Yesterday, we mentioned in the comments section that the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, and Baltimore Orioles had discussed (are dicussing?) a three-way deal that would end up with Rick Porcello pitching for the Cubs:
Why helllooooo there.
The Tigers and Cubs are discussing a potential three-way trade that would send Rick Porcello to Chicago with the Orioles as the third party, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The Tigers want Baltimore involved because they want shortstop J.J. Hardy and they don’t feel that the Cubs have the necessary components to make it a two-team trade.
Well obviously. I don’t think I was alone in scratching my head over this one, trying to figure out what the Cubs would possibly have that would interest the Orioles. Then again, I never thought Corey Patterson or Felix Pie would interest the Orioles, and I was wrong about that. Unfortunately for us, this Orioles team is smarter than the Orioles we knew and loved in days of yore:
The Orioles are also one of the teams that are interested in Porcello and it’s logical to think that they could just hammer out a two-team swap with the Tigers instead.
Yeah. I was kinda hoping no one would mention that. Le sigh.
Let’s all hope that Theo can pull something out of his magic hat, because Porcello would be a really, really nice/hot way to round out the starting rotation.
But then, like light through yonder window breaking, Ken Rosenthal managed to bury this little bit of joy in his column. See if you can figure out at which point I jumped out of my seat with joy:
The Phillies, sources say, continue to look at all options, including the signing of free agent Scott Hairston and trades for the Chicago Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano and Los Angeles Angels’ Vernon Wells.
Hairston, however, reportedly wants a two-year contract in the $8 million range, and that price might be too steep for the Phillies’ liking.
Okay, okay, so the Phillies don’t want to pay $8 million for Scott Hairston. Understandable. What do they want to pay? $6 million for Soriano? $5 M? $3 M? 3? We’ll take three. $2 M? You can have him for two! For the love of God, just take him! Just get him out of left field, for the love of crying out loud! I can’t take another summer of looking at his confused face for 162 days.
If you haven’t been paying attention this off-season (I’m looking at, like, 90% of you), today the 2013 Hall of Fame inductees are announced. I’m really hoping Tim Raines finally has his day.
The Cubs Convention is a little over two weeks away. Who’s going?
Hee hee, you said three-way
Those usually end up being more awkward than anything else.
Not in my experience.
Yes…but you probably tend not to have any women involved. Women always complicate things.
Thats true.
Orioles let Reynolds walk. Their not getting rid of Hardy to move Machado with no incumbent 3rd baseman. Only deal with the O’s would have to be some sorta Soriano dump and they apparently aren’t getting any money from their owner.
If the Porcello rumors are true and I’m inclined to believe there is some sorta truth to it, then clearly Theo has something else up his sleeve. I really really think some sorta deal to Texas for Olt has been discussed but can’t be completed until Garza proves to be healthy.
I still think this roster is quite a ways from being finalized as clearly Theo/Jed seemingly have irons in several fires.
I hope Biggio makes it at least……I still believe wholeheartedly he was one of the best players to ever grace the game of baseball and I hate the Astros.
Biggio deserves to go…I just don’t see him as a first ballot guy.
Raines needs to be put in regardless.
Bonds and Clemens should go in at some point, but they probably won’t go this year.
Everyone else can rot in hell.
Actually, with no real evidence to the contrary, I’d have to say that Bagwell and Piazza should go in too. Piazza (doping rumors aside) should be a first ballot hall of famer.
Um . Bagwell went from looking like a train conductor to He-Man. In like, 6 months.
Yeah, but that was all natural.
I’m sure all he took was Flintstones vitamins (which my kids are taking, so I expect they will both be major league players soon).
Why the hell did I think CubbieCon was this weekend?
its usually the weekend of MLK Day
this weekend is the Disney Marathon though
My company is working that race…though I’m not going to be there…I’m doing a track meet this weekend instead.
someone else got the better end of that deal if they got a trip to Orlando, in January, out of it
We only send one person down there for this event…and we have other companies provide the people to work the timing equipment. That’s how we often do things when we have events that are not really in our traditional operational area.
Why didn’t anyone tell me Rick Porcello looked like that?
Because you having a crush on Rick Porcello isn’t nearly as entertaining as your crush on AJ Pierzynski.
I’m seriously thinking about skipping Cubs Con this year. For the first time, I just don’t feel like going. But then I always pick up a ton of twitter followers from live-tweeting the sessions, so there’s that.
BLERG.
I skipped last year (although my friends went) and my entire room is skipping it this year too. Honestly I miss the fun girl’s weekend but that was the biggest disappointment.
This year I’m mostly sad because I want one of the calendars they hand out.
