I'm hearing stuff that the Cubs are making a push for AJ Burnett. I think I would be against that.

Don't want him if it is for the 5-year deal he's looking for. I get the feeling he wants Carl Pavano/Pedro money and that is just flat out too long.

No one has given a starting pitcher a 5-yr deal since the Rangers gave Chan Ho his big contract.

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[This message has been edited by AgRyan04 (edited 11/18/2005 12:16a).]

There is nothing wrong with Chan ho. He just never got a shot.


I did not realize giles will be 35. Stay away from him. Let the yankees overpay for an old guy who will suck it up.

I like Mench as an option for RF. He is at a good price and don't think it will require too much from the Cubs.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-051117cubs,1,1563826.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

quote:

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Eyre Cubs' man in middle
Ex-Sox lefty agrees to 3-year, $11 million deal to join bullpen
By Paul Sullivan
Tribune staff reporter

November 17, 2005, 10:50 PM CST

The Cubs signed free-agent reliever Scott Eyre to a three-year, $11 million deal Thursday, outbidding division rivals St. Louis and Houston to secure the top left-handed setup man on the market.

The 33-year-old Eyre, who led the majors with 86 appearances last season, basically got the same deal Mike Remlinger signed before the 2003 season. All three years are guaranteed, although Eyre has a player option for the third season and can become a free agent after 2007 if he decides he's underpaid.

"We're thrilled to have him," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. "He obviously was a priority for us and is one of the better left-handed [non-closers] on the market. Scott was the best guy for us.

"He had a terrific year and has proven he can pitch almost every day. He's very effective against right-handed and left-handed hitters, and we felt it was important to add a quality lefty in the bullpen along with [Will] Ohman."

Though details of the contract still were being ironed out late Thursday, Eyre can make an extra $300,000 in incentives per year, earning $100,000 after reaching 70 games and another $200,000 if he makes 80 appearances.

He also will receive a signing bonus and additional money if he becomes a closer.

Eyre, who briefly pitched for manager Dusty Baker in 2002 with San Francisco, was 2-2 with a 2.63 earned-run average in 2005. Since 2002 he ranks second among major-league left-handers with 313 appearances, trailing only Ray King's 319.

"The more I pitch, the more I feel like an everyday player," Eyre said. "That's what I do."

The Cubs finished ninth among National League teams last season with a 4.24 earned-run average, and ranked fifth in the Central Division, ahead of only Cincinnati. Remlinger failed to stay healthy during his three years and was released in August, leaving the Cubs without an experienced left-hander in the bullpen.

Eyre wanted to leave the Giants to be closer to his Florida home. He eventually chose the Cubs over the Cardinals, Astros and Braves after paring down the finalists to four teams. The White Sox were involved initially until the bidding got too high.

While money was instrumental in sealing the deal, Eyre cited the Cubs' "fun clubhouse" and the camaraderie he noticed while watching them during batting practice before Cubs-Giants games. Hendry and pitching coach Larry Rothschild took Eyre to dinner Monday and he liked what he heard from them.

"[Rothschild is] not big on making us run 30 laps before you pitch," Eyre said. "He said if you're ready to pitch every day, you can do whatever you want."

Over the last three seasons, veterans Remlinger and Mark Guthrie failed to fill the left-handed void in the bullpen.

After bouncing between the majors and minors with the White Sox early in his career, Eyre turned the corner in Toronto in 2002 after being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. Eyre said the proof of ADD's affect on him is in his stats.

"Since I started taking medication in April of 2002, the results have been completely different," he said.

San Francisco pitching coach Dave Righetti turned Eyre into his bullpen workhorse in '03, and he has been consistent since. Eyre's 93 holds since '02 is best among lefties and he leads all major-league relievers the last four years in lowest percentage of allowing inherited runners to score (18.5 percent).

With Eyre in the fold, the Cubs won't have to consider putting left-hander Glendon Rusch in the bullpen, which pushes their pursuit of another prime-time starter to the backburner.

"I'm not opposed to adding another starter, in the right situation," Hendry said.

