Little Slide Rooter

let's put together the all-swag team ss - jose reyes 2b - brandon phillips 1b - prince fielder lf - andrew mccutchen cf - nyjer morgan jimmy rollins and hanley ramirez should probably play first and third or something cc is the ace help me think of more. Matt Kemp can be moved to right. Is there a single black catcher in baseball? I really can't think of any. To be honest, Roy Campanella is the last one I can think of.

I thought that Freddie Freeman was a speedy black guy until sometime mid season. Khalil Greene was another guy who had no business being white.

[expletive], I was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he meant the Cubs 5th best available prospect(i.e. not Baez) = 25 in the Red Sox system McNutt? Hilarious. What do the Red Sox even have left on the farm? Didn't they trade their top guys for A Gon?

Guys like Rohan, Jones, and Bour grow up to be Brian LaHair, Micah Hoffpauir, and Jake Fox. They'll probably hit AAA in their late 20's, and maybe get a few cups of coffee. This being said, we really don't have any real prospects as far as 1B goes, depending on what becomes of Vogelbach, so I could see Ridling, Rohan, Bour, and Jones all pushed along. Assuming LaHair is in the big leagues or Japan, Ridling will likely be in AAA. However, if we do sign Fielder or Pujols, they better learn a new position or do well enough that someone takes notice of them when they become Rule 5 eligible.

how much do you think these offers vary from one to the next? everyone keeps saying that the red sox want mcnutt and the cubs won't budge. do the red sox just fax pictures of mcnutt to the cubs all day and then the cubs send back pictures of their middle fingers? (i might not have taken negotiation theory, can you tell) Fax? Is it 1999 again? They're exchanging jib jabs, I'm sure. I didn't take negotiation theory either, but it's what I did almost all day for 6 years. It's hard to say if the offers are different if the report about guys Theo can bring is accurate. It may be a lot of gamesmanship. The cubs may be out talking to other teams about FO types that they'll be bringing in, esp if Theo isn't going to be the GM. I'm sure TR knows Theo's wish list for GM candidates. i just really like the image of of ricketts and kenney and bush sitting around staring at a fax machine all day, hoping for a reasonable offer to pop out, only to see another picture of trey. i bet after like the third one randy wanted to scan his d and send that back, but tom wouldn't let him. Luccino: http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Trey+McNutt+Chicago+Cubs+Photo+Day+C36qwmPPmE5l.jpg Ricketts: no. Luccino: http://rebelbrass.com/pub/wp-content/plugins/rss-poster/cache/7a983_3ZI9_Smokies_pitcher_Trey_McNutt_Cubs_2_prospect.jpg Ricketts: no. Luccino: http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2011/10/07/ym4dseQm.jpg Ricketts: no. Luccino: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2011/08/13/Nuc7sGUG.jpg Ricketts: no. Luccino: http://a3.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/99/93bd1e40ad2a1e9791198568dd0319f1/m.jpg Ricketts: seriously?!? Luccino: http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/m/mAz21qP9FhKvAb0oBR88xaA/140.jpg Ricketts: stop. Luccino: http://matchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/672/assets/EFN0_trey_mcnutt_for_web.jpg Ricketts: OK, fine. Luccino: really? Ricketts: no.

how much do you think these offers vary from one to the next? everyone keeps saying that the red sox want mcnutt and the cubs won't budge. do the red sox just fax pictures of mcnutt to the cubs all day and then the cubs send back pictures of their middle fingers? (i might not have taken negotiation theory, can you tell) Ricketts is probably too busy on safari to pay attantion.

I chose Fielder over Pujols simply because he's a more realistic target.

I don't know about bottom 3. Last I checked, I believe it was last year some time the consensus on the Cubs farm system was that we didn't have anyone who projects to be a star, but we had more future big leaguers than any system in baseball. Also, this was well before the 2011 draft. Astros were at the bottom last I checked, but they likely helped it out somewhat with the Born and Pence trades, and if they trade Wandy in the oddseason, that could help even more. White Sox system is God awful partially because Kenny Williams admitadly used prospects as currency.

i don't see anyone saying anything negative about brain aneurysms. this thread is pro-aneurysm, if anything. [expletive] brain aneurysms. This thread is so not making it through the day.

