Little Slide Rooter

Well good for him.

Well good for him.

And suddenly, the Phillies think it's 2008. Too bad the Cubs don't.

Hypothetically, say we completed a Hamels trade in the next 5 minutes, forcing the Phils to scratch him, could we start him tomorrow?

Arrieta had poor FIPs with the Orioles, too. So does the rental Chen; so does Gausman (4.46 this year). The Orioles' pitching philosophy seems to mandate heavy fastball use: Gausman, Arrieta, Strop, Chen, Bedard, and Tillman have ALL thrown between 60% and 70% fastballs in *every* year they got meaningful time with the Orioles; the lone exception being the year Bedard through fewer than 60% and was traded (for Tillman and Jones) in the offseason. The Orioles are known to have weird ideas about pitching; remember Dylan Bundy being told to shelf his cutter and throw more sliders for his health? We solved the goofy pitching philosophy problem for Arrieta, and as a prospect Tillman was more highly rated going into the 2009 season. In short: The Orioles have no idea how to get a pitcher to pitch, we can fix that problem, and Tillman is likely quite valuable to us in that circumstance. Let's get him. Also of note: Orioles fans at least seem to have tired of him. He really may come decently cheap. If our FO traded every guy who Cubs fans tired of, our roster would consist of Kyle Schwarber, Jake Arrieta, and maybe Jason Hammel.

I'm going to just gently toss this out there, because why the hell not: Mike Olt and PJ Francescan for Jedd Gyorko. Not sure if Gyorko's fallen quite as hard as Olt, but he's getting there. So I figured we'd throw in something fringey, and Francescan's the first thing that came to mind; nice numbers, Rule 5 eligible, a text book Rule 5 pick, but probably not worth protection unless there were spots to spare.

how is a team beyond mediocre Wouldn't that be another way of saying above average? And being, what, 6 games above .500, I guess it's hard to argue with that. But you know what; after 5 years of awful, I'll take beyond mediocre.

Did you see the article on Cubs.com by the way that hoyer is talking cubs wont do much this trade deadline and run with what they have . dont get your hopes up. im prepared to watch another AAA meatball tosser to get a shot next week! Only it didn't say that.

How on earth did Starlin Castro become a poor man's Ronny Cedeno?

Aaaand we're going to be swept by the Newark Bears.

Not really. One domino has fallen, so the sellers have that to their advantage. And the return was mostly underwelming, so the buyers have that. But at the end of the day, the market depends on how much the buyers want the sellers have.

The Brewers are 24-8 over their last 32, including a 15 game win streak in late June/early July. And they've been hitting the [expletive] out of the ball over that stretch. Kind of boggles the mind that even after that, they're still 19.5 back in the division/10 in the WC. Their 23-39 start to the season doomed them by June, but that's mostly because they never seemed to have more than 2 of their starters healthy at the same time over that stretch.

Yeah. I mean, look at guys like Andre Rison or Scottie Pippen. Ball professionally for a while then go live it up like Warren Buffett. Seeing as most pro-athletes are retired well before their 40th birthday, isn't that pretty much what all of them do? I mean aside from the dumb asses who blow it all on moon pies and penny-whistles.

I meant we'd have heard if his 3 day absence was related to a promotion. But wouldn't we have heard something if it were an injury?

what would have been a comparable pair of Cubs prospects? We don't really have one to be honest. I guess Ian Happ would currently be the closest. Josh Donaldson?

If anybody cares, Zack Godley makes his big league debut for the D Backs tonight. Judging by his short stint at AA after tearing through A+ (as a 25 year old,) I get the feeling that the Brewers will be playing T-Ball.

I would very much like it if we would win this game. The next 2, It's Arrieta/Hamels (possibly his last as a Philly) and Hammel/Aaron Nola (Phillies 2014 1st rounder,)each of which could easily be 1-0 in either team's favor.

Did anyone else know that Willams was a top 50 prospect 3 years in a row, top 20 for 2 of them? Because I did not.

The commissioner would veto this trade because the Cubs would be getting $50 million back. Also, who would fill all the holes if the Cubs gave up a third of the team for three guys? Cubs wouldn't take over the full salaries. Then we'd really be getting screwed. In terms of cash, good GMs will manage to even it out. As for filling holes, we're giving up 2 starting outfielders for 2 starting outfielders. We're adding a starting pitcher and giving up a reliever whose spot can be effortlessly filled. As for SS, for now, Alcantara can fill in. Maybe LaStella 2B/Russell SS once there's confrontation that LaStella exists. I can't imagine his production being much worse than Castro's has lately. And while I personally believe that both Castro and Baez can rebound to become key pieces for years to come, if we could flip them for guys who can be now, and still have plenty of guys to carry us into the next decade, I think it's worthwhile. Maybe I'm overvaluing 5 years of Matt Kemp. But the fact is that we're managing to win with about a month minimal production from pretty much everybody we'd been relying on for offense With Upton. at the 3-4 spot and Kemp at either 2, 5, or 6 and Shields as a 5 starter, I really like our odds. And tell me you don't like the look of: Fowler Kemp Rizzo Upton Bryant Schwarber Russell P Alcantara/Herrara/LaStella Arrieta Lester Hammel Hendricks Shields

So Happ hasn't played the past 3 games. Anyone know why? I know there'd been talk of a promotion in the wake of the latest flurry of moves, but that's the last I heard.

3 cheers for coming back from a sizable defecit to emerge victorious.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l255/EsperDerek/tradeinsults.jpg I'll take that as a no. But if broken down like this: Baez, Edwards, McKinney for a few months of Upton with intent to extend. Soler, Castro, Coghlan, Wood for Kemp who's been very good the past month or so) and Shields. I actually toyed with the idea of adding Gyorko to our pot, but I don't know how down on him they are or how up on him anyone else is.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/9ea6014557cbbca3ce32ce3d96002039/tumblr_mkdhk1UsbM1rtkcfwo7_250.gif

Is this video game-esque blockbuster with the Padres at all realistic: Cubs get J. Upton Kemp Shields Padres get: Soler Baez Castro Coghlan McKinney Wood Edwards Cash Cubs get some win now help, Padres get a partial bail out of their little experiment and a restock of young players.

The home run derby that took place in June?