July 2012

3:16 PM: Nevermind, looks like 3B Christian Villanueva and RHP Kyle Hendricks. Villanueva was #100 on BA's top 100 prospects in baseball list before the season. He was #7 on Goldstein's top 11 list:

Year in Review: After impressing last year in the complex leagues, Villanueva was a Sally League All-Star in his full-season debut.
The Good: Villanueva has outstanding bat speed and impressive power for his size, projecting to hit for average with 15-20home runs annually. He's an impressive athlete with average to slightly-above-average speed; he has improved his defense at third base, and has good hands with a strong arm.
The Bad: Other than the bat, Villanueva is not exceptionally toolsy. His approach could use improvement. He's filling out and getting stocky, and will likely lose some of his speed down the road.
Ephemera: Villanueva was used in six different spots of the Hickory batting order in 2011, but had the most success in the six-hole, hitting .357/.410/.629 in 20 games.
Perfect World Projection: Above-average third baseman.
Fantasy Impact: A good batting average with some power and more speed than your average third baseman.
Path to the Big Leagues: Villanueva is buried in Texas at the hot corner, and the Rangers have experimented with him at other positions. He'll begin the 2012 season at High-A Myrtle Beach.
ETA: 2015

Not finding much on Hendricks.

3:14 PM: Heh, on that note, one dude is hearing that it's Odor and Roman Mendez. Don't take that too seriously yet.

3:12 PM: Pure speculation on my part, but Rougned Odor (that's a terribly unfortunate name) is a Class A position player in that top 20 list.

3:06 PM: Rosenthal says a Class A pitcher and a Class A position player are headed to the Cubs.

3:03 PM: Here's a Rangers top 20 prospect list to start speculating upon. It won't be Profar or Olt.

3:00 PM: And fin. I'll try and get the prospects for Dempster up before I take off here.

2:58 PM: Scott Miller of CBS saying Rangers as well for Dempster...and so is Buster Olney.

2:57 PM: Whomever Ken Gurnick is, he's dropping the Rangers as the destination for Dempster. I believe he's the Dodgers beat writer for mlb.com

2:50 PM: Bowden saying Yanks "may have" acquired Dempster.

2:49 PM: Dodgers beat writer for the L.A. Times Dylan Hernandez says Dodgers are out on Dempster and they're done making deals today.

2:41 PM: The NL Central has been busy, Pirates get Gaby Sanchez and Travis Snider (that happened last night). Cardinals get reliever Ed Mujica and Reds get Jonathon Broxton.

2:15 PM: Nightengale saying that Soriano likely staying put, but of course he'll easily clear waivers, so an August deal is always possible.

2:06 PM: Kaplan says Tigers and Cubs are hard at work trying to complete a deal for Soriano.

2:03 PM: Dempster has allegedly said he'd waive his NTC for the Yankees, Rangers and Dodgers.

1:25 PM: Heyman tweet claim Dempster has already told Cubs he'd agree to a trade with Yankees...sure. Rothschild and Hendry are over there, so it does make some sense.

1:09 PM: Some Dempster to the Yankees or Diamondbacks rumors floating.

12:33 PM: Olney saying that Diamondbacks are working on something big and then teases a Justin Upton for Matt Garza deal as making sense. Of course the Cubs are on Justin Upton's no-trade list.

So the latest on the Dempster saga is that Ryan Dempster was "blindsided" by the trade yesterday and because of this, he's going to take the full week to decide. Rumors are that he strongly prefers to go the Dodgers and seems to be trying to push the Cubs into accepting a deal from them, although it certainly won't be as good as getting Randall Delgado from the Braves.

Other things Dempster has been blindsided by (a few I'm stealing from Twitter):

- His Birthday

- the birth of his chidren

- the start of the season

- spring training

- warmer temperatures in the summer

Yeah, it would have been great if the Cubs got to him before the news leaked out, but you work in a multi-billion dollar business with reporters that are good at their job, throwing a temper tantrum over it isn't particularly professional.

