Dlee and Young go at it!

Thanks to MLBRUMORS-

This fight can be credited to Jake Peavy's comments following yesterday's game, even though he didn't pitch. After Alfonso Soriano's homerun off David Wells, Soriano took three steps to watch the ball and then trotted along to first. Both Wells and Peavy were upset, but Peavy definitely instigated today's brawl: "I didn't appreciate that. Just play the game," Peavy said after the Padres were defeated 4-1 at Wrigley Field. "They pay him $136 million to hit home runs. They don't pay him to be a circus act on the field. If I think a player shows me up like that, I like the next guy to take one in the stinkin' ribs." Derrek Lee came up in the fourth inning of play with Chris Young throwing a no-hitter. His first pitch plunked Lee in the left shoulder and as Lee walked to first base, Chris Young smiled at Lee as words were exchanged. At one point Lee said "What?!" and began walking towards Young. Young then said "Better get going, I might do that again." And before he could finish, Lee through a punch that missed followed by Young's punch that missed. As Marcus Giles pulled Young away Lee landed a punch, but no other punches were thrown. Order was ultimately restored but not after Lee, Young, Cubs hitting coach Gerald Perry, and Jake Peavy were ejected. Suspensions will be handed out Monday.

Its a shame this had to come at a time where the cubs have been playing good ball. The Cubs risk losing Dlee for a while and with Aram on the DL til the 22nd this hurts the Cubs badly. The Cubs could go 5 days without having Dlee and Aram in the Lineup or longer if there is any delay in Arams recovery or if Dlee gets a long suspension. This is the wrong time to do this, the Cubs need to be smarter out there and think about the team, now having said that I would probably swung at Young! I am guessing Lee gets a 3 to 5 game suspension. It is not as bad as Barretts incident last year because no punches were landed. He did throw the first punch but MLB will look at this closely and expect Dlee to appeal any suspension over 3 game!

Peavy deserves the longest suspension with his comments yesterday and the actions that followed today. You can blame this fight all on him! He deserves at least 5 games and Young deserves about 3.

Zambrano to Cards? Molina to Cubs? No way in Hell!

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune....cubs-headlines

Im putting this on here just to show you how Z plays with the media-


Mark Buehrle still gets heat for wearing a St. Louis Cardinals cap at a World Series game last October, but Carlos Zambrano one-upped Buehrle before Thursday's Cubs game.Zambrano motioned to reporters standing around the clubhouse and pointed to a box that contained a pair of red shinguards."It's a gift from my next catcher, Yadier," Zambrano said.Zambrano was referring to St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina, although he didn't specify whether he was going to St. Louis or Molina was coming to the Cubs.

The idea of Z going to the Cards are none and the idea of Molina coming to the cubs are pretty slim. This was pry just a prank to Zambrano, him a Molina are friends and this was just them toying with the media. First off the Cubs and Cards do not like each other a bit( which everyone knows), very rarely there is a inner division trade because you don't want the person you traded to come back to haunt you, and the idea that Z in Cardinal red will never happen.

But I'm just going to put out a far fetch theory out there for you. What if the Cubs do make a trade with the Cards? The idea of Z to the Cards is out of the question, the Cards have nothing to offer for Z. The idea of Molina is possible but unlikely because he is currently on the DL, and you cant trade a player that is on the Disable List. But here is how Molina could become a Cub. The cubs trade Barrett and a minor leaguer to the Cards for a PTBNL. That player to be named later would be Molina! After he gets off the DL he is then sent the Cubs way. This works on both aspects for the Cubs and Cards. The Cards get an offensive catcher to provide some pop in the Offensive depleted team right now. The Cubs make room for when Blanco, Ward, and Aram come back by trading Barrett and a minor leaguer. This gives the Cubs options of demoting a just a pitcher and a position player instead of having 2 position player sent down along with a pitcher. Hill would stay up and be the full time catcher with the staff until Blanco or Molina get in uniform then he would of course be sent down. You could still have the option of trading or releasing a player rather than sending a good player like Font or Pie down to AAA ( trade or release Izzy, Eyre, or Jones). The deal could in fact work, but it is a long shot. But wow I would love to have Molina in Cubbie Blue!

Murton down, Rapada up

Here is the link-

mlb.com/mlb/transactions/index.jsp

Recalled LHP Clay Rapada from Triple-A Iowa; Optioned OF Matt Murton to Triple-A Iowa.

