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Elton Brand looks like he's about to go to the Sixers. Working out a trade to send Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth to Minnesota to free up cap room.

I think this is a good matchup for the Rockies. CC will probably be amped. First game for his new team. First game in front of his new home fans. The only players CC has faced for the Rockies are Helton (0-6) and Podsednik (0-5), both LH hitters, neither of whom will be in the lineup tonight. He has also faced Garrett Atkins, who is 2-3 against him. And guess who leads the NL in OPS vs. LH pitching? The Colorado Rockies! Atkins, Holliday, Spilborghs, Ianetta, Barmes and Baker have mashed vs. LHPs this year. The Rocks have recently beat up on LHs, Scott Olsen (9 R, 11 hits in 5 IP) and Randy Wolf (7 R, 6 hits in 4 IP). Rockies offense is hot, averaging over 8 runs per game, it's still nearly 7 runs per game if you take out the 18 vs. Florida.

No problem at all. But at this point, I'd rather just see what Grossman/Orton can do rather than spend a year with Favre at QB, before he retires again, and still not get anywhere this season.

One of those is a really cheap deal. One is fairly expensive. What would you offer? My offer would probably be closer to the second, although I think the 2nd deal is too much talent to give up. You just implied that Pie, Atkins, and Veal=Hill, Ceda, Cedeno and Colvin when the 2nd deal has probably close to double the value of the first deal. They aren't comparable at all. This is just my opinion, but I figure Beane is going to want either Pie or Hill. He's probably going to want at least one, and possibly 2 pitchers in the deal. Do I think Atkins/Veal=Ceda, Cedeno and Colvin? Kinda. Apart from the centerpiece players (Pie/Hill), I'm not all that concerned about giving any of the other guys up. Colvin at best is Mark Kotsay. Ceda is a good prospect, but didn't we just draft a college reliever? Wouldn't that make Ceda somewhat expendable? Cedeno is filler. Veal and Atkins are P prospects. I don't sweat giving up either, because half our rotation is signed fairly long term and the other half is Gallagher and Marshall. As far as what to do about a backup SS without Cedeno, those guys are easily found prior to the waiver deadline. Atkins is at best a C+ prospect. He's clearly the least talented of the guys you listed. Hill > Pie, because he is a pitcher and has had much more major league success. Ceda is probably a slightly better prospect than Veal, even as a reliever. Colvin is a better prospect than both. Ranking those names 1-7, I'd go Hill, Pie, Colvin, Ceda, Cedeno, Veal, Atkins, with the large gaps between Hill and Pie, then Veal and Atkins.

Soriano won't start.

One of those is a really cheap deal. One is fairly expensive. What would you offer? Probably the 2nd deal. I'd try to keep Hill out of it and give up Gallagher, Marshall or Veal instead.

One of those is a really cheap deal. One is fairly expensive.

I had something interesting pointed out to me today about Billy Beane's history. Oakland has had a lot of talent over the years. But Beane doesn't typically trade his talent away during the season. Sure, a lot has to do with the fact his team has been competing at the deadline for the most part, but still interesting to point out. Giambi, Tejada, Dye, Zito, and Damon were all allowed to leave as free agents, without even being offered a serious contract. Mulder, Hudson, Haren, Swisher, and Ted Lilly were all traded in the offseason. Beane doesn't have much of a history of being a seller at the deadline. In 01, he traded for Dye. 02, he traded for Lilly . In 03, he traded for Jose Guillen. 2004 was Dotel. Granted the A's either were in the playoffs or were within 3 games of the playoffs in all of those years. But last year, all the A's "sold" was Jason Kendall and Milton Bradley, who was in the minors at the time.

You've been following the Cubs long enough to realize that Nolasco had no chance to break into the Cubs rotation and even if he got the shot they wouldn't have stuck with him this long. As recently as June 5, Nolasco had a 5+ERA and was getting lit up. Sure he is having a decent run at it right now, but the Cubs are not known to be overly patient with young pitchers, and Nolasco is benefiting from being on a team that doesn't have many other options other than giving playing time to young players. I think they would have had him in the pen a lot more than the Fish did but I don't know if I'd count him out as a starter. I suppose there is something to be said about letting a young pitcher get some good game experience. That's where I give them (fish) credit, they go young and see who steps up and once they win or the guy gets too expensive they deal him and get some quality in return. Maybe Hendry should ask the Fish who they want for Nolasco and then turn them down and insert that player onto the 25 man roster! Hendry should look at the Marlins and others to find out how to have a decent minor league system. A large part of the reason the Marlins have a good farm system is because they pick high in the draft and trade superstars away for great talent. Of their top 10 prospects before the Cabrera trade, 6 were drafted in the 1st or supplemental rounds. That doesn't include Maybin who came over in that trade. Also, a large portion of their ML team came over in trades or were high draft picks. I don't want the Cubs to get a great system that way. Though, their player development and scouting has been great since the Marlins became a franchise.

A trade for Rich Harden would be akin to the trade for Aramis Ramirez. Like Ramirez, Harden is in his pre-to-early prime years. He's had a ton of ML success, but not enough (due to injuries) to make him a legitimate superstar as his potential suggests, though admittedly, he's real close. Harden, however, will in no way come as cheaply as Ramirez did, because he doesn't have an escalating price tag or a [expletive] GM. Fair or not, large market teams like the Cubs should take advantage of teams that can't afford to pay their elite players long-term. Boston did it to get Beckett. Detroit did it to get Cabrera. This is exactly the type of move the Cubs need to make. He's not a rental like Sabathia. He's not past his prime like Hudson. He's not a headcase like Bedard. He's not a Jekyll/Hyde like Burnett has been. Harden would help the Cubs be perennial contenders for the near future. He'd not only help them this year, but is another guy to build around for 09 and 2010. I mentioned Beckett and Cabrera earlier. Both of those guys came at the expense of a couple of star prospects. Cubs don't have a Hanley Ramirez or Cameron Maybin, though. It would take quite a bit to pry away Harden, but I think it would be worth it. But the Cubs may be looking at giving up 2 or 3 of Vitters, Hill, Pie, Colvin.

