Could the Cubs swing a trade where they would send (Jackson or Szczur), Vitters and McNutt to Arizona for Upton? I think Upton is the same age as Jackson and McNutt and a only year or 2 older than the other 2.

Cubs are on Upton's no-trade list.

Cubs are on Upton's no-trade list.

As for the Indians, well, perhaps Upton just doesn't like Cleveland. Jul. 17 - 11:08 am et

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

Chicago Cubs baseball president Theo Epstein will look at adding pitching prospects at the trade deadline, hoping to restock a depleted farm system.

The Cubs have two valuable trading chips in Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza, along with several other veterans who could be moved.

"In certain deals, I think it is," Epstein said before Wednesday's game against Miami. "I think you can express a preference for pitching, but if you're dealing with a club that has better position player prospects and you feel the position players in a certain system are a safer bet or offer higher upside, I don't think it's right to pigeonhole yourself to one situation.

"As a whole, not specifically regarding these potential deals that are coming, we need to add a lot of pitching to the system. It's not enough to have a handful or two. You need waves and waves coming through your system, and we don't have that. We don't hardly even have one wave coming, so we need to rebuild a lot of pitching depth."

With the added wild card team, more teams are considered in contention, and the Cubs are one of the only teams that are publicly discussing full scale personnel changes. They are many more buyers than sellers, which puts the Cubs in a good position.

"The trade market is still developing," Epstein said.

Asked if the Cubs could be competitive by next year, Epstein said: "We're hoping we're very competitive very soon. But yet, wanting it to be so doesn't make it so. You have to build an organization."

Epstein said signing big-name free agents isn't the answer to the Cubs problems, and that scouting and developing prospects is the only way to go.

"It's a nice way to add talent to an organization without giving up talent," he said. "But you can not make an organization that way. We have a lot of steps ahead of us that we need to take care of before we're in position to add a finishing piece or two through free agency. We'll always look to free agency. We'll always be on every free agent and see if it's the right player or the right value, but if we sat around and drew up a plan and had free agency as the answer to most of our problems, we'd be on a fool's errand there."

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

Love Theo's comments

As far as Chicago’s position players go, numerous teams are interested in Geovany Soto, according to a major league source. Soto is playing his best baseball of the season and would likely be available for the right package. Soto was almost traded to Pittsburgh last July before the Cubs backed out at the last minute. The Angels may be looking to upgrade the offense behind the plate and make a pitch for Soto.

Apparently this came out before last nights god awful botched rundown by the big vajay......but if anyone is willing to take him then good riddance.

rpb is wrong. Phil McCracken is useful.

RPB is right. You suck.

I would cover for SHARK, Drop In, Dave in Champaign, my Mom, and Urlacher's Missing Neck. After that, the list gets pretty thin. There are a few people about whom I would definitely fabricate charges.

Find a better trade partner. The Dodgers usually send back shit they don't want. Theo and friends are not Hendry though so I feel better about them not getting a giant pile of shit in return like the Lilly/Theriot deal.

I would cover for SHARK, Drop In, Dave in Champaign, my Mom, and Urlacher's Missing Neck. After that, the list gets pretty thin. There are a few people about whom I would definitely fabricate charges.

One of the Cubs' best deals in history was with the Dodgers.

Hundley for Grudzielanek and Karros.

Besides, that Zach Lee kid isn't a terrible prospect.

Garza can net more than a Zach Lee...he can net a prospect more ready for the majors...like a Jacob Turner...who can probably make a team out of camp next season. While you no longer get a compensatory pick for a guy like Dempster if you trade for him...he can still be a huge part of a playoff run this year. Teams pay up for that.

Definitely not the start from Dempster that Theo was hoping for. Now does he continue to be greedy and hang on to him for another start or does he cut bait and take the best offer on the table? Decisions decisions......

I would cover for SHARK, Drop In, Dave in Champaign, my Mom, and Urlacher's Missing Neck. After that, the list gets pretty thin. There are a few people about whom I would definitely fabricate charges.

Need pitching more than a catcher...Castillo can still be a starter here...his defense is decent and at worst he will still be better than Soto.

General Managers are not fans. They aren't calling Rongey saying this guy is a bum. A lights out performance would have been wonderful, and this didn't help things. But I don't think it hurt. It's the art of the deal, and I'm happy with who I have at the table.

Want Koyie Hill back? That was his strong suit.

Exactly. All GMs are well aware that Ryan Dempster is a .500 pitcher.

Exactly. All GMs are well aware that Ryan Dempster is a .500 pitcher.

So was Ted Lilly....then he averaged 15 wins a year