<!--quoteo(post=69775:date=Nov 20 2009, 11:46 AM:name=BT)-->QUOTE (BT @ Nov 20 2009, 11:46 AM)
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<{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=69769:date=Nov 20 2009, 10:59 AM:name=Scarey)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Scarey @ Nov 20 2009, 10:59 AM)
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<{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Hendry has no sense of what the market is for certain players. Bradley had one other team offering him more than a 1-year deal (the Rays -- 2/13). Why the fuck did he offer him 3/30? Who was he bidding against? Same deal with Jock Jones. Same deal here. How about Aaron Fucking Miles? I think there's a good chance that Miles doesn't land a major league contract if Hendry didn't snatch him up.
Nobody was going to give up a first round pick for Grabow, so there was absolutely NO reason to not offer him arbitration. Either he accepts, and we sign him for a year or we work out a cheaper deal.
This better be Hendry's last year with this organization. I'm fed up.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You're probably right about Jacque and pretty much dead on right about Grabow. But I never understood why people seemed to think we could have had Bradley for much lower than he was given. He signed a 2 year 20 mill deal with an almost unheard of extra year contingent on games played in his first year. How exactly do you know what the Rays were offering him and that no other team was interested?
Yes I know Bradley had plenty of faults, but he just got done with back to back 900+ OPS seasons.
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C'mon, dude. It was a 3 year deal. The contingent was a total joke.
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Name me another player that has had such a contingency in his contract? I can name one in Magglio. Other than that, it's pretty damn difficult to get that into a contract.
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My point is that it was so easy to meet, that it barely even registered. Everyone saw it as a 3-year deal. 75 games? He could pinch hit 25 times and he's 1/3 of the way there.
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But how do you KNOW any of the other stuff? How does anyone on a freaking Cubs message board KNOW what offers were and were not available to Bradley? Does your scenario even pass the smell test? You are telling me that NO ONE was going to offer Bradley more than 13 million dollars, but were perfectly willing to give a guy like Ibanez, who is older, a worse fielder and had a worse year at the plate 2 and a half times that, all because Bradley threatened a broacaster? Does that even come close to making sense?
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That's what was reported -- that's all any of us can base our arguments on (other than general baseball acumen and common sense).
But don't pretend Bradley's *only* problem is that he threatened a broadcaster. Since Ibanez became a full-time player, the most games he has missed in a season was 39 in 2004. He followed that up by playing in every game in 2005. He also played in EVERY GAME in 2008. Nearly everyone on this board said something to the effect of, "As long as Bradley stays healthy, I can overlook all of the stupid shit he does."
Nobody was worried about him choking Len Kasper -- everyone was worried about his health. That wasn't really a concern with Ibanez.
If Hendry waited out the market, he could have landed Abreu for 1 year at $8M. But that isn't how Hendry operates. He focuses his sights on his target and he charges, full-speed ahead. I'm glad he's aggressive (to a certain degree), but he has a history of doling out too much cash and too many years for free agents. Alf, Bradley, Miles, Jock, Eyre, Howry, now Grabow.
It isn't like this is the first time he's done this. His track record is long, and growing...