Now all they need to do is trade Jones and Eyre, have Floyd play everyday in RF and Pie in CF and we will be set!

Jones to Twins? Players that need to find new homes!

I think ever team will be rumored to aquire Jones before the trade deadline, but here it is.

Thanks to MLB RUMORS-

While many fans and reporters called out for offense help, it is time to do something when their manager calls out for it too. Ron Gardenhire mentioned in his radio show that Twins need help: "You'd like to have one big bat, another big bat, either in the DH spot, or maybe put him at third base and put [Nick] Punto in the middle of the infield," Gardenhire told KSTP AM-1500. "Yeah, there's options. There's things that we can do here to probably improve it and give us even more depth all the way down through the lineup." The Twins have looked at Devil Rays infielder Ty Wigginton, who is batting .263 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI. Wiggington is in their price range and with the Twins' plethora of pitching, there is a match. But the Cubs also need pitching and bringing back a former Twin who had success there would probably benefit the team too. Jones struggled in his last two years with the team, but has learned a lot from playing in a high pressure environment and would benefit from a trade to the AL. But he is scheduled to make 9 million total over the next two years so the Cubs would have to give a lot of money to make it happen. Jones is batting .230 with 2 HR and 19 RBI this season.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why in the world are the Cubs still holding onto these players?

Eyre- Should be traded, released, or DFA

Jones- Trade him, you should at least get a minor leaguer.

Murton- At least send him to AAA, you can pry get a good reliever or better platoon player if you package him with someone like Eyre or Cotts

Izzy- Send him packing, seeing how Font, Riot, and Derosa are playing, who needs Izzys overrated D, and terrible bat. You can pry get a decent prospect for him, he would be good off the bench but we are much better off with Riot, Font and Derosa and maybe calling up Epat than we are trotting Izzy out there every other day.

Cotts- I know he is in AAA, but I just seen him give up 9 runs in 2 innings in Iowa last week. Might as well deal him, call the Sox and see if they will trade Aardsma back to us.

Here is my suggestion, why not package some of these players such as Cotts, Murton/Jones, Eyre, etc for Wily Mo Pena???
Wily is 25 years old, he has always been good at Wrigley from what I remember. He has a good arm, not alot of speed. To me he is a young righty version of Cliff Floyd. He smashes lefty's(.301) and would be the ideal platoon in RF with Floyd. This would give Floyd alot more playing time rather than seeing Jones and Murton in the lineup instead of Floyd. Does anyone else find it ridiculous that we have 6 outfielders? Here is a link to his

http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=276377

His numbers arn't showing it but he is not built for Fenway, he is a pull hitter with tons of power. That's why his power numbers are down. Not to mention he has only had 86 AB this season. Ive wanted to acquire Wily Mo back when he was with the Reds but he went to the Sox for Bronson.

I think this would be a great move for the Cubs and Wily Mo.

Ram on the DL, Floyd is back!

Just announced on 670 the Score the Cubs have put Aramis on the 15 day DL. This will insure he is fully healthy before returning to the lineup. Aram will be able to be activated on the 22nd of June. This is a smart move for the Cubs, rather than risking him re injuring himself coming back to early they decide to DL him. Derosa has been doing a good job at 3b and Mike Font has been playing well at 2b so this is a very good move by the Cubs.
Something that helps make this decision easier is that Cliff Floyd will be back with the Cubs tonight and more than likely he will start. Hopefully we will see a lineup like this-

Theriot 2b
Pie CF
Soriano LF
Floyd RF
Dlee 1st ( He has been struggling of late and Sori has the Hot Bat so I put him in the 3rd spot)
Font SS
Derosa 3b
Hill C
Zambrano P

Players love Cuban?! The next Cubs Owner?

BERARDINO: Players give Cuban ringing endorsementPublished June 10, 2007

There may not be a more player-friendly owner in professional sports than Mark Cuban, so it comes as little surprise the ultimate Dallas Maverick has the makings of a rooting section in the Cubs' clubhouse.Ask Derrek Lee, for instance, if he has any thoughts on who might purchase the franchise in the coming months, and the Cubs' first baseman won't hesitate."I'm just going to throw out there Mark Cuban," Lee said with a laugh. "That would be my vote. I hope that's not tampering."Don't worry, Derrek. Tampering only flows in one direction. We think."Well, he seems awesome," Lee continued. "He's passionate. The guy wants to win, so you know he's going to try his best to make the team a winner. He seems like he'd be cool as an owner.

