Backtobanks

Volstad makes Casey Coleman look good. BTW Coleman just turned 25, but they both prove that age has nothing to do with it. I wonder if it's worth trying Volstad as a short reliever and let him throw hard for 3-4 batters.

Guys, this is actually a thing that could happen. Hope he starts and is the MVP.

contract. With us eating 90% of his contract, the contract shouldn't be a problem.

from MLBTR: Stark suggests the Blue Jays could have interest in recently designated Cubs starter Randy Wells.

After trading Garza and Dempster, the most obvious holes on the team for 2013 and beyond is pitching. We have to get back pitching unless the FO is going to trade some position prospects for young pitchers during the offseason, Yes, we need pitching, but quality pitching. We don't want to trade the few assets we have for a bunch of, well, the pitchers we currently have throughout the organization. If nobody's offering top pitching prospects, but we can get a few top hitting prospects, wouldn't you rather that? Basically, if it comes down to ending up with a few top 100 position player prospects, or a few fringy pitching prospects from someone's top 10-15 simply because they were the best pitchers offered up, which would you rather have? Spoiler alert: fringy pitching prospects form the back of most teams top 10-15 tend to turn into Casey Coleman or Chris Rusin. I understand what you're saying, but Garza has to get us top pitching prospects back or else don't trade him. Dempster obviously is a different situation. A lot can happen by the time the Cubs are a solid team, but right now all I see in the future is a decent Wood and a shaky Samardzija in the rotation and a decent Russell in the bullpen. That's miles away from a decent pitching staff.

After trading Garza and Dempster, the most obvious holes on the team for 2013 and beyond is pitching. We have to get back pitching unless the FO is going to trade some position prospects for young pitchers during the offseason,

When we hired the Theo regime, I really didn't think we'd be relying purely on luck to build the organization. But it appears we are. Sitting around hoping prospects develop is something small market teams do because they have no other choice. It's not something one of the top 3 markets in baseball should be doing willingly. There simply is no excuse whatsoever to build from one front and one front alone. It was wrong when Hendry tried to do it all through FA and trades and it's wrong if the Theo regime tries to do it only through the minors. You promote from within, while at the same time finding quality players in their prime (Headley, Upton, etc) to bring in and complement those young players. You and I totally agree on this subject. Waiting for and hoping that teenagers are going to develop into impact players in 4-5 years is not what I expected when we hired the boy genius. It will be great if they do, but it's time to start filling the multitude of holes on this team for 2013. I have a hard time believing that going from 100+ losses to 90+ losses next year is going to lead to a contender in 2014. The likely trades of Garza, Dempster, Soriano, and possibly Lahair have to bring back young players that can be starters next year if not this year.

It's interesting that Headley is in his prime at 28 years old, but we're expecting Rizzo, Soler, Jackson, etc. to be impact players on a perennial contending team when they will be 24 or 25 years old.

Really? I see it coming. Hoyer and Theo have both said the youngsters are going to have to experience growing pains and they need to be given a longer leash, to see if they can overcome the obstacles. They've hinted at watching the them struggle and it'll be that much better once things start to click. Personally, I could see that team winning more games than this current one, but admittedly, it's out there to get a top 3 pick and huge IFA money for 2014. I hope you're not one of those posters who thought this year's team would be better than last year's team.

As I've posted before, now is the time to start filling some holes for 2013 or else this rebuild will take 6+ years. Nobody's talking about stripping the whole minor league system for Headley, but Theo ought to be making a serious offer. Pull back if the asking price is too high, but holding a spot open for the possibility that Vitters/Lake might be okay is stupid. If Vitters/Lake do look good, then you have trade bait to acquire pitching.

You replace Campana in the lineup for Rizzo and Valbuena/Stewart for Headley and suddenly it's starting to look like a ML lineup that might score some runs. Obviously any other trades have to focus on young, ready/near ready rotation pitchers.

By the time we're ready to compete Castro, Rizzo, and Soler might be 30.

From MLBTR: •The Nationals have been poking around for a right-handed hitting corner infielder to replace Mark DeRosa, who is hurt and declining. John Lannan has improved his trade stock by pitching better of late in Triple-A.

Even if Youk hits as poorly as he has been, it's still a big upgrade from what the Sox have been getting out of 3B. This was a no-brainer for Williams.

Bringing him up too soon might result in winning some games and losing a shot at the #1 draft choice.

