davell

In large part because Colletti is willing to overpay with prospects. Their system isn't as deep as it once was, but they still have guys who would fit very nicely into the Cubs' farm. Ok makes sense. Plus, they've had some guys take jumps this year as well. I bet they've got 5 guys that'll be in BA's top 100 next year in Gordon, Withrow, Martin, Miller, and Robinson. Along with a few guys like Sands, Webster, Jansen(who got called up yesterday) Eovaldi and even Lambo who would be very solid additions to our system. I'd take their system over the Mets or Tigers without a doubt.

720K bonus for Golden.

Rhee's last 3 starts: 18IP 10H 2R 2ER 3BB 11K

Good news about Golden, very glad we're getting him in. Not sure how I feel about this being the scout's first signing though........ :| Does that mean that Wells is likely requiring more than slot then? Since he hasn't already signed at least? I know I'm one of the guys beating a dead horse about overslots, but I seriously would like to see the Cubs spending money through the draft, especially since Ricketts had said the budget was going up in this department. And right now, it only seems like it went up because we had a higher draft position than last year. Not to mention, our top pick was signed for 2/3 of what slot was for the pick.

isn't szczur not done playing WR for 'nova? We don't know yet. He got 100,000 to play baseball for us this summer and another 500,000 IF he chooses not to play at Nova next year. I thought it was all set that Szczur was going back to play college football this fall. As I understood, the $500K kicks in if he skips the NFL combine next spring, and makes a written declaration to play baseball. Ahh, you may be right.

If the return on Lilly is MUCH better with us paying salary, I'd be very disappointed if we didn't do it. But, the fact is this: He'll be offered a multi year deal next year by someone, so offering him arbitration is a must. So whatever a team gives up, they'll be able to replenish it to some degree anyway. And with the 2011 draft class being excellent, they're possibly better off with the picks than with whatever they may give us. Bottom line for me is I expect a decent return for him. Maybe not a top 100 overall guy, but at least one guy who'll be in our top 10 and another guy who's top 30 anyway. If we don't get that, it better be because we got someone who's already in the majors as the centerpiece of the trade. Personally, I'd rather trade Theriot separately. Unless Detroit is willing to give us a fairly bigtime prospect(Andy Oliver?) and more for the pair(and they don't have a great system, by any stretch). By the way, no one talking about Lee getting moved, so I guess he's just not needed by contending teams? I can't think of anyone other than the Angels that are in need of a 1B, is there anyone else that does?

isn't szczur not done playing WR for 'nova? We don't know yet. He got 100,000 to play baseball for us this summer and another 500,000 IF he chooses not to play at Nova next year.

Austin Reed's line tonight: 3IP 2H 0R 2W 4K

Jay Jackson was having a decent game until 2 outs in the 6th. From that point forward was this...... single, walk, walk, double, wild pitch, and walk. Kind of have to wonder why he was kept in so long.........Possibly a future look into Sandberg's in game management.

I have no idea why it requires fielding the [expletive] MLB team possible to do the bold parts. Without answering for Outshined, my guess would be we'd have to trade away some of our better minor leaguers to compete next year. Because the free agency class is weak and we conceivably won't have alot of money to work with either. OK, but why does the team have to be blown up to do the bold parts? It's not like they have a slew of prospects beating down the door who need MLB time. I'm obviously not saying they need to cling to all of their veterans, but why "blow the team up" when the FA class is so bad? It's not like they'd be able to net much in return. Trade the players there's actually a demand for, but don't trade them just to trade them. You're right, it doesn't. Playing devil's advocate though, couldn't you see us keeping Aramis and then trying to trade for some guys to fill out the team and in the process, hurting the system......Unfortunately, I know I could imagine that happening. To me, that's the way the system doesn't get concentrated on this offseason.

Ryan Hartman made his debut for Arizona tonight, K'ing 2 in his only inning, allowing nothing else.

I think we'd have to overpay for Dunn. He's complained about Wrigley Field on a few occasions from what I can remember. My 1B plan would be this: Go after A-Gon hard. If he's not able to be dealt for, but is not looking like he's re-signing either, I'd wait it out. Go ahead and sign Cantu. Let him play 1B for 2011 and if Aramis walks after the season, he can move to 3rd to accomodate us trying to sign A-Gon again. Or maybe Fielder, if he's still out there then.

I have no idea why it requires fielding the [expletive] MLB team possible to do the bold parts. Without answering for Outshined, my guess would be we'd have to trade away some of our better minor leaguers to compete next year. Because the free agency class is weak and we conceivably won't have alot of money to work with either. If I'm Ricketts, I lower ticket prices next year as a sign of good faith, drop payroll down to 115-120ish mill and spend, spend, spend on the 2011 draft and international signings. In fact, I'd have already done that for 2010 as well, once it was apparent we weren't going to be making the playoffs.

Zapata has 4 home runs, which is fairly prodigious for that league, isn't it?

Personally, I'd be shocked if we made a move during our 10 game homestand. After the Cards leave town next Sunday, that's when you're likely to see Hendry go into "sell" mode.

I read yesterday it was some kind of illness and it zapped him pretty badly. I wonder if he'll even pitch for us this year? Hartman is hurt, by the way, which is why he hasn't shown up on a roster yet. Unsure of the injury though.

While it's interesting to think about, I don't see any of our bad contract guys waiving their NTC's to go to Baltimore under any circumstance. Including Z.

