SouthSideRyan

I'm on page 3 right now, and this is just incredible.

Dont worry because if he doesnt turn it around TONIGHT, the fans are going to give him and the rest of this team an absolute earful. CubsWin2009 is going to send him such an angry letter.

I'd love to dump Miles into a flaming bottomless pit.

I agree, this team will win no more than 67 games. FOR [expletive]'S SAKE

If he played in the SEC he wouldn't have to worry about that.

Look, none of these AAAA pitchers are worth anything until they put up a lights out year at AAA or an above average year out of the pen in the majors. Think of the returns for Jae Kuk Ryu, Jon Leicester, Jermaine Van Buren, and on and on. Look at the crap we got for Wuertz this year, who was a hell of a lot more valuable than any of our AAA swingmen or Heilman for that matter.

Nobody's going to trade anything for Aaron Heilman.

Well, that depends. Marshall already has 330 above average innings at the major league level. Poreda doesn't have that many innings pitched in his professional career. ETA: And Poreda's BB rate(~5 BB/9) is scary this season in a tiny sample(~40 IP) I don't think there's any doubt Poreda is considered to be the best of the 4. Whether he ends up being the most successful is a different question though. So what he is the best at?

Oh, was IMB gone? I hadn't noticed.

I'm more surprised they aren't looking to trade him for a toolsy OF.

Aaron Miles feels confident he can accept your challenge B2B

It's not just the drop-off at 2B, there's a pretty sizable defensive drop off in LF as well.

Just imagine what Vitters's #s will look like after Von Joshua gets a hold of him.

No, but it definitely sets a market for him. Basically 2 top pitcing prospects and 2 PTBNL. Unfortunately, we dont have the 2 top pitching prospects. Wed have to see if Marshall and J jax would constitute that. If Shark didnt have that NTC, it could be a different story. Clayton Richard is a not a top pitching prospect. Pretty much this. Jackson + Marshall would measure up to Poreda + Richard pretty well. Except that Poreda is pretty much considered the best of those 4, no? Well, that depends. Marshall already has 330 above average innings at the major league level. Poreda doesn't have that many innings pitched in his professional career. ETA: And Poreda's BB rate(~5 BB/9) is scary this season in a tiny sample(~40 IP)

In the general scheme of things, does it really matter who the 7th man in the pen is? Piniella rarely lets the 6th man pitch let alone the 7th unless they are up or down by a lot. The problem is there's no designated 5th or 6th guy either. It appears Lou's pen preference goes Marmol, Gooz, Gregg, the other 3, Patton. By having the 7th guy in the pen be somebody you know isn't going to step up you limit your options for guys who can actually become the 4th guy in the pen. What's crazy about it is it seemed Ascanio had become the 4th guy in the pen during his time here.

Ryan Theriot(amazingly) has been pretty good this year.

I hate David Patton like most mortal men hate Aaron Miles.

No, but it definitely sets a market for him. Basically 2 top pitcing prospects and 2 PTBNL. Unfortunately, we dont have the 2 top pitching prospects. Wed have to see if Marshall and J jax would constitute that. If Shark didnt have that NTC, it could be a different story. Clayton Richard is a not a top pitching prospect.

Tony Gwynn Jr. sucks out loud.

Right. But it is time to look at getting Hoff in the lineup every day, regardless of egos and hurt feelings. Depends, what's Hoff's mental makeup like?

I think we should try Jake Fox at 2B

I don't see the need to assume that would be it for the offseason, but it's not like Hendry has been brilliant in the offseason anyway. His best attribute is probably in the trading game. Giving him money to burn doesn't really guarantee anything. No, it doesn't, but it does give him the flexibility to upgrade the position that actually needs upgrading. And Hendry has really been one of the better GM's in the league at signing guys to big deals (9-10 million+ per year). He has a good track record of that...it's the middle deals (2-7 million) that have mostly hurt him over the years. Plus, the Cubs are going to need a cheap player or two to slot in around the diamond over the next couple years if they plan to maintain their roster, and taking away from that pool for yet another high priced player is extremely risky. The thing is, Harden and Gregg are the only free agents making any money after this season. I love me some Rich Harden, but I think(and would assume most would agree) that Peavy will be worth his contract more than Harden worth his next one. I guess if the economy stinks next offseason, Harden could wind up a bargain, but I really don't see a lot of holes for the Cubs to plug this offseason. Obviously it's a long ways away and a million things will happen before then, but I don't see why you'd hold off on acquiring Jake Peavy based on future offseasons. His contract is pretty damn big, but it's not something a big market team can't handle. ETA: That pargagraph is a jumbled mess. I understand that re-signing Harden and Gregg aren't the only options, I guess what I'm getting at, is there isn't a lot of places to upgrade in the offseason. Some bullpen help isn't a lot to ask out of an offseason.

To put public pressure on Peavy to accept a trade so he can get the best possible trade.

Well if you count on Peavy giving you an extra inning per game than Marshall that gives you one less inning from the dregs of the pen. I would think that combined with Peavy's greater run prevention over the (let's say hypothetically) 6 innings that Marshall would've pitched, then yes, I think it's greater than the 1 or 2 ABs or 1 or 2 innings per game difference. (This is all assuming Marshall is part of a hypothetical Peavy trade)

There is another team in the city he could play for. Why? So the Cubs could still blow games with this bullpen and no bench? The difference between Marshall and Peavy isn't worth the upgrades needed to improve the bullpen and bench (now regulars since they can't stay healthy). Even though the farm is improving, they don't have enough to improve every sector of the team. You don't trade for bench and bullpen guys in May. You don't give up important prospects for them either. Upgrading the bench/pen has nothing to do with a Peavy trade unless it's a matter of money. I crave Peavy more as a safeguard for injuries to Zambrano or Harden than as a replacement for Sean Marshall. If you can make the Peavy trade without giving up Marshall, you upgrade the pen and rotation all in one move.