Wrigley Rat

Transactions: Jovan Rosa to the DL (Daytona) Robert Bautista promoted to Daytona Su-Min Jung demoted to Mesa and (according to another thread) then placed on the restricted list (to go back to Korea)

According to this article the Padres saved about 75% of Walker's salary by releasing him, so the Cubs would probably save about the same with Gregg. Until the situation with Walker I didn't even realize you could do that. I just always assumed that salaries awarded by an arbitrator were guaranteed since most major league salaries are.Thanks - that's around what I thought it was. Like I said, $1,000,000 or $1,250,000 seems like a gamble worth taking. Worse possible scenario is we pay a player or two $1,000,000 or $1,250,000 to try out for us in spring training. If they kick butt in spring training we might even keep them. If someone else signs them - we get some draft picks!

I personally think this is a great idea! Way to go NC. I'm not sure why more teams don't do that. Can someone find out what percentage the Cubs would have to pay if they released him by the first deadline? I looked but couldn't find it. I assume Gregg would get around $4,000,000 in arbitration. A first round pick and a compensation pick seem to be worth a million dollar risk to me. (Of course, it's not my money!) It also could end up a 2nd or 3rd rounder depending on how many FA's that team signs.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/chat.php?chatId=639 I'm curious as to why he thinks Castro will move off shortstop. Sure, he's making several errors, but it seems he has the tools to stick there. If it's because Theriot would be blocking him, that'd be insane, as moving Theriot to 2b makes a lot more sense. I think he is saying that if he were to be on the major league roster in 2011, he would have to be playing 2B because his defense at shortstop needs more time. He could have added, "Shortstop in 2012 or 2013 is more likely."

He wouldn't be added to the major league 40-man, but he should be added to the AAA roster. Last year, we lost Mark Holliman and Yusuf Carter by not placing them on the AAA roster. We also lost Adalberto Mendez in 2007 to the Marlins in the AA draft.

A really nicely written piece on Austin Bibens-Dirkx. Not a fluff piece. It has his injury history, info about the Cubs scout that signed him, what he throws, and his potential future with the Cubs. Three pages long. http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20090821/SPORTS/908210323/1018This would be true if the Cubs don't put him on their AAA (or AA) 40-man roster. He could be chosen in one of the minor league rounds.

The corresponding roster move for Cales was Jake Muyco being placed on the DL.

Good find Iceman!

Bill Muldowney with a tough evening. He was taken out and Hank Williamson gave up 5 more runs. 1.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR

Just another thought - he could have meant Daley Cox as the "recently signed a sixth one." He was undrafted, so Wilken would have said "signed" rather than drafted. Cox was actually the first lefty signed, so he wouldn't be the "recently signed" guy. The "recently signed" needs to either be Raley or somebody else. Wilken seems to have made a bunch of mistakes in his quote there. I think he meant, "Five of our first 11 picks were pitchers." Who knows what he meant by "we recently signed a sixth one." Like you said, it was probably Raley and he included Cox in his total count of 6 lefties.

Just another thought - he could have meant Daley Cox as the "recently signed a sixth one." He was undrafted, so Wilken would have said "signed" rather than drafted.

Cardinals and Dodgers are said to be the most interested, though both are waiting until he clears I thought he already did clear. No? Yeah, he cleared waivers. At this point, he'll either be traded or released. I guess the big source of concern is his 35k a day roster bonus for being on the active roster. The ESPN article said the Cards and Rangers are interested. All roster bonuses are voided if he is traded or released.

- Oswaldo Martinez has been returned from the Mexican League and has been assigned to Daytona's roster. - Andres Blanco was assigned to Iowa (and has either accepted the assignment or is there on a "rehab" stint - he was out of options). - Matt Matulia was placed back on the DL for Iowa (he is their player-coach and his role is to be activated and deactivated when needed).

Recently signed LHP Daley Cox has been released.