The year I go to CubbieCon is the next year I feel like this team is worth spending the money on. This isn’t that year.
it used to be that I justified it by a weekend spent with friends, but we had a wedding weekend a couple months ago
I would rather spend money on going to a couple games this summer
this is actually a rumor tht I’m interested in enough to actually look up the players’ information
thats new for this off season
No one.
Nice work.
I seethe for Tim Raines.
I seethe for Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGwire.
Sosa and McGwire…no…the rest on that list along with Bagwell and Clemens yes.
Who is the idiot who voted for Aaron Sele?
Jose Mesa got a vote.
The HOF voting process has to be changed in its entierity. I realize fans wouldn’t do a good enough job on their own but this has become a circus act. Not sure what the answer is but the voting is flawed.
Craig Biggio should have been a 1st ballot HOF’er period!!! Piazza probably should have been and there were 1-2 more that coulda have easily justified going.
With only precedent for 1st ballot HOFers, I don’t see Biggio going in this year…though he should be in. Based on the precedent, though, Piazza should have definitely gone in on the first ballot (along with Bonds and Clemens).
Next year will be interesting with Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas both being on the ballot for the first time. There is a backlog of players who deserve to go in and both Maddux and Thomas should be easy first ballot guys. I’m not sure how many players these voters will actually put in to the hall in a single year because Biggio, Bagwell, Bonds, Clemens and Piazza all deserve to go and it will be Jack Morris’s last year on the ballot too and he’s real close (and likely to get a bump with it being his last year).
Just my opinion but Biggio is without a doubt a 1st ballot guy. One of my personal questions I ask myself is did said player positively change the game. Biggio did just that…..I will say it forever, he was one of the absolute best baseball players EVER.
The things he did changed every game he was apart of. Not only did he change positions multiple times and played them at an All-Star level, he lead off, he was a smart base runner and had over 3000 hits. That’s not even the best part imo. Its the stuff he did the stats don’t indicate that made him special.
Not sure without looking but I think he got beaned more than any other player ever. Nothing he didn’t do or try to make sure he got on those bases. Couldn’t pitch him inside or out cause he stood over the plate. He took pitch after pitch to run up pitch counts.
I would give anything to have a youngster like him on this team.
its this stupid frustrating, he’s a Hall of Famer, but I’m not going to vote for hime this year, I’ll vote for him on the 4th year, yeah, thats when he deserves to go in
seriously? I almost (almost) understand the “absolutely the moment he is eligible, one of the best players to have ever stepped on the diamond” mentality of voting for someone the first time vs “he’s definitely a great, but not a great great” but thats a 1st ballot v second ballot question, waiting for longer than that is just weird
that said, if you have a vote, and feel that a player deserves to be in the HoF, just vote for them, withholding a vote for a year to prove a point is just something I don’t get
Agree 100%
One thing I completely obvious from the HOF vote today…
Sammy Sosa will never get into the Hall. Ever.
Yep. Very sad but true.
No one should be eligible til they’ve been dead for a year.
Tell that to Ron Santo’s family. I want the down thumb back for that remark…
The travesty done to Ron Santo was the point of the remark.
I think Santo even said he didn’t want to be inducted after he was dead.
He did
I’ll be pretty pissed if the induct me into the Hall of Fame after I die.
You know who the real losers are in this HOF vote?
Not the players.
Not the writers.
Not the fans.
It’s the actual Hall of Fame itself which has been having financial difficulties for a number of years now. Typically it is the HOF induction weekend that brings in the revenues to keep the place going. This year there isn’t really any draw to come that weekend at all which may very well be a complete disaster for them.
Yet they say they support having the BBWA responsible for determining membership.
So, fuck ‘em.
The BBWA is just a bunch of goofballs who couldn’t play and have a feeling of superiority and power by telling us who is worthy and who isn’t, when really no one needs to tell me who played well and who didn’t.
I guess it is aggravating to the players up for possible enshrinement, but hopefully they will consider and see the source of it all for what it really is and move on in their lives.
I am in a really really bad mood today. One of my coworkers died today. He left 2 small kids, and I will have to handle the paperwork his widow will get. So I am in no mood for the HOF stupidity of the baseball writers,etc…
I’m made that Tim Raines didn’t get in. I really couldn’t care less about the roid ragers, other than Bonds and Clemens, who were genuine HOFers before they started using.
The rest of them can fall down a well.
Read the early odds on the Cubs to win the World Series are 140/1.
Now’s the time to make my bet.
I still have my bet slip from 1984 showing $100 on the Cubbies to win the World Series at 100-1 odds.
I still hate Leon Durham.
Fukudome has signed a contract with a Japanese team.