davell

Yeah, I've been reading what they've been saying too and they make the Oriole Hangout guys look good. by comparison. They love them some Grandy, that's for sure. You do have to wonder though, if all the "love" that the fans have for him influences what they'll take for him, just like Roberts, in the end......

Obviously, it's early to be talking about this, but on the other hand, we saw Castro, Lee, and Carpenter break out over 2009 and I'm already wondering who can do it in 2010? The first guy that comes to mind for me already broke out in 2009, but hasn't really gotten his due, since he's has plenty of time in A Ball already(although he was very young and is still age-appropriate). Of course, I'm talking about Kyler Burke, who if he has a big year in Daytona could become a top 100 guy, in my opinion rather easily. Chris Archer could make some serious noise too, if he harnesses his control a bit more. If he puts it all together, I could see him climbing up lists bigtime. Dae-Eun Rhee is another guy who should make a name for himself in 2010. He should be fully recovered from TJS and if he gets back to where he was before, he'll be challenging for a spot back in our top 10..... DJ LeMahieu can make a big impact as well, he's just going to have to show a little power and considering his size, it could just be a matter of getting a little loft in his swing. Finally, my 5th guy is Jeffry Antigua. The kid knows how to pitch already. He's very polished and while it was disappointing to not see him show up on any prospect lists through BA, hopefully once he gets a little higher in levels(I could see him spending most of 2010 in Daytona personally) scouts start to appreciate him more. He may not be a "stuff" guy, but the reports we've seen have been positive from what I can figure. Here are 15 more guys that I figure have a chance to show us something in 2010 and really turn into true prospects..... Ryan Flaherty Logan Watkins Chris Huseby Ryan Searle Brooks Raley Austin Kirk Casey Coleman Trey McNutt Dong-Yub Kim Kyung-Min Na Chris Rusin Tzu-An Wang Matt Cerda Robert Wagner Wes Darvill

While I definitely think ESPN has biases towards New York and Boston prospects, I don't think that scouts fall into that trap at all. They're hopefully smarter than that anyway.

Here's a question to ponder......Is Granderson so much better than Marlon Byrd, that it's worth giving up a ton to get him? Say we have to give up Marshall/Guzman/Vitters/Fuld for him, for instance. Is it worth it? Especially considering we'll have him and Fukudome in the same lineup and will have to have at least one and possibly two right handed outfielders on the roster to use against lefties......

A potential franchise SS for a platoon CF is a bad idea. I'd include Vitters and just about anybody else though. I would too. Vitters' stock has dropped some already as his nagging injuries, lack of plate discipline, and defensive shortcomings have all been talked about alot recently. If he's the centerpiece and we weren't giving up a ton more, count me in. The only prospect, other than Castro, that I wouldn't deal is actually Hak-ju Lee. You don't get great value dealing someone who's a ways away from the majors to begin with, but I really want to see him and Castro as the top of our batting order at some point in the near future. I really see Lee as the guy in our system currently that will make a huge name for himself next season. And considering he's probably better than 50-50 to make BA's top 100 list THIS year, I guess I'm saying he could wind up being Castro-like in his assent up the lists.

I want to see Harden back with us next year, I think he's our best pitcher if he's healthy. Would I offer arbitration to him? Yeah, I would. But, I'm going to play devil's advocate here and try to get inside the Cubs heads on this one.(which ain't easy obviously) I doubt the Cubs see anyone offering him more than a one year, incentive laden deal in this depressed market. If he gets somewhere around 9-10 mill in arbitration and yet, he's not going to get an offer for much more than 5 mill or so guaranteed with a bunch of incentives to push it up to the 10 range or possibly even higher, why do you give it to him straight up without the incentives? Technically, you're overpaying when you don't have to and with our high payroll as it is, we don't have that luxury anymore anyway. My guess is the Cubs will talk with Tellem and Harden and offer what they think other teams will, as far as guaranteed money, assuming Hendry talks to Ricketts and gets the OK from him. My gut tells me there will be lots of true bargains out there this offseason and even though we aren't expected to up the payroll by much, I could see instances where Hendry goes and presents Ricketts with some stuff that he sees as true value buys and maybe Ricketts decides to go with it, because of what you get dollar-wise.

