sporrer17

Yes. The man is a Sherman tank. haha the 2nd quote wasn't me, but i'll claim it if no one else does :lol:

Plus think about it this way...less starts for Rusch. Zambrano, Maddux, Marmol, Marshall, Hill. At least we know Hill is capable of going deep into games. He's a big K guy, so he will throw a lot of pitches, but he's been doing it for a while now. Guzman seems to fall apart before getting to the 4-5 inning mark. Hill's problem is just location, not endurance.

Because Hill has been pitching out of his mind, and Guzman has been just average since returning to Iowa. Hill still has not had much of an opportunity up here...I still think he's got big league potential (as a nice 2/3 starter)

Wow. talk about polar opposites on the same team. Zambrano is hit on the throwing elbow with a bat and will make his next start. Prior strains his oblique and goes to the DL. Anyone else find that absolutely freaking hilarious? :roll:

He's definitely athletic enough to play either position, as I believe he was a SS in Detroit's system for a bit, or at least drafted as one. I'm not sure where more of his problems come from (throwing/hands) defensively, but if it's his arm, he could make a nice move to 2b and be a very good hitting 2b. Or he could be moved to LF and probably do a very nice job. He's got speed, power, and an okay average. Decent job of drawing walks too. Solid IsoD (.064) and pretty decent IsoP (.210). The average could stand to come up a bit, but if he is a .270 hitter with a .335 OBP and .480 SLG in the bigs, he could be a very valuable part of any team, especially with good speed and HR power.

Murton at leadoff with his good OBP skills would make too much sense. I love that move personally, but I see him as a 2/6/7 hitter under Baker. He's not exactly an RBI machine at this point, so I think 3-5 are definitely out of the question, and if we were stuck with him at one of those spots, we may be sunk. He is great at going the other way, and he's a fairly patient hitter, almost ideal for the 2 hole. Even his speed fits nicely there, as he doesn't "clog" anything up for D-Lee behind him. If Murton does start hitting like he can, I don't want to give up on him yet. I know we need a big bat, but I want Murton to be a big part of this team.

And yet I'd give anything for it to be a happy balance between the two. They do have a large number of youngsters that look to be solid major leaguers some day, but still don't have that sure-fire stud. Gallagher is getting there as he's 20 and in AA absolutely dominating, but give him the rest of the year before we start hyping him up. He could conceivably be our best prospect by season's end, with the way Pie, Dopirak, Guzman have played. We need to see a position player or two succeed at the big league level. We've got 2 of them in the everyday lineup right now, but Cedeno is fading fast and Murton is still lacking any form of power. Hopefully this recent surge by Murton is a sign of things to come, because I really like him as a hitter.

Just by knowing the lack of real impact bats that are going to be available (save for Lee and Soriano), I'd probably opt for the big time pitcher option. I just think a quality arm is going to do more for this team (especially with Wood and Maddux likely out of the equation) than a big time bat would. Zambrano, Zito/Schmidt, Prior, Marshall, Marmol/Hill/Guzman/etc is a solid rotation if Prior is healthy. I don't see any upgrades (in the FA market anyways) offensively at any of these positions: C, 1b, 3b, RF, CF, SS. That leaves 2b and LF. While Walker is a solid hitter, Soriano would be a nice middle of the lineup guy at 2b. Murton has an okay average, good OBP, and okay speed, but his complete lack of pop has got to be a concern. While there is still plenty of time for this kid to be a good or even great hitter, we will need immediate production, and our best bet is to sign a veteran LF with some pop. Personally, I see nothing wrong with the middle of our lineup the way it is now. I love a Lee-Ramirez-Jones-Barrett combo for the 3-6. Would it be nice to have a C-Lee in LF hitting 4th/5th? Sure. Can we live with that 3-6 and still be a good hitting team, of course. We need to get on base in front of those guys, and Lee needs to be healthy. If you have a 1-2 of Pierre and say...Adam Kennedy, we should be driving in plenty of runs with that 3-6. This of course assumes that Ramirez ends up getting back to the .280-.290, 30-35 HR type hitter he is rather than the .260 hitter he's been this year. Jones and Barrett are great at 5 and 6 IMO, and only 2 hitters on the market would be a big upgrade to the middle of our order, those being Lee and Soriano. Murton makes a fine 7th hitter, especially if he gets his average back up and starts hitting a HR once in a while. Cedeno, while not a star offensively, gives this team a lot in speed and fielding, which should not be overlooked. Sign a starter (Zito/Schmidt) and trade some young guys for a big bat in LF or at 2b. Those are our only options, IMO. Or go get Tejada and slide Ronny to 2b.

At times this team looks like it needs to be blown up completely and started from scratch. However, Zambrano is the last piece that would go, and it would take an equally young, talented, and potentially great player to land him. I see maybe 2 of those players around baseball...Cabrera and Pujols. Unless someone absolutely blew me over with a package of guys I feel can help next year and beyond, I don't even consider it.

Rundle finally shows up somewhere, and Joseph with a couple more hits tonight. I like it. Good to see Aardsma doing well at AAA, Gallagher with a great outing (12 K and 2 BB in 7 IP...he's doing amazing at every stop he makes.)

