Olney brings up the thought of dealing Starlin

[Guest]

I don't care who or how many players there are, if you trade Castro for a group that has never played in an MLB game, you lose.

[SouthSideRyan]

He's 22 [expletive] years old.

[scarey]

I don't care who or how many players there are, if you trade Castro for a group that has never played in an MLB game, you lose.

 

Exactly. Machado certainly looks like a sure thing, but so did guys like Reid Brignac, Domonic Brown, Andy LaRoche, and Brandon Wood at similar ages. Bundy looks extremely promising, but has only pitched in A ball.

 

Even if these guys do pan out, there's no guarantee they'll be able to get as many productive and prime years out of them as the Cubs will likely get from Castro. As has been said in this thread already, he is only 22 and is already producing as one of the best shortstops in the game.

[CUBZ99]

If trading Castro brought 2-3 top prospects I would do it. I love Castro, but if someone was willing to overpay for him you would definitely have to listen.

[SouthSideRyan]

All I really want for Castro is something like a guy who put up a 1.000 OPS at AA at the age of 20 while playing SS. That's really the type of player we need to build our team around going forward.

[Old Style]

Can we trade him to the Cardinals for Ernie Broglio III?

[BeerHere]

Motion that no poster is ever allowed to post anything Buster Olney writes again?

 

Absolutely not.

 

I'm against this entire board if it collectively thinks that Castro -- OR ANYONE -- is untouchable given our situation.

 

Anyone and everyone is on the table, period end of story. Just depends on what we might get in return.

Basically my opinion as well. So many holes, ok but not great farm system. One you and very good player isn't enough. If the team has the opportunity to turn that into two very good and you players you have to do it. I love the kid, but like someone said above, if the Orioles came to Hoyer offering Machado and Bundy I would do it.

[SouthSideRyan]

You people don't deserve Starlin Castro

 

Woe are we the self-hating Cubs fans, we haven't developed a position player since Mark Grace(God I love him, never wore batting gloves, slumpbuster lol, we should give him a shot as manager instead of bunt-loving Sveum!)

 

Hey!! We've developed a position player since Mark Grace! Now imagine if we had 2 of them...what if...we trade the one, and then we'll have 2!!

Edited May 23, 2012 by SouthSideRyan

[davell]

Castro is definitely the guy that we're building around. It'd take a massive overpay for Theo to deal him. Where Olney misses the boat though is the fact that Garza would bring back two high end prospects himself. Dempster would bring in a nice haul and if this is just a mini slump for Lahair, so would he. But, other than Dempster, these guys can all be a part of a future that's soon for us. If you sell off everything, you're Tampa, Miami, KC, Pitt, or some other struggling team financially, that has no other way to do things. If we're 15-45 or some [expletive], fine, lets consider going through a 5 year, sim league type rebuild. But, until then, let's ride things out, see how many pieces we have that fit for a close future and move forward.

[Prizefight]

Castro is Castro, but the prospect could turn out to be anything. It could even become Starlin Castro!!

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3ZaAsLnK0Mg/TgIHwrCLjKI/AAAAAAAABtE/5YfE_IE3h0s/family_guy_mystery_box.png

 

 

 

No one should be untouchable. Echoing what many have said though that the offer would have to be so good that it's extraordinarily unlikely for any team to actually do it.

[bukie]

I harken back to all those other times in MLB history 21 year old all stars were traded to improve their teams...

 

 

...nope, not once.

[Soul]

Castro is definitely the guy that we're building around. It'd take a massive overpay for Theo to deal him.

 

So, maybe someone would do that. Like I said, it just depends what the return would be.

[CubColtPacer]

I harken back to all those other times in MLB history 21 year old all stars were traded to improve their teams...

 

 

...nope, not once.

 

To be fair, Castro is 22, and Miguel Cabrera got traded before his 25th birthday after making 4 All-Star games.

 

I don't see what the state of the team has to do with trading Castro though. Either the risk/reward of multiple prospects are more valuable than Castro or they aren't. The fact that the team has a lot of holes to fill shouldn't have anything to do with it. Either way, the players who are here will be here at least 4 years (Castro) and probably 10+ years so the Cubs will have plenty of time to build around them in other ways.

 

And I don't see much that should make the Cubs want to trade Castro right now. 2 elite prospects probably wouldn't be worth it IMO.

[scarey]

Felix Hernandez and Taijuan Walker. That's the type of return I would expect. If that's too unreasonable than I guess I want something unreasonable in return for the 22 year old all star short stop.

[Have a seat, Neifi]

All I really want for Castro is something like a guy who put up a 1.000 OPS at AA at the age of 20 while playing SS. That's really the type of player we need to build our team around going forward.

I see what you did there.

[SouthSideRyan]

Felix Hernandez and Taijuan Walker. That's the type of return I would expect. If that's too unreasonable than I guess I want something unreasonable in return for the 22 year old all star short stop.

 

Walker has 39 innings above A ball and Hernandez is signed through 2014 at an average of 19.75M/year.

[BeerHere]

I harken back to all those other times in MLB history 21 year old all stars were traded to improve their teams...

