24 replies to this topic

[DaneHuseman]

So I've been thinking about this for a while..

If you were a fly on the wall in Theo and Jed's office and knew the types of offers that have already been made (presumably the best a team would make this early), do you think you would be excited or disappointed? We all throw names around of people we would like to have and who we know (think) is untouchable, but it's possible we are way off in our predictions. I would kill for a spreadsheet of all the offers that have been made to see how close we are and how difficult a job it is to obtain the most value.

Just my thoughts for the last few days. Curious what you all think.

[Luke]

Excited I think. Given the king's ransom Houston got in the C.Lee trade, I can't imagine that the offers the Cubs' are receiving are going to disappointing in quality.

They may be unexpected in terms of what sorts of players they are targeting, but that would just be part of the excitement.

[Dave H]

Excited I think. Given the king's ransom Houston got in the C.Lee trade, I can't imagine that the offers the Cubs' are receiving are going to disappointing in quality.

They may be unexpected in terms of what sorts of players they are targeting, but that would just be part of the excitement.

I've never really seen the Cubs get in a "selling" mode. All of this is very exciting. This website has really been an eye-opener for this rebuilding process. You and Brett have made a great website that is informative and entertaining (Kudos to the regulars here for that - MG, TWC, Doc, Phil)

[hansman1982]

I think we can waive buh-bye to Dempster, Garza and Camp for sure. There is 0 doubt in my mind that they will not be in a Cubs uniform come August 1. The haul for Demp and Garza should easily put our farm system in discussion for top-5 status.

• LaHair, Maholm, and Barney are in the 75/25 club - combination of an interesting prospect or two and "Stewart/Volstad/Wood" type return (high risk, high reward)
• Soriano, Campana, and Marmol are in the 50/50 club - Salary relief/position opening, throw-in, position opening - we will get garbage back
• Soto, DeJesus, Russell, Brett Jackson, Vitters are in the 25/75 club. The first three should net us something decent in return and the last two would be used to get a blockbusting prospect back in one of the above trades.

This could be a helluva trade deadline were 7-9 players leave the team or we will see just 2 guys leaving (Demp and Camp)

[RizzoFanclub]

I just don't understand how some of these teams that are 5 games or less back from a wild card spot would not want to go for it this year. I mean look at the Blue Jays at the end of the year they will probably lose Edwin and others. I understand certain prospects to be off limits if your the Blue Jays (Travis D'Arnaud and Gose) but they have enough to make a great offer for Garza: Syndergaard,Nicolino, and Adonys Cardona. The same for the Red sox. Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part but it looks like a win/win for both teams.

[Crockett]

Excited I think. Given the king's ransom Houston got in the C.Lee trade, I can't imagine that the offers the Cubs' are receiving are going to disappointing in quality.

They may be unexpected in terms of what sorts of players they are targeting, but that would just be part of the excitement.

I wouldn't quite call it a king's ransom as neither player is an A-level prospect right now. But it's certainly more than I expected them to get.

[Brett]

I think we would be simultaneously surprised at the kind of crazy shit they discuss, and pleased that we have a pretty good sense of some of the stuff they discuss.

[Dave H]

The only three I see as a big player in this year's trade wars are the Dodgers, Rangers, and the Tigers. The west divisions are winnable with a couple additions. The Tigers have a owner who is in the "win now" mode. Braves are the dark horse due to pitching woes. I would love to hear those phone conversations.

[Luke]

I suspect a team we aren't looking for rises up and makes a major move or two. That second Wild Card has to be a tempting target to teams that have not seen the postseason in a while or who have GMs who are on the hot seat. I think we could see someone overpay to load up for that one year run.

[Cubs217]

When I watched the movie "Moneyball" I laughed. Brad Pitt calls an opposing GM, and 30 seconds later they have a trade worked out. I would love to be a fly on the wall with Theo/Jed just to see the amount of time and work that actually goes into every decision they make. Awhile back I heard Theo on 670Score talking about how the Cubs have their own advanced metrics they use, outside of all the ones people normally think of. The brain power currently in our FO is very impressive

[Rated Rookie]

That and the fact that in money ball, Billy traded Carlos Pena for nothing, when in reality, Pena was a part of a 3 team blockbuster which included Ted Lilly and Jeff Weaver.

[Rated Rookie]

While not so much a "crazy trade" as a ho-hum trade, would anyone be interested in or opposed to sending Volstad to KC straight up for Luke Hochevar? It looks as though the ship has sailed on either of them being anything more than AAAA rotation depth, bur it would be an interesting change of scenery swap.

[fromthemitten]

Interesting trade idea, I'd do it from the Cubs perspective we've seen what Volstad has (decent stuff, poor makeup) both are arbitration eligible.... it would be worth a try seeing if a change of leagues could turn Hochevar into a league average starter

I don't think KC would pull it off though... I think they still have blind faith that he can turn it around

[Starwin Bastro]

That would be an interesting trade similar to the Silva-Bradley trade where two guys could use a change in scenery not sure if we'd have to throw in a fringe prospect because Hoch is 29 and a bit more expensive

[Rated Rookie]

Hoch is 3 years older then Volstad, and each are non tender candadtes who look to make between 2.5-3 MM. While Volstad's coming off a worse season, their career nnumbers arent too far off, though Hochevar's been in the tougher league.

If it were done, it would be strictly a change of scenery thing, and an alternative to non tendering, so I can't imagine either team throwing in anything extra.