Little Slide Rooter

Actually, I dont think the Brewers are as loaded as you give them credit for. Its easy to be blinded by Weeks, Braun, and Fielder, and the names of Greinke, Marcum, and Gallardo. While Gallardo has pulled it together, Marcum has come down to earth, and Greinke has been mediocre at best. Their bullpen is questionable aside from Axford, and then beyond Lucroy, Morgan, and Hart, theres really a bunch of junk, no farm system, and no bench. Take Fielder out of that equation next year, and they could be a 4th-5th place team in the division.

Will Fielder be any easier of a target than Pujols? Since he said hell "consider" DHing, translation, give me money and ill do whatever, that really opens up his market. Pujols, on the other hand will likely not, leaving his market as teams with money and a need for a 1B. The Cubs are in it, as are of course the Cards. Also, teams like the Orioles, Nats, and Blue Jays could throw their hat in the ring. Depending on their financial situation, the Mets could be in ,d turn around and get something quite nice for Ike Davis, and the Mariners could do the same with Smoak. The bottomg line is, anytime the Yankees and Red Sox want the same thing you do, which could be Fielder, its hard to win that fight.

Unless we need the money, or get a great offer, I'm in no rush to trade Byrd or Dempster. Also, between Barney, DJ, Flaherty, Gonzalez, Baker, and DeWitt, I see no urgency to sign a 2B and let those guys fight it out during ST.

This is actully a very good year to be a seller. Virtually every contender has their share of holes, and we NEED to cash in our expiring contracts. I really hope Wood agrees to be traded, as solid relievers are always at a premium this time of year. Besides, if this really is the end of his career, wouldn't he rather go out a winner instead of this mess? Its only 3 months, and its not he has to leave Chicago forever. Aramis Ramirez is probably the biggest thing the brass needs to discuss. I really want him back next year, but if he's not in the plans, they need to cash him in. A lot of teams would love to get their hands on him, especially the one with a bottomless pit of money who just lost their megastar 3B for 4-6 weeks and a hole at DH.

If John Grabows trade value gets any lower, he'll be a 1992 Geo Metro.

I'm kind of pissed this isn't a more common belief. The Brewers are loaded and they can't even pull away from the pack this year. A good offseason and this team should be able to compete. Dream FA signings this year: Fielder CJ Wilson Beltran Keep Ramirez I think that'd make this team pretty damn watchable at least, and very competitive within this division. No way we could afford all that unless you mean Frances Beltran. I do think we could get Fielder and Wilson, or a similar pitcher and keep Ramirez. That would make the Cubs contenders, maybe even favorites in the division. Looking at what we have now, as well as some guys on the farm who could be ready to contribute, I can't imagine how anyone can't believe that we can't compete. Oh, and we could definitely use a new manager.

This has to be close. Only 4 of the 10 posts were made during the game.

I really don't want to trade Garza, but that Red Sox system seems to constantly pump out superstars. Still, my guess is that we'll try to sell them on Dempster or Z, and if they're not interested walk away. Last I checked, Daisuke, Lester, and Bucholtz were on the DL and Lacky kind of sucked, so they definitely could use some pitching.

Castro 3-5 with a 2B. Oh, and the Cubs won.

Castro actually broke his hand when he was hit with a wild pitch. At least it wasn't out Castro. I'm sure some site will post Chicagos Castro to DL with broken hand freaking out the Cubs fans. Too bad AJ wasn't behind the plate.

CCs will be 32 midway through next season, and isn't exactly the picture of physical fitness as is. Obviously, Prince isn't in perfect shape either, but hes only 27 and fills what we truly need. If we could get Prince, we could still fill the need in our rotation, but if we were to sign CC, wed pretty much be left filing 1B through the system.

There's really no reason not to bring him back next year if we don't trade him now. Whether you pick up the option or try to re-sign him to a lesser money deal is irrelevant at this point, but the Cubs should definitely bring him back next year if they don't trade him now. The only possible reason not to would be if he came back after the break and was awful or if they were utterly convinced that he'd fall off a cliff next year, but the former is unlikely and the latter might still be a better option than anything else. Next year, if we have a lineup of: 1. Jackson CF 2. Castro SS 3. Aramis 3B 4. Fielder 1B 5. Byrd RF 6. Soto C 7. Soriano LF 8. Baker/DeWitt/Flaherty/LaMahieu/Gonzalez/Barney 2B That would definitely contend, especially in the NL Central. I would like to see some kind of upgrade in the rotation however, be it a decent 3-4 starter like Edwin Jackson or Hiroki Kuroda, or see if we could get a high reward guy like Ben Sheets or Chris Carpenter for cheap. Trade Wells, and go with a rotation of Garza, Z, Demp, ?, and Cashner. The pen would be very solid with Marmol, Marshall, Carpenter, Samardzhjia, and add on Dolis, Belevieu, and Rhoderick and a bench of Castillo, 2 of the Baker/DeWitt/Flaherty/DJ/Barney/Gonzalez lot, and throw in 2 of Campana/Colvin/Montanez/Ty Wright or even Flaherty as a super sub. Id really like that teams chances. That rotation isn't good enough, imo. The offense is above average, but the rotation has a high implosion risk. Keep in mind, wed be competing with other NL Central teams, and look at their rotations. The Brewers is very inconsistent, aside from Cueto, theres nothing special about the Reds, and who knows what the Cards will look like next year. If we could add a solid 3-4 or better starter, our rotation would be just as good as any of these.

