Little Slide Rooter

The only reason I can possibly think of for the Fighters to be taking so long to make the announcement is because that's what Theo told them to do.

Opinions and reports are separate. Unless you have an agenda. Even so, I doubt that he'd risk his professional reputation by spreading false rumors and trying to pass them as actual news because he has an agenda. It's not like saying that The Cubs made a weak offer would have any bearing on the actual bid.

Brett's source reported it was a substantial bid that could win. Cubs bid amount was never really reported/speculated on by the media like the others. Fits the profile of a guy Theo would want (and I think Theo has been interested in him for years now - not that that's saying much). Say the Cubs get Darvish, does that increase the probability of a Garza trade or decrease it? If nothing else it would mean that both the Rangers and Jays missed out and the value of every front end starter on the trading block just went up in value with 2 teams with strong farm systems and the obvious need for a front end starter.

Brett's source reported it was a substantial bid that could win. Cubs bid amount was never really reported/speculated on by the media like the others. Fits the profile of a guy Theo would want (and I think Theo has been interested in him for years now - not that that's saying much). But there was also a report that the Cubs bid was very small and we ha no illusions of winning, adding more to my long running theory that Theo and Jed just like [expletive] with the media.

Saw this thread jump several pages and was hoping for more than simple tomfoolery and shenanigans.

WTH? I hope he didn't really say that. :lol: I guess he would somewhat block Casey Coleman, but not nearly as much as the fact that Casey Coleman's bad is blocking Casey Coleman.

But why would there be? At this point, probably a handful of Cubs employees, A couple of people at MLB, and maybe not even the Japanese team yet know what the Cubs bid was. Perhaps nobody is talking the Cubs, because the Cubs aren't talking to them. Personally I don't think the Cubs won, but that isn't because no random reporters are talking about them. Well, we got Ian Stewart, and there were serious rumors. We got David DeJesus, and there were serious rumors. The lack of serious rumors doesn't preclude it, but it means "Not the Cubs" is the odds-on bet. I don't remember any rumors about DeJesus before it happened.

My point is that Randy Wells is good enough for what he is and we've had far worse pitchers at the back of the rotation.

Yeah, I was thinking more the hey lets fill the roster with garbage because people will come see Sammy anyway years. The main thing I remember about 2001 is the first time I saw Juan Cruz that he was going to be a fixture for a long time to come. Sadly, Prior/Wood/Cruz/Zambrano/Clement was never to be.

I trust him to be a good 5 starter or a passible 4 starter but if there's room for an upgrade, I'll take it. If you look over the pitching rotation of every big league team you'll find a lot of 5 starters and some 4 starters that I'd take Wells over any day. Have people completely forgotten what a Chicago Cubs starting pitching rotation looked like prior(no pun intended) to 2002?

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Ryan-Braun-failed-drug-test-caused-by-medication-121911 New info on Brauns drug test. Caused by medication for a "private medical issue". Perhaps he just wanted to have babies.

Kubel for 2/15 doesnt sound like a bad deal. Take away 2009 and he's pretty much a left handed Marlon Byrd.

Enjoy each other.

But this is the Prince Fielder thread :x :x :x I know, but heres why it's here. The Brewers have a pretty crowded outfield, and this Aoki guy could be a decent Tad Iguchi type. Probably doesn't project to be a corner outfield but but still. Obvioualy, they have the Ryan Braun situation to deal with. However, if Braun does get off scott free and doesn't have to serve a suspecnsion, which could happen would this give the Brewers to freedom to trade Hart and his remaining 19 mil (9 mil '12, 10 mil '13) and if so, would it free up enough salary for them to be able to re-sign Fielder?

Garza, Vitters, and Russell for Rizzo, Headley, and Richard? Yeah, it sounds like we might be getting the slightly shorter end of the stick, but remember we owe them compensation.

If it's a 3 way deal involving the Red Sox or Padres getting Garza and we get a rock, then yes I consider it the shaft. Big time. If the deal is intended to be compensation for both teams, I really can't see it involving us getting much. Garzas our top trade chip by a mile and there's no way he should be involved in anything in which we don't end up with at least 3 good young players. Give the Red Sox Jay Jackson and Jeff Baker and give the Padres Antigua and Maine and call it a day.

Despite the teasers of nobody knowing who the winner is, I think it's an is what it is situation and it's Rangers or Blue Jays.

