davell

Rose is 15-39 from 3 over his last 5 games, after going 0-14 in the previous 3 before that. I'm not all that worried about him personally. On the other hand, I AM worried that we're a team that's peaking and playing at about the highest level we possibly can right now. I think the Celtics and even the Heat can probably kick it up a level come playoff time, while we can't. I think we're still a player away from being a championship caliber team. That said, I really, really, really hope I'm wrong in saying that.

I see no reason whatsoever as to why Koyie Hill is probably going to wind up as our backup catcher. He's probably the employee that kisses up so much, it's worn everyone down and they're going to feel bad if they do something mean to him, like cut him. That's all I can come up with. That said, I'm going to pick my own battles here and just be extremely happy that it looks like they're giving Cashner every chance in the world to make it as a starter, which is far more important longterm than who our backup catcher is in a year where it's not all that likely we're truly going to compete for a world championship anyway. I'm just going to look at it like this: 150ish innings from Cashner this year would be far more valuable to this team in the long run than 150 at bats from Castillo. I know this isn't the best possible way to look at it, but it's what I'm going to go with anyway......Possibly getting a "win" in the Cashner deal is much more important to me than whether or not Castillo or Ramirez winds up getting a start a week or so. Let Hill have his last year of OPSing his weight and give Castillo the gig next year.

I was curious and looked it up. He had 3 games back to back to back in early November where he got double figures, one of which was a 6-10 game where he scored 14 and had 6 steals against Golden State. Other than that stretch, he's hit double digits exactly ONCE since then(in February). So tonight, we've been blessed with Keith's best or at least second best game of his season.

Cashner's line today: 3.1 IP 2H 1R 1ER 3BB 2K and a HBP. Not sure of pitch count for him. Unsure of his pitch count. He's going to have to have better control if he's going to make it as a starter obviously. But while I really, really want him to win this job, I hate to say it...... But if he heads back to the pen or preferrably to AAA to continue starting, I'd be OK with it.

Theriot is just a classic case of thinking he's much better than what he actually is. What he doesn't see is he's a stopgap and that every team has a Ryan Theriot sitting somewhere down in their farm system. What's funny though, like someone else mentioned earlier, is I DO think he's pissed off the Cubs didn't cave in or at least meet him halfway in his arbitration process. For once, Hendry took a stand and said "take it, I'm not moving from this number". Theriot probably took that as an insult since the Cubs seem to meet everyone halfway. That said, I'm sure he's getting the picture right about now that this is a true make or break year for him. If he doesn't have a good season, he's going to be a guy signing one year contracts from this point forward. If he does have a decent year(for him anyway) it's possible he can still find a multi-year contract from someone(maybe 3-10 or something like that possibly). But, I definitely think the arbitration process is what gave him something to bitch about when it came to the Cubs. If it's not that, I guess it's actually possible he couldn't believe they moved him off SS for a 20 year old last year. Surely that's not it, but I wouldn't put anything past him, I guess.

I'd bet the Cubs are thinking more about adding Luis Castillo, if he gets released, than they are about trading for Michael Young. Castillo was awful last year, but fits the top of the order, one side of a platoon criteria that's been noted a few times this offseason. If the Cubs think he has something left, then I could see that happening.(although I'd be pretty shocked if DeWitt wouldn't outproduce him over the course of a season by a solid amount) Another reason I don't see us going after Young is 2B(or SS possibly if we move Castro to 2B) is because we can probably do better next offseason. Aaron Hill could be available, either thru trade or FA depending on if his option gets picked up. Kelly Johnson will be a cheap, stop gap type guy that's available. Could work perfectly in a case where we think LeMahieu is the eventual answer. Then, there are 2 SS's that could possibly switch positions and fill our "leadoff" hole we evidently think we have: Furcal and Reyes. Furcal is older and definitely injury-prone, but he seems like a guy Hendry would target if we also acquire a true middle of the order hitter as well. Someone who conceivably is a tablesetter and could be had on a short term deal, possibly with incentives....... Reyes, on the other hand, could very well wind up as THE big acquisition for us(if he has a solid season in 2011, his pricetag is going to be huge) if we miss out on the middle of the order hitters. I'd hope we'd stand pat and not spend big money on him, but I could see it happening. On the other hand, if we got a middle of the order hitter AND Reyes as well, count me in......

