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Little Slide Rooter

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Everything posted by Little Slide Rooter

  1. Little Slide Rooter
    Yeah, people have argued that the Theo regime shouldn't be blamed because Cespedes' agent didn't give them a chance to counter the offer. If that's the case, then Cespedes' agent is incompetent. The Darvish thing is completely defensible, the Cespedes thing isn't at all. If we got Cespdes, would the GMs of each of the finalists for his services be to blame? He had 4-5 suitors in the end, and only one could get him. Yeah, he had a hell of a season, but nobody could have expected the type of impact he'd have in his first big league season. Many didnt think that he'd even start the season in the big leagues, so unless you think that we should have gone all out with the type of contract that an established big league star would get, there's really nobody to blame.
  2. Little Slide Rooter
    He's basically BJ Upton. If he stays healthy, there's a decent chance he'd be our best player, though I do think Starlin puts up a 4-5 WAR next season. I'd just as soon hope that Brett Jackson turns into a Chris Young type outfielder than go out of the way to acquired one. I'm still all for the idea of a Jackson/Sappelt platoon in center. Looking over the FA list, there are a lot of guys who would be nice band aids for ready made contenders, but few difference makers, aside from Hamilton, Greinke, and potentially Peavy if he manages to stay healthy again. The only OF free agent I could see as a possibility is Melky if he's willing to sign something incentive heavy with a team friendly 2014 option so that he can be flipped ala Maholm if he has a strong 1st half and we don't contend.
  3. Little Slide Rooter
    Randy Wells, Blake DeWitt, and Alex Hinshaw among 28 minor leaguers to elect free agency. I didn't know that Wells had that option. I'm sure he'll latch on somewhere, post mediocre at best stats, and pitch a 2 hit CG shut out against the Cubs at some point. DeWitt could be picked up on a minor league deal, then again, could end up in Japan or Indie Ball. Alex Hinshaw will continue to exist. Presumably.
  4. Little Slide Rooter
    When you can pull guys like Eric Stults, Jason Marquis, and Jon Garland off the street at minimal cost and have them look like respectable mid rotation starters, why not shop your pitching prospects?
  5. Little Slide Rooter
    Sure looks like the boat's sailed on Luke Hochevar not being awful , but if the Royals were interested, I'd send them Volstad straight up for him as a change of scenery trade. I wonder if the Pads would be willing to swing a similar deal as the Rizzo trade for Kelly. Maybe Brett Jackson and a low level guy for Kelly and one of their low level guys? Vitters might have been a possiblity had his big league stint not been the train wreck that it was.
  6. Little Slide Rooter
    The good thing about this type of journalism is that all you need is a lead and you can run with it. We can inquire about anyone we want, which sin't to say that the talks went anywhere. I could see Theo taking a chance on any of the pithers you mentioned at the right price, but I could see him being very agressive in pursuit of Bauer or similar pitching prospects assuming that their team is willing to to listen.
  7. Little Slide Rooter
    Should have been more specific. What I meant is that there would be more teams in the mix for him because of cost and duration of team control.
  8. Little Slide Rooter
    There is little that I would not give up for Trevor Bauer. I'm sure that a lot of teams with more to give up feel the same way. Possibly more so than David Price due to cost and length of team control. it feels like a pipe dream, but this is the type of aquisition that Theo and Co. seem to be aiming for, and I'd love to see him pull off something like this. I won't even try to come up with a mock trade, because if we do have what it takes, it would likely be the type of package that I wouldn't have even thought of.
  9. Little Slide Rooter
    yea, turning a few million bucks into the organization's top pitching prospect (in a span of months) was definitely one of his bigger failures It was a fantastic success. But it's only point was to acquire a prospect for him. The fact that he occasionally helped the 2012 Cubs win was incidental. Plan seemed more like to pick up enough once high ceiling, now low risk highish reward guys (Maholm, Volstad, Stewart, Cardenas) as well as cheap veteran role players (Johnson, Corpas, Camp, Sonnenstein) that best case scenerio we could contend, next best case scenerio, we wouldn't contend, but we'd probably have some decent trade chips, and worst case scnerio, he'd roll snake eyes on the lot of them, but it wouldn't have any negative financial impact on his long term plans. Beyond that, he was just flinging [expletive] at the wall in hopes that something would stick in all of the minor league signings and waiver claims.
