11/07/2003 02:42:00 PM by Rob

Early indications point the wrong way

According to ESPN, the Trib, the Sun-Times, Daily Herald, etc, it appears that the #1 priority for the Cubs this winter is to shore up the bullpen, which also happened to be last year's #1 priority.

Now, in 2002 the bullpen had a Suckage Index of 97 out of 100. Last year, the Suckage Index was only about 45, although it did increase substantially in October.

And, it appears that the first apple of their eye is LaTroy Hawkins.

Have you ever gotten the feeling about certain ballplayers from other teams, who tend to stick in your memory a bit more than they should, and then a few years later, they somehow end up on your team? I have always had this feeling about Hawkins. In the recent past, I also had the same feeling about Grud, Randall Simon, and, yep, the Turd.

Anyway, the point is that he is asking for $10-12M for two years of work, so there is $5M out of the $25M I was counting on to fix the offense. I was planning on using Wellmeyer, Beltran and Chaisson for their combined $1M. They HAVE to be an improvement over Alfucksucka, Guthrie, and Veres.

So I am already overdrawn $5M, and I still have two spots to fill. Hawkins is NOT a closer, in fact, he appears to be the black Captain Tightpants, at least in terms of performance, if not necessarily in terms of morality.

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