Other Teams Think the Cubs’ Future Looks Bright and Other Bullets

If you missed it, don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the BN Podcast. I was never a podcast person until I started recording one, and now I think I want to listen to many more. If anyone has any quality suggestions – of any kind, doesn’t have to be just sports – drop ’em in the comments.

  • Buster Olney shares some thoughts on what he’s hearing from teams around baseball about the Cubs: “Over the last week, have heard compliments from other teams about the way that the Cubs are methodically rebuilding, from the ground up.” He goes on to tease us all with, “One more thing about the Cubs: I don’t think Price will be traded until next winter, but by then, they could be well-positioned to land him.” Olney is just speculating, of course, but it underscores the fact that, with patience, the Cubs’ organization could be in a very, very good place one year from today.
  • Matt Garza threw again yesterday, and like his first day of throwing earlier this week, he says it went well. It also sounds like he’s itching to let it all out and face some batters.
  • It’s the All-Star break in the Winter Leagues, and Junior Lake was the Cubs’ sole All-Star representative between the Dominican All-Stars and the Venezuelan All-Stars. He went 1-3 with an RBI (scoring Hanley Ramirez) in the game.
  • Patrick Mooney tells the story of how the Cubs drafted San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (then also a pitcher) in the 2009 MLB Draft, and tried to get him to sign on for a little trial baseball run, a la Matt Szczur. Folks at the time – including NFL scouts – didn’t think he could make it in the NFL, so the Cubs’ overtures must have been pretty tempting. Looks like Kaepernick made the right decision. (Then again, who knows what kind of pitcher he’d be right now?)
  • Paul Sullivan talks to new Kane County manager Mark Johnson, who believes the Low-A move from Peoria to Kane County will be good for the prospects playing there – knowing that the Cubs’ brass could always show up.
  • Let’s work a little exercise in clarifying anger – I couldn’t help but notice that a number of you were angry about the Cubs’ reported signing of Korean reliever Chang-Yong Lim to a split minor league/major league contract, and were similarly angry that the Cubs had claimed reliever Sandy Rosario off of waivers yesterday. I won’t try to convince any of you who are angry about these low-risk moves that every (good) team makes that the moves are low-risk, smart moves (I guess I just did). I will, however, try to help you clarify your anger so that you can express your disapproval in a more meaningful way: you aren’t angry that the Cubs are trying to pick up players on the cheap in order to find value and competitive advantage, as every team tries to do. You are angry that, each time the Cubs make one of these minor moves, they aren’t making a major move. Be honest with yourself about the source of your anger, and then we can all have a more meaningful conversation about the real issue – the Cubs’ plans for rebuilding and for 2013 – instead of mouth-pooping back and forth about low-risk, decent-upside, super small moves that every team in baseball makes and would be stupid not to make.
  • On Lim, specifically, let me add: if you expect the Cubs to be uncompetitive in 2013, before really trying to take a step forward in 2014, how could you not see Lim as a perfect signing on a two-year, major/minor split contract with almost no guaranteed money? He won’t contribute anything of value in 2013, but should be ready to go in 2014. If he’s not ready to go, the Cubs won’t owe him much of anything. To those who say the signing makes no sense, I say … that makes no sense.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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