Little Slide Rooter

Don't you mean third baseman?

Starlin Castro is beyond awesome.

That was some great patience by Barney and Byrd with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. I think that their 2-3 magic has worn off, and its time to put the big kids in those spots.

Koyie Hill with a bat is like a mule with a spinning wheel. Dont know how he got it, and damned if he knows what to do with it.

except gonzalez is in shape and can actually field his position, while prince is a whale whose position will be "should DH" within about 3-4 years. True as that may be, I cant imagine him not getting at least 5 years at 18-20 mil a pop. A lot of it depends on if he signs before or after Pujols. Aside from these 2, its nit a great free agent class, and any team with money to burn will be turning to them.

usually this type of tomfoolery doesnt occur until after The Cubs are down 4-0 in the 3rd. But hey, at least CUBZ99 and Keener are giving the thread a chance to get past the 5 page mark. Now if I were to make up stats, hed be 32-3 1.35 ERA 1.12 WHIP.

Feels to me like a .500 team. Should be a bit better.

No haps. He was involved in The Cubs aquisition of Aaron Heilman, so hes eternally cursed in my eyes.

Oh what the [expletive]. Im just hoping...neigh, praying for the day that Matt Garza does something, anything to prove that he was worth emptying out the farm system.

Remember Prince is a Boras client, and Scott is going to probably use the A-Gon deal as his measuring stick. There are more teams than the Red Sox and Yanks out there with money that would be willing to spend big for either Princ or Pujols. The Angels, Dodgers, and Mets could all be very much in the race, and teams like the Mariners, Orioles, and maybe even the Nationlals could get in on the fun. The Blue Jays recently dumped that massive Wells contract, so they could be in. Dodgers and Mets definitely cant afford him. Angels have Morales at 1B and just took on that awful Wells contract, which will make another big contract hard to fit. Mariners have Smoak as their long term 1B (and Jack Z doesn't seem the type to overspend) and the Nats just signed LaRoche to a multiyear deal. Of the teams you listed, I only see the Orioles and Blue Jays as teams that will likely be in on the bidding. The Nats signed LaRoche to a 2 year deal ($8mm next year, 3rd year option, $1mm buyout). He can be moved next off-season if they needed to. This all beoing said, ill be quite dissapointed if we don't end up with 1 of the 2. Between Fuku, Pena, and Grabow, that's 25 mil alone, and and don't forget Silva and probably Aramis. besides, The Cubs are certainly a more desireable destination than the Os, Nats, or Jays, and that's something players take into consideration. If/when the Cubs do finall win it all, what player wouldn't want to be a part of it?

You don't enjoy watching Matt Garza give up 12 runs on the fuzzy channel? The Cubs should feel honored that The U managed to work them in between black sitcom re-runs.

Remember Prince is a Boras client, and Scott is going to probably use the A-Gon deal as his measuring stick. There are more teams than the Red Sox and Yanks out there with money that would be willing to spend big for either Princ or Pujols. The Angels, Dodgers, and Mets could all be very much in the race, and teams like the Mariners, Orioles, and maybe even the Nationlals could get in on the fun. The Blue Jays recently dumped that massive Wells contract, so they could be in.

Sorry I can't post the link from my Blackberry, but the numbers are 21 mil/year 2012-2016, 21.5 mil/year in '17-'18. If anyone out there is wondering how much Prince Fielder will cost, that pretty much sums it up.

It wouldn't hurt him to have to face crafty AAA vets who will try to junk ball him to death. Agree. Better fastballs in AA. Better command and craftier junk in AAA. Personally I'd as soon leave these guys together. Maybe going up to spend time with Scales and LaHair and Thomas Diamond and JR Mathes could be a maturing factor or whatever. But I like the idea of having a bunch of future Cubs live together and play together and win together and build camaraderie at AA together. Jackson, Lemahieu, Vitters, Clevenger, McNutt, Cabrera, Dolis, there's a whole crowd of guys who could be pretty good long-term Cubs. I think having them stay together and come up together is a cool organizational idea. I'm curious to see how Rebel Ridling does. Like everybody there, he's off to a hot start,with 2 HR and 4 walks and a 1.1+ OPS. I recall having some mild hopes for him two years ago, but last year he wasn't that good. But he did come in late off the DL, I think? So perhaps it took a while to get back. Perhaps with a fresh season, he's ready to make a step forward? I was surprised that they used one of the limited Camp Colvin spots on him, since I'd assumed he was mostly an organizational guy. But maybe they think he's a bit of a prospect? He'll need a monster year, though, that's for sure. Anybody know if he's kind of a Soriano-scale defender at 1B, or if he's actually not that bad? I think Ridling will be one of those Maicah Hoffpauir/Jake Fox types who toil about the minors until their late 20s and eventually earn a few callups here and there.

