Rob

If Castro wasn't on the 40 man roster, couldn't he been picked in the Rule 5 draft? Just curious because I thought you had to be off the 40 man roster in order to drafted in Rule 5. I don't know all the rules in Rule 5 so maybe someone can help me out here? Yeah I don't think he'll be called up till Sept. as well, but I can see if Blanco really struggles... Castro could be called up to be on the bench and slowly ease into the SS starting spot. Also wait to call him so we can have another year for arb. instead of him being a super-2. I think he will start in AA as well. Cubs AA team will be something to watch this year. I'm hoping to see at least 1 game this year early. Players are eligible for the Rule 5 if they're not on the 40 man and have been in the organization for more than a certain number of years. I believe it's 5 years for guys who signed at age 18 or under, 4 years for older guys.

Something tells me this is gonna be like when Joe Morgan ripped on Billy Beane for writing Moneyball about himself and all the made-up theories he had about what were in the book.

Each team has 162 games, so by definition you're going to have a last PA 162 times. 9 spots in the lineup. Average of 18 PA. Obviously, some spots (those with crappier players in them) are a bit more likely to be the last one in a game, but I still don't see much of an issue with rounding up 2 PA.

If memory serves, anything over $1 mil needs to go to MLB for approval. But they basically just rubber stamp everything that comes through.

He hasn't logged much time in the OF the last couple years, but what information we do have suggests he would be far better defensively out there than Dye or Gomes.

Generally speaking, each spot in the batting order comes up about 20 more times per season than the one behind it. Therefore, moving a guy who isn't one of your better hitters up in the order costs each person he leapfrogs about 20 PA. Do you really think micromanaging a few hit and runs and sac bunts with Theriot in the 2 spot is worth costing DLee, Aramis, Byrd, Soriano, and Soto about 20 PA each? I'll grant it's a little more complicated than that, obviously. There are real benefits to splitting up lefties who struggle against same side pitching. OBP should be valued a bit higher in a few spots, SLUG in others. And of course, speed does play a role in things (though ironically, it's more suited towards the bottom of your lineup where you're less likely to have guys able to slug you in from first base). But the general principle remains the same... if you want your lineup to do the most damage possible, you need to have the guys who do most of that damage coming to the plate as often as possible.

It's abysmal. Were he allowed in the field more often, you'd see him popping up on those "worst defenders" lists with Dunn, Hawpe, and Dye.

Baldelli also still has some upside that the others quite frankly don't. A good deal of his decline was related to that strange mitochondrial disorder... a problem that's more likely to be resolved than a complete lack of defensive ability. That's not to say he's a good bet to return to form, but his ceiling still remains.

Get out of my brain.

It's not about greed, it's just the way the system works. Players have absolutely no leverage whatsoever on their contracts for the first three years of major league service time and so are vastly underpaid compared to their market value. Hell, he's still being vastly underpaid compared to his market value. I agree he's WORTH the money he's asking for, based on production. But, if Theriot was an actual free agent this offseason, you think he would have commanded MUCH MORE than the 3.4 he's asking for? I'll give you the fact that at his age, he'd get a multi-year deal. Probably 3-4 years actually. But, with the market turn we've seen over the last couple of years, I doubt we'd see a team give him more than 3-4 mill per year honestly. That's hard to say. Pretty much everybody was signed before the downturn in contracts, signed a team-friendly long term contract to get some financial security, or is still under team control. The only FA SS who have signed recently have been Marco Scutaro (2 years/12.5 mil, 7.5 WAR over the last 3 years), Cristian Guzman (2 years/16 mil, 5.2 WAR), Edgar Renteria (2 years/18.5 mil, 6.1 WAR), and Rafael Furcal (3 years/30 mil, 6.6 WAR). Theriot has been worth 7.5 WAR in the last 3 years. That's not to say Theriot would get the same contract. It's worth noting that Coletti, Sabean, and Bowden are/were 3 of the dumbest GMs in the game. Then again, Theriot wouldn't have the same warts that all those guys have either...

