davell

I get the notion that Shoulders is a fallback if Vogelbach won't sign and Jacquez is a fallback if we can't get Maples most likely. By the way, I've seen this asked here by someone else and have also seen it mentioned on other sites, but I'm still not clear if it's actually the case or not: Can we sign Maples to a 5 year deal, because he's walking on to kick at UNC?

The Lebron bashing will get old, but I don't see it stopping anytime soon and he's to blame. He needs a damn shock device or something that goes off everytime he's about to say something stupid. Because until he stops, people are going to keep piling on. And I hate to say it, but I honestly think he's entitled enough to keep this up for a very long time. I don't see the end of this stuff for years, at this point.......

While I'm excited to see him, this screams of"we've tried everyone else, let's see what he can do now" because it's not like he's actually earned a promotion, by any stretch. Hell, he just got demoted from AAA to AA.

To me, there's too much smoke to not have a fire: I think Hendry's done as GM pretty soon. But, here's the thing I'm wondering about: Will he still have some role with the Cubs? He's been here 16 years and whether we like it or not, he's extremely popular in baseball circles. I actually wonder if he could be named President, dump Kenney, and hire a guy from outside the organization to become GM....... I know this sounds crazy(and I don't like it) but with his longevity here, the relationships he has with players here and the fact that he's had a couple of years to work his charm on Ricketts, I'm not sure this isn't a possibility.

After hearing we're spending much more on the draft and player development, in general, it's hard not to get excited and wonder what we may do in IFA(we also have had Wilken comment and say we'd be spending more here). I understand the strategy and I share the exact same sentiment: I wish we'd sign one big name guy anyway. And I'm probably even more greedy, because I want a Central American big name AND our typical Pac Rim signings as well. I haven't heard anything at all about the Boras guy from South Korea, but I've always held out hope we're in on him. As far as Latin America goes though, I loved that we had 4 guys we gave at least 350,000 to last year and hope we at least follow it up this year with the same effort, if not more(spreading it out AND a big bonus guy too :D ). And considering how well all 4 of those guys appear to be doing, it's kind of hard not to think their strategy pays off better this way than spending 1.5 mill+ on a single guy and hoping for the best....... I just hope we hear reports much earlier this year than last.......All we heard on or around July 2nd was Sanchez and they got his bonus wrong anyway.

Contreras is in EXST and will most likely begin in Boise, according to AZPhil.

And Lebron said something to the affect of "All the people that are loving this will have to go back to their lives and their problems soon and I'll still be living my great life" :lol:

My honest guess is since the Cubs gave him 1.5 mill, he was getting put on the 40 man, no matter what. Couldn't take the chance of losing him, even if he didn't show much in 2011. Just not good business to throw 1.5 mill down the drain, because all it would take is one team to see ANYTHING in him. Instead, with what he's doing, it's a non-issue as far as putting him on goes.

Definitely getting excited......Hope we see lots of these guys signed and it'd be nice to see some solid IFA action too. And I can't help it, but damn, I'm kind of optimistic it COULD.

I have a feeling that we're all on the ground floor of the prospect love that Szczur's going to be getting. It took BA close to the end of the season before they really started up with the Castro hype and I could easily see this type of assent for Szczur as well, if he gets moved up and does anything close to what he's doing currently.

I don't think it's baffling at all. Cashman has shown responsibility at times, likes to use money for his farm system, and has had success in a large market environment. Beane(who I would still be extremely happy with) comes with more red flags, if you ask me. I'm not sold that he's been all that great without having the rotation guys he had once upon a time. I have no doubt he's an upgrade from Hendry, same with Friedman.

Friedman is the guy that's probably got the most hype around him right now and if we got him, I'd be ecstatic. Same with Beane(although I'm not sold that he really did anthing more than land 4 stud pitchers at the same time and rode them as long as he could). I'd barf if we wind up with Colletti. That said, the guy I want is Cashman. He's a proponent of building from within, has a fiscal sense(Didn't want Soriano last year) and has operated(obviously) with a large budget. I think I'd prefer him to Friedman or Beane simply because he's already demonstrated success using a large payroll. I'm just not sure how they'd run a team using different philosophies than they'd used previously.

Ben Badler tweets: Could he be the next Castro? This is the first I've heard of him. Then again, I usually just follow A and up. Anyone else I'm missing out on? Carlos Penalver has already gotten some buzz in the DSL too this year. Danny Sanchez and Jeffry Baez appear to be living up to their signing bonuses as well.