  10. Little Slide Rooter
    Sure. Hey, I wondered why so many on here got in a huff when it was suggested this team could lose 100 games. This was, and is, a bad team. However, add Cespedes and Darvish/Jackson and it's not terribly difficult to envision a pretty decent team next year: I think that we need to drop the myth that this was a team doomed to 100 Ls from the get go. While they never looked like a contender, it was the post trade dealine 20-42 run that made them a 100 loss team. Dempster and Garza were gone. Samardzjia was gone a month later. The rotation now consisted of 1 solid back end guy in Wood as the best starter, Volstad, for whom there was no benefit in not letting finish the season, and a revolving door of waiver claims and fringe prospects. Without that, this would not have been a 100 L team. In the early goings, we had great starting pitching, awul bullpen production, and minimal offensive production from everyone but Castro and LaHair, including Byrd for whom their was no indication would be quite that awful, and Soto and Stewart, for whom their was some indication could be that awful but hope that they'd be a lot better. Had we finished the season with the team we opened the season with, I'd say we'd have ended up somewhere between 77-85 and 72-90
  11. Little Slide Rooter
    Do we know just what our final offer was to Cespedes? I believe that in the end, it was down to The Cubs, Yankees, and Marlins, with the White Sox on the fringe. They probably had a good idea of what each was offering and down to the final haggling. Billy was probably following the entire time, and at the last minute, jumped in with an offer significantly higher than the others. There was talk at one point that it was because he preferred Oakland's small market atmosphere without the pressure of a team like the Yankees or Cubs, but does this look like a guy who's shy away from the spotlight? http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_seasonticket/files/2012/02/cespedes1.jpg
  12. Little Slide Rooter
    I said at this point I'd only want to move Soriano IF we were getting something of actual quality, and only move DeJesus if we can't. Barney depends on whether or not anyone would value his D enough to give up something of real value. Maybe if we were to bundle him with Vogelbach, Hernandez, or Amaya, we could get a quality pitching prospect. If we could have a top 4 of Garza, Shields/Haren, Shark, McCarthy/Marcum/Sanchez, then I'd certainly shop Wood for the right return and chance some combination of Volstad/Raley/Rusin/Struck for a 5 starter, and hope that Vizcaino is ready to take over for them by mid 2013-early 2014.
  13. Little Slide Rooter
    They'd probably demand Baez and Soler this time. Of course they'd end up with Jay Jackson and Brett Wallach.
  14. Little Slide Rooter
    Predictions: Braves beat Cards: the woeful Cubs fan in me says that the Cards will win it all again after entering through the back. The more logical side says that The Braves have too much depth, especially when it comes down to bullpens Rangers over Os. Rangers depth will triumph over DC Area Feelgood Story II. O's have a phenomenal pen, but Rangers will take it out of the equation early. ALDCS As vs Tigers: tough one. Unsure how Tigers offense will fare in the As house, but when you have Verlander on the mound for 2 games in a 5 game set, the odds be with you. Tigers in 5 Rangers vs. Yankees: still don't trust Yankees pitching. Rangers in 4 NLDCS Giants vs Reds Giants win another one with pitching and Posey. Giants in 3 Nats vs. Braves This will be a good one. Nats first post season and franchises 2nd ends in a valiant effort, but a one-n-done all the same. Braves in 5 ALCS Rangers vs. Tigers. Rangers in 5 NLCS Giants vs. Braves Like the Braves overall depth. Again, that pen is tough Braves in 6 WS: Rangers vs. Braves Rangers finally win one in 7. Dempster wins games 3&7, and in the end, the non-trade ends up as a difference maker. Bring on the off-season!
  15. Little Slide Rooter
    Pulling for Chipper and the Braves, but anyone other than the Cards will suffice.
