Cubs Rumors- Pena, Dbacks, Prospects, Fukudome, and Soriano

Fukudome is drawing interest from 4 teams. Levine listed the Indians as one and I am hearing the Brewers might be one of the four as well.

- The Yankees are willing to take Soriano and half his contract from the Cubs but they want Marmol to come with him. That scenario is unlikely according to a Cubs source.

- Kevin Slowey is on the Cubs radar even though they are sellers. Slowey has been very good for the Twins even though he is not a strike out machine many consider him a nice #3/#4 starter in the NL. He is 39-21 in his career with 488 IP and a 4.43 ERA. He does pitch to contact but does not walk guys. Would be a very nice addition to the Cubs staff.

- Rob Biertempfel from the Pittsburgh Tribune said the Pirates are in on Carlos Pena.

- A tweet from Jon Heyman says Carlos Pena “will almost surely be moved” and said the Dbacks “could be in play there.” We at HSC said weeks ago that the Dbacks had interest in Pena, Ramirez, and Wood. Since then we have learned that Ramirez and Wood will remain with the Cubs at least until the end of the season. Wood is expected to sign an extension while Ramirez could hammer out a deal as well.

- A source of mine chimed in and said the Cubs are actively scouting the entire Dbacks farm system. Most notably left-hander Wade Miley, 3B Ryan Wheeler, 3B/1B Matthew Davidson, 1B/3B Bobby Borchering, and RHP Charles Brewer.

- That same source of mine told also told me the Cubs would consider trading anyone except the “impactful youth” for the Pirates young OF Starling Marte, LHP Rudy Owens, or LHP Jeff Locke. He said the Cubs would in fact entertain dealing Marmol, Marshall, or even Garza if they get two of those players. The Cubs of course really value is Jameson Taillon as well but he is not going anywhere.

- Marshall is not available for anyone according to team officials.

- John Grabow is likely to be dealt this week.

- Alex Presley’s thumb injury increases the need for an outfielder tweets Ken Rosenthal. This confirms some rumors through my sources that the Pirates have called the Cubs on Fukudome, Johnson, Colvin, Byrd, and even Soriano.

- Another source said the Pirates will likely show they are “all in” before the deadline by making some big splashes via trade. A big splash for the Pirates would be acquiring an impact hitter like Beltran, Pence, and some can argue Soriano.

- Teams have called on Geovany Soto but the asking price is “higher than Beltran” said one baseball official.

- The Shark has been gaining trade interest and the Cubs are entertaining the idea of trading him (if he will finally accept one).

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