IN addition to Szczur, Brett Ebinger is going to AA, Ben Klafczynski to Peoria from Boise, and Su-Min Jung was demoted to Boise.

I'm sure the Cubs also want to promote Szczur to Daytona but with Ha's struggles, he isn't ready to return to Tennessee. Personally, I'd rather Brett stay at AA but I'm sure the Cubs want to push him. Maybe we'll see Jackson, Crawford (instead of Ha), Szczur, Chen and Easterling all move up 1 level. I am somewhat baffled by the fact that Brett Jackson isnt on a plane to Iowa as we speak. With the offensively inept You Tube star out of the picture, the I Cubs are left without a natural CF, meanwhile, Tennessee has one that seems to have done all hes going to do down there, and like you said, Ha or Craford can get sent to AA so we dont have 3 good, young CFs in Daytona.

According to a Tweet from the Peoria Chiefs, after the Futures Game, Szczur will be heading to Daytona.

There's really no reason not to bring him back next year if we don't trade him now. Whether you pick up the option or try to re-sign him to a lesser money deal is irrelevant at this point, but the Cubs should definitely bring him back next year if they don't trade him now. The only possible reason not to would be if he came back after the break and was awful or if they were utterly convinced that he'd fall off a cliff next year, but the former is unlikely and the latter might still be a better option than anything else. Next year, if we have a lineup of: 1. Jackson CF 2. Castro SS 3. Aramis 3B 4. Fielder 1B 5. Byrd RF 6. Soto C 7. Soriano LF 8. Baker/DeWitt/Flaherty/LaMahieu/Gonzalez/Barney 2B That would definitely contend, especially in the NL Central. I would like to see some kind of upgrade in the rotation however, be it a decent 3-4 starter like Edwin Jackson or Hiroki Kuroda, or see if we could get a high reward guy like Ben Sheets or Chris Carpenter for cheap. Trade Wells, and go with a rotation of Garza, Z, Demp, ?, and Cashner. The pen would be very solid with Marmol, Marshall, Carpenter, Samardzhjia, and add on Dolis, Belevieu, and Rhoderick and a bench of Castillo, 2 of the Baker/DeWitt/Flaherty/DJ/Barney/Gonzalez lot, and throw in 2 of Campana/Colvin/Montanez/Ty Wright or even Flaherty as a super sub. Id really like that teams chances.

Haha, Hanson's a pipedream but there's not a chance I'd do a deal with the Yankees for Aramis that didn't begin with Montero and go from there. That gives us a better third base option for next year, plus anything else we got. If they don't want to give that much, then we keep one of the best third basemen in the league. I agree with you for the most part, but if they dont plan on keeping him around for next year, anything we get is more valuable than having him on this team. My preference is to keep him for next year one way or another, but if not, its a waste not to cash in.

Top 100 is a broad spectrum. Depending on which end of the Top 100 were talking, that could very well be worth it. I highly doubt we could get a top 25 guy, but if we could get someone in the top 26-50, Id definitely listen, maybe even top 75. If guys like Belevieu, Rhoderick, Dolis, and Batista are the real deal, and Carpenter and Shark can keep doing what theyve done for the most part, we could have a decent crop of back of the pen guys to go along with Marmol.

That would only make Aramis that much more valuable to them. Incredibly, but unless they hand over the keys to the farm, and say take any 3 guys you want, I think Aramis is more valuable to us if we plan to compete next year. Chipper Jones has the same injury as A Rod and may also require surgery. All of the sudden, Aramis is becoming very valuable. Id gladly take that Hanson guy off the Braves hands if they're interested 8-[

As soon as they realize that Fernando Perez is a waste of roster space. Ask and ye shall receive I dont know what they're waiting for now. Im guessing hes done what hes going to do at AA, so maybe its time to move on. Ty Wright seems like a decent enough player, but he shouldnt be a roadblock.

PC Chens tearing it up in Boise. Could he make his way to Peoria by the end of the year? Was he a big international signing?

The part about Koyie Hill must have been written by an NSBBer.

Looks like Dusty is going to keep up his MO of giving his team one really good year and a few mediocre/bad ones being run out of town.

You are being so dramatic giving up on the season with 70+ games left! Believe.

Maybe Im just overreacting here, but I'm starting to think that this might not be the year.