**OFFICIAL CUBS REGULAR SEASON THREAD**

[ssckelley]

Some rumors:

Soto - Perhaps interest from Tampa Bay? They are a small market team in need of a catcher. There were a couple of good prospects we gave them in the Garza deal, perhaps the Cubs can trade for them back. It would be awesome to get Archer back.

Dempster - Yankees, Dodgers, Braves I have seen mentioned. Supposedly there are as many as 10 teams interested. This will get interesting.

Soriano - Yankees, perhaps a combo deal with Dempster or Garza?

Garza - Funny, the only team I have seen mentioned is the Yankees. I wonder if they are negotiating with Garza for a long term deal.

LaHair - I have heard Cleveland and Oakland being mentioned as they both could use a left handed power hitter. Pittsburgh is another team I have seen mentioned and a deal with them would make sense since it will be a while before LaHair can be a free agent.

 

[DuffMan]

guys, geo is not on the block. hes a plus offense catcher with solid defense. hes not terribly expensive and hes on the right side of 30. trading geo would just open up another hole.

 

[Foval21]

guys, geo is not on the block. hes a plus offense catcher with solid defense. hes not terribly expensive and hes on the right side of 30. trading geo would just open up another hole.

you are giving soto way too much credit. he is average hitter. and below average defense. he had 1 good yr and it has totally inflated some cubs fans egos about him.

 

[ssckelley]

guys, geo is not on the block. hes a plus offense catcher with solid defense. hes not terribly expensive and hes on the right side of 30. trading geo would just open up another hole.

Have you heard the names Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger?

 

[DJL]

guys, geo is not on the block. hes a plus offense catcher with solid defense. hes not terribly expensive and hes on the right side of 30. trading geo would just open up another hole.

The Cubs have a couple of catchers with potential in the system. I have also heard Geo is on the block. Since his rookie year, he hasn't exactly set the world on fire offensively. I agree that he has potential, but he is tradeable for the right prospects. Everyone should be on the block right now.....21-41 with a below average farm system.....time to start over.

 

[DuffMan]

guys, geo is not on the block. hes a plus offense catcher with solid defense. hes not terribly expensive and hes on the right side of 30. trading geo would just open up another hole.

you are giving soto way too much credit. he is average hitter. and below average defense. he had 1 good yr and it has totally inflated some cubs fans egos about him.

hes an average hitter, but hes a plus offensive guy for a catcher.

 

[Foval21]

guys, geo is not on the block. hes a plus offense catcher with solid defense. hes not terribly expensive and hes on the right side of 30. trading geo would just open up another hole.

you are giving soto way too much credit. he is average hitter. and below average defense. he had 1 good yr and it has totally inflated some cubs fans egos about him.

hes an average hitter, but hes a plus offensive guy for a catcher.

no he is a below average hitter and an average hitter for a catcher. plus hitters for catchers are guys like mccann, posey, napoli, even molina (has developed into one) soto isnt close to those guys.

 

[Section136]

Soto hasnt been worth a damn since he tested positive for weed.

 

[DuffMan]

napoli isnt even in the same category. he plays some first base and dh in the AL. Compare geos career numbers against other NL every day catchers and get back to me.

 

[DuffMan]

napoli isnt even in the same category. he plays some first base and dh in the AL. Compare geos career numbers against other NL every day catchers and get back to me.

 

[DuffMan]

im not sold on castillo, and i dont think clevenger is ever going to hit for power. contact hitting catchers are double play machines.

 

[DuffMan]

im not sold on castillo, and i dont think clevenger is ever going to hit for power. contact hitting catchers are double play machines.

 

[DJL]

im not sold on castillo, and i dont think clevenger is ever going to hit for power. contact hitting catchers are double play machines.

So are fat, pot smoking catchers

 

[Hawkfromnorwalk]

So are fat, pot smoking catchers

Pass the Funyuns dude...

 

[hawkfarmer]

Soto is on the block. He isn't really that young and the past few seasons has not shown what we all thought he could do after his rookie year. I say he is average offensively for a catcher, he is no Buster Posey. Since his rookie year in 2008 he has had 1 good season.

Here are his stats the last 4 seasons

BA OBP OPS HR RBI
2008 .285 .364 .868 23 86
2009 .218 .321 .702 11 47
2010 .280 .393 .890 17 53
2011 .228 .310 .721 17 54
2012 .161 .250 .301 3 6
career .253 .343 .790 74 256

Soto hadthe 4th best offensive numbers for a catcher in 2008, since then he has not been in the top 10. Cubs might be stuck with him anyway.


If you take out 2 years he is below average offensively and for his career he is average. I like Soto, I think he calls a good game, but I don't need a lot of power from my catcher, I would love some consistency and that is what Clevenger has provided thus far, in his few games as a rookie. I think Soto is an average catcher and you don't knwo what you are going to get from him. If you can get some good prospects then I think you make the deal as Castillo and Clevenger have potential and we might as well see what they can do.

Also, Geovany will be a free agent in 2 seasons, and will be 31, he won't get resigned anyway.

here is an article from April talking about this possibility.

Is it time to trade Geovany Soto? | Cubs Den

 

[superfan12]

As the trade rumors begin, I thought we should look back at some recent deadline trades the cubs made:

Derek Lee to Braves for: left-hander Jeffrey Lorick and right-handers Robinson Lopez and Tyrelle Harris. Lopez, a 19-year-old Class A starter, is the most highly regarded, (Nothing from these yet)

Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot to Dodgers for: infielder Blake DeWitt and minor league pitchers Brett Wallach and Kyle Smit. (Well that worked out so well!!!)

Kosuke Fukudome to Indians for: In exchange, the Cubs acquired outfielder Abner Abreu and pitcher Carlton Smith. Abreu, a right-handed hitter from the Dominican Republic, was batting .244 in 91 games with high Class A Kinston in the Carolina League. He had 12 homers, 16 doubles, five triples and 35 RBIs.
Smith, 25, a right-handed pitcher, was 2-3 with two saves and a 4.50 ERA in 34 games for Triple-A Columbus. He has 46 strikeouts in 46 innings, and teams are batting .259 against him. (Again nothing yet)


Surely Theo will do much better. I saw a rumor the braves were intersted in Dempster, but Theo was asking for the stars, which I like. We know there are plenty of players in it for Dempster, see what you can get.

No offense, but I hope they Braves are not interested in Dempster. We have enough pitching depth that we don't need an aging starter. He's pitched great, but we don't need another pitcher.

 

[hawkfarmer]

No offense, but I hope they Braves are not interested in Dempster. We have enough pitching depth that we don't need an aging starter. He's pitched great, but we don't need another pitcher.

I understand your point completely, and I don't think there is true interest there, but it is leverage for the cubs with other clubs. I heard the cubs were after their top pitching prospects which isn't going to happen, but if they could get one and then perhaps a lower level high ceiling guy I'd be happy.

Other rumor i heard is Demp is ok with trade, but would like to resign with cubs in FA if possible. That would be awesome.

 

[superfan12]

I understand your point completely, and I don't think there is true interest there, but it is leverage for the cubs with other clubs. I heard the cubs were after their top pitching prospects which isn't going to happen, but if they could get one and then perhaps a lower level high ceiling guy I'd be happy.

Other rumor i heard is Demp is ok with trade, but would like to resign with cubs in FA if possible. That would be awesome.

Exactly, you guys won't get Teheran and I think that Theo is aiming for the absolute top. I think a lot of teams may be scared off from Dempster knowing that he won't resign with the new team, he'll go back to CHI.

 

[hawkfarmer]

Exactly, you guys won't get Teheran and I think that Theo is aiming for the absolute top. I think a lot of teams may be scared off from Dempster knowing that he won't resign with the new team, he'll go back to CHI.

Somebody will take a chance because they want to win now, and Dempster can help do that. Besides he's the complete package, just hit a triple of Daiske. He could be a DH for an AL team on his off days.

 

[DeputyHawk]

please get rid of campana!