Little Slide Rooter

Stunning. Doesn't every recent browser have built in spell check? Not the iPhone, which is where I post from a lot of the time. My I Phone has a built in spell checker to a fault.

Sorry, I just don't see him in the future plans. Castros already a part of them, probably Barney. I'm assuming that we'll have a full time 1B of some kind, and after that, we have LeMahieu, Flaherty, Vitters, and Lake, possible Watkins. All of these guys should be major league ready within the next 2-3 years and some already are. I fully understand why Baker is useful and wouldn't be at all upset if he stayed around, but on the other hand, I also understand why he could be viewed as expendable.

Who is this theoretical full time 3B? If you can get a real one, sure, but that's a lot easier said than done. You also have bench spots to fill, and you might as well fill them with people who do something useful, like mash lefties and play multiple spots. The fact that somebody might not be a part of this team in 3 years is no reason to get rid of them today. You put the best players you have in 2012 on the 2012 team. There are really only 4 spots for infielders on a team. Castro is 1. Barney is 2, although I'd prefer he be the backup MI than starting 2B. Then, there are 2 spots leftover for DeWitt, Baker, LeMahieu, and Flaherty, with Vitters and Lake hopefully a few years away. My choice would be to give LeMa and Flaherty to opportunity to see what they can do for now and save 3-4 mil between both Baker and DeWitt. Baker could potentially stay on as he can also play 1B and a bit of outfield as well, and he does mash lefties where as the majority of the bench options (DeWitt, Flaherty, Colvin, LaHair, Campana) are lefites, so I guess that if it were to come down to Baker or DeWitt, that would give Baker a leg up but I'd just as soon see what we can get for him. Basically, there are 4 bench spots available beside the backup C. There will be a lot of guys competing for those jobs, unless 1 or 2 end up as starters which I'd really rather not see unless it's at 2nd.

Not at all curious if he can maintain the increased strikeout rate while reducing the bb and he rates? I think he's shown all he has and it is next to nothing. Pretty much. I'm pretty sure he still has options. Also, he could be of interest to someone else as part of a trade package. Obviously not the key to any trade but a throw in. We have too many guys with higher ceiling coming up behind him at all levels to waste any more time on him.

To try to say this with any kind of certainty is just dumb and something you can't possibly know. We know that Baker can't hit righties, and something like 75% of the season's ABs are against righties. Given those facts, we should all hope that Baker isn't a part of the Cubs plans. He's a bench player or the short half of a platoon. Those guys are easily replaceable and imminently expendable. Baker hits lefties well enough that having him on the bench changes late game strategy. Opposing managers have to hesitate bringing in a lefty against someone like Colvin because they wouldn't want their lefty facing Baker. Players that can consistently put up? 850 on either side of the platoon do not grow on trees. He'd certainly have more value on the other side, but he is worth what he makes right now. But wouldn't you rather find a way to acquire a full time 3B rather than a platoon in which the guy who get the majority of the playing time is so-so against righties and the guy who gets much less mashes? If this is a building year, I still say let both Baker and DeWitt go and see what the younger guys can do. I have nothing against Baker, but unless the feel he's part of the future, see what he's worth in trade.

He's probably lazy and too busy with roosters.

Baker has a role to mash lefties that no other bench player fills nearly as well. DeWitt is much more redundant than Baker. I'm not sure why you think he's got much more ceiling he's yet to reach, but he pretty much is what he's going to be, as well. Also - it's doubtful that anyone off the MLB roster will get sent to Boston as part of the compensation. He's also slated to make 2 mil in 2012. Especially if they decide that 2012 is to be more of a building year than a go for it year, wouldn't you rather spend that 2 mil on either the draft or international? In baseball dollars, 2 mil is nothing, but if we have 2 guys that could step in and fill the role Baker does even though they don't mash lefties like Baker, wouldn't you want to give them the job? Whatever happens, Baker isn't a part of the Cubs plans so I'd definitely prefer either save the 2 mil and non tender him or see what we could get in trade, and even if we just get a 20 year old high ceiling A ball pitcher for him I'd be all for it. LeMahieu clock is already ticking and Flaherty's about to be 26 and will have to be rostered anyway for Rule 5 purposes, and he's a guy that a team would take and hide at the end of the bench if nothing else, so as far as I'm concerned they can take Baker and DeWitts spots and find some kind of cheap 3B stop gap through FA or trade while we wait and see if either of them or Vitters can take over full time in the next few years.

