Jake

The reason Stewart helped this deal is because he's not a value-less player, despite the meatballish opinions that are so popular on here. He is young and has a good sinker. If he keeps it down and is consistent, he'll be an innings eater. We don't have that many guys in our system that could be a mid-to-back of rotation starter with perhaps some minor tweaking and experience. I'm happy to move him for Youkilis, but he was a better piece than I would have considered ideal.

QUOTE (IamPabloOzuna @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 07:19 PM) Agreed. I'm lucky enough to know the man personally. Kaplan might be a Cubs homer, but he's also one of the nicest human beings on the planet. Being a little obnoxious is just part of his shtick. All these people that constantly hate on him would be kicking themselves if they ever actually got to know the guy. It honestly bugs the hell out of me because there are plenty of people who deserve that kind of public perception, and Kap is most certainly not one of them. I hope no one thought I was trying to say anything about the quality of human being. I just don't enjoy the way he does the baseball part of his job. He has a very "average fan" kind of shtick, which can be okay at times but for teams I follow closely it doesn't do anything for me.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 05:58 PM) More of the same, unfortunately. Lots of guys are going to move ahead of him, if there's no turnaround soon. Apparently KW was still pimping him on the radio earlier today, saying he has the highest upside in the system.

Kaplan is a Cubs nuthugger and doesn't know much about baseball. I do enjoy his commentary on other Chicago sports though.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:57 PM) Carl Everett, AJ, Jenks, Rios, Javy, Swisher, O-Cabrera, Manny...we've had a mixed record in that area taking players with "bad reputations" and incorporating them into our clubhouse. Griffey, Jr., had a reputation for being next to impossible to deal with and he was great for our clubhouse and as a teammate, if not so good on the field. what?

Don't forget that this is a guy who didn't get along with his manager. Bobby V is an ass, but Youk is no saint. Hopefully a change of scenery will benefit him.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:34 PM) Lillibridge will now go on to be a legend for the Red Sox. I assume he gets released when one of those guys gets off the DL

A Youk injury would leave us unfathomably light at 3B though. Escy will just play more OF

QUOTE (daggins @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:19 PM) So with Lilli out, is there room for Dan Johnson now? No. We'll keep Hudson I think. QUOTE (MAX @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:20 PM) and they don't bunt there. I don't get it. I don't really like bunting in front of Dunn all that much since he never puts it in play.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:11 PM) Could be Jordan Dunks. That would be terrible. And of course Hudson is going to stay on the roster if we trade Escobar or Lilli. He's nice depth especially if Youk gets hurt which is surprisingly likely.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:00 PM) If Danks doesn't bat here, we clearly have no interest in winning. Your only replacement is a guy who just got traded.

Hudson is going to stay on our bench.

Give them Lilli and Stewart and call it a day

WHERE WOULD HE PLAY

Have yourself a series Dayan

That 2-0 pitch had nice run

Great.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 03:47 PM) Shouldn't take more than an A ball pitcher for Youkilis. The fact that Zach has some potential to be an MLB pitcher may have earned us some cash

Stewart would be a fair deal. Not needed for our future plans, but has some possibility for working out for them to some extent.

QUOTE (Tdog32 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 03:42 PM) Stewart not starting for Charlotte tonight now... I could deal with that.

WTF WAS THAT YESSSS

Who is warming? Only takes one pitch to get out of this Addy!

Every damn time.

That's brutal.

Hell of a 3-2 pitch.