dew1679666265

The starters have performed well to date, but I don't think it would surprise many on here if a couple of guys fell off a cliff soon. This staff could go from being a very good staff statistically to being a very bad staff statistically pretty quickly. I don't think it's all that likely that our staff becomes very bad. Dempster and Lilly are likely to be good to very good the rest of the year, Z is likely to at least be solid or better when he gets back into the rotation and Wells and Gorzelanny have now been solid or better for a year and a half or more. Even if Silva reverts to his old self, we have five starters who are, likely, at worst decent arms.

Let's say, for example, we trade Z's contract and let Lee and Lilly walk. That's $17 mil in savings for Z, $13 mil in savings from Lee and $12 mil in savings from Lilly. Their respective ages are 28, 34 and 34. Let's then say we sign Prince Fielder (roughly $18 mil for 5 years, say), Jorge De La Rosa (roughly $10 mil for 3 years, say) and Jose Reyes (roughly $15 mil for 4 years, say, with him or Castro playing second). Their respective ages are 26, 29 and 27. We've likely improved the current team overall and we've added about $1 million in salary. Fielder's not a guy who's going to age well, but if we give him a 5 year contract at 27, we likely have him for at least 3 productive years, probably more. De La Rosa will be 30, but has been very productive (his FIP has improved each of the past three years to 3.36 so far this year) and we could probably get him for 3-4 years and 10-12 million – a Lilly-esque bargain. Reyes would be a huge improvement over Theriot and, while he would cost more, we'd have him through his age 32-33 year and he'd bridge the gap nicely to, hopefully, Hak-Ju Lee. Now, these names are just examples and I'm not saying they'll all definitely be available, but the point is to show that we could let some older players go and bring in younger players and not have to go into a long-term rebuilding process. I'm not saying we should trade Z, but if we could free up his salary and get a decent young player (Quentin maybe), it gives us more options on building more of a long-term contender going into next season.

I understand the salary relief issue, but I can't see Ricketts spending all that money on the Cubs and then go into a rebuilding mode for 3-4 years, especially with the Black Hawks going for the Stanley Cup, the Bulls rumored to be after LeBron, and the new offensive-minded Martz coaching the Bears. I don't know for sure that I'd do either of those moves (I'd have to look more closely at Quentin), but trading Z for salary relief doesn't mean we're going into a 3-4 year rebuilding mode. Actually, getting relief from Z, Lee and Lilly's salaries might actually help us contend within the next 2 years since we'd be able to go after some high-salary players (somebody like Fielder).

Good to see Stevens up. Hopefully he impresses.

A significant stretch, I'd say. Tracy has been much better than Baker this year against righties, but that's just 20 or so PAs each.

I would rather have Baker vs. a RHP than Tracy vs. anyone. I'd rather have the guy that doesn't make an out 70% of the time. Tracy is definitely better than Baker against righties, but he only has a .714 OPS this year against them. Baker against lefties has a .986 OPS. Even considering the small sample sizes, Baker provides more upside than Tracy does unless Tracy improves dramatically.

I'm really hoping we'll retain both coaches (Rothschild and Jaramillo) after the season. If a new GM/coach comes in, I hope they don't clean house because it's going to be tough improving on the current hitting and pitching coaches. I'd like them to hold onto Trammel, too, though I'm sure Sandberg will want/expect to have the bench coach to be someone who is "his guy." Yeah, I didn't mention Trammel simply because he's likely to be a candidate for the job and I'd be a little surprised if he stayed on if he doesn't get the job. Also, bench coaches do tend to be the manager's "guy."

Yeah, he and Lilly have been our best starters the past couple of years and well worth the money we're paying them.

An elite, dominant starter. Think Halladay, Cliff Lee, Sabathia, etc. There's not very many of them.

I haven't checked on his stats this year in the minors, but I really wish they'd give Jeff Stevens a shot soon. I like Caridad, but I think Stevens is our best option currently after Marmol/Marshall.

I'm really hoping we'll retain both coaches (Rothschild and Jaramillo) after the season. If a new GM/coach comes in, I hope they don't clean house because it's going to be tough improving on the current hitting and pitching coaches.

Bruce Miles' take:

I'd be shocked if Lilly were to be traded at this point. Unless Ricketts is looking to further replinish the farm and is ordering a firesale of some sort, I can't see Hendry selling this early in the season. If a trade is in the works, I really think it's likely to either be Silva or Gorzelanny in exchange for a reliever (maybe + prospect(s) or something). Or it could be something as simple as Z to the rotation (after stretching back out) and Silva to the pen.

Except Samardzija, and Soriano. That's why I said most.

I don't think the Cubs will have a "fire sale" because many of their veterans have next-to-unmovable contracts. Secondly, the NL Central is weak and the Cubs probably won't be too far out to give up on the season. They have sucked as bad as I can remember this year and they're still only 5 1/2 games out with over 3/4 of the season to go. This is with ARam hitting like Aaron Miles, DLee struggling, and the "Ace of the rotation" doing a mediocre job out of the bullpen. Plus the only expensive player without a no-trade clause is Ryan Dempster, which in hindsight seems odd since Hendry passes those things out like candy. Do 10-5 rights still exist, because if they do, Dempster has them. I think they do, and both Lee and Aramis qualify (I believe). The NTCs really haven't been that much of a problem because most of the players who have them weren't guys we wanted to trade before the 10/5 rights kicked in.

Ah. I thought about Colvin, but like you said, he doesn't qualify for the everyday part of the statement just yet.

There are 2 on the current team. How dare you interrupt my hyperbole with facts!!! Eh, Geo's in a platoon. Geo and Castro make 4. Who are the other 2? Theriot and?

Colts might cut Bob Sanders if he's not healthy this year.

Hasn't he started every game since being up?

I really think Harris' reputation as a good bat off the bench was the reason they brought him on board. Miles got a contract because of his versatility and, likely, reputation as a gritty player who helped teams win. None of those were good reasons for Miles, but I kinda liked the Lenny Harris signing at the time. I didn't realize Lenny hit that well against us the year before, though. That makes it more of a possibility.

I don't remember a signing or trade of this sort since Jeff Blauser and that was before Hendry. I could well be forgetting something, though. While this is true with Hendry, it's also true with many GMs. That's why there are so significantly many retread managers out there. Lenny Harris and Aaron Miles off the top of my head. Harris had a career .710 OPS against the Cubs and Miles has a .571 OPS against the Cubs. If that's why they were signed, it was more perception than reality.

I don't remember a signing or trade of this sort since Jeff Blauser and that was before Hendry. I could well be forgetting something, though. While this is true with Hendry, it's also true with many GMs. That's why there are so significantly many retread managers out there.

Ole Miss will open the 2011 season hosting Boise State. Good move for Boise, which has been trying to play higher level competition for a while now (with very few biting).

Bothere enough to make a point that it's silly to talk about good trades the Cubs have made during the Hendry era. That's what me, Outshined and CCP were discussing when goony (and then you) jumped in to the discussion.

Ok, I guess. I find it rather silly to be bothered about a discussion about trades the Cubs have made.