Little Slide Rooter

It's no surprise that Theo's playing hardball like he is. He actually may be more valuable than we think. Aside from Demp, the SP market consists of Hamels, Greinke, and Garza who are the 3 top options, but will require a team to take a second mortgage on their farm system. On the other side, there's a few cheaper options like Liriano or Wandy for teams looking to make an upgrade toward the middle of the rotation. Dempster stands alone as a front end starter who will cost something of value, but not nearly as costly as one of the top 3 guys.

Jesus H [expletive], the Astros made out like bandits here. They gave away the expiring contract of Brandon Lyon, a so-so at best back end starter, and a meh 27 year old reliever and ended up with 3 high ceiling arms between the ages of 19-23, as well as a couple of vets that they could either flip at the deadline or dump. We couldn't have got that package for a pile of our junk? Hopefully he was just too preoccupied with Feecing Ned Colletti for Zach Lee. In addition to the pitchers, while when I clicked on the "Carlos Perez", MLBTR links to a 41 year old pitcher who hasn't pitched professionally since 2001, however the Carlos Perez the Astros got was actually a 21 year old A catcher with a line of .275/.358/.447/.804 and 5 HR.

Perhaps he's using April of 2011 as the sole basis for this.

Jesus H [expletive], the Astros made out like bandits here. They gave away the expiring contract of Brandon Lyon, a so-so at best back end starter, and a meh 27 year old reliever and ended up with 3 high ceiling arms between the ages of 19-23, as well as a couple of vets that they could either flip at the deadline or dump. We couldn't have got that package for a pile of our junk? Hopefully he was just too preoccupied with Feecing Ned Colletti for Zach Lee.

Miracle win streak time. Let's do it. Now's when Jim Hendry would be inquiring on Johnny Damon and Jason Frasor.

Have to like Hunter Ackerman's Boise debut. 3 scoreless with 1 H 0/4 BB/K.

At one point, I think it was Goldstein who said that Szczur's ceiling, or at least a good comp is Reed Johnson. A solid, career 4th OF who could start for a 2nd division team. Like it or not, it's hard to argue. He has all of the tools, though none of them are spectacular. Look forward to Matt Szczur crashing into the wall of a stadium near you.

T. Wood, Germano, Volstad, Lopez, Coleman.

The 6.5 mil option is a great value even for a back end starter. No reason to trade him unless someone gets stupid with their offer.

Ragardless, I'll be very surprised if Dempster starts for us tomorrow. Teams don't line up two replacements for a guy when a trade's a possibility. They do it when they're hammering our the final details.

Add a BB to that. And little Ronny Torreyes 2-3 with a 2B

LaHair will satisfy all their offensive needs.... Soriano could, with LaHair as a 3rd piece.

Even with one of baseball's brightest FOs facing off against Ned Coletti, I wouldnt expect him too.

I know someone said that there were confirmed Dodger's scouts at Peoria last night. Probably at the other levels as well. Aside from Baez, I can't think of too many guys eligible to be traded that I wouldn't be willing to offer as throw ins if Lee's on the table.

Does Paniagua become our default pitching prospect until the mythical Dillon Maples finally throws a baseball?

Raley pitched 7 innings yesterday. I think he might be unavailable to start against the Cardinals tomorrow. That's why I said next time the spot comes up.

The revolving door of awful returns! For [expletive] sake, just go with a spot starter and then call up Raley, the only thing we have remotely resembling a somewhat big league ready starting pitching prospect next time the rotation spot comes around again.I'm sick of looking at Casey Coleman. I'm sick of looking at Chris Volstad. I have no idea what Justin Germano even looks like, and I'm already sick of looking at him.

This might be the most baffling pick up yet. But surely, it's all a part of the divine plan.

No reason to put too much into one game, but the 0-6 with 4K was certainly a kick in the balls to us Vitters enthusiasts.

You've already taken more fliers than the Battle of Britain The beauty of fliers is that you can take out all you want. If you don't like what you see, toss it in in the trash before the end of the block. Best case scenrio, you get a great reclamation player. Worst case scenario, you have some toilet reading. Hendry took out a flier on Ryan Dempster, and the result was the longest tenured Cub of his era. Then he continued to take out fliers on the likes of Scott Willamson, Chad Fox, Wade Miller, and Chad Fox again. Can't forget that flier he pulled in May of 2008. The point is, I'd rather stock all of Iowa with once high profile fliers that have an off chance to be valuable, though has a greater chance of being junk than junk that we know will end up junk. So yes, give me Scott Kazmir, Brandon Wood, and Brandon Webb over Rodrigo Lopez, Matt Tolbert, and Alfredo Amezaga any day. IIRC, Dempster was coming off an injury and teams weren't sure if he was worth signing as a reliever. Not really the same as signing every recognizable name that comes along on the 1/20 chance that they might be good. There are a lot of the Dempster type's that don't work out. Scott Kazmir, though I'm, not sure if he's had surgery is a similar case to Dempster. Had star potential, but was injured. Still young enough that he can be a top guy though. There's also that guy on the Cardinals. There's really no harm in signing Sanchez. With Dempster supposedly about to be traded any day now, the timing would be perfect. We could either A. put him in the rotation right away, or B. do one of those minor league deals in which he can opt out by such and such a date. We call up Raley for Dempster, and if Sanchez strings together a few good starts, call him up if/when Garza's traded. It's not like there's another guy worthy of a look besides Raley.

Nice to see Candelerio 2-3.

He seems to DH a lot, does he have a position? He's primarily a 2B with a few reps at SS but with Bruno a 2B/3B, Hernandez strictly a SS and Candelario strictly a 3B, they have to spread the DH around to get all 4 bats in the lineup. Another reason you don't want Vogelbach going to Boise - he'd take away ABs from one of those 4 or Shoulders. It's been a nice positive that Amaya has supposedly been steady as a 2nd baseman this year. I don't love his bat potential at 3rd. At 2nd, love it. One way to get Vogelbach up is to move Bruno up, thus having Amaya/Hernandez play the bulk of the time at 2nd/SS and allowing Vogelbach/Shoulders to 1st/DH. Bruno's ability to play multiple spots would still allow them to give Geiger regular AB's. I want to see Martin/Amaya/Hernandez/Candelario with regular defensive time at their current positions. Plus he's small and white, so they'll want to be sure he's up by the time Campana moves on.

Does it count as a Golden Sombrero if it comes in extra innings? If so, Vitters just earned one.

It should be a no brainier. When Demp is traded, bring him up. Then, if/when Garza follows, bring on Rusin or Struck, unless we get some type of big league pitching in the deal. Wells is mercifully DL bound. Volstad and Coleman have had enough chances. As long as there's anyone with any shot at contributing in the future, Lopez shouldn't even almost be an option. Not saying that Raley will be any better then the rest, but he's certainly earned a look.