It's not about greed, it's just the way the system works. Players have absolutely no leverage whatsoever on their contracts for the first three years of major league service time and so are vastly underpaid compared to their market value. Hell, he's still being vastly underpaid compared to his market value.

The mods should really step in. The mods here are a joke.

Well that's a completely different argument than what I said, but I'm not going to disagree with you.

Castro gets to dictate when he comes up. I keep trying to temper my expectations for him, but I'd say that as long as he has a pretty good season, he'll probably at least get a cup of coffee. If our middle infield gets banged up or he has another season like last one, he could be our starter by the deadline. Cashner is a maybe. I'd like to see him get some more work in the minors as a starter to see if he doesn't have a long term future there, and there's certainly no lack of middle relief arms in the system that could do just fine if we need them. But this is the Cubs, and I'm sure Lou will be screaming for bullpen help every single day from now until the end of the season. Whether Hendry can hold out is anybody's guess. The only other one of our top prospects that could force his way up is Jay Jackson, but I'd put the odds of that pretty low. Aside from them, you've got the usual suspects like Gaub, Russell, Atkins, etc... for the pen or a spot start. And guys like Snyder for the bench.

To be fair to Hendry, I'm sure he thought it was going to cost him money to move Bradley even if he ate an unfavorable contract. Nobody expected him to get money back in the deal.

What hat is he wearing? And did he get the same skin treatment that Sammy Sosa did on his right arm? That's a sleeve. No, it is a hat. Oh... I was WAY off.

What hat is he wearing? And did he get the same skin treatment that Sammy Sosa did on his right arm? That's a sleeve.

I don't like that his pay will be starting out this high in his first year of arbitration, but let's not fool ourselves... he's certainly worth this much.

I've never been one to shy away from handing out minor league deals, but in this particular case, I'd have to insist that he not start off in major league spring training. I'd hate to see his rehab taking away even ST innings from guys who could really use them.

When he's healthy, he generally works 93-94. But I imagine the odds that we see that guy again are low. How reliant was he on being able to hit those speeds when he was able to do so? Generally he throws about 2/3 fastballs and 1/3 curveballs, with a rare changeup tossed in here and there. But it appears the fastball has been his out pitch more than the curveball.

When he's healthy, he generally works 93-94. But I imagine the odds that we see that guy again are low.

Hoff is a perfectly adequate fill-in for Lee, and Fuld is actually better than Dye as a backup at any of the OF positions, especially when facing a righty.

what makes it unreliable? http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/how-reliable-is-uzr/ There's a quick little blurb about the reliability, or lack there of, of UZR. That's not a bad explanation, but again, reliability problems are not solved by more observations (samples taken), they are solved by re-calibrating the measurement system. It's like stepping on a scale and having the scale weigh you differently each time. Sometimes the weight will be correct, but simply averaging all the times it is incorrect and correct doesn't give you your correct weight. The only way to do that will be to fix the scale. IMO, there's no real way to calibrate UZR. At best it might be a rough measure of something, but just watching and using good judgment is probably much better. Those correlation coefficients are terrible. Anything below a .3 means nothing. So you don't believe in offensive stats either?

Ha! My friends and I were standing right behind you during the Meet the Ricketts portion, Tim. Maybe you should consider posting pictures of yourself from behind so this sort of situation doesn't happen again.

I agree as it pertains to the posters here. I disagree as it pertains to the players and team officials that see and live the situation daily, although I'd readily admit that the relationship between clubhouse atmosphere and wins and losses is nebulous at best. Put yourself in Theriot's shoes. Let's pretend that while you're in the clubhouse eating a light breakfast, Milton Bradley walks up, unzips, and pisses in your cheerios. You are not happy. In the next week you got 7 for 24 with 3 walks, a handful of strikeouts, and a couple doubles. Are you going to think Milton helped you bat .292 by making you more focused and aggressive? Or are you going to think he kept you from batting .300?