I can't remember who it was(maybe one of the Bruces) but they said that Shark was basically as safe as Dempster as far as making the opening day roster.

Only the Rangers and Michael Young know if they truly HAVE to trade him. If so, they've got another couple of weeks to get something done. If they're not happy with the offers they're receiving, making a statement and leaking it to the press isn't going to hurt things and could even scare a team into upping their offer a tad. I'm pretty sure the Rangers know that in this current economic state, they've way overpaid Young. They just have to figure out if it's truly worth it to them to drop him and still have him on the books as well. The return will almost definitely depend on how much money is being covered by the team they're trading with.

Most people are way down on Wells, it seems. Shouldn't be, but they are. My guess as to WHY the Cubs seem to be down on Wells is this: They probably look at him as a solid enough 4-5 guy. But, after his stats for his 1st two major league seasons, he may be classified as MORE than that, especially if he has a solid 3rd season as well. My guess is the Cubs concern is he's likely to be making 3-4 mill as a first year arb guy with salaries going upwards from there and if they DO view him as a 4-5 guy, it's just too much to pay for that, if they feel Coleman or someone else can basically do the same thing for a lot less. In other words, this may be one of the cases to the Cubs that stats don't tell the whole story as to why the Cubs must think the way they do on him. Not to mention the fact, that evidently he doesn't appear to have much trade value around the league, which seems odd considering that he's had 2 very solid seasons under his belt.(read that a couple of times over the offseason). Maybe the Cubs and most teams throughout the league look at him as a fluke, rightly or wrongly? Don't get me wrong, I feel very confident that he's going to be our 4th starter and I feel like he'll have an OK season for us too. So the Cubs are worried that he'll be too good? If he has a season worthy of a substantial arby raise that would probably up his trade value enough to where they could find a taker. I think the reason they aren't promising him a rotation spot is that they still want to find a way to get a LH starter. It's a dumb reason but that's the way Hendry thinks. Somebody like Russell couldn't hope to be chosen for a roster spot over Cashner (who's much better) and Silva (who's highly paid) but he might hold out hope to be able to beat out Wells. No, it's not that I think that the Cubs think he's going to be too good, it's the opposite. I think it's possible they think he's going to regress actually, but then figure he's still going to cost quite a bit in his 1st year of arb, giving them a tough decision to make as to whether or not to tender him. I bet they did their damndest to try and trade him this offseason personally, to try and put that possible decision in someone else's hands. Granted, it'd just be a 3-4 million dollar decision on him, not exactly the end of the world for the Cubs, but they may think that money could go towards something they feel is a better investment. In the end, I'm just trying to figure out why they, or any other team, evidently doesn't hold him to very much value. You could be right too though, it could be something as simple as handedness when it comes to the Cubs. Personally, I think like Dew does and figure he's got lots of innings left on his arm, due to his late start and may even show improvement still. Making him a very solid 4 type guy over the entirety of his arb years.

Most people are way down on Wells, it seems. Shouldn't be, but they are. My guess as to WHY the Cubs seem to be down on Wells is this: They probably look at him as a solid enough 4-5 guy. But, after his stats for his 1st two major league seasons, he may be classified as MORE than that, especially if he has a solid 3rd season as well. My guess is the Cubs concern is he's likely to be making 3-4 mill as a first year arb guy with salaries going upwards from there and if they DO view him as a 4-5 guy, it's just too much to pay for that, if they feel Coleman or someone else can basically do the same thing for a lot less. In other words, this may be one of the cases to the Cubs that stats don't tell the whole story as to why the Cubs must think the way they do on him. Not to mention the fact, that evidently he doesn't appear to have much trade value around the league, which seems odd considering that he's had 2 very solid seasons under his belt.(read that a couple of times over the offseason). Maybe the Cubs and most teams throughout the league look at him as a fluke, rightly or wrongly? Don't get me wrong, I feel very confident that he's going to be our 4th starter and I feel like he'll have an OK season for us too.

