Sammy Sofa

Where the hell is he gonna play for us? SS. Move Castro over to 2B.

It's OK, Reyes. Just stay at Wrigley. Those Mets don't appreciate you like I would.

When was the last time Marmol had to appear in a save situation? Seems like the Cubs are either losing or blowing the other team out when he comes in these days just to get work.

Fukusexy. Really wish the Cubs could play the Mets at least 40 times this season.

It's more than what you are willing to spend. It's what you are willing to spend in contrast to what all the other big spenders are spending, and what is available. Unless you are the Yankees, signing a middle of the order bat and an ace pitcher is nearly impossible. Again, it's up to the Ricketts. If they're willing to keep the payroll at approx. $150 million if necessary then the Cubs would potentially have in the vicinity of $50-$60 million to spend. That would easily cover both if both are available. Then they have even more money coming off the books after 2012.

Managers tend to favor veterans, even [expletive] ones. I still like that "since he's not good at the bat everybody just assumes he's a quality defensive catcher" theory that somebody put out there. He's just an experience crappy catcher. Isn't the opposite true for Soto? Wasn't he considered a good defensive catcher in the minors until he raked in AAA in 2007 and then won the ROY award in 2008? Yeah, Soto's reputation was as being a solid catcher defensively and just OK at best with the bat until he broke out.

Managers tend to favor veterans, even [expletive] ones. I still like that "since he's not good at the bat everybody just assumes he's a quality defensive catcher" theory that somebody put out there. He's just an experience crappy catcher. And if you win a game with such a player, managers will always try and place part of the credit on that crappy catcher for some reason. Yeah, they just glom on to these journeyman catchers like they must be defensive gurus since they suck so much with the bat. Hill has the added mystique of the mangled hand and being a switch-hitter, so he might as well be a walking good luck charm for managers.

As fair as you may be treating them, you are still talking about filling both an ace role and middle of the order hitter in free agency, which is next to impossible for anybody outside the Yankees. It's all up to what the Ricketts are willing to spend. If they're willing to keep this year as a rough ceiling as to what the Cubs can spend then they're going to have a LOT to spend after this season and the next, to the point they that could conceivably sign someone like Pujols or Fielder + Reyes this year, someone like Kemp next year and still have more than enough money for a true ace.

Managers tend to favor veterans, even shitty ones.

I never said they had anyone for the middle of the order. I've repeatedly said that they're going to have to look to FA to fill that. Fortunately they have money to spend and good FA's available after this season and 2012 to spend it on. I also didn't say they had anyone to front the pitching rotation. But again, use the money for a desired ace and ideally they're able to produce some #3-level starters and maybe 1 or 2 #2's instead of having to shell out for guys like Dempster or Lilly. Quite frankly, I really don't give a damn about your semantics argument because I really don't think I'm overselling the current crop of prospects. I've been abundantly clear that I don't think the Cubs don't have any stars on the horizon now that Castro is up. But I'll be plenty happy if they can fill several spots that they usually have to spend too much extra money on and then be able to use that money on impact players to fill the critical spots. No, that's not the ideal way to be able to utilize the farm, but fortunately the Cubs are in the position starting after this season to have serious money to work through it. It's a "stars aligning" sort of thing that can still work very much in their favor sooner rather than the later even though the farm isn't at the level we ultimately want/need it to be at.

And where did those WAR #'s come from? BR has Byrd at: 2008: 3.6 2009: 3.6 2010: 2.2 Bourn: 2008: -2.1 2009: 2.6 2010: 4.5

I was referring to position players since that was the obvious tract of the discussion. My mistake for not being more clear. And again, nobody is saying the farm is ideal or doesn't still need a lot of work.

Thanks, SP. Yeah, mine is pretty brutal, too. No transactions until the ASB, as well. Adam Dunn Prince Fielder Adrian Gonzalez Carlos Pena Carlos Quentin Aramis Ramirez Victor Martinez Adam Jones Carl Crawford Alexei Ramirez Jason Heyward Jimmy Rollins Those bolded ones are just killing me right now.

