Little Slide Rooter

Not until some time in July.

Definitely think he had a shot, however I'm not sure how he beat Cabrera and Rhoderick to Iowa.

Link?

And Jay Jackson gave up 4 in the first 2 innings. 19 runs in 9.1 innings for the starters in Iowa, Tennessee, and Peoria. Meanwhile, Matt Loosen is throwing a 1-hitter thru 5 for Daytona. Why are they even starting Jackson still? He's been great in the pen and awful as a starter.

True, but on the off chance that every one of our top prospects due pan out, we can spend our money on pitching, which our system is very much lacking, primarly of the front end variety.

So could the 2016 opening day lineup look something like: 1. Almora CF 2. Castro SS/3B 3. Soler RF 4. Rizzo 1B 5. Baez 3B/SS 6. Jackson LF 7. Lake/Hernandez/Amaya 2B 8. Koyie Hill Lot of lefties, but still.

Barry Praver. Sorry.

Could just be that it's one of those deals in which each team got something they wanted and who fleeced who is irrelevant.

If final offers were presumeably in last night, I can only assume that at this point Pavner's just going back and forth between the last few teams trying to squeeze out just a bit more each time, and that said teams must be very close to each other in terms of their offers.

This statement has just as much truth towards it. Except I'm not sure how barley fits in. They aren't exactly equivalent. I mean, yes, you could categorize both teams bids under "rumors," but I think some rumors are a lot stronger and more credible than others. Any team with money can go overboard on the bidding, whether they were a rumored favorite or not. It really doesnt make a difference if they have that money because they missed out on another bidding war, they were saving it specifically for this, or if they just have a lot of money and see the opportunity to acquire a top prospect. The question is where each will draw the line.

Going into this season, per sickels analysis they had 2 prospects with a grade higher than C, one being Reed who's up now and the other Nestor Molina who's struggled somewhat so far this season, though he has a history of consistantly striking out a lot more guys than he walks.

Sounds like when all is said and doen, this is going to get very expensive. I'm just imagining Theo and Cashman back and forthinf auction style with Pavners eyes turning into dollar signs and a cha ching going off each time.

I'm not so much bothered by those who criticize Theo and Co. for not spending in the offseason, but I'm pretty floored by those who are already judging the new regime as a whole on the quarter of their first season. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want Pujols or Fielder, but not at the contracts the got. Aside from those 2 and maybe Darvish or Cespedes, there was nothing avaialble that would have really helped the team long term.

Admittedly it's not much better than ours. Maybe Hawk is still the GM and he was terrible. ??? White Sox are generally ranked dead last in minor league talent. Cubs are generally middle of the pack. Not sure if thisis subscriber only or not, but backs up what I'm saying. A few months ago there was an article discussing the future of each MLB team, and where they'd be in the next 5 years, Sox and Astros were at the bottom with the Cubs somewhere in the middle. Since then, the Astros future has been looking brighter, and while the White Sox present has been looking better than expected, it could be said that it makes their future dimmer as they're less likely to trade guys like Peavy, Konerko, and Pierzynski who could have brought back significant returns, and making them less likely to trade what prospects they do have for more veterans and rentals.

The following comes from some guy on Twitter, obviously a Yankees fan.

Lee seems like such a pipe dream in a Dempster trade but Colletti does seem to overpay with nice prospects (Casey Blake for Carlos Santana, George Sherrill for Josh Bell when Bell was a top-50 prospect). I still think LaHair is more valuable staying on the Cubs than he is perceived by other teams in a trade. LaHairs perceived value could be on the rise. While he isn't as ridiculous as he started out, he's looking like he could have some sustainable success. However, I wonder if theres any chance we could work Soriano in there. We could really clean up with Colletti on the other end if we sent them Demp and Soriano, and ate 95-98% of both salaries.

Not credible. He shows up once in awhile with a rumor he read at PSD and turns it into a fact. Shut up, he said what I wanted to hear so he's reputable.

Any chance that Hoyer can get Cashman on the phone to discuss a Garza deal just long enough for Theo to close this thing and then hang up on him?

