tspain

Question for all: If Detroit refuses to trade Jacob and Nick, their top 2 prospects, and offered the Cubs 3 or 4 players of the Cubs choosing out of the rest of their minor leaguers, would you make a deal with them? And if you answer yes, who would you take whether you would take 3 guys or who would you take if 4 guys? Thanks.

This past season, the Cubs were old and bad, next season they will be young and bad, with the opportunity of getting better. A much different deal. The old, tired, and unenthused guys will be gone. Be watching a team that will hussle, be enthused, and show it every game. They will run out every ball, unlike some of the old guys from years past. I got real tired of watching that. Front Office is building a 90 win team every year, year in and year out. It will happen. Just like it was in Boston. There, you knew they would battle the Yankees every year for the division title. Now you will know it here. Yes, it may take a year or two, but the plan is well under way. They have Soriano to get rid of yet, and they will. And I think they will trade Garza in time to the highest bidder, adding some more good young players, putting them closer to competing in the nearer future. They got something for Big Z. The owner did say he would not pitch for the Cubs again right after he walked out on the team and quit. So everyone had to know he would not be back on this team, just a matter to time. Volstad was a nice return for a player you had to trade. Other players are likely to be gone as well, Byrd, Soto, Marmol, either this offseason, or next year at the trade deadline. They will gather as many prospects as possible. Next year, they will look at all the minor leaguers we have, and see who will work and who won't, and see just how much work they have in front of them. Let us hope several of last year's June Draft picks are good enough to help when we get good. That will make the job much easier and quicker. They will decide that as they get to watch them play next season. So far, I like the process, and plan, and the moves they have made to get us there. This is the first time in a long time the Cubs have had a plan, far as I could tell. I believe Dallas Green did way back yonder. You cannot just plug holes and hope to win, Cubs have proven that for many many years. This is the right plan, and given time, it will yield great rewards. 90 wins per season are coming, sooner than you think. A team with a chance to win every year is on the horizion. Be patient, the FO knows what they are doing, I can clearly see.

Lost 6-4. Ha was two for five with a home run and a double and 3 rbi's. Ha K'd in his other three at bats. Vitters hit .103 for the series while Ha hit .313 and Lake hit .136. That is how some of our best hitting prospects did verses good pitching.

Interesting to go and read what I wrote down about the 2005 draft. BA expected the Cubs to take Pawelek from high school, works low 90's and touches 95. Good curve and change and splitter a work in progress. While MLB had the Cubs taking Georgia Tech ss Tyler Greene and putting him with his old teammate Eric Patterson back together in a DP combo once again.

Baseball America says we signed Yoanner Negrin this week in their minor league transactions. Who is he???

I can tell you from what I saw of Marwin Gonzalez that he is a slick fielding player at ss. I have not seen him play any other position, but he can sure play ss. His bat has finally caught up with his glove this season. He is young enough to be a real good player, as it always depended on the bat. His new stance has really helped him, hope it continues.

Thank you Southside Ryan, I couldn't have said it better myself. I am going to laugh all the way to the bank with Easterling. He is coming faster than I thought he would, but people better start taking note that we have ourselves a corner outfielder who is going to be a very good one in the system now. He is in my Top 10. Would be for anyone who saw him play in the College Playoffs, and took a look at the player we got. Money well spent. Best player we have signed so far, in my opinion, cause he has power that DeVoss doesn't have, although I do like the speed of DeVoss. We need both to manufacture runs, and not live or die by the home runs. Go Easterling. I will start his fan club and be the first member. Who is ready to join the club? Funny, no one is laughing now.

Tell you why. I get tired of the Cubs selecting guys who couldn't hit a home run if they had to. They have taken middle infielder types and center field types, and I wanted so bad to get some corner types in here, some home run hitters, middle of the order type guys. And Easterling is that type guy. So I am excited like many others here to see us take some corner type players. And when I see Easterling, although not a big guy, but a muscle man, I like it. I know he can be a power hitter and play a corner spot. And I hope he can come a long way just by playing baseball now, and put it all together and reach Chicago in the near future. Yes, it will take some time, but the kid has a world of talent. Just the kind of body I want the Cubs to take, and they did take this draft, thank God.

What about Contreras? No one has mentioned him, and I think he is going to be a player to be reckoned with, so I will throw his name into the mix. Why not mention by you guys? forget? or not like?

Thanks

Gioskar Amaya-Can somebody help me with what year he was signed. Apparently he didn't get a big bonus so is not listed with the big bonus guys. Same with his DP partner Hernandez. Thanks for your help.

