Possible interest in Matt Garza? The trade for Chris Davis is also not dead. Unless they know for a fact that Jaramillo can fix his swing, it should be though.

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

Has it been addressed yet as to why you have kesha as your avatar?

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Team Cutler.

Ke$ha has a large underground following here on the board. Are you ready to get on the wagon?

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

Now if they can get Garza for prospects, that would be a major move. Having said that, it won't happen.

I would like to know exactly what the thought process was behind leaving Marquez Smith off the 40 man roster. There is a good chance he will be selected in the rule 5 draft tomorrow. He seems to have gotten better ever year in the minors and would be alot better option to play 3rd everyday when Aram goes down than Baker. The chance of the team that selects him keeping him on their 25 man roster for the entire 2011 season seems unlikely so they should be able to buy him back.

Speaking of the 40 man roster...It's completely full. Get rid of the AAAA pitchers already that are clogging it up. This means that unless they make some roster moves or someone gets taken off they can not even participate in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft. Hopefully Hendry does something tonight to clear a few spots because there are probably a few gems available tomorrow and this is the kind of team that can keep those guys on the active roster during an entire meaningless year.

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

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

yeah well.... chalk that one up to bully hendry. wasn't it something like $35000 up to $350000 that prevented them from keeping the essence of "where the fuck did this come from?" known to us mortals as casey mcgehee?

/me plays "casey at the bat" in his head

also, the chris davis thing intrigues me. obviously aramis is entering his last year as a cub and if you're entering re-building/we-have-no-money mode chris davis is the kind of cheap guy who you roll the dice on in the hopes that he could discover his stroke and gets it going and maybe you've got a solid offensive 3B for a few years at a relatively low price. hell, if pena either flames out or plays well enough to price himself out of the cubs' somewhat immediate future plans, davis had been playing first primarily for the rangers... and if memory serves he plays a pretty solid first base.

the problem would be what do you do with the guy this season? obviously you're committed to the ram at third base for one more year, and you've got the mutual-using-each-other thing going on with pena at first... i dunno if the guy can play OF, as soriano is entrenched in left (hey cubs fans, just think of it like a bear can only walk 1/2way into the woods before he's walking out so by this logic you're now officially on the way out of the soriano deal!) but i bet you big money he'd love to have another crack at 2nd base... if you can let go of this facade of trying to contend this year why the hell not plug in soriaNO at second and plus davis in left field and pray to the gods of mashing that carlos pena pulls some vintage rob deer numbers at first, ramirez plays over his head to ensure the future of his cockfighting empire, soriano has a resurgent year and you can look past the gaping hole at 2nd a-la bret boone when he was mashing 35+ HR a year... then jaramillo can do what he never did in the first place with chris davis and get past the mental blocks to make him a 30HR bat (he'a the epitome of an AAAA player) and then sure your defense is utter shit, but maybe you mash the hell out of the ball and your pitchers can pitch better than the defense and work with the offense you catch lightning in a bottle and end up 83-79 or something.

i have the audacity to dream. why don't you, cubs fans?

/me goes off to stake his spot for the santo.... parade? what? this is being treated like a pope died or something.

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From Bruce Levine, so probably worthless, but:


The team also is interested in middle reliever Jason Frasor of the Toronto Blue Jays, according to a scouting source. The Cubs did their best but failed to obtain Frasor last year in a trade.

Meanwhile, medical documents on former Cy Young winner Brandon Webb, a major league source said, have been sent to Cubs' team doctors to analyze. Webb has had arm issues since blowing out his shoulder on Opening Day 2009. Webb and the Cubs might be a good match on a one-year contract with incentives built in, if the doctors sign off on the medicals.

The Texas Rangers and Cubs still are talking about a deal that would send infielder Chris Davis to the Cubs. Minor-league catcher Robinson Chirinos and another prospect is what Texas is seeking in return. Chicago also wants right-handed pitcher Darren O’Day thrown into the deal. O’Day had a terrific year for the Ragners in 2010, with a 6-2 record in 72 appearances.

Right now, the Cubs’ main focus is the Matt Garza deal. The other situations are, for now, on the backburner.





Garza would be solid. Curious as to whether it'd be Garza and Webb or Garza or Webb. Really no reason it shouldn't be both with the type of contract Webb should get.

Rotation could look something like:

Z
Garza
Demp
Wells
Silva

or if they get both then

Z
Garza
Webb
Demp
Wells
Silva sent to the bullpen for long relief which conveniently becomes the Chris Archer spot mid season

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Team Cutler.

I think I read a tweet somewhere that the Rays shot down the Garza talk. FWIW, of course... but I hope the Cubs can get it done.

