Little Slide Rooter

5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR Non-prospect Just a terrible reach. Thanks Tim. To this day I have to wonder what Wilken was thinking on that one and how Hendry, knowing the condition of the organization not to mention his own job allowed it to happen. Simpson had 3rd round at best written all over him. As I recall, the story goes that someone, I think Atlanta were considering him as a supplementary or 2nd round pick and Wilken being the scouting mastermind that he is couldn't let the potential mid rotation but more likely back end starter slip through his fingers.

For what it's worth. There was a link to the article in the MLBTR post but I guess it didn't post. It's essentially Theo saying that as much as they live Garza and want to extend him, 2 hot starts aren't going to get them to go crazy and over pay. Now the 2014 Starting Pitching class looks like: Lincecum (30) Josh Johnson (30) Garza (30) Jurrjens (28) Nolasco (31) Ubaldo will have a 5.25 MM option which he can and likely will void. Additionally, Johan Santana has a 25MM option with a buyout. Hard to tell fire Mets will be in the kind of position where it would be worth it for them. John Lester has a 13MM team option, but the only way they don't pick that up is if something tragic happens between now and then. If Lincecum and/or Johnson are extended between now and then, Garzas stock takes a jump, if both are extended it takes a huge jump. This is something that he an his agent could take into consideration when talking extension.

What did people expect? We had to watch Koyie Hill for like 5 years. We don't know what it's like to have a backup catcher that can actually hit. Most fans don't, because most backup catchers can't. Koyie Hill wasn't some uniquely terrible player. Hill was more of an automatic out than your average backup catcher, or even middle reliever. However, there are others like him out there. How quickly we forget Paul Bako.

And if he continues to pitch this way, we can certainly afford such a contract, and I say go for it. I know I just stated that I would love a monster haul for him, and I probably would, but even in the case of monster hauls, how often does more than one guy from the monster haul really pan out? Sometimes less. The Blue Jays and Indians are still waiting to reap the benefits of their monster hauls for Halladay and Sabathia. Any prospect package is a gamble, and for guys like Dempster, Soto, Marmol, or Byrd, you happily take the gamble, but what this team needs going forward is some sure things, and we don't have many. Garza's been looking like he just might be one in his time as a Cub. If he's willing to sign a reasonable extension, we should do it. If not, we start listening to offers.

I'm in the don't trade him unless someone is willing to make a ridiculous, top prospect filled offer. Luckily, that's the same camp that Epstein and Hoyer are in.

To anyone who follows Kevin Goldstein on Twitter, Clevenger's the latest Cub that fans are going gaga over and he's doing his best to bring them back down to earth.

My game day says that the Cubs have score 7 runs to the Brewers 0. Do they have a customer service number? Mistakes like that are unacceptable. Seriously though, how long before the Free Steve Clevenger campaign begins?

No, the signings of Stewart and DeJesus were to plug holes. Vitters is still a question mark and DeJesus isn't blocking anyone. Both are cheap and could be moved easily if need be. Johnson is the only inexplicable one. None signify that "help is not close", or anything of the sort. Disagree. Strongly. Stewart actually made perfect sense. Without a definitve long term answer at 3rd he was a gamble and we didn't give up anything of huge value for him. If he does end up figuring out, it's a huge win. If not, there's Vitters, and if not him then back to the drawing board. DeJesus may not have fit in with the acquire young players game plan, but he was a great value and epitomizes the type of player that represents "The Cub Way". I'd have been fine with Johnson on a minor league deal, but it really made no sense to go after him when they did. It might have simply been proactive thinking. They were ready and willing to trade both Byrd and Soriano for the right price at the time, and if they had traded both they'd need some kind of interim body in the outfield, and he was cheap. Are you seriously replying to the quote he replied to? And you just made it bold? WHAT THE HELL MAN? I was more replying to the post beinf replied to. The one in the middle was simply vaccumed in.

As ugly as the big league product currently on the field, you're discounting what we have. 3 of the toughest spots to fill with offensive players are SS, CF, and C. We seemingly have all 3 lined up with Castro, Jackson, and Castillo. Additionally, we have 1B with Rizzo, and maybe 3rd between Vitters, Lake, and Stewart(yes, stewart). We have something in Barney, be it a starting 2B or a quality utility MI, something that is underappreciated. Perhaps Cardenas could be at 2nd as well.Sappelt should be a quality 4th OF, and maybe Lahair ends up as an OF, or if nothing else lefty power bat for the bench. Clevenger is a good backup C. As for pitching, if we extend Garza, there's a great fron end starter, although I'd prefer him as the 2 and acquire a proper ace. Additionally, between Shark, Volstad, McNutt, Maholm, Wood, Struck, and Wells we should have no problem rounding out the rotation. The bullpen is tough to tell. Dolis, Beliveau, and Russell seem to be the only sure things going forward at this time, but who knows. So basically, what we really need going forward is 1 or 2 corner OFs. Soler's a possibility, but if we sign him, he's only 19 and could need a few years. I think that B.J. Upton, Delmon Young and Andre Ethier highlight the 2013 FA OF class next year, so I'm not sure the answer is there, although I wouldn't be opposed to spending a few bucks on Upton or Young, who are only 28 and 26 respectively. then we could certainly use an ace pitcher. Hamels would be beautiful, but I really don't see the Phils letting him go. My guess would be that by opening day 2014, we'll see something very close to Theo and Jeds vision.

