BigbadB

What was Marquis in St. Louis? The #5 starter? So, he throws up a 6.02 and gets a guaranteed contract for more than double what he's made for his entire career AND he moves up 2 spots in the rotation. Okay, I'm not going to overreact. Breathe deep. Exhale. Breathe deep. Exhale.

Lou is starting off way better than Dusty already.

I'm guessing Pagan still makes the team. Hill will probably get cut. There are already too many options at 2b and 3b in AAA with Patterson, Fontenot, McGehee, Moore and Craig. I suppose Hill could replace Fontenot as the utility back up at Iowa, but not sure how that will sit with him. I'd like the 25th spot for McGehee, but it's probably not very likely.

Keepers won't come into play until the end of the season.

Oh, okay. Tampa and KC are teams that I could see skimming past the top picks to get the top high school players. It's not necessarily signability issues by the player demands per se, but also the fact those smaller market teams may not want to fork out the huge signing bonuses. Tampa did shed some contract this past season, but they have some guys who will start earning the big dollars soon enough. KC spent a huge wad this offseason. When the Cubs got Prior, Minnesota went with Joe Mauer instead. Local high school kid they knew they could sign, and for much cheaper that the Cubs paid for Prior. San Diego did the same thing with Matt Bush a year or two later. If Tampa or KC takes Price, they are going to have to pay a premium for Price. They know that up front. Price still has to agree to a deal, but I don't see any of this as a negative on Price.

But, what is this in reference to? You are referencing something in your response, but I have no idea what it is. You didn't quote whoever you are responding to. David Price is too humble and nice to do what? In what way would he be too nice and humble to screw over teams?

There was a lot of addition by subtraction in the walk department this year. If each starter could average 50 walks, the team would have 400, which is more than they drew last year, and that doesn't include the 5 bench players. And, this was a team that preached aggressiveness and scowled at the thought of drawing a base on balls under Dusty. So far, I've heard that Lou likes drawing walks and Perry might be a perfect fit to help change the dynamics that have been preached too much over the last several years. It honestly does not take a rocket scientist to figure out baserunners are a good thing. Especially in this day and age of the long ball. The Cubs have the power to easily lead the league in HR's this coming season. It makes sense to find ways to get hitters on base to add emphasis to those HR's. Most teams are all pretty close across the board in AVG. AVG. does not make up the huge discrepancy in runs scored between teams like Philadelphia and the Cubs. OBP does. I'll get really excited in this coming season if I hear more emphasis on getting on base via the walk. The difference of a .319 OBP and 716 runs in 2006 to something in the neighborhood of .335 and the 831 runs they scored in 1998 can make a huge impact on the standings. Couple that in with good pitching, and there really is no telling how good this team could be. Zambrano being his normal self, a healthy Prior, second half of 2006 Hill and anything respectable in the back half of the rotation and you have the makings of a dominant team. I'm actually excited about the prospects of this team, but I do still have my guard up. Guarded optimism. Lou, please don't shatter my guarded optimism with something silly like batting Izturis 2nd in the order.

Daryle Ward has played twice as much 1b as Cliff Floyd. Ward is actually pretty decent defensively at 1b. If or when Lee gets a day off, that would be the ideal time to let Ward get a little PT.

I think the bullpen will be a huge strength for the Indians this year. That just who they added. They still have Rafael Betancourt, Jason Davis, Fausto Carmona, Fernando Cabrera, Edward Mujica and Juan Lara.

Getting back to Theriot, he makes for a perfect poor man's Ryan Freel if he can play some outfield as well as the infield. I really like this kid, although he really isn't all that young.

What is this in reference to?

He probably said the same thing about Drew when the Dodgers signed him to that big contract.

Even more frustrating is that there doesn't appear to be any Brandon Wood type shortstops in the June amateur draft.

Yeah, I'm not counting on that.

To answer the question, the Cubs do not have any SS prospects that Cedeno would be blocking. Technically, you could put him in A, A+, AA and AAA and he wouldn't be blocking anyone. Now you know why Brandon Wood was one of the names I'd want in return if the Cubs were to trade Zambrano.

He doesn't project to anything more than a utility player. He's also 24 working on 25. There is a logjam at 3b in AAA with Moore, McGehee and Matt Craig.

Another thing I neglected to mention was Cedeno needs more defensive reps in AAA. His defense was not exactly stellar last year. I think more than anything, Cedeno needs a confidence boost, which is can probably achieve much easier in AAA than as bench fodder at the major league level.

I think Cedeno missed some valuable development time. You know Dusty was telling him to be aggressive at the plate. He needs more time with Joshua working on plate discipline. He can probably hit better than Izturis right now, a little more work wouldn't hurt him. He also isn't a very good PH option. I'd much rather see Moore or McGehee, who can handle some 3b getting the last roster spot if Pagan isn't needed in CF.

I was thinking the Cubs should make Soriano play SS. He seemed to excel last year when he was mad.

Cedeno needs to be playing AAA everyday. The Cubs WILL need him at some point this season. Either because Izturis is injured again, or because Izturis isn't hitting higher than his weight.

I still think Jones is probably the better CFer of the two, though we really have no idea what kind of CFer Soriano will be. Jones can cover some ground and has logged a lot of games in CF. The arm is an issue, but nothing like Pierre. The problem with Jones playing CF, is that he wouldn't have a platoon partner. He may not have one in RF either, but there is a higher likelihood of one in RF than there would be in CF. Against LHP, I'd like to see Murton and Floyd in the corners, and I'm even more clueless which of those two would be a better choice for RF. In a perfect world, DeRosa and Murton would be in the corners against LHP, but will Lou like throwing off Izturis defensively with a different 2b partner frequently? This team has a lot of guys without a true position. Realistically, the Cubs have 7 LFers and no one to play CF or RF. Floyd, Murton, Soriano, Jones, Pagan, Ward and DeRosa are all LFers moreso than any other outfield position. Yikes.

Okay, but how much does an extremely light hitting SS drag on a good hitting pitcher's run support? :D

Overpaying for good players is not nearly as harmful as overpaying for bad players.

Even though there still aren't many photos from Spring Training, this thread has been quite entertaining.

If it's any consolation, I think Marquis can hit better than Izturis. :D 16.5m better? Not really.