quote:

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Rafael Furcal, signed to a $39 million contract a month ago to be the Dodgers' new shortstop and leadoff hitter, will undergo arthroscopic right knee surgery Wednesday.

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He's supposed to be ready by spring training, but thought everyone would like to know. I feel a little easier about not getting him now.

A scope can often be nothing. He could be ready in about a week depending on the surgery.

The A's would certainly get Pie and a piching prospect or two....I could also see them being interested in Walker.

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Rich Hill probably.

WTF, is Hendry doing with Hairston and perez

it has been said that Neifi re-signed with the knowlege he would be playing a utility role. Hairston is simply still under contract.

I all of a sudden lost all faith in Ronny Cedeno's Venezuelan League domination....apparently Jose Macias won the batting title hitting .405/.451/.583. That eliminates any and all validity of the league.

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I saw that Luke Scott was averaging a home run once about every three games and his average was up there with Cedeno. I never thought there was alot of stock put in the Venezuelan Winter League (unless they did poorly) and that is was just a place to tune up for the upcoming season?

I guess the Cubs only re-signed Walker to trade him. It seems like they have no intention of playing him.

That's what I would be lead to believe from what I've read here and there.

According to Paul Sullivan of the Tribune:

quote:

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Why has Todd Walker fallen out of favor?

Walker's defense is considered the main reason the second baseman is losing his starting job to a Neifi Perez-Jerry Hairston platoon, but no one has said as much for the record. Walker hit .305 last year and had 40 extra-base hits in 397 at-bats but is said to be on the trading block and probably would be no more than a part-time player if he does return.

Near the end of the '05 season, Walker said, "I don't think Jim Hendry would ever do this to me, but my worst-case scenario is for them to pick up the option with the intent to trade me. That takes away my ability to become a free agent and find my own job and play where I want to play."

The Cubs picked up his $2.5 million option, but Walker remains in limbo.

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The day before he speculated that fielding is a priority for the Cubs in deciding on a starter.

[This message has been edited by bluestainedivy (edited 1/12/2006 12:28p).]

I'd still take Walkers bat with his glove over Neifi's glove with his bat.

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I'll believe this when I see it.
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060112cubs,1,7990950.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

quote:

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Q Speaking of trades, who's your starting second baseman, Neifi Perez or Todd Walker?

A Right now Todd Walker is our second baseman. He's here. I've heard a lot of speculation [about a trade], but right now we have about 10 weeks before we start. Let us do our thing and we'll be ready by Opening Day.

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A mention of the Cubs being contenders for Weaver. I missed it if we already talked about this.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2006/01/more_jeff_weave.html

We don't need another questionable arm.

Another rumor is being mentioned in the Sun-Times. They're talking about a trade between us and Tampa Bay with us giving up Walker and getting "No Clulio" Lugo. I don't see how we might benefit too much from this.
http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/player.jsp?player_id=150061

In other news, Hairston says he's at 100% this year. Last year he was supposedly not fully recovered from ankle surgery. I know you're not crazy about him Old Style but I still hold out hope for him this year. He won't be an All Star for us but he has the potential to be real useful for us.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060114&content_id=1295738&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

quote:

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I don't see how we might benefit too much from this.

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I agree....I suppose that instead of having a logjam at 2nd base we'd have a logjam at SS but either way I would not be to thrilled with this move.

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Just noticed that Kevin Orie signed a minor league deal with the Astros. I really liked that guy.

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Apparently Hendry and Baker took a lot of heat from Cub fans this weekend at the convention.

From what I understand there's talk of Wood starting the year out in the bullpen if he hasn't built up his arm strength.

Just read this article about Dusty's handling of Patterson...interesting....

http://www.chicagoredstreak.com/output/sports/cst-spt-deluca13.html

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While I am certainly not a Dusty Baker fan, a lot of Corey's problem come from a lack of a work ethic As my dad used to say in regards to Shawon Dunston, "Million dollar body, but a ten cent brain."

I don't think you can blame the "handling" of Patterson. What stuck out the most to me was that when the Cubs asked him to play winter ball this year to improve, he said no and said he was going to do strength training instead...something that really wasn't necessary at all. The guy wasn't ready to accept the role he's built to play for a team and that's why he was swinging with that goofy swing for the fences and accomplishing absolutely nothing.

I think the first half of 2003 (or 2004?) says it all. He was doing well until he got hurt. His problem has just been getting mentally back on track after the injury. If they are right and he was rushed up then why was he doing so well at that point in time?

Have any of you ever read the mailbag answer that Carrie Muskat does on the Cubs's site? It always reminds me of some kind of Q&A with a rep from the Soviet party. The answers to critical questions seem to be more scolding and condescending rather than informative most of the time. There always seems to be this "never question the party" air about many of her responses. Maybe I just feel this after the run in that Stone had with Baker and some of the others in the Cub organization. Maybe they like to have a little more control over the media.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060115&content_id=1295986&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

I ran across this pic in the BCB blogsite.



[This message has been edited by bluestainedivy (edited 1/17/2006 12:30p).]

Glorious news my friends! There's a rumor that Z has fired Scott Boras as his agent. the report was supposed to be started by ESPN 1000 in Chicago but I haven't been able to find anything on their site.

That would be great! I saw Z interviewed at the Bulls game on WGN the other night. The only thing I really understood was "Benezuela". It's a good thing that he pitches a LOT better than he speaks English.

I still haven't been able to find any sites that will confirm the Boras firing. This may just be a rumor.

No agreement was reached with Zambrano, Prior, Ohman, Hairston and Pierre. Does this mean that there's no negotiating until the arbitration hearing?

They can negotiate something up until the point the Feb 1 stuff starts. Once that kicks in whatever happens is binding. An example would be last year when Clemens was offered arbitration. Clemens submitted $22 million and the Astros submitted $13.5 million. They ended up at $18 million beofore even meeting with the arbitrator.

I see.

I found another link that confirmed that Z did fire Boras. Sorry if this is old news. The article is mainly about the Cubs filing for arbitration.

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp?id=144026

[This message has been edited by bluestainedivy (edited 1/18/2006 12:51p).]

One guy's thoughts on Benson going to the O's and how it has a potential impact on Zito becoming a Cub.

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/story/2006/1/21/171052/956

Maybe we should ask Anna what she tinks about the trade.

http://www.annabenson.net/ask_anna.htm



















Sorry, clicked on the link in mlbtraderumors.com. Thought everyone might like a good laugh.

[This message has been edited by Macpappy99 (edited 1/23/2006 8:38a).]

Not sure Zito is worth Pie and Hill.

We signed Miller for 1 mil with another 1 mil in incentives based on starts. There's a whole topic on it, but I thought we ought to strike up a conversation about it here. As far as I'm concerned, it's a "might as well" kind of thing that could help far more than it could hurt.

It worked with Scott Williamson. Why not give it a shot? They're not counting on him for anything this year.