Gmoney08

Didnt Angel Guzman have some ridiculous K/BB ratio in 03 when he was dominating. Then he hurt his arm. I remember the offseason of 03 some guy who writes for BA said that Guzman would have been pitching in the 03 playoffs for the Cubs if it wasnt for the injury.

This doesnt meen using Steroids is okay but they dont just magically make you stronger. Sosa and the rest are still a big disappointment for using the roids. But, I can guarantee you they were still busting their ass in the weight room. You dont just explode by putting a needle in you, to get Sosa type big, you need to live in the gym (even with the roids). Roger Clemens, Bonds, McGwire as well, all shady but they were not lazy or just taking roids to make them stronger without working. They took the roids to enhance their workout that much more, and for recovery. Again Roids are not okay but these guys werent just working out 15 minutes then showering up for the ladies.

Who do you think has the most trade value out of Angel Guzman, Jose Ascanio, Randy Wells, or Sean Marshall? All have positives and negatives. Marshall has done the most in the bigs but may not project to have much more potential. Ascanio has great stuff, is looking alright, but still hasnt done much. Guzman probably has the most potential, was the most highly touted, and is starting to look he can definitely be a good reliever but he has a terrible injury history. Wells has looked good as a starter but is still a bit of a mystery as well.

IIRC, the Cardinals are rumored to be one of the 4 NL teams he would definitely accept a trade to. I think rumor is that the 4 teams he would accept with no question are the Cubs, Dodgers, Cardinals, and Astros.

It wasnt exactly Bruce Levine reporting that a deal was close with the Cards/Brewers. It was Harry, from the Mac, Jurko, and Harry show who said he heard from a scout at the Sox game that the Cards/Brewers are going hard after Peavy. He said the Scout said one of those 2 teams has jumped ahead of the Cubs even for Peavy, and the other would probably be in 3rd right now for Peavy. So I guess we will see but it is not good news if Peavy is in our division the next 4 years against us. FWIW, MLB trade rumors (i dont know how reliable it is) says that the Cubs remain the leader for Peavy but havent discussed the deal recently.

We got Turk back? Awesome! How old is he now? It's Turk Wendell. There was a Hall of Fame pitcher named Rube Waddell who pitched in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Waddell didnt make the HOF did he? Surely he would be first ballot in the "crazy" HOF though, he makes Z look normal.

Maybe he wouldnt be all that good but he is out performing players who have made the jump at the same age like Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Renteria. Im not so sure Vitters would struggle that much. His bat is highly touted and sometimes a pure hitter can make the adjustment quick. This kid isnt a normal prospect he is very highly touted and other teams have done this with their uber stars and it has worked out well. Its no sure thing but it makes you wounder if Vitters could make the jump. cabrera was a year older and played a full season at high A and a half season at AA. renteria played a full season at A+, a full season at AA and a month and a half at AAA and was called up when he was 20. nobody goes straight from low A to the majors unless they're a rule 5 pick and will be spending most of their first big league year on the bench. Cabrera was 4 months older.. Vitters turns 20 in August. Maybe, he's not ready today but could Vitters be put on a fast track like Cabrera/Renteria for example. Would you be against moving Vitters to high A or even Double A? For a couple months and see how he does?

Maybe he wouldnt be all that good but he is out performing players who have made the jump at the same age like Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Renteria. Im not so sure Vitters would struggle that much. His bat is highly touted and sometimes a pure hitter can make the adjustment quick. This kid isnt a normal prospect he is very highly touted and other teams have done this with their uber stars and it has worked out well. Its no sure thing but it makes you wounder if Vitters could make the jump. It doesn't make me wonder and I hope the Cubs aren't even considering it. Well were the Marlins idiots for bringing Renteria and Cabrera up? There minor league numbers were solid but Vitters are more impressive. Why can other teams have success with 19, 20, 21 year old players but the Cubs cant.

Maybe he wouldnt be all that good but he is out performing players who have made the jump at the same age like Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Renteria. Im not so sure Vitters would struggle that much. His bat is highly touted and sometimes a pure hitter can make the adjustment quick. This kid isnt a normal prospect he is very highly touted and other teams have done this with their uber stars and it has worked out well. Its no sure thing but it makes you wounder if Vitters could make the jump.

Can Vitters play 2B? I know he has struggled a bit at 3B. Would he have the range at 2b to play there? IIRC, he had some trouble with the throws over to 1B, which playing 2B would probably be a bit easier.