No, the signings of Stewart and DeJesus were to plug holes. Vitters is still a question mark and DeJesus isn't blocking anyone. Both are cheap and could be moved easily if need be. Johnson is the only inexplicable one. None signify that "help is not close", or anything of the sort. Disagree. Strongly. Stewart actually made perfect sense. Without a definitve long term answer at 3rd he was a gamble and we didn't give up anything of huge value for him. If he does end up figuring out, it's a huge win. If not, there's Vitters, and if not him then back to the drawing board. DeJesus may not have fit in with the acquire young players game plan, but he was a great value and epitomizes the type of player that represents "The Cub Way". I'd have been fine with Johnson on a minor league deal, but it really made no sense to go after him when they did. It might have simply been proactive thinking. They were ready and willing to trade both Byrd and Soriano for the right price at the time, and if they had traded both they'd need some kind of interim body in the outfield, and he was cheap.

I don't think that anyone's so much freaking out as stating the obvious. The offense is bad. Sure, some are underproducing, but even if they pick up it would still be mediocre. We knew all along that if this te was going to be relavent, we'd be relying on starting pitching and rebound seasons from guys like Soriano, Soto, and Byrd and for Stewart and LaHair to be unlikely heroes and step in to fill the voids left by our 2 top power sources from last year. If it doesn't happen in the next few weeks, the truck will start backing up by mid June.

Rubi Silva and Arismendy Alcantara are off to crazy starts.

Never want to see a player get injured with the possible exception of Ryan Braun, but Coleman is more like a 9th or 10th option.

Nonsense. Their 4-5 are not awful. Ridiculous. Move number 3 to number 2 and replace number 2 and 4-8 with better hitters and we're in business.

Hasn't he usually had at least decent power numbers? About the same as Jeff Cirillo, although when Cirillo was 22 he was in the Midwest league, not the PCL. Hell, I'd take Cirillo in a heartbeat. Cirillo had a decent amount of power in his prime. I would take Cirillo as well... Pretty good hitter and he was also a great defensive 3B in the late 90s/early 00s IIRC... so Grudzielanek at 3B with average or a bit worse than average D??? I'd hope for more power than Grudz. As I recall, the ladies sure loved Grudz.

Wasn't there talk of a deal with TB centered around Jeff Niemann or Wade Davis at one point in the offseason? I'd take it if we could get a decent prospect as well.

That could actually be the perfect comparison. Poor defense, good bat with decent power, and didn't walk much.

Hasn't he usually had at least decent power numbers? About the same as Jeff Cirillo, although when Cirillo was 22 he was in the Midwest league, not the PCL. Hell, I'd take Cirillo in a heartbeat. Cirillo had a decent amount of power in his prime.

Cardenas with a 3B. He already has 4 2B and 2 3B on the young season.

Are you just purposely not getting the difference between running the bases while he's pitching and throwing him out there regularly when he isn't? It's needless risk at a pointless time in the season. There's needless risks, and there's trusting the college football player to potentially run 180 feet without killing himself if you give him time to get ready. He hasn't played college football in 6 years. He's a pitcher. I'm not worried about him killing himself. This is stupid. He's been one of the few bright spots of the young season, and I'd love to see him keep it up. Put me in the needless risk camp.

The offense has been nothing short of putrid thus far, but I'm sure that Byrd and Soto will pick it up, and the offense will be at lets serviceable. Assuming the starting pitching can hold up, I think that this team still has a shot at being around .500, or at least watchable but we all know Theos long term plan and who knows how long he'll give them before he decides to back up the truck and start shipping guys out of town and perhaps that's what's best in the long run. I hate t say it, but I'd rather win 65-70 games and pick some quality prospects than win 75-80 with nothing to show for it.

Hopefully someone comes along to replace the both of them soon. Hell, I'd take Tony Campana at this point.

It's one thing to convince fans to be patient. It's another to convince us to pay some of the highest ticket prices in baseball to watch the current incarnation for a full season.

Cap Anson

When a player's been with one team, especially yours for long enough, they just look weird in any other uniform. Aramis just looks wrong in the Brewers uniform.