chi-guy

Who gets dropped from the 40 man roster to make room?

Can someone fill me in on the status of the 40-man roster? It's been alluded to that we've got it entirely full at this point and what I'm uncertain of is what our options are in taking someone off the roster. If the Cubs decide player X should be removed does player X then have to clear waivers through the rest of the league and if he does then we can assign him internally? If we're at the full 40 right now who do you think would be the top guys to go assuming we sign Malholm, Wood, and (fingers crossed) Cespedes in the next few weeks? (***I assumer Soler wouldn't need to be put on the 40 if signed due to age and projected placement in the system when he arrives but correct me if I'm wrong***)

Per @Ken_Rosenthal it's about to happen. Zambrano to the Fish

The Garza rumor mill has really picked up steam since Kaplan tweeted that talks were heating up and they involved the Blue Jays, Yankees, and Red Sox. Say what you will of Kaplan, but do you think he's essentially trying to get in Theo's good graces here by essentially being "used" to stir up the water on this front? It makes sense that Theo wants those three specific teams to feel like they're in an arms race to get Garza and thus his value increases. I'm all for the gamesmanship in play here if this is true but does the trade off of being the media arm/hype machine for the front office outweigh the loss of journalistic integrity of Mr. Kaplan here? (insert Kaplan integrity jokes here...) www.chi-guy.com

People like Golden because he was arguably the first sign of the change in philosophy within the scouting group as he was a pure athlete that had upside potential as opposed to the solid but unspectacular organization filler we'd been drafting the few years prior. Golden was essentially the precursor to last years draft of Baez, Vogelbach, Dunston, etc. Still, he'll need to make a leap this year to be able to keep up with the rest of the competition coming through the farm in the years to come. As for Garza, I'm for any trade that gets us the most pitching. Bats are fun to watch and put people in the seats but pitching wins games and we just don't have enough of it (not that you ever could have too much). I'm in favor of any Toronto package that nets us 3-4 high end arms as that's where our focus needs to be. If we get a handful of the names that have been thrown around in this thread our system jumps from a 20ish ranking into the low teens IMO. 1st basemen can be found much easier than top of the rotation starters so that's what we need to be gathering. 2012 is a lost cause but we could be very close to been a team on the come as early as 2013 with waves of talent to follow in the years after. http://www.chi-guy.com

Count me in on Cespedes band wagon as well but in reality isn't any team that signs him to a $50M+ contract just hoping he's going to be somewhere near as good as Fielder? Based on his "reported" age he's 26 - which is essentially the same as Fielder - so the getting younger argument isn't exactly valid in his case. After years playing on the island, no one really has any idea how his bat and skills will translate to MLB. I fully understand the difference between signing a guy to a $50-60M contract (Cespedes) versus a $150M contract (Fielder) but do you think Fielder makes up that ~$100M in being a known value versus hoping that this kid who's never seen a true big league pitch pans out? www.chi-guy.com

Any word on who the two prospects are officially?

Anyone found a second official source outside of Yahoo?

Yahoo Sports is the only site reporting this right now. Is Texas for sure here or did Yahoo jump the gun?

If the Cubs were to land Darvish do you think that makes Zambrano being on the opening day roster more or less likely?

Gentlemen, let's wrap up this little squabble with a glass of nog and an accapella rendition of Mariah's Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is Yu"

What's your take on the new CBA signed yesterday? It sounds like it specifically was designed to curb teams from paying over slot on draft picks and limits the money you can spend on international signings. This to my understanding was exactly the plan Theo and the boys had in mind as to how best to re-build the Cubs. Think about it, this year alone had this deal been in place the Cubs would not have been able to signed Vogelbach, Dunston, or Maples in the draft and most likely not have gotten the haul they did out of the international pool. Long story short I'm not a fan of what I'm hearing about the new rules. Tell me there's a silver lining somewhere otherwise Theo & Co. are going to have to be quick on their feet and be the first to find the new market inefficiency, whatever it may be... http://www.chi-guy.com

Speaking of high upside potential and the 1st base position in particular, what is the general consensus on how playing time is found for all of this years draft picks next season? Assuming Vogelbach starts in Boise(?), what do you do with Hoilman, Shoulders, & Gretzky, let alone Bour/Jones/LaHair? Who gets moved to a corner outfield spot or third base? And we want to sign Pujols/Fielder for how long with this glut of potential coming through the system?

I'm pro-Wilken as granted it's his 5th year but really you can't blame the first three on him. Would I like more top level prospects? Yes. Find me an organization that would answer 'no' to that. Particularly from AA down I really like what I hear and read about the kids in the system. I'd be all for new management (which I'm in favor of) keeping Wilken around to see this thing through but I also would fully understand any new President/GM wanting to put "his guy" in charge. I think in the next 2-3 years you'll be seeing a lot of Hendry/Wilken guys playing at Clark and Addison and a more competitive Cubs team that we have on the field today.