Levine Latest and Teams Love Garza?

The latest from Levine-

• The Cubs are going hard after Soler and would like to end the draft with a strong international signing like Jorge Soler.
• The Cubs may move to bench Castro to give him so mental time off given the gaffe he made yesterday.
• It is very possible that Javier Baez is in Double A by the end of the year.
• The Cubs may not view Garza as a number one so Levine says a 5 year deal worth 80-90 million may not work.
• Almora will likely start in rookie ball regardless of his hype.
• Epstein is willing to listen to trade offers on Castro but it is not likely given how the Cubs feel about Castro and his asking price. (I heard that Theo wants 4-5 young near ML ready players for Castro. Something like Hanley Ramirez, “Mike” Stanton, Logan Morrison, and a top prospect from the Marlins if they were interested.).
• The Cubs will not call up Rizzo this week and will likely wait until after the June 23^rd another year benefit deadline. Although Levine says that does not worry Theo and Jed as much as others think.
• He would be shocked if the Cubs don’t come up with the best bid when final bids are taken on the international players.
• Bruce thinks Samardzija is swell.
• He thinks DeJesus is the Cubs best off-season signing and thinks the Cubs benefit from him more on the team than trade bait.
• If Soler is signed he may start in High A or Daytona but there is not rush for a guy who is 19.
• He does not know if BJax or Vitters will end up in Chicago this year but September call-ups are a possibility. He says Jackson and Vitters both need 500 Abs in AAA before they are called up.
• The Cubs will likely not spend money on the big league team unless it benefits the future. Which means the Cubs will not balk at signing or trading for a 25, 26, or 27 year old.
• The Cubs are not ready to win anytime soon with Theo and Co. new approach but it will benefit in the end.

The one non-Levine update I have today is from dependable Rotoworld saying the Jays along with the Orioles and Tigers have interest in Matt Garza. Now the Jays and Tigers we have heard about along with the Phillies, Red Sox, and Yankees but the Orioles are new. The O’s have several interesting prospects such as Dylan Bundy, Manny Machado, Glynn Davis, and Sebastian Vader. But they still come in a distant third behind the Jays and Tigers farm system.

I will have a new draft only post when the draft concludes. I will be giving my take on entire draft as a whole and the players the Cubs took and missed out on.

Until Next Time…