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I wish I had this channel. For some reason Uverse doesnt get it. Instead I get to watch old Yankees games on YES

About that... Garza falls into a similar category as Greinke and Gonzalez in terms of breaking the Cubs' budget. He might be under the Cubs' control over the next three years, but he doesn't come cheap. the tribune article for today also specified that the Royals wanted major league ready talent for greinke. Some of the guys we traded are close but the fact that Lee is still in low A and Archer still probably a year away were probably factors in us not getting Greinke. As far as AGonz goes, I agree with the other poster who suggested that the new padres gm's familiarity with the Bo-Sox system put us at a disadvantage for making that trade. I'm pretty happy with this trade and would be really happy if that minor league pitcher is anything of substance. We are probably not getting a decent starter back but a AA closer with potential would suffice. Then again, I was not really high on anyone we gave up: Guyer is a 4th of, Archer could be a #3 starter down the road or may flame out due to lack of control but he was obviously the best prospect in this deal, Lee looks to me like Alcides Escobar light, and Chirinos and Fuld are simply throw ins who no longer occupy or threaten to occupy the 40 man roster.

he was kind of a Schillity pitcher anyways.

About that... Garza falls into a similar category as Greinke and Gonzalez in terms of breaking the Cubs' budget. He might be under the Cubs' control over the next three years, but he doesn't come cheap. the tribune article for today also specified that the Royals wanted major league ready talent for greinke. Some of the guys we traded are close but the fact that Lee is still in low A and Archer still probably a year away were probably factors in us not getting Greinke. As far as AGonz goes, I agree with the other poster who suggested that the new padres gm's familiarity with the Bo-Sox system put us at a disadvantage for making that trade. I'm pretty happy with this trade and would be really happy if that minor league pitcher is anything of substance. We are probably not getting a decent starter back but a AA closer with potential would suffice. Then again, I was not really high on anyone we gave up: Guyer is a 4th of, Archer could be a #3 starter down the road or may flame out due to lack of control but obviously the best prospect in this deal, Lee looks to me like Alcides Escobar light, and Chirinos and Fuld are simply throw ins who no longer occupy or threaten to occupy the 40 man roster.

we are long on SS? we have starlin castro, who was one of the worst defensive SS in baseball last year, darwin barney, who is in no way a starting SS, and then what? junior lake probably can't play SS now and definitely won't be able to when he fills out. logan watkins could play marginal SS but he can't hit much. Castro had 27 errors this year. Lee had had 27 errors and 34 errors in the last two years. Omar Vizquel had 25 errors at age 21, Ozzie smith had 25 as a rookie (23). Such is the way that young shortstops go. They make a ton of errors.

Sure injuries can occur but CarGo looks like a really great player going forward. And who is to say that he wont get better given how young he is. If he were to put a couple of seasons back to back like this the Rockies are looking at some hefty raises in arbitration. I would love to see the cubs develop a player like this

Lee reminds me a lot of Alcides Escobar. Young shortstops always rack up a ton of errors but by all accounts he will be a really good defender. Offensively, Escobar and Lee are projected to be an average guy with 5-10 homerun power. Both guys imo will be mlb short stops but nothing special offensively. I like the idea of using Lee as tradebait down the road just like the Brewers did with Escobar, especially because short stop is a position of depth. As others have said, Lake has the higher ceiling but also at higher risk of moving positions and maintaining consistency. I personally would prefer a guy like Lake, mainly because he is more rounded. For Lee to make it he needs to be an elite defender and high average/high obp guy. Teams wont tolerate a guy who is just mediocre at one or the other, especially a guy with little to no power.

I'm not saying Lee will get another multi-year contract, but his down year last year was a result of a bad thumb. Now that he's healthy combined with playing in the AL and at Camden Yards, he could surprise a lot of people. Camden yards may help him but the AL East pitchers are much tougher than NL Central pitchers.

A good starting pitcher would go along way.

Who knows SD may have only offered limited playing time with Kyle Blanks coming off of surgery. I do know they offered more money. But at the time, his agent thought that a two year deal was possible. Rotoworld documented when Lee came out and said he would accept a 1 year deal and that was only a few weeks ago. Plus that park would kill his already diminishing power numbers. Yeah SD could get into the playoffs, and they have a solid rotation but as others have said he has a much better chance to put up good numbers and parlay this year into a two year deal with a better team next year. Or he could just as easily be traded at the deadline to a contender with an injury.

Stone became insufferable when a bunch of dumb fans fell in love with him because he could make such basic observations as throwing breaking balls low and away when ahead in the count. I don't know if it's the fans faults or his, but it has nothing to do with 2004. Its not like stone just started predicting pitches, bunting situations, outfield alignment, etc toward the end of his tenure. He always did that and the majority of cubs fans did not find him insufferable as a result. I amongst others wondered why stone knew what was going on but our know-nothing managers remained clueless. If anything everyone complained about chip carrey who was indeed pretty bad. The tide changed when Stone spoke his mind in 04. I surely don't remember anyone on this board complaining of Stone before that.

that is a crowded outfield wow.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/sc-spt-1226-whispers-rogers-baseball-20101225,0,6501912.column I was kind of shocked by the Pena bit. pure speculation on the part of Rogers no facts here.

