davell

I know they have some guys with a penchant for getting hurt, but that's a very expensive 6th starter, isn't it? (Buchholz/Lester/Beckett/Lackey/Matsuzaka)

I think the East will be decided by the trade deadline. No idea who the Bulls can go get that's going to be an impact 2 or 3 though. Personally, I don't think of Mayo as a difference maker. I doubt Boston makes any impact moves, but I think Orlando will do their damndest to try. If they could somehow land Paul, I'd put them at 1. Miami is stuck with their team for this year and probably next as well, since they won't have a mid level to use then either. What I'm going to hate watching though, is Carmelo getting dealt to the Knicks. That will put them in the running unfortunately.

Also, I think our best case scenario to get Garza would also include the Yanks resigning Pettitte and the Rangers signing Pavano. The first move, I suspect WILL happen, while I kind of think the Rangers will make a splash by signing Beltre, leaving them with the ammo to go get Garza, if they want to.

I think that if the reports are true from Levine that we only have 3-5 mill left to play with, Hendry's hands could be tied until he unloads Fukudome/Gorzelanny or whoever else he may be trying to dump, in order to make a signing like Webb(who'l probably be guaranteed more than 5 mill assuming his doc is right anyway) or even a trade for Garza, who probably is going to be making 5-6 mill in arb.

Levine just made an excellent point in his chat today about Garza: The Rays have played this out perfectly and with the Yanks and Rangers missing out on Lee, the Cubs will have a very hard time making this type of deal without severely overpaying at this point, with the added teams now in the mix.

The Bears beat Minny and Green Bay loses to the Pats next week and the division is clinched, right?

As soon as Pujols signs an 8-10 year contract with us, it's found out he's actually 37 years old right now.

I still think the 2004 team was the best team we've had on paper during the Hendry regime.

This is my thinking. I tend to think Garza/Webb is an either/or proposition, and I'd much rather have the elite potential if I'm taking a bit of a gamble anyway. I don't see why they're either/or. A rotation of Z-Dempster-Garza-Webb-Wells/Gorz sounds pretty good to me. Not enough money for both is probably the reason. Along with the thinking that either Cashner, Carpenter, or Archer could easily contribute in 2011 as well.

While it's good to see that no one was picked in the major league portion this year, next year we won't be so lucky. AZPhil posted the eligibles for next year's Rule 5 and I was shocked at who all is on it. Here's the guys that stood out to me anyway...... Jeffry Antigua Jeff Beliveau Michael Brenly Justin Bristow Kyler Burke David Cales Tony Campana Chris Carpenter Ryan Flaherty Marwin Gonzalez Jay Jackson Junior Lake Craig Muschko Blake Parker Dae Eun Rhee Rebel Ridling Aaron Shafer Marquez Smith Luke Sommer Matt Spencer Tony Thomas Josh Vitters Ty Wright Obviously, some of these guys will be no-brainers for us to add. But, there's going to need to be some trades most likely to thin this group out some anyway, I would think......

Not even close to worth it. And to be honest, I think Friedman is smart enough to go ahead and maximize value than taking a chance of Garza starting off badly and lowering his value even more, which is more probable than him having an "ace" type start most likely. He's going to get a slight mulligan(meaning their going to get slightly more than normal) by playing in the AL EAST as it is right now anyway, assuming he keeps doing what he's been doing. I'm thinking the Cubs would probably rather sign Webb than trade for Garza to begin with, but if we don't get Webb, my guess is something happens relatively quickly with Garza. I've been a big proponent of Garza and really think he can become a solid 2ish type starter in the NL Central, but I don't want to give up the farm for him either.

The Cubs won't (and shouldn't) offer Fukudome arbitration, if he winds up a Type A next offseason.

The Cubs have talked about a couple things to make them better next year. One has been getting Colvin in the lineup everyday (or close to it). There was a slim chance he would move to 1B if they didn't sign one. But now that they have one, it seems to me the only realistic shot is in RF. There have been talks of moving Fukudome up until this fall. I happen to believe they want to do it now that they have Pena (another LH bat) and are still talking about mediocre pitchers (that will still cost millions). He is due $13.5m. If they can reduce their payroll but $7m+ by trading him, that will go a long way toward affording some mediocre pitching. If they trade Fukudome, who becomes the 4th outfielder? Isn't the team better off having Colvin as extra depth? To be able to stick Colvin in any one of Byrd, Fukudome or Soriano's spots if one of them gets hurt (none of them are spring chickens) seems like it would be better than getting rid of Fukudome and weakening the bench and the starting line up. I've thought about that some too and my guess is they'd find a Chad Tracy type signing around the time of ST. If not, maybe Brandon Guyer proves himself ready a year ahead of time to take over as the 4TH OFer? He's on the 40 man now at least...... A Chad Tracy type isn't somebody you really want to play everyday for any lengthy period of time if Soriano strains a quad or hammy. It's just one more year and a valuable year for Colvin to fill in and be quality bench help. That extra year will tell us a lot more about whether he's an everyday player at the major league level. He's going to get plenty of starts as it is. I have no question our major league team is better off for 2011 with Fukudome on it. But, since he's rumored to be gone and we supposedly have a money crunch as well, I just don't see us investing much into a 4th OFer for next year. Maybe bring Reed Johnson back if he's healthy? No matter what though, I doubt we spend more than a minimum level major league contract for whoever it is.