Reed is a very good hitter at this stage of his career. He struggled big time early on, and he didn't have a great year last year. He's always been considered a good bet to hit for a high average, he's got good speed (especially for a catcher...14 SB) He's hitting .300+ with a couple of HRs and pretty good speed, a nice #2 hitter. He's got good D, will stick at C, but can play 1b/3b as well. Carter is a good athlete with power potential (6 HR in 101 AB). He's still pretty raw IMO, but he's got the skills. And he's even taken 12 BB in 101 AB. Johnston is still very young (turned 19 in March) and he's good at taking walks (.305 OBP despite hitting under .200). He's got tools to play, but he's tremendously raw. There's still time, considering he's one of the youngest players in his league. He went deep off Hoffman in the only ST AB he had this year.

Jeremey taking after big bro and picking up the Save. I know it's only been 4 games for him, but Papelbon seems to be having no problems whatsoever with the Northwest League. If he keeps this up, he should be headed for Peoria rather quickly, wouldn't you think? He's going to have to move quickly, as he's already 23. 1-0,2 S, 11.1 IP, 12/3 K/BB, 3 H

My favorite position prospects: Patterson-Speed and decent power for 2b. Fox- great bat for C Reed - great bat for whatever position, good average, developing power. Pie - speed, great D, good hitting potential. Moore - power, speed, decent OBP Honorable Mention: -Miguel Negron has been great since being picked up from the Blue Jays system. -Yusuf Carter has been getting on track for Peoria lately, and even with the low batting average (.245) he's taking a good amount of walks (11 in <100 ABs) and hitting HRs (6 in <100 ABs). He's got good speed (3 SB, 0 CS) and he's capable of playing catcher, although that seems to have been eliminated as I don't think he's seen any time there this year. My sleeper pick for positional player: Alfred Joseph. He's small but he's got good speed and the power he lacked last year is showing up this year. He just turned 20, so he's still fairly young. I don't know why, but I like him.

Hart for Maddux. Done and done. Welcome to the Chicago Cubs starting OF Cory. You'll be replacing Matt Murton...or maybe Juan Pierre.

If we were to part with either Eyre or Howry at this point, it would definitely take a top 5 prospect from someone's system to get just one. To get both it would be a HUGE amount of talent. 2 very talented relievers.

Boise lost 7-5. They got 2 in the 9th, but Colvin came to the plate as the tying run with 2 outs and grounded out to 3rd to complete an 0-5 night at the plate. Lansford got 2 hits tonight, Baez got 2, and got robbed of an IF single in the 9th by cruddy umpiring.

A-Rod D Lee C Lee Barrett 3-6? Looks pretty good. if you keep Jones, he's probably 6th, Barrett 7th. If not, Murton plays LF/RF and hits 2nd (he's still got a solid OBP and good speed) and Cedeno hits 8th. CF Pierre again gets the leadoff spot. That lineup could be fun. *this is assuming Ramirez would be moved to get A-Rod, rather than basing a deal around Prior or someone like that.

I believe the article about Rundle stated he was going to sign with the Cubs, but didnt confirm that he had actually signed. I'd say they are probably still negotiating?

No it doesn't ensure anything. But there is a heckuva lot better chance to have a good prospect or two come from those rounds if we sign 10 or so guys rather than 5-ish.

Exactly right WooWoo. If nothing else, by signing a bunch of guys with decent talent from the 5-15 round range, we are almost sure to have a few prospects pan out just because of pure numbers. It also helps that some of them were probably decent enough to go higher and still signed with us.

We are getting guys signed fairly quickly IMO. With no 2/3/4 picks, the Cubs need to get what they can from the rest of the picks. Getting guys like Renshaw, Huseby, Andersen, Rundle, Samardzija, etc signed quickly and having them begin playing as soon as possible will help minimize the loss of those 3 early round picks. They are doing pretty good so far. We signed a couple of talented HS OFers that could help offset the loss of those picks in Rundle and Andersen.

With some of the junk on our bench, and some of the very versatile young guys on Iowa, you'd think these moves would be obvious to anyone who knows much about baseball...but then again...our management team doesn't always seem that they actually know much of anything. Fontenot/Theriot>>>>>>Neifi/Womack There...two roster spots are better used after switching those guys. I believe Fontenot has played OF this year as well, and both are young guys with good OBP. AHHH I give up, this would make waaaaaay too much sense.

With the loss of a bunch of quality minor league arms over the past year or so (Pinto, Nolasco, Sisco, Mitre, Wellemeyer), it'd be nice to see a guy like Petrick get back on track and become a big time prospect. He's always been highly thought of, he just needs to go out and show it now that he's healthy.

I'd agree with you, but I don't know how willing the Cubs are to give him any significant playing time at 3b/LF/RF/C...he hasn't played any of them very much lately. Since '04, he's played 22.1 Innings at C, 1 inning at 3b, and 0 innings in the OF. All the rest have come at 1b/DH. I'd be more than willing to give Nevin a chance in LF...Murton hasn't been a gold glover either, and at least we'd have a few legit power threats with Nevin, Lee, and Ramirez in our lineup. I'd love to have his versatility and power be an option for this club, he's actually got a lot of value if used correctly. A nice sub at a few different positions that can provide legitimate power off the bench when he's not starting.

Just wondering when someone will point out that Welington Castillo started at C for Boise tonight :lol: He went 0-3 with a BB and R.