With 40 games remaining in the season, the Cubs are now 7.0 games back in the NL Central and 6.0 behind Colorado in the NL Wildcard race.  Honestly, there’s not much hope left to hold on to.  Maybe if I ignore it, it will just go away.

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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News is the newest member of the “Cincinnati Reds and Walt Jocketty Don’t Have a Plan” club.  McCoy’s article is very insightful, which is what you would expect from a Hall of Fame writer, but it is also quite harsh in plans.  That’s not to say the harshness isn’t justified.  It is.  It’s just that the tyone of the article took me a bit by surprise.

McCoy writes about the Reds’ lack of a plan and the mistake that was trading for Scott Rolen:

“The Reds and Jocketty keep saying they have a plan and that plan is the same plan they’ve told fans over and over, “We’re building from within.” They never saw [sic] how long that plan will take. Probably won’t happen in my lifetime.

“What bothers me is the trade for Scott Rolen – a great guy, a great player. But he is 35 and injury-prone and has played only four games since the July 31 trade. To get him, the Reds gave up two young pitching prospects, Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart.”

McCoy writes that Walt Jocketty is hoping that Rolen will stick around for three or four years (Do the Reds really want to build around a third baseman that will be 39 in four years?).  Here’s McCoy’s response:

Why would that be? One of the Reds’ top prospects is third baseman Juan Francisco, who was recently promoted to Class AAA Louisville. He isn’t far away and one wonders, “If Rolen is around, where will Francisco play?”

The Reds are completely lost when it comes to building – or rebuilding – a team. 

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According to this article in the Chicago Tribune, the sale of the Cubs to the Ricketts family is “imminent.”  For most of us, we would understand that to mean that ownership of the team is about to be transferred from Sam Zell and the Tribune Company to the Ricketts family.  But no, that’s not what it means.

What it means is that once the contract is signed, Sam Zell can’t negotiate with any one other than the Ricketts, but the Ricketts still have a few hoops to jump through before the team is there’s.  For instance, once the contract is signed, the creditors of the Tribune Company will have an opportunity to review the details of the deal and register comments or concerns with the bankruptcy court. 

Once that hurdle is cleared, the court in the Tribune company’s bankruptcy case will rule on whether the sale of the Cubs is acceptable.  If the court will not approve the sale, the Cubs could file for bankruptcy themselves to expedite the process.

Assuming the bankruptcy court approves the sale, the owners of the other MLB teams will vote on whether or not to accept the Rickettses as owners of the Cubs.  A minimum of 75% of the owners must approve the Rickettses before they can take over the Cubs.

There was hope not too long ago that the Ricketts family would be in place at the helm of the Cubs prior to the 2009 season.  Then, as negotiations and legal manuevering dragged on, the date shifted to the 2009 trade deadline.  Now, if everything works out, the Rickettses may be in place in time for Jim Hendry (or whoever is the GM) can make some offseason moves.

Editor’s Note: Using the word “Rickettses” is correct, but I don’t like it.

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Dave Cameron at Fan Graphs (that really cool site that I really don’t understand) has a post up explaining his suggestion for overhauling the draft system.  In theory, I like Dave’s idea.  Unfortunately, I think there are some practical problems involved with diverting revenue sharing money exclusively toward the draft.  However, the article is food for thought and makes for an interesting read.  Enjoy!

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Gordon Wittenmyer at the Chicago Sun-Times lists the five best and five worst free agent signings in recent Cubs history.  As you’d expect, Milton Bradley made the worst list (no suprise) as did Neifi Perez (poor little Neifi).  The only comment I’ll make about the list is, how can Alfonso Soriano’s free agent signing be one of the best AND one of the worst in Cubs history.  C’mon Gordon, take a stand.  Was it good or bad?

Here are the lists:

Worst

1. Todd Hundley
2. Milton Bradley
3. Neifi Perez
4. Aaron Miles
5. Alfonso Soriano

Best

1. Ryan Dempster
2. Jim Edmonds
3. Ted Lilly
4. Mark DeRosa
5. Alfonso Soriano

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The Cubs lost out on John Smoltz (if that’s even the right way to say it).  Should they now turn their attention to Billy Wagner?  The Mets former closer came off the DL yesterday after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.  In his first outing, he was throwing in the mid-90′s.  Not bad.

Let’s be honest, Kevin Gregg wasn’t the answer as the team’s closer and he probably won’t be back next year (certainly not as the closer).  The Mets placed Wagner on waivers, but considering that he’s still owed about $2.7 million this year,  and a $1 million buyout next year, it’s unlikely that he’ll be claimed.  That gives the Mets until next Tuesday to trade him.

Wagner is 38-years old and I think it’s fair to say that his best years are behind him.  But if the Cubs can get him for very little, and if the Mets agree to pay most, if not all of Wagner’s salary (which will have to happen in almost any deal for the lefty), then it may be worth taking a chance on him.  They can audition him the rest of this year and then decide whether or not they want to keep him around in 2010.

Honestly, I’m just throwing out the possibility, but I’m not a big fan of the idea.  Unless the Cubs can get Wagner with almost no risk, I don’t think trading for him makes sense.  But a low risk aquisition would be interesting.