- Early today, there was talk that a Milton Bradley for Vernon Wells trade was on the way. The Cubs have responded to this rumor by saying that it has no legs at all, and the Cubs have not discussed the possibility of bringing Wells to the North Side.
- Buster Olney of ESPN.com has mentioned guys like Carlos Silva, Derek Lowe, Gary Matthews Jr., Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand, Oliver Perez, and Dontrelle Willis as bad contracts that the Cubs could acquire in exchange for Milton.
- Pedro Martinez may retire if the Phillies win the World Series. If not, would the Cubs be interested?
- Mark Polishuk of MLB Trade Rumors discusses where Rich Harden will end up.
- Ryan Dempster was the only Cubs player that attended the press conference yesterday.
- The Cubs are planning on petitioning the league to host the 2014 All-Star game to coincide with the 100th birthday of Wrigley Field.
- Dempster says the players will give Milton Bradley another chance.
This week's Cubs in Winter Ball Report
- The Mesa Solar Sox are 5-10 in AFL play, 4.5 games back of Phoenix in the AFL East. The Solar Sox are in 3rd (last) in the division, and have the worst record in the league.
- The MLB Network will air two live AFL games. Daron Sutton and Tony Clark will call the Rising Starts Game at Surprise Stadium on 7:00 CT on Saturday, November 7. Victor Rojas will join Clark to call the AFL Championship game from Scottsdale Stadium on November 21, a Saturday, at 1:30 CT.
- Starlin Castro is still tearing it up in the AFL. He leads the league in batting average at .419, way ahead of second place Grant Desme at .404.
- Castro also has 5 RBIs and 2 SB in his 13 AFL games.
- Welington Castillo has not looked too shabby either. He's showed off above average defense with his catching, and is hitting .357 in 4 games.
- Josh Vitters is hitting .351 in 9 games.
- On October 16th, Andrew Cashner allowed 3 ER on 3 hits in 2 innings in his AFL debut. From there, he's improved each outing allowing a run on 3 hits on October 22 and pitching 4 scoreless innings in his last appearance, October 28.
- John Gaub has gotten in to 5 games, and his ERA is 14.40 allowing 8 ER in just 5 innings.
- James Russell and Blake Parker, both upcoming relief pitchers, have pitched well. Parker has a 3.86 ERA in 6 games, Russell has a 2.57 in 5 games.
- Jeff Samardzija was strong yesterday. He picked up his second Mexican Pacific Leauge win as he allowed no runs on 4 hits in 6 innings, and struck out 7. Mexicali won the game 8-1.
- Jeff's Mexicali team is in 3rd place of 8 teams in their league. They hold a record of 10-8, just two games behind first place Mazatlan.
- Mexicali is managed by I-Cubs skipper Bobby Dickerson. There are 3 Cubs on the team plus Jeff.
- Brian Schlitter is 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in 11 relief appearances.
- Brad Snyder, OF, is hitting .338 in 17 games with 3 homers and 17 RBIs.
- Matt Camp has a .342 batting average with 1 HR and 12 RBIs.
- Nelson Perez is playing for Toros of the Domican Winter League. He's hitting a stunning .448 in 9 games. Toros has a 7-4 record, tied for first in the league.
- Marcos Mateo, Cubs' minor league pitcher, allowed 3 runs in 2.1 innings in his only DWL appearance.
- Andres Blanco is hitting .311 in 14 Venezulan Winter Leauge Games. He has played mostly second base. He has 6 doubles, 2 triples, a homer, and 14 RBIs as well.
- Robinson Chirinos, who spent most of 2009 with Daytona, has a .467 average playing for the same team as Blanco. Robinson has 3 HRs and 11 RBIs.
- Larry Suarez is also pitching for Magallanes. He only has gotten into 1 game and did not allow a run. Their team has a record of 13-5, 0.5 games back of Caracas for first place in the VWL.
- Iowa Cubs lefty J.R. Mathes is pitching for first place Caracas. He has a 1-2 record and a 5.40 earned run average.
- Jonathan Mota (.350 AVG, 2 RBI), and Luis Rivas (.500 AVG, 2 Games) have also seen some VWL action.
- All The latest is on the Cubs Farm Updates Twitter.
- Next Full Winter Ball post: Next Thursday!
- Don't forget to vote on our minor leaguer related poll! It's on the right sidebar of the blog mainpage.
There were tons of Radio interviews yesterday, I'll work to recap as many as I can throughout the week.
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