At first glance I figured the Cubs would ruin him. But, comparing him to a couple super young players the Marlins brought up Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Renteria at age 19 makes me thing about it a little more. I figured Miguel and Edgar were destroying double A or triple A by age 19 and thats why they were up. But, here is a post from another board. "Vitters hit .328 in low A ball at the age of 18, his first season. Renteria hit .253 in A ball at the age of 18, the end of his third season. Cabrera hit .268 at the age of 18 in his first season. In Cabrera's second season, age 19 at A+ ball he hit .274 with 9 bombs in 124 games, Renteria hit .289 in 135 games with 7 bombs in AA ball. Vitters is currently hitting .357 with 8 bombs in only 37 games at age 19 so he is on pace to hit more homeruns than Cabrera did at 19. But what i was trying to say is that those two were called up for necessity. Renteria replaced a weak Alex Arias who never hit better than .277, he didn't hit home runs or steal bases so in 96 renteria was called up and replaced him and the next year they won the world series. He was called up at 20 and was the marlins #1 prospect at the time. Cabrera was hitting well in AA ball when he was called up midway through the 2003 season to help out with todd holandsworth who wasn't hitting well. And Cabrera helped the team and they won the world series. Cabrera was called up when he was 20 and was the Marlins #1 prospect at the time. Vitters is hitting well in A ball and has showed the same power that Cabrera was called up for. Vitters is 19, going to be 20 in August and is currently the #1 prospect for the Cubs and we need help right now, so why no give him a shot, and if he doesn't work out right away, then put him back in the minors and take their time with him. " How does Vitters at this age compare with minor league statistics to other young guys who were called up early like Andruw Jones, Justin Upton, BJ Upton, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, etc. Im sure a couple were in double A or triple A before being brought up. IIRC, Pujols was destroying the minors as well.

For all we know this could be happening. Axelrod mentions on the podcast that since December everything has been much more private. There is discussions right now but it will not be publicized. Who knows if those discussions are with the Cubs or not, but one thing Im sure of is none of know for sure what is going on behind the scenes.

I posted the link to the podcast. He said he would strongly consider the Cubs then sounded like he laughed.. like it was clear he would like to be a Cub. Also this isnt Hendry's fault he's not a Cub yet. By all accounts it has much more to do with the dragging of the ownership situation.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/radio/archive?id=3095454 Very interesting.. Podcast with Peavy's agent Barry Axelrod.

Yeah, I guess he didnt play in the postseason with the Yankees in 2000. I knew he cameup in 99 so I assumed he won a World Series with them. Either way he still went to 2 World Series playing 2B, in 2001 and 2003, so I dont think he is that much of a killer to a team at 2b.

I understand Soriano is bad at 2B but would it really be that much of a killer to move him there. The Yankees won a World Series with him at 2B. The Brewers played Rickie Weeks who was atrocious last year at 2B and they won the Wild Card. I think getting HoffPOWER's bat in the lineup would be more of a positive to the team, then Soriano's defense at 2b being a negative.

Link.. blogs.suntimes.com/whitesox/2009/05/peavy_deal_is_dead.html

Friend thats a White Sox fan just texted me and said Peavy declined the deal. He said it was on 670am.. Can anyone confirm this?

Dempster was a hell of alot better then Gregg at Closer. Plus I believe he is a much better pitcher now then he was then when he was just coming back from his arm injury.

Trade for Peavy, move Dempster back to closer. Wont happen... But, would definitely improve the team.

If it's a crapshot, why are the Cubs so consistent with landing on the bad side of the coin? 0/2 is such a large sample size right? When you break it down, that's 54 post season innings. And when you observe the performance, you conclude that the Cubs did not compete for one single inning. Is it just bad luck? Maybe. The Cubs may have got their ass kicked up they competed for about 10 innings in all. They got out to a lead early in the dodgers game 1 last year with Dero's homer. Also game 1 vs the Dbacks the year before it was a great game till about the 8th inning and Marmol gave up a HR (possibly 7th inning). Its all semantics but 54 innings isnt a significant sample size either.

If it's a crapshot, why are the Cubs so consistent with landing on the bad side of the coin? 0/2 is such a large sample size right?

We have also had Soto, Bradley, Ramirez, DLee, and Zambrano injured. 4 of those players were in the All Star game last year. Offensively I think we are definitely better then last year, unless Soto continues to struggle all year (which I dont think he will). Starting rotation I think we are definitely better as long as nobody misses significant time. We are just missing a piece in the bullpen.

I think we got into the top 3 once a few years ago? But usually were between 5-10 IIRC?

We had a high payroll but we definitely were not an endless moneypit. We couldnt just go out and grab anybody we liked. There were players like Vlad Guerrero, Carlos Beltran, and Jason Giambi who liked the Cubs alot and we got outbig significantly for all 3.