This is really something we can keep an eye on, Badler has already mentioned Penalver as being a standout down there as well. And both Baez and Sanchez look like they're showing some nice things as well. It'd be great to see us hit another Castro like jackpot down there.

Shoulders has enrolled at UCF and said that unless the Cubs change their position quite a bit, he'll be going to school in the fall.

http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20110608/HSSPORTS/106080323/Pitchers-Grim-Jensen-chosen-by-Marlins-Cubs?odyssey=nav%7Chead Sounds like Jensen COULD be persuaded anyway.

Yeah, thanks a bunch. Everyone in here has been great. Best place to go for info, without a doubt. By the way, Rock Shoulders evidently has his employer listed as the Chicago Cubs and his Facebook pic has him in a Cubs hat. Doubt he's signed yet, but love the attitude almost as much as the name.......

Didn't they actually repo his dog? You know you're screwed when that happens.

Who is Allard Baird? Raiding the Red Sox seems like a very solid idea, unless this guy has bad history elsewhere that I can't remember...... I think this year could be the end of Hendry, mainly because the season looks to be more of a trainwreck than what it should have been. I expected 75ish wins and we'll probably be lucky to get 65. I could have seen a situation where Hendry went to Ricketts immediately after buying the team and saying"Hey, we've operated one way, because of the Trib, but I really want to operate this way instead." He could have laid out a rebuild plan where you're building thru the system(saving Ricketts money, along the way) and convincing him to keep him around thru all of this. But, I think public pressure will most likely end Hendry's tenure here by the end of the season, unless something crazy happens.

The guys I'd want in a perfect world are 1(Baez) 2(Vogelbach) 4(Zych) 5(Scott) 6(Rosario)7(Gretzky)11(Dunston Jr) 14(Maples)15(Marra)25(Shoulders)30(Garcia)31(Richardson)39(Jacquez) On a different note though, I could see us changing our strategy of signing around 30 guys this year. Our teams at Boise and Mesa look relatively decent right now, so maybe we go for quality over quantity this year for that reason?

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110608&content_id=20203006&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc I find it curious because it seems to loosely confirm what many have suspected for awhile, which was that Wilken and Co. had more restrictions on money, particularly with over-slots, than was publicly acknowledged. I don't recall any statement prior to this year that seemed to suggest things in as strong a term, although maybe I missed something. Anyhow, seems to bode well for our chances to land some of these kids. Thanks for catching and sharing that. Yes, that's pretty significant. I wonder how exactly that all played out. I know at convention, Wilken talked similarly, that Ricketts was very committed to spending more on draft and international. I recall discussing that with dave. But I wonder if there was further reinforcement even on the fly, as he mentioned with somebody like Dunston. We know that almost all of these teenage picks will require some overslot. But this is encouraging to hear that he's got some ability to pursue a fair number of them. Progress!!!!!!! :yahoo: Seriously though, that's a great question Craig: Perhaps with the season as far gone as it already is, they made a change on the fly and allowed even MORE spending? Maybe this was how it was supposed to be since the original Cubs Convention quote from Wilken. Who knows? But, it is definitely exciting to here and hopefully makes this summer much more bearable. Seeing some upside guys getting signed would sure be nice. IFA could be fun too, for all we know....... Of course, this brings another question with it as well.......Is this infusion of high school talent just an evening out of the system or is it an indication that we're going to pass on bigtime guys(Pujols or Fielder) and concentrate on a major run in 3-4 seasons? I tend to think it's the first, but the second has crossed my mind anyway, with the debt issues currently and all.

Anyone have a recap on Callis this morning talking Cubs draft?

I want Geo next year as our catcher. And the year after that. At that point(his FA year) he can be traded or we can let him walk. I don't want him on a long term deal. Hopefully, at that point, either Castillo or Gibbs is ready to be a fulltime major league catcher.

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_18214425&sa=U&ei=W8TvTbiUD-X10gGIhNWCDQ&ved=0CB0QFjAE&usg=AFQjCNHd02RpMhM444BeUZL0wUEH9469fQ Good article on Jacquez. Didn't realize he was only 5'9.

Jacquez is an excellent two way player, Texas is one of those schools it's hard to take guys away from, and he got drafted in round 39. It's going to take some serious coin to make him change his mind, most likely. He's probably either said there's no chance whatsoever or threw out something like what Maples did. Either way, it's cool to see us draft these types. It'll be the only thing we've got any interest in all summer: The quest to sign overslots