Outshined_One

Guh. 10/6 From the comments: 10/7 From the comments:

According to ESPN's Game Score, Lincecum (96) just had a better game than Halladay's no hitter (94).

Derrek Lee looked like he had no idea what was coming on that strike three.

So it's just assumed that Vitters has the highest upside? How high is that upside now? I know people raved about his raw abilities and how even though he might not walk a lot he might put together one of those rare high average, high power, low walk careers. But we know he's not going to be Vladdy. He's not even going to be Aramis. What is his upside, and is there really nobody else in the system that's higher? Is he a worse hitting Adrian Beltre without the defense? There's no question he has to stick at 3B to be considered to have any chance at upside, right? I'd disagree that Vitters' upside is the highest in the system, but I'd put him in the top 5 for that (behind guys like Lake and Archer). Vitters' stock is down, but he was very young for AA and the Cubs' handling of him has me wondering whether we'd be talking about him as the top prospect in the system had the Cubs left him in the FSL. Moreover, while his plate discipline leaves something to be desired, he's always had a good eye...but an impatient trigger to go with that eye. It's also worth remembering that he is the best power hitting prospect in this system by a good margin. His upside is probably somewhere in the Aramis Ramirez range, maybe a tick below that, depending on whether he becomes more selective. If he moves to 1B or the OF, his upside diminishes. I think his athleticism should be good enough to make him an above average defender at those positions, plus his bat should be roughly league average at those spots.

Brett Favre has his hands full and is trying to get some time in with the guys.

Can't fault them for that; lots of people are in love with him. He offers an intriguing ceiling to go with the floor of a solid everyday 2B, in my opinion. I'm not worried about him sticking...but that's me. He's not exactly an exciting prospect, but there are plenty of reasons to like him. Guyer was the most surprising name on this list, to be frank. The guy went completely bonkers in the second half, but he's always struck me as a 4th OF type because I'm not sure he's got the range for the center or the bat for a corner. Who knows, though?

Link Pretty much confirms what everyone here knows: the Cubs did a better job than any team in MLB when it came to wasting money.

Considering I'm rooting against the Reds, this pleases me.

The Cubs' first round pick is protected, yes. If he's a Type A, the Dodgers would get the Cubs' second round pick along with a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds. If he's a Type B, the Cubs wouldn't forfeit anything and the Dodgers would get a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds. All of the above is contingent on the Dodgers offering Lilly arbitration, by the way. If they don't offer it, they get nothing.

You mean 2 minutes ago, or 5 minutes ago, or 6 minutes ago, or 6 minutes 7 seconds ago, or 9 minutes ago.............................. They are showing him a lot. See we do need a baseball man. Doug Glanville for President!

Nelson Cruz just hit one out of the country.

Sounds similar to Shin-Soo Choo, which isn't exactly a bad thing. Considering Choo posted a 5.7 WAR this past season, that's actually a really good thing.

I figured they'd be cheap. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm going to swap out David DeJesus with Alex Gordon.

Ross isn't a FA; he's got another year with the Giants ahead of them. The problem the Giants have is that they currently have a lot of OFs on their roster without enough room to play all of them. He's always struck me as the kind of guy I could see the Cubs pursuing. I figure Hendry would go crazy if he didn't make a trade or two in the offseason. As for DeJesus, apparently the Royals picked up his 2011 option. Hm, didn't see that. I figured he'd be a good left-handed option off the bench who could periodically spell guys in the OF. I was thinking of him more as a Colvin-like guy where he'd be on the bench, but still get something in the neighborhood of 350 ABs over the course of a season. Still, I'll have to mull over who would take his place as the token left handed OF on the bench. I have indeed resigned myself to the fact that Fukudome will be traded. He won't get the Cubs a draft pick when his contract is up due to a weird quirk in the MLB rules involving recently posted Japanese players and arbitration. I get the feeling that Hendry would think Colvin versus Fukudome is a wash in terms of production relative to contract. There will be interest in Fukudome in the offseason and I think there's a good chance the Cubs won't have to pick up any money in a deal. Ideally, I'd like to see Fukudome back in RF next season. I just don't think that will happen.

According to mlbtraderumors he will definitely be an A. Question is whether or not the Dodgers offer arbitration. McCourt's divorce only muddles the situation.

As things stand now, what do you predict the Cubs' 2011 roster will look like come Opening Day? Mine: C Geovany Soto 1B Lyle Overbay 2B Blake DeWitt SS Starlin Castro 3B Aramis Ramirez LF Alfonso Soriano CF Marlon Byrd RF Tyler Colvin BN OF Cody Ross BN OF Alex Gordon BN IF Darwin Barney BN IF Jeff Baker BN C Koyie Hill (you know it's coming) SP Ryan Dempster (Opening Day Starter) SP Carlos Zambrano SP Randy Wells SP Tom Gorzelanny SP Carlos Silva CL Carlos Marmol RP Sean Marshall RP Andrew Cashner RP John Grabow RP James Russell RP Esmailin Caridad RP Jeff Samardzija

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/forum/topic?f=29&t=58394

Interesting note from yesterday: Sounds like Kurcz had a nice outing, too.

I want Rangers/Giants for the WS, with the Giants winning in the end. I like both teams for some reason. However, something tells me we'll end up with Phillies/Yankees with the Yankees winning...again.

Freaking Badgers. That was a painful game to watch.

I'm not so sure about that sentiment. The Cubs won't necessarily become a WS contender by trading for Gonzalez, but he would be a substantial upgrade over Dunn in terms of youth and production. With Gonzalez at 1B and the bullpen shored up, this team could conceivably win 88-90 games next year. Moreover, if you trade for Gonzalez and sign him to an extension (which would be the goal, in my mind), you can still try out some of the prospects next season, let money fall off the books, and aim for a WS title in 2012/2013 with Gonzalez on the team. To me, the key questions are whether the Padres would be willing to trade him (doubtful), what the Padres would want for him (a lot), and the likelihood of signing Gonzalez to an extension is (pretty good, from the looks of it). If this team can get Gonzalez without giving up half the farm, I say do it.

Get ready for another never-ending thread. Link

The surprising thing is, the Cubs have been doing this with Soto shut down while guys like Koyie Hill and Darwin Barney get regular playing time.

You are correct. Knowing this team, they'll blow it. They even suck at knowing when to suck.

Unless the Cubs sweep the Astros, the Cubs will be picking at #9 in next year's draft.