know i am repeating myself), i know i am repeating myself, but the safe money is that this turns into jaque jones all over again by the all star break in 2010, this is not who they needed. I hope it works out, I just have doubts.

No, he did not play the OF much last year because the Rangers had other options in the OF and Bradley was in his first year following knee surgery. If you have other options when you got a guy still recovering from knee surgery, then playing him in DH is the smart thing to do.

Bradley will do much better in RF than Dunn ever would.

I am amazed at the guys here actually wanting Dunn to play everyday in RF. That would be a train wreck waiting to happen every day.

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

That would require actually playing a full season in the OF, which he last did?

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I sat in the bleachers and watched Dunn completely suck in RF. He was so bad he acknowledged the Bronx cheer he got when he actually did field a ball cleanly because he knew how bad he looked out there.

30 million for a guy you cant count on to play every day. thats all it boils down to. i prefer to give that money to someone with a track record of staying healthy and producing consistent numbers. bradley hasnt approached being an everyday fielder and surviving a season since 2004! why should we assume he will this year? i hope the cubs get lucky with him, but this could be a bad signing.

the point is BOTH of them are going to suck in right field! why not give the money to the guy who has proven he can actually make it through a season.

Just because Dunn can make it through a season doesn't mean he's worth it.

The top 5 guys in OPS last year are going to make $16 million (Pujols), ~$11 (Chipper), ??? but made ~$19 last year(Manny), $14.5 (Berkman), and now the Cubs have Bradley at a measly $10. Last year Bradley outhit Dunn by 95 whole points and outslugged him by 88. Bradley is a better player. Yes, it doesn't matter if he's on the DL, but I think the Cubs are deep enough to take the chance on Bradley and not settle on overpaying Dunn.

this i wont argue. he IS a better hitter. right now i think they needed left-handed pop batting cleanup, but putting that opinion aside, milton bradley is, and has been his entire career, broken parts. id rather pay for a ford that runs reliably every day than a cadillac that sits in my garage for repairs. we as cubs fans need to be ready for a season of plug-and-play outfield.

Not sure why the Cubs didn't go after Abreu, good left handed hitter who has played right field, stayed healthy and played in the pressure cooker of NY. He would have been my first choice, not sure why the cubs never sniffed around, maybe the contract demands were prohibitive?

Between Bradley and Dunn, I probably go with Bradley. I can't say i have seen Bradley play a lot of outfield so I won't guess on how good or bad he is. however, i do see he has played some games in in CF as recently as 2007 so he can't be THAT bad. I do know Dunn is bad, can't see him playing right.

The injury history scares me with Bradley (why Abreu would have been my first choice). I would be happy with 120 games from Bradley.

My lineup

Soriano
Miles/Fontenot
Lee
Ramirez
Bradley
Soto
Fukodome
Theriot

I don't like the signing but I would rather the Cubs take the risk on somebody who might have a chance to hit some quality major league pitching come the stretch run and the playoffs rather than Dunn who would look just like Soriano when he faces a good pitcher. Yes Bradley will spend time on the DL but there is a chance he could have some clutch at bats in the playoffs and that is where I think Hendry's head was at when he decided to do this deal. I think we can all agree that coming back with the same exact roster from last year wasn't going to do any good.

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I don't like the signing but I would rather the Cubs take the risk on somebody who might have a chance to hit some quality major league pitching come the stretch run and the playoffs rather than Dunn who would look just like Soriano when he faces a good pitcher. Yes Bradley will spend time on the DL but there is a chance he could have some clutch at bats in the playoffs and that is where I think Hendry's head was at when he decided to do this deal. I think we can all agree that coming back with the same exact roster from last year wasn't going to do any good.

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I don't think Jim Hendry has a Clue as to what he's doing. What kind of Operation is he running? A Barrel of Monkeys could do a better job. He has a Monopoly on bad right fielders. It Boggles the mind that he thinks this is a good signing. For the Life of me I can't figure out what he's doing. Playing right field in Wrigley is no Candyland. cub fans will be Sorry! with this move and will be spending most of the seaon drinking at Yahtzee's.

Hendry's a boob.

The only thing he has proven is that he can take other team's salary dumps and he can throw around a whole lotta money, often badly.
This outfield, defensively, is going to look like the end of the Benny Hill show.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer