Bryants Disco Ball

The more money the Cubs offer the more they likely want back in return in terms of a prospect or prospects. Zambrano is in that middle ground of not being worth the money he's being paid, but also not worth the level of prospects the Cubs would expect if they pick up a big chunk or most of his salary (especially moving from the NL Central to the AL East). I find it difficult to believe that you honestly think the Yankees wouldn't take him if the Cubs were essentially offering to pick up a big part of the tab and not wanting much in return. That's exactly what I believe. I believe the Cubs don't even want any great or good prospects back from the Yanks and are still willing to pay a lot of his salary. I believe the Yanks don't want him because they view him as a declining pitcher and a headache, both of which may or may not be confirmed by the pitching coach that worked with him for years. Whether we would want them to or not, I think the Cubs just want to get rid of him and start purging themselves of the players they feel are becoming stale in Chicago.

While people are debating on whether giving up Zambrano for nothing is a stupid move or not, I find this even more depressing: Winning organizations that have a lot of money (Yankees) don't even want the guy even if the Cubs would all but just give him to them.

I wonder where he is getting that information since indications lately out of most of the local sources are that the Cubs may be looking to hold on to Pena to hedge their bet against not being able to sign Fielder or Pujols. Perhaps they just leaked that stuff to do everything possible to increase his trade value. They don't have much leverage, so why not act like you aren't 100 percent committed to trading him?

Can't believe it took someone this long to bring up these points. This is still a business, and getting out from having to pay more than $6 million should be a huge benefit to a team that can't use Carlos Pena much for the rest of this season. Fans might not care because it's not our money, but I'd certainly like to not pay Pena $6 million more if someone would take him off my uncontending teams hand.

I wonder if Pena will be more difficult to move at the deadline than would appear. Half of his $10 million salary isn't paid to him until after the season, so he's actually going to be a pretty expensive pickup for a team at the deadline if we also are expecting to get any type of quality in return for him.

It might be because they don't want to break his back. Meaning, perhaps you can get a full year of quality play by picking spots for Reed to play in and not overusing him to the point where he breaks down by the middle of July and is worthless the rest of the season. Now, I suppose it doesn't matter either way since he's an older veteran on a team not going anywhere, but that could be the thinking.

They also had Matt Holliday...and I believe they gave up Carlos Gonzalez to get him.

Yes, this would be great. Except I don't even think they'd do Zambrano/Soto for Montero straight up if it meant they had to pay all the money.

Carlos Zambrano is the 14th highest paid player in the MLB. There is no way we are going to get anybody to take his salary and give up an actual quality package to do so. If the Cubs want to kick in some major money, then yes, but it has to be one or the other. Find somebody to take his contract and give it to them, or get something of value in return but have to pay the contract. Z is a really solid pitcher. But he isn't anywhere close to an $18 million player, and with his unfair or fair reputation of being a slight problem child, that will further damage his trade value.

Dayton Ohio's Tony Campana now has four stolen bases today.

I ask because I really don't know: Why is Campana nothing special with the bat? He's hit well above .300 in his last two minor league seasons. I've never seen him play before he came up. Is there something that suggests he's a medicore hitter? The guy has no pop whatsoever. Even Sam Fuld hit for a bit of power in the minors. But if someone has truly elite speed, I don't really want him trying to hit the ball in the air that much anyway.

I ask because I really don't know: Why is Campana nothing special with the bat? He's hit well above .300 in his last two minor league seasons. I've never seen him play before he came up. Is there something that suggests he's a medicore hitter?

Dayton Ohio's Tony Campana grounded out to second base for a single. Yeah, I like it. I like it a lot. Oh, and then he stole two bases and produced a run all by himself.

If somehow Campana produced the same average and OBP in the majors, I'd take it. To me, a .360 OBP would be fine and he'd be on base enough to steal 50 or 60.

I like having him on the team, and I am not embarrassed to say it. Sometimes it's just fun to have a guy that is so fast that every time he hits it on the ground, you believe he has a legit chance to beat it out. Maybe it's because the Cubs never have any speed, but it's enjoyable to watch. That is all.

Can't imagine they are showing two games today. Maybe some of the country will get a 3 p.m. game and others a 6 p.m., but not both.

The number of those contracts handed out by Hendry lately has been nearly nil. We are filling the bench with young players and cheap veterans. The bullpen is almost entirely home grown at this point. Grabow is really the only bad role player contract on the team right now and I wouldn't be surprised if he's shipped off before the end of the season to be replaced internally. Koyie Hill could be considered a bad contract, but it's probably better to have Castillo in the minors getting ab's anyway. And I have a feeling that with the glut of serviceable backup C's in the upper levels of the minors, Koyie's tenure with the team won't last all that much longer, anyway. A lot of the traditional criticisms of Hendry have been addressed the past few years. The plan for next year is pretty easy: put Pujols at 1B, a placeholder at 3B if Aramis doesn't pick up the pace and put Brett Jackson in the OF in Kosuke's role. The bullpen is pretty well set already, but Chris Carpenter will take Grabow's place and be another realistic late inning option. The big question is Dempster's spot in the rotation. We should have enough money to go out and sign a starter in addition to bringing in Pujols, but McNutt might also be ready for the role at that point. We should also have the assets to make a bold move for someone like King Felix if Seattle decides to shop him. Frankly, I wouldn't mind extending Hendry at this point to a very modest extension - say, 1-2 years - and letting him continue the current process. I certainly wouldn't mind a new GM, either, but I'd be very nervous about the hire. I'd also be nervous about it impacting the signing of Pujols or Prince, which is easily the most important thing this team has to get done in the next few years. Tim, Don't the Cubs have Dempster signed for one more year after this one?

With the way our payroll situation has been the last few years, though, it has prevented us from doing things. The Cubs have had to make a trade here and there so they can make a free agent signing. With Fukudome's $13 million on the books, that restricted what they could do at times. They couldn't sign someone without trading some other parts of the team away. A team like the Yanks just absorb a $13 million hit and spend $15 million more to cover it up.

Milton Bradley also comes to mind.

Besides the Soriano contract (which we all accept was awful), what are these contracts? I love the guy as a player, but Fukudome is overpaid by a lot.

I know that is the conventional wisdom, but I haven't seen that from how pitchers are approaching Castro. He's had a lot of hittable strikes lately that he just isn't hitting very hard. In fact according to Fangraphs, Castro has gotten more pitches in the strike zone than most of the team. It seems like there have been lots of pitches up high or down and away that he's been swinging at. It seems he's chopping grounders, etc., instead of really hitting the ball hard. I might be wrong, though.

Starlin simply needs to make an adjustment that he has yet to do. Pitchers are no longer throwing him a ton of strikes, counting on his aggressive approach to get him out. Starlin has great plate coverage and so he's able to make contact on a lot of bad pitches, but he's just not able to do anything with them nor hit them hard. He is going to have to start taking some walks or pitchers are just going to keep throwing him balls and letting him get himself out.

A-Ram needs to hit a homer here. Let's go

To be fair, he was saying Arroyo has won 15 games for three straight seasons, and what was impressive about it was that the Reds were only good for the first time last season.

Only problem is Soriano also is not doing well. Now 5 for his last 32 and sporting a .235 batting average and getting on base at a .258 clip.