Cubs shopping Rich Hill, likely to sign Paul Bako

It's a shame that Hill has lost his control. I was hoping after a solid 2007 that he was on his way to a good career for the Cubs.

So much for the Cubs great farm talent. And everyone's fretting about trading away some of the Cubs minor leaguers for Jake Peavy. The fact is, the Cubs minor league scouts have to truly be some of the worse in baseball. I've never seen a team that can't EVER seem to draft, sign, and train a player which ends up a solid major leaguer.

I've been hollering it for years now that Hendry needs to evaluate his scouting dept. yet the same non talent continues to be signed. And when a player actually looks like they might have some skill, by the time they make it to the Cubs, they all end up flopping. Can someone help explain this? And, why is it when a minor leaguer which somehow amazingly comes up and shows something, why is it then the manager won't use him (aka Micah Hoffpauir)?

Woo Paul Bako! Cheaper than Pudge, but only slightly worse at this point.

Buy low sell high a concept obviously not in Hendry's memory bank. Pie,Patterson and Hill could have brought more than the obligatory PTBNL.Roberts could have been had after 07 with the inclusion of Pie and Hill to the O's. My point,none of that trio of prospects ever got or will get even a mid level prospect in return.

Completely
Useless
By
September

I would not give any consideration to Andy McFail for any player.

As for Paul Bako: he's B-A-D. He's wicked bad. He's ..... Well, you get the idea. Why the Cubs have to have him when they had Blanco in their pocket remains a great mystery. Blanco must have done something to Piniella that was unforgiveable.

Bako??? That's embarassing, seeing that Blanco signed for 800K. Hill??? I never liked him and always insisted Marshall was the better of the two. Unless these guys we are getting in return for these trades brings us a decent player, I have to say we were better off doing nothing at all. I hate to be negative, but this is how i see it.

I hate Jim Hendry!!!!!!!!!! We could of had Roberts last years for Cedeno, Pie and Hill. Oh well...at least Jim Hendry is stocking up the minors with bunch of pitchers, maybe one or two will pan out!

Mark wrote:

Completely
Useless
By
September

Did you come up with that all by yourself? Actually, the past two Septembers the Cubs have been anything but useless. It's October that seems to be giving us problems now.

"Why the Cubs have to have him when they had Blanco in their pocket remains a great mystery. Blanco must have done something to Piniella that was unforgiveable."

Exactly. Re-signing Blanco for a year would have been cheap and it's pretty much a no-brainer. As Hendry continues to make trades this winter, each trade seems to weaken the club instead of strengthen it. I have no idea what's going on.

I would like to personally thank Baltimore for becoming the Cubs garage sale bin. Unless Hill starts showing up again that PTBNL will be a batboy and a used jock.

Rod from Tennessee wrote:

So much for the Cubs great farm talent. And everyone's fretting about trading away some of the Cubs minor leaguers for Jake Peavy. The fact is, the Cubs minor league scouts have to truly be some of the worse in baseball. I've never seen a team that can't EVER seem to draft, sign, and train a player which ends up a solid major leaguer.
I've been hollering it for years now that Hendry needs to evaluate his scouting dept. yet the same non talent continues to be signed. And when a player actually looks like they might have some skill, by the time they make it to the Cubs, they all end up flopping. Can someone help explain this? And, why is it when a minor leaguer which somehow amazingly comes up and shows something, why is it then the manager won't use him (aka Micah Hoffpauir)?

Don't forget about Zambrano, Soto, Smardjza, Marshall, Theriot, Fontenot, that are currently on our roster.

Every team has hits and misses with their minor league players. Pie, Cedeno, Hill, have all had plenty of opportunities to succeed and they have been horrible. We gave them a chance and they were bad. How long should we have stuck with them? Its time for them to go.

I don't get what this "the Cubs are weakened" nonsense is all about. The core of the team (Lee, Soriano, Ramirez, Zambrano, Dempster) is still intact. We trade away a few contributers and a few never made an impact players and now we are weakened? Give me a break! The Cubs will manage to go on without Henry Blanco playing 30 games a season. Plus Paul Bako was here in '03 & '04, so it's not like he's never been a part of a good team. And I don't know where this idea Baltimore was ready and willing to give up Roberts junk comes from. Baltimore did not want to part with Roberts and they still don't. If they did, some other team would have jumped in and took him by now!

Doug wrote:

<quoted text>
Did you come up with that all by yourself? Actually, the past two Septembers the Cubs have been anything but useless. It's October that seems to be giving us problems now.

Yeah, but somehow CUBO seems like a bad name for a baseball team.

who cares about Hill. Letting Hank White sign with the Padres for $750,000 was Hendry's biggest mistake this winter. We need a back up catcher for defense not a left-handed bat. Hank White is a much better hitter even against right-handed pitching than Bako anyway

Rod from Tennessee wrote:

So much for the Cubs great farm talent. And everyone's fretting about trading away some of the Cubs minor leaguers for Jake Peavy. The fact is, the Cubs minor league scouts have to truly be some of the worse in baseball. I've never seen a team that can't EVER seem to draft, sign, and train a player which ends up a solid major leaguer.
I've been hollering it for years now that Hendry needs to evaluate his scouting dept. yet the same non talent continues to be signed. And when a player actually looks like they might have some skill, by the time they make it to the Cubs, they all end up flopping. Can someone help explain this? And, why is it when a minor leaguer which somehow amazingly comes up and shows something, why is it then the manager won't use him (aka Micah Hoffpauir)?

Hoffpauir can't play defense so there is no room for him except in games where there is a DH. Did you watch any Cub games last year?

These trades by Hendry will back-fire.

if Bako is so great, why did the cubs ever let him go?!?

"I don't get what this "the Cubs are weakened" nonsense is all about. The core of the team (Lee, Soriano, Ramirez, Zambrano, Dempster) is still intact. We trade away a few contributers and a few never made an impact players and now we are weakened? Give me a break! The Cubs will manage to go on without Henry Blanco playing 30 games a season. Plus Paul Bako was here in '03 & '04, so it's not like he's never been a part of a good team."

Henry Blanco is worlds better than Paul Bako. Yes, it's only the backup catcher position, but every little contribution counts.

And with DeRosa and Cedeno gone, our infield isn't nearly as versatile/flexible. I was never a big Cedeno fan, but he was fine as a utility infielder, something we now lack -- sorry, but Aaron Miles is a second baseman, not a shortstop, and I'd much rather have DeRosa on the team anyway.

Not weakened? Hendry stuck with Kerry Wood through endless injury-marred seasons, and then Wood finally has what we've all been waiting for forever: an (almost) injury-free year, and a good one at that. His reward? See ya.

This team has gotten weaker, and Hendry is slightly off his rocker.

Stephen wrote:

<quoted text>
Don't forget about Zambrano, Soto, Smardjza, Marshall, Theriot, Fontenot, that are currently on our roster.
Every team has hits and misses with their minor league players. Pie, Cedeno, Hill, have all had plenty of opportunities to succeed and they have been horrible. We gave them a chance and they were bad. How long should we have stuck with them? Its time for them to go.

Fonenot was brought in through a trade, but I see your point.