Last time I wrote about the Cubs I was rather positive about their situation with pitching, because they have six young arms and if they sign a free agent and if Prior comes back and if...lots of if's but the point was that all six of them can't end up in the rotation. Someone's gonna get dealt. More than one of them, probably.

Today the team apparently added another name to their list with lefty Ryan O'Malley. His stats at AAA Iowa weren't eye-popping - 7-7 with a 4.08 ERA, 71 K's and 30 walks in 124 innings - but they suggest that he has some command, and what I heard of today's Houston/Chicago game supports this. He was throwing breaking pitches and changes when behind in the count, and it sounded like he was making some nice pitches. I don't know what the result was yet but it's encouraging to have another name for either the team or to deal.

One or two of those arms might have a future in the bullpen, and that would be okay too, but I like the idea of using them to deal for either a solid frontline starter or an everyday position player.

The latter is something this team sorely needs. We have virtually no prospects with star potential. At AAA, we have Felix Pie, who by all accounts has the tools to be a superstar at the major league level. But his AAA performance is just okay - .276 with 11 homers and 52 rbi's. There is no one else at AAA that shouts "everyday regular player" in the majors, let alone star.

At AA the situation is much the same. We have a couple of nice players there. There are two catchers: Jake Fox (.227, 5HR and 18 RBI in less than half a season) and Tony Richie (.228, 0 HR and 10 RBI's in a full season at AA). Both could become major leaguers but both could stall out in AA. Fox looks to be the better prospect based on his bat, but so far his stats aren't showing much. Richie is apparently very good defensively but he isn't showing much of a bat.

Brian Dopirak is a first baseman in an organization with Derrick Lee already at first. Dopirak has major league power and had a good spring but got injured in his first or second game at AA West Tenn. He's been doing okay since returning, but only has 1 homer in 46 at bats. He might be trade material also. Scott Moore is a good defensive 3rd bagger and his hitting has been decent at AA. Major league star? Nothing about his stats suggests it. Chris Walker and Nic Jackson are two good outfield prospects. They appear to be contact hitters with not much power. Jackson is older, having missed a couple years due to injury and rehab but is batting .297 at AA. Walker is supposed to be fast and is hitting .290 at AA, in 127 at bats. Miguel Negron looks to be the same type of player in the outfield as those two.

Eric Patterson and Richard Lewis are two second base prospects who are also cut from the same cloth. Lewis is listed as an outfielder, probably because Patterson played mostly at second. Again, neither is screaming "star", or even "definite major league material".

There are at least a couple of solid pitching prospects at AA and AAA, who might make it possible to deal some of those arms who are ahead of them.

At the short season level is outfielder Tyler Colvin, this year's first round draft pick. He looks like Matt Murton with more power. He may be our best prospect for a position player in the system. That isn't saying too much.

There is a lot of work to be done rebuilding this system with position player prospects, and it isn't going to get done by dealing major leaguers for B-level prospects, which is what has been done so far.

Good luck, Jim Hendry. You've got an unenviable job.