Little Slide Rooter

I think this would be a good Marshall to Marmol time. Could be the last time this series we have an 8th inning lead.

You like what you see Yankees? For the price of Jesus Montero, he can be yours.

Castros just a doubles machine.

I personally wouldnt be an any rush to trade either of these guys without a significant return. Yep trading either of those guys signals a rebuild mode. Otherwise, you have to go out and find a similar pitcher, for similar money, on the free agent market this offseason. Doesn't make a lot of sense. And I doubt they go the rebuild route. You're going to need to pay $18 million for a guy with Zambrano's numbers? If Z's #s stay where they are, then certainly not, if he gets back to the level he's been at the past 4-5 years, he's barely overpaid. It futile to try and convince your average Cubs fan that Z is anything more than an overpaid 4 starter.

Nothing quite like having 3 pitchers at the end of your lineup.

Its far better when you imagine it being read with a British accent.

I personally wouldnt be an any rush to trade either of these guys without a significant return.

That's not a surprise. The only real possibilities are players like Pena, Byrd, Baker, and Grabow which would save very little money and net us no-name prospects. I'm not so sure about that. Pena has had two good months in a row-one more solid month and he could get us something decent. A big left-handed power bat is always useful to somebody. Baker is a question of need. If somebody happens to have a need of a person who mashes left-handers and can play all over the field he could get something back. I doubt the Cubs look real hard to trade him though. Another name that could get something is Fukudome. The Cubs might have to eat some money (because so many teams cannot add payroll) but he's been so good this year and is a relatively rare skillset on the market. No name prospects? Pena and Fukudome are both left handed batters, which is worth something. Both play plus defene which is worth something. Both are big OBP guys, which is worth something. Pena is a power bat, which is worth something. Wed probably end up with some decent prospects for either guy, or some cash if we prefered, probably not both. Im not opposed to the cash as long as its used toward some of our overslot draft picks or international FAs. Baker could net us an OK prospect, similar to the Todd Walker return. The fact that he terrorizes lefties is worth something. Same could be said for Reed Johnson. Someone might want Grabow as LHPs are always in some demand, but he might be more likely to move at the waiver deadline. Marlon Byrd is an interesting case. Hes been productive for us and is under contract for another year for fairly cheap. Depending on the outfield plans for 2012, we could consider moving him, but the problem is, we can no longer count on Tyler Colvin as the RF of the future, and Im not sure what to expect from Brett Jackson. I guess they could pick up a cheap FA or trade for someone, but the question is, would we be able to get anything better than Byrd without paying or trading a lot. Otherwise we could have some combination of Tony Campana and Lou Montanez whatever, unless Ryan Flaherty is an option there. If Aram wants to resign for 5-7 mil after his option is declined, hey, I dont mind. Its not like there are a hell of a lot of available 3B options, which is something that Aram and his agent know to, which is why he likely wont sign for 5-7 mil.

I dont know if I can get myself there yet. Maybe if they can win or tie the set with the Yankees. However, its always good to see your guys pad their stats in nothing else. GO CnBS! How exactly can the Cubs tie the series with the Yankees? Will each team win 1 1/2 games? Because I thought it was a 4 game set, which it apparently is not.

Looking at Brewerfan.net, their game threads seem to be regularly hitting at least 13-17 pages these days. Remember those days? I even caught a few posts comparing Castro to Han Ram.

The only way that a system based on depth is going to work is if you go out and sign or trade for the quality players, which is what we need do if we are going to be successful.

They also released Max Ramirez. Additionally, The Angels signed Jerome Williams, of the Latroy Hawkins trade to a minors deal.

Lets see if we can keep it up. Granted, their washed up pitcher who should have retired 3 years ago is better than our washed up pitcher who should have retired 3 years ago, but crazier things have happened. Go Cnbs!

I dont know if I can get myself there yet. Maybe if they can win or tie the set with the Yankees. However, its always good to see your guys pad their stats in nothing else. GO CnBS!

I was just about to say if anyone can blow a 6 run lead in the 9th with 1 out, Grabow was our guy, but he got out of it. Brew Crew seem to be cooling down. Sure, they swept the free falling Cardinals, but in between series losses to The Cubs and Mets. Kind of makes you wish that we hadnt dug ourselves into such a deep hole with injuries and poor play.

If nothing else, Fukudome and Pena are boosting their trade value.

Rebel Ridling hit a walk off blast to clinh the 1st half championship for the Smokies. If only the big league team were capable of doing exciting things like that.

I wouldnt expect Rhee or Lake to be added. Too young and unpolished for a team to consider, snd even if they did, they probably wouldnt make it out of spring training. As for Marquez Smith, we didnt protect him last year when he was a year younger and coming off a better season than hes having so far. If someone wants him they can have him. We have enough depth in the utility 2B/3B department.

And a few other guys who we could take off the 40 man in the offseason without losing any sleep are Justin Berg, Doug Davis, Rodrigo Lopez, Koyie Hill, Fernando Perez, and Esmailen Caridad. Maybe Casey Coleman, Kyle Smit, and Marcus Mateo. Also, we have to add back Cashner, Gooz, and any offseason aquisitions, hopefully Pujols or Fielder among them.

Garza vs. Greinke should be a pretty decent pitching matchup. Could be a pitchers duel to the end, could be 6-5 in the 4th with both guys gone by the 5th. You never know.

There are a lot of guys on that list I wouldn't want to lose, but with the possible exceptions of the ones you guys mentioned, there aren't many that I could see a team taking and keeping on their big league roster, the possible exception being Jay Jackson.Maybe some of the older guys, but if some team wants Marquez Smith, Ty Wright, or Blake Lalli, more power to them. If Matt Spencer and Rebel Ridling keep slugging in AA, someone might at least take them and give them a chance. Marwin Gonzalez is one that someone could pluck and keep on as a utility MI. Hes probably more likely to stick on a roster than Vitters, although a small market nothing to lose team could hide Vitters at the end of their bench. Junior Lake is probably far to raw to even make it on anyones radar. I wont mention Flaherty, because hes likely to be on the 2012 team if nothing else as a supersub. Belevieu might be to. Cant be worse than Grabow. Szczur of course you protect. Probably not ready to hit in the bigs, but he could provide speed and a 5th outfielder to a team.

He's now officially been released. Someone will take a chance. May as well be us.

All this being said, asuming hes outright released, could he possibly be any worse than the tripe the Cubs have pooped onto the mount every 5th game?

Lee and Archer were top 100 prospects (along with BJacks and McNutt) They were good prospects. Heck, Hak-Ju Lee is well on his way to being one of the top 25 prospects in all of baseball in next offseason's prospect lists. Though to be fair, Archer's well on his way to the bottom of the list. As long as Castro and Garza both keep doing what they're doing, I wont cry too much about Lee. And McNutt, along with the emergences of Struck, Beeler, and Whitenack are making the loss of Archer easier to swallow and Guyers ceiling is probably Marlon Byrd. Keep in mind that Zach Rosscup has been damn good for us in Daytona as well.

File this one under for what its worth or non story. I highly doubt that Fielder will let loyalties interfere with whoever offers him the biggest deal. Wittenmyer seems to think that The Cubs cant afford him, although Ricketts and Hendry have pretty much said otherwise. I guess we'll have to wait until November/December.