Yeah this Sucks

You know its a depressing off-season when the sports writers are getting down.

Mark Mulder goes to the Cardinals, and Sammy Sosa immediately comes to mind. As in, had the Cubs dealt Sosa by now, they might be the National League Central team making the big offseason splash.

Instead, they barely are treading water as the biggest bargaining chips keep splashing down around them.

Lets not forget Atlanta getting the pieces they need as well. Hell lets mention the D-backs and Mariners making big time splashes into the free agent market. I mean geez if the supposedly bankrupt Arizona Diamondbacks (They are far from bankrupt!) can pull free agents what is the Cubs excuse? I still think Hendry is peddling the, if we cant trade Sosa, we cant deal for Beltran angle, in order to deflect blame of not pursing an offensive upgrade. Its a lousy cop out, but it helps Hendry save face if the season goes sour. Hendry can just blame it on Sosa.

Like I said earlier with Beltrwe heading to Seattle it makes the Dodgers a major player for one of the big three OFers.

And in the Cubs latest move to assemble the worst bench in baseball Hendry has locked up Jose Macias for another year. My loveable nickname for him is "Auto-out." Rey Ordonez was "Auto-out V 2.0." Neifi Perez it looks like will be "Auto-out V 3.0" which may be closely followed by Henry Blanco "Auto-out V 4.0." Lenny Harris falls into the pre "Auto-out" era. He will forever be known as "Why in the hell did we keep him over Mark Bellhorn?" I know, its a skin thing according to Baker.

I would dump Macias and Neifi right away and sign Eckstein and see if I can add A.J. Pierzynski. Yes I know 3 catchers on the roster but anything is better than Macias. Besides Pierz and Barrett would form a nice lefty righty combo and help keep each other fresh during the season. Then I would take a flyer on Wade Miller, provided he passes a physical. I am sure he would love to pitch against the Astro's to show them they made a bad decision.

Now why would I want Pierz and Miller? Mainly it keeps the Cards from getting an offensive catcher and keeps the Cards away from another potentially good starter. Imagine if the Cardinals added Miller. Morris, Mulder, Miller form a very nice 1-3 in the rotation. It is called denying your rival the pieces they need.

You could probably land those 3 players for around $7-9 million together. Eckstein I doubt will ever be a full time starter again, Pierz would probably make the most around $3-4 million, with Miller coming off an injury plagued season seeking a much smaller contract of $3-4 million to re-establish his value. Were paying Rusch $2 million a season and he does not have the track record of Miller. I know, everything is in a holding pattern while the Cubs figure out how to trade Sosa. A good GM would be tightening up the loose ends of the ship before he ends up with no options.