Little Slide Rooter

I'd give him and Almora for Buxton. Holy hyperbole. Kyle, you wouldn't actually do that, right? I absolutely would. If Buxton isn't the best prospect in baseball right now, he will be this time next year for sure. Anytime you can take a step up in quality for some quantity, you do it. Time warp to 01, I'd absolutely trade #89 Adrian Gonzalez and #91 Miguel Cabrera for #2 Corey Patterson. Did you see the numbers he just put up in low A? In this world, whether Miggy's a bust or a triple crown winner he's not a Marlin. Specifially, he's not a 2003 Marlin. More specifically, he's not a 2003 Game 7 Marlin.

@mlbtraderumors: Rockies Designate Eric Young Jr. For Assignment http://t.co/lAFda8N4kn #mlb -Under 30 -Former fairly well touted prospect -Multiple positions -Switch hitter. Sure. Why not.

I knew the Cubs had to have sent more than just Ian Dickson in return for Rodriguez. Probably a guy who was about to be DFAd and they gave him to the first team willing to give up something with a pulse. They knew that Theo was in the market for anything under 30 years of age who can competently hurl a baseball toward home plate, so the Cubs were first on the list.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...how so? This is painful to watch. Aren't you usually the first guy to say then don't watch?

It's all fun and games until his OPS begins to resemble a vagrant's credit score. Good to see Soler 2-2 with a 2B. Hopefully his little slump is at an end.

Of course it does. Why would you even have to ask that? The prior poster is Kyle. When people start heading for the ledges, he's the guy to give them a helpful push.

C - Castillo (since it has to be based on what we already have) 1B - Rizzo 2B - Alcantara 3B - Baez SS - Castro LF - Soler/Bryant CF - Almora RF - Bryant/Soler SP - Samardzija You forgot Vogelbach for when the NL adopts the DH in 2015. Poor Shark has to start every day, though. No, but the rest of the rotation will be comprised of reclamations who stay for a month at a time before being flipped.

Castr-OPS-O-Meter at .609. 2-34 in June. Yikes.

Nobody's persecuting anyone. My assumption is that there have been discussions about a split for some time now and both sides are having problems coming to agreement. At this point, it's clear that the relationship is at an end, and it's simply unfair on their part not to let him go. On the other hand, it's unrealistic on his part to feel as though they should let him go and pay all or even most of his salary. By now, even if teams are intersted in him they're not going to part with anything of remote value. It's kind of like a miserable married couple staying together for the kids; in this case, there are 2 million of them.

??? you have to be [expletive] kidding me with this nonsense. He isn't with the big league club because when healthy he's been absolute [expletive] @ AAA. He seemingling can't grasp this and [expletive] all over the Cubs FO on twitter. Not 100% at fault? I'm referring to whatever's gone on behind close doors regarding the personal battles with management and failure to amicably part ways. Nothing else.

So the Cubs go up a bunch dead guys, old guys, and guys I've never heard of and still lose. Sounds about right. CM Punk is a Chicago boy and a big Cubs can FWIW.

Could just be a place filler while they wait for Rodriguez to get to town or go through a physical.

Regardless of what happens, he won't make more than $2M this season. Whether he stays in Des Moines, comes to Chicago, or ends up elsewhere he will still be trying to find a new deal this offseason. That doesn't make it any less reasonable to want to play in the big leagues. He's just been going about things the wrong way. You can't blame him for being frustrated, just that it's been misdirected. If not for injury, he would have likely started the season as our 3B. By the time he was ready, Valbuena had earned the job fair and square. Who knows what's been going on behind the scenes since as far as attempts to trade him, but between his struggles both on field and with management, nobody's willing to give up anything worthwhile in terms of players or cash. If he were outright cut, somebody would likely pick him up for league minimum, even after this fiasco. My hunch is that they've been trying to work something out in which they part ways without having to pay him his entire salary, but they havn't been able to come to an agreement which satisfies both sides. This being said, he may not be 100% at fault here. However, his Twitter ranting vs. the front office's well thought out statements make him look like a disrespectful goof and makes them look like they're reluctantly carrying out team policy.

Didn't they just trade for a guy?

3B that can hit are easier to come by than 2B. We have Junior Lake as potential 3B option for the not to distant future as well as Stewart, Vitters, and Villanueva in the 3B department; not that any of them have done anything to indicate that they'll be coming for the job anytime soon. However, Alcantara seems to be outperforming the lot of them and could come for the 2B job as early as 2014, maybe this September if he can keep up his production. Valbuena's always struck me as a super sub anyway.

Cody Ransom may by a 53 year old journeyman utility player, but I'm fairly certain that he's been responsible for 98% of the Cubs June offensive production.

That's pretty wild.

He sounds like an idiot.

Didn't Greinke just come off the DL from injury suffered during a brawl?

Start? When some folks get nervous, the smoke or drink. Theo acquires middle relievers. But at least Cubs fans can finally dig those crates of OhHenry! bars out of storage.

When pitchers and Cody Ramsom are responsible for virtually all of our offense, I think it's time to back up the truck and drive it into Lake Michigan.

All of the relavant Smokies prospects with at least a hit. Szczur 2-4, Alcantara 1-4, Villanueva 1-4(2B) Torreyes 1-2 (didn't start) Jokisch went 6.2 with 0/7 BB/K and 2/3 ER/R. Zych went 1.1 w/ 0/2. Is Zych still relavant? He's kind of been lost in the shuffle lately. And Jokisch is lookin more and more like he could be better than Coleman/Rusin/Raley. Not sure by how much though.

Not even almost. As I recall, there were delusions that we'd get Turner, Castelannos, and then some.

Or a guy who was told to make a public apology and is lashing out by making it as forced and contrived as humanly possible.

If Szczur, Samardzija, and Zastryzny are ever on the team together, grammar police will no longer do. We'll need a spelling Gestapo.