I truly meant every word I wrote about Easterling. Just wait till you see the guy. He has a long way to go to make the major leagues, but he is a hunk of a specimen and an athlete, and only needs to work on the bat. I hope and believe his bat will come around since he is full time baseball now. Just wait till you see the guy, you will know what I am talking about. Wish everyone could have caught him on tv.

I would trade anyone on this team to try to get better, including Starling Castro, who I love. And he won't be traded cause no one would offer you enough for him, as he has not proven his worth enough yet. Every other player should be on the trading block. When it says above that your most wanted player is Jeff Baker, that has to tell us something. Who else are we going to trade and get anything for? I would trade Marmol, Marshall, Soto, and anyone else. This team has to improve and can by rebuilding from the bottom up. Go ahead and attack me for that, and we can sit here another hundred years without winning by trying to compete every year. See where that gets us, hundred years of nowhere. Hendry is good at trades, and should get us some good pieces in any trade he is able to make. So start the trading Jimbo.

I got to watch Easterling in the college playoffs on tv and he is quite a man. He is tall. Looks like a baseball player. Has not played that much of late, but came on as the season wore on. Looks like he can be a player, has the tools anyway. Has the body. Just has to get the rust off and put it together. Glad he signed, and I am sure he will go to Mesa and not Boise. I think he has a chance to be real good. He is definitely someone I am interested in just from seeing him play on tv one game. He is a physical specimen who goes to the top of the list of Cubs players on that list, and when you see him, you will know immediately he can be a 30 hr guy for the Cubs. Play rf and have great range, great arm, and 30 hr power. Yep, glad he signed. Keep an eye on him, and give him time to develop. Patience.

Another good game for Michael Brenly. All he has done is hit. I have not heard anyone on here getting excited about him, or mentioning him as a prospect or Top 10 guy. Anyone feeling good about his chances of making the big leagues? being as good as his Dad?

I want to add a few names to this impressive list of breakout prospects for 2010. Here are a few more I expect some good things from in the coming year: Marwin Gongalez-good fielder, bat will tell the tail, and I think he can hit enough, and breakout next season. Hit only .241 at Daytona with 2 hrs and 43 rbi's. D. J. Fitzgerald-struggled in Peoria, hit .267 at Boise, has to hit and I think he will. David Cales-3-0 with 0.72 at Daytona, then 3-0 and 5.40 at Tennessee. Very good arm, can shine next season at AA. Jonathan Nagel-always been one of my favorites since being drafted last season, just has to be healthy and Cubs knew that when they drafted him. 0-2 with 4.58 at Boise in 35 innings. Watch out for Nagel next season as he will be healthy. Can be as good as Carpenter and Jackson. Jeff Believeau-5-4 with 3.54 at Peoria, really good arm, BB were 45 in 97 innings with 117 k's. If BB's don't kill him, he has a great arm, and I think it will shine next season, whether starting or relieving or doing both as he has been doing. Robert Hernandez-I know, he has been around, but he can still breakout. 4-3 with 3.36 at Boise. I still like him and predict he will breakout next season. Anyone else on board??? Also, I want to add Bibens-Dirkx to this list as someone to watch next season. 7-2 with 2.04 at Peoria. What can he do for us? I do not know his stuff, but put him out there anyway as one to watch.

Castro is #6 and Vitters is #14. Wow. Top 5 are Stanton, Montero, Brown, Alonzo, and Drabek, and the first 5 are called the "elite prospects". Said both Cashner and Jackson would have made the list if they had pitched enough innings in the League. Will hear more from the Chat this afternoon.

Ok guys, I got it. You disagree with me. But it is this thinking that has kept the Cubs from rebuilding for 100 years. Every teams needs to rebuild, and so do the Cubs. I don't understand why you guys don't see that. But, oh well, many folks I talk to do not understand it either. Unless you spend like the Yankees, you cannot keep spending more on the Cubs. The money the Cubs spent this year is plenty to spend in a season. We do not need an owner who will spend more. We need to spend more wisely. Like I said, I hope you guys are right, cause I want the Cubs to win as bad as you do, if not more. I am 56 years old, and been a fan for more years than some of you have been alive. I want to see them win a World Series. And I think the best chance is to rebuild. But I am sure they will follow your way and not mine. And we shall see what the results are at the end of next year. My prediction: injuries will kill the team again, along with under-performance from some overpaid players. We shall see. Pastor Tom Spain