I think it's probably a given that he'll be up in September and, barring some sort of collapse, should probably be up for good at that point. So really, September versus June/July/August really doesn't make a difference. It doesn't impact super 2 status, and unless we call him up in the next couple weeks he wont get enough service time to qualify for FA sooner. If he earns a promotion, I don't see any reason not to give it to him. If the Cubs are out of it come July, Fukudomes a goner. Now my thinking is that if Colvin can prove to be a viable starter, we might want to consider selling high on Marlon Byrd. Get some nice prospects, and sign a cheap right handed 4th outfielder if we can't find one in the system.

Wow, Cocos putting Oscar Gamble to shame.

I'm not sure he's going to be released very soon and obviously at a later date (when Wells & Cashner return) we won't need him. Then it's a hell of an investment for a guy we won't need in 2 months (hopefully at most) That was my point of not giving up much for him at this point. If the Red Sox would pay half of his contract and take Samardzjia, the cost would be $2 million this year and $5 million next year. That might be tempting to add depth to the rotation. Also, if he shows anything he might be tradeable at some point in the future with a really affordable financial obligation. What if they would take the contracts of both Shark and Grabow? Again, I wouldnt mind if when all was said and done, we winded up paying 5 mil a year for 2 years of Daisuke. I doubt he'll have another 2008 season, but I cant imagine him being as bad as hes been so far this year. I definitely wouldnt give up anything of value as far as prospects go. Like I said to begin with, it depends on how motivated they are to get him out of town.

My hunch is that they are fairly set on Vitters going to first base, provided that someone can emerge at 3rd (namely, LeMahieu). If LeMahieu's power stroke develops, it wouldn't surprise me if they made third his, and just shifted Vitters to first full-time. So they're going to shift Pujols back to 3B then? Pujols at 3B, Fielder at 1B, and trade the farm for Ichiro and King Felix. Now THAT'S what I call all in.

Pitchers have adjusted to him. Now he has to adjust to them.

You'll be happy to hear that it's Zambrano on Monday. The starter for Tuesday hasn't been named yet. This will likely be met with seething rage, but I'd actually prefer to see what Samardzjia can do for 4-5 innings than another Russell start. Granted, I'd prefer another option all together, but at least a Shark start could be interesting. Russells past, present, and future is middle relief. No reason to tamper with that.

Usually, that kind of talk means they do in fact have interest in trading him. I dont think their big league club has any needs despite the rough start, but could a decent prospect package, not including McNutt, Jackson, or Vitters and pick up half the salary entice Boston? Maybe a switch out of the toghest division in baseball would be just what the doctor ordered. Id certainly rather give him a shot than some god awful combination of Coleman, Davis, Samardzjia, Russell, Diamond, god knows what else. I guess it all depends on what you call a "decent prospect package". The talk of trading him for another bad contract and denying they will release him sounds like we shouldn't be giving up too much. Maybe 2 of the names you mentioned (Samardzjia and Diamond) would be enough with them eating half of his contract. Convincing Samardzjia to waive his NTC would also save us $3 million this year. I didn't suggest trading any of those guys for Daisuke, just that I'd rather have him than any of them. Shark might entice them somewhat, but anyone who thinks that Diamond has any value whatsoever needs to get that idea out of their heads. Maybe Shark and a few fringers. Again, it depends on how motivated they are to get him out of town. In like a weeks time we went from a very good rotation with decent depth behind it to Casey Coleman, Doug Davis, and James Russell, so yeah, I'd definitely take out a flier on Daisuke.

thats just wrong.

Usually, that kind of talk means they do in fact have interest in trading him. I dont think their big league club has any needs despite the rough start, but could a decent prospect package, not including McNutt, Jackson, or Vitters and pick up half the salary entice Boston? Maybe a switch out of the toghest division in baseball would be just what the doctor ordered. Id certainly rather give him a shot than some god awful combination of Coleman, Davis, Samardzjia, Russell, Diamond, god knows what else.

Does Tony Campana project to be anything more than Sam Fuld II? Could he make it in the big leagues? He seems to have the speed, how's his defense? I know hed likely not be more than a 4th outfielder, but I personally don't mind the high average players toward the bottom of the lineup, and your not going to have 8 guys OPSng >.800.

W! If the starting rotation can pull it together, we could have us a legit contender on our hands.