Baker would make the most sense if anyone. With LeMahieu and Flaherty he's expendable. The same could be said for DeWitt but he still has somewhat of a ceiling whereas Baker is what he is. However, he's more likely to be traded or shipped to Boston than non tendered.

The lack of first base talent makes Pujols/Prince more important and logical, I think. We don't have anybody anywhere close to the majors who's the talent level of Wilson, but we do have guys who can be decent to very good starters making their way to the majors in the next few years. At first we have Bryan LaHair and Rebel Ridling. Other than Vogelbach, we don't have any major league talent at first in the organization. That's the biggest reason I put Pujols/Prince ahead of Wilson. This and the fact that Prince and Fielder are 2 of the very best in that position and can be viewed as a cornerstone for the next several years. Guys like them won't be hitting free agency again anytime soon and likely won't be available through trade. As for front end pitchers, we could potentially land one through trade, and if not, there are some great ones potentially available next offseason.

The obvious problem is that Sanchez isn't a guy coming over from the AL to the NL, he's coming from a weak division full of hiitter fiendly parks, obviously aside from Corrs where he's been mediocre at best.

He can pawn it for beer money when he's playing for the Newark Bears next year.

I don't have any immediate desire for Sanchez, but as pernially starved for offense as the Giants are, any chance that they'd swap him for Soriano and pick up say 25% of his contract?

With both LeMahieu and Flaherty seemingly big league ready, may as well save 2 mil and let Baker go. Is it possible to trade him before ofering arbitration? Or perhaps let The Red Sox have him.

I dont even think John Hendry ever talked to Rob. I've heard Rob Emmanuel, Tim Epstein, Ted Ricketts, Carl Kenney, and Jeb Hoyer are all good pals. Seems like a deal should be a slam dunk. Bring on Alvin Pujols!

KC was reportedly discussing both with the Braves. The proposed package was Wil Myers and Lorenzo Cain. Brett Jackson is comparable to if not better than Cain, but we don't have anything resembling Myers unless you count Castro, so we'd have to go for quantity over quality in any hypothetical deal.

So Soriano should be much better than his 2011 stats. Byrd too.

Everyone needs a DH I guess.

Colby Rasmus, Kyle Drabek, and a high ceiling prospect or 2. We'll kick em something like Tyler Colvin or Darwin Barney if they like.

Just another good thread gone bad bad thread gone awful.

I we talking real vintage or when he suddenly became mega ripped over night?

I'll say you paused plenty long considering nobody aside from Borat has used a "not" joke since the early 90's.

[expletive] that, put it in Seligs hands. What kind of agreement can they possibly come to that they couldn't over the past 3 weeks or so? What's the problem waiting another week? Or another month? If it's haggling over a low to mid level prospect...what's the hurry? We got Theo. That's the important part. My guess....the Red Sox know they don't have a lot of precedent to use, so they longer they can keep Selig out of it, the better for them. Exactly. No one is losing sleep over this and they both are trying to re-org their respective teams. Not wooried or losing sleep. I'm jusy wondering how they're going to suddenly agree over what they've been haggling over for almost a month. It's going come down to either A. The Sox taking what we give them or B. Selig stepping in. There's no more leverage. Without Selig, they'll be lucky to get someone like Logan Watkins.

Usually when a Cardinal dies sudddenly, it involves bourbon and an SUV.

Holy [expletive], Horacio Ramirez. I remember he was somewhat of a big deal in 2003 and that was pretty much the last I heard of him.

cross him off then.