Last week we had a heated debate and/or argument on here about the decisions the Cubs made about not trading certain players. I wanted to write something about this immediately, but wanted to collect my thoughts and not let emotion guide me. I also wanted to make sure I hadn’t just planted my feet and was arguing something just to …
Checking up on the Cubs top prospects, part 1
A month ago I took a look at how the Cubs top prospects (ratings from John Sickels) were doing and the final part was a form for you so we could have our own top prospect list. The final part in this series will be those results. I know you’ve waited on pins and needles for them so you won’t …
2012 NL Central Champion Cubs, part 3
Wreckard took a look at how the 2007 Cubs improved compared to the 2006 team and what kind of improvements this current team would need to make for next year. In the first part of this series. we took a look at payroll and named several players the Cubs should keep if they plan to contend next season. The second part …
2012 NL Central Champion Cubs, part 2
In part 1 we found that there were currently 13 players on the Cubs roster that the Cubs want to keep assuming they try to contend next year, which they will. We left off talking briefly about Aramis Ramirez and the club option the Cubs hold for $16 million (or a $2 million buyout). Using Ramirez’s .354 rest of season …
2012 NL Central Champion Cubs, part 1
As much as I’ve written about the need to rebuild, it’s not going ot happen. The Cubs have some decent players on their roster and some you’d really like to get rid of. Since they’re planning on contending, we have to first figure out which of the current players on the roster are worth keeping around. To do that, we …
Mid-Season Good and Bad: Position Players
Last year over at Aisle 424, I decided that grading players on a scale of objectivity was ultimately dumb and subjective. But since it’s like a blog law that you have to do something like that at the All-Star break, I developed my Yin and Yang system wherein I say one good thing and one bad thing about every player. …
Midseason look at the Cubs top prospects, part 2
A few days ago we looked at Sickel’s Cubs prospects ranked 11-20 entering the season and how they’ve done so far. This time we’ll look at the top 10. 10) Alberto Cabrera, RHP, Grade C+: Another live arm that needs polish. Cabrera made 9 starts for AA Tennessee and then was promoted to Iowa. I’m pretty sure the only reason …
Midseason look at the Cubs top prospects, part 1
I figured now was a good time to post something about the Cubs top prospects since it’s past the midway point in the full minor league seasons. The short-season teams just got under way. I’m using Sickel’s top 20. I’m breaking this into three parts. I’ll cover 11-20 here and then 1-10 while the final part will focus on players …
Aramis Ramirez is Due
With the news that Darwin Barney is now headed to the DL, I thought it would be “fun” to see if the Cubs could field an entire squad of players who have been on the DL this season. SS Darwin Barney 2B Jeff Baker C Geovany Soto 1B Alfonso Soriano LF Marlon Byrd RF Reed Johnson CF Brett Jackson SP …
Trade Value: Geovany Soto
The Cubs are done so there’s no more pretending they have a chance. They don’t. I don’t expect the Cubs front office or the players to give up. Not sure I really want them to at this point. It’s still early and there’s plenty of time to let the trade market develop. No need rushing into any trades. But that …