Elwood

I don't really care whether Morrison or the Marlins are at fault. It just sounds like the two parties are unhappy.

They're also paying A.J. effin' Burnett 16.5M per year. The Cubs have been burned by their last two mega deals, of course they're going to be concerned moving forward. I don't get the "do what ever it takes to sign them" mentality.

It's more than his twitter shenanigans. He's been taking shots at Hanley Ramirez, and skipped a season ticket holder meet and greet the day he was demoted to AAA.

Have you seen their lineup since trading Pence and Bourn? They're not going to sell many tickets for the next few years.

It sounds like he's fallen out of favor in Florida. He's only 23 and hits for power. http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-08-13/sports/fl-marlins-logan-morrison-sent-down-020110813-17_1_logan-morrison-gaby-sanchez-veteran-wes-helms Is there any chance the Cubs would be interested? Should they be interested? I just don't have any faith in Colvin.

Found this interesting from an MLBTR article that discusses Scott Boras clients. I didn't realise how much of a favorite the Cubs were to sign Fielder. Whatever these front office guys are saying, I really hope that Ricketts steps in and tells them it's what needs to be done as he did during the draft. What teams are actually in a position to offer that kind of money for Fielder? The Red Sox and Yankees aren't going to pay that much for a DH. Who does that leave besides the Cubs? EDIT: I looked around a bit. It sounds like the Blue Jays and Orioles are expected to make a run at Fielder. I couldn't find much else.

He isn't OPS'ing close to 1.000 this year.

Right or wrong, I haven't thought of Wilson as an elite pitcher up to this point. Especially when compared to 2013 options like Greinke, Hamels, Cain and Weaver. Although, I guess there's no reason why we can't go for one of these guys too once Z's money is freed up.

by numbers i assume you mean ERA and WHIP, and only this season? maholm pitches half his games in a pitcher's park; wilson pitches his home games in one of the best hitter's parks in baseball. maholm was bad last year (ERA over 5); wilson was good. maholm isn't bad but he's nothing more than a #3/4 at best. let's not pretend that you're going to get roughly equivalent production whether you sign him or wilson. Basically. I was looking at WHIP, ERA, and Quality starts (need to step up my sabermetrics). Good points about the home parks. Do you think Wilson would be a #1? Obviously, he is the better pitcher. I just don't think you want to overpay for him.

I would love to fill the hole at 1B with Fielder or Pujols as long as we can do it without signing either of them for 6+ years, but I don't know if that's very realistic. I was perusing a list of 2012 free agents, and saw some interesting names besides the turds you listed. I would welcome guys like Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer as cheaper offensive options assuming the Colvin experiment doesn't work out. I've seen a lot of talk about C.J. Wilson on here. He's a great pitcher, but since he's one of the bigger names available, he's going to get paid. Paul Maholm's overall numbers actually compare pretty similarly to Wilson's (minus the strikeouts) and I would assume he could be had much cheaper. Although, I would expect Wilson's numbers to improve with a move to the NL. I guess I'm just saying I don't think it's an absolute necessity to sign the sexy names this offseason in order to improve the team. It seems perfectly reasonable to me for the FO to have concerns about sinking big bucks into one player. Basically, the Olney tweet is pretty damn obvious. By the way, here's the list I was using. http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2001/04/potential-free-agents-for-2012.html If it's incorrect, or if I'm missing something, I apologize. To me, keeping Ramirez around for next season should be the top priority. 3B will be a [expletive]-show otherwise.

I'm not positive, but this might also be the game where he ejected the umpire. Yep, that's the one. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80951290/

Sutcliffe is mad as hell on Baseball Tonight.

In case there were any doubts about the Cubs spending some money. Jimbo thinks we can compete next year. And he also had this to say. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/6782205-417/gm-jim-hendry-doesnt-believe-cubs-need-to-go-boom-to-improve.html

OR. It says or. And that's probably not right, either Where are you seeing 'or'? I'm hoping you are right, but I don't see it. This is what he tweeted. "The Angels likely would have to give up nothing more than mid- to lower tiered prospect or 2. Cubs would pay big part of salary." Wow. Good call. Totally thought he was saying a low tier prospect or two. Thanks. Twitter strikes again.

He somehow finds a way to be even more awful with each opportunity the Rockies give him. If he could be acquired cheaply, then I would be all for giving him a shot. But there's no way he can be your plan A at this point.

http://twitter.com/#!/Buster_ESPN/statuses/96289884968460288 Buster Olney tweets:

Gillick's resume: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ycn-8851107

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/07/carlos-pena-likely-to-be-traded.html

I have no idea who this guy is, but he raises some interesting points regarding Sean Marshall. http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2011/7/19/2283236/the-cubs-wont-trade-sean-marshall-seriously

I hope you're right and I would add in one of Dempster and Zambrano. Why would you want to trade Dempster? Who's going to pitch next season?

No, it's not shocking, but I thought it was worth a post. Thanks for the insightful reply. He was clearly referring to WSR, lol Sorry about that. I was in a crappy mood last night.

No, it's not shocking, but I thought it was worth a post. Thanks for the insightful reply.

I'm not watching the game, but from his fantasy stats it looks like Dempster is dealing.

According to this guy http://twitter.com/#!/Gambo620/status/91620966072987648

I think it's because the average joe who played highschool sports thinks that he would lay down a successful bunt 80% of the time and lead the team in grit. It can't be that hard, right? Similarly, I find it difficult to understand how anyone in the NBA ever misses a free throw.