Cubs Fan Dan

Rizzo remembers Hughes

Castro and Rizzo got SWAG!

My math has his OBP at 3000

Well pretty good chance Barney gets a run in..... also makes that play in the first saving Shark about 10 pitches.

you mean assuming a repeat, not barring a repeat Yes.

Why do I think the Cubs top 4 is not bad(barring a repeat from Soriano)..... GO ITALY!!

Pretty sure I am on my 5th pair of underwear in 2 days. The cubs near future Infield potential is disgusting!

Castro's AVG jumps to .318 puts up a career high 21 HR's Rizzo puts up a .276/.329/.514 - he improves but still struggles at times vs lefties. Hits 31 homers and drives in 96. Hairston and Schierholtz combine for a .275/31/107 Line as the two headed RF monster. Castillo hits .252 with 14 3B is a disaster - Lillibridge starts the most games at that position. Barney is Barney. DeJesus is traded in early July. BJax hits .254/.336/.460 The remainder of the year stealing 15 bags with 12 HR's.

EJax finishes with a 3.49 ERA. Samardjiza strikes out 211 guys over 205 innings and puts up a 5.5 WAR. Feldman and Baker struggle. Wood pitches strong all year with a sub 4.00 ERA between the BP and Rotation.

Netherlands is a fun team to watch! Simmons, Bogaerts and Schoop! Did I mention Pawelek? Hope they take their group!

AL East - Rays, Jays, Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles AL Central - Tigers, Royals, Indians, White Sox, Twins AL West - Angels, Rangers, A's, Mariners, Astros NL East - Nationals, Braves, Phillies, Marlins, Mets NL Central - Reds, Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs, Brewers NL West - Dodgers, D'Backs, Giants, Padres, Rockies AL Wild Card - Jays, Rangers NL Wild Card - Braves, Cardinals AL Playoffs Round 1. Rays over Tigers Angels over Jays ALCS Rays over Angels NL Playoffs Round 1. Braves over Dodgers Reds over Nationals NLCS Reds over Braves World Series: Rays over Reds Accolades: AL Cy Young - Justin Verlander NL Cy Young - Stephen Strasburg AL MVP - Albert Pujols NL MVP - Jay Bruce AL ROY - Bruce Rondon NL ROY - Shelby Miller Cubs: Starlin Castro breaks out putting up a .303 AVG 22 HR's 77 RBIs with 23 SB's. Anthony Rizzo - .277/29/96 Vitters lights up AAA leading to taking over 3B in June. Finishes the season at .283/.317/11hr/49rbis sharing time with Valbuena (Stewart DL) Jackson's does not make team out of ST, joins club in late June. Hit .262/.344/14hr/32rbi/16sb's leading off the remainder off the year. Minor League notes: Cubs enter next year with 3 in the top 20 MLB Prospects - Soler, Almora, Baez 7 Prospects climb into Top 100 - 2013 1st Round Pick, Vogelbach, Candelerio, Pierce Johnson, Soler, Almora, Baez

Anyone else thinking Castillo surprises fairly quickly and becomes and above average offensive catcher?

Dunston has swag!

Per ABTY If true, I think its Chisenhall and he fills out 1B/3B bench and starter vs LHP role. Anyone else of "note" they may be after?

I don't know why anyone would think they are done adding. Still 3 weeks to go and Spring Training. Looking at the lineup a RH 3B option is glaring, I would be interested to see if Vitters could fill that role sooner than later but beyond that... not an overwhelming lineup but solid. VS. RHP - DeJesus, Castro, Rizzo, Soriano, Schierholtz, Stewart, Castillo, Barney VS LHP - Sappelt, Barney, Castro, Rizzo, Soriano, Hairston, Castillo, Stewart (Possibly lead off Barney [expletive] Sappelt to 8). Bench: Navarro, Scheirholtz/Hairston, Sappelt/DeJesus, Valbuena, ?????? Rotation: Garza, Samardjiza, Jackson, Baker, Feldman BP: Fujikawa, Marmol, Camp, Russell, Wood, Bowden/Cabrera/One of the plethera of minor league invites, Could be fun this year!

ABTY from PSD The Lake and Watkins blurb does not surprise me as I thought we had heard there would be some prospect for prospect type dealers. Curious to see who Towers would have packaged with Upton. If it was Skaggs or someone along those lines I would have a tough time saying know.

Yep they should have told Torii he is old and too right handed.

Marmol and $ for Bourjos please!

Never thought I would say this but Ian Stewart as our opening day 3B is starting to sound really good. Compared to other options.

I will give my guess and comps. Vogelbach - mid 2014 -My guess is that if he is not traded Vogelbac continues to rake and beats all 3 of these guys. (crazy hunch). I think he could be traded but would not doubt he plays LF some this year and the Cubs sacrific defense for his hitting ability. Baez - Late 2014 - Vlad Guerrero type hitter, shorter quicker swing but similar approach. Soler - 2015 Starting RF - I love the Jermaine Dye comp someone gave earlier. Almora - Late 2015 - I do not remember where but I like the Michael Young(in his prime) comps I have heard. Viscaino - 2013 sees some time.

Adding good players will only increase their potential to compete regularly starting in 2014.

Makes sense, there are probably only a couple of teams with the core players we are looking for. I expect free agents will be short term and the cubs will add one or 2 core pieces via trade.

Toronto is looking to trade Escobar, would he be worth shedding a mid level prospect for? I understand he is a first class dbag but could be a 3B or 2B option. He is capable of bouncing back and putting up a .290/.360/.400 up.

I believe the Cubs are just a Joe Saunders away from making next years playoffs. fixed: With a mid season Jim Thome acquisition.

The more I think about it I think Jed and Theo's plan may have slightly shifted. They stated they were very happy with the moves they made in picking up impact young offensive talent. On the flip side they were disappointed in the lack of pitching they were able to acquire. There are some intriguing arms available this offseason that can be viewed as short term contracts and depending on which way the team goes in the standings could be moved for long term assets. The wild card here to me is the fact that the Garza injury left him untradeable, and the emergence of Jeff Samardjiza. There is a buzz around the league that Shark has true #1 capability and made huge strides in getting their this year. Garza if/when healthy can be an adequate #2 and a very good #3. The Cubs will continue to use Wood in the back end of the rotation. If the Angels opt to not pick up Santana and Haren's contract that adds two mid rotation arms to the free agent market. Now i still do not believe the Cubs would go after Grienke but they could be aggressive going after 2 of Santana, Haren, Liriano, potentially Floyd, Peavy, Marcum, McCarthy, Sanchez, Lohse(possibly). Adding 2 arms of this caliber to the middle/back of the rotation could give the Cubs a solid to strong rotation. The offense needs a ton of work and the bullpen may be able to be fixed internally. I think we are going to see the Cubs be more aggressive in moving this team towards a 2014 division winner and perenial contender, to do so they will need to get significantly better this offseason.