A) Already in place, so not bought. B) Coming off his best minor league season by far, so not low. So probably doesn't belong in a discussion of buy-low reclamation projects. True, but, broadly speaking, the point of buy-low reclamation projects is to turn something into a valuable asset. By giving him a chance to play, LaHair has turned into an asset that the organization previously didn't have. With the guys in the discussion, they were signed as reclamation projects in the hopes that since they were still young, a change of scenery and coaching could give them a chance to come near their original ceilings, in each case were high ones. With LaHair, I'm not sure but I think he was signed as a roster filler for Iowa and a possible spare part down the road. He was already old enough that there wasn't much likelyhood of him becoming much more than that.

Soler is a pure RFer and Jackson is a pure CFer. Soler is also multiple years away from the majors and still risky, whereas Jackson will almost certainly be up by the start of 2013, if not sooner. By the time Soler's ready for the big leagues, Jackson will likely have a full 2-3 years under his belt and we should have a pretty good idea of what he'll be as a player. Also, not long after Soler comes up, Albert Amora (remember him) shouldn't be too far behind, so there is a chance that Jackson could end up a trade chip depending on how things go for the 3. And somewhere between Jackson and Soler there will also be Sczcur and Ha, one or both of which could also end up traded in the not to distant future, assuming that both Soler and Amora end up in the fold. Needless to say, we shouldn't worry about the possibility of Tony Campana as our long term CF.

I don't why any of us would be concerned about the money. These are some of the smartest guys in baseball, and whether it costs 30 mil or 50 mil, if they felt as though it was too much money and would in any way compromise their plans going foreword, they wouldn't do it.

"The Yankees offered a billion dollars over 3 years" That kind of bidding doesn't work when actually calling the Yankees up and asking would be collusion. It doesn't necessarily have to be collusion if there is simply a mutual understanding that the Cubs will beat any offer. They could just say, "Soler wants to be a Cub and the Yankees offered $40 Million, so give us $44 million and he is yours." If it really is true that Epstein wants Soler at all costs, then anything less than offering the Cubs a chance to beat any offer would be leaving money on the table. Agents lie. I stand by my theory that Theo has had an unofficial offer on the table since March, or whenever the first report came out. If another bid is higher, Paver will let him know and give him the chance to trump it. If it's higher than he cares to go, then that's all folks .

If nothing else, hopefully this silences those in the Cubs will never sign another big free agent camp. Not saying that they'll go all out and land Hamels, Upton, and McCarthy but that going after at least one is a possibility. Additionally, this is the 2nd hint by Sveum that at least in his eyes that Josh Vitters isn't ready and likely won't be by 2013. Wow who has ever said the Cubs will never sign another big FA? And who the heck is even questioning whether or not Vitters will be a Cub in 2013? 1. There are those who don't think that the Cubs will spend big, and if they do it will be a few years down the road. 2. A few days ago in an interview Sveum said that he likes Vitters swing but he's not ready to help any time soon due mostly to plate dicipline and defense, though I'd heard reports that his D was improving.

Stewart? Wood? Seems like 2, very different categories. I is the veterans coming off a poor season. Especially with DeJesus, coming of an injury and a stint with the A's, it was more likely that he could have a rebound. Camp was just a minor league invitee that we got somewhat lucky with. You can file him with Mather, Corpas, and a great deal of the Iowa roster and some who started the year there. No harm in picking these spare parts up assuming they're not blocking someone else. The other category is those that were signed off pedigree, the former top prospects, some of who have had some degree of big league success in the past (Stewart, Maholm, Volstad), others not so much (Cardenas, Bowden). In these cases, it's very unlikely that you'll end up with Big Papi, but rather a serviceable player or else a not do serviceable one. You really can't fault Theo buying low in these guys, although in Volstads case, I wouldn't exactly call the way we acquired him buying low. As far as I'm concerned, if giving them minor league deals, plucking them off waivers, or trading spare parts and fringe prospects for them I have no problem with picking up as many of these types as are available. Dare I say...fliers. For each one that does pan out, it's one less spot that you have to fill when the next step in the rebuild comes.

If nothing else, hopefully this silences those in the Cubs will never sign another big free agent camp. Not saying that they'll go all out and land Hamels, Upton, and McCarthy but that going after at least one is a possibility. Additionally, this is the 2nd hint by Sveum that at least in his eyes that Josh Vitters isn't ready and likely won't be by 2013.