The Jacksonville, Florida area high school product’s bat projects better than his glove at this point, although Baez is not to be considered a defensive liability. With that same negative label being placed on fellow Cubs prospect Josh Vitters over the last few years, combined with All Star Starlin Castro figuring to be a shortstop fixture at Wrigley Field for the next few years, Baez may find his chance to crack into the Majors with the Cubs at third base instead. Baez has the strong arm and good hands that would project well at the hot corner.

While all the hype has been around what Theo Epstein and Company has been doing to revamp the Cubs subpar farm system the former Red Sox GM inherited, it should be noted that Baez was a selection made under the Jim Hendry era. Many of you may recall that once Hendry was fired, word was that the long time Cubs GM had been conducting business as usual, including the draft, while already knowing his ill fate.

There is still sometime between now and Baez’s projected Major League arrival date, during which his stock could just as well dip as it can shoot up towards his potential. But the promising note should be that he already ranks ahead of the Tampa Bay top shortstop prospect Hak Ju Lee, a name Cubs fans will remember as part of the package deal sent to the Rays in exchange for current Cubs top of the rotation starter Matt Garza. While Lee’s defensive wizardry places his glove skills ahead of Baez, the South Korean’s inability to produce extra base power as of yet is what is keeping him from making his Major League splash. This is an item of note that I have brought up on Cubbies Crib in the past, along with the opinion that Hendry overpaid for a starting pitcher that the Cubs have not necessarily needed over the past couple of bad seasons. However, the silver lining is that the Cubs did deal from positions of strength (catcher and shortstop) in hindsight, with the potential to dangle Garza for a prospect or two between now and the July 2013 trade deadline.

May 27, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Television host David Letterman during the running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

By next off season, with the 2012 draftees having a year of pro ball under their belt and the June 2013 amateur draft completed under the direction of Epstein, the appearance of Cubs prospects on these types of lists figures to become a regular occurrence.

One of the things I enjoy most about the WWE is the promos that are carried out by the various “wrestlers”. Perhaps the best promo that I have seen throughout my time watching WWE was the one that Chicago native–and Cubs’ fan–CM Punk gave on Monday Night Raw in June of 2011. Punk’s promo that night sparked renewed interest in WWE, and started a revolution of sorts in terms of putting a spotlight back on WWE. To clarify, Punk’s push during the summer of 2011 was more so about him providing the voice of the voiceless.

In the event that you are not a WWE fan like myself, here is a video of Punk’s promo.

What Punk succeeded in doing with this promo is, in a way, throwing out the propaganda that was said in the past in relation to the business side of World Wrestling Entertainment. Indicating that most of the executives involved with World Wrestling Entertainment were “yes men” to Vince McMahon.

This is where I recently drew similarities to Theo Epstein. Chicago Cubs baseball is real in every sense of the word, especially during this season when the Cubs could potentially lose 100 games. But, Cubs fans should not be surprised by how bad the Cubs have been this season. Normally, that is not the case. Normally, Cubs fans are surprised by the result of the Cubs’ season because they feed into the propaganda that former general manager Jim Hendry tried to sell during his tenure with the organization. Ironically, as Punk indicated with McMahon, Hendry surrounded himself with “yes men” within the Cubs’ front office. There was no one in the Cubs’ front office to challenge authority.

But in the course of this past year, Epstein has taken everything that Cubs’ fans were accustomed to and threw it out the window. With intelligent individuals like Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod now a part of the Cubs’ front office, the opportunity is there for authority to be questioned. That is not a bad practice either. As that could lead to better results in terms of scouting and player evaluating. Cubs fans have long been crying for authority to be questioned within the Cubs’ front office and a sense of diversity, but the fans were voiceless during the Hendry regime. Epstein has provided our voice, and in turn, put a brand new focus on the Cubs’ organization and revolutionized the idea of baseball within the farm and Major League systems.

Epstein may not be coming out to his own theme songs and entertaining a crowd in a wrestling ring, but he certainly has been a voice of the voiceless for the Chicago Cubs and their fan base.

When the Chicago Cubs decided to put Bryan LaHair in right field, and David DeJesus in center field to begin the week, the team was sending a message. A message that was coming directly from the front office and not manager Dale Sveum.

The message was that the team is ready for the next phase of their rebuilding process. Not only will first base prospect Anthony Rizzo be promoted to the Major League level by next Monday, but it is likely that Cubs president Theo Epstein and general manager Theo Epstein are working the phones in preparation for being one of the most active teams in baseball in regards to the July 31 trade deadline.

Though was some belief that starting pitcher Ryan Dempster would have been traded by now. However, Dempster’s trip to the disabled list nixed the chances of the veteran starting pitcher being traded to a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers this week.

With a potential Dempster trade on hold, the Cubs front office has likely turned their sights to trying to trade the players on the roster that are preventing the team from continuing their youth movement in their rebuilding.

The biggest roadblock on the Cubs’ roster is by far left fielder Alfonso Soriano. That is not to say that Soriano is not a bad teammate. In fact, Soriano is beloved within the Cubs clubhouse and is one of the vocal leaders of the team. The veteran left fielder has taken shortstop Starlin Castro under his wings and been a mentor for the young Castro. However, this is the side of Soriano that fans do not see. When ever Soriano’s name is brought in a discussion, the only thing fans see is the left fielder that signed the richest contract in the history of the Cubs’ organization. Do not blame Soriano for that contract. Soriano did what any professional worker would do. Whether it was former general manager Jim Hendry or someone above his head, the fact is that Soriano was offered an 8 year, $136 million contract from the Cubs. The Cubs did not give Soriano a blank check and tell the left fielder to write in his price.

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