Rumor Bag: Garza, Upton, Soler, Dempster, and More...

The Cubs have said that they will try to sign Matt Garza but many baseball execs believe he will be traded at the deadline.

The Cubs were one of several teams that watched Jorge Soler’s workout. Jed Hoyer said the Cubs have done their homework on Soler and plan to be involved. Sources indicate the Cubs are the likely landing spot for Soler.

The landslide of rumors that happened after I heard from a source that the Cubs and Dbacks were discussing a trade that involved Justin Upton were in fact true. I confirmed the talk with two other sources late last night that the Cubs and Dbacks have had early talks about Justin Upton but the Diamondbacks are not looking at pitching as the main piece in return. The other source said another team is likely involved but it was not confirmed. It is still unknown what players would be involved but I can confirm that talks between Cubs management and Dbacks management did take place in the past week about Justin Upton.

Other tidbits that fueled the Upton trade talk is the fact the owner of the Dbacks Ken Kendrick said a mouthful found here and Upton has not played since June 4^th.

I am guessing that trade targets for the Dbacks are likely Matt Garza (even if they deny they need pitching), Brett Jackson, Junior Lake, Josh Vitters, Darwin Barney, Javier Baez, and/or maybe Starlin Castro (not gonna happen).

Hey, Concepcion is doing better. His last start he pitched five and two third innings, struck out four, walked four, and allowed two hits.

Today is the deadline for submit you bid for Soler and we should know something soon after (at least I hope).

The Cubs took 18 right-handed pitchers, 4 lefty pitchers, and 20 position players in the draft. Their mission was obvious to take high upside and high risk pitchers. More on the draft in my draft post later.

Jed Hoyer says that the team has already started taking phone calls about trades and expects the calls to really pick up now that the draft is over. He says there is a lack of sellers. This helps the Cubs trememdously.

All the Matt Szczur speculation was ended yesterday with the news that he is on the DL with a strained knee.

Want the most obsessive Jorge Soler watch ever?!?!?!? Check out Bleacher Nation.

Manny Corpas looked good in his Cubs debut pitching an inning with 2 strike outs.

Ryan Dempster is open to a trade according to ESPNChicago (which Cubs Den said more than a week ago).

Until Next Time..