JeffH

He could be another guy they may want to start taking some grounders at 1st. hes 24 or 25, so a bit on the old side for a prospect, but not in Hoffpauir/LaHair/Snyder territory yet. Well, he's listed as 5'10", so he may not be the best choice for a first baseman.

RHP Robinson Lopez, RHP Tyrelle Harris & LHP Jeffrey Lorick

This is as of yet unconfirmed, but sources say the three pitchers to be received from the Braves are Micah Bowie, Ruben Quevedo, and Joey Nation.

He can play center in a pinch but he's really a corner outfielder. If your corner outfielders were Tyler Colvin and Brandon Guyer, which one would you play in RF?

Jeurys Familia throws very hard and is rather raw. He's an intriguing arm to get but not the guy I'd want to build a Lilly trade around. Those guys are all pretty young for the level at which they are playing. Also, FWIW, John Sickels ranked the two RHP fairly high before this season. Having said that, I've never seen any of them play and I'm not necessarily advocating in favor of them.

The worst organization in professional sports. Any and all doubt should now be erased.

Hendry probably cooked this up as a way to piss Zambrano off and get him to waive his no-trade clause. It may very well work. Of course, no one will want to trade for an $18 million setup man, so Hendry will wind up paying 80% of his salary to get some other team to take him. Then the other team will return him to the rotation and we'll spend the next 10 years routinely getting dominated by Big Z.

Is Jeff Samardzija the worst pitcher in Chicago Cubs history? Discuss.

Baker and Nady sure, but Hill is horrible, Colvin has been a pretty bad professional and Tracy has trended considerably lower the past two years. Sadly, none of what you said in any way refutes my assertion!

On paper, one of the best hitting benches on a Cubs team in a long time.

That's Jay at #49, not Brett, by the way.

Are you sure that's good news?

"Lem" would have been the appropriate incorrect first name to assign to Barney.

Not really, maybe higher than expected, but KG loves tools. In the chat he is doing right now, he just said he thinks Castro is more polished, but that he thinks Lee has better tools. from what i've read about each guy from BA and a few other sources, this is a very defensible position. lee is unquestionably faster and has a higher ceiling as a fielder because he has a better arm and more range (but he makes a lot of errors). the only area that castro would seem to have the edge as far as tools is in his potential to develop power. Castro makes a lot more contact, also.

President David Palmer!

They've all hit a ball during batting practice that reached some far-away street or building at Fitch?

Somebody in this organization? Now you're just being ridiculous.

Robert Whitenack.

Hall of Famer.

Yeah he does have the highest upside out of all of those guys mentioned for 4th OF. Just so everyone knows.... he doesn't have mitochondrial disorder, they found out this past offseason ('08 offseason) that he has a form of channelopathy, which is less serious and more treatable. Channelopathy is basically a protein irregularity. I don't know if he can still play back to back games yet so if Cubs got him, it means Fuld would get some starts as well if Soriano/Byrd/Fukudome were hurt for a period of time for Rocco can get some rest. I checked his game logs and it looks like he didn't start games 2 days in a row (started 34 games total last year), but he would start 1 game then the next day he could come in to pinch hit, pinch hit then finish the game, or be a def sub towards the end. I like Baldelli, but I'm sure he'll have to play more than 41 games last year (not counting his DH games and pinch hit but actually played on the field) and I'm not sure if he can handle unless his treatment is working out quite well nowadays that he can play back to back games without problems... If he can do that, then I'm all for Baldelli. Also... I'm wondering what type of money all of these guys are asking for as well. That could easily help out on who to choose for the 4th OF. I would like to see the 4th OF as someone who can at least play some form of defense out there cuz if Fukudome is on the bench for a LHP... you're looking at an OF of Soriano/Byrd/4th OF... If it's Gomes/Dye, it'll be very ugly out there... I can't imagine how awful Gomes/Dye would be out there in RF for the Cubs... At least Nady/Baldelli can somewhat hold their own... well Baldelli can and Nady is just a touch better than Gomes/Dye... Gomes/Dye is good for their power which Cubs haven't had that on the bench since Ward '07 or HR power like Glenallen Hill back in the late 90s... If it was up to me, I sign Russell Branyan since he can sub at 1B/3B/LF/RF (he only made 1.4 mil last year so he can be had for cheap), release Hoff, and get a cheap RH power bat like Gomes (or anyone really) where you wouldn't have to worry about him playing defense much. Then the bench would be Branyan/Fontenot/Hill/Fuld/RH power bat... then again... it's IMO and wishful thinking. Mike Fontenot as the only viable backup shortstop?

Just give the rotation spots to Gorzelanny and Samardzija. Marshall is a valuable and important member of the bullpen. Silva offers no realistic upside.

A Cubs HOF has been specified by TPTB since the first mentions of a "triangle building" back in 2001. They can't need more than 10' x 10' room to house a Cubs HOF. Are you taking into account the Dave Rosello Wing?

Assuming we sign Calero, how long until Lou realizes that he's pretty much a Michael-Wuertz-style non-strike-throwing nibbler who walks a lot of guys and loses confidence in him?

If Hendry trades Colvin and a kid reliever for a completely replaceable guy like Spilborghs (and his new two-year contract!) when Baldelli, Nady, and Dye are available for one-year commitments, I may finally snap and kill him.

Five open roster spots, actually, since Lilly will be unavailable to start the season. Add one extra pitcher to your calculation, probably one from our stable of kid arms.