Little Slide Rooter

I should probably admit that had the rest of the team been better, Johnson, Camp, and Corpas would have been more appreciable as cheap additions than they are.

I'm getting ridiculously intrigued by Krist and Rademacher.

Not so much held back for his glove as they want him and Rock to play full time 1B, and they don't feel as though either is ready for Daytona.

I dont see how he's any less ready than Shoulders was when he was promoted. My guess is that it's his glove more than his bat. If that's the case, they wouldn't want him DHing.

Maybe they're scouting the Tigers? Or maybe their scouting Baez in the impending trade for Matt Kemp to the Cubs? Could be nobody in particular and they're simply checking out all of our lower levels for throw ins. I have to imagine that type of thing is common when making trades with low level throw ins and PTBNLs involved. Then again, maybe they were just there to ogle Taiwan Easterling. They're only human.

Boo. Shark had 1 more inning left in him. Or at least a chance to earn the W.

Sounds like big free agents aren't in the cards for 2013. And if the biggest need is starting pitching, perhaps they should consider hanging onto Garza rather than trade him for few guys might be comparable to him 3-4 years down the line. If we were to enter 2013 with our current rotation (trade Demp and bring him back on a hometown discount) plus a few offensive upgrades, would that not be good enough to contend?

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.

Granted we're stacked with high ceiling middle infielders, but if nobody is willing to part with top young pitching, we should aiming for the best prospects we can get, regardless of position, and this guy being in the Top 50s 2 years in a row, so he could be it. The position's just a plus. He can forget about the whole Castro replacement, but perhaps an offensive upgrade over Barney or use him in a package for something bigger.

You're basically describing what the Cubs could've done this past offseason The difference is that last offseason, the only free agents that really would have fit in with the plan were Fielder and Pujols, and their respective bidding wars went well out of the range that we were willing to pay. Anything else would have been band-aids. I can't see the bids for, say BJ Upton and one of Sanchez/McCarthy/Marcum being as out of control. If this were the rout we went, even if Soriano does keep productive the rest of the way and we keep him, I wouldn't count on him repeating next year due to his age an knees. Still, if we can't get anything worthwhile in return for him, may as well ride him until the wheels fall off. Another factor could be Ian Stewart's response to the wrist surgery. It would be foolish to NT him without seeing how it works out. We'd also have Vitter's back at AAA splitting time between 3B and LF. I also wouldn't be opposed to checking in on some reclamation types such as Travis Snider or Michael Taylor.

Here's a sequence I daydreamed a few days ago. Dempster for pitching Garza for Olt and Perez Barney, Jackson, Perez, Ha/Szczur for Upton Sign Liriano, trade for another SP(use Dempster haul, Vitters, maybe Soto) DeJesus/Castro/Rizzo/Upton/Soriano/Olt/Soto/Valbuena, Liriano/Samardzija/Trade/Wood/Maholm Mines somewhat more expensive, but with all of the money off the books between the end of last season and the end of this season, and guys like Castro, Rizzo, Wood, and Castill holding down important positions for very cheap, it's doable. Plus, with us off the hook for Marmol after 2013 and Soriano after 2014, we could do some front/mid loading: Now: -Dempster and maybe LaHair for Tolleson and Gould -Gould, Tolleson, B. Jax, and Barney for Justin Upton - unless something wonderful is offered, keep Garza. Work on an extension in the offseason. -Shop Soriano, offering to pick up 95% of the contract. If nobody bites, or we don't get a good enough return, shop DeJesus. -Shop Soto. If nobody bites, NT him. -Shop Marmol: if nobody bites, keep him -trade Baker, Johnson, and Camp for whatever we can get. Won't be much, but contenders will take them. Off season -either re sign Demp for a home town discount (2/22 or 1/12.5 w/ an option for 2014. If the prefer younger, try for McCarthy, A. Sanchez, or Marcum on. 3/40ish deal. -Sign B.J. Upton to a 5/60, with a player opt out afte the 2nd or 3rd year -pick up Maholm's 6 mil option for 2013 -sign Jonathon Sanchez to a Minor league deal w/invite -Bobby Jenks or Brad Lidge to a minor league deal, or incentive laden big league deal -invite various middle relievers and utility guys to ST. Opening day: RF DeJesus, SS Castro, LF J. Upton, 1B Rizzo, CF B. Upton, 3B Stewart/Vitters, C Castillo, 2B Cardenas/Valbuena/Watkins/cheap vet Rotation: 1. Garza 2. Shark 3. Demp/McCarthy/A. Sanchez/Marcum 4. Wood 5. Maholm (J. Sanchez in Iowa) Pen: CL Marmol(unless traded) SU Lidge/Jenks (closer if Marmol traded), Russell, Cabrera, Beliveau, Dolis, J. Jax/Bowden/Parker Bench: Clevenger, Sappelt, Campana,(LaHair if not moved) 2 of Watkins/Valbuena/Cardenas/cheap vet