I feel that age is a very important factor when determining a prospect's status. I think that a player repeating a level, or being demoted a level ought to be significantly better than his competition. I think that a college junior or senior ought to perform significantly better than a draft-eligible sophomore, community college player, or high schooler at the same level. Many of us try to use the following rule as a guideline: Iowa - 24 years old Tennessee - 23 Daytona - 22 Peoria - 21 Boise - 20 Mesa -19 Dominican - 18 Those who are younger than that age and performing well is a significant prospect (if other factors back that up). If they are at that age and performing well, they are a slightly lesser prospect (unless other factors come into play). If they are older than that age, that player needs a solid excuse (Tommy John surgery, red-shirted in college, position change, etc.) for me to consider them a significant prospect. This rule seems to be more important in the upper levels of the minor leagues than the lower levels for the Cubs, since they often have rosters filled with more age-appropriate players than most organizations. The upper levels can be filled with roster-filler guys, major-league insurance guys, and AAAA guys. Here are all of the guys who are at least two years older than they should be for their levels (Age) (Possible explanation): Iowa: - Matt Craig (28) (AAAA guy) - Casey Fossum (31) (Major-League insurance) - John-Ford Griffin (29) (Roster Filler) - Micah Hoffpauir (29) (Major Leaguer with options) - Mark Johnson (33) (Major-League insurance) - J.R. Mathes (27) (Roster Filler) - Vince Perkins (27) (Free Agent Pickup with a possible future) - Luis Rivas (29) (Major-League insurance) - Bobby Scales (31) (Major-League insurance) - Brad Snyder (27) (Waiver-wire Pickup with a possible future) - So Taguchi (39) (Major-League insurance) Tennessee: - Robinson Chirinos (25) (Position-change) - Doug Deeds (28) (Roster filler) - Blake Lalli (26) (2-way guy in college, drafted as a 23-year old, about one level behind) - Marcos Mateo (25) (Acquired from Cincinnati who advanced him slowly) - Jeremy Papelbon (26) (Lefty who has moved slowly, drafted as a 23-year old) - David Patton (25) (Rehab - err sort of) Daytona: - Todd Blackford (24) (Currently injured and on the Peoria DL) - Jake Muyco (24) (Position-change) - Luke Sommer (24) (Position-change) Peoria: - David Macias (23) (Trying to master several positions) - Rebel Ridling (23) (Repeating Low-A - not a great indicator of success) - Austin Bibens-Dirkx (24) (Age-appropriate in '06 & '07 but '08 was a wasted year, he's building confidence in Low-A) - Josh Whitlock (23) (Drafted last year, numbers have not been good enough for a promotion) None of these players would appear on my Top 30 prospect list, with the possible exceptions of Marcos Mateo, Jeremy Papelbon, and maybe Blake Lalli. I would say that true prospects who haven't had major injury issues or changed positions will be within a year and a half of their "appropriate age for the level they play."

Those silly Zooperstars! What willlllllllll they do next??? :lol: Was the wind blowing out? Four home runs made me wonder. Thanks! The wind was howling out, but it was also really really humid so it probably evens out just a bit. It was miserably hot. Oh, and the HR that Brad Snyder hit was a freaking bomb - went onto sheffield. Thanks - good to hear about Snyder's HR. Wind or not, onto Sheffield is a smack!

Those silly Zooperstars! What willlllllllll they do next??? :lol: Was the wind blowing out? Four home runs made me wonder. Thanks!

OLD STORY ABOUT B.J. DAIL (Cliff's Notes Version in Bold): http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/news/2008/266350.htmlSorry if others already knew about his past mishaps - it was news to me!

Not if he pitches the rest of the year the way he has for the most part up until today. I think a writer that feels inclined to vote for Wells would write off one bad start. If he continues pitching as he did today, then it would hurt him.I am willing to blame todays outing on the "Coors" effect and the fact Wells has been overdue for a not so great start. And to a lesser extent, the terrible call by the umpire that cost us a run (combined with some bad luck earlier). It just felt like we couldn't catch a break! Look at the Phillies today. They had a 3-1 lead until their CF gets thrown out (for acting like a toddler). Then they lose 12-3. Sometimes, those things can fire up a team, but sometimes it deflates them.

Today's outing had to hurt Wells' ROY votes. Also, Jeff Stevens looked good early, but ended up getting beat up!

Hopefully precautionary - maybe it was planned to just get him a couple innings???

I definitely agree - I went to the first "Road to Wrigley" game a couple years ago and it was a great time (except for the torrential rain storm that came in the 9th inning). I would definitely watch it on TV. (The Zooperstars were hilarious, even for adults!)

He will become a minor league free agent at the end of the season, so if the Cubs want to keep him they will need to roster him anyway. He kind of falls into the category of Josh Kroeger last year. The Cubs chose not to re-sign him and put him on the roster, so they lost him to the White Sox. I personally think Snyder has a little more to offer now that he is hitting home runs and can play center field (and he's left-handed). Sometimes a player can be convinced to re-sign with a team if they get a September call-up and an invitation to spring training the following year. We'll see if that happens!

I could have just typed in "Rule 5" when I created the thread, but I didn't - sorry! I agree though that Rule 5 probably makes more sense to use in a forum. Oh well.

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