NEWSLETTER
Jed Hoyer met with the media before tonight’s game, and offered some interesting bits on the impending Trade Deadline (and the Rusney Castillo stuff (and he also discussed Neil Ramirez being transferred to the big league disabled list with triceps soreness, but we’ll discuss that separately)):
Hoyer – "we'll be active."
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) July 29, 2014
Cubs will be active in trade deadline only if it makes sense . No urgency to deal Hoyer said .
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) July 29, 2014
Hoyer on trade deadline: "I expect to be active. We’re having a lot of conversations.”
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) July 29, 2014
One sec earlier: "It wouldn’t surprise me if we made no moves."
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) July 29, 2014
#Cubs Hoyer on Trade Deadline: "People try to find a dance partner on the 30th & 31st. As you get to tmrw evening, people want to …
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) July 29, 2014
… make deals and they're more willing to pair up and I expect that to be the same thing." #Cubs Hoyer
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) July 29, 2014
Hoyer confirms team sent five people to watch Castillo on Saturday, wouldn't comment any further than that
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) July 29, 2014
Gonna tweet out Hoyer's thoughts on being a buyer at the deadline. It's something I and others (@BleacherNation) talk about all the time…
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) July 29, 2014
Hoyer: At the deadline the prices are pretty high because people really want to make the playoffs. (1/2)
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) July 29, 2014
Hoyer: When you’re not in position to make the playoffs, paying that tax on the rest of the year is something that’s hard. (2/2)
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) July 29, 2014
So, to square some of that stuff up, it sounds like the idea is that, of course, the Cubs will be active in discussions over the next two days – but they’re not going to make a deal just to make a deal. Like last year, even with complementary pieces, it’s not worth dumping a guy for a nothing return. And, with respect to the buyer stuff, all I can say is, YES. THAT.
Separately …
Jim Bowden interviewed Theo Epstein today in a video on ESPN.
It’s a very enjoyable watch for all kinds of reasons (I didn’t know Epstein just had another baby with his wife – congrats!), but, for our purposes today, the short version on the Trade Deadline stuff is that Epstein said he thinks the Cubs will probably make at least one more move before the deadline on Thursday.
Epstein offered his take on free agents to be, versus guys under team control, and understandably said that the threshold to trade the latter types would be higher. We’ll see how that plays out over the next two days. Feels like guys like James Russell and Wesley Wright, although controlled through 2015, are of debatable value next year, both to the Cubs and to other teams, given their expected arbitration raises and relative fungibility (that’s not a shot at either guy, who can be quite good at times – it’s just an acknowledgement of the system’s strength and the ease with which you can acquire effective LOOGYs if you need to). Other guys, like Justin Ruggiano and Chris Coghlan may have a little more value to the Cubs next year, given that they aren’t quite as easily replaced, internally or externally.
That was basically our discussion earlier today.
