Little Slide Rooter

Ah, the 2 game win streak. Memories.

There will be no shortage of cursing going on this season.

Yeah, and Darwin Barney should never field another routine ground ball in a Cubs uniform.

100% agree. And I'd have been perfectly content with it for the 3rd or 4th round, but with the 15th pick in the draft, a risk like that is idiotic especially considering the state that the Cubs farm system was in at the time. It that if Theo were around at time it wouldn't have happened. As a side note, the state of the system in 2010 was that, perception wise, we were on an upswing. Brett Jackson was making waves, Starlin Castro had emerged, and there was a lot of hope on the 2008 pitching class from the draft (Cashner, Jay Jackson, Carpenter, Justin Bristow, and so forth). Kyler Burke had a big year in Peoria the year before, Junior Lake was an intriguing raw talent that we hoped could develop, Vitters was fairly well-regarded, Lee was an up-and-comer, Archer had a big year in Peoria, Rhee got hurt but impressed in his brief time, Huseby showed a flicker of hope, Flaherty looked like a potential solid contributor and so forth. Yeah, we had some good pieces, probably middle of the pack or better but not in the kind of position where you waste a 1st round pick, not that there ever should be.

100% agree. And I'd have been perfectly content with it for the 3rd or 4th round, but with the 15th pick in the draft, a risk like that is idiotic especially considering the state that the Cubs farm system was in at the time. It that if Theo were around at time it wouldn't have happened.

It's all good Bryan. It's not like he was going anywhere with the pitchers spots up.

If he sticks around long enough, it seems like Javier Baez will more than keep him busy.

Speaking of DFAd one time top prospects: According to BBR, Bell was the 60 prospect before this season and he's only 25. He's struggled big time, but as long as we don't mind giving him a 40 man spot, he could be an interesting plan c after Stewart or Vitters for 3B. Someone should claim him very soon.

Literally laughed out loud at this. More economical...more consistent...He's definitely always had the "throws alot of pitches early" knock...Right with Vitters as the hardest player to gauge in this system, but I have significantly more confidence in Vitters. I seriously have no [expletive] clue as to what out of McNutt. Does anyone have any velocity reports for him so far? Is he more of a 91-94 type righty? As long as you understood that it (the Pierre comment) was a joke. As for McNutt, if he continues to have those high pitch counts, I wonder if they'll consider trying him as a closer.

I think I've asked this in the past, but what are the thoughts on Frank Batista as a legit relief prospect? He never seems to be brought up.

Delmon Young: .288/.321/.427 (.749 OPS), career fWAR: 1.5 BJ Upton: .257/.342/.416 (.759 OPS), career fWAR: 19.8 (in 82 more games) The trouble with Delmon is that whatever he does this season makes him sort of a catch 22. Either he has a mediocre season like he has the majority of his big league career aside from 2010, and he's only worth signing if he'll take a 2-3 year low base salary/incentive laden contract or he has a breakout year, and somebody overpays for him in hopes that it's not just a fluke.

Take away 2011 and Ethier is a career .857 OPS. Wrigley could certainly give that a boost. Sure he'll be 31, but assuming he has a rebound this season and if he'd take a 4 year deal, perhaps with vesting options how far of a cliff can he fall off (famous last words). The same with Hart, he'll be 32 at the beginning of his next contract, but as long as the rest of the core (Jax, Castro, Rizzo, Castillo, Vitters) are between 23-25 with plenty of prospects pumping through the system we could live with a few high priced vets in their 30's. This isn't Logans Run. We don't need to kill anything over 30.

I have no doubt that Jackson or Upton could hold down RF or LF defensively, but offensively, I'd simply like a few bigger bats. Basically, I'd rather spend the money for what we don't have rather than duplicating what we do have. Castro really seems to me like a guy who will be a 2 hitter type with high average, modest power but a lot of extra base hits. Rizzo is the only guy we currently have who seems like he could be a real heart of the order type, and even that's no sure thing. The corner OF spots are really where we could put them. Andre Ethier and to a much lesser extent, Delmon Young are guys who are more likely to be .850-.900 OPS guys and would likely be cheaper than Upton. If we could get one for a modest price, though that's easier said than done and stick with Dejesus in RF in 2013 and sign Corey Hart for 2014, and we could have a pretty strong lineup of 1. Jax 2. Castro 3. Ethier 4. Hart 5. Rizzo 6. Vitters/Stewart 7. Castillo 8. whoever's manning 2nd. Add in a Garza extension, another front end starter, and for enough of our younger prospects to pan out and we have the type of team that can contend long term.

OBP is at 370, though, so that's nice. Unfortunately his SLG is also 216 to match his BA Maybe he could be a Juan Pierre type.