I've read this now about both San Diego and Texas (quantity over quality). Is there a "centerpiece" player anywhere in baseball that might match up well with Garza, or are the Cubs going to be forced (if they decide to trade Garza this offseason) to go quantity over singular quality? I mean, Martin Perez and Jurickson Profar were both BA top 12 midseason prospects. I can't imagine anyone who has been rumored to be engaged with the Cubs would have a more highly regarded prospect to deal. Yeah Perez is highly regarded, but after this year, there's a couple question marks about him IMO. That alone takes him out of the "centerpiece" of a package that I'm looking for, but he's borderline. The "centerpiece" type guys I'm looking are Jacob Turner/Tyler Skaggs/Julio Teheran/Matt Moore/Drew Pomeranz. That's just talking about pitching prospects. Perez and Manny Banuelos are at the top of the next group for me. I would ask for more in a package with Perez than the pitchers I've mentioned. Of course, this is just my opinion on it while other people think he is a "centerpiece" guy. I've seen Perez pitched this year. The dude has TONS of talent/potential. His stuff is great, but it's the control and inconsistency I'm worried about. Also as a guy with great stuff, he's still hittable (more than I like to see). Now I'm not saying I wouldn't want him cuz I would love to have him, but I think he's a "tad" overrated than what a lot of people say about him. The great thing about him is that he's still extremely young. I think Cubs will be going with the "quantity over quality" package for Garza IMO. The quality overall is still going to be good though. You could say it's the same as the singular quality. It's just be with like 3-5 prospects instead of 2. For example: offers for Garza (I could be WAAAAYYY off here on what a realistic package for Garza is) Which one would you want? I'll put Sickels grade (he has 2012 grades for some teams so far) next to the offers as well. Yankees: Jesus Montero or Gary Sanchez and Manny Banuelos.... A/B+ (last years grade) Rangers: Martin Perez/1 of Leonys Martin/Mike Olt/Cody Buckel and either Christian Villanueva (if you don't pick Olt) or Jorge Alfaro and Miguel De Los Santos B+/B/B- or C+/C+ Padres: 2 of Anthony Rizzo/Jedd Gyorko/Robert Erlin and Jonathan Galvez B+/B+/B- Just to give you an idea... If the Jays miss out on Darvish I bet they'd be very interested and we could go for Rasmus/Drabek/B

Why would you think that? The conspiracy theorist in me suspects a 3-team trade with the Padres and Boston that involves giving Boston and SD their compensation while also trading for improvements. Involving Garza, too. But that's idle speculation and fantasy I doubt it unless its been agreed in principle for weeks. Otherwise, the offseason is halfway over (in terms of player moves). You can't go that long without knowing if your ace is going to be on the team. If it were a 3 team trade involving both teams getting their compensation wouldn't we end up getting a big time shaft out of the deal?

My idea of a successful rebuilding offseason, meaning of no Fielder or Darvish would be: trade Garza and maybe Russell who the Padres expressed interest in during the winter meeting for a package centered around Rizzo and Headley Trade Soto to TB for Davis or Niemann. If they want to expand the deal to add Byrd or or even Soriano surely something can be worked out there. Shop Marshall. He's an impending free agent and is quietly our 3rd best trade chip, possibly 2nd if somebody thinks that he can translate his success to starting. Then again, if we did move Garza, Z, and Demp I'd be very interested in giving it a try in spring training. Shark too. Sign Cespedes and/or Solar. Maholm too if he's cheap. Since this clearly wouldnt lead to a win now team get what we can for Dempster, Z, Soriano, Byrd, and Marmol. We then open 2012 with 1B Rizzo(or LaHair if Rizzo looks like he needs a year in Iowa) 2B Stewart SS Castro 3B Headley LF Cespedes CF Jackson RF DeJesus C Castillo SP Demp/Z-realistically I dont see both moved if either SP Marshall/Shark SP Davis/Niemann SP Maholm SP Wells, I guess CL Cashner RP Marshall/Shark RP Dolis RP Beliveau RP Carpenter RP Wood (if he doesn't mind babysitting this bunch) Weathers, Gaub, Castillo(rule 5), Maine, Jackson and Searle can battle it out for the last pen spot. If wood doesn't come back and or Marshalls traded with Shark in the rotation it could be 2-3 spots. Bench 4 of Baker, DeWitt, Barney, Bianchi, LaHair, Campana Bench Clevenger

Pun intended? He said boat, not floating plank of wood. Sorry.

That's pretty much how teams like the Padres, A's, and Pirates operate. They perennially suck so whenever they find themselves with a worthwhile player they jump at the opportunity to trade them for prospects and hope they can build for the future and repeat the process. That's OK for them but no way for a major market team to operate.

Still curious about that compensation. The Rule 5 was almost 2 weeks ago and if we were just going to send them some combination of Rhee, Antigua, J Jax, etc. it would be done by now. Am i the only one thinking that there could be a fairly big trade going down?

Latos is younger ad maybe better than Garza, but they got a lot for him. Alonso may have a lower ceiling than Rizzo but they also got 2 young 1st rounders as well as Volquez, who could still have sometthing left. We still owe the Padres something in the form of compensation, so if we did deal them Garza they could argue that Rizzo and Headley are enough and call the compensation issue squared up.

Dumb report. Why would they bother bidding if they didn't think they might win? Did Theo think that maybe he could bid $5 million and all of the other teams might forget to submit anything? I think Cafardo is the guy who said the other day that the Cubs aren't players for Fielder either. Sounds more like he has an agenda. He's got a source with an agenda. Or maybe Theos corresponding with the Boston media while the local guys are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I don't think that anybody knows what's going on behind the scenes with Theo and Hoyer. It could be a full rebuild, but if so it will be one involving top prospects and young players do I'm OK with it. I doubt that Ricketts jumped through all the hoops he did to put this front office together to get David DeJesus and Ian Stewart. I expect the offseason to be a busy one. The question is in which direction.