...they probably don’t.

1) Murton for Wolf.

2) Jason Marquis becomes a utility infielder.

3) Profit!

Yes he has the splits and all, but take out his start against the Cubs and his numbers look a lot better. He strikes people out and that immediately makes him a major upgrade over Marquis.

Sweet deal. Perhaps we could trade them Marquis’ first half performance from last year for Burnett’s second half performance.

would be even more pathetic, I cannot believe his name is even “kicked around”

that sounds doable. Then we can send Fontenot, Pie and Hill for CC!

Limiting this to things that are available for Matt Murton.

His home/road splits are nearly even, and his ERA is a half-run lower in the second half, over his career.

Plus, he’s not even available, so it’s probably not even an argument worth having.

Nuff said.

i kid

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some organization may look at some of the Cub prospects and think they are absolute gold. Maybe Castillo, Marshall, Pie, Patterson and others are highly coveted by someone.

but if that changes, I agree.

I think a lot of teams could turn him down.

...they should fire their scouting director and everyone who works for him.

but we don’t have the farm to do the trade straight up. and I seriously doubt they’d take Lilly and Marquis for him. They’d want some young up and comers before a couple 30 somethings. I’d love to have C.C. but i just dont think its going to happen.

damn, I get into horrible confused typoing sometimes…...brain says something, fingers have a mind of their own….

Admittedly, there’s not as much pizzazz as the NBA or NFL, but there’s still a certain amount of anticipation and drooling that goes on even amongst the casual fans when you’re looking at first round talent. Who’s the next Strawberry, Griffey, or ARod coming out of high-school? Or all the big stud arms in college that look like they could walk on the mound tomorrow. I admit it – I drooled over Mark Prior and that perfect delivery when he was on the mound at USC. And I remember Ben MacDonald from LSU was going to be the second coming….

Anyway, my point is I think teams have always gotten excited over the potential talent that they can get from the high rounds of the draft, especially as agents and salary demands have come into play and more talented players drop due to signability issues. And lately a team’s fan base is buying into this as well. So there’s a certain glitz factor on the draft these days, and a smart team can use that glitz to help market the team to its fans. Obviously it goes without saying that the scouting quality has to be there or you’ll crash and burn after a few cycles.

So tell me, when you look at Hill, Pie, or any of the other Cubs trading chips – do you see any glitz there? Marmol and Soto – sure, but I don’t think anyone thinks they’re in play. Gallagher – maybe. Vitters – maybe. Other than that… I don’t see it.

Understand, I’m not talking talent – I’m talking giltz and talent. And I just think that if the Indians can’t get a glitz talent like Marmol, LaPorta, or Kemp/Ethier as a centerpiece to any package, then they would rather rely on their scouts and roll the dice in the draft.

and we are not going to trade Lilly. Gallager is surely of interest but unless there are
virtually no other bidders or they won’t offer good players Cubs are on the outside looking in
here.

cwyers, ballhawk and I. among others have been making that point most of the day.

It’s almost as absurd as suggesting that Tim Hudson is available.

You going to explain that one yet? I’ve asked nicely twice now.

If the Cubs are unable to trade for a pitcher who substantially makes the rotation better, I hope they use their chips to improve somewhere else, like say MI defense for instance (which would improve the pitching in a less direct way). I realize Hendry is probably thinking the same thing.

Where did you get this information? If true, it goes to my point that the Indians may have interest in players we would never expect.