---

In other news, Chipper Jones has rescheduled his contract to give the Braves more flexibility. He lowered his 2006 salary from $17 million to $11 million. I get a bad feeling that they are going to use the extra money to re-sign Furcal.

Does furcal want to stay in Atlanta?

Not sure. I know he's friends with Aramis and Neifi, and they are trying to talk him into coming to Chicago. I think the Cubs and the Braves are the only 2 teams with a real interest/chance at signing him right now.

[This message has been edited by Old Style (edited 11/18/2005 10:58a).]

ddp

[This message has been edited by Old Style (edited 11/18/2005 10:58a).]

quote:

---

While money was instrumental in sealing the deal, Eyre cited the Cubs' "fun clubhouse" and the camaraderie he noticed while watching them during batting practice before Cubs-Giants games. Hendry and pitching coach Larry Rothschild took Eyre to dinner Monday and he liked what he heard from them.

"[Rothschild is] not big on making us run 30 laps before you pitch," Eyre said. "He said if you're ready to pitch every day, you can do whatever you want."

---

Does this actually mean our clubhouse lacks discipline. I would like to hope not but the way we've played recently would be characteristic of an undisciplined team.

Of course it lacks discipline. That's been painfully obvious for a few years now.

I like those ominous references the writer makes to Remlinger and Guthrie not being able to do it. The cynic in me wants to say "Well, Eyre I hope you enjoyed your success because you just reached the end of the road".

But still I am a Cub fan and as any good Cub fan I have hope. Hopefully Eyre will be a dependable arm in the bullpen.

another article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=soxgettocelebratecubsonl&prov=tsn&type=lgns

I like the thought of Abreu in right field, but it is almost ridiculous to think that somehow we could end up with him.

The Sun-Times reports that the Cubs are pursuing Bobby Howry, Bob Wickman's set up man in Cleveland. He's looking for a 3-year $12 million dollar contract. I'd never really heard of him until now but I know that Wickman had some great numbers last season.

http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/player.jsp?player_id=133982

It's official. The Cubs signed Howry.

wow, they're really bolstering the pen....I must say that I LOVE it.

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Both of these signings appear to be pretty good, but we thought the same thing about LaTroy when we signed him away from Minnesota. Plus, we spent an awful lot of money on these two. I hope it works out.

I too immediately thought "This is a potential Hawkins".

Also hearing Novoa would be involved in the potential Pierre trade.

We've been talking for two years about bolstering the bullpen and now we are.

It's $7M per year for both of these guys combined which is basically the money we saved by not picking up Burnitz's contract.

I wouldn't be hurt if we had to deal Novoa....he'll turn 27 next season and has a total of 65 innings in the big leagues (4.80 ERA, .278 BAA). We really need a CFer/leadoff man.

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Speaking of LaTroy I felt the same way when we picked up Remlinger. He was solid in Atlanta. These guys do seem to be on the way up in their careers. Hopefully a year in Chicago will help and not hurt.

If indeed they do have bad seasons do we start to look towards Rothschild as a possible problem? Of course, if we don't do well Dusty will be gone as well most of the coaches.

Baseball America's Cubs Top 10 Prospects:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/features/05top10s/cubs.html

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Pawelek is up pretty high. Wasn't he just drafted out of high school?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2005/11/cubs_interested.html

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2005/11/cubs_acquire_jo.html

Cubs interested in Milton Bradley and signed Mabry with possible intent to release Macias (for those too lazy to read).

NO MORE MACIAS! YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

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Ooh. I'm not sure about Bradley. Dusty doesn't haven't enough control over the clubhouse for a guy like that. And what's the deal with Mabry?

[This message has been edited by Old Style (edited 11/29/2005 8:06a).]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-051128cubs,1,2284724.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

quote:

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Furcal gets a house call
Cubs' Hendry makes last push for shortstop
By Paul Sullivan
Tribune staff reporter

November 29, 2005

The Cubs made one last push for free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal over the weekend and expect a final decision before the end of next week's winter meetings in Dallas.

