Will be around Daytona at the beginning of August so will catch some Cub games there. Last time I saw them Castro and Vitters were there.

Cubs got Soler

Ricketts approved giving Soler partial ownership of the team.

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Joel Sherman was first, but tons of outlets reporting. Good job Jedstein

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Team Cutler.

Shoulda got Cespedes.

I'm going to guess 4 years 32/33ish million with some sort of clause after those 4 years that gives the Cubs an advantage to resign him.


Peoria is going to be fun to watch with him and Baez soon.

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Team Cutler.

Cub manager sounding a lot like me and some other Cub fans. Nobody to bring up=signing some free agents.


Roseys column today in the Trib




In particular, this Sveum quote made me wonder: “There’s obviously going to be some guys available this winter and you’ve got to sit down and decide what the plan is. It’s not like we’ve got a lot of guys coming except the (Anthony) Rizzos, (Brett) Jacksons and (Junior) Lakes, guys with tons of upside. So we do obviously have to fix some things.’’

It almost sounds as if Sveum is saying management doesn’t have a plan, but more likely Sveum is talking about options regarding specific free agents available this winter. Problem is, there won’t be much of a choice once you factor in Theo Epstein’s intention to pay only for what a 27- or 28-year-old will do instead of what a 32- or 33-year-old already did

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

So best case scenario, in 3-4 years the lineup will look like

LF Jackson
CF Almora
RF Soler
3B Lake
SS Baez
2B Castro
1B Rizzo
C Clevenger/Castillo

The future 2B is Cory Spangenberg. He's a Hoyer/McLeod love child a la Rizzo and Almora.

And there will be a real catcher on the team...Clevenger might be around as a backup but I doubt it.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

He's also a Padre prospect...???

Yeah. Hoyer/McLeod drafted him #10 last year when they were with the Padres and they LOVE him. That's 1 pick after the Cubs took Javier Baez. Spangenberg for Baez straight up?

Why? You suddenly don't trust the dynamic duo??

It seems to me that Spangenberg fits the profile of what the Cubs are trying to do more than Baez and Spangenberg is their guy while Baez is a Hendry/Wilken guy. Just something interesting to keep an eye.

That doesn't make any sense. Are you really comparing Cory Spangenberg to Tony Campana? Tony Campana has no business being on a major league field.

That's crazy. Campana is a perfect reserve outfielder/late inning pinch runner type. You can't teach speed and the ability to steal bases.

He's Szczur until Szczur arrives.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

The original question was Spangenberg for Baez. How many major league games has Baez been in? He has just as good a shot to bust out if not better because he's in a class lower and he was drafted by Hendry/Wilken. It's going to be funny to watch you turn tail when the Cubs trade for Spangenberg.

Friday night is the opener for Boise. I'm very excited to see what Vogelbach and Maples do in their first real minor league stop.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

In his last 8 AB's, Rizzo is 5 for 8 with 4 home runs and a ground rule double.

Yikes.

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Team Cutler.

And 3 of them wont work out and be filled in by FA

Or they are traded away for pitching depth because holy hell the pitching in the minors is bad.

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Team Cutler.

I would guess those 3 would be Jackson, Clevenger and Castillo. I also think Lake gets traded at some point.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Actually, realistically it will probably be 4 busts, 1 utility guy, 1 Starter, 2 good players

For sure. Like I just touched on, the pitching in the system is horrendous. McNutt has been getting destroyed. Concepcion is off to a rough start. Maples probably has the most upside, but he's years out and almost impossible to project at that point.

It's very likely that the bulk of the FA spending/trades will be to acquire some pitching. Also probably why they haven't moved Garza yet. There's literally no one who is performing right now that deserves to get called up for a start.

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Team Cutler.

But then you sign an aging playoff tested pitcher a big Slugging corner of and you're on your way.

unfortunately none of this will occur for 25 years or so

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

High risk/High reward VS safer pick with a low ceiling

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Go Cubs!!!!

Vogelbach, Gretzky and Maples all are NOT on the early Boise roster. It is a very Dominican roster and the only "name" so far is Dunston.

2 awesome names on the roster are:

1b Rock Shoulders
OF Dong-Yub Kim

http://mlblogsboisehawksradio.files.wor ... roster.pdf

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That's my purse! I don't know you!