  16. Little Slide Rooter
    Let me guess, the OP was thrilled when Hendry was fired, even more thrilled when Theo was fired, and then pissed when Theo didn't conduct his first offseason as Hendry would have.
  17. Little Slide Rooter
    Nothing special, but then again, most of our options aren't. If be fine with some reclamations like Jenks, Lidge, or Moylan, but the majority of our pen will be pieced together from within and Bowden has as good of a chance as anyone.
  18. Little Slide Rooter
    The bullpen's final gift. Just the way the season started, sans giving a [expletive].
  19. Little Slide Rooter
    One interesting race to watch in the final days will be the NL WC 2. It's down the the Cards and Dodgers, and Cards have a 2 game lead. The Cards are playing the Reds, who have long since clinched the division, but are next and neck with the Nats for home field advantage. Meanwhile the Dodgers play the Giants, who have long since clinched. This is also one of baseball's biggest rivalries, and surely the Giants would love to hammer the final nail in the Dodgers coffin, especially after the A Gon blockbuster, which many thought would allow the Dodgers to coast to the division despite being I'm not sure how many games behind the Giants at the time. Sitting 2 games back, the Dodgers are relying upon the Cards losing as much as winning themselves, but it's not impossible that they could at least force a 1 game playoff.
  20. Little Slide Rooter
    Garza came with 3 years of team control. We gave up 2 legit prospects, a fringe guy, and 2 fillers. We got back a fringy pitchig prospect and a filler as well. Shields now has 1 year of team control and is going to be 30. DeJesus, 1 legit prospect, and a fringe or 2 should do it, and they can keep their fringe and filler. I just think that Price is a pipe dream, especially with teams like Texas, Atlanta, Toronto, The Cards, and even KC and The Pirates likely to get in the mix with far more to offer than we could.
  21. Little Slide Rooter
    2012 sucked. 2012 really sucked. 2013 might not be "the year," but it doesn't have to suck. Certainly not on the level that 2012 did. If 2013 is to be sans suckage, Matt Garza will be a big part of it. Garza no longer has the extra year of team control attached that he did last winter. Couple that with the fact that his season ended with an injury in July, his Winter 2012/2013 value won't be much higher than his Summer 2013 value, so why not keep him and try to win. If that doesn't work out, then shop away. Unless, of course someone wants to make the type of offer some thought that we could get last winter.
  22. Little Slide Rooter
    Ugh. This is awful. They better get REALLY [expletive] good. Once we're turned around (if it happens) I really hope we have a long string of good teams. If that happens, I can live with this, otherwise, this really, really blows. Since Shark was turned off, our rotation has been (in order of most to least viable as a big league pitcher): No. 1: Travis Wood: Acceptable 4 starter, but when he's the best you have, you're already doomed No. 2: Chris Volstad: any hope has faded No. 3: Chris Rusin: Maybe a fill in here and there when a regular is DLd or you need an extra arm for a double header. Rank&File: Germano and Berken who by right should be AAA mop up men. The Cubs have been bad all season, but the recent sprint to 100 losses should be credited to this, and not something to expect going forward.
  23. Little Slide Rooter
    At this point, if we can't get at least 2 quality prospects or players (I know, it's a broad spectrum) whilst eating 90+% of his salary, I say keep him and maybe shop DeJesus, Barney, and Wood. Spend on pitching, acquire another OF bat, and hope for the best from Stewart, Jackson, and Castillo. The NL is pretty weak overall, and with 3 playoff spots to work with, there's no reason to go into another season with a lose now mentality. As horrible as the Cubs have looked in their recent sprint to 100 losses, it's been with one of the worst rotations in the history of organized baseball since Shark was shut down.
  24. Little Slide Rooter
    32 HR 108 RBI .828 OPS. Really torn about what to do with him this season. At this point. I'd still be willing to eat a much salary as possible, but it would require a package including a top 100 guy and 1-2 quality pieces as opposed to the sack of rubbish I'd have gladly taken for him this time last year.
  25. Little Slide Rooter
    I feel today will be the big 100.
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