If it's Jackson at minimum or Upton @ 15MM+ per year I'm taking Jackson. They look to be similar players (hit for moderate power, low average, take walks and strike out a ton), at least similar enough I wouldn't overpay for Upton. Precisely, The B.J. Uptons and Chris Youngs of the world are usually good for a 3.0-3.5 oWAR as center fielders with their .750-.775 OPS, but move them to a corner spot, and the value is going to drop which is why if were to sign Upton I'd rather try to trade Jackson, hopefully for a pitching prospect with front end potential and find a way to get a few .850-.900 OPS guys for the corners. I know Corey Hart for 1 is going to be a free agent in 2014 and he's been a 3.8 and 4.0 WAR player the past 2 seasons. As for 2013, I'm fairly certain that we could pry Michael Taylor from the A's for a reasonable price and give him a look. Then, in 2014 we have: 1B Rizzo 2B Barney/Cardenas/Lake/? SS. Castro 3B. Vitters/Stewart/Lake LF. Michael Young CF. Upton RF. Hart C. Castillo SP Garza SP ? SP Shark SP McNutt SP Volstad/Wood

Make it perfectoed through 6. By Tyler Thornberg, the 96th pick in the 2010 draft. In which we picked Hayden Simpson around 80 picks prior.

McNutt had a nice start going 4 giving up 1 ER 1 H 1 BB 4 K with 81 pitches. He's on the line for the L as the Smokes are getting perfectoed through 5.

That's just crazy enough to work. But CF is a premium position, and if we did sign Upton, we could then move Jackson for either a corner OF with more power or a starting pitcher.

Brilliant analysis. I bet most people thought we should block Jacksons arrival with a significantly less productive player like Neifi Perez. That's nowhere near what I was saying, but that's OK.

Stewart isn't a question, you jackwagon my hope is to woo Stephen Drew (with money) for 2B, sign BJ Upton for CF, and be left without a single weak spot in the lineup; Castillo can hit 8th and probably be perfectly fine go after Liriano/Anibal/Marcum/Peavy? to augment the rotation and you shore up just about everything for roughly the price of one Cole Hamels* *i may be underselling what these three will get, who the hell knows Definitely agree on Drew. The problem with Upton is that we don't know what we have in Jackson yet, so I wouldn't want to pay what he'd cost unless we were sure that Jackson woudlnt pan out. That's a terrible philosophy. I mean, MAYBE you could argue for that if Jackson had a shot to be a slam dunk, but he doesn't. If he pans out he's likely going to be a useful, solid player, but not someone you have to bypass productive FA for. That's just it though. Jackson is by no means a slam dunk, but he's a good enough prospect that if you were going to sign someone to take his job before he even starts it should be more than a productive player. Yeah, Uptons a lot better than he gets credit for, but not a guy that I'd be willing to over pay for when we already have a guy that could potentially be very good for far cheaper and spend the money elsewhere. This being said, if we did get Upton, we could shop Jackson around, and assuming he stays in the top 30-40 prospects range perhaps we could get either a player to fill another hole or some more prospects.

Stewart isn't a question, you jackwagon my hope is to woo Stephen Drew (with money) for 2B, sign BJ Upton for CF, and be left without a single weak spot in the lineup; Castillo can hit 8th and probably be perfectly fine go after Liriano/Anibal/Marcum/Peavy? to augment the rotation and you shore up just about everything for roughly the price of one Cole Hamels* *i may be underselling what these three will get, who the hell knows Definitely agree on Drew. The problem with Upton is that we don't know what we have in Jackson yet, so I wouldn't want to pay what he'd cost unless we were sure that Jackson woudlnt pan out. Then you top it all off with Hamels. If you can't get Hamels, grab one of Anibal, Liriano, or Marcum, no thanks on Peavy and in 2014 go for Lincecum.

And you hope for the best, and those that don't pan out are the holes you fill that you fill. I suppose Cardenas is also an option for 2B. All the while, rather than spending big money on guys that aren't obvious upgrades scoop up more Ian Stewarts and Adrian Cardenases as the become available and again, hope for the best. I have no problem spending big money on the right players or guys like Cespedes and Soler but there no point in getting in a bidding war for guys like Swisher or Ethier simply because they're the best available option.

Any time you're working with as many unproven players as the Cubs are, there's the chance that you won't be very good. However, as they start to figure out what we really have, they'll get an idea where they need to spend to fill holes. Ideally, all we'd really need is to extend Garza, another front end starter, and maybe a corner OF with a bid bat. The 2013 team likely looks like: 1B. Rizzo 2B. Barney? SS. Castro 3B. Vitters/Stewart LF. ?/Sori/LaHair CF. Jackson RF. DeJesus C. Castillo SP. Garza SP. ? SP. Shark SP. 2 of Maholm, Volstad, McNutt, Wood, Wells, Struck, etc. Fill in the ?s for 2013, and in 2014 fill any additional needs holes, deepening on where they arrise.

He was pretty well regarded at one point, but then hit somewhat of a snag, and combined with the fact that people were thinking that Soto would be our starting catcher for years to come he was kind of forgotten.

Doubt Vogelbach sniffs Peoria this season, let alone has a VERY good chance of it. I hope not, because if he does he might eat it. Sorry couldn't resist the opportunity.