Deeg

Javy has to be in the mix to come back soon - he can clearly help the big league club, but you also don't want him to feel like he's been buried. You wanted adjustments at the plate, and you've clearly gotten them. No question it creates a dilemma, but it's not a bad dilemma to have. I wonder if you could use Baez in a RH platoon, with Bryant playing LF against RHP, and spell Russell and Castro once a week. That would get him to about 50% playing time. Any way you slice it, Maddon is one of the best at making stuff like this work - let's give him the chance.

Zobrist or Clippard are assuredly not the right piece.

There's no way Papelbon wouldn't want that option to vest. He's still a good pitcher, but the curve of his velocity decline is majestic. Even if someone were to give him a new three-year deal he'd struggle to get more for three years than the option would pay him for one. Secondly, if you traded for him, that option is going to vest unless he gets hurt or sucks. It makes no sense to pick up that salary - much less give up any talent - if you don't intend for Papelbon to close. And it's not as though Rondon has been lights-out this season - he's been pretty shaky.

I'm visiting my sister in SD, and I was at Petco tonight. A few observations... Russell was an absolute beast in BP. He was clearing the fences with easy swings, and he one high off the back wall in CF that was an absolute bomb - 460 easy. Everyone in the crowd sort of gasped when he did that. Of course, he looked absolutely putrid during the game - completely overmatched. Soler flails at offspeed stuff, but he had a couple of very nice ABs, with two hits to RF. Bryant stands out though, for his approach - he doesn't look like a young hitter up there. And he really understands situational hitting. Fowler also had great professional ABs - he's a very good hitter. Wada looked very solid. 88-91, but he really speeds up his fastball with his mix of pitches. He misses a lot of bats, plain and simple. Also worked a great walk and barely scored on Fowler's triple. I was really surprised Maddon hooked him as quickly as he did. Every pitch Motte threw was a 97 MPH fastball on the stadium gun. If he had any kind of offspeed pitch he could rely on, he'd be a beast. By contrast, both Strop (especially) and Rondon seem to have become allergic to their fastball. Strop threw six or seven sliders in a row at one point. He had an easy inning, but I don't see him holding up long-term. It's easy to see where we fall short of being a truly elite team. Right now we really have no bench (though Lake did work an impressive base on balls in the 9th), and apart from Bryant, the young bats are very raw and extremely weak on good offspeed pitches (Ross obviously relies on his slider too much, but it is a good one). Bryant is also very shaky at 3B - no errors tonight, but he didn't make any of the easy plays look easy. I was very impressed with Montero. Moved well behind the plate, excellent at framing, excellent at-bats every time up. Also, Rondon made a phenomenal play on Barmes' bunt in the 9th. The Padres basically have two hitters right now - Norris and Upton. I was praying throughout that 9th inning that we'd end it before Norris hit, because he's an insanely tough out, and Upton - while he's boom or bust - always looked like he could hit a bomb. The rest of the order is terrible, and Kemp looks horrendous at the plate. They need Myers back desperately, but even with him they're at least a bat short.

Russell's had TWO chances at shortstop at the major league level. And Deeg - you have no idea if Baez AND Russell are better shortstops. Baez may be more "athletic" but he's much less sure-handed than Castro. Russell, I don't know enough about. If you don't trust the virtually unanimous opinion of scouts, trust your eyes. We've seen plenty enough of both Russell and Baez at SS to see that they're substantially better than Castro. Russell has much better range and hands, Baez slightly better range and a much stronger arm. If Castro were a star, I could see the case for not wanting to rock the boat - but this is a guy with a lifetime .730 OPS. He's not a star and never will be, and two of the last three years he's been abysmal offensively. He may recover and get his season numbers back to his career norms - or he may not - but there's no development curve. There's no sign of sustained improvement. Absent any overwhelming reason to the contrary, a pretty simple approach should be applied - play the best defender at the more important position. SS is pretty darn important. Bryant may have an overwhelming reason to stay at 3B although he's clearly not the best defensive option - he's the best of the prospects and a near-lock to be a plus-plus player, and his value is higher at 3B than LF. Castro has no such mitigating circumstances. It may not happen mid-season, but the Cubs would be crazy to play Russell and Baez out of position to keep a mediocre defender with Castro's offense at SS.

Which there clearly is between Russell and Castro. Baez is a better SS too, but Russell is clearly the best of the three. A few errors made playing out of position don't change that - it's like saying Mirotic sucks based on what he did when Thibs had him playing SF. The issue with Castro is this is the guy's entire career repeating itself. He alternates between being pretty decent and awful offensively, and he's never better than average defensively. What gets people upset is seeing guys with more talent and way more upside moved around to accommodate a player who's one of the most maddening in the game. Is Castro a decent SS, talking offense and defense into account and the paucity of SS who can hit? Yes, when he's not in one of his extended funks as he is now - but Russell and Baez have the potential to be so, so much better.

If Cease can actually come back and be the guy he was projected to be before the injury, hat could be huge for the Cubs. He has Glasnow upside. Unlikely he ever reaches it, but the raw talent is there.

Alcantara is who I choose to sacrifice to the "at least one prospect must fail gods" so that Javy turns into a beast. if its alcantara i guess the + is that he is speedy as a pinch runner, switch hit, and can play any position pretty good defensively. however he will end up striking out about 50% of the time i imagine You assume this based on the fact that he's never struck out at anywhere close to that rte at any level, including the majors?

ChicagoCubsOnline retweeted Bill Mitchell ‏@billazbbphotog 5m5 minutes ago Dylan Cease (#Cubs) pitching 2nd extended spring game. Less than year after TJ. Trouble throwing strikes, but FB sat 94-96, touched 98-99.

Bruce Miles ‏@BruceMiles2112 1m1 minute ago Chicago, IL Wood staying in pen. #Cubs to talk rotation tomorrow. Wada seems the choice

Baez 3-4, up to. 311 on the season. It may be time to start seriously considering where everybody is going to play if he gets back to the majors in the near future.

Coke was warming, by the way, so I'd bet Ross was going to hit. Or possibly Hammel, who's looked good with the bat this year.

Man... Uncanny replay of the 10th inning, right up to the final play - and then that? I would have had Sczur taking 3-1 there myself, but I guess all's well that ends well. But boy - what a weird ending.

That was genuinely one of the weirdest endings I've ever seen.

Man, it's a killing field behind that plate today.

No doubt, Rizzo has the look of a star up there. He's developed into much more of a complete hitter than I ever expected, certainly this quickly.

We need one more middle of the order bat and this offense could be really good. If Javy really get it going, I'd almost consider using him in LF just for this year to get his bat in the 6 or 7-hole. Or maybe platoon him, with Bryant going to LF against LFP, and have Baez spell Russell and Castro once a week to get his ABs up.

That was a monster.

It feels so good to see us inflict the death of a thousand cuts on opposing pitchers. 100 pitches with 1 out in the 4th.

That 2nd strike on Russell... Oy, not even close.

3.98 pitches per PA as a team. How can you not love that?

This is what it feels like to have hope.

Geez, Joe, you really needed to bunt there.

If Locke is a soft-tosser at 92-93, Hendricks is a little leaguer.

I love Joe Maddon. But why in the world would you bat Castillo ahead of Soler?