rawaction

I could see the Cubs getting a borderline top 30 prospect or even 2 for Soriano and 10% of his salary. No matter how you slice it, that's a steal. Soriano's legs are shot, but he can still hit and even shown he can play the field if a team so chooses. Tampa is only getting a .650 OPS from their DH position. Detroit's DH position has been a disaster with a .604 OPS. The following contenders are also getting OPS's under .700 from their LF position: Washington, Cleveland, Pittsburgh (yeah all these teams are all actually either in 1st or within a game of it), Yankees, Toronto, Cincinnati, Baltimore. The Mets, Marlins, and both LA teams are barely over .700. If the available bats are as bad as they look to be, I don't see why the Cubs couldn't get an arm who was at one point highly thought of who hasn't been able to put it together and is running out of time til he becomes a minor league FA (maybe like a Brett Wallach type from the Lilly/Theriot trade) along with a random middle IF or relief prospect, as another warm body in the upper minors. As an aside, if the Cubs can't find a taker for Soriano, and it's pretty clear that if he's on the Cubs, he should be in the lineup......then why not move DeJesus to CF (where offense has been crap at the position), put LaHair in RF and bring Rizzo up for 1B. Defense be damned at this point.

I feel bad for DWade. Every time he misses a shot he's fouled. Poor guy.

Are we talking about not noticing something or are we talking about "having time to figure things out"? Because the original statement was "taking a couple of days to re-work your roster with a guy coming off the DL was ok". I guess I don't understand the disconnect from our rosters. A SP comes back, you cut a pitcher or a hitter that's on your bench. An OF comes back, you cut an OF or U player. A 2B comes back, you cut a 2B or U player. That doesn't take a couple days to figure out. And CBS is very good at telling us when a player is on a rehab assignment and when they are projected to be activated. Granted the Britton situation was a little weird (activated and sent to AAA), but I think 90% of the time it's not too hard to figure this stuff out.

But you could always make mid-week changes if it involved injury or trade. We make mid-week changes when someone goes ON the DL. Why not when someone comes off? i dunno...i've always operated under the assumption that if a guy comes off the DL mid-week you have until the next week to do something about it. you might need to completely overhaul your roster when you bring a guy off the DL, and that could involve dropping/adding/making lineup subs that aren't directly related to the injured guy. i don't think you should be able to use a guy coming off the DL as a reason to completely revamp your lineup mid-week. you could really use that to add at-bats/games or get rid of a guy who is sucking/not playing much. i don't think there's anything wrong with waiting until monday to take a guy off the DL. i benched freeman yesterday because of some finger injury. he's back in the lineup today...am i in trouble for failing to get him back in there right away? i don't think we've ever played that way. Freeman wasn't on the DL though. Completely different story. Plus, I don't think lineup changes are a big deal. IF someone comes off the DL mid-week, announce your changes. Getting a regular back SHOULD be a reason to bench someone who is sucking or not playing much. Again, I don't think this is an issue if the player is really good. Like I said, I'm going to cut Theriot and put Tulo back in my lineup the moment he comes off the DL. But let's say I have Edwin Jackson on the DL and I picked up Travis Wood in his place. Jackson has a game in Atlanta and may possibly be on a pitch count his first time out. So, I ride out that rusty start for a week while Travis Wood faces the Pirates, coming off a 3-hit shutout in his previous game. Granted that's a far fetched story, but I don't see why a person needs until a new week or even 1-2 days to figure out what to do with their roster. The information is there. We know when guys are coming off the DL. We can look up when a guy gets to 200 plate appearances. This is what you argued all off-season. Either it's a rule, or it's not. This is kind of a rule. Don't have illegal rosters......unless you need time to think about what move to make.

But you could always make mid-week changes if it involved injury or trade. We make mid-week changes when someone goes ON the DL. Why not when someone comes off?