Michael Bourn: 2009: 4.9 WAR 2010: 4.8 WAR Marlon Byrd: 2009: 1.6 WAR 2010: 4.3 WAR Not sure what the point is, since I don't think you'll find any Byrd super-fans here.

It's a pretty good bet that Castro is going to be manning one of the top 2 spots for a while (hopefully #2). 3-4 can be filled via FA. Not being able to fill those slots internally doesn't mean the farm system is a failure. Nobody's saying the Cubs' farm system is ideal or set right now, but the repeated efforts to make it sound like it's barren just makes people sound ignorant.

No way is this system better than it has been in decades. That's ridiculous. One decade ago it was better. There may be multiple guys who project as useful, but the majority of those will still fail to live up to their limited projections. In regards to position players? What the [expletive] are you talking about? The Patterson-Choi-Hill era?

That's a terrible reason. Realizing where the player is likely going to be in conjunction with the team's progression isn't a terrible reason. When your a big market team with a group of good young players like Castro, Soto, Barney, Garza, Cashner, and Marmol, Marshall and a decent farm system, theres no reason not to be able to build a perenial contender around the best player in the world. If they cant manage that, there are a lot of people that need to be fired. If Pujols leaves the Cards, their likely done. When Fielder leaves the Brewers, they might be competitve for another year or 2 until Greinke and Marcum leave, and then their empty farm system leaves them in trouble. After that, I could really see the NL Central coming down to the Cubs, Reds, and Pirates for the next several years. That "group of good young players" is actually quite depressing. You know things aren't good when Barney starts to show up in that category. Again, it's all about expectations. Yes, no superstars on the near future horizon now that Castro is up. But there are also several that project to be very useful everyday players. And you know some of them project to be better than Barney, so don't act like all of a sudden he's the relative diamond in a pile of turds. In all, the farm system is much better than it's been in decades. There's still plenty of work to be done in that regard, but at least they do have guys who have a very good chance to come up and contribute a la a player like Byrd instead of having to go out and waste money on them. That gives you a lot more options (and a lot more money to work with) when players like Pujols and Fielder and Reyes and Kemp and so on show up as FA.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/That-8217-s-wild-Cubs-8217-Berg-throws-only-;_ylt=Ak7PV2lcAsrtxsdWCjfI28URvLYF?urn=mlb-wp7742 ALMOST ONLY THE COBS

The baseball draft doesn't work that way 99% of the time.

That's a terrible reason. Realizing where the player is likely going to be in conjunction with the team's progression isn't a terrible reason. If you're convinced that Pujols is on a serious decline, fine, but to pass on a player of his ideal impact simply because the team isn't better is usually a terrible idea given how many wins he ideally brings if he's signed. The Cubs would have to be REALLY bad to justify that. I do think he will decline quickly to where that contract is hurting the team more than will provide. Given the roster, there's no doubt they need a strength anywhere on the team. They do nothing well. I question Pujols' health for the long-term, he's got a bad elbow, heel problems, and hamstring issues. Just wonder with him, if it right to pay for his past without getting that in the present. The fact the Cubs are a bad team right now doesn't help that window. Like I said, if you think he will decline too quickly, fine. If you think they should pass on him just because the team is bad, that's nonsensical. It's fortunately not an all or nothing situation for the Cubs.

No rush. Thanks. I'm pretty sure I know who the main culprits are.

Actually, I don't even know what makes up all of my horrible team right now. Southpaw, when you get a chance, can you wrangle that up?

Holy Christ; Dunn still only has 5 HR?!?!? You're breaking my heart, Big Donkey.

Dempster's going to have to be really good the rest of the way to get teams to bite with that player's option looming.

And dumbass Cubs fans everywhere will think he's a future starter.