True. I'm kind of assuming Gorz will be shopped if they really are trying to pick up Garza and Webb. If the Garza only scenario, I suppose you could rotate the 5th guy between Gorz and Silva

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Team Cutler.

Is Rich Hill a free agent? I think he is.
You could get him for 1 year halffamillion. Why the hell not? That's the kind of Cub team I'm going to expect over the next 4 years anyway.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I'm laughing at myself...
But he did pitch in the bigs last year... 4 innings. And he wasn't... awful..

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I was a Rich Hill guy. Loved to watch him pitch before his meltdown where he couldn't throw a strike to save his life.

Crazy as it sounds, you can't really argue against a very cheap contract for him especially with a new pitching coach here. Maybe he'll be able to get through to him. A move like this would be very much in the Keyser mold of young(ish), cheap with a ton of upside.

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Team Cutler.

Mark Prior...get it done Hendry.

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Yankees are talking to him.

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Team Cutler.

His issue wasn't his stuff or injuries or anything like that. I think it was in his mellon He appears to have thrown strikes in BOS while drinkin that cuppacoffee last year.
Minor leagues stats are not awesome. 100 innings, 80 hits 60 walks and 102 strikeouts. Sounds like he's all over the place still.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

If you are going to bring back a bad Rich from days of Cubs past bring back Rich Harden. He's good for 100 innnings.

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Yeah, but we were talkin lefties for the rotation...

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Thats what I get for only reading the last page of the thread and jumping back in. I'll take Les Walrond for 400 Trebek.

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The Cubs took pitcher Mason Tobin in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft today.....and then traded him for cash. Jesus Christ Hendry. Enjoy the 20 K you just got for that move.

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

At least we don't have to live through the David Patton experience again where Hendry was afraid to cut him so that he wouldn't revert back to his previous team but he sucked so bad at pitching that the Cubs were pretty much a man short in the bullpen.

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Thats true. If your GM has an eye for talent and not crap then you can get someone like say a shane victorino in the rule 5. You can also just send him back if he sucks or 60 day DL him and get him off the roster while still keeping him.

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

Matt Garza is likely to be dealt soon, according to Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse, and it appears as if the Chicago Cubs are the most likely destination.

It's unclear what exactly the Cubs would be sending to Tampa in return for the right-hander, but some of the top regarded prospects in the Cubs' farm system include outfielder Brett Jackson, infielder Josh Vitters, right-hander Jay Jackson, right-handed reliever Chris Carpenter and shortstop Lee Hak-Ju. Young right-hander Andre Cashner could also be part of such a trade.

Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune reported Wednesday that the Rangers and Brewers have shown interest in Garza, and Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com reports that the Cubs and a fourth club are in on the right-hander, too.

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune tweets that the Brewers are "rekindling talks" regarding Garza, and that the Brewers may be willing to include center field prospect Lorenzo Cain.

Garza is arbitration eligible this winter after making $3.35 million in 2010, but he is under club control for two more seasons.


I haven't heard of this Andre Cashner. If he projects to be as good as Andrew, I don't want him in this deal. Vitters sounds like a wonderful part of this deal.

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Give them Vitters and that shitty notre dame reciever. Lee Hak-Ju and Brett Jackson need to stay.

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

The names I read were C Robinson Chirinos, SS Hak-Ju Lee, OF Brett Jackson and a pitcher Trey McNutt, Chris Archer, Chris Carpenter, or Jay Jackson. They used the Dan Haren trade from Oakland to Arizona as the template.

the only thing is that i think garza is in his arb years, hence why the rays are trying to maximize his value to them before he leaves... or wait, his earliest free agency date according to baseball-reference.com is 2014. i think he made 3.35mil last year and 15-10 3.91 in the AL will likely get you a bump up from that.

if you make this move you'd want to likely try to sign the guy to a contract to something around the gavin floyd range (though you figure he should get a little more) unless you figure you'll ride the arbitration train until he's a bonafide FA in 2014.

garza is a solid #3, especially in the NL, whose stuff could give you sporadic gems and maybe even evolve into him being a pretty solid #2. baseball-wise i'm all for the cubs to go for it, especially if they think they could work out a deal with the guy for when all that money comes off of the books after this season. i'd tender to guess that they'd acquire him, pay him whatever the arbiter says, and hope-n-pray for a proper contract after a hot load of bad hendry money comes off of the books after this season... ramirez, fukudome, and silva are the big fish in that regard, right?

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Fuck that. For a team that has no money and wants to rebuild with prospects this would be trading every single prospect they have. What the hell sense does that make?

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

My first reaction was the same. I don't consider Garza an equal to Haren. However, I discovered Garza has been very consistent (except for my fantasy team). I still think that package is way too big. Hey hey. I'd be willing to give up one position, one pitcher, and one random prospect. I'm not dumping the farm system for a 2 or 3 starter.

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