Little Slide Rooter

It has to be White Sox and Orioles as the other two.

If we miss out on Cespedes, I do think that we should gamble on Castillo and try to shop Soto or even Marmol for a corner outfield type. I wonder if we could get BJ Upton or one of the two plus a few more pieces, maybe Marlon Byrd.

I'm pretty interested in how the rest of the pen shapes up. We have the veterans Miller, Corpas, and Sonnestine, the prospects Carpenter, Dolis, and Beliveau, and then there's Weathers, Lendy Castillo, Gaub, Maine, and Mateo rounding it all out. Thats a lot of options. Personally, I think that Carpenter has a spot to win or lose, and I don't necessarily think that the odd man out of the rotation will get a pen spot, so there could still be 2 spots open.

With the exceptions of Rizzo and maybe the Marshall trade, there's really nothing to love, but the overall direction is something to love. On the surface, it may look as though no big moves were made, when in reality putting together the front office that he did was bigger than any 100+mil free agent we could have signed. As for Cespedes, judging by the deal we gave Concepcion, I can't imagine us not going well above the Marlins 6/40 offer, though I think that some others might as well.

Either, Hamilton, Quentin, Ichiro, Delmon Young, Nick Swisher, Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino for starters... I'd take Pence, Victorino, or Swisher. Hamiltion as well, but he's also likely to be extended. Delmon Young will have a make or break this season. Ichiros pushing 40 and last year he was basically Juan Pierre. Quentin's defense isn't much better than Soriano's. The main problem is that elite bats seem to be becoming more and more rare. While I wouldn't have paid what the Tigers and Angels did for Fielder and Pujols, it might have been the last time elite hitters like that hit free agency for a while.

I'm just thinking of available options. If we don't get Cespedes, what are the corner outfield options over the next few years?

You don't? I do, but as you can see by the post above this, many do not. Problem is, due to the lack of offensive options next year, there's a good chance that somebody well overpays him.

Is Goldstein the one that's higher on Concepcion than the others? Because it's hard to see a guy with a ceiling of a 5 starter going that high in the draft. Then again, we drafted Austin Kirk in the third round. Not to mention getting a big league contract.

In his case, does that mean that he'd be a free agent in 4 years or like Samardzjia where he'd still be under team control after it's up? It would kind of suck if we were paying him 7mil/year or whatever and he became a FA around the time he's ready for the big leagues.

There really aren't many avaialble at all in the next few years, especially outfielders. The closest thing is Andre Ethier, which a lot of people here don't seem to care for too much. There's B.J. Upton, who's bat is serviceable for a CF, but not if you move him to the corner. This is why I wouldn't be surprised to see Theo chase some more ex-top propsects such as Michael Taylor, Michael Saunders,Travis Snider, or even Delmon Young if we can't get Cespedes.

What it really sounds like is that Ozzie likes him but not at the asking price. If he gets 6/60 or 8/80 and is a complete bust from day 1, it wouldn't be crippling, but it certainly would not look good. It's hard to blame anyone for not wanting to give him that kind of deal when he really has no real experience.

Looks like Ozzie is either trying to A. deter The Marlins from signing Cespedes, B. deter Cespedes from wanting to join the Marlins, or C. trying to psyche other teams into not wanting to make Cespedes a massive offer.

The thing is, he's going to get 18 mil/year for the next 3 years regardless of if and where he plays. Chances are, we'll be paying a big chunk of it, if not all, regardless of if and where he plays. As of now, he's just there and not bothering anyone. However, if we were to sign Cespedes, that would signify the end of him, if not immediately, as soone as Brett Jackson is ready to come up. Therefore, the question is, if we're paying the money is it in our best interest to A. Keep him around, even if he's a bat off the bench B. Set him free C. Do similar to what we did with Zambrano and try to get the best return possible, no matter how lackluster and hope that the other team is willing to at least chip in a few mil. IMHO, B. shouldn't even be an option. C is probably the best bet. I think that if they didn't have to pay much or any money, teams in need of an extra bat would be willing to send us either a former top prospect who's star is all but faded or even a few guys from the back fourth of their top 20. Teams should be willing to pay the same amount for Soriano that they would for someone like Damon or Matsui, so if we could sell them on paying less money than they would for one of them, we should be able to get something of mild use. B should absolutely be an option if he's playing horribly and blocking playing time from someone like Cespedes, Jackson or another high ceiling young player. If there ever comes a time when he's not good enough start because we have a young player better than him, and he is taking a bench spot from guys with a future bench role like Campana or Sappelt, you try to do C. However, if nobody is biting, you just have to cut your losses because his vacant roster spot at that point is more valuable then trying to save a couple million in a trade. If he was blocking someone with absolutely no takers, it would come to that but the reason I don't think that it should be an option is because it could be wiser to to try for a deal now in which we absorb 98%-100% of the salary and get something back in the form of prospects as opposed to wait until this time next year or even mid season this year and cut him lose for nothing.

