KingCubsFan

If it's for the 5th outfielder's spot, I'd rather have Campana there. The 5th outfielder should strictly be a defensive replacement/pinch runner in the late innings, and I think Campana is perfect for that. Sappelt needs more at bats than that. Once Soriano goes down or Johnson gets traded, then you bring Sappelt up.

Is Goldstein the one that's higher on Concepcion than the others? Because it's hard to see a guy with a ceiling of a 5 starter going that high in the draft. Then again, we drafted Austin Kirk in the third round.

The thing is, he's going to get 18 mil/year for the next 3 years regardless of if and where he plays. Chances are, we'll be paying a big chunk of it, if not all, regardless of if and where he plays. As of now, he's just there and not bothering anyone. However, if we were to sign Cespedes, that would signify the end of him, if not immediately, as soone as Brett Jackson is ready to come up. Therefore, the question is, if we're paying the money is it in our best interest to A. Keep him around, even if he's a bat off the bench B. Set him free C. Do similar to what we did with Zambrano and try to get the best return possible, no matter how lackluster and hope that the other team is willing to at least chip in a few mil. IMHO, B. shouldn't even be an option. C is probably the best bet. I think that if they didn't have to pay much or any money, teams in need of an extra bat would be willing to send us either a former top prospect who's star is all but faded or even a few guys from the back fourth of their top 20. Teams should be willing to pay the same amount for Soriano that they would for someone like Damon or Matsui, so if we could sell them on paying less money than they would for one of them, we should be able to get something of mild use. B should absolutely be an option if he's playing horribly and blocking playing time from someone like Cespedes, Jackson or another high ceiling young player. If there ever comes a time when he's not good enough start because we have a young player better than him, and he is taking a bench spot from guys with a future bench role like Campana or Sappelt, you try to do C. However, if nobody is biting, you just have to cut your losses because his vacant roster spot at that point is more valuable then trying to save a couple million in a trade.

Not to mention he's somehow behind Francisco Lindor now. And the fact that Lee is even in the same vicinity as Profar is laughable.

Lake's days as a SS are likely over, so we're probably looking at two 3B prospects, although Lake could also move to the outfield. I think I'd probably give up Lake, but it's close. Wasn't the guy we gave up for MacPhail our #10 prospect? If that's the case, without getting into system comparisons, giving up Vitters wouldn't be that egregious, although it still sets a very bad precedent.

Signing Edwin Jackson or Roy Oswalt to a short-term (1 or 2 year) contract would be pointless given the Cubs' situation. It adds a few wins to a sub-.500 team. Who cares. The best you can hope for is to trade them later on. That may be one way to acquire prospects, but it surely must be the least efficient. Yeah, you completely missed the point. Had the Cubs front office wanted to, they would have been able to field an over - .500 ballclub while staying within the budget and without saddling the payroll with poor long term contracts. Is it the optimal way to acquire prospects? Absolutely not. But there would have been some semblance of competing during the process. And we'd still be able to make moves to leave us better off in the long run. I'm guessing the Cubs did make inquiries into guys like Oswalt and Jackson. It's pretty clear Oswalt doesn't want to play here (or anywhere in the Midwest), and Jackson turned down a 3 year deal with the Pirates (who are similar to us) to take a one year deal with someone else. Theo can't make these guys come here, and he shouldn't overpay for them so that they do want to come here. For once, we have a management team willing to show restraint, which is why I won't be upset if we lose out on Cespedes because the Marlins gave him $70 $80 million. Last year, we headed into spring training with a bad team that, if everything went right, could be above .500. This year, we head into spring training with a bad team that, if everything goes right, could be above .500. The difference is that we'll be relying on young-ish players taking a step forward, whereas last year we were relying on old guys repeating career years. I never understood the desire to overpay and give up assets this offseason for a better shot at 83 wins. That's basically been the Cubs' strategy for the past 20 years.

I'm not a huge hockey follower, but I remember that when the Hawks' defensive prospects were coming up through the system, guys like Barker, McCarthy and Seabrook were all seen as better prospects, with Keith a notch below them. So perhaps the Cup season was his career year, and now he's playing at his true talent level?

I agree with all that. We're making this move because Cardenas has some pedigree that says he might take a huge leap forward. But that's what it's going to take for him to be useful: a leap forward. There's nothing in the statistical record that says that he deserves an MLB roster spot right now, or will ever be a starter as he develops. Cardenas final year in AAA: .314 .374 .418 .791 Barney final year in AAA: .299 .333 .378 .711 You say one doesn't deserve a roster spot, and you push the other one as an average to above-average player. I sure hope WAR's defensive metrics are 100% sound.