If we get in on this, I really see Guzman and not Marmol as the reliever that we try to send out. Mainly, because Marmol is the only guy we have that's proven he can close ballgames. And also the fact that Guzman has had more than his fair share of missed time, would make him the more logical guy for us to try to send out. He's a damn good pitcher and it could backfire, but he'll be less money as well and that would probably appeal to Detroit too. And yes, Granderson certainly has his faults and they keep him from being an elite player most likely, but if we actually try to pry him away from Detroit, we'll have to give at least one REAL VALUE and not just "spare parts" because he's extremely popular(like Roberts and the O's) and Detroit will not want to face any fan backlash over dealing him. At the very least, I think Carpenter/Guzman/Fuld/Marshall. I don't see us moving Theriot this offseason myself. More likely, I think we'd be parting with at least one top 100ish prospect, who's conceivably not THAT far from the majors, like J Jackson/Cashner/ or Vitters. Lee doesn't have as much value right now, since he's a ways away to most teams, I would think, even if he winds up as a top 100 guy. We definitely have the pieces to get him if we choose though the one team that could kill any offer we have is the Yankees. Not in terms of talent they can give up either, but they could take back Robertson, Dontrelle, or Bonderman and provide even more salary relief than what we, or most likely anyone else possibly could. They'd just need to weigh Granderson versus Damon and see if they think it's worth it for them to do. As far as the Oakland package we landed Harden with, I think a more apropos comparison would be something like this: Patterson=Barney, Murton=Fuld, Gallagher=J Jackson, and Donaldson=Castillo

Someone from the New York Post, probably their version of Phil Rogers, wrote an article much like Rogers' did about Granderson's availability and he said a deal the Yankees should consider for him would start with Austin Jackson as the centerpiece, with Ian Kennedy and Zach McAllister.

I'll be surprised if Harden gets more than one guaranteed year this offseason from anyone.

I'd go conservative myself. Spend a little more money in the Dominican, Pac Rim, and on the draft. The farm is on the right track for sure already, go ahead and beef it up some more. Get the right front office guys you want in place, and don't spend a lot on the major league team until that is done. Whoever takes over for Hendry and Co. will already be inheriting a pretty large mess as far as contracts go. The good news about this though, is with our current payroll, we should be competitive within the division anyway. Sign a couple of low price guys to short term deals to fill out the roster and we could very possibly head into 2010 as the Central Division favorites, basically because the division sucks.

The more I've thought about it, Detroit would have to be seeking a public relations nightmare to accept a quantity type package from anyone for someone as popular as Granderson is. I honestly wouldn't trade Marmol, since we don't have a guy who has proven he can close other than him currently on the roster. Castro would be the only prospect I wouldn't let go, but I'd tier off the others so they could only grab one of certain type guys. Tier 1-J Jackson, Cashner, Lee, Vitters (B Jackson would be here too, but I don't think he can be dealt yet, unless it's as a PTBNL) Tier 2-Carpenter, Burke, Archer, Flaherty, Colvin, Castillo Tier 3- Any of about 10-15 guys who we have that actually has some modicum of value, as our system is getting deeper. Marshall or Gorzelanny are interchangeable in these offers, so I'm just going to say Marshall for what it's worth. Theriot and Wells will be mentioned on occasion, but I don't see them honestly getting dealt either. Guzman is probably the better bet to be dealt than Marmol too, so I'd let him go in some of these. Offers I'd make for Granderson would probably be something like these...... Theriot and Wells with a Parker/Stevens type Marshall/Guzman/Fuld/and a Tier 1 guy Marshall/Fuld/Stevens/Tier 1 and a Tier 2 guy Guzman/Theriot/Tier 2 and 3 guy Tier 1, 2 Tier 2's and a Tier 3 Wells/ Guzman and a Tier 2

If we actually only have 2 options, being Tampa and Texas, and we HAVE to trade Bradley, I'm pulling for Millwood over Burrell. I'd also take Castillo over Burrell, assuming that it's even an option(which I doubt honestly). It just seems to me that we'll wind up dealing Burrell back to an AL team and eating all of his salary too. Millwood and Castillo could at least serve a function on the Cubs anyway.

Arbitration-wise, whats he going to make? 1.3, 1.5 tops? What did Cedeno get his first year? Like 800,000 or so, wasn't it? I don't think we will non-tender him, but he could get dealt, I suppose.....

By the way, for anyone looking forward to another offseason of Roberts or Peavy type rumors, your wish has been granted by the notion that Granderson COULD POSSIBLY be available and his Chicago ties as well.

"Blow him out?" I get what you're saying, but what a weird way to say it. I'm in sales man, what can I say....... :D

For some reason, I don't. I figure Hendry will blow him out to the highest bidder within 2 weeks or so. I doubt we'll be pleased at all with the return or the amount of cash we're sending back, but I do think he'll be gone soon.

