Cub Notes On A Snowy Tuesday
– Gordon Wittenmyer writes in today's Sun-Times that Mark DeRosa's cardiac issues are not a major concern to DeRo or Cub doctors, nor will they be the impetus for any personnel moves by Jim Hendry.
Wittenmyer also thinks the Cubs are more likely to add that
proverbial, right-handed hitting, three-position outfielder before
Opening Day than they are He Who Must Not Be Named.
– Baseball Musings sizes up a potential Cubs rotation of Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Dempster, and Marquis (Where is your Lieber?) based on the Marcel the Monkey projections
and foresees a cumulative 4.28 ERA for the fivesome. That's a few ticks
above the 4.19 ERA Cub starters pitched to last season, when their ERA
was second best in the NL, but still pretty solid.
One highly questionable element in the projection: Ryan Dempster's
projected 4.50 ERA. Only once in his career as a starting
pitcher--Dempster's All-Star season in 2000 down in pitcher-friendly
Florida--has Dempster ever had an ERA at or below 4.50.
– Yesterday I offered a semi-synopsis of the Cubs chapter from Baseball Prospectus 2008. Last night the Hardball Times season preview showed up in my mailbox.
Without summarizing the Cubs chapter, I will simply report that there is one, and Joe Aiello of View From The Bleachers does a nice job with the write-up. Also, the book weighs about a third as much as BP08. And it includes cartoons.
– Thanks to all who nominated The Cub Reporter for the various Strode Awards being handed out by the boys at Cubscast. Sadly, like Ellen Page,
we missed out on the major hardware, though we were honored for having
coined the term "cubbery." (Congratulations to reader Chad, the actual
coiner. Rob G. has agreed to waive Chad's TCR subscription fee for the
next month as his prize.)
We hope to do better next year. Either that, or we'll just have a bunch of you join us in egging Cubcast's treehouse.
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Jim Callis@jimcallisBA
#Cubs pay Trey Masek $357,400. Talent bargain in 5th rd. Texas Tech RHP, 89-93 to 95, shows some sharp curves, VG in Cape Cod Lg. #mlbdraft
alright cubs...having e.jackson + vanillawafers fail in the same outing...in the same inning...isn't good for fan morale.
the 6th inning sucks.
Gordon Wittenmyer@GDubCub
Sveum says Cubs likely to get bench back to full strength for weekend Houston series, get pen back to 7 guys. Clev or Sappy are possible.
welly with his 9th walk on the season...8th since may 23rd. ...still waiting on his 1st xbase hit of the month (9 singles).
also, cubs tie bottom 2nd on a play at the plate that rizzo would have been out by a mile on if y.molina didn't drop the ball.
I thought the Hannemann bonus was high because of comments his father made right after the draft about what he'd be signing for. More like slot. Which was higher than most thought because they had him ranked lower on draft boards.
The guy is already 22 with minimal baseball experience. I'll be rooting for him to turn into the next Ellsbury (without the injuries). But...
COL is going to option j.francis to AAA
Beat the Streak players everywhere groan. There's always Pelfrey.
COL is going to option j.francis to AAA...roy oswalt, welcome back to the bigs.
it's $263,800 over slot ($736,200), they paid $261,900 under slot for Zastryzny, doesn't seem that crazy since he had some leverage. So far 4th rounder Skulina is the biggest overslot at $323K, although if 12th rounder Clifton did get "3rd round money", he'll probably net the biggest difference.
Bryant is probably going to come in under $6M, so Cubs should save there as well.
damn...that's about 400-500K more than most people in round 3 have signed for so far.
it's pretty much early/mid 2nd round loot...and 100K less than the cubs very early 2nd round pick Z-nasty.
they also signed their 4th round pick for $800K...which is about 300-400K more than expected.
here's a tracker btw,
http://www.baseballamerica.com/draftdb/2013xteam.p...
"Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Wednesday that he expects David DeJesus (shoulder) to miss about a month."
Holy overpay Batman.
Jim Callis@jimcallisBA
#Cubs, 3rd-rder Jacob Hannemann agree on $1 million. Brigham Young OF/cornerback, VG speed, also bat, power & CF skills. #mlbdraft
Groan
Sandberg never made sense as a base coach because he was best going from third to second.
"The Houston Astros say they have signed right-handed pitcher Mark Appel of Stanford, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft earlier this month.
Terms were not disclosed Wednesday ahead of a news conference with Appel."
http://espn.go.com/mlb/draft/2013/story/_/id/94038...
Somebody e-mailed me to ask why Gerardo Concepcion is eligible for selection in the December 2013 Rule 5 Draft if he signed his first contract in March 2012.
Concepcion is eligible because any player who has been outrighted previously in his career is eligible for selection in all subsequent Rule 5 Drafts, even if he otherwise would not be eligible.
Have they changed the meaning of extend again? Kids these days, just when I've gotten used to bad meaning good.