The Cubs have talked about a couple things to make them better next year. One has been getting Colvin in the lineup everyday (or close to it). There was a slim chance he would move to 1B if they didn't sign one. But now that they have one, it seems to me the only realistic shot is in RF. There have been talks of moving Fukudome up until this fall. I happen to believe they want to do it now that they have Pena (another LH bat) and are still talking about mediocre pitchers (that will still cost millions). He is due $13.5m. If they can reduce their payroll but $7m+ by trading him, that will go a long way toward affording some mediocre pitching. If they trade Fukudome, who becomes the 4th outfielder? Isn't the team better off having Colvin as extra depth? To be able to stick Colvin in any one of Byrd, Fukudome or Soriano's spots if one of them gets hurt (none of them are spring chickens) seems like it would be better than getting rid of Fukudome and weakening the bench and the starting line up. I've thought about that some too and my guess is they'd find a Chad Tracy type signing around the time of ST. If not, maybe Brandon Guyer proves himself ready a year ahead of time to take over as the 4TH OFer? He's on the 40 man now at least......

I give the Red Sox more leeway than most teams when it comes to making "splash" type signings than most. It's a given that impact free agents that actually hit the market are going to get more than their perceived worth is to begin with. But sometimes, a team who's perceived to be close NEEDS to make these type of moves. And considering the Red Sox also do their damndest to come up with cheap young guys as well to accent moves like this, it makes it easier to forgive them for making these type moves than most teams. They are a large market team and they act like it.

Assuming we're only adding one SP, the Cubs have to be debating over Webb's medicals versus what they've got to give up to add Garza. If Webb's healthy enough, it's a no-brainer to add him and not give up whatever prospects the Rays want, in order to get Garza.

I'm going to figure the Cubs get rid of Fukudome at some point, since it appears Colvin's going to be an everyday player next year for us. CF BYRD SS CASTRO 3B RAMIREZ 1B PENA C SOTO RF COLVIN LF SORIANO 2B DEWITT

If you look at this deal from Tampa's side of things, you'd think they are trying to free up a spot in the rotstion for Hellickson. Currently, they have Price/Garza/Shields/Niemann/Davis in their rotation, with Hellickson ready to go and Matt Moore not being all that far away himself. They just dealt Bartlett away, so I guess they're planning on using Brignac or Sean Rodriguez as their everyday SS for 2011? I think those 2 were platooned at 2B last year for them. The big rumor with Tampa was that they were going to try and cut their payroll to 50 million or less this offseason, from the 70+ million they spent in 2010. But, with losing Crawford, Pena, Balfour, Soriano, Wheeler, Navarro and Bartlett already, they're well on their way to a 30 million dollar payroll for 2011, with no additions. In the end, my guess is they move one of their starters to being their closer, unless they're bowled over by an offer for Garza or Shields.

Well, I wouldn't say "uber" but he's definitely a damn good prospect. Probably won't make BA's top 100 list this year, but he'll be 20 years old and starting next year in Daytona. Which means he'll probably make it for the following year, assuming he has a solid year. He's got a great arm, great range, and projects to be a much better fielder than Castro at SS(who's been projected to wind up very solid in his own right). He's more of a slap hitter and he K's too much right now, but hits the ball with authority on occasion and he has a decent walk rate as well. He also has excellent speed. I'd say his upside is that of a .350-.360 OBP, 10ish homers and 40-50 steals, while playing a GG caliber SS.

I have a feeling that the "one of the top" SS prospects that the Cubs are offering in the Garza deal is Darwin Barney and not Hak Ju Lee. If it's a 4 for 1 deal supposedly and evidently Tampa isn't enthused by ANY offers so far(including ours) my guess is we're not offering any of the true top prospects we have right now. I kind of doubt we're after Garza AND Webb either, probably one or the other. I do think Webb will get solid money guaranteed on a one year deal, but now that Jimbo has learned the art of deferring money, that shouldn't be an issue for us. If by any stretch we're serious about Michael Young, I'd almost guarantee that Fukudome is in the deal. I think that O'Day represents the best value we can get as far as relief pitchers go and really want that deal to go down. We'd get 3 years out of him at a decent salary, which is much better than we'd get with Frasor, Kerry Wood, or anyone else.

Crap, then it's Jim Duquette Disease.

Isn't that Tampa's M.O.? Yep, since forever. I call it Steve Phillips Disease.

i fully understand what you're saying from a numbers standpoint, but from a scouting perspective there's little comparison between the two Right, and even from a numbers standpoint Garza has a bit of a leg up. I just wish they'd value Gorzelanny properly. Is there something out there making us think they aren't going to value Gorz if he's dealt? Aggressively shopping him while pursuing a marginal upgrade elsewhere leads me to believe that they aren't, especially when popular perception works in line with that thinking too. Yeah, but no one knows exactly what "agressively" actually means either. All we've actually heard is they talked to Detroit about him(unless I'm missing something). If he were dealt for a very solid 1st or 2nd year year arb eligible reliever, is that in line with what you think his value is?

Yeah it has. Probably to the point where we need to keep him and hope he rebuilds it some.

i fully understand what you're saying from a numbers standpoint, but from a scouting perspective there's little comparison between the two Right, and even from a numbers standpoint Garza has a bit of a leg up. I just wish they'd value Gorzelanny properly. Is there something out there making us think they aren't going to value Gorz if he's dealt?