"Cubs outfielder Cliff Floyd agreed with his longtime friend."From what we've seen of him, I think everybody would welcome that for what he does for his players," Floyd said. "In return you see his players always busting their tail for him."Floyd has talked to his friend Michael Finley about Cuban and heard nothing but good things from the ex-Mavericks forward. And a few years back, when Floyd was with the Red Sox, he received a tour of the Mavericks facilities and came away highly impressed."I got a chance to go in there and see the whole setup," Floyd said. "I tell you what, you'll never beat that. He makes those players as comfortable as possible. When you have that, the players only love you more.

"Cubs closer Ryan Dempster's first thought had to do with possible offseason perks."Can I get tickets to the Mavericks games?" the Denver resident asked of a possible Cuban ownership. "OK, then it would be cool. I'll go to Dallas, sit courtside and watch the Mavericks play."Dempster's other question was more practical, considering Cuban's long history of ref-baiting."Where would he sit?" Dempster wondered. "He'd have to be able to yell at the umpires, right?"Cuban, who is also exploring the idea of starting a pro football league, isn't the luxury suite sort of guy. So if he winds up buying the Cubs -- and early estimates place the potential sale price at $800 million -- you can bet he'll find his way to a field-level seat.In other words, move over Jeffrey Loria. Company could be coming."Baseball's a little different game [than the NBA]," Lee cautioned. "I don't think [Cuban] would be doing all the yelling and screaming."What's Bud Selig going to do? Fine him? David Stern has been trying that for years, and it hasn't worked yet."Yeah," Lee said, "But we might pay for it with the strike zone, you know what I mean?"Speaking of umpires, Cubs manager Lou Piniella returned from a four-game suspension last week for a little ump-baiting of his own. How would he feel about working for Cuban?"I don't know Mark at all," Piniella said. "I know him from watching the NBA, and he's a character. A wealthy character. I know this, he enjoys winning."

And how would Cuban's act play with the men in blue? Isn't Cuban, uh, a tad vocal?"He is vocal," Piniella said, "but almost in a fun way."Fun. That's the No. 1 word you keep hearing when the idea of a Cuban foray into baseball comes up. And if there's one thing baseball could use a little more of in these conflicted times, it's fun."Anybody that would invest the kind of resources that it's going to take to buy this team," Piniella said, "first of all they'd have to have a love for it and second of all they'd want to be successful at it."Having been rejected in his overtures to purchase the Pirates, look for Cuban to put on a full-court press for the Cubs in the coming months.

While former Diamondbacks chairman Jerry Colangelo and the others mentioned in the early stages of this Cubs sweepstakes might be fine choices, there's no ignoring the impact Cuban could have if he won the bidding.Not only on the Cubs and Wrigley Field, both of which could use a dash of his vaunted ingenuity, but on the sport itself.

Jones to Mets?

I said this a while back in fact you can read what I wrote on the date of 5-28-07. Jones and Murtons stock hasent really rised but I would package some other players with Jones/Murton to get a decent reliever from the Mets.


Thanks to MLB trade rumors-

Jacque Jones A Fit For Mets?
Jacque Jones has become something of a punchline for the commenters on this site. Cubs fans, who frequent MLBTR disproportionately, think he is worth something decent. Everyone else does not. Even as a Cubs fan I have to side with everyone else.
Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times writes today:
"The New York Mets are in the market for outfield help at a time when the Cubs are expected to renew their efforts to trade Jacque Jones."
An update on the Mets' situation: Shawn Green comes off the DL from a chip fracture in his foot today. Endy Chavez should miss a month with a hamstring strain. Moises Alou had fluid drained from his strained quad on Monday, and said at the time he wasn't close to playing. Carlos Beltran at least seems recovered from his bruised knee.
Given that Omar Minaya acquired Green last year, it's not impossible to envision him snagging Jones on the cheap, hoping for a revival. Jones still wouldn't get regular playing time a few weeks from now if both Green and Alou are healthy, however. Jones makes $4MM this year and $5MM in '08, and one would assume the Cubs would eat some of that to move him for a warm body. Even a lukewarm body.
To my knowledge, Jim Hendry has only made one trade with Minaya. That was Hendry's December 2003 acquisition of Jose Macias when Minaya was GM of the Expos. Theo Epstein and Dave Littlefield are Hendry's favorite trading partners