www.northsidebaseball.com

So what about:

Cubs get Brad Hawpe
Braves get Milton Bradley(they want a righty bat)
Rockies get Derrek Lowe(assuming he waives his NTC)

Id assume wed have to send a prospect or 2 to one of the other teams as well.

The Rockies can get WAY better than Derek Lowe.

I would think there would be some big-time money going to the Rockies from the Braves and/or the Cubs.
Millions owed:
Lowe - $15, $15, $15
Bradley - $9, $12
Hawpe - $7.5, $10 (club option that Hawpe can waive if traded)

Maybe Cubs send Rockies $3 million and Braves send Rockies $13 million ($2 million in 2010, $3 million in 2011, $8 million in 2012)

For reasons that I don't quite understand, some people still don't get this.

Brad Hawpe is so god awful in the field that, if we assume Sam Fuld can play a league average CF on defense, he would only have to hit approximately .260/.320/.350 in the same number of plate appearances to have the same amount of value Hawpe had this season. He would also cost seven million dollars less, plus the cost of prospects in the trade.

I'm not saying we need to make Sam Fuld our CF.

I am saying that Brad Hawpe is an abysmal option for filling the hole in our OF. If I see another idiot suggest trading for him after how many times I've explained how terrible he is, my head may pop.

My real feeling is that if we cant get what we really want, rather than sign another Jeromy Burnitz or Todd Hollandsworth, between Johnson, Fuld, Fox, Hoffpauir, and Brad Snyder, we have a 3rd outfielder, and when the time comes, if necessary, we can make a mid season trade. Otherwise, were more than likely looking at a downgrade from Bradley. The other options are:

David DeJesus who may or may need be an upgrade over Reed Johnson
Mike Cameron, who wed over pay for, and wed probably be on the books for him and whatever we eat of Bradleys
Brad Hawpe, who cant play defense
Pat Burrell who really cant play defense
Gary Matthews Jr. who cant play baseball
a whole host of other over the hillers than Hendry would love the opportunity to over pay for IE Ken Griffey Jr, Garrett Anderson, Jermaine Dye

With Johnson, Fuld, Fox, Hoffpauir, and Snyder manning RF, we probably won't need a midseason trade because we'll be out of contention. Any of those guys might do a decent job for a week or two, but not on a regular basis.

Yeah, not only are those guys in no way shape or form a 3rd OF, but the first half of the season does count. You don't purposefully go into a season with a weak position you plan on fixing later. 2/3 of the season is done by the time the trading deadline approaches. If you spend 2/3 of the season with such incompetence in the everyday lineup you're deliberately sabotaging your season.

I'd still very happily take Cameron if Bradley is traded.

Yeah, Mike Cameron is still quite solid despite some posters putting their hands over their ears and pretending he's not.

I wonder what it would take to sign Marlon Byrd.

Hopefully, more than the Cubs are willing to pay.

Is this an actual rumor?

Alex (Chicago)


Marlon Byrd to the Cubs? I hope this happens and it would make sense since it would allow Fukudome to move back to his natural position. Do you think there is a chance this could happen?

Jayson Stark (1:39 PM)


I think Marlon Byrd is going to be one of the most attractive under-the-radar free agents out there. And the Cubs make sense. They're definitley in the market for a righthanded-hitting outfielder who can play center and allow them to move Fukudome back to right. And the list of free agents who can do that is awfully short.

Since when are the Cubs looking for RH hitters?

It's not like Marlon Byrd is some gold-glove centerfielder, and away from Texas he's a mid-.700s OPS hitter. He's also coming off a career highs in the power categories and will want a multi-year deal for more than he's worth.

Haven't looked to see if this has been discussed here, but if you want pitching help in a deal for Milton, while swapping bad contracts... what about ...

Any two of Jeremy Bonderman and/or Dontrelle Willis and/or Nate Robertson for M.B. ???

Bonderman/Willis is insurance for Lilly and the rotation on the whole, while Robertson is a lefty for the 'pen.

Bonderman (1/$12.5M)
Willis (1/$12M)
Robertson (1/$10M)

Left handed hitters was last year's flavor of the month.

That's another one we can cross off the list along with:

Played in a World Series
Can catch the ball
Need speedy top of the order hitters

What am I forgetting? It must be the Dusty Dice. It seems as though it landed on "Need speedy top of the order hitters" again.

But the Yankees won the WS without a speedy lead-off hitter, so that has to be off the table.

Willis is done but I'd definitely take a shot at Bonderman. It would be interesting to see if Rothschild could get something out of him.

Speedy is an interpretation and probably not completely accurate to what the Cubs front office desires. I just chalk this up to Pierre hang-over around here.

I'm sure Hendry takes 30/35 SB and generally smart base running any day of the week, despite merely above-average speed (which reflects Jeter and his 2009 numbers).

exceptions can be made when your leadoff hitter is derek [expletive] jeter. duh.

I think the one you're forgetting is character. That seemed to be the theme following 2004 when trading Sosa seemed to be the entire offseason emphasis. That's what's re-surfacing this year with Bradley.

I know the Braves are trying to move Lowe or Vazquez, but Kawakami might be an interesting target if they would take Bradley. Kawakami can start or relieve and is owed $6.7 million for each of the next two years. He's not great, but he might be a better option than some other names floating around. Bradley would be an upgrade in the OF for the Braves and they could still trade Vazquez for a bigger bat.

Heres the latest from MLBTR. Nothing groundbreaking.

This is actually very good news, I think. The more teams interested, the better.

As for the Cubs, Hendry suddenly is facing pitching issues, what with Rich Harden having filed for free agency and Ted Lilly set to open the 2010 season on the disabled list after having arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder last week.

Harden, who made 26 big-league starts this year, has a history of shoulder problems, and mainly for that reason, it's hard to see the Cubs offering him salary arbitration and bringing him back for $8 million to $10 million for one year.

Not to be forgotten is that Hendry still is trying to unload right fielder Milton Bradley, whom he suspended for conduct detrimental to the team with two weeks left in the 2009 season.

Bradley has two years and $21 million left on the three-year, $30 million deal Hendry gave him last January.

One interesting scenario has new Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos indicating he'd be open to trading ace pitcher Roy Halladay, who becomes a free agent next fall after he's scheduled to make $15.75 million in 2010.

Halladay has a no-trade clause in his contract, but he's said he'd like to play for a contender, and the Cubs seem closer to getting back to the playoffs than do the Blue Jays. To get Halladay, the Cubs must move money.

Could Hendry package Bradley and prospects for Halladay? Bradley could thrive in the relatively quiet environs of Toronto, and Halladay would provide an instant jolt to the Cubs' rotation.

A deal isn't likely this week, but GM meetings can be the place to put the wheels in motion. Hendry and assistant GM Randy Bush will be heading to O'Hare fresh off the team's organization meetings in Arizona.

"We were very pleased with the way the organization meetings went," Hendry said Sunday. "We had a chance to meet the Ricketts family, and we feel they are going to be tremendous owners for the city of Chicago.

"Randy and I are working to make the club better, and maybe we can start some of that dialogue this week."

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=335062&src=152