I disagree. We have lots of guys we can trade for good kids. None of our big guys will want to stay if we are rebuilding. They will accept trades although they have no trade contracts. We let Hardin and Grabow walk and offer arbitration, and get draft picks. One of the things that has hurt this team is the 2002 draft. We had 4 first round picks, and 2 second round picks, and none of them made the majors. And it was a good draft year. Rich Hill was taken in the 4th round and made it, Billy Petrick made it from the 3rd round. We used the 21st pick of the draft on Bobby Brownlee, I would have used it on Matt Cain pitching in SF. #'s 32, 36 and 38 could have been used on guys I wanted us to take, Dave Bush, and Jon Lester. Just think where we would be if we had used that draft wisely. The reason the Cubs have not won in over 100 years is because of the argument I hear on this board, be competitive. I don't want to be competitve, I want to win. Why settle for being competitive? What is the harm if we are not competitive for a couple years? Especially when you know the good players are on their way up. Use the trades to bring in good players to go with what we have in the minors right now. And draft wisely, like we did in 2008. I think we had a great draft in 2008, then a terrible draft in 2009. I have no idea what happened this time, but it was not nearly as good a draft. Maybe it was just not as good a draft year this time. I say forget the word competitive, and say we want to win. We cannot win now as we are to old and injury riddled to win. So let us take the time to rebuild from the bottom up. Start over. Other teams have done that and come on and won more than once recently, while the Cubs are satisfied with just being competitive. You have gotten your wish for way too long, just stay competitive. That is not good enough for me. I don't think this bunch will win next year. But I hope I am wrong, cause I am sure they will be back. You win, we will try to be competitive again next year. And we will be saying wait till next year one more time. Well, I am tired of saying it. Enough is enough. Here is the team I want on the field next season: 1b-Hoffpaiur 2b-Scales, Blanco ss-Barney 3b-Fox c-Clevenger, Robinson lf-Soriano, don't want him, but cannot trade him, so he will be here cf-Fuld rf-Fukodome, unless someone will take his contract, then put Fox out there, and play Smith at 3b Rotation 1. Wells 2. Samardjiza 3. Caridad 4. Atkins 5. ?????? Bullpen 1. Parker 2. Stevens 3. Maestri 4. Gaub 5. Mateo 6. Berg I know it won't win, but neither will the team we have now. And we will have lots of good minor leaguers coming up in a year or two or three. We will at least be building toward winning instead of trying to stay competitive and put fans in the seats. I am one fan who would rather win.

One of the sports guys on CSN said the Cubs were built to win when they brought Soriano in. They were to have won the past 2 seasons and this season. If they had, Soriano would not be looking bad now, but would be a Chicago hero. They all would be hero's. But the World Series Championship never happened, and the team is now on the down side. Here is what I would do. I would trade every piece that is tradeable, and rebuild this team. We wouldn't win in 4 or 5 years. But then they could win 10 years in a row. This team just tries to contend, and never rebuilds. I am for a complete rebuild. The only guy I think you cannot trade is Soriano. Everyone else needs to go. May have to keep Z and Soto until next spring to show they are healthy, but they should all be tradeable. That is my idea. I think we have little chance to win next season. Guys are older, and more injury prone. We will see who is right. Pastor Tom Spain

5-2 win for Tennessee Great bullpen work tonight. Maestri went one and two thirds, Cales went two and a third, and Schlitter went a perfect inning for the save. Canzler got the big 3 run double, Colvin a sack fly, Castro a hit and a walk, and Castillo a hit and 2 walks. Tennessee lead the series 2 games to 1.

Colvin was Top 100, listed # 77.

For those who follow the draft, I would like to see what you think of the Cubs Draft now that we know who they signed and didn't sign. 1. What do you think of the Draft? 2. Name our Top 5 or Top 10 players signed 3. Who holds the key to our Draft? If Brett Jackson is for real, I love our top 2 picks, and I think they hold the key to the Draft. As they go, so go our Draft. Would be great if some of the high school kids come through. And real nice if some of the pitchers can take their place in Wrigley in a few years. All in all, I think it comes down to the top 2 picks. What say you?

"What is so good about Jay Jackson?" Jackson was drafted only last year, so this is his first full season in the minors, and he is pitching it at AA, until his demotion to High A a couple days ago. And he is pitching quite well at AA also, which is why no one could believe he got demoted. Turned out it had nothing to do with his pitching, but breaking of team rules. Jay is young, has very good stuff, and is pitching at AA in his first full season in the minors. That is enough to call him very impressive in my book. Pastor Tom Spain

Thanks Tony Thomas, I like your list. It's great having another Coleman listed. Thanks a bunch. Pastor Tom