Little Slide Rooter

Great shows by the Marshall trade alum today.

Bryan LaHair's too busy apartment hunting in Japan to play.

This. We will probably add a Rule V guy too. My guess is Marmol is traded, and we sign someone like Brad Lidge, K Rod, or Bobby Jenks to a 1 year deal with incentives and possible options. Additionally we give someone like Francisco Cordero, Juan Cruz, or John Rausch to a minor league deal, or else a very low 1 year deal. Additionally, we have Russell, Beliveau, and Cabrera as pretty close to sure things, although Russell could be a trade candidate as well. Additional spots will likely be Dolis and Bowden's to win or lose in the spring. Hatley and Mateo are also a good possibility, McNutt possible too. Besides that, I'm sure there will be another revolving door of has beens and never will bes.

Great news.

I just watched the replay. As rough as the flip looked, he seems to have fallen on his back, and his head didn't seem to hit the ground. Looks like he could have hyperextended the knee though.

Shut him down the rest of the worthless season for all I care, as long as he's OK by Spring.

He's making 2.66MM this season, and I can't see him making much more via arb next season. A very low risk for a guy who could still potentially be an above average back end starter. If nothing else, he has 2 more arb eligible seasons left, and a strong start to 2014 could give him some degree of trade value.

He could be an ace next year, legitimately. healthy Garza, Samardzjia, Sanchez/Jackson/Marcum/Shields/McCarthy(if he recovers), Wood, Volstad/Raley/Struck/lesser FA/trade acquisition, could be a very strong rotation. Even stronger if a healthy, productive Vizcaino can slot in there in the next year or two.

You really don't know this front office, at all. So, inspired by this, I did a detailed study of the front office's history so that we might understand what they are going to do. From that research, I predict: 1) We'll do pretty much whatever they feel like doing. 2) They'll come up with a *really* intelligent-sounding justification for what they feel like doing. 3) They'll soak up all the credit for things that go well while avoiding most of the blame for things that go poorly. 4) It'll probably involve a crap-ton of waiver-wire turnover. While I do maintain faith in the front office and their current way of doing things, I'll keep it until around this time next year to start looking like at least a .500 team. Remember as good as out lower levels seem, St. Louis has a hell of a deep farm system, and that's just notable prospects, not to mention their little habit of pulling players out of nowhere. For all we know, he's taking the money that he never would have gotten from Boston, and will do his best to turn the Cubs into something resembling the Rays. This being said, the best case scenerio is that he succeeds, Cubs win a World Series or 2, and he becomes known as they guy who broke baseball's two most notorious curses. Worst case scenerio, he fails. When his contract comes to an end, the Cubs are a low budget mess, but he either keeps his job anyway because he did so in a cost effective manner, or he's canned, but gets another job based on the fumes of his reputation. But for now, I stick with my theory that the plan is to spend the next 2 years building the best young team possible internally and via reclamations, and when 2014-2015 rolls around, they have plenty of money to burn and bust out the checkbook to fill the holes that they were unable to. Sort of the opposite of what he did in Boston.

Jesus H [expletive] Almora, stop crashing into walls. Leave that [expletive] to the gritty, replaceable white guys.

Do other GMs still think that Barney can play shortstop? If so that's a start, obviously you are going to have to add something very good in to pry a young pitcher away though. My thinking is that if we were to pry one of those pitchers, Barney could be piece #2, and the key would be someone along the lines of Jackson, Szczur, or Vitters. With the wide range of pitchers listed, there are some we could with that alone, and others we'd have to throw in something else. Others yet, such ad Gray, Parker, and Hanson we can pretty forget unless Theo's already ready to start cutting into what he's building on the farm. Peacock could be a guy to try to buy low on. I also think that Oakland could have interest in Soriano if we pick up the tab.

Just to add, here's a projection of current players likely to be on the 40 man: Pitchers 1. Garza 2. Shark 3. Wood 4. Struck 5. Raley or Rusin 6. Cabrer 7. Russell 8. Beliveau 9. Dolis 10. Concepcion (I think it's in his contract) Infielders 11. Castro 12. Rizzo 13. Barney 14. Stewart 15. Vitters 16. Watkins 17. Cardenas or Valbuena Outfielders 18. Jackson 19. Campana 20. Sappelt 21. Soler 22. Szczur Catchers 23. Castillo 24. Clevenger If not traded 25. Marmol 26. Soriano 27. DeJesus Other possibilities 28. Bowden 29. Hatley 30. Volstad 31. Other of Raley/Rusin 32. Other of Cardenas/Valbuena 33. LaHair 34. Whitenack 35. Peralta 36. Mateo

Try to trade DeJesus for a pitcher of some sort. Acquire a bunch of reclamations. Re-up Stewart Trade Soriano and Marmol for the best return and eat as much salary as it takes. Sign one of Sanchez/Jackson/Marcum/Floyd/McCarthy if he's still alive. See what it will take for the A's to trade Peacock or Milone If not, see what the Rays want for Wade Davis or Jeff Niemann. Maybe even if we can get one of the A's guys. See how much 1 year of Melky Cabrera with vesting options costs If too much, look into Delmon Young or BJ Upton.

With Shark being shut down Saturday, our rotation will be Wood/Volstad/Germano/Rusin/this guy. Catching the Astros migh be a tall order, but it's looking possible.

Probably just talk, but if Sveum plans on Soriano, DeJesus, and Garza all being part of the 2013 opening day roster, I'm not sure how much improvement can be made for next years team without significant free agent signings.

When the games matter, and a player has been as bad as Vitters, they don't continue to get regular, if any playing time. However, in Vitters case, there's really no reason not to just let it play out if for no other reason, on the job training and to let him get as many reps vs. big league pitching as possible. My guess is that regardless of what happens betwen now and opening day 2013, Stewart will be our starting 3B with Vitters in Iowa.

Man, 7 runs for Vancouver. What a brutal 7th inning. Hayden Simpson shouldn't pitch in playoff games. Let me give you a hand with that.

So is there anyone left who'd like to see more of Justin Germano? No? Alrighty, moving right along then.

Pete Rose hit a deep drive to left.

Nice to meet you Bob Carpenter. Sorry, had to beat N&G to it.

Orioles and the Nats have sure been the stories of the season. Between them and the A's, and in contrast the Phillies, Angels, and Red Sox, it's a nice reminder that if the best teams on paper automatically went to the playoffs, the regular season would be 162 games too long.

I know we aren't catching them, but it feels like we are gaining on the Astros. I don't think we've gained any ground on them. We seem to be constantly 9.5 games ahead of them. They're the juggernauts of the fecal league.

Oh, hey, there's a game on. And we're already down 0-5. Good for the Nats.

Ben Wells line might not look pretty: 2 IP 3 H 3 BB 1 K, but the fact that he didn't give up any runs despite it is rather impressive in it's own.

Agreed. It's kind of odd to refer to a guy as a "5 tool stud" one and then compare him to Ryan Braun, who may be one of the elite hitters in the game, but is by no means a 5 tool player. Maybe he meant his bat alone, but show me a 5 tool player with Ryan Brauns bat, and I'll show you a perennial MVP, and probably the best player of his generation.