According to Ken Rosenthal, et al at foxsports.com (see here), the Indians want to package Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez. The Cubs could conceivably offer Geo Soto (injured, but not forever), Jake Fox and two top minor league pitchers.

A bona fide top starter and a veteran catcher who can still hit-- this would be a move worth making, especially in light of the Cardinals' recent moves.

It might be safe to say that 2009 is this Cubs roster's last chance to win the WS. Hendry is likely gone next year, and Lilly, Lee, Aram and Dempster will be one year older. So this is the year (again!)

Interesting stats from 2006 through 2008. Is Youkilis the only guy in MLB history to increase his batting average,  homers and RBI total each year for three consecutive years while decreasing his walks total in each of those 3 years?

It's odd-- but I suppose it is evidence of a pretty smart hitter who has been able to learn something new each year. I love walks, but for a guy like Youkilis, results seem to be better the more he swings the bat.

This is not an exhaustive list, but consider:

Gregg

Gathright

Heilman

Bradley

Miles

Dempster's big $

- loss of DeRosa

+ continued faith in DLee

Pretty easy to analyze: Hendry failed. The team is significantly worse than it was last year. If DLee can recover and if ARam is not out for 2 months + and if Dempster and Harden can pitch better and if Zambrano is better than a 3rd starter and if Bradley hits .330 over the next 100 games... well... if if if.

Sad.

In addition to the wonderful news that CPatterson and JHairston signed with Dusty's Reds, ESPN transactions from yesterday also reports the following:

New York Mets-- Named Darryl Strawberry special instructor.

I can think of a few unpleasant guesses as to what he is qualified to 'instruct'.

[This is only alleged at this point]

Leyritz arrested for DUI + DUI resulting in death of a human being.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3171228

LaRussa, Hancock, etc.-- no lessons learned, apparently. I'm no prude and I'm no saint, but deaths caused by drunk drivers are avoidable: stop drinking and driving.

Although we can only hope to slightly improve the fate of human beings with regard to diseases, wars, famines, etc., we would seem to be capable of taking a cab or calling a friend. But I'm dreaming, I know.

What a pisser.

If the Mitchell report results in BBWA limiting their choices of legit HOF candidates, maybe Andre Dawson has more of a shot now?? His numbers-- with no juice, I presume-- are really pretty darn good.
438 homers, an MVP, lots of gold gloves, great guy, team leader, etc.

It would be great to see The Hawk and Ron Santo make the Hall (or is Santo done? That stinks.)

I loved Lou's strategy of keeping Howry in the game last night. Yes, I know that in this case, hindsight makes the decision look good. But, in general, I've always been a proponent of keeping a guy in the game if he's pitching well, especially if he's only pitched one inning. Demptster has saved 28/31, but Lou's confidence in him is waning, perhaps, and justifiably so. With Howry, at least for the last few months, you know almost exactly what you're going to get and it's almost always a reasonable outing.

This move also tends to show that Lou wants to win, period, and doesn't care too much about stats (e.g., Dempster's 'save total').

Well, I've blown a whole chunk of my fantasy league 'free agent' funds to sign Steve Trachsel (dropping Sean Marshall at the same time-- so I feel a bit like Jim Hendry, minus the heart condition).

To celebrate, I will boldly (and stupidly) predict Trachsel's line tonight:

5.2 innings
6 hits
1 walk
3 strikeouts
3 earned runs

... and the Win.

Anybody else care to make a prediction?

Sad story about Antoine Walker being robbed in his Northside home. According to the Tribune article sources, Walker is packing his bags and leaving the city. Sad.

And as it relates to the Cubs: the article states that Antoine Walker's uncle is Chico Walker! Who knew!!?

The point is: even millionaires (i) can be nice guys, (ii) can be robbed in nice neighborhoods and (iii) can have uncles who played a few games with the Cubs back in the day.

Walker Robbed

This most likely does not require (or deserve) a diary. Still, perhaps it merits discussion with those of us who are superstitious about the Cubs.

Example of superstitious Cubs fan behavior:

You are sitting on left side of couch with beer in right hand. Cubs are winning 3-1 in the 7th. You have to pee. Badly. Instead, you stay glued to the couch until the game ends.

__

In my case, I was on vacation beginning Friday, June 22. As you all know, the Cubs have won 9 out of 10 games from 6/22 to 7/2. I have returned from vacation, but I encourage you all to finance my next vacation so that the Cubs may once again put together a great winning streak.