The thing is, he's going to get 18 mil/year for the next 3 years regardless of if and where he plays. Chances are, we'll be paying a big chunk of it, if not all, regardless of if and where he plays. As of now, he's just there and not bothering anyone. However, if we were to sign Cespedes, that would signify the end of him, if not immediately, as soone as Brett Jackson is ready to come up. Therefore, the question is, if we're paying the money is it in our best interest to A. Keep him around, even if he's a bat off the bench B. Set him free C. Do similar to what we did with Zambrano and try to get the best return possible, no matter how lackluster and hope that the other team is willing to at least chip in a few mil. IMHO, B. shouldn't even be an option. C is probably the best bet. I think that if they didn't have to pay much or any money, teams in need of an extra bat would be willing to send us either a former top prospect who's star is all but faded or even a few guys from the back fourth of their top 20. Teams should be willing to pay the same amount for Soriano that they would for someone like Damon or Matsui, so if we could sell them on paying less money than they would for one of them, we should be able to get something of mild use.

Why on earth would the Pirates reject a deal in which they's acquire an established starter, who could potentially be a front end guy for them if the price is Garrett Jones and the Yankees paying a big chunk of A.J.s salary? I'd take that deal for Bryan LaHair without thinking twice, and that's basically what Jones is. The Pirates are a dark horse for the division, but they could still contend and adding a veteran starter, who'd be going from the AL East to the NL Central could really help their cause.

In AAA, I think that Vitters, Jackson, Rizzo, and Castillo will be the only actual prospects and the rest of that roster will be full of spare parts. This isn't to say that if someone like Lake, Ha, or Watkins looks particularly impressive in the first few months at AA they won't hesitate to call them up and send one of the older guys packing unless they're needed at the big league level. Cardenas should have a decent chance at the big league club if he looks decent at spring training. We'd need an extra guy capable of playing the IF rather than a bench full of outfielders. I also wouldn't be terribly surprised if Byrd was moved by opening day and Jackson given CF. If this happens, Sappelt would likely get the last big league spot over Campana to have another RH bat with both Jackson and DeJesus as starters. Iowa should look like: 1B Rizzo 2B E Gon/Scales SS Mota/Amezaga/Tolbert 3B Vitters LF Ridling CF Jackson (Campana if Jackson in bigs) RF Sappelt (if in bigs, Perez, Spencer, Mather, Wright, and Adduci are all possiblities) C Castillo Bench©: C Jaramillo Bench(IF): Smith( it could be benefical to give him some reps at 2nd) + 1 of Scales/E Gon/Tolbert/Mota/Amezaga, depending on who doesnt start and sticks around when they don't make the Cubs. Bench(OF): 2 of Spencer, Perez, Wright, Adduci, Mather, again depedning on who isn't starting, and if Jackson and/or Sappelt are in bigs.

Good thing the Cubs have 3 of them then I should have been more specific. What I meant was that they have Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo at the big league level, not a few 18-20 year olds who may or may not ever make the big leagues. I'm not sure about Viciedo, but Ramirez was also a star player in Cuba, so it's good to have guys that you have something in common with when you're relocating to another country. This is not to say that if the Cubs or anyone else were to make him the highest offer that he wouldn't take it and worry about making friends later.