Very well said. The pac rim market is still largely untapped and the players are, on average, more polished than the latin kids, while being cheaper. Anyone who sees only dollar signs is going to prefer the latin market and the big splash signings, but the smart money is on the low risk talent in Japan and Korea Yes Videographer, we all know of the problems in latin america with signing young kids. PEDs, false identification, agent fraud, etc. We face all of the same risks in any country where language is a barrier and we are dependent upon maximizing individuals. And true there have been plenty of Willy Aybar's and Willy mo Pena's who were juiced to the hills as 16 year old man-boys and fell flat on their face. But then there are also (quick search) Fransisco Rodriguez 1998 .8mil, Miguel Cabrera 1999 1.9mil, Felix Hernandez in 02 .7mil, Andrus 05 .6mil, and many others others. More money is being spent as the process is being cleaned up down there. Now there is age verification, intensive drug testing, crackdowns on corrupt agents. There is a reason that all of the teams that produce the best prospects annually: A's, Giants, Twins, Reds, Angels and teams that produce big prospects while trading them away yankees, red sox are among the big spenders. Plus more and more teams are building multi million dollar complexes down there to better scout, teach, monitor, and train. There may be less polish with these kids but it seems like the potential is endless. I just dont see this kind of high ceiling players coming out of the pac rim the way they do from latin america at least not yet. But really, I'm not against the gamble in Asia, its probably worth while and would look great if they were spending big in both places. But it doesnt make sense to forgo big spending in latin america.

this is the sad, sad reality of our franchise. wow

That's all well and good, and I'd love to see a salary cap as much as anyone, but you'd have to make some serious, serious concessions in order to get a hard cap. The Player's Union doesn't want one either. I doubt Cliff Lee would have gotten 5/120 if there was some sort of hard cap in place. I'm no fan of Selig, but I'm sure he'd instill a cap if it was strictly up to him, but it's not. Oh I know it would be difficult but he hasn't even addressed it. In the long run it would be best for preserving the integrity of the game. you hit the nail on the head though, the MLBPA is far too strong this is why unions suck they always go to far.

just once though, I would like us to sign a big latin american prospect, rather than buying ten shirts for two dollars at the salvation army

Harvey was a highly touted two way player going into the 03 draft. Many teams liked his arm alot better than his bat. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually makes something of himself now. Nonetheless, this is yet another case of a kid who should have gone to college to learn a little discipline.

Dewitt, Jeff Baker, and or Koske are probably the more likely candidates. But I have seen Paul Sullivan, idiot, bandy about lineups with castro at the top. I think he profiles as the ideal two hitter so thats that. More than anything, Im not content with the baker/dewitt platoon. It just seems so blah to me but the available free agents are comparable or worse. Secretly, I'm hoping Tony Thomas figures it out in spring training and takes second base but I'm betting he doesnt. At any rate, Im not sure if we need a leadoff man other than what we have because the other options suck.

Not sure that it matters because it is Mesa, but what Dubois is doing as a hitting coach? He may have been a good AAA or 4A player but he couldnt hit a beach ball with a canoe paddle in the majors. Hes probably not the first guy that comes to mind when thinking about teaching the art of hitting to young college and international players.

lots of questionable picks based on signability. And even more injuries.

They are too worried about whether Greinke would hold up under the media pressure to trade for him IMO. Either way its still an after thought. I love seeing the yankees get burned.

EDITx2: From the pure perspective of available eyeballs on TV sets and rear ends to be put in seats, a National League team in Boston might make more sense than all of the above. Agreed. It would be very interesting to see a boston braves redux. I think they could support an NL team depite the Bo-Sox fervor. I always wondered if chicago could support another team.

heres my two cents: Selig wants to put more teams in the playoffs to create more interest in the game in those border line cities and create the possibility or illusion that milwaukee, and maybe the royals in a good year can make the playoffs. But if he was remotely interested in creating parity he would support a legitimate salary cap instead of a luxury tax which he doesn't. All this assures is that the yankees and red sox remain the darlings of the baseball world while throwing the small market teams a bone; so they can say that they've made the playoffs. THe NFL model works because different teams make the playoffs every year,for the most part, and the salary cap assures that teams go through a natural ebb and flow of good bad and rebuild. Look at the raiders or rams as prime examples.

Wells' minor league numbers suggest he will be the guy we saw this year not the guy from 09. Garza will be much better whether it includes wells or not its a no brainer provided our top farm guys are not included.