Tick Tock....Tick Tock

With the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline four days away the Cubs have made just one deal to this point. Are there any more deals on the horizon? Some of the teams that have expressed interest in current Cubs have either made deals or have started to fall out of contention. Does Jim Hendry have anything up his sleeve?

The Seattle Mariners had reportedly expressed interest in Todd Walker but they made a deal on Wednesday with the Cleveland Indians and acquired Ben Broussard. The Mariners designated Carl Everett for assignment and according to the Chicago Sun-Times and ESPN the Mariners were looking at Walker as a replacement for Everett. The same report now mentions that the Texas Rangers have also expressed interest in Todd Walker....please keep the bad jokes to a minimum.

With the Dodgers falling quickly out of the playoff race (have lost 8 straight and 13 of their last 14) it is doubtful how much interest is left in Greg Maddux although the L.A. Times thinks the interest in the future Hall of Famer still exists.

At this point the San Diego Padres look to be the most interested in trading for Maddux largely due to the ineffectiveness of Jake Peavy (5-10, 5.01), despite his 10-3 victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday. Both the New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times state San Diego could be the destination for Maddux.

The L.A. Times stated that the Angels have expressed interest in Aramis Ramirez. Ramirez is a gold glove candidate at third base and with his recent power surge (7 home runs in 7 games) he leads all Major League third basemen in home runs and many sources are thinking Ramirez will opt of his contract with the Cubs at the end of the season and take his services elsewhere. If Jim Hendry wants Ramirez to stay in Chicago he must renegotiate his contract before season end and remove the temptation from him and his agent to go test the free agent waters.

According to Baseball America the top 3 Minor League organizations are the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers and the Marlins. The bottom 3 are the Reds, the Padres and the Mets. The Cubs must replenish their Minor League system with any upcoming trades, not add to the already existing challenges.

ESPN's Buster Olney reported on Thursday morning that the Brewers have made an announcement stating that within the next 24 hours they will make a decision on the future of Carlos Lee in Milwaukee. The Brewers are 11 games back of the Cardinals at 48-54 and are in 4th place in the division, 5 1/2 back of the Reds for the Wild Card with 5 teams above them.

The New York Times listed Todd Walker and Phil Nevin among others (Sean Casey, Kevin Millar, Jeff Conine and Travis Lee) as possible help for the Yankees, who now the lead the AL Wild Card race, at first base. The Yankees are apparently unhappy with the performance of Andy Phillips at the plate and they do not want to play Jason Giambi in the field on a regular basis.

Time is running out, will there be any changes on the Northside of Chicago?

Well, that's the news (rumors) and I'm sticking to it!

Neil

Jim, this is my understanding....Daytona is classified as High A-ball and Peoria is classified as Low A-ball and although Boise is listed as A-ball it is actually classified as "Short Season A-ball" and is considered entry level, one step ahead of the Rookie or Instructional league. Tyler Colvin is on their roster.

Mordecai Brown

All the talk about trading Maddux worries me. He's our best choice for 2007 pitching coach.I have no idea who the manager will be, except that I'd be amazed to see Baker return. I'd bet that if Hendry offered Maddux a deal to be pitching coach/starter in 2007, he'd snap at it like a hungry trout after a fly. Hendry would be doing the Cubs and Maddux both a favor. I know pitching coaches are usually chosen by incoming new managers, but remember that Rothschild was already in place when Baker was hired,so a precedent exists.

jim (tinley park)

Neil:

I have been checking player stats for our three (A) minor league teams. There is an outfielder at Boise (Alfred Joseph) who has put up some lofty numbers thru 34 games. Is Boise a low level (A) league.

Neil

Rich Hill has not officially been added to the Active roster and there has not been a roster move announced yet. The "guess" or "rumor" is Theriot will be sent back to Iowa.

Expect the announcement shortly...

jim

who was sent down? Time to move Glendon and Nefi off the roster. They are not part of the plan for 2007 (They better not be). Lets see who is going to be. Let the kids play. Its time to dump our dead weight. Nevin, Walker, Rusch, Perez and get something for Jones while he is still playing well. We need to look to the future, unless we win 30 in a row we have no shot at making it into 3rd place in the division. Have goals, get to .500 (with the kids playing) florida has had no problems with the kids. They have a better record than us.

jim

When was Rich Hill called up?

nick

I hope he has something up his sleeve.

jim (tinley park)

I wish Hendry would start working on the 2007 edition. The Cubs can afford Abreu, I have not heard a single peep about the Cubs wanting him.

If Ramirez walks, we are really screwed. If you think that this years team is lousy, next years team

could be even worse if we loose him.