Maholm & Reed to the Braves. 

Garza may be headed to Cincinnati. Soriano may be heading to the Dodgers with Dempster.

#Cubs have acquired RHPs Arodys Vizcaino and Jaye Chapman from the #Braves for LHP Paul Maholm and OF Reed Johnson.

I haven't heard any followup on BJax. Anyone know if he's getting the call up? I'd even heard a rumor that Dave Sappelt might be getting a call up to the bigs, although he tweeted that he hadn't heard anything yet.

PS. The Cubs twittersphere seems to be buzzing with the news of Vizcaino. Apparently, he was one of the Braves untouchables until he had Tommy John last year. But I also read somewhere that he projects as a closer. That kind of seems odd to me.

You're right on Vizcaino. At least for everything but the closer part. Not sure about that. Bruce Miles tweeted late last night that the Cubs were trying to put the brakes on the Jackson to Chicago talk, so who knows what that means. Looking forward to see Dempster, Soriano, and probably Garza dealt today.

I think it's mentioned on Rangers threads, but the Cubs got Jacob Brigham from them for Soto.

He's 24, in his 2nd year at AA Frisco, and is currently 5-5 with a 4.28 ERA and 8.4 K/9.

Soto has been an up and down player. He came in during the 2007 run and hit a HR against the Diamondbacks in what turned out to be a lackluster performance from most of the offense He'd been killing it in AAA that year.

He turned in another good year that helped us toward the playoffs in 2008, hitting .285 with 23 HR. He took 2009 off, hitting .218. In 2010, it was back up to .280. Then last year .228, and now this year he's hitting under 200.

I'd been thinking for awhile that the Cubs had been more patient with him than I would have been. He's been bad at the plate for awhile now, but he has upside, his struggles were often sandwiched around injuries, and I think they wanted Torrealba to go away.

From ESPN's Keith Law:

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The price for Atlanta, however, was too high. I had Vizcaino ranked as the 14th-best prospect in baseball coming into 2012, but an elbow ligament he partially tore in 2010 flared up again in March, leading to Tommy John surgery that ended his season, although he should be back for spring training.

When healthy, Vizcaino is 92-96 as a starter, with an out-pitch curveball, showing slider velocity but with two-plane action and depth. He has good arm speed on his changeup and was very effective against left-handed batters in the minors in 2011, a testament to that pitch given his arm slot, which is a little below three-quarters. (Pitchers with lower arm slots are easier to pick up for opposite-handed hitters.)

His arm is very quick, but he has been a little fly ball-prone in the minors. Atlanta seemed ready to pigeonhole him in a relief role due to the lingering injury, but the Cubs have to let him prove he's not a starter, given his repertoire and history of throwing strikes.

Chapman is an organizational arm who could end up a back-end reliever. Vizcaino alone is a tremendous return for what the Cubs gave up, a shot at a No. 2 or better starter in exchange for an extra outfielder and a pitcher anyone could have signed for $5 million last winter.

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And Geo was going to be non-tendered this offseason anyway, so getting something for him now was better than nothing after the season.

Rangers and Yankees are interested in Dempster (and supposedly he is willing to go both places). The Rangers are also interested in Garza.

http://www.csnchicago.com/baseball-chicago-cubs/cubs-news/Kaplan-Trio-of-suitors-for-Dempster?blockID=748937&feedID=8487

Soriano turned down a deal to the Giants.

Bowden of ESPN says Dempster to the Dodgers is finalized.

Garza may be headed to the Diamondbacks.

[This message has been edited by Junkhead (edited 7/31/2012 12:52p).]

Stupid Buster Olney.

[This message has been edited by Junkhead (edited 7/31/2012 12:51p).]

Bowden has backed off the Dempster news. Now word is that the Yankees and a (gasp) mystery team are in on Demp.

Garza Stuff

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The Tigers have considered Alfonso Soriano, but don't think he's a great fit, Knobler reports

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--mlbtr

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JIM BOWDEN þ@JimBowdenESPNxm
Dodgers either blink on Webster now or watch Dempster put on pinstripes...Cubs preference was to accommodate Dempster w/ trade to Dodgers

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More Dempster Stuff

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The Cubs say Soriano is likely to stay put, though an August deal is possible, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

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quote:

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Cubs FO has called league office- outlined a deal that likely will take longer than 30 minutes to complete- prepping for deadline extension...

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MLBTR says the Dodgers are out on Dempster and now Olney is saying the Rangers are getting him.

CANNOT WAIT TO SEE WHO HOYERSTEIN GOT FOR HIM.

3B Christian Villanueva and RHP Kyle Hendricks

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10) Christian Villanueva, 3B, Grade B-: Hitting .285/.356/.421 with 10 homers, 24 walks, 83 strikeouts in 375 at-bats in High-A, nine steals. He is playing very well defensively and the bat has potential. Often gets overlooked in the Rangers system and is blocked behind Olt, but if I were trading with the Rangers I would ask about this guy.

Among players not listed ... Right-hander Kyle Hendricks in High-A has shown tremendous command (112/15 K/BB)

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http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/christian-villanueva-texas-rangers-third-base-prospect-sleeper/

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hendri001kyl

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=villan001chr

So now Fonzi and Garza remain on the block. What's yall's opinion on the return for Demp?

Disappointing considering what Atlanta was willing to give us. If you remove that fact from the argument I think it's a good deal.

Casey Coleman is being sacrificed as the SP in Dempster's absence....and the Pirates promptly start the game off with a Grand Slam.

I know it didn't amount to anything and we needed to make a trade, but Maholm, Garza, and Dempster were the main reason the Cubs won ANY games this year, and pitching coupled with Rizzo made July tolerable. It will be interesting to see what all the team tries for the remainder of the season.

Um, Garza is still here and have you forgotten about Samardzija and Castro?

Cubs getting no hit by AJ Burnett through 6.

Jim Bowden = epic fail today

Garza probably doesn't stay on the Cubs that much longer once he's made a few healthy starts. Castro has been fine but his average dipped into the 270s during July.

I'm saying that July was a fun month, and that I wouldn't expect to match it without Maholm and Dempster. Time to start watching to see who gets time where.

Oddly enough, the Cubs have a winning record at home, +4. But they have the 2nd worst road record in baseball, at 16-36. (The Astros have the worst, with 10 road wins on the season).

Coleman's time has got to be limited. He was decent when he first came up a while back, but he's not fooling anyone now. I had seen where Raley had put up a sub 2.30 ERA the last couple of weeks with little run support. I really haven't heard his name much as a possibility for the fall which is a shame, but I've got to imagine he's in line especially with Randy Wells being hurt (and ineffective)

I'm holding out for them to call up Raley to take Maholm's start. Maholm's last start was July 29; Raley's was the 28th. You'd think he would set up nicely to take that start this Friday. The kid has been flat out very good since being called up to AAA. I remember back when the season started, Raley was a little late reporting to Tennessee because he stayed behind in Arizona to throw for Theo and Co. Maybe that will pay off now.

[This message has been edited by Theo is a Touchdown (edited 8/1/2012 9:57a).]

Did you guys see that Carrie Muskat mistakenly reported that BJax had been called up and was taking BP before today's game in LA? Turns out it was Clayton Kershaw in a blue shirt

Oops

Muskat is a moron. Although BJax and Vitters have been called up now. Jackson is starting in CF and batting 2nd. Castro batting 5th behind Soriano. Game is on WGN at 3pm. Jeff Baker was traded to Detroit for 2 PTBNL.