Cubs are 24-47 when they face a ML team. :lol:

Probably. But between Simmons still being unproven, Chipper being very injury prone, and them possibly someone to pair with Uggla at second/third when Chipper retires, he could have decent value to them. To echo what everyone else (and you, basically) are saying, he's more valued by us than he is to the rest of the league, and I'm only really in favor of trading him with others to sweeten a possible return. Pairing him with a pitcher to the Braves and all those young arms could be the way to do it (obviously, given the right return.) It had better really sweeten the return or else you just created another hole to fill on a team that has a ton of holes to fill now. If it gets us a pitcher that has a reasonable chance of slotting into the rotation over the next 3-5 years, I'm more than ok with putting some combination of Stewart/Vitters/Valbuena/Lake at third and second through next year to get a look at them (and by then we'll know plenty more about the future of guys like Baez, Marco Hernandez, and DeVoss). Yeah, as long as you're satisfied with 5 more years of plugging players in to assess where we are at point. Trading Dempster, Garza, and Soriano need to get us at least some players that will be at the ML level next year. All of this talk about 4-5 years from now doesn't account for the fact that young players might need a year or two at the ML level to become impact players.

Probably. But between Simmons still being unproven, Chipper being very injury prone, and them possibly someone to pair with Uggla at second/third when Chipper retires, he could have decent value to them. To echo what everyone else (and you, basically) are saying, he's more valued by us than he is to the rest of the league, and I'm only really in favor of trading him with others to sweeten a possible return. Pairing him with a pitcher to the Braves and all those young arms could be the way to do it (obviously, given the right return.) It had better really sweeten the return or else you just created another hole to fill on a team that has a ton of holes to fill now.

I think it's going to go on a bit longer. Unless Dempster is going to the Red Sox or something, the meticulous nature of the new regime means it's going to take some time for them to decide what package they like. As fans, we look at the other team's top prospects, pick out the guys who are at positions we need and don't seem like too much to ask for, and call it a trade. I'm imagining the new front office treating this trade deadline like a second draft. Weeks of scouting, video breakdowns, discussion, and asking anyone and everyone who knows these kids about their character and work ethic. While I agree that's how I suspect they operate, my hope is it's been going on for a while already, when it comes to teams with interest in Dempster. If there's more than one team with an offer on the table right now, I don't want anything to screw it up. The longer this goes on, I just think the less we wind up with. Yeah, if this FO is as sharp as everyone has made it out to be, they should have a good idea of whatever return they want to get from Dempster, Garza, and Soriano. It's been obvious since early May that Garza and Dempster are available. Soriano took a little longer to raise his value.

Olney really going out on a limb here. At least he said maybe. :lol:

Better to spend it on possible future talent than sitting in Ricketts' pocket.

Put him in a package for Headley.

My problem with the FO is exactly that - what the expected timeline to be close to contending (or actually a contender) actually is. When Theo signed a 5-year contract, I expected a serious contending team within 3-4 years. Now it seems we're talking about waiting until 2016 to see whether our prospects actually can play at the ML level. Rizzo and Soler look like "sure things", but everybody else is a maybe. Hopefully some of these trades (Garza, Dempster, Soriano, etc.) will bring young players that have some ML experience and success so that we can plug them in this year. More 20-year old prospects strengthens the minor league system and increases the chances that some minor leaguers will eventually help the team, but we need to start filling holes in 2013 and not in 2017. You really think they won't a single top pitcher/player for 4-5 more years? They won't wait until all of their current 20 year olds are proven in the majors before signing FAs, but they do need to acquire some more young talent. I'd bet they are improved next year and competitive by 2014. Let's hope they're improved next year considering we're on course for 100+ losses this year. If you're really looking at their best prospects (Soler, Baez, Almora,etc.) to begin making the roster at ML level, you're looking at 2015. Giving them a year or two to adjust puts you into the 2016-2017 range. I'm not saying the FO won't sign a single top pitcher/player for 4-5 more years, but you won't know whether these guys can make an impact for 4-5 years.

My problem with the FO is exactly that - what the expected timeline to be close to contending (or actually a contender) actually is. When Theo signed a 5-year contract, I expected a serious contending team within 3-4 years. Now it seems we're talking about waiting until 2016 to see whether our prospects actually can play at the ML level. Rizzo and Soler look like "sure things", but everybody else is a maybe. Hopefully some of these trades (Garza, Dempster, Soriano, etc.) will bring young players that have some ML experience and success so that we can plug them in this year. More 20-year old prospects strengthens the minor league system and increases the chances that some minor leaguers will eventually help the team, but we need to start filling holes in 2013 and not in 2017.

If you signed a FA and he blocks a prospect, you trade one of them for something you need. You will never know exactly who your prospects are in the majors. My point is to let these guys come up and actually play and see who they are, then you add FA around them. Then you know exactly who they are and exactly what you need. And what if there is a weak FA crop when Theo decides to spend? Or if the time is right, then Theo can pass out Sorianoesque contracts and overpay middle relievers. FAs who are reasonably young and talented (Hamels, Upton, etc.) need to be signed when they're available, not when we wait for another 5-6 years to figure out whether our prospects are able to play at the ML level. Or you look more than a SINGLE year ahead. That may have been Hendry's MO, but I think Theo may, just may, be a tad different. That's exactly my point. Players like Hamels, Upton, etc. are young enough (and are going to demand multiple year contracts) to help with a winning team in the future or at least help determine which positions still need to be filled.