A couple of items on the 19-37 Cubs..
- The Cubs are saying that they'll try to sign Matt Garza, but rival GMs believe that there is a decent chance of a trade, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. It could come down to an AL East battle for his services, Heyman adds, with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays all in the mix.
- The Cubs were one of several teams that had representatives at Jorge Soler's workout today, writes Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com. Cubs GM Jed Hoyer admitted that the club has done their fair share of homework on the highly-touted prospect. “We’ve been following this carefully and we certainly plan to be involved," Hoyer said.
2 top 10 and 2 11-50 ranked prospects will be the haul for Garza. Which team will pay up? I say the Blue Jays.
I think they could. It would be a slight overpay IMO but I would be surprised if it cost less then that. As long as D’Arnaud isn’t involved.
I don’t believe we got that much back for Halladay. So I don’t see that happening
Gio Gonzalez is going to be the archetype for the Garza deal.
I doubt the Cubs get that kind of return. I know pitchers were bringing four-player returns this winter, but they were low salary and had several years control left. Garza is already near $10 million and only 1.5 years left.
With Bos, Ny, Tor and the all important ” mystery team ” bidding against each other 4 top 50 prospects will be pretty easy to get. SP, C, OF and 3rd are all areas of major need. Tor has the best prospects to offer.
There’s a big difference between “2 top ten and 2 11-50 prospects” and four top 50 prospects. I still think you are over-valuing Garza.
I’m not over valuing Garza, the situation with teams bidding against each other for his services will lead to his ” over value “. I stick to 2 top 10 and 2 11-50 ranked prospects as the haul due to the bidding situation.
It depends on who’s sytem you are talking about. Toronto’s hypothetical 2 top ten are worth much more than most teams, as is their 11-50 based on system strength
Actually, I can see Blue Jays parting with four guys from the 9 to 15 range of their Top 30 prospects. But, it is hard to see them parting with their best prospects.
By the way, Jays have two catchers in the 9 to 15 range.
I can see the Jays offering up a package along the lines of Jimenez, Jenkins or McGuire and Crouse. 1 top 10, and 2 ranked in the 10-20 range.
And what an overhaul Theo and Jed will have done with this club via 1.) a very strong draft and the possibility of 2.) Soler and 3.) whatever prospects they get in the Garza, Dempster and LaHair trades. The farm system could go from near bottom of the ladder to top 5 in a span of 1/2 a year. Exciting times even though the team sucks right now.
Well, I wouldn’t get to excited. None of those things have happened yet. So I wouldn’t say they have done a huge turnaround yet. But the potential is there for sure.
I’m pretty sure the farm isn’t bottom of the ladder even before the draft and any of these hypothetical trades. If I’m not mistaken it was considered roughly middle of the pack going into this season.
In any event, JaysFan was right: Let’s not count our chickens before they hatch. Even though I think they should be traded, with the possible exception of LaHair, there’s a chance that none of them are. If nothing else, Dempster has 10-5 rights and strong motivations to want to stay in Chicago.
If you look at the farm system before this draft it was pitiful. Go back to before Rizzo, Sapplet, Cates was added and it was even worse. Personal rank of about 27th before Theo and Jed got there. If all the pieces fall into place as mentioned before Theo and Jed will have built depth and major talent in record time. MLB team will suck for two more years but the future could be VERY BRIGHT.
What happened to Soler already being signed as so many Cubs fans intimated months ago???
That actually came from Peter Gammons first. He reported that Soler and the Cubs had reached a 6 year $27 million dollar handshake agreement. All parties denied but where their is smoke there is a fire.
Seeing how much the cubs gave up for garza they would want a lot back for him. We gave up our top pitching and hitting prospect at that time.