David O'Brien started it all with a tweet saying that the Braves were close to finalizing a deal for a starting pitcher and then Jon Heyman, Jerry Crasnick and Jason Stark said it was Ryan Dempster.

Here's a top 20 Braves prospect list to start speculating upon. I'm hoping Cubs can get one of Randall Delgado or Mike Minor and another decent arm.

Details emerging...

UPDATE #1: MLB.com beat writer for the Braves does say that Delgado could be one of the parts heading to the Cubs.

UPDATE #2: No doubt this is happening now and could be completed by the afternoon. Still awaiting the specifics though.

UPDATE #3: Keith Law speaks, "Filed to ESPN - if the Dempster trade is completed, Randall Delgado is in it, as well as something to balance the money". If that is indeed the complete deal, it's going to be Dempster and $$ for Delgado, or 2 months of Dempster for 5+ years of Delgado at pre-arbitration money until about 2015. 

UPDATE #4: Kapman throws a little water on the fire, saying talks still ongoing. Also rumors now from Jim Bowden that Cubs and Dodgers are waist-deep in a Matt Garza for Zach Lee swap. 

UPDATE #5: The twitter account for Dempster's charity(from which TCR has been banned from for some reason) has this sobering tweet: "THERE IS NO TRADE dont know where this info came from!" Well la-dee-da!

UPDATE #6: Kaplan says the deai is just awaiting Dempster's approval, and judging by Dempster's tweet, that's not a sure thing.

UPDATE #7: So Dempster is refusing to talk about it to reporters, other than to say there is no trade. Delgado's agent hasn't heard anything. As the trade world turns...

UPDATE #8: As I, and I'm sure many others suspected, Heyman is saying the Cubs and Braves have agreed to a deal, but Dempster hasn't waived his 10/5 rights...and it certainly sounds like he's holding on to that bargaining chip for as long as he can.

UPDATE #9: Nightengale with the same info, deal agreed upon between Cubs and Braves, just a matter if Dempster will approve. Len already tweeted a farewell to Dempster.

FINAL UPDATE FOR TODAY: The Cubs brass have told Sveum that no deal is done and earlier reports were false, but does say that Dempster still could be traded. Translation: The Cubs brass fucked up and didn't keep Dempster in the loop and they're in damage control now.

Ron Santo, HOF. Bittersweet, yet hasn't that been the Cub way in Ronnie's life?

LHP Anthony Prieto and three relievers combined to throw a three-hit shutout, Ben Carhart doubled, singled, walked, and drove-in a run, and Neftali Rosario singled, doubled, and scored two runs, as the AZL Cubs blanked the AZL Dodgers 4-0 in Arizona League action tonight at HoHoKam Park in Mesa.

Shawon Dunston Jr ripped an RBI single and a three-run inside-the-park HR and Lendy Castillo threw three innings of shutout ball, leading the AZL Cubs to an 11-8 victory over the AZL Athletics in Arizona League action tonight at Field #2 (Connie Mack Field) at the Papago Park Sports Complex in Phoenix, AZ.  

Dan Vogelbach blasted a 415-foot+ two-run home run over the right-centerfield fence in the bottom of the 4th and an RBI double off the LF fence in the bottom of the 6th (he also stole a base), and Lendy Castillo and four relievers combined to throw a two-hitter, as the AZL Cubs defeated the AZL Padres 4-2 in Arizona League action tonight at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.  

(Oh My) Josh Vitters doubled and singled today to nudge his batting average past .300 as the Iowa Cubs, tied with Delmarva of the South Atlantic League for the most one-run losses in MiLB, nipped Omaha for the third straight day at Principal Park. Adrian Cardenas, whose error permitted Omaha to tie the game in the 7th, delivered a walk-off single in the 9th to give the I-Cubs a 6-5 victory.

Dan Vogelbach homered, tripled, and singled twice, drove-in three runs, and scored two more, leading the AZL Cubs to a come-from-behind 9-7 victory over the AZL Athletics in Arizona League action this evening at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.