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You Won't Believe This, But...
The Cubs have re-signed FA RHP Chad Fox to a 2009 minor league contract, and Foxy also gets an NRI to Spring Training. Because he signed his minor league contract prior to December 11th, he will be eligible for selection in next week's Rule 5 Draft, and I'm sure he'll be in great demand.
While the 38-year old righthander will be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft, he will not be eligible to receive the automatic "no trade" rights through 6/15 that an Article XX free-agent normally would get, because a player has to sign a major league contract in order to qualify for the automatic NTC.
Fox spent most of the 2008 season on the 60-day DL with some kind of necro-elbow problem (calling Dr. Cubster!), and in fact his presence on the DL gave the Cubs a post-season roster exemption they otherwise would not have had. So it wasn't like he was totally useless. Perhaps the Cubs plan to use him the same way in 2009, or maybe it's simply a matter of Fox having incriminating photos of Jim Hendry at the Tribune Company picnic.
But it's not like Fox spent the entire 2008 on the DL. He did manage to pitch in three games (3.1 IP) with the Cubs this past season, going 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA. And he spent some time on a rehab assignment at Fitch Park, too, where he threw in a couple of EXST intrasquad games.
Kerry Wood... eat your heart out!
Comments
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
I think it was Real Neal that nailed the loophole on this....
sign Fox, put him on the 25-man roster then place him on the 60-day DL and you get a free playoff roster spot every year.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
I have no idea what signing Chad Fox has to do with not signing Kerry Wood, but oh well.
This actually isn't a bad move. It is extremely cheap, and it makes sure that the Cubs have someone to stash on the 60-day DL come playoff roster time.
Market for Dunn
The Braves, Mariners and Nationals are among the teams interested in Dunn, major-league sources say, and his list of suitors could grow quickly.
from Rosenthal
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8885188/Market-...
Peavy stuff
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-hotstoven...
Despite reports to the contrary, the Cubs remain engaged in talks to acquire Jake Peavy from the Padres.
Indeed, a Padres source said the club had uncovered two teams which could provide the players to complete a trade. The Orioles are believed to be one.
Re: Peavy stuff
Is Jake Peavy our official 2009 offseason Brian Roberts?
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
giants sign home run howry. 1/2.75.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Well, the only way a Peavy trade WILL get done is if there IS a third team not named the Orioles. Honestly, screw those idiots, they are hopeless to deal with. All Hendry does is spin his wheels when he could be working on deals with a more significant probability of a successful outcome.
Good call on the Fox signing Real Neal or whomever. It's a dirt-cheap option to have a guaranteed "26th man" available for post-season rosters. And who knows, maybe Fox DOES have incriminating photos of Crane Kenney.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
The other thing I am wondering about this signing... how did Fox get into a game last year when the decision was in doubt? I hope it was in the 14th inning...
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Oh yeah, and if Fox is still trying to pitch with that chewed shoestring of an arm he's one tough mf'er.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Fox has a pretty decent changeup when his arm is working.
By the way, Rich Hill faced four batters in relief last night.
1) HBP to load the bases
2) walked to force in run
3) popped out foul
4) walked to force in run
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
bleh.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Maybe Hill's problem is that he is actually righthanded even though he somehow learned to pitch lefty. I can't hit the wastebasket with a kleenex lefty, I have no idea how somebody could command pitches at the major league level. Although I did once get beat at bocce by a 75-year-old woman who was playing lefty because she had dislocated her right shoulder.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Billy Wagner is right handed.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
great! sign him up. multiple years.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Where am I? This is confusing.
Chad Fox in 2008 - this shoudn't take long
May 2 @ STL
After Rich Hill gave the Cubs two-thirds of a befuddling inning, Wuertz, Lieber, Marshall, Howry and Wood do their best to get the Cubs into extra innings. Entering into the bottom of the 10th, he gets Ludwick, Molina and Izturis to line out to center. The 11th goes less smoothly, as leadoff pinch-hitter Miles singles. He advances to second on a wild pitch and takes third on a sacrifice, but that's irrelevant after Schumaker homers to right to give Fox his first decision since 2004.
May 5 @ CIN
Fox enters with his team down by two, one on and two out in the seventh. He strikes out Brandon Phillips. Cubs lose the game.
May 11 vs. ARZ
Fox relieves Gallagher in the fifth, one out, bases loaded, game tied at two. He immediately walks Conor Jackson, then immediately walks Justin Upton. Drew pops out, Reynolds flies out. His sixth inning goes pop out, walk, foul out to catcher, pickoff. The Cubs later tie on a Reed Johnson homer and take the lead on a 2-run double by Ward as they go on to win.
And we're all caught up.
Re: Chad Fox in 2008 - this shoudn't take long
damn u dusty!!!
lol...ordinary baseball occurrences.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
ST schedules on the trib site:
http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/spor...
I highly recommend a week in Phoenix for those who are in the position to do so. Planned well you can catch three games in a day, and you can get a lot closer to the players than you will be able to during the regular season.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Neal--
I went to ST last year in Phoenix, had a GREAT time. We golfed our asses off and caught 5 Cubs games; it would have been six, but we got an invite to play at Lookout Mountain and decided to skip the road trip to Tucson that day.
Our only disappointment was that none of the star players were EVER around to sign for us. It was just the rooks and NRIs that would hang out by the outfield entrance or mosey over from the dugout to sign a few autographs and that was it. Hey, Sam Fuld was an auto-signing MACHINE, but that's not exactly what we were hoping for. Fonzie walked right by us; I'm pretty sure he was smirking.
We did stand next to Jim Hendry behind home plate for one of the games and small-talked him for about 3 minutes, that was somewhat cool.
I'd like to check out the Dodgers' new digs this year.
Bruce Miles latest
thinks Cubs should go after Bradley, but nothing coming from the Cubs on that
standard stuff about Peavy and having to move some $$$
http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/1044
Re: Bruce Miles latest
He goes on to say in the comments about a leadoff hitter:
"At this point, it may still be (gulp) Soriano. But wait, there's still