Bruce Levine cites a Cubs baseball source that says the club is holding meetings with it's top scouts to determine the direction of the club this Monday and Tuesday.
There is a huge significance to this report.
From what I know, the information Levine cites when it comes to the Cubs is more often than not directly from Jim Hendry himself. Levine receives and feeds information from other GM's and scouts and uses that info to his advantage.
Levine is tied into the old boy's network of GM's and exchanges info for stories and tips.
Levine is one of the only reporters that Hendry trusts. If you listen to Levine on a constant basis, he rarely rips the Cubs brass, and usually defends them.
Now onto to this report. If this is what the Cubs are doing, then the huge part is that this tells me the entire organization is on board with moving forward.
General manager Jim Hendry and assistant GM Randy Bush will preside over the two days of meetings. Hendry's objective will be to give the scouts direction as the team looks to acquire new players or move some off the present 25-man roster.
Hendry will talk to his top scouts about which teams the Cubs might match up with best as far as trades. The Cubs have a number of players with big contracts that not all teams could or would absorb.
The game plan will include going after top prospects and young players from other teams. Three Cubs players -- Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez -- with no-trade clauses or 5-and-10 no-trade rights have responded to media inquiries about whether they would accept trades.
The question most baseball people will ask the Cubs is: How much of each contract is the team willing to absorb? Chairman Tom Ricketts will have to be involved in some of these decisions.
These meetings could lead into a direction into next season for the Cubs. I don't see a rebuild so to speak, but I believe Hendry will find a way to get Brett Jackson on the field, and maybe even Tyler Colvin at some point, though he may need some more AB's at AAA to get his swing and confidence back.
Could Hendry get Ricketts to sign off on eating some of the money it will take to move any of the big money guys mentioned? If Ricketts is truly behind Hendry and believes the Tribune was mostly at fault for the mega contract mess, then he should back him up and do what is necessary.
Imagine if the Cubs could move Soriano. That would give you an outfield of Jackson, Marlon Byrd, and Fukudome. Pretty good defense and athleticism. It could give you a chance to decide whether Colivn can take over right next season or whether you need to shop for one.
This would be the best move the Cubs could make. Soriano can still hit, but he simply can't play left field anymore and he is a symbol of what Cubs fans don't like about this club.
I could also see Hendry taking a page out of Kenny William's book and make a trade that would be aimed at the rest of this season and next. Sort of like what Williams did when his club was pretty much out of it, but went after Jake Peavy and Alex Rios.
You can have an issue with the results of those deals, but I liked the outside of the box thinking.
24 Jun, 2011--
Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/cubs-insider/2011/06/cubs-to-hold-meetings-on-clubs-future.html
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