CUBZ99

This is great news for the Cubs and Hendry has no excuse for not getting a great return for Ted Lilly.

I like Doug Glanville's writing. He's the exception to the dumb jock rule. I think Z tirade got a blown out of proportion by Lou and the media. I think Z was wrong and apologies are in order, but like Lilly said, these things are best handled behind closed doors. All the Cubs have done is kill whatever trade value Z has left after his poor performances this year. If they think they're teaching an almost 30 year old man a life lesson they are mistaken. That is a good thing. I would rather see if the light workload this year will help him be more effective going into next year. There is no way, even before the incident, that Hendry would have gotten any value from trading Z this year.

There wouldn't be any point. Unless the Cubs significantly upgrade the roster next year, Lilly isn't going to make much of a difference.

Still can't believe Hendry made the Maddux trade to LA. :banghead:

I remember when they were comparing Gallagher to Slowey. Wish they had turned out the same.

Everyone not named Castro, Cashner, or Colvin should be a candidate to be traded for the right price. I'm only half joking.

I know he is not really a top prospect but, Michael Brenly is on fire. Over his last 10 games he is OPSing 1.303 and in June he OPSed 1.034. Don't know much about his receiving skills but those are some pretty impressive offensive numbers.

LeBron has to be loving all of this attention. Today he showed up to the basketball skills camp to work out wearing a New York Yankees hat. :lol:

It would be cool if he could even prove that he can consistently be a starting corner OF in the minors first. Let's put it this way: there's absolutely no reason to rush Colvin or make definitive assumptions about his ability in the majors right now. It's cool that he's knocked out so many HR in such relatively limited playing time, but holy God, the rest of his offense is in this same stretch is mostly appalling and wildly all over the place. They have already called him up to the majors and he is far from struggling. At this point, barring some horrible stretch of him struggling, it would be ignorant to send him back to the minors. Let him work out his problems where he is at.

Oh, okay. Do you have something to the contrary? He's a 750 OPS cornerman with a questionable defensive future. You seem pretty rough on the guy considering his age and his history of eventually adjusting to the league. If you look at his stats so far throughout the minors he has always struggled during his first go round and then adjusted nicely. Boise .451 OPS 1st year .863 OPS 2nd year Peoria .643 OPS partial 1st year .886 OPS 2nd year Daytona .604 OPS partial 1st year .795 2nd year There is clearly a pattern there and there is no reason to believe that he won't start to figure it out at AA. Plus, according to almost every scout he has great tools. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt until he stalls out at some point.

The harm is it hurts Fukudome's trade value. Kosuke needs to start to keep his trade value high or we'll have a $13 million player sitting on the bench unmovable. If we can trade Kosuke, however, I have no problem at all giving all the starts to Colvin (similarly to what Castro's done since being called up). Fukudome sitting on the bench does more for his trade value, than Fukudome playing and OPSing .499. Plus, he is being outplayed by pretty badly (.889 to .499). Yeah, but the likelihood of him continuing to OPS .499 or anywhere in that area is just barely above 0. Starting Colvin some while Kosuke is working with Sasaki isn't a bad idea, but sitting Kosuke indefinitely for the rest of the year isn't. It all depends on how Colvin is playing. If he continues to hit well he should continue to get the bulk of the playing time.

apparently kevin goldstein didn't check the southern league box scores. BA daily dish did, though: Great stuff. Love hearing the enthusiasm in regard to Lee.

Confirmed I didn't realize how good of a season Shafer was having this year. Any reports on his stuff?

Apparently you haven't read the articles about Z's punishment. MLB and the player's association agreed that Z be placed on the restricted list pending completion of treatment. This isn't Jim Hendry's call. And I think this puts to rest any questions over how Hendry handled this including the other MLB exec. stating that Z would be back with the Cubs by Wednesday. Clearly there is more to Z's suspension than just what was caught on TV. How is it not Jim Hendry's call? Either him or someone from the Front Office who answers to him went to MLB and the Player's Association, told them they wanted to place Z on the restricted list while having him seek mental help, and the MLB & Player's association signed off on it. It is not just Jim Hendry's call. MLB and the Player's Assoc both agreed on the action. Z's problems apparently are much worse than what we are privy to.

Apparently you haven't read the articles about Z's punishment. MLB and the player's association agreed that Z be placed on the restricted list pending completion of treatment. This isn't Jim Hendry's call. And I think this puts to rest any questions over how Hendry handled this including the other MLB exec. stating that Z would be back with the Cubs by Wednesday. Clearly there is more to Z's suspension than just what was caught on TV.