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/13068220-419/ian-stewart-dropped-to-9th-in-cubs-order.html Well, that's probably not going to happen at this point. Kinda is what he is defensively. Time to get him some more reps in LF, if the Cubs don't think he can handle 3B in the majors. Yeah, that's a shame. Probably impossible for Castro to ever get better at SS, too, since they're around the same age. Oh, wait. That happened. Yes, because SS and 3B are the exact same position. And because Vitters is the same caliber athlete as Castro. And because 6 years in the minor with no defensive improvement is the same as the 4 years in the minors, 3 in the majors with constant improvement. Castro was a 17-year old off a small island in the Carribbean. Vitters was a 17-year old with US highschool instruction. Castro has consistently shown the range, arm, hands, and ability to be a good defensive SS. Vitters has consistently shown that he doesn't have the range, hands or ability to ever be more than an average defensive 3B. I know you like Vitters (I do too actually), but if the team isn't comfortable with the thought of him at 3B now, they aren't going to be happy with him there with a couple more years of seasoning in the minors.

That's my bad then, I thought Ogando had been in the rotation for a few weeks.

Not really concerned about why or how it happened, but it has happened to at least 7 and possibly 9 of the teams in the league. I understand the point of the couple days thing to figure out your roster after a trade, DL coming or going, but as it happens in this league those couple days usually turn into longer. If someone comes off the DL on Tuesday, you take a couple days to "figure things out", and you have a busy weekend and can't look at your team....now you're into nearly a week with an illegal roster. Where's the cutoff? The rule can't be, "well you can be illegal sometimes". It's not like players make a surprise trip to the majors from the DL. The league updates players. Players go on rehab assignments, that's plenty of time to think about what you do with your roster when that player comes back (your situation was a little different with the Britton 60-day thing, though the fact that he was on rehab was pretty clear with the updates). I'm sure it wouldn't even be a debate if the player coming back from injury is a legit player. For example, I'm not going to be debating what to do with Ryan Theriot when Tulowitzki gets back. But if my C is hot and Lucroy comes off the DL.....I got a decision to make. It only happens with marginal starters. And I'd imagine the usual theory is to go with the hot hand, especially when it comes to pitching.....which is clearly an unfair advantage.

Is Truffle, Scoscia's tragic illness? If so, that's my question. If he only has 3 players on his bench that would make his pitching roster 6 SP and 1 RP. Is that legal?

Alamo- 4 players on bench (full roster of pitchers starting) Calvinball- A non-injured player on DL (Healthy Britton sent to minors, but his minors is full) Harry's Budcrew- 4 players on bench (full roster of pitchers starting) Kid Rodelo- 4 players on bench (Oswalt is eligible for the minors, open spot also) Sock It Thome- 4 players on bench (full roster of pitchers starting) Eyes of Texas- New manager, same mess. 5 bench players (Carlos Lee eligible for DL, but DL is full) Tootielicious- Yonder Alonzo no longer eligible for minors with over 200 ABs (someone would have to get cut) Unsure about this one. Scoscia's Tragic Illness- 4 SP in lineup, but also only 1 RP. Not sure if can do 6 SPs and 1 RP in lineup. But with 7 SPs on his active roster (starters + bench) and 1 RP, lineup will pretty much always be illegal as currently constructed. I know he has a lot of players on D, but 3 in injured and 3 on the bench means when he benches 1 of his 8 pitchers everyday, lineup will be illegal. I don't think that's really true to the rules. Bazingas- also 6 SP in lineup with only 1 RP currently, but does have a RP on the bench who can't be in the lineup because he was picked up mid-week. That's 9 of the 16 teams potentially with illegal rosters. Not trying to call anyone out, but I was looking to offer trades today and the first 4-5 teams I looked at trading with were illegal.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/13068220-419/ian-stewart-dropped-to-9th-in-cubs-order.html Well, that's probably not going to happen at this point. Kinda is what he is defensively. Time to get him some more reps in LF, if the Cubs don't think he can handle 3B in the majors.

Logan Watkins with a walkoff single for Tennessee, as they win 8-7. They also had 14 hits as a team....all singles. Junior Lake went 3-3 with a sac fly and his first walk in a long long time. Jae-Hoon Ha went 3-5. He's hitting 13-32 with 6 walks in his last 8 games. Unfortunately though, only 2 XBHs over the time. .406/.500/.469 line.