General manager Jim Hendry met with Furcal at his Georgia home on Sunday, hoping to convince him Chicago would be a perfect destination.

Both Hendry and Furcal's agent, Paul Kinzer, declined to comment on the meeting.

The Cubs and Atlanta are considered the two main suitors for Furcal, with the New York Mets reportedly dropping out of the picture in the last week to focus on other areas. Since the final offers may be similar in value—around $10 million per season for four or five years—Furcal's future may ultimately come down to where he feels most comfortable playing.

Furcal's affinity for Braves manager Bobby Cox could be a deciding factor, though he's also close friends with Cubs shortstop Neifi Perez and third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who have been lobbying on the Cubs' behalf for the last month.

The Cubs are expected to announce the signing of free-agent utilityman John Mabry within the next day or two, and will bring recently signed reliever Bob Howry to Wrigley Field for a news conference on Tuesday.

Howry, who signed a three-year, $12 million deal last week, gives the Cubs another veteran setup man for closer Ryan Dempster. Hendry has spent $23 million thus far to sign Howry and left-hander Scott Eyre, shoring up a young and inexperienced bullpen that was inconsistent last season.

The Cubs may have overpaid in their pursuit of relief help, but after the bullpen failures of the last three seasons, Hendry had few options. He targeted two of the most effective setup men in '05 and reeled both of them in. Eyre led the National League with 32 holds, while Howry ranked third in the American League with 29 holds.

Mabry, 35, hit .240 with eight home runs and 32 RBIs with St. Louis last season and can play both corner outfield spots, along with first base and third base. The left-handed-hitting veteran has a .269 career average and is expected to assume the role Todd Hollandsworth excelled in during the first half of '04, before incurring a season-ending leg injury.

The Cubs are also considered the front-runner for Florida center fielder Juan Pierre if the Marlins shop him at the winter meetings, as expected, and they'll also pursue a right fielder, likely through a trade.

The Cubs have mild interest in free-agent outfielder Preston Wilson, whom they pursued at the trading deadline before acquiring and dumping Matt Lawton.

In other news, the Los Angeles Dodgers were given permission to talk to Grady Little about their managerial vacancy. Little has been a minor-league instructor and an assistant to Hendry the last two seasons after being let go by Boston after the Red Sox lost to the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS.

---

C'mon Furcal!

I'm just really happy that we're being so aggressive this off-season.

If the stars allign correctly and we get all the guys we want we're going to put out a very good baseball team next season.

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As long as Dusty doesn't screw it up.

Don't tempt him, he may find a way

Dodgers in the bidding for Furcal?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2241012

quote:

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Kinzer declined to characterize his negotiations with any team. However, the buzz around baseball is that the Cubs are leading this race.

The Cubs have made no secret of their desire to install Furcal in their leadoff hole. And they've made him their top offseason priority. Furcal has gotten phone calls from Greg Maddux, Neifi Perez and Dusty Baker. It's believed the Cubs have squirreled away a major portion of their holiday shopping money to get Furcal signed.

---

There are rumblings that Todd Walker will be traded to the Dodgers for Milton Bradley. That would signal a Furcal signing.

Just imagine what would happen if we had another Bartman with Milton Bradley in the OF.

100 replies during the offseason! Gig 'em Cubs, the most die hard fans of all.

[This message has been edited by bluestainedivy (edited 11/29/2005 5:12p).]

interesting note: I saw 3 Cubs hats on campus today (not including my own)....

I won't say how many Astros hats....coughONEcough....that I saw

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I was proudly wearing my Cubs hat today...and by proudly I mean I do every day without thinking.

We got a pup the other day and, thanks to my wife, we aptly named hime Wrigley. One of the first things he chewed on was my old Cubs hat. It may sound sick but he left a little saliva stain on the bill that I couldn't get off. Now I'm hoping that it will be my good luck cap for the season. Kind of like the Red Sox fan who wore the same Sox shirt everyday during the postseason in which they won the series even though he got bird poop on it.