12/15/2003 11:12:00 AM by Rob

Fahgeddaboudit

I either have the flu or food poisoning...let's just say that I tore the handicapped rail off of the side of the stall just now. Ouch, babe.

Now that I'm scooped out empty, let's see what happened this weekend...

Forget about Tejada. And Vlad.
And, more than likely, Pudge.
Forget about trading for Jose Vidro.
Forget about the triumphant return of Mad Dog.
Forget about Jose Cruz, Jr.
Hell, even Forget about Geoff Blum.

The big news from the Big Winter Meetings is that Kerry Wood is asking for WAY more money than they counted on, and that anyone they are interested in signing are current starting mid-level players that we would make sit on the bench to watch Sammy Sofa chase 57-foot sliders.

We're looking at Jeromy Burnitz and Scott Speizio. These are NOT the impact players I have been asking for. Oh, there is still a chance that the market for Pudge is going to dry up for a second straight year, and that he will come, hat in hand, to the Cubs willing to take a cut in pay for the honor, the privilege of being a Cub.

Hendry is having his own little ego trip now, commenting in public that free agents WANT to be Cubs, now. Sure...Tejada just strapped on the blue pinstripes, and the rest of them are just waiting in line to do the same.

Meanwhile, the Cards pulled off what I think is a HELL of a trade, dumping the Wussified J.D. Drew on the Braves for pitchers. That is a classic addition-by-subtraction move if I have ever seen it. They are immediately better than last year, as is Houston.

Meanwhile, we wait to hear from the Orlando Palmiero's of the world, anxiously anticipating their willingness to take $2M to sit next to Dusty for 162 exciting Cub games.

My buddyForkLift has an interesting angle on this weekend's inactivity, and maybe you will agree with it more than I do. He lives in Brooklyn, see, and thus has a front-row seat to Steingrabber's latest spending binge. I agree that not all the money he has thrown around has been smart money.

But I do not agree with the premise that our future looks brighter than the Yankees. After all, their owner will do anything to win. Ours won't. Why else are they playing "chicken" with Pudge?

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