 

 

...nope, not once.

Castro is 22. The Marlins traded Josh Beckett when he was 25 and a bonafide ace to the Red Sox. They received two excellent prospects back in Hanley Ramirez and Anibel Sanchez (though there were other players involved as well). The age difference is significant but a team trading a good young player for prospects is not unprecedented.

[dew1679666265]

Castro is 22. The Marlins traded Josh Beckett when he was 25 and a bonafide ace to the Red Sox. They received two excellent prospects back in Hanley Ramirez and Anibel Sanchez (though there were other players involved as well). The age difference is significant but a team trading a good young player for prospects is not unprecedented.

 

There's a really, really big difference between a 25 year old pitcher about to become really expensive and a 22 year old SS who's a long way from becoming really expensive. There's also a huge difference between the Marlins' payroll and the Cubs'. They couldn't afford to keep Beckett, we can afford to keep Starlin.

[SouthSideRyan]

Beckett also had 2 full years of team control left, was injury prone and if he was on the Cubs people on here would say he was more of a #2-3.

[BeerHere]

I don't see what the state of the team has to do with trading Castro though. Either the risk/reward of multiple prospects are more valuable than Castro or they aren't. The fact that the team has a lot of holes to fill shouldn't have anything to do with it.

 

And I don't see much that should make the Cubs want to trade Castro right now. 2 elite prospects probably wouldn't be worth it IMO.

 

I do see your point but the point I was trying to make is that the Cubs need better players all over the diamond. The farm system isn't in a position to fill the talent gap between the Cubs and the rest of the league. I want the Cubs to build a competitive team for the long-term. I love Castro but he, LaHair and Rizzo doesn't bring a championship. Like people have said in this thread, it would take a lot to trade Castro but I pray that the front office wouldn't pass on two+ top prospects for Castro IF those players have the long-term potential to surpass Castro alone. It all depends on the deal and the players involved but like the article had suggested, you have to at least listen. That's all I'm really saying. I'm not saying that Castro should be traded for seven scrubs - if the right deal blows me away, I'd do the trade and I hope the front office would as well. It isn't about the fact that "he's the best position prospect since Grace and we need to keep those guys". For me, it's about building sustained success and championships. Any steps needed to take the team in that direction should be taken.

 

And for the record, I do think that Dempster will be traded at the deadline, but he isn't going to bring back anything significant. He is overvalued by this board.

[sneakypower]

Beckett also had 2 full years of team control left, was injury prone and if he was on the Cubs people on here would say he was more of a #2-3.

Good starters will give you average starts half of the time, and then be really good 25 percent of the time and bad the other 25 percent.

[jersey cubs fan]

Beckett also had 2 full years of team control left, was injury prone and if he was on the Cubs people on here would say he was more of a #2-3.

Good starters will give you average starts half of the time, and then be really good 25 percent of the time and bad the other 25 percent.

 

that's true

[dew1679666265]

I do see your point but the point I was trying to make is that the Cubs need better players all over the diamond. The farm system isn't in a position to fill the talent gap between the Cubs and the rest of the league. I want the Cubs to build a competitive team for the long-term. I love Castro but he, LaHair and Rizzo doesn't bring a championship. Like people have said in this thread, it would take a lot to trade Castro but I pray that the front office wouldn't pass on two+ top prospects for Castro IF those players have the long-term potential to surpass Castro alone. It all depends on the deal and the players involved but like the article had suggested, you have to at least listen. That's all I'm really saying. I'm not saying that Castro should be traded for seven scrubs - if the right deal blows me away, I'd do the trade and I hope the front office would as well. It isn't about the fact that "he's the best position prospect since Grace and we need to keep those guys". For me, it's about building sustained success and championships. Any steps needed to take the team in that direction should be taken.

 

And for the record, I do think that Dempster will be traded at the deadline, but he isn't going to bring back anything significant. He is overvalued by this board.

 

Starlin alone won't make us a contender, you're right, but it's not like he's a year or two away from becoming really expensive. We've got something like 4-6 years before he becomes a free agent, that's 4-6 years to build a team around him. During that time frame, we have the certainty of knowing we have one of the best young players in the game at an extremely difficult position to fill.

 

We trade Starlin now we get further away from possible contention and we give up the certainty that we have a great, young player. Sure, the prospects could become great, but they could also flame out at some point and never make the majors. And the latter is more likely than the former, no matter the prospects.

[jersey cubs fan]

I harken back to all those other times in MLB history 21 year old all stars were traded to improve their teams...

 

 

...nope, not once.

 

To be fair, Castro is 22, and Miguel Cabrera got traded before his 25th birthday after making 4 All-Star games.

 

 

Because the garbage organization that had him didn't deserve him.

[jersey cubs fan]

Basically my opinion as well. So many holes, ok but not great farm system. One you and very good player isn't enough. If the team has the opportunity to turn that into two very good and you players you have to do it. I love the kid, but like someone said above, if the Orioles came to Hoyer offering Machado and Bundy I would do it.

 

What the F is a you player?