Weekend Tidbits-Castro, Zambrano, Prior, Gonzalez

As the season begins to dwindle down for the Chicago Cubs, many of the Cubs beat writers are starting to prepare themselves and their readers for what should be a very active off-season for the Chicago Cubs. Here are several notes to take a look at as the Cubs prepare for the future.

• Interim Cubs manager Mike Quade compares the play of rookie phenom Starlin Castro to play of a young Miguel Tejada. The one thing Castro might not have is the overall power that Tejada had. Nonetheless, he is having a tremendous rookie year, and in my opinion should be named Rookie of the Year. On the year Castro is hitting .321/.363/.443  with 34 extra base hits. In fact, Castro is a double shy of reaching the 30 double plateau.
• Carlos Zambrano has arguably been the Cubs best starting pitcher over the past three weeks. If he continues to finish out the season on a high note, the Chicago Cubs might decide to hold onto him for next season. That at least according to Toni Ginnetti of the Chicago Sun Times. Zambrano has won his last three starts while moving up to third on the Cubs all time strikeout list. An argument can be made for both sides on what to do with Carlos Zambrano. On the one hand the Chicago Cubs are going to need at least one starting pitcher in the off-season, and by moving Zambrano that would just create another hole in the rotation. Plus, with the way he has pitched over the past month, the Cubs may believe that he will continue to pitch like this heading into next season. However, one could also argue that this could just be the Chicago Cubs showcasing Zambrano to any team that is looking for improvement for their starting rotation. As with Zambrano finally pitching well, that will only increase his trade value on the market. And may make it easier for the Cubs to move the right hander.
• Send all your finest towels to the Texas Rangers, because they are going to need them. The reason being that they signed former Cub Mark Prior to a minor league contract. If there is one thing we learned about Prior, it is that he is an excellent towel thrower. In all seriousness, any chances of Prior being able to have success in the MLB was derailed with the amount of Injuries he had while with the Cubs. If Prior does manage to pitch at any level in the Rangers organization, it would mark the first time Prior has thrown a pitch in any organization since 2006.
• Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe echoed what the Chicago Sun Times originally reported this past week, and that is that Fredi Gonzalez is a legitimate candidate for the Chicago Cubs position. Citing the relationship between Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry and Gonzalez.