Winter Meetings Eve
'Twas the night before the Winter Meetings, when all through the hotel
Not a creature was stirring, not even Rosenthal.
The writers hung out by the bar with care
In hopes that a GM would soon be there.
Anyway, the Rumor Mill goes full tilt tomorrow as the Winter Meetings begin in Nashville. According to Kapman, the Cubs are searching for a starting pitcher and a right fielder. They also want a third baseman, but pickings are slim.
The Cubs are allegedly close to adding to their bullpen, signing Japanese reliver Kyuji Fujikawa according to Ken Rosenthal. The Cubs have yet to confirm the deal and we've been burned enough times by this point that it's probably best to wait for the offiial word. If he does sign, it's a 2 year deal for an alleged $9.5M guaranteed ($1M bonus, $4M each for 2013 and 2014 and a $500K buyout). There'se a 2015 vesting option worth $5.5M or up to $6M depending on games finished. If the option doesn't vest, Cubs hold a club option for $5.5M. You can see his impressive arsenal of pitches from this Youtube clip. It appears he has "closer" stuff, so even if he's not used in that role immediately, it seems like a reasonable enough deal. Many are speculating this means the end of Carlos Marmol as a Cub and I'm sure the Cubs will listen on offers. But nothing wrong with having more than one option for the late innings, regardless of who pitches what inning so I doubt it's anything imminent.
The other bit of news is John Sickels Cubs' Top 20 list. It contains the usual suspects with Baez, Almora, Soler, Vogelbach and Vizcaino leading the group. You can see past lists at Wiklified and I noticed that Javier Baez was the first "A" grade by Sickels since I started tracking in 2005.
That Liberace movie is on HBO this week end.
/just saying
wow...that rizzo K in the 8th was a swing even sammy sosa would rag on.
It's hard to compare two very different eras, but as good as Urlacher was, Butkus was better.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
cubs load the bases with 0 out...no one scores.
awesome!
I thought it would be strained neck from watching balls fly over his head
~~ right after Sveum stomped on his big right toe.
He sounds like Marmol minus the $9.8M.
i wonder how long until i.stewart asks to be traded...if for no other reason than to get ABs on someone else's AAA team
yet another day he didn't start...got a PH appearance, 0-1.
also, josh vitters continues to be unimpressive, 0-4.
b.bogusevic continues to make a joke of AAA...1-2 (HR) with 3bb...(.370/.475 avg/ob%)
"My right big toe is kind of sore, why do you ask?"
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Somewhere in the Cubs locker room, Bill Murray chimes in...
"an Army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtbBmwgxKc0
I wonder how what converstion went.
"Hey Shawn, do you have anything that hurts?"
"My right big toe is kind of sore, why do you ask?"
i'm not sure the author of that report knows what "lights-out" reliever means.
if he means a reliever with spotty control that will throw 20+ pitches an inning in AAA is "lights-out" i wonder how high the praise goes for someone that deserves it.
he's got good velocity at least. he's worth taking a chance on.
s.camp on the DL (evidently sucking is an injury these days) with a "sprained right big toe" (no, seriously)...r.dolis up
File this under the banner of how's the Cubs organizational depth coming along...
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Must have stubbed that toe throwing the grand slam last night. How convenient.
per Roto...
But for 2013 the Cubs rotation depth is greatly improved.
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JB: I completely agree about the 2013 improvement.
In fact, the debacle that was 2012 was accelerated when Maholm/Dempster/Garza were gone which is a tough nut to crack for any team. If the trade deadline subtracts 2 starters this year from the Cubs they likely will have Villanueva and even Scott Baker should be ready by then...and if not then one AAA guy (Rusin, Vizcaino).
But for 2013 the Cubs rotation depth is greatly improved. Villanueva just shifted to the bullpen, Rusin is pitching well enough in Iowa that a half-dozen MLB teams would promote him today to their rotations, and this is all in spite of the total washout that is Scott Baker.
As for the Cardinals, they called up Tyler Lyons. His control will keep him in games, but I don't think he's about to embark a Hall of Fame career.