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.
Thanks as always, AZ.
On a different subject, I just now noticed the record of the L.A. Angels in the standings.
m.garza debuts tuesday vs pitt
vanillawafers (with recently shaved mustache) to the pen
Ugh
they have an entire section of the bleachers today...kinda creepy.
Mets fans are louder than Cubs fans. A new low point.
Brett Jackson...
"Some of the best advice I've gotten is, I was sitting with Ian Stewart, talking about hitting and I was feeling for my swing as you do early in the season," Jackson recalled. "He asked if I was comfortable at the plate and I said I'm not very comfortable right now. He's like, 'You need to be yourself at the plate and be comfortable and be the type of hitter [you] want to be.'"
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130518&...
Geiger-Soler put on a fireworks show in yesterday's Daytona Cubs doubleheader...
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130518&...
Soler...
Interesting tweet in the tweet box: z'Remember when Rizzo was striking out a lot? No K's in last 31 AB's..tied for 2nd longest active streak in majors"
Don't know if that includes last night, but it sure goes a long way to explaining his improved hitting. It's a curious thing, though, the difference between the way his season started and now. How does that happen?
A short doc on a long ago MLB legend
Semi NSFW
http://www.roopstigo.com/reel/morganna-a-kissing-b...
This awesome
http://mlb.mlb.com/photos/gallery.jsp?content_id=4...
Baseball America Hot Sheet:
Christian Villaneuva, 3b, Cubs
Team: Double-A Tennessee (Southern)
Age: 21
Why He’s Here: .435/.500/.739 (10-for-23), 3 R, 4 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 6 SO, 1-for-2 SB
wow...Arizona Phil's universe intersects with Wrong-way Phil Rogers!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/Pete...
per Roto...
Remember Albert Almora? The Cubs’ first-round pick last June is almost all the way back after breaking his hamate bone in mid-March. He’s been playing center field and hitting in extended spring games in Arizona and should soon be assigned to the low-A Kane County Cougars. There’s no sign yet of Junior Lake, who suffered a stress fracture to the top rib on his right side in mid-March. Outfielder Reggie Golden, a second-round pick in 2010 recovering from two torn ligaments in his left knee, appears close to completing his recovery.
USA Today Article on Mark Appel.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2013/...
Scouting report
http://orioles-nation.com/2011/07/28/scouting-the-...
#2 Mark Appel
"Analysis: This is Appel or Gray, assuming one of them goes first, with Appel the preference. The Cubs are in the catbird seat in this draft -- they don't have to pay the premium that comes with picking first overall but are guaranteed to get one of the two huge arms in the class."
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9277478/...