A SS with plus offense isnt as easy to come across as a corner OF. This being said, if we were actively shopping Castro, while I'd want a Bundy/Machado package, if that wasn't on the table and we insisted on moving him, I'd begrudgingly accept a package like Gould, Jackson, Tolleson, and Barney or Lake. Again, if we were dead set on trading him and nobody was offering up 2 Top 10 overall prospects. The thing is, in order to get that kind of package (the Bundy/Machado) for any player, there has to be that perfect storm of a team who has that package to offer, is willing to offer it, and wants or needs the player in question enough to be worth their while.

25 year major league career, 5000 hit club and inducted into the HOF while still playing. I can't get that damn article on him out of my head......Seriously though, they could keep him there as a utility guy, I would think. ?

If Saunders performs well and by the time Alcantara's off the DL, Baker and/ Valbuena have moved on he could stay there with Alcantara to AA and Watkins or Lake to Iowa with Cardenas back up. Watkins might be the better bet for Iowa. Fringy but somewhat intriguing as a cheap utility guy, he's Rule 5 eligible this Winter, and they might want to take a gander at him at the next level to help decide if he's worth protecting.

Castro should be nowhere near the table. However, Darwin Barney and/or Junior Lake could be enticing pieces to a deal. However, we'd need a few much more exciting pieces as the centerpieces. Brett Jackson or Matt Szczur could be one of them. Seriously? You could put the four of them together and Arizona would hang up laughing. Probably not going to be enough either way but that is one hell of miss quote when you cut off the "Obviously, neither would be the main piece, which could come from the Dempster return." from the original post Yeah, I realized that after I posted. But I still think the main piece in a Dempster trade could never be the main piece in an Upton trade, no matter how many of our flawed prospects you throw in. Most prospects have their flaws, and there's no such thing as a sure thing. When trading an elite player like Upton, the key should be to get as many pieces in return with the potential to be substantial big league contributers. We can scoff at the idea of Brett Jackson as one of the key pieces, but he's been a Top 75 prospect the past 3 years, and top 40 the past 2. Despite his atrocious K rate, he still manages to keep his OPS well above .800, along with plus speed, power, and I believe defense.

Any chance that we might have something of use with Cervenka? Theo didn't chose him from the PTBNL pool for no reason. In the past, he's had high K totals, but high walk totals as well. Since coming here, the BBs have been down and the Ks remain. We'll see how his first crack at A+ goes.

And say we did end up pulling Gould and Tolleson for Dempster. I think that the two of them plus Jackson or Szczur and Lake and/or Barney gets our foot very much in the door.

Last I checked, Jeff Baker was hitting in the .230s with an OPS in the low-mid .600s. Now, he's hitting .278 with a .794 OPS. Be it a small sample size, but with a guy that could play all over the field, that's something that could be of use to contenders. Like with the case of Reed Johnson, the best case scenerio is a Hunter Cervenka or Abner Abreu (who may or may not still exist) type, or more likely as a throw in with a bigger trade, but may as well get what we can.

Fixed

If it weren't for The Cubs, he'd have been forced into retirement 3 years ago.

Castro should be nowhere near the table. However, Darwin Barney and/or Junior Lake could be enticing pieces to a deal. However, we'd need a few much more exciting pieces as the centerpieces. Brett Jackson or Matt Szczur could be one of them. Seriously? You could put the four of them together and Arizona would hang up laughing. Which is why we'd be trying to get something substantial for Dempster that we could flip over along with them.

Wood was looking good up until this inning.

Interesting. They that the reason we're trying to expedite a Dempster trade is to focus on a Garza trade, but could the could the actual reason be to acquire some prospects worth flipping to Arizona? Castro should be nowhere near the table. However, Darwin Barney and/or Junior Lake could be enticing pieces to a deal. However, we'd need a few much more exciting pieces as the centerpieces. Brett Jackson or Matt Szczur could be one of them. Obviously, neither would be the main piece, which could come from the Dempster return.

Nick Struck and Matt Loosen have become our two most followable pitching prospects by default. Jackson/Cashner/McNutt day was more fun though.

The pendulum will swing our way once again, my friend. Hopefully, it won't be long before Arismendy Alcantara and Hayden Simpson are the centerpieces for an Andrew McCutchen trade.