Wrigley Rat

Well yeah, of course. But if we spin Jackson for Teahen, then that makes a little more sense. I still wouldn't like it all that much but that's better than including Jackson in a deal for Grabow and Gorz. Are you saying Grabow & Teahen to the Cubs & Gorzelanny, Jackson and others to the Royals and Pirates? If so, I could see that as a decent argument. Because Sherrill <<< Grabow, Teahen, and Hak-Ju Lee or Ryan Flaherty.

Jackson seems to have a better fastball than Gallagher. I always thought that Gallagher was performing better than his stuff, but you ride the wave as long as you can. We are doing that right now with Randy Wells.

I wouldn't label Jackson as untouchable, but you don't waste him in a trade for a couple of mediocre left-handers. Given that Gorzelanny has had major-league success before and has had a much better year at AAA than Jackson has in AA, I think he has similar value to Jackson. I know Jackson would be under Cubs' control for longer, and that's a factor, but Gorzo would still be here through 2012. I don't think that is true at all. Look at ages relative to the level they play at. Look at past performance. Look at repertoire of pitches. Look at peripheral statistics.

Really? Yeah, he started against the Orioles the other night. I think Rich Hill was on the mound for Baltimore in that one. Yes.

If you look at what it took to get George Sherrill, it was a Hak-Ju Lee/Ryan Flaherty type infielder and a Jay Jackson type pitcher. If we give Jackson away for Grabow & Gorzelanny when we could have had Sherrill for the same price... I would have preferred to have Sherrill.

Man, are you going to be disappointed. I think you're right - Atkins is pitching. Looking at the 40-man roster, I would think Hendry would try to use as many of those guys as trading chips as possible. It sounds more like a Jay Jackson has to be the headliner with a few spare parts included as well. Too bad - I'm not sure how Jackson will turn out, but Gorzelanny is getting old to be a "keep your fingers crossed" kind of guy and Grabow is not a top tier loogy.

I expect this trade to be something like this: Grabow & Gorzelanny for Ascanio, Atkins, Berg, and Waddell

I expect Jason Waddell to be a throw-in to this deal. Pittsburgh will need a lefty in their bullpen.

I think Cashner would be a September call-up if it wasn't for a logjam on the 40-man roster. If the Cubs make a trade or two to lower the numbers on the 40-man, I could still see it happening. I'd imagine he would work out of the bullpen since he doesn't work deep into many games. A 99-mph fastball has a place in the majors.

My guess is that Atkins is going to be included in an upcoming trade. He is being showcased for a team that is unsure about him. Otherwise, there were better options in AAA (Gaub and Parker for sure) that would have been called up. The Cubs need to make some tough decisions this off-season (and before) on who to protect on the 40-man roster. Atkins looks to be someone who is at risk of being dropped off the 40-man (and possibly claimed by another team). Therefore, there is incentive to trade him and avoid having to release him or store him on the 40-man instead of someone else more deserving.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2009/07/28/dayton_julio_castillo_the.html That sucks. I wonder if the Cubs were obligated to pay his bills since it happened while Castillo was "at work." If not, the Cubs are certainly doing that man a huge favor.

Cubs sign their second Wang: http://eastwindupchronicle.com/cubs-sign-wang-tsu-an/ http://taiwanbaseball.blogspot.com/2009/07/good-things-come-in-threes-cubs-sign.html Wang ranked 3rd on a list of Top 5 High School prospects in Taiwan. The author said it was a particularly deep class this year. http://taiwanbaseball.blogspot.com/2008/08/cream-of-crop-class-of-09.html

Nice. :) Has anyone heard about Chris Weimer? He hasn't played in a few weeks, but I haven't seen any transactions on him.

D.J. LeMathieu has been promoted to Peoria. D.J. Fitzgerald has been assigned to Boise. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3873284

Hector Suarez Catcher - Dominican Cubs 2 Born: 05/05/1992 Birthplace: Barcelona , Venezuela Height: 6' 1" Weight: 170 Bats: S Throws: R .217 AVG, .339 OBP, .292 SLG, .631 OPS 11 errors 19 passed balls 75 stolen bases against (7 caught stealing) Can we end this experiment of this man catching? If I was playing on his team, I would be miserable!!!!!!

A 9-inning complete game in the minors! Rarely seems to happen for us. Bibens-Dirkx (W, 2-1), 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 1 HR, 2.39 ERA

Chris Perez and Jess Todd is a pretty nice haul for Mark DeRosa. Two high draft picks with solid numbers in the minors, young, good stuff. Young has even had success in the majors at a very young age. I would have made that trade if it was offered to us when DeRosa was originally traded.