Beasley vs. Rose in the 1st summer league game. Beasley put up 28 and 9 boards. Rose with 10 points, 4 assists, 5 turnovers.

Cueto and Arroyo have been pitching really well lately, better than Volquez in fact. Either way, there's nobody the Reds could throw at the Cubs that they haven't already seen once or twice.

I'd like to think the Cubs could take this series, easily, but the Reds games are always tough. Three best Cubs pitchers going, all coming off of quality starts. Soto, Lee, Derosa are red hot. Theriot and Ramirez looking a lot better the last few games. But the Reds are starting to play good baseball, having won 7 of 9 and doing it with pretty good pitching, especially by Cueto and Arroyo.

I think so. May take 1 more player though. What about Pie, Ceda, Castillo, and Hart? Enough to get it done? I don't know. Hard to imagine the Cubs making a deal without involving a close to ML ready starter. Hart is more of a reliever to me. Maybe Pie, Ceda, Castillo and Veal, with a throw-in prospect coming from the A's?

I think so. May take 1 more player though.

Like it or not, his batting average is going to have an effect on his production... and in the context of this season, his bad luck on balls in play is resulting in his OPS being about 70 points lower than you'd expect. (30 points of missing batting average in this case translates to about 30 points of missing OBP and 40 points of SLG). And considering that about 32% of his professional PA have come this season, the missing 70 points has a pretty huge effect on his career OPS too. My little back of the napkin calculation would have his career OPS at .788 instead of .765 if he hadn't been so unlucky this season. Would you respond differently if told we have a 22 year old CF having a bit of a down year in AA but with a career OPS near .800, making significant strides on his only real problem and a lot of untapped potential? I don't know what you mean by respond differently, but none of those numbers are impressive to me, so I'd probably think of him fairly close to how I think of him now. Yeah okay, umm where did I pass him off as a bust who has never hit? He's been a poor professional hitter. I don't care about his average, but his overall production has been disappointing. He's done nothing as a pro that suggests to me he's got a great future in front of him. I'm not saying he can't do anything good in the majors, but he's got a heck of a lot of improvement to do before I'd say he's got a great chance of succeeding. I'm still unclear on how line drives are determined. Do they go by the official scorekeeper at each minor league stadium or do they have their own people charting things? I have a hard time believing those things even out over a course of a season. That type of data seems incredibly flawed to me. To be fair, you did say he's not good at hitting baseballs. His past batting averages shows he's good at hitting baseballs. His past OPS just shows he's not that good at hitting baseballs hard. :blink:

He is on the 40-man and I don't think building endurance would be all that much of an issue. It's not like he's been on the DL and not throwing. He's been throwing quite a bit, I believe. He hasn't been able to last more than 50-65 pitches though in a long while though, because he can't find the plate. He does need to build his endurance back up, but it shouldn't take too long.

volquez's start is next weekend, right? Friday. And against the Brewers. So, yeah I think we all want Volquez to do pretty well. Who's with me?

Gonna be a tough week for me. I get a team that will have Lincecum twice, a red-hot Jon Lester, and CC making his Brewers debut. I have Hamels going twice, which is good. But I really need Volquez to turn it back around and get a start in the 20s this week. Meche struggling vs. TB right now is helping me out.

I don't think the Cubs matchup well with Oakland. The A's have a lot of young arms and some cheap ML guys who have been very successful this year. The A's could really use a lot of help offensively, as the only potential long-term options they have as everyday players are: Suzuki-C, Barton-1B, Gonzalez-OF. Their IF is flat out a mess now and in the future. I doubt they'd have interest in Pie. They could have some interest in Colvin and Patterson, and everyone can always use more pitching. Atlanta on the other hand, could actually use some starting pitching, for a change. Glavine's done. Smoltz is either done or a reliever. Jo Jo Reyes and Jorge Campillo are nothing special. If they trade Hudson, they'd be looking at a rotation of Jurrjens and a bunch of young guys. I don't know if they would be willing to go so young on the mound, but trading Hudson would free up money to sign Teixeira to an extension. As for Burnett, if the Cubs would go after him, I think he'd be pretty easy to obtain because of his contract situation and the depth they have in that rotation.

Eckstein just signed a 1-year deal. So, it's not really a bad contract. The Jays would be out of his contract next year, while still having Jason Marquis for a year. They would be out of Burnett's contract, but I don't think that's worth taking Marquis either, as he's a risk to opt out anyway.

If the Rays wanted Murton more than just in passing, they would have him. The Rays are probably looking to Pittsburgh for their RH corner OF help. Nady is very likely to be available. If they are willing to give up some of their big time pitching prospects, Matt Holliday is also a possibility. If they can't get either of those 2 (plus possibly Bay), I'd think they check the availability of guys like Spilborghs, Thames, Werth, or Ross before they look at Murton, who they could probably get in a waiver wire trade after July 31 if needed.

Good for Milwaukee. Sabathia is the type of rental that is worth everything you give up. Whether the Brewers make the playoffs or not, it's a good move for them. He clearly gives them a much better shot to win it all this year.

I don't mind the lineup. Would like to see one of the LHs in there in CF, but glad to see Murton in there.

Yessssssssssssssssss. There is a God!