IST: Chicago Cubs (1-1) at Colorado Rockies (2-0)

[Bear Pride]

Maddon loves vets, especially 3x AS vets. Something like that isn't going to bother him. He wants his players to relax SBD do what they do.

Why do you think he likes vets? My guess is that vets don't make rookie mistakes .... oh wait. We'll see down the road. My guess is Castro will have to get better, or he'll find himself part of a trade.

 

[SilenceS]

Why do you think he likes vets? My guess is that vets don't make rookie mistakes .... oh wait. We'll see down the road. My guess is Castro will have to get better, or he'll find himself part of a trade.

You do realize Castro is really good and you are shoving him over for people that never even seen a major league at bat? Oh and Maddon said all spring that rookies have to earn it. The funny part is Castro basically won the game for us yesterday and all you are focused on is the error that cost us zero runs.

:enough:

 

[Bear Pride]

You do realize Castro is really good and you are shoving him over for people that never even seen a major league at bat? Oh and Maddon said all spring that rookies have to earn it. The funny part is Castro basically won the game for us yesterday and all you are focused on is the error that cost us zero runs.

:enough:

Well, like I originally said, I'm not shitting on Castro, you made it a major debate. I'm just saying that these things are things Castro will have to improve on, or it could hurt him down the way. And I never said that the Cubs should just replace Castro with a rookie. Looks who's getting emotional now.

 

[Parade_Rain]

He isn't being emotional. He is stating facts, Beer Pride.

 

[Bear Pride]

He isn't being emotional. He is stating facts, Beer Pride.

No, he's carry one thread to another. I never focused on the error he made. You guys are just not able to have a convo with someone that doesn't agree with everything you say.

What facts? I was one of the 1st in the game thread to give him credit for his RBI. Furthermore, I never said to replace him for someone w/o a major league at bat. What kind of facts are these? LOL

 

[Bear Pride]

He isn't being emotional. He is stating facts, Beer Pride.

You're starting with the Beer Pride shit again when YOU were the one ready to jump off a cliff after game 1? Just saying. :dunno: Please .....

 

[CSF77]

Still to early to talk trades. Let's see how the do in Iowa. Performance should be the main factor.

Not Castro's trade value.

 

[Parade_Rain]

You're starting with the Beer Pride shit again when YOU were the one ready to jump off a cliff after game 1? Just saying. :dunno: Please .....

I was jumping off a cliff? LOL. Some people may want to go back a read my post that mentions I expected the Cubs to still win the series. Nice try, Beer Cried.

 

[JosMin]

I feel like we're gonna' have plenty of long balls in this series.

 

[Bear Pride]

Still to early to talk trades. Let's see how the do in Iowa. Performance should be the main factor.

Not Castro's trade value.

I agree, as I said before, we'll have to see Bryant, Russell, and Baez play a while to make a decision. Once the Cubs get a good sample of that, they will be able to start figuring out the logjam that they have coming down the way.

I did say that I think it'll take seeing Russell in the bigs, not just Iowa, which is why he could be brought up sooner than later, imo. The Cubs won't just trade Castro, and then bring up Russell. No one said that.

 

[Parade_Rain]

I feel like we're gonna' have plenty of long balls in this series.

I could definitely see some high scoring games. It's Coors after all.

 

[Boobaby1]

I agree, as I said before, we'll have to see Bryant, Russell, and Baez play a while to make a decision. Once the Cubs get a good sample of that, they will be able to start figuring out the logjam that they have coming down the way.

I did say that I think it'll take seeing Russell in the bigs, not just Iowa, which is why he could be brought up sooner than later, imo. The Cubs won't just trade Castro, and then bring up Russell. No one said that.

It is going to come down to a business decision. The Cubs will factor in that Russell will cost the league minimum which will save 20.5 million over a 3 year period if they deal Castro. The one that could alter all of this would be Baez as he is going to have to step up his game in a big way.

I don't make the rules, but if anyone is asking my opinion, I can see the Cubs dealing Castro, and this year in the bigs as well as the minors is going to answer a lot of questions regarding the team moving forward.

This is by far the most pivotal year of the Theo Epstein era.

 

[Zvbxrpl]

Why do you think he likes vets? My guess is that vets don't make rookie mistakes .... oh wait. We'll see down the road. My guess is Castro will have to get better, or he'll find himself part of a trade.

So the team has already shown (and don't give me "its only 2 games into the season" shit) that they still struggle to move runners and score. And you want to trade one of the best hitters on the team?

Sometimes Chicago fans are pure meatballs.....

 

[TC in Mississippi]

The thing no one talks about with Castro in these trade discussions is that it will be almost impossible to get equal value for him. Everyone was quick to deal him to San Diego the other day but a quick look shows the Padres clearly can't afford him. Tyson Ross and a low level prospect, which I heard rumored in numerous reports, won't get it done. Andrew Cashner and a couple of prospects or Matt Wisler and maybe 3 more prospects are more like equal value. The problem is from a SD point of view those deals wouldn't make sense. Castro is an above average, cost controlled, 25 year old who plays the most valuable position on the field and oh by the way is a three time All Star. Getting equal value is nearly impossible unless he's part of a monster multi player deal where the talent and value is equalized on both sides. Maybe a deal like that happens but I think it's more likely that Russell comes up in June to play 2B and the two swap positions next year. Castro's value is lessened by playing 2B but it's not eliminated.