Between Brad Snyder, Robinson Chirinos, Thomas Diamond, and Austin Biben-Dirkx, are we going to find a future regular or two out of this bunch? I'm starting to think it's a distinct possibility with how they keep doing personally. Snyder will be 29 when next season starts and is conceivably blocked as it is. Maybe if Fukudome is dealt though, he could become a 4th OFer type? At least until Brett shows up and moves Colvin to that role...... The blurb on Chirinos about people seeing him as an everyday catcher in the majors was very interesting to me. I know he's spent tons of time in High A and AA already, so it certainly tempers excitement over him, but it does seem like he's started hitting after getting switched TO catcher. Which is odd, in itself. But, catchers do tend to take longer to develop(Soto included). I think there's a relatively solid chance that he is our backup catcher next season. I like him more than Castillo(sorry toonster) and it makes sense to pay someone the minimum than to pay Koyie Hill around a million or so, especially for a guy with zero upside, like Hill has. When we signed Thomas Diamond, I think we were all intrigued, to some degree. I half-expected a version of Andy Pratt, once he started pitching. But, while his velo isn't what it used to be, it definitely appears as if he's learned how to pitch, instead of just throw. His numbers have been great so far and I definitely think he'll be in the mix for a spot in the rotation next season. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that assuming Lilly is dealt, the only guys who definitely have a spot next season are Dempster and Silva guaranteed. While I think at least one of Gorz or Wells will be in the rotation, I could see where Gorz gets dealt and Wells is beaten out, leaving us 3 spots up for grabs(one of which would assumably be gotten thru trade or FA) and the other 2 to be fought for between Wells, Cashner, Samardzija :twisted: , Diamond, Jay Jackson, Bibens-Dirkx, Coleman, and possibly Carpenter...... Bibens-Dirkx is probably the guy that's most surprising for me right now actually. He tore up Peoria last year, but I didn't even expect him to skip High A, much less do excellent in AA and be moved to AAA already this year. Hell, he's only 8 months older than Carpenter is. I still have no clue as to what his repertoire is, but at some point, I think we have to start considering him as being a legit prospect.....With the pair of him and Diamond, I can't see but one OR the other making it longterm, but I feel fairly decent about the odds of one of them coming thru anyway....... Anyway, if I'm ranking these guys in order as to who I think will have the biggest impact longterm on the major league club, I'm going with Diamond, Bibens-Dirkx, Chirinos, and Snyder(who's the only one I don't think will ever be called up personally and will probably hook on somewhere else next year, assuming he's not added to the 40 man....... The other 3 though, I fully expect BA to have them all in our top 30 next year, even at their ages......Diamond could even sniff our top 10-15 range possibly, if you ask me...... Anyway, just curious as to what people's thoughts are on these guys and if anyone else is starting to think they may actually have a future with us.

I wonder if the Cubs will link paying out for some of these kids to being able to move salaries this deadline. I'd hope they choose to reinvest some of those savings with signing their overslot guys and some international FA's. That's what I'm wondering too......If we are going to focus on our system, as it seems Ricketts wants to do, I'd like to see some bigtime money spent on International signings. If we lose 5 mill or so of Lilly's contract, I'd like to see it get put back into the team this way. I'd like to add Harman and Crum to your list too.

According to AZPhil, 41st rounder Dallas Beeler has signed.

I don't want anything to do with Lambo. He's already got 2 strikes for substance abuse. I think we'd be extremely lucky to get one of their top 5 for Lilly myself. I love Gordon, but he;s kind of redundant for us, since we have Castro already and Lee potentially on the way in a few years as well. I rank Martin, Miller and Withrow in that order and I'd put Trayvon Robinson higher than Lambo myself, based on Lambo's situation.

I put Barney at 8 strictly because of him being close to ready at this point. I don't think he'll ever make it to the majors with us as I feel he'll get dealt in the offseason, but I can see him as a starter for a mid market team. Based on upside, he may not make my top 20. But, I think him and Casey Coleman have about the lowest downsides of anyone in the system.

:D I like our system quite a bit right now and my rankings tend to change fairly quickly. But, I hate how the Cubs have promoted him after basically having a single hot streak in Peoria and again in Daytona. I have serious questions about his defense and also about his plate discipline. He's got tons of upside and he's still extremely young too, so it's not like I don't think he can change my opinion on him. This being said, I seriously doubt any major publication would have any lower than 4th and most would have in their top 3 most likely.

I like what Junior Lake is doing right now, but he's still not in my my personal top 10 at the moment. 1 B Jackson 2 Lee 3 Archer 4 J Jackson 5 McNutt 6 Vitters 7 Carpenter 8 Barney 9 Dolis 10 Flaherty I don't think Flaherty has the upside of Lake, but I just think he's got a much better shot at eventually making it to the bigs at least......If I was going to make a "reach" for a top 10 guy at this point in the season, my guy is Jae Hoon Ha, who is playing extremely well in Peoria at 19. Although, he seems to lack plate discipline...... That said, I figure our season end top 10's will probably include Hayden Simpson(assuming he ever pitches, where the hell is he, seriously?) and it wouldn't shock me to see BA include someone like Yeoung Jin Kim either......Reggie Golden could get there as well, if he signs. On a side note, have I been missing the fact Logan Watkins has been playing CF? Or is this a very new development?

Technically, Cashner hasn't lost his prospect status YET, but it'll happen very soon. If he were still eligible, he's done nothing to change his status as our best young arm.