I should be real careful writing this because of the source I am about to use. (Cough, cough, cough…clearing throat) Carrie Muskat reports on the MLB.com Hot Stove Blog:
a Cubs source told MLB.com on Wednesday that those talks have ended. The Cubs could either sign Ryan Dempster or add Peavy in a trade, but can’t afford both. With Dempster agreeing to a four-year contract on Tuesday, that pretty much ends discussions with the Padres about the right-hander.
Well, at least this thing won’t drag on as long as the Brian Roberts saga did last winter.
2009 Payroll? - So with Dempster signed the Cubs payroll appears to be right around where they ended last season near $130 million. Jim Hendry has said that the payroll will go up some, but when you consider the economic times we are in and the state of the Tribune and the Cubs sale I wonder how much. What do you think? Take the first wpbc poll…
Thanks for playing!
I voted $140-149 million. The Cubs have one more signing in them (I’m guessing Furcal) and probably a trade for a RF that will send Marquis and his contract somewhere so it won’t add much payroll. I’m predicting the new owners have some money left around in January and the Cubs sign Randy Johnson, which would push the payroll near or above $150 million.
I think they are pretty much done except for some tinkering…(Hendry said he would have to be creative and that means he will not do much) maybe Teahan and maybe Johnson who I think Lou would like. Johnson would still be an intimidating leftie to give Lou something to work with, even as a long reliever or in late relief if Johnson would agree…I doubt they will sign Furcal.
I am just happy that this sale is going to go down…Not sure why it all of a sudden has this urgency but Zell must need the cash. Interesting, the Cubs are sending out letters to the ticket holders and assigning personal account reps in an apparent attempt to improve PR within their ticket holder base. They must be worried because I have not seen this tone with them before and the shift to an immediate sale strategy might be a sudden direction change as these organizational changes ussually take a while to implement.
As an aside, Boston continues to do it right acquiring Ramirez for Crisp who is excess inventory for them.
That is really funny. I wonder if the Cubs are worried about their season ticket base falling off. With the economy in the tank, I could see many corporations and individuals back away. Frank Maloney and the fellas in the ticket office may actually have to do some work this year and not just take orders. LOL.