Cubs and White Sox both make the most sense. They both have the money and the need. The Cubs have a crowded outfield but could easily make room for him. The White Sox really don't have a right fielder unless anyone is really suckered into believing that Lillibridge or De Aza are big league starters. The White Sox are a rapidly aging team with no relevant prospects beyond Addison Reed so it could make sense for them to buy one. However, in the past few years, The Sox have rolled snake eyes on 3 high risk gambles and if they're stuck with one more big money bust, 2005 may no longer be enough for Kenny to keep his job. And of course, Kenny Williams would probably love pull him Cespedes from under both Ozzie Guillen and the Cubs. I've said before that the fact that the Sox already have 2 of his countrymen could be very attractive to him, possibly more do than a city with a much higher Cuban population.

just for S&G, a few names that come to mind are, in no particular order: Logan Watkins, Jay Jackson, Jeimer Candelerio, Chris Rusin, Dae Eun Rhee, Jeff Antigua, Steve Clevenger, Hayden Simpson, Micah Gibbs, Nick Struck, Jeff Beliveau, Ronald Torryes, Dave Sappelt, Tony Campana, Matt Cerda, David Cales, Marcus Hatley, Zach Cates, Rebel Ridling, Brooks Raley, Kevin Rhoderick, Ja Hoon Ha, Frank Batista, Frank Del Valle, Austin Kirk, Austin Reed, Juan Cerrano, Ruby Silva, Zach Rosscup, Michael Burgess, Dallas Beeler, Grahem Hicks, Robinson Lopez, Kyler Burke, Reggie Golden, Marco Hernandez, Giosker Amaya, Wilson Contreres, Wes Darvill, Pin Cheih-Chen, Sun Ming Jun, Cam Greathouse. I know, a lot of names and a very wide range. A lot of guys that we value. Those bolded are guys that I'd really hope don't even enter the conversation, but outside of our top 10-15 and 2011 draft picks, I don't know who's really safe assuming that Selig is moderating this thing.

Shouldn't we wait until we actually give up Vitters before condemning it? Maybe someone else has heard something I havn't, but all I know is that Vitters is in the "discussion". Matt Szczur, Trey McNutt, Brett Jackson, Matt Garza, and Starlin Castro, have all been in the discussion at some point. For all we know we'll send them Jay Jackson and Logan Watkins and be done with it. I'd still rather give up Lake over Vitters due to the fact that we have a short stop for years to come, plus several young options in the lowe levels but nothing really for 3rd aside from Baez. If we knew that Ian Stewart could come anywhere near his ceiling, sending Vitters would be easier to swallow. Unless of course Lake were to be put at 3rd for the next few years in the minors.

30 years old, and I think he's pitched a full season twice in his career. Is it pretty safe to say that he's done, or does he have a chance to re-invent himself as a doiminant late inning reliever?

Hopefully he isn't scared away by the fact that our star player is named Castro.

Dave can't even catch a break when he submits.

And just when we thought that he'd finally accepted the fact that he can no longer pitch at any professional level.

Absolutely ridiculous argument. There are numerous things this team could have done to make the postseason. The Cubs are not in the AL East. They are in a division where two of last season's best teams in the division are now without their best players. One of those teams is also missing their other best player for nearly 1/3 of the season. The other three teams in that division have no recent history of success that makes one believe they are going to dominate. There were trades that could have been made for established talent that could have easily put this team in a great position to win the division. I'm certainly not saying they should have gone this route, or that I'm disappointed they didn't go this route. But to argue that this team had not chance to challenge for the postseason is ridiculous. That's ignoring all of the free agents that were available, also. Personally, I like what this front office has done this offseason. I'm not complaining one bit. And I hope that this direction will make them stronger down the road than they might have been if they made trades to be competitive immediately. While it would have taken a lot to have made this team a favorite for the division, if nothing else, they could have put together a .500+ team without compromising the future, and a .500 caliber team is a lot more likely to backdoor their way into the post season and even make some mid season moves to make them a favorite than a .400 team, not to mention the fact that a .500 caliber team is a lot easier to build into a .600 caliber team in the next 2-3 years, especially when your farm system is middle of the pack and the bulk of its valueable players very young.