Tag Archives: tim wilken

Tradeable

When it develops its own players, a solid baseball organization also produces tradeable veterans. Tradeability is something of a foreign concept to Cub fans. It does not apply to high-profile flops, players you wish had never come in the door. Cub fans are quite familiar with players of that sort. Recent examples are Soriano, Fukudome, [...]

A team to watch

Many Cub fans saw the report recently that their team was 27th in organizational talent rankings according to Baseball America. Observant fans know, however, that there was a lot of healthy ferment last season in the Cubs’ lower minors, and that the high-A Daytona team, for example, won the Florida State League championship with [...]

Spring training ‘09 review

It’s been a great spring for filling scarce roster spots, not so great for showcasing legitimate major-league prospects.
This is going to be an excellent Cub team, the best I’ve seen, good to the last roster spot. All of the battles for positions and roster spots have broken the right way. Fontenot has replaced DeRosa at [...]

Relax, Jim, you’re trying too hard

Not a good trade. I wouldn’t trade Gallagher, period, and certainly not for a pitcher who, Broglio-like, comes with duct tape included.
The argument that “this is the year” and we have to pull out all the stops, etc., is a child’s argument–or a sportswriter’s. Its logic dictates that the Cubs should have traded Soto [...]

Four to keep an eye on

1. Eric Patterson. One of the arguments against the Cubs’ straining too hard to acquire Brian Roberts was that they already had a budding Roberts in the organization in E-Pat. During spring training, as the Roberts deal flickered out, Lou Piniella was taking a good look at Patterson. Lou brought him up to Chicago for [...]