Bleed Cubbie Blue

Linking to MLBTR because the original link (http://networkedblogs.com/tOzVv) is to a spanish language site.

Per MLBTR's translation, the offer is in the vicinity (and likely a little below) $40M over 6 years, so less than $7M per season. It seems to me that creates the opportunity for the Cubs to come in on a shorter deal at higher value per season - i.e., not the 6x60 deal people were worried about, but maybe 4 years and $8 - $9M per season. The overall value will compare favorably with the Marlins offer, but give Cespedes the promise of a new free agent deal sooner than he'd get from Miami. If he plays well, the deal they offered would quickly look very unfair to the player, and he wouldn't hit the market again until 32.

Cubs and fantasy baseball fans!

It's time for Fantasy Baseball, BCB style. We've had a core of 5-6 guys who have regularly participated in this Bleed Cubbie Blue fantasy baseball league in the past 4 years (Azul Cachorro, Iswaids, Lemurs, Hansman come to mind....).

We're looking for a few active managers to join this "just for fun" league. This year's winner will receive the 2011 Tyler Colvin Bobblehead that last year's winner rejected!

Please only join this league if you can make 2 commitments:
1. Be at the online auction on Monday, March 19 at 8:00 pm
2. Check your team at least once a week to set your lineup

League details:
10 or 12 team H2H league
6x6 categories (regular 5x5 including OPS and K/BB)
C, 1b, 2b, 3b, SS, CI, MI, 4 OF, 1 Util, 5 SP, 3 RP
Weekly lineup changes
FAAB waiver pickups

Follow the link above and input the following info:

League ID#: 28768
Password: wrigley

Please use your BCB handle in your team name so we know who everyone is!

Good luck!

Colin Wyers was on the Cubs blog scene for many years. He turned his baseball hobby into a job with Baseball Prospectus. He was recently interviewed on the Boers and Berstein show on 670 The Score. Click on the link and have a listen.

Link is to the Saturday 3/17 ticket page. Here's the link to the Sunday 3/18 game. The sale begins at 2 pm CT (noon PT according to the link), although when you see the ticket prices, you might think twice about going.

Haven't seen this mentioned yet. Hoyer estimates is going to be a 4 day road trip with his dog to Arizona. Gotta love a dog fan.

Nothing Earth-shattering, but some interesting comments from Jed on ESPN 1000.

The system rankings were yesterday, today ESPN's Keith Law released his individual top 100 (note: Insider content linked above). He also sorted the list by team's top 10s (also Insider).

Cub Top Ten (ranking in top 100 in parentheses):

Rizzo (36)
Jackson (89... and at this point we have to assume Jax kicked Law's dog somewhere along the way)
Baez (95)
McNutt
Cates
Castillo
Maples
Vitters
Golden
Szczur

Concepcion wasn't included as his signing isn't official, though Law doesn't seem impressed by him, either.

Another bit from his rankings worth noting... Hak-Ju Lee is the #12 overall prospect and Chris Archer checks in at #63. Just food for thought.

I know Law isn't real popular around here and with some good reason. But we can discuss his list, anyway.

Keith Law ranks the farm systems:

NL Central:

4. Cards - They've drafted very well in the past few years, which has to be heartening to Astros fans, as Houston just hired Jeff Luhnow, who oversaw the Cards' recent drafts, as GM. St. Louis also has done an excellent job of developing the players it's drafted. I really like how the Cards are set up to contend continuously during the next five years.

8. Pirates - The Pirates' top tier of prospects is very strong, but there's surprisingly little depth given how high they've drafted and how much they've spent on amateur talent.

19. Reds - I would have ranked the Reds several spots higher before the Mat Latos trade, probably top 10. Outside of Devin Mesoraco, every guy with high ceiling in this system played in low Class A or below in 2011, and they're all quite high risk to go with the high reward.

20. Cubs - An unfairly maligned system, in my opinion -- not a great system, but not a disastrous one. And I say that as someone who's relatively bearish on some of the Cubs' more famous prospects.

27. Astros - The Astros might have been last if they hadn't traded Hunter Pence or Michael Bourn in July. Even though neither haul was that great, the prospects represented a major infusion into a barren system.

Other notes:

1. Padres - Without Anthony Rizzo, they no longer have a top-25 prospect in their system, but in terms of total future value of players likely to play significant roles in the big leagues, they're ahead of everyone else. Some of these players, especially from the 2011 draft, will develop into stars. But there are so many prospects here with high floors, players who would be top-10 or top-five in other systems but are 11-20 here (such as Robbie Erlin or Edinson Rincon), that they are well-positioned to compete even with modest major league payrolls during the next five to six years. Fans who were upset at the sudden departures of GM Jed Hoyer and assistant GM Jason McLeod for the Cubs should find solace in the fact that the prospects they helped bring into the system (along with many other scouts and execs, including Chris Gwynn, now with Seattle, and Jaron Madison and Randy Smith, still in San Diego) remain in place.

30. White Sox - And they're not particularly close to No. 29, either. When you don't spend money in the draft, you're not going to fare well in anyone's organizational rankings. The new collective bargaining agreement, which clamps down on teams' ability to acquire premium talent in the draft through higher bonuses, was the result of a long-standing effort by White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who wanted to force other teams to play by his rules.

Not sure if posted already, but here are the games WGN will carry this season.