To me, grabbing a Ceda/Archer IS the perfect world when it comes to Silva. I'd settle for literally nothing in return if it means we have a few mill more to spend at the deadline or for the draft or international free agents. I think Coleman or Russell will be just as useful to us as Silva in the role you mentioned anyway.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=6210931 No idea why Levine keeps harping on 12 mill(here and in his chats too) since the Cubs are only on the hook for 6 mill, plus a 2 mill buyout. If it's at all possible to trade him for even HALF of what we owe him being picked up with us getting zilch in return, I hope we jump all over it.

I think that this entire premise and book seem ridiculous. So, I'm going to go WAAAAY out on a limb and say that I believe this guy did it for the probable money of opposing a book as well-read at this point as Moneyball. I don't think the guy is stupid at all. I think he wants to make some money and this is probably a pretty solid way to getting one really good payday. In fact, shame on ALL of us for not thinking about this and taking the same avenue.

The players don't want a lockout. If they get the judge to declare the lockout isn't valid, then everything goes on as normal and this gets hashed out in courts, from what I can tell.

On the other hand, Szczur is with Tennessee right now, so if he only gets bumped to Daytona, that's still going to be a very solid start for him. I figured he was a lock for Peoria at the beginning of the season.

Unfortunately, I can't find where I thought I saw something that made me think "good character" on Golden. May have imagined it for all I know. At any rate, I hope he gets himself into shape soon and shows us the 5 tool talent we were hoping for when he was drafted.

Evidently, if Doty rules tonight on the decertification, then it's possible Free Agency starts at midnight? This is awesome.

Owners last offer was basically splitting the difference(unsure if that was from beginning of talks or whether they split from where they were heading into today). That said, it looks like the plan is still to decertify as the NFLPA evidently thinks they're going to get a better deal through the courts than they would from bargaining.

Smith appears to be readying the players to decertify, but evidently has the ability to move quite a bit today, according to PFT. As long as they're still talking, I think there's hope for an agreement. Seems like Smith is playing up the decertification card as much as possible to keep things from getting too far away from where they want to be.

Cody Hams got released today, leaving only Ryan Searle left out of the Aussies we signed that year, with Spencer and Williams getting released last year.

Who is that and for how much are some expecting him to sign for? It's a right handed pitcher that played on the same team as Yeoung Jin Kim did. No rumors about bonus demands that I know of. Just figured that since he's a Boras client, he's going to command quite a bit. To my knowledge, the only thing out there on him is he throws a low to mid 90's FB and has solid endurance. No mention of any teams being connected to him either that I know of.

Very disappointing news on Golden. Considering he's a "good character" guy, kind of surprised this happened, although it's not the end of the world for him obviously. Surprising to see Burgess playing 1B, as it's pretty doubtful he's ever going to hit enough to stick.

A catcher from South Korea signed with Oakland today for 510,000. Evidently has very solid power potential. Hope we find a way to add the Boras client from there sometime this year. Don't want to lose our stronghold over there.

I don't think anyone is comparing Castro to A-Rod or Griffey. the only comparison between them is the fact they both made the mahor leagues at an extremely early age. He's not going to have their power, no question in my mind. But, comparing him to Jeter IS a possibility offensively. He certainly can fill out and wind up with Jeter's power numbers. Some of those doubles will start clearing the fence, the question is when, not if, really. The reason for my question was basically to see who thought he'd make a pretty large jump immediately. Here's John Sickels crystal ball on Castro's career. I could see him basically doing this as well. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2010/9/4/1668866/crystal-ball-starlin-castro

Anyone thinking he can jump to 10 homers or so this year? I'm kind of thinking it's a possibility, where I was thinking 5-6 was most likely where he'd wind up at previously.