That's not a bad idea. A 60-day DL guy (actually on 60-day DL) and 3 other spots would be fine with me.

And Rizzo got out trying to stretch a single to a double. Vitters walking and Rizzo trying to flex his speed.....2 things that don't happen often.

Damn. I really like Rhee too. Noticed his K numbers weren't high recently, but had no idea the streak was that bad or that long.

I trust them too. But the whole "bird in the hand" thing. Getting rid of Dempster and Garza and not getting some legit ML ready talent back is getting rid of 2 huge birds. Even if you get ML ready talent, it won't be proven. A team with Jeff Szmardizja as the best pitcher isn't likely to be very good. Sure you'd like to think they could sign Sanchez, Hamels, Greinke and a big time bat, but that's clearly not anywhere near being a given.

Know I'm late, but I thought I was the only one feeling this way. I can't imagine being happy either with any non Blue Jays or Diamondbacks trade, but seriously someone young in their current rotations would have to be included along with a top 3 prospect and a 2nd top 10 guy. I was sensing that was the prevailing opinion on the board. I wouldn't want a deal to just be guys in A ball or lower, but I'm still very open to a trade. Also, what exactly are the "consequences of trading him and losing Dempster"? That the team would suck? No, the team already sucks. They would suck A LOT without both of them, possibly to historical levels.

Know I'm late, but I thought I was the only one feeling this way. I can't imagine being happy either with any non Blue Jays or Diamondbacks trade, but seriously someone young in their current rotations would have to be included along with a top 3 prospect and a 2nd top 10 guy.

Apparently there is going to be gameday for the Peoria game today. However, it's 7:42 and it still hasn't started.

Does he do anything different when he comes out of the bullpen like throw more or less of a certain pitch? Does he throw more strikes? Does his velo tick up? From what I've heard his velocity goes up a decent amount out of the pen. I've heard up to 95 out of the pen, while he's around 90-91 as a starter.

Not sure what is going on in the Iowa game, but Anthony Rizzo was not in the lineup but pinch ran for the pitcher De La Cruz, who was replaced by Jay Jackson. Rizzo is now out of the game.

Whitenack pitched exactly a week ago today. Not sure what's wrong with any of them. Nothing on Whitenack that I can find. Wells left yesterday with an injury of some sort, but it has not been disclosed. Daytona won't even say if Szczur is actually hurt or not.

I think all those guys have to be lumped together at this point, maybe even giving the edge to the 2 guys just drafted. Wells has been on and off the mound all season. Maples still hasn't pitched yet and McNutt has forgotten how to miss bats. I think all 5 are clearly behind the top 6 hitters (Rizzo, Jackson, Baez, Almora, Szczur, Lake) in the system. And if Castillo still counts, behind him too. I'd probably slot a few of them ahead of Vitters, but I think McNutt has really fallen off the last year and a half. I really hope they're better prospects than Szczur and Lake. Those two do not belong grouped with those other four. Those 2 don't belong with those other 4, but they're better than any pitcher the Cubs have. That's not an endorsement for Szczur and Lake's greatness, but an indictment of the pitching in the system.

I think all those guys have to be lumped together at this point, maybe even giving the edge to the 2 guys just drafted. Wells has been on and off the mound all season. Maples still hasn't pitched yet and McNutt has forgotten how to miss bats. I think all 5 are clearly behind the top 6 hitters (Rizzo, Jackson, Baez, Almora, Szczur, Lake) in the system. And if Castillo still counts, behind him too. I'd probably slot a few of them ahead of Vitters, but I think McNutt has really fallen off the last year and a half.

If Baez were making more consistent contact, I'd put him #1. Best tools in the system, IMO. It's hard to ignore Rizzo's amazing numbers in AAA. But if you consider him to be more toward the LaRoche than Votto in the majors, it's very reasonable to put Baez at #1. Plus, Rizzo isn't really "toolsy" at all, which is typical for 1B. His success will be greatly tied to his ability to hit for power.