The harm is it hurts Fukudome's trade value. Kosuke needs to start to keep his trade value high or we'll have a $13 million player sitting on the bench unmovable. If we can trade Kosuke, however, I have no problem at all giving all the starts to Colvin (similarly to what Castro's done since being called up). Fukudome sitting on the bench does more for his trade value, than Fukudome playing and OPSing .499. Plus, he is being outplayed by pretty badly (.889 to .499). Fukudome has a 499 OPS? I really haven't been paying attention to this team. Those OPS #'s were June #s in roughly the same amount of ABs. But yeah, Fukudome had been playing very poorly before his benching.

The harm is it hurts Fukudome's trade value. Kosuke needs to start to keep his trade value high or we'll have a $13 million player sitting on the bench unmovable. If we can trade Kosuke, however, I have no problem at all giving all the starts to Colvin (similarly to what Castro's done since being called up). Fukudome sitting on the bench does more for his trade value, than Fukudome playing and OPSing .499. Plus, he is being outplayed by pretty badly (.889 to .499).

I hope this is not the case, but I read something about the manager being upset with him about not running the bases properly or making some bonehead play. Since that game, he has been relegated to part time duty. It would seem to me that if he did make a mistake, AA would be the perfect place to make it and receive instruction.

It's stupid. Not only is Z more valuable as a starter, but banishing him to the pen reduces his trade value. It's petty and obtuse on multiple levels, and only works against the best interests of the team. There is no franchise in baseball that will let stupid petty garbage get between them and doing what's best for themselves like the Cubs. This is the third player in six years they've done this with. I suppose they should be counting their lucky stars that the last two times have turned out as well as they have, between getting a moderately useful backup infielder and a miraculous turnaround year out of a pitcher for the players they nuked bridges with. It's Jim Hendry's demonize and devalue problem player movement philosophy. I mean what better way to get the most in return for a player you want gone than to make them look as unappealing as possible while demonstrating your desperation to get rid of them? This situation demonstrates just how inept Hendry is. Z was out of line, but the reaction by management was just about as counterproductive as you could possibly imagine. As were the Sosa and Bradley situations. It's almost as if Hendry likes to challenge himself by sacrificing all his leverage. Exactly what trade value did Z have? People need to stop overreacting to the Cubs handling of this, as if Hendry cost the Cubs a good prospect in a potential trade. Hendry tried to move Z in the off season and found that Z didn't have any trade value to begin with. Add on his horrendous year so far this year, and there weren't going to be any teams lining up to give anything of value. If anything, he probably helped ensure that Zambrano will be more willing to waive his no trade clause.

Unfortunately for you 2009 wasn't the only summer he has played. And his numbers June 2009 were brutal. Looking at his three year splits his June/July/August OPS numbers were .654/.808/.729 and his Sept .603. He clearly wears out and becomes less productive as the year progresses. I guess what bothers me the most about this whole discussion is that usually we moan and complain that Lou worries more about salary or veteran status rather than playing the player that is actually producing better. Colvin's OPS so far this year is .955 :shock: and he has been fairly steady throughout. Fukudome went from OPSing .715 in May to .556 in June. I don't have any problem whatsoever about playing a guy that is performing better.

Outside of simply making his presence be known (show up in the bleachers every once in a while?), what specifically can Ricketts do in Chicago that he can't do on a boat in Africa? I'm sure he's keeping very much up to date with the goings on in the standings and with attendance. Why do you think it's important that he be here? Please tell me this isn't the meme going around on talk radio? It's the first I've heard of this.....I think we should stop discussing this before someone picks it up and eventually it does go on talk radio. Agreed, its ridiculous.

Outside of simply making his presence be known (show up in the bleachers every once in a while?), what specifically can Ricketts do in Chicago that he can't do on a boat in Africa? I'm sure he's keeping very much up to date with the goings on in the standings and with attendance. Why do you think it's important that he be here? Please tell me this isn't the meme going around on talk radio?

Oh my goodness this is stupid. Like really really dumb stupid. He has next to no influence on what goes on during the season. He's got multiple siblings and underlings that can express ownership opinion when needed. And furthermore, his most important work is October-February. Once spring training starts, there's nothing for him to do. Not true, he could do things like..... oh say...fire the GM or other managerial staff.

I think you are dead on. I'm going to give Wilken the benefit of the doubt on this and take him for his word that he believed Simpson was the BPA. If that was the case, it was a smart move by the Cubs, and they used their leverage properly prior to signing him. If they had waited until after the draft to discuss $$, Simpson would have had more leverage.

Great to see him starting to get hot. Even for all of the criticism that he takes, he is only 20 years old, in AA, and the scouts love his tools. I hope that he can put it all together.