Little Slide Rooter

That's because in 2010-2013, there were no losing strings. There was losing with the occasional winning string.

With 108 pitches, that has to be the end for him, right?

So who are our "trade chips" in terms of guys we'd be willing to part with that other teams would want? Obviously, if someone like Trout or Fernandez becomes available, all bets are off. At this time, there's probably only one trade chip on the big league roster, and that's Szczur. Though he may never take a walk again, he's looking more and more like a legit big league 4th/platoon OF. This and his low cost (not arb. eligible until 2019) could interest 2nd division teams, either as a piece in a big trade or a main or stand alone piece for a lesser one. And either Zagunis or Murton are a bus ride away for taking over his spot. Beyond that, a quick inventory of tradeable assets: Top shelf: Jimenez Torres Happ Cease If we do decide to go after a SP or top reliever without giving up anything from the big league core, the talks are going to have to start with two from the group. Other Chips: AAA: Vogelbach Candelerio Zagunis Lesser pieces: Pena (I admittedly don't know enough about him beyong the impressive stat line) Murton Black Andreoli Watkins AA: Caratini McKinney Tseng Lesser pieces: Blackburn Paniaqua Young Rademacher Hanneman Won't even include Underwood, as his value's probably too low at this point. MB/SB/Eugene DeWees EJM (though it could be selling too low) Santana Lesser: Galindo Peguero Clifton Torrez Stinnett And then there's a bunch of pitchers that I've lost track of who's who: Sands, Hudson, Steele, Miller, Kellogg, Twomey, Araujo, Alzolay, Morrison, Hudson, Steele. Probably missed a bunch, but that was a quick take.

Bah, who needs pitching prospects when you have Chris Bosio and a trash bin full of other teams' failures?

I think it's more about stretching himself out to a progressively higher pitch count than getting guys out. In other words, for now it's more about quantity than quality for him.

Go Mariners.

Cubs pitching is single handedly prolonging Justin Bour's inevitable relocation to Japan.

Oh,good. Now our pitching's broken.

We could potentially play this game without 5 of our opening day starters and 2 key subs, and still look better than most big league lineups...my God, we've become the Cardinals.

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk196/soms12/marvin-the-paranoid-android-1798-1.jpg

Isn't that what we just did? We simply did so from the other side of the nation.

I forgot about that one. One of those guys who was on the fringe of intriguing and then quietly exited the organization through the back door, then shows up again as a reasonably useful big leaguer. Kind of like Ryan Buchter.

http://www.todaysknuckleball.com/inside-baseball-with-jon-heyman/dream-trade-scenarios/ So ERod,Owens,Shaw and Kopech gets you Sonny gray, but Soler,Vogelbach and Candelario only gets you Vizcaino and the shadow of Ogando? Seems completely reasonable... If we traded that much for Arodys Vizcaino like 18 months after trading him for Tommy LaStella, that would be a travesty in its own.

He has been a Cub longer than anyone else out there.

W.

3 quick outs please

Remember the sig, remember the sig, remember the sig so far 2G 8IP 5H 2ER 1BB 9K We must keep him safe and warm.

and a double. in the same inning. maybe he will become what we all hoped jorge soler would be. A drug free Sammy Sosa with the bat and Jason Heyward with the glove? Because there were some very lofty expectations for him from the get go. And he's not dead yet.

Not to worry; All advanced sabermagiggies point to us winning again sooner or later.

Jake's really come down to earth in the month of June. I know that Down to Earth Jake has a 2.35 era/1.26 WHiP and 11/32 BB/K over 23 IP, but still, making professional hitters look like little leaguers is more fun.

Man, what happened to the Pirates? I know we caught them mid-slump last time, but I didn't realize they'd completely imploded to sub .500.

As suckynas this series was, the outcome made sense; a case of want vs. need, if you will. For us; it would have been nice to walk out with a 13.5 game division lead. But I doubt that this was weighing heavily on our guys' minds in mid June. For them, however, they were fighting for their lives, and this likely was on their minds, regardless of what the calendar said. This isn't to say that we weren't playing at our usual level, it's just that we were playing at our usual level while they brought in that much more out of desperation.

Say what you will, but Miggy is a great clubhouse presence. The good news is that now he can stay in the clubhouse and let Contreras take care of the playing baseball part.

Tell us more grampa, tell us more. Ah...I see. Knowledge of the game's history denotes geezerdom, huh? No, but the allusion that something that happened nearly half a century has any relevance to a team full of guys who weren't even alive denotes trolldom.

I guess you were not around in '69? Tell us more grampa, tell us more.