Little Slide Rooter

Headley's a nice player, but he's not worth trading your top prospects for. The Cubs need to save their trading chips for better players. Bingo. Our top 3 holes are 1st, a front end starter, and 3rd. We could fill 3rd for next to nothing here, and if it doesn't work out, oh well, back to the drawing board and Ian Stewart ends up in Japan and DeWitt ends up as a utility man with a 10 year career spread between 8 teams. Also, as of now, Josh Vitters is still viewed as the 3rd baseman of the future, and if nothing else Stewart is a 1 year band-aid while we give Vitters a year in Iowa to decide whether or not we'll need to consider another long term option. If Stewart does pay off, then we could consider shifting one of them to the outfield.

Those are baseball americas rankings as posted by BBR. Seriously, if we could get a 4th outfielder or decent middle reliever for DeWitt, I'd jump all over it, but this is an opportunity to fill one of our biggest holes and focus on 1st and the rotation.

This is from Rotoworld. If it was just a rumor or speculation that doesn't happen, that would be one thing, but the fact that the Rockies actually asked for DeWitt in exchange for Stewart would make it inexcuseable not to make it happen. The possitive of this deal outweighs the negative by quite a bit. It's not like they're asking for Matt Szczur, Josh Vitters, or even LeMahieu here. They're asking for a spare part in exchange for a 26 year old one time top 5 prospect. When was Stewart a top 5 prospect? Do you mean for the Rockies? According to BBR: 2004: #57 2005: #4 2006: #16 2007: #46 2008: #38

Does Stewart neccessarily have to make Headley out of the question? Stewart has played some outfield and a touch of 2nd. If the only price is DeWitt and another minor piece, I'd be willing to take a chance regardless. Headley, on the other hand isn't neccessarily on the block and would cost far more. If we really wanted, we could use Stewart in DeWitts role and Headley as the starting 3B. Alternately, we give Stewart the chance at 3rd if the Padres don't move Headley this offseason, and if Stewart bombs, then we see what they want for Headley next year, or even in July, which would give Stewart enough of a chance to prove himself considering his existing big league track record.

I think that Cespedes is the more intriguing of the 2. Remember, Cespedes is likely to make around 7 mil/year while Fielder will be >20 mil. With Fielder, you know what you're going to get at least for the first 5 years of his contract(I think he'll end up signing for 7-8 years). As for Pujols, I personally think that his chances are: Cardinals: 95% Cubs: 4%, Other: 1%. Epstein seems to be very good at keeing his business on the down low, so I think that whatever happens, it will be a quick strike without several weeks worth of rumors proceeding it. That makes him a more likely signing? No, but this does

My guess is that Dewitt is only part of what they want. Not the entire deal. That's what I'd hope the situation is. They originally stated that they wanted a AAA or AA pitcher for Stewart. Of our current AAA-AA pitchers, the only ones I'd be hesitant to move are McNutt, Carpenter, Beliveau, Struck, and Whitenack. Maybe Oswaldo Martinez or Larry Suarez unless they were sending us something else as well. I still think that DeWitt and Coleman would be a sufficient return.

This is from Rotoworld. If it was just a rumor or speculation that doesn't happen, that would be one thing, but the fact that the Rockies actually asked for DeWitt in exchange for Stewart would make it inexcuseable not to make it happen. The possitive of this deal outweighs the negative by quite a bit. It's not like they're asking for Matt Szczur, Josh Vitters, or even LeMahieu here. They're asking for a spare part in exchange for a 26 year old one time top 5 prospect.

it's not so much drooling as wanting to take a chance if all we have to give up is something of minimal value. Best case scenrio, we end up with a long term replacement at 3rd. Worst case scenerio, we no longer have Blake DeWitt. I think that the plus heavily outweighs the minus like Prince Fielder outweighs Tony Campana.

I think there's still a couple teams(much like there's probably at least a few fans) who haven't figured out that Blake DeWitt is awful. No, I think that most teams have pretty much figured out that he's something of an Aaron Miles or Adam Kennedy, a utility guy with a hint of pop, but looking at the contracts given to Clint Barmes and Jamey Carroll, that seems to be somewhat in demand.

I think that Cespedes is the more intriguing of the 2. Remember, Cespedes is likely to make around 7 mil/year while Fielder will be >20 mil. With Fielder, you know what you're going to get at least for the first 5 years of his contract(I think he'll end up signing for 7-8 years). As for Pujols, I personally think that his chances are: Cardinals: 95% Cubs: 4%, Other: 1%. Epstein seems to be very good at keeing his business on the down low, so I think that whatever happens, it will be a quick strike without several weeks worth of rumors proceeding it.

It's 50 guys under 25 who have already completed their rookie season. Of course there are going to be plenty of mediocre players toward the bottom. Actually, it seems like much of the mediocrity is in the middle with the younger, higher ceiling guys toward the bottom like Hellickson, Weeks, Nova, and the Braves pitchers.