He's a worse version of DeWitt, but with that small chance that he suddenly lives up to his former top-100 prospect status. Everyone's getting boners lately for bad players who were in BA's 75-95 range four years ago. The main benefit is that the risk is minimal compared to the reward. Teams do seem pretty gung ho about failed top prospects the past few years, and I like the idea of the low risk/high reward pick ups, but I think that Jim Abbott could count on his right hand the number of times that these ex 75-95 guys really panned out for the team that picked them up. I guess they figure that teams have had some luck with ex top 50 guys in recent years, so maybe the top 75-100 could work out too. You're not going to find stars in that range but guys like Marquis, Gorzelanny, Wily Mo Pena, Taylor Bucholz and Matt Belisle have all been pretty good pickups for at least one team.

I feel like we say this every few years, and they have a way of working themselves out. Most of those guys will be close to worthless by the time it should become a real problem.

The owner came in, talked a ton about building the farm system, and threw a bunch of money at it. Then he went out and hired a bunch of guys for the front office who have a history of excellent drafting, and he said that's why they were hired. So yeah, that's kind of the plan. Dual fronts. I think it's pretty clear by now that future>>>>>present in Theo's mind. The whole "dual fronts" thing probably had more to do with keeping fans interested until we're actually good. Most fans thought we needed to burn down Wrigley with the team inside and play nothing but minor league players for the next 3 years. (Maybe Barney would be spared) You forgot Campana. Most fans are stupid. The typical fan thinks trading (a) Soriano and Zambrano and (b) getting a bunch of guys who run hard to first and play the "right way" will put them on the path to greatness.

The owner came in, talked a ton about building the farm system, and threw a bunch of money at it. Then he went out and hired a bunch of guys for the front office who have a history of excellent drafting, and he said that's why they were hired. So yeah, that's kind of the plan. Dual fronts. I think it's pretty clear by now that future>>>>>present in Theo's mind. The whole "dual fronts" thing probably had more to do with keeping fans interested until we're actually good.

Generally, I would think an 18 year-old 6'2" lefty who has plus control, touches 92, and has the makings of a plus breaking ball would have a ceiling higher than a 4th or 5th starter. It will be interesting to see the radar readings this year.

It'd be a big deal for any team. High profile Cuban pitching talent hasn't really crapped the bed...not that I can remember. Ariel Prieto?

Shephard and Ferguson will probably need to play pretty early on. And we lost Greenberry. To [expletive] Houston. What a stark contrast the close of last season was to the close of this one. If only we could combine Weis' ability to land offensive talent with BK's ability to land defensive talent. Didn't see that. Kelly did say he can coach offense, but he needs athletes for defense. It's showed in his first two classes. Next year's class will be more important, given the number of scholarships.

Shephard and Ferguson will probably need to play pretty early on.

None of those guys will be as good as Maddux in his prime. He had 2 of the 5 best five seasons in terms of ERA+ during that run.

If he's willing to take a one year deal, it might be worth offering a 3 or 4 deal to see if we could get him for a reasonable price. A good season could make him a tradeable asset. Lefties light him up though.

Who is "they" in that sentence? I'm not sure but the hold up was the medical clearance by ND's staff. I don't know how much lead time they had (I think days, if not hours, as Armond only arrived at ND the Sunday before classes started). Didn't USC not clear him medically either? I wonder if there's something way more serious going on with him. Yes and that's why he's transferring. I don't know if ND eventually cleared him. But they couldn't get the process done in 24 hours. Got it. Can't really blame ND for that then.

Just left. Only seats left were upper deck box and bleachers.

Who is "they" in that sentence?

That would put him in Adam Jones/BJ Upton territory. I'd take it.

I don't see why we have to keep parsing out April vs. the rest of the season. The entire season counted, as far as I know, and it was all MLB competition. How does he look if we just decide to not count June? Because you have to look at it in the context of the rest of his career. We once had a player put up the following one month line: 377 .406 .557 .963 In fact, he actually had a Barney-esque .295 .333 .410 .743 line in the second half of that year. Using (presumably) similar logic to what you're doing right now, Hendry proceeded to give Neifi Perez a multiyear deal. If you looked at it through the context of his entire career, you'd realize he probably wasn't going to do that again, unless he was still playing in Coors.

He had a .354 BABIP in April. You can't expect something like that again, particularly when he doesn't have great speed and that was his first month getting regular playing time in the majors.

Do the same for 2009, 2008 and 2007. Outside of 74 games in AA, he was never that impressive. Putting up average numbers in the PCL doesn't do much for me, particularly when you're 25 and repeating the level.