sporrer17

He had a little slump going (2-19 the past 5 games) so I'd assume it's related to that. He pinch hit last night, so if he is hurt, it's probably not too bad.

Do we even know for sure that Baker is healthy and ready to be put on the roster? But like you said, Freel could be the odd man out with Fuld capable of backing up CF. Freel's only other value was his ability to backup 2b/3b, but Baker gives you that too, and Freel is a pointless OF once Johnson comes back.

Seems like more of a Miles replacement, honestly. Fontenot can't hit LHs, Blanco doesn't hit anyone well, and Miles can't stay healthy or hit well. At least Baker can hit LHs

The only reason Lee doesn't have as many concerns yet, is because we have very little to judge him by. He's got <40 professional ABs, where as Castro (who's not even a full year older than Lee) has 450 ABs the last two years in which he's been very impressive overall. Plus, Castro's doing it a couple levels above where Lee is, and he skipped a few levels to get there. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about Lee. I'm just more impressed by what Castro's done so far, considering his age.

More with the draft and player signings, I believe. Well what would you know :P

I still think it had more to do with getting the all-star games out of the way before the promotions were made (although for Barney at AA, he's going to miss his I believe)

Keedy had a .540 OPS with 0 HRs, 0 SBs, and a 24/9 K/BB ratio in 89 ABs as a 23 year old in Daytona. And the fact that Hoorelbeke was 24 and back in Boise was telling enough for me.

That seems weird to me. His season has been slow start, extremely hot May, very bad June with one nice weekend at the end. Why not try and see if the guy can establish some sort of consistency? Are they thinking he's like the bored genius in school who struggles because he's not challenged and doesn't try? This has the signs of overaggressive Cubs promotions. A good half season in FSL means he'll almost certainly start 2010 in AA, and once that happens the pressure to call him up to the bigs will be large. I'm against the promotion, but, if called up under fan/media pressure, where would Vitters play? Assuming Aramis' separated shoulder doesn't render him useless. Unless he starts next season at AA and hits extremely well, I can't see him being an option next year. He's a very good player, but he's only 19. Next year he'll be 20 still. I'd say he could be an option to start '11, maybe with Ramirez moving to 1b for Lee, who I believe is a FA after next season. We've had quite a bit of roster turnover the past few seasons, so who knows.

No problem with pushing guys (especially highly talented ones like Vitters) now and then. Usually the Cubs are pretty laid back and let the players earn their promotions. I think Vitters earned his, but the timing seems a bit odd. My guess is they wanted to let him play in the all-star game and get back on a good streak before making the move.

Didn't we make the trade for Simon later on, like after the deadline?

I doubt they'd push him that hard. More likely we'll see him back next week sometime, if no setbacks. I'd say start the rehab on Wednesday in Iowa (they play at home Wed-Fri) and if he needs additional time after that, maybe Peoria (they're home starting Sat). Not sure how they'll go about it...not real positive they'd make Ramirez go on a road trip in AAA.

According to Wittenmeyer on Twitter: "Rami expected to take BP and then start 4-5 game rehab assignment."

I really hope Gregg isn't a part of the team next year (he'll be way overpaid just because he's got saves on his resume) and I have real doubts that Harden will still be around. I don't think those guys necessarily have value to next years team. As for Lee, I'm not sure Fox and Hoffpauir won't be able to platoon similar numbers than Lee at that spot next year for far less money. And since it will be nearly impossible to trade Soriano or Bradley, and because Ramirez will in all likelihood be at third, they may need that money and be very limited in where they can use Hoff/Fox. believe me, I'm all for moving those three (Harden, Lee, Gregg) because they are the most replaceable parts on this team, in spots we could actually save money by doing so. With the OF situation (40+ mil for that garbage?) we're going to have to get cheap production at C, 1b, 2b, SS. 3b and the pitching staff are pretty pricey, but effective. Lee's 13 mm and Harden's 7 mm, coupled with Greggs 4+mm, there's almost 25 million we could save and use elsewhere. We have to do everything in our power to make that work for us.