I'm pretty sure any speculation about Detroit being a landing spot for Bradley has strictly been based on Bonderman, Maggs, or Dontrelle. Not to mention, I THINK that Leyland said he wasn't interested in Bradley already. So, I figure we'd have to trade other pieces in order to get him and still send Bradley elsewhere......Which is fine obviously as it looks like either Texas or Tampa will wind up being where he ends up. Granderson would be a very nice pickup and since Detroit is looking at trimming salary, we'd need to send over some low price talent(most likely major league ready, since Detroit thinks they cam compete). Yeah, they'd probably want a minor leaguer or two, but I'd stay away from the guys considered to be our top 7(Castro, Vitters, J and B Jackson, Cashner, Lee, and Carpenter) and try sending off some high upside guy like Burke or Archer and also a guy who almost definitely WILL at least make the majors, like Colvin or Flaherty. Then, send off a solid relief prospect/cheap major league reliever like Stevens or Parker. So far, all you've sent is one of Burke or Archer, one of Colvin or Flaherty, and one of Stevens or Parker. No, this won't get it done, but that's when you add in the guys that can help them immediately. Fuld and/or Fox could both be very useful players at the major league level especially in the AL for Fox. If that doesn't do it for them, replace Parker or Stevens with Marshall or Gorzelanny and see if that works for them. In most cases, I don't think quantity over quality type deals work on any level, as someone can always trump it with one really good prospect, but in Detroit's situation, I think they may may prefer something like this, as they can fill some roster spots very cheaply and also give their system a boost as well, which they need.

Sabean basically came out and said he's not interested in Bradley. So, Rowand or Zito can be crossed off the bad contract list of what could Milton get us back...... Bruce and a few others have mentioned Marlon Byrd as someone we're likely to go after, once Bradley is dealt. He's one of Jaramillo's favorites, from what I've read.

I don't think Hendry even WANTS to keep Miles around honestly. But, he's untradeable. And asking Ricketts to take a bath on Bradley's contract is probably about all Jim can sack up for this offseason. It's not exactly getting him in Ricketts' good graces, in all likelihood, so he's probably stuck with Miles and hoping he improves a ton from last year's numbers.

Even if it's Millwood, the question still is how much cash we have to send as well? And then, the question becomes "how do the Cubs figure whatever cash they send into the 2010 payroll or if it counts towards 2011 or whatever other way they can account for it......

Levine mentioned earlier today we're talking to the Rangers. Millwood could be a possibility as a return.

I've not paid a ton of attention to defensive metrics honestly. I know UZR has it's downfalls, but it IS a pretty decent way to judge by, correct?

AZ Phil just put put out his Cubs top 15, with 16-20 listed as well, just with no write ups, over at TCR. He says he favors guys at the higher levels. Anyway, he's got them in this order. 15 Guyer, mentions he could start moving around, possibly to 1B, 3B, or even 2B next year. 14 Barney, who Phil really seems to like for some reason. 13 Colvin, who he expects to be shuttled back and forth from Iowa next year. 12 Fuld, who he actually says has all the makings of a future GM. 11 Flaherty, who he said COULD wind up as a lefty DeRosa utility type. Could see him skip Daytona possibly 10 Burke, didn't say much we haven't heard already, should start in Daytona 9 Carpenter, same as Burke really, nothing new. Should be back at Tennessee 8 Lee, very raw defensively, swings somewhat like Ichiro, could possibly see him switch to CF in the future, should be at Peoria next year. 7 B Jackson, funky swing but has plus bat speed to make up for it. Should be hitting in top third of Daytona's lineup next year, presuming his wrist is OK. 6 LeMahieu, who he says will probably be moved off SS, to either 2B or 3B after 2010. Wants to see him make it to Tennessee, so Ryno can hopefully help him gain some pull power. 5 Castillo(toonster will like this) If he continues his second half success from Tennessee and Soto has another year like he did, Castillo could be our starting C in 2011. 4 Vitters, unfortunately brought up Kelton as a comp, as the higher prospect type thats most likely to flame out for the Cubs. If we didn't have Soriano in LF, he could see the Cubs trying to convert him, nonchalant at 3B, although he says the right things about wanting to improve. Phil does mention he expects him in Tennessee next year, for what it's worth. 3 Castro, plus range, strong arm, and sees some of a young Renteria in him. 2 J Jackson, advanced pitcher with 4-5 pitches, very confident, very athletic, could see him up by midseason, but Cubs won't rush him. 1 Cashner, who he sees longterm as a setup guy or closer, not sure what Cubs will do with him though, probably starts at Iowa next year.

Just saw that the Giants told him to look for a new team a little while ago. And his agent said that he's a great fit for a team that already has some "power" in their lineup and is looking to get a little more "athletic". Basically, he's sending subliminal messages to Hendry already. I'd put it 50/50 that he's a Cub in 2010. :-&

I'm not a Castillo fan, by any means, but if we made that deal and didn't have to pay any money out, I don't think I'd be all that upset. Castillo is owed 2-12 at this point and it would free up a little money for us, while actually upgrading a current spot as well.(Mainly because I don't see us playing Baker at 2B everyday). To me, it's better than trading Bradley for Burrell and sending money to Tampa AND then trading Burrell back to an AL team while most likely eating more money and not having filled a single hole in the process.