if someone came to the Cubs right now and said, we’ll give you a young, in his prime stud starting pitcher, I would definitely consider dealing Castro. If someone came and offered a young, mid-20’s stud positional player, I’d definitely consider dealing Castro. I’m not against dealing Castro – I’m open to any consideration, and I would hope Hendry is as well. I tend to think you should protect him, but if the right deal came along, sure I’d ponder it. I just don’t think Granderson is that deal (granted, there’s probably very few guys I’d say yes to).

I’m also not sure that Granderson will not the package that Dombrowski wants. In the end, DD may have to decide whether or not to take a good, but not great, package or to keep Granderson. If it’s the former, then it’ seems likely that ownership is forcing his hands on it. The whole idea of dealing Granderson never made that much sense (and it makes less sense now that they’ve resigned Everett) because with their current roster, they should be competitive in the weak AL Central.

but if we’re looking at prospects, I’m less concerned about that. Push comes to shove, you overpay for a leadoff bat at some point down the line. I’d rather protect the more valuable asset.

As for the 2nd part (last sentence), as I note below, there’s really only one key thing that needs to happen in the next 2-3 years for the Cubs to stay competitive – they need to either develop an impact bat or a middle of the rotation starter. If we have to land both things, then we might have some problems.

Real quick hypothetical to sketch out my point -

After 2010 – Lee/Lilly are FA’s. It’s fair to assume that one or two kids will likely be in key roles come 2011. Let’s assume that the Hendry has around 140-150 mil. Option A is probably to resign Lee to say, a 2 year deal and plug a young arm in the rotation. Option B would be to sign a LF, move Soriano to first, and plug a young arm. Option C would be to resign Lilly and let Lee go and hope that a young OF is ready (best bet would be Brett Jackson, but that’s really pushing it). Why those options? Financially, it seems unlikely that the Cubs could sign 2 impact FA’s at the Lilly and Lee level (certianly, they could sign a cheap gamble and get lucky, but that makes this hypothetical messy). If they increase the payroll, then that’s a different story. I guess Option D would be to split the money down and sign 2 lesser guys, or something like that. Personally, I think for 2011, we’ll see Castro at shortstop with one of the big 3 arms in the rotation along with Zambrano, Dempster, Wells. Is this outlook for 2011 a great team? Probably not, but the Cubs should still be competitive.

After 2011 – Fukudome, Bradley responsibility, and Grabow come off the boards. The Cubs should have enough to fill most things internally for the pen. The rotation might have an opening. I’ll be stunned if the Cubs can’t develop a 2nd baseman from our system depth by then. It seems likely, to me, that unless Aramis collapses, that we would pick up the option for 2012. Short of it is, assuming someone like Brett Jackson isn’t ready, the Cubs should have enough money to sign one OF and make small additions to keep us competitive.

I look to this offseason more as an in-between phase. In all likelihood, the Cubs will start a youth movement of sorts in the near future, while slowly forcing out this current core. Whether we stay competitive or not will depend moreso on the decisions in the coming years, but I don’t think this organization will go down in the tanks unless they willfully head that direction (that is, I don’t think that the outlook is nearly that dire). It might mean that we aren’t a playoff team for a couple years, but I think we should still be competitive, as long as Ricketts allows for similar payrolls to what is occuring now.

….one of the key ingrediants this club has been missing for sometime now.