Tedward

Pitching is too deep to even consider it. There are 7 or 8 other pitchers out there that you could convince me are on par with Aiken before his injury. Before the injury? In this draft? Nah, don't think so.

@Joelsherman1: #diamondbacks sent Pete O'Brien to minors. Was traded from #Yankees for Prado. Still big questions if can stick at C lots of throwing issues Find it hard to believe D,backs don't have interest in trading for Castillo.

KLaw just saw Kyle Funkhouser, said he's got a shot at being a top 10 pick. He was 90-94 Friday against Alabama st with his FB through 7. Control good, command below average. Also showed 3 separate off speed pitches but didn't throw them as much since FB was working well. Said his delivery is crude, but is optimistic it could be tweaked with pro instruction. 6'3" 225. Klaw thinks he's a slam dunk to go top 20 if he continues to progress

http://i.imgur.com/kjccmwH.gif So if the Cubs aren't shopping Welly, where exactly does Ross fit? Do you burn a roster spot on a third catcher just to appease Lester? And Ross isn't signing for the minimum, either. Likely? They're only shopping him if they get Lester. So they can't really say it yet. I bet they are. @M_Montemurro: The #Phillies are looking for catching help. Other than Ruiz their catching situation is not etched in stone, Amaro said. Perhaps Welly is one of a few pieces going to PHL for Hamels.....

There's like 0 news in this article. Yep, classic Heyman quote....

@Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: #SFGiants turning aggressive on Headley. Unclear how this relates to pursuit of Lester, if at all. Solid interest in Headley.

Who the [expletive] is Matt Abbatacola? Shouldnt Joel Sherman or one of the other NY guys be all over this? Matt Abbatacola has been the Executive Producer of “The Boers and Bernstein Show” since 2003. He joined the station as a production intern in 2001. Prior to joining “Boers and Bernstein,” Abbatacola served as the Associate Producer and board operator of 670 The Score’s morning show.

Gammo on CBS radio just now: Lester likely will sign by Monday or Tuesday, if not this weekend Giants unlikely to be players -- they would've flown him to SF if they thought they could get him There is a "mystery team" -- Mariners, MFY, or someone else -- hovering around the negotiations slowing things down

That's some major Heyman style nothing right there. He did the same thing on Russell Martin & had us 1st there too. :roll:

Yes, please. Maybe Valbuena and a B prospect gets it done. I'd prefer holding off on trading Valbuena until we know whether Bryant can actually play third base. Between Baez, Bryant, Russell, and even LaStella, I think we can be reasonably comfortable in the ability to fill in 2B and 3B. Alcantara is still around too. If there needs to be another IF added, you can always use Castillo to help get it too, although that's a more natural fit for trading Wood. Yep, plus, might be a nice time to sell high on Valbuena. I'm not thrilled moving a guy with a decent OBP since we're lacking in that area, but his 2014 slash line compared to Panda's and I believe is even better than Headley's. I'm wondering if he may have more value than we might think....

Here's to hoping we are one of the teams in on him.

Gregory (Portland, Ore.) Does your hot sauce preference lean more Tabasco or Cholula? Klaw (3:09 PM) Sriracha destroys them both like Jorge Soler murders baseballs.

Appears that Ruggiano might go on DL

Seriously, we got a 2nd very, very good prospect in that deal. I'm a little surprised he didn't make MLB's top 100 mid season list last night. Then again, we're so stacked, he probably fell thru the cracks. Great plate discipline for a 19 year old at High A

You're kidding, right? RIGHT? I just refuse to believe that tanking is in the top 5 things they consider with roster moves. Just another consideration in addition to all what had been previously mentioned in terms of service time, and blowing the extra year of control. If I get the #1 pick in next years draft as a result of keeping Javy down until next May then great. I'll take that too.

Maybe. But 1) Javy's got almost 400 AAA PAs 2) If they call him up soon, you are getting most of the "free" year still 3) The scouting reports have been pretty good on him lately 4) They sure do seem to be shoving Alcantara to CF pretty hard 5) Javy's changed positions, which is something you don't really need to do if promotion is still 9.5 months away 6) They just DFA'd the ostensible "starting" 2b and opened up a 40-man spot Maybe they want to get the "adjustment" period underway to help our chances in 2015. 1/3) Absolutely, Javy is getting very close to being ready 2) Unless you keep him down until June next year(defeating the whole purpose), you're losing a year of team control. 4) With Bonifacio on the roster that doesn't necessarily mean there's an opening at 2B. Also, Alcantara has 2 MLB games and 11 MiLB games in the outfield. 5) It's something you want to do to get a guy familiar with his future home if he's ~50 games and a ST away from being the MLB 2B too 6) The roster spot is for Bonifacio(or Alcantara depending on your perspective), they still need to send someone down tomorrow just so there's a 5th starter. Maybe they bring up Baez, but to me the service time reason overshadows all the others. There's no benefit to forfeiting an entire year of service time at this point, he hasn't so thoroughly mastered AAA to think it's at all needed to bring him up to advance his development. +1 I can possibly see a call-up in September but Baez coming up may win a couple of games with his bat. IMO this front office wants one more top five draft choice. Baez's bat could wreck that plan.....

They lost more than just trading Aiken for the #2 pick here, this cost them two other pretty big talents. They decided their convictions over 2-3 million weren't worth draft picks(not Aiken) that would very likely exceed that in value. Not only this, but ..... If I'm agent & my player is selected by Astros next year, I demand full slot, no under slot deal. Astros may need to go full slot on both picks next year. Can't afford not to with backlash from this disaster

JJ Cooper of BA tweeted last night through his conversation with a Scout yesterday that Cubs need to continue to be patient with him. He's still learning / working on his approach at the plate. I trust our FO will be cautious and bring him up when he's ready.

BK (Mpls) Can Addison Russell stick at short? I've seen multiple conflicting reports. Klaw (4:30 PM) Yes. I have no doubt.

A Mendy solo shot to finish off the cycle would work for me.

We're really not sending Mendy down after today, it's a joke, right?

2015 # 1 pick looking more & more promising by the day.

Russell for Niese? Seriously? Unless Harvey is involved, no interest, and they are getting nowhere near Russell either.

@CarrieMuskat: #Cubs will receive SS Russell, RHP Straily, OF Billy McKinney, and A's first-round pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft Huh?

mckinney has walked a lot this year and has 10 home runs. And he's 19 playing in High A