It's so hard to see a legit "fire sale" happening from our end, because even if we don't compete this year, they have to be thinking about next year and not 3-5 years from now. Guys like Gregg, Harden, Lee, etc...are guys that still have value to the team next year, for the most part. Now, unless they really want to go with a mix of really young guys (callups in the bullpen, the Fox/Hoff platoon, etc) and the aging vets we have, I think they'll try the band-aid approach to piecing this team together. Looking at realistic options we have in the minors to contribute late this year/next season: Bullpen - Gaub, Stevens, Parker...these three guys have good #s in the minors, are they talented enough to displace Heilman, Gregg, and Patton? Rotation - Smardzija, Jay Jackson?...really we may only need to replace Harden, which can be done by Marshall/Shark. Catcher - Chris Robinson, Steve Clevenger, Welington Castillo...does replacing the backup catcher make a world of difference? Infield - Bobby Scales, Darwin Barney, Matt Camp (OF)...these guys have little, if any, upside, but could serve as cheap alternatives to Miles. Outfield - Brad Snyder, Fox/Hoff, Colvin...again, none of them should be replacing a starter, but maybe one takes Johnson's spot as backup and another is the 5th OF/1b. Can't see Colvin making the team, but had to include him on the list. So looking at our options, strictly in house (I'm assuming since budget is already tight, we'd have to do a lot of our adding through the minors) we are really looking at a few bullpen arms, a starter or two, and a bunch of backups. We're really in a bad spot here, guys. If we end up with more then 4-5 of these guys on the roster, it may be another long season next year.

I think they'd have to add him to the 40 man, probably not something they want to do for a week or so until Johnson comes back.

Fuld's been bouncing around the organization for awhile and had a cup of coffee back in September 2007, when rosters expanded. His ceiling is a 4th OF on a decent team. I'm guessing this move was done to fill the hole Reed Johnson left when he went on the DL. From what I can gather, his ceiling is a poor mans Scott Podsednik. Basically. Lou's plan for Fuld after the spring was that he goes back to AAA, works on stealing more bases, and then his time would come. He never stole more than 11 bases in a college season, and his career high was 22 back in '06. So far this season, he's stolen 20 bases in 25 attempts, so he's obviously working it.

I'm with you. If we're still playing under .500 in 2 or 3 weeks, we need to start looking at moving pieces like Gregg, Harden, Lee (although I doubt we would do that as it's TOO much of a white flag) and maybe even guys like Johnson. It's really kind of a bad situation for us, though...all the contracts we'd really benefit from moving (Soriano, Bradley, Fukudome, etc) are the ones we can't move without taking a huge loss. The guys that are somewhat effective for their price tag (Lee, Gregg, Harden) are the ones we could get value for.

Fuld's got a .326/.371/.463 line off of LHs this year in AAA. That's the only reasoning I can see, considering Kosuke is so awful against LHs.

Apparently Theriot actually played shortstop his whole life, and that is his regular/natural position. I think he was only playing second because that's where we needed him. When he was asked, "Hey, Theriot, can you play shortstop?" he responded "I AM a shortstop". I think Len or Bob was where I heard that story... if I remember correctly. I remember hearing that too.

Starlin Castro is 1-2 with a run scored, Daytona leads 1-0 in the 2nd. He singled, went to third on a hit by Chirinos, and scored on a hit by Opitz. Flew out to CF in next AB. (Same CF he hit it over for the Inside the Park HR during the AS game)

I'm a big believer that Blanco should be at SS when he and Theriot are both on the field. Theriot simply doesn't have the ability to field much to his right hand side (in the hole) because of his range and limited arm.

He was at Peoria last year. My mistake on that. Guess I didn't realize he had skipped A+. It made sense, age wise, that he'd be in AA this year, so I didn't make the connection. Well in that case, I'd say it helps his case a lot. Still, as a 23 year old in A+ ball, he needs to be hitting like this to be taken seriously.

Should we be happy that Guyer's seemingly turned it around back in Daytona, or is it just because he's a 23 year old who moved back down to a the level he was at last year that he's getting hot? His numbers at AA make him a non-prospect, but his numbers in A+ make him look like a top 5 guy in our system.

I'm sure you have more knowledge of how these things work than I do, I'm just confused by the wording. It made it sound like he got 80K for his education (which isn't totally far fetched) and will still negotiate a signing bonus on top of that. It could be the other way around.

ISU's close to 20K per year...I went there for a semester and it was over 8K, and that was a few years ago. I highly doubt he signed for that little.