It may not affect the Padres' approach to compensation, but I've read that Moorad, lead owner of the Padres, would probably be happy to promote Byrnes to the GMship because they have a good relationship from working together in AZ. But it may have been Heyman speculating, so take it for what it's worth. True, but if we give the Red Sox something of value for Epstein, it's only natural that they'll want something as well, especially considering that there's no tension like their is in Boston with Theo. Then again, I guess a few mil would mean a lot more to the Padres than the Red Sox so we could get away with cash only.

Padres get John Lackey and Brian LaHair Red Sox get Darwin Barney, Tyler Colvin, Casey Coleman, and cash. Cubs get Theo, Hoyer, and Matt Latos. Why aren't we getting Adrian Gonzalez if we're giving up so much? That would cost us at least Jeff Stevens and Tony Campana and don't know if I'm ready to decimate the farm system like that.

Was there a pun intended in the title?

He was pitching for Team USA in the World Cup. Right. totally forgot.

Padres get John Lackey and Brian LaHair Red Sox get Darwin Barney, Tyler Colvin, Casey Coleman, and cash. Cubs get Theo, Hoyer, and Matt Latos.

I certainly don't know the rules, but this sounds like it might get the Cubs into a significant amount of trouble if it was confirmed someone on another team's payroll was actually GM'ing our team. Don't go too far out on a limb there. But what if he puts on a trench coat and a mustache(real or fake). They'd never know.

I can't help but notice that Jeff Beliveau hasnt thrown so much as an inning yet. Is he hurt or not yet reported or what's the deal?

I was actually wondering if there was a way for Epstein to interview as many guys as he can, be they existing baseball guys who aren't under binding contracts or wiz kids straight out of college and try to groom his next protege. For the time being, Theo can be the GM/President of Baseball Ops until the next guy is ready to take over the GM roll. Surely NSBB is full of qualified candidates.

While the Red Sox trying to juice us for everything they can really pisses me off, it would be hard to fault the Padres for doing the same. With the Red Sox, there has been an obvious rift between Theo and ownership and the relationship had obviously expired. Also, he'd be getting a promotion. With The Padres, they really have no incentive to let Hoyer go. They're a very small market and don't have much going for them aside from a few solid young players, but nobody thinks they'll be any kind of threat any time soon. They're like the poor kid with one cool toy and the rich kid wants to take it from him. While I have no desire to give up any valuable prospects for 1 GM let alone 2, if the Padres try to juice us for all they can, it's hard to really blame them.

He spent his entire GM career with the Padres, so he hasnt really had the chance to prove what he can do with any kind of payroll flexibility.

Even the likes of Wittenmyer and Levine won't entertain the possibility that it won't get done. Yeah, I just keep coming back to "The Red Sox can't really be that stupid." The Cubs are already paying millions of extra dollars for Epstein instead of going with a lesser-known candidate. If the Red Sox drive the price of Epstein to the point that the Cubs walk away, not only do they get nothing, but they actually lose quite a bit of cash. They can't be that stupid, can they? I suppose the ultimate irony would be if this did fall through and Theo spends 2012 in limbo, and next year the Yankees promote Brian Cashman and hire Theo as their GM. I'm thinking that would make Henry and Luccino wish that they hadn't jerked him around.

Even the likes of Wittenmyer and Levine won't entertain the possibility that it won't get done.

I know Levines one of the guys we're not supposed to like, but I like him. For now.

Kyle is plotting to blow up Australia.

That's the best statement of this thread. So true. That's what I been saying all along, Boston has nothing to lose here. Theo isn't coming back and 7 million dollars is nothing to Henry and Werner. The [expletive] storm is already so large there is almost nothing they can do to make it worse. So, the way I see it, they are going to hold out for what they want. And like it or not Cub fans, there is not a lot of talent to be had in the minor leagues. From the Cubs side, the Ricketts family has a plan and they want Theo to head up their operation but they're not willing to give up talent to get him. The PR storm won't be as nearly as big as Boston, but it certainly will reinforce some stereotypes about the Cubs, rightly or wrongly. The question, is which side is willing to bend? I bet Theo feels like the only child in a messy custody hearing. He has to be pissed off even more with the ownership in Boston. At the same time, he can't be too happy about the Cubs side either. It would be so Cubs like to lose out on Theo after being this close. I don't blame the Ricketts family if these talks breakdown though. The thing is, while the Red Sox probably don't plan on keeping Theo around, they lose nothing by forcing the negotions until the last possible moment. They know we want him doing his thing the moment the ofseason officially begins, so they might think the longer they stretch it out the more likely Ricketts is to cave.

Who's Carfado?