braves @ cubs 7/11-7/13

[hermes]

cubs (39-52) vs. braves (50-42)

game 1: arrieta vs. wood 3:05 pm
game 2: jackson vs. minor 3:05 pm
game 3: wood vs. teheran 1:20 pm

last series before the break

go cubs!

[hermes]

http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... with_cubs/

[hermes]

cubs win! alcantara showing off the speed in the 9th!

[karch34]

I'm sold on Alcantra. Need to figure out who gets 3rd and who has to go OF between Baez and Bryant today.

[hermes]

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/po ... api_public

barney and rosscup back on the team, hendricks and parker sent back down

[Kizz Fastfists]

Alcantara will probably end up in CF. He had started playing there some in AAA before calling him up. The real question is do they keep all the prospects or trade for a proven player this off-season to make FAs more likely to sign and to show everyone they are flipping the switch. I really think they could pull a trade this off-season that will send one of their top prospects packing for a YOUNG proven player.

Assuming they keep everyone, short-term, you have something like this around next July:

1B-Rizzo
2B-Baez
3B-Castro
SS-Russell
LF-Bryant
RF-Soler
CF-Alcantara
C-Castillo

Then you still have Almora, Schwarber, Vogelbach, Bruno, Amaya and others that will start knocking on the door hoping someone fails or they end up traded somewhere that they can play. I think they will cash in some of the prospect chips for a proven player. Something like Baez, Almora, Vogelbach and Amaya for Giancarlo Stanton. Then you leave Bryant at 3B and slide Castro to 2B with Soler in LF instead of RF. The ripple effect of trading for someone like Stanton would be equally important as the acquisition itself. It would indicate to FAs that you have flipped the switch and they are not joining a rebuilding team, but a team that is going for it now. It also tells the fans that the painful part of the organizational build is over.

They could go a different route and call up the White Sox and try to get them to take a massive package for Chris Sale. It would take a lot given his contract, but the Cubs do have a lot to offer. Baez, C.J. Edwards, Pierce Johnson, Vogelbach, Almora and Amaya for Sale would be very interesting. Vogelbach would be their DH in 2016 and beyond. Baez and Amaya give them a chance to have a legitimate major league middle infield. They get high ceiling pitching prospects in Edwards and Johnson. I'm just not sure even that would be enough to get the White Sox to give up Sale with his contract. Even if you replaced Baez with Castro I don't know if they would go for it.

The Cubs just have too many prospects, with another top 5 pick next season, to hang on to all of them and not add a veteran now that they are in position to flip the switch. They can trade for Stanton, sign Scherzer AND sign Lester without topping a $100M payroll next year. They also become instant contenders assuming the prospects are solid as rookies.

[hermes]

well that got out of hand

[karch34]

Alcantara will probably end up in CF. He had started playing there some in AAA before calling him up. The real question is do they keep all the prospects or trade for a proven player this off-season to make FAs more likely to sign and to show everyone they are flipping the switch. I really think they could pull a trade this off-season that will send one of their top prospects packing for a YOUNG proven player.

Assuming they keep everyone, short-term, you have something like this around next July:

1B-Rizzo
2B-Baez
3B-Castro
SS-Russell
LF-Bryant
RF-Soler
CF-Alcantara
C-Castillo

Then you still have Almora, Schwarber, Vogelbach, Bruno, Amaya and others that will start knocking on the door hoping someone fails or they end up traded somewhere that they can play. I think they will cash in some of the prospect chips for a proven player. Something like Baez, Almora, Vogelbach and Amaya for Giancarlo Stanton. Then you leave Bryant at 3B and slide Castro to 2B with Soler in LF instead of RF. The ripple effect of trading for someone like Stanton would be equally important as the acquisition itself. It would indicate to FAs that you have flipped the switch and they are not joining a rebuilding team, but a team that is going for it now. It also tells the fans that the painful part of the organizational build is over.

They could go a different route and call up the White Sox and try to get them to take a massive package for Chris Sale. It would take a lot given his contract, but the Cubs do have a lot to offer. Baez, C.J. Edwards, Pierce Johnson, Vogelbach, Almora and Amaya for Sale would be very interesting. Vogelbach would be their DH in 2016 and beyond. Baez and Amaya give them a chance to have a legitimate major league middle infield. They get high ceiling pitching prospects in Edwards and Johnson. I'm just not sure even that would be enough to get the White Sox to give up Sale with his contract. Even if you replaced Baez with Castro I don't know if they would go for it.

The Cubs just have too many prospects, with another top 5 pick next season, to hang on to all of them and not add a veteran now that they are in position to flip the switch. They can trade for Stanton, sign Scherzer AND sign Lester without topping a $100M payroll next year. They also become instant contenders assuming the prospects are solid as rookies.

I agree with the thought behind what you're saying. At the same time I wonder if we make a move for a position player like Stanton. Going conservatively we'll have a line up next year that has Castillo, Castro, Rizzo, Alcantara, Baez, Bryant for sure with all the others waiting in the wings. From a cost control standpoint it might be as likely that we spend heavy on pitching, go with 1 or 2 vets in the every day line up from a leadership/mentor standpoint, and then use the extra prospects to deal for a pitcher that rounds out the staff.

Something like Sign Scherzer and Lester to big deals, have Wood and Arieta along with the other 6 position players at a reasonable cost, and then deal for a Price with prospects if we're close at 2015 deadline. Basically I'm just wondering if since our prospects in regards to arms are light, but we're deep at position that we don't go homegrown positionally and overpay for pitching that's proven. Just wondering if we're so deep at position prospects that we deal or sign in FA pitching.

[hermes]

might depend on how quickly the "logjam" of prospects presents itself - if all the kids are ready to come up at the same time (whenever that may happen) - they might be forced into a trade because they can't play everyone up here and don't want to let them toil away in iowa when they should be in the majors

does the development of the pitching prospects affect going after a proven pitcher? what if beeler and hendricks really surprise in the second half this year and pitch well, do they make the rotation at the beginning of next year?

and does wood if he keeps up his more recent performances? is there some bounce back in him because he didn't do well today

[hermes]

cubs have been doing a nice job of coming back in games last couple of days, offense seems to be coming around - unfortunately the pitching seems to have fallen off the rails

[NW7]

I was at the game yesterday, very cool to see Alcantara's first homerun in person. The guy has to stay and be playing regularly for the rest of the season. There is really no reason why he shouldn't.

As far as potential moves in the off-season, I'm definitely for signing an elite pitcher (or two). Lester, Scherzer, Shields, etc should all be on the Cubs radar. With a boatload of money available and no reason to add any big money bats, signing two pitchers should be a must, imo. Plus, it's just money and not a true valuable currency like prospects . Soon we will have to start behaving like a big market again.

I would also make trading for Stanton a priority. Not very often a perennial MVP candidate, with the most power in the bigs and not even in his prime comes available. It's going to be a very crowded field trying to acquire him though and will cost whomever an arm and a leg. It'd be worth it though to land him.

PS - I wonder how long until Jorge Soler gets promoted to AAA. He's dominated wherever he's played, but injuries have hampered him big time. Given that he is already on the 40 man roster, I wonder what the chances (if any) that we could see him make the opening roster next season. It's a shame that he's had all these injuries so far because we probably would have seen him arriving in Chicago this summer if they weren't the case.