He did well for us at high-A Daytona last year as well. He is now another year older (24) and has repeated that level. 2008: 2-0, 2.89, 17 G, 28.0 IP, 29 H, 9 ER, 0 HR, 13 BB, 25 SO, 1.52 WHIP, .261 BAA His problem was AA hitters - let's see how he does there. If he was truly dominant with his stuff, he would probably be promoted to AA by now. (IMHO).

TRANSACTIONS: Chicago Cubs recalled Justin Berg from Iowa Cubs. Alex Maestri assigned to Iowa Cubs from Tennessee Smokies.

That link is always the signature at the bottom of California Raisin's posts and Transmogrified Tiger's posts, "Cubs Minor League Wiki."

Transactions: Ted Lilly placed on DL. Chicago Cubs recalled Justin Berg from Iowa Cubs. Christopher Rusin assigned to Boise Hawks from AZL Cubs. DJ LeMahieu assigned to AZL Cubs. Enyel Gonzalez assigned to DSL Cubs1 from Chicago Cubs. DSL Cubs1 signed free agent OF Rander Valdez. DSL Cubs1 placed RHP Ramon Reyes on the restricted list (performance-enhancing drugs).

Minor League Cubs on hot-streaks: Hung-Wen Chen's last 5 outings 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO 6.0 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO 6.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO Total: 31.2 IP, 33 H, 8 ER, 6 BB, 17 SO (2.27 ERA overall) Nate Spears' last 10 games (he's a left-handed hitting 2B .385 AVG, 26 AB, 3 R, 10 H, 2 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 SB, 0 CS Blake Lalli's last 10 games (eligible for the Rule V Draft this winter) .464 AVG, 28 AB, 2 R, 13 H, 3 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 4 SO, 0 SB, 0 CS Josh Harrison's last 10 games at Daytona (utility player with speed) .333 AVG, 39 AB, 6 R, 13 H, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 2 SO, 6 SB, 1 CS Casey Fossum's statistics as an Iowa Cub (when you take away his one bad game) 22.2 IP, 20 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 23 SO (2.38 ERA) Minor League Cubs on cold-streaks: Josh Vitters' last 10 games (should we panic yet?) .231 AVG, 39 AB, 3 R, 9 H, 2 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 5 SO, 1 SB, 0 CS Darwin Barney's last 10 games (hasn't figured out AAA pitching yet) .194 AVG, 36 AB, 4 R, 7 H, 1 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 9 SO, 0 SB, 0 CS Tony Thomas's last 10 games .226 AVG, 31 AB, 3 R, 7 H, 3 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 6 SO, 2 SB, 0 CS Tyler Colvin's last 10 games (this scares me - is he already a bust?) .154 AVG, 39 AB, 5 R, 6 H, 0 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 7 SO, 0 SB, 0 CS Jericho Jones' season: 47 AB's, .106 AVG John Contreras' season: 14 AB's, .071 AVG Drew Rundle's last 10 games: .200 AVG in 20 AB's Ryan Flaherty's last 10 games: .184 AVG in 38 AB's

I'm not up on all the rules, but I think I remember reading somewhere that MLB clubs are allowed to have their position players play in 10 minor league games before they need to be activated. I would imagine Miles is close to that number. I also think David Patton will be activated after he max's out his number of minor league appearances (I really thought they would try to hide him on the DL until September).

Rough night for our pitchers so far: Iowa: Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Ascanio 1.2 6 6 5 1 0 0 2.91 Reinhard 2.2 3 3 3 1 0 0 4.39 Tennessee: Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Patton, D 2.0 2 3 3 1 1 1 13.50 Papelbon 3.1 4 4 4 1 4 1 3.77 Mateo, M 1.0 2 1 1 1 1 0 4.84 Daytona: Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Dolis 4.0 4 3 3 3 2 0 3.52 Simokaitis 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Peoria: Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Bibens-Dirkx 5.0 5 3 3 0 4 2 2.60 Joe Simokaitis' High-A Pitching Debut went well though!

Transactions: Todd Blackford assigned to Peoria Chiefs from Daytona Cubs. Joe Simokaitis assigned to Daytona Cubs from Boise Hawks. David Patton assigned to Tennessee Smokies. Su-Min Jung assigned to AZL Cubs from Boise Hawks. RHP Starling Peralta assigned to DSL Cubs1. Jose Montecino assigned to DSL Cubs1 from DSL Cubs2.