Who didn't?

Would the Artist Formerly Known as Leo Nunez be a worthwhile buy low candidate if we were to trade Marmol?

May as well. Stewart has a much higher ceiling than DeWitt if he can get on track. DeWitt, on the other hand if both guys stay what they have been throughout their big league careers is a safer bet to be useful, but not enough that I could ever see him being someone that we'd really miss. Just because of Stewarts history as a top propspect, if they wanted I'd be willing to kick over Coleman or Cabrera or a miscelanious reliever like Stevens, Gaub, Caridad, or Maine as well and maybe they'll send us a low level guy. I'd be much happier opening the season with Stewart as the starting 3B and Baker as a super sub.

While I'll be dissapointed if we don't land Pujols or Fielder, I'll still be very intrigued to see what happens. If we were to go simply through the draft and sign guys like David DeJesus and Chris Capuano to fill spots, this team simply will not be contending by the time Epstein and Hoyers contracts are up. Even if Maples, Baez, Vogelsbach, Wells, etc. end up meeting expectations, it will likely be at least 3-4 years before they're ready for the big leagues. None of them are even old enough to drink. Jackson and McNutt are the only big league ready prospects we have as far as potential difference makers go with Vitters, Lake, and Szczur 1-3 years behind them. The only team I can think of that was able to have any long term success building strictly from within is the Rays. Even the Brewers, who produced Braun, Fielder, Gallardo, Weeks, and Hart within a 3 year period werent able to do anything until they decided to trade away top prospects for pitching. My gut tells me that in the next 2 years we'll be This offseason signing 1 of the following, in order of likelyhood: 1. Cespedes 2. Fielder 3. Pujols 4. Solar -Either keep Garza and acquire 1 decent mid rotation starter or trade Garza and acquire 2 high ceiling 1-2 years away from the big leagues starters -Try to trade Soriano for some hint of value, if we can't then trade Byrd. -Trade Soto -Acquire Ian Stewart And in 2012 we'll acquire 1 more bat and 1 ace caliber pitcher.

Much like Chen, if we needed a back of the rotation starter, I'd be dine with him at the right price. However, we have our share of 4-5 starter options in Wells, Cashner, Samardzjia, Coleman, Struck, Cabrera, and Jackson if he doesn't get taken in the Rule 5.

Very interested to see Cameron Maybin so high on the list. I know he was a very highly rated prospect several years ago but 5 lackluster at best big league seasons later I thought he was in the same boat as Brandon Wood and Ian Stewart.

Maybe Casey Coleman or Alberto Cabrera and Tyler Colvin or Blake DeWitt, depending on how motivated they are to move him.

Wil Myers is 9 days away from his 21st birthday, so even if we did have a logjam in the outfield, he'd be worth trading for. By the time Myers hits the big leagues, Byrds and possibly Soriano are long gone. He'll be 22 by the time DeJesus' contract expires unless they pick up the option, which I doubt.

I've heard rumblings of converting him to 1B. He must be a pretty bad catcher because otherwise I really can't see Russell Martin being allowed to block him.

If Fielder and Pujols are not in the plans, I'd definitely be all for a package built around Montero. However, assuming we did get Monetero for Garza I can't imagine getting too much else in addition. Maybe another one of their top 10-15 prospects and and Fernando Perez. Gio Gonzalez and Jair Jurrgens are also on the market, and I bet that the A's for one would love to get their hands on Montero. No sure where the Braves would put him, but I don't think that Jurrjens would net Montero anyway.

Yeah, I'd definitely prefer 3 quality somewhat big league ready pieces. We really have no use for someone elses Sam Fuld and Robinson Chirinos.

That might eb the coolest I Phone App news since I leanred that I can get Streets of Rage(all 3), Altered Beast, and Golden Axe for 99 cents each.

Jackson, like Rhee and Antigua are virtually untradeable before the Rule 5 but otherwise it would be a good deal. I wonder if they'd consider Casey Coleman or Alberto Cabrera. McNutts out of the question and I'd prefer not move Struck for him. I don't think any of the Rule 5 guys are untradeable prior to the draft. If you select a Rule 5 guy in the draft, you have to save a 40 man roster spot for him and you have to keep him on the 25 man roster all year. However, if you trade for him prior to the draft, you can keep him in the minors, let him develop some more, and have complete control over him. There's a lot of value there. That's what I originally thought, but in another thread somebody said that if a Rule 5 eligible player is traded prior to the draft, the same rules apply and you can't add anyone else to the 40 man before then even if they are traded. Unless I misunderstood.

Jackson, like Rhee and Antigua are virtually untradeable before the Rule 5 but otherwise it would be a good deal. I wonder if they'd consider Casey Coleman or Alberto Cabrera. McNutts out of the question and I'd prefer not move Struck for him.