In the meantime stop it with the trade talk. Never have I seen so many people so eager to trade a 25 year old star SS. This is a key veteran part of our team and he should have a big weekend against the Rockies. Let it go.

 

[CSF77]

The thing no one talks about with Castro in these trade discussions is that it will be almost impossible to get equal value for him. Everyone was quick to deal him to San Diego the other day but a quick look shows the Padres clearly can't afford him. Tyson Ross and a low level prospect, which I heard rumored in numerous reports, won't get it done. Andrew Cashner and a couple of prospects or Matt Wisler and maybe 3 more prospects are more like equal value. The problem is from a SD point of view those deals wouldn't make sense. Castro is an above average, cost controlled, 25 year old who plays the most valuable position on the field and oh by the way is a three time All Star. Getting equal value is nearly impossible unless he's part of a monster multi player deal where the talent and value is equalized on both sides. Maybe a deal like that happens but I think it's more likely that Russell comes up in June to play 2B and the two swap positions next year. Castro's value is lessened by playing 2B but it's not eliminated.

In the meantime stop it with the trade talk. Never have I seen so many people so eager to trade a 25 year old star SS. This is a key veteran part of our team and he should have a big weekend against the Rockies. Let it go.

Tyson Ross is not a bad pitcher at all. I agree with the bold.

The thing is by June we will know more about where Bryant, Russell and Baez are at. Olt is going to be in the same boat here except he has not built up any value.

But performance should dictate where guys end up. If LF is lacking and Bryant can be moved to LF with Russell to 3B problem solved.

 

[Diehardfan]

Instead of trying to push Castro out of town, Cubs should be trying to a move a catcher. Three catchers with a 12 man staff is limiting. Two of your five man bench have no defensive diversity...can't even use them as pinch runners because they're slow. IDK, maybe they're just waiting till they bring up Bryant to do something.

 

[CSF77]

Instead of trying to push Castro out of town, Cubs should be trying to a move a catcher. Three catchers with a 12 man staff is limiting. Two of your five man bench have no defensive diversity...can't even use them as pinch runners because they're slow. IDK, maybe they're just waiting till they bring up Bryant to do something.

If I'm not mistaken if they demoted Castillo he would have gone through wavers and they would have lost him for nothing. With the shift in what teams are valuing a catcher at Castillo is going to need to improve. He still has a high ended potential and I believe framing is something that can be learned vs trying to learn a strong arm.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

If I'm not mistaken if they demoted Castillo he would have gone through wavers and they would have lost him for nothing. With the shift in what teams are valuing a catcher at Castillo is going to need to improve. He still has a high ended potential and I believe framing is something that can be learned vs trying to learn a strong arm.

Trust me they're working the phones daily trying to trade him. The issue is that they think he has value and no one has offered anything close to what they feel his value is. They don't like to lose deals. The thing is there are number crunches coming. Bryant is up within two weeks and Denorfia will come off the DL in the same time frame. 3 catchers will become affordable at some point. You should start hoping for a team that doesn't value framing quite as much as others to lose a catcher to injury. That might be what it takes here.

 

[CSF77]

Trust me they're working the phones daily trying to trade him. The issue is that they think he has value and no one has offered anything close to what they feel his value is. They don't like to lose deals. The thing is there are number crunches coming. Bryant is up within two weeks and Denorfia will come off the DL in the same time frame. 3 catchers will become affordable at some point. You should start hoping for a team that doesn't value framing quite as much as others to lose a catcher to injury. That might be what it takes here.

I agree with his value is low right now. But his weakness is pitch framing. The have the 2 best framers in the game in Ross and Montero. I believe it is a skill that can be learned. So I believe this year Castillo will be given the opportunity to learn how to be a better framer. (and game caller) IMO this stuff comes with experience and being around guys that can pass down the Knowledge.

We thought the same thing with Sori and his D in LF. Turns out he was never taught how to play the OF and got by on talent alone. After he was properly instructed he became a plus D LF in his last few years. Again I wouldn't sell anyone short at this point.

Now if he had a noodle arm or bat then we could make a judgement call here. But that is not the case.

Also Denorfia was just a filler add. They already gave his role to Szczur and it is Szczur's to lose or retain. No bearing on holding 3 catchers. Bryant is going to fall on Olt. Olt has proven little to this point. But this will affect La Stella and Alcantara. So 1 of those 2 will gain the lion share at 2B. With Baez on a bereavement leave no one can tell how long he will need to get over his grief.

So over all holding 3 catchers matter little.

 

[Boobaby1]

So the team has already shown (and don't give me "its only 2 games into the season" shit) that they still struggle to move runners and score. And you want to trade one of the best hitters on the team?

Sometimes Chicago fans are pure meatballs.....

The big one there is move runners along. It bewilders me that these guys seemingly don't know how to play pepper and just push the ball away to move a runner from second to third base. Hopefully that will change with more high OBP guys in the line-up as they are less to be free swingers looking for only a hit. A good team will make good outs, crazy as that sounds, i.e. working the count, sacrificing, moving runners by hitting the opposite way, and so on..

However, one good thing I did see is that the Cubs are being a ton better on the base paths in taking the extra base.

Not too long ago, a guy on second base and a fly ball to center, and the runner would be half way. Now, they are tagging and getting the extra bag.

That will continue, and because of that, some of the runs will start to increase.