Little Slide Rooter

Flaherty should definitely start next year in the bigs. He's 25, I believe, and Blake DeWitt has no business blocking him. Once a guy hits 26 and not made the big leagues, you start hearing that AAAA talk. The same could be said for Baker and LeMahieu, though DJ still has age on his side.

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*Michael Brenly grounds into a force out, third baseman Juan Sanchez to second baseman Scooter Gennett. Matthew Szczur out at 2nd. then he came out. strong start by antigua: 6 ip, 4 h, 2 er, 1 bb, 8 k, 1 hr. he's been really good after a rough start to the year. he's only 21 and throws lefty; will be interesting to watch him next year (presumably with tennessee). I guess that the best we can hope for is that he got the boot after arguing with an ump. Didn't that happen to him already this year?

I understand how these types of trades work, but the fact is you're still trading a productive pitcher (Z) for a completely unproductive middle infielder playing third base (Figgins). There is very little to no indication that Figgins is even going to be up to his 2010 standards, much less be of any real value to the team. With Silva there was some reason to think that with a good pitching coach he had the stuff to become at least a mediocre pitcher. Figgins is a 34 year old guy who's never had power, has lost all his patience, and is getting to the point where speed and athleticism will not help him at all. There simply is no upside whatsoever to bringing in Figgins and by giving Z away for him, you tie up a roster space that could be better given to a young guy who has some upside (LeMaheieu or Marwin). I absolutely agree with your thinking, but much like with the Bradley situation, if they've made the decision that Z can no longer be a part of the ball club, there's nothing that any of us can do about it. The reason I think that Figgins a is logical option is that the money is very similar and we've already done a similar type of swap with the Ms. There arent many options. Even when you go over the bad contract pool, most of them either have more money or more years on them, and it really doesn't make sense to swap him for a worse player with a worse contract.

Szczur was 2-2 and then replaced with Optiz and they re-arranged the entire outfield, so that can't be good. Not sure exactly when that happened, but the games in the 5th.

I''ll give Blake DeWitt a better Aaron Miles, and lets face it, aside from his year with the Cubs, Miles has been a somewhat serviceable utility middle infielder throughout his career.

I wouldnt use the term desperation, but we need an overhaul. The payroll is one of the highest. The big league team is one of the worst, and the farm system is in the middle of the pack. The team is a mess, but a mess that can be fixed.

I shouldn't have lumped them together as financial messes so much as the franchises themselves being a mess. Yeah, we have our share of bad contracts, but nothing compared to those 2. The Dodgers ownership situation coupled with Collettis bad decisons have downed them indefinitely, and The Mets are just a mess from their debts due to the fact that they're still paying guys like Bobby Bonillas and Bret Saberhagen, and probably Dwight Gooden and Tom Seaver. The Cubs, as a franchise are a mess with fans losing patience, the difference being that they have the ability to turn things around with 1 or 2 productive offseasons.

This kind of sucks for MLB as a whole. The Cubs, Mets, and Dodgers have been 3 of baseballs top draws, certainly in the NL and all 3 of them are in some kind of financial mess and fans are losing patience.

Or perhaps with 2 out in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the World Series and down by a run.

Glorious. The only thing that would have made it better would be if he had his airplane wings out.

So is today the day?

Theres certainly more upside then letting him walk for nothing. Is there? We could call up LeMaheieu or Marwin Gonzalez and get better production than Figgins has had since 2009, plus with actual upside. I'm not exactly pulling for us to simply cut Z, in fact I'm opposed to dealing him period unless we get something of value for him, but I don't see the upside to trading a productive pitcher for a guy who will do nothing but take up a roster spot. But that's how these types of things work. You get their cast off, they get yours and you hope for the best. It's not like we actually wanted Carlos Silva in the winter of 2010, but he was the best thing anyone offered. Again, it's better than letting Z walk for nothing. My personal preference is to get over it and keep Z around. Assuming we can get CJ Wilson or something of the like, I'm sure a lot of teams out there would like Z as a 4th starter.

Theres certainly more upside then letting him walk for nothing.

Kirks been pretty lousy since the no hitter it seems.

Like most I'd like to see him get a start in September, if anything to see how and what he's throwing nowadays. The timings right for him to slide right into Rodrigo Lopezes spot next time around.

The Braves have acquired Jack Wilson, who apparently still plays professional baseball from the Mariners.

He has, but I don't think he was much better than Alfonso Soriano.

Jay with one of his best outings this year. 6 IP 7 H 1 ER 2/11 BB/K. I think they're going to have to protect him from the 40 man due to the lack of big league ready pitching depth.

Heres another name I'm going to throw out there, though it won't be a popular one: Chone Figgins. Yeah, he's been beyond awful in his time with the Mariners, but again, if the Cubs insist on moving Z, you need to get something in return, and it won't be cash or top or eve good prospects. The moneys pretty even. Z: 18 mil '12, 8 mil buyout '13. Figgins is 8 mil each in '12 and '13 and 9 mil vesting option for '14(if he can rack up 600 AB in '13). With MIlton Bradley, the Ms have shown that they'll take a chance on a head case.

If they wanted Carroll, they should have some interest in Jeff Baker. Maybe even DeWitt. If happily try to send them one and bring up LeMahieu or Flaherty.

Rodrigos junk isn't fooling the light hitting Giants today.

Sabean should be thanking his lucky stars for Lincecum, Cain, Wilson, and Sandoval, as any GM would, but if it weren't for those guys coming through the system to get him a WS, he's made some moves that could put him up there, or should I say down there with Hendry, Colleti, and Minaya. Barry Zito probably tops those 2 though.

Why exactly would we want Upton when our best prospect is a CF? When Jackson shows that he's he can handle the job, then we can flip Upton. If we got him for something along the lines of what WSR suggested, we didn't give up anything too valuable for him anyhow. He's currently doing well in AAA. How much more does he have to show? Jackson could be moved over to right, and trade Byrd. It's not like we have any other big league ready OF prospects. Szczur is probably the next on the list, and he's a few years away. Of course my preference would be to skip Upton, wait a year, and go for Kemp or Ethier.

Probably because that's not an accurate assessment of his production the last three years. He was bad in 2009...offensively anyway. He was a 4+ win player in 2010, which isn't bad at all. He's been about league average (OPS-wise) this season. People look at batting average and think he's a bad player. Accept the fact that he isn't going to hit for a great average and that he's going to strikeout quite a bit. Then realize that he runs well, can hit for decent power, is capable of drawing some walks, and plays a pretty good CF. I'm curious to see what he could do with a change of scenery and a more hitter-friendly environment. His OPS has been nothing to write home about either. If he was at least in the high .700s, that would be one thing, but his OPS over the past 3 years has been I think .650 something, .740 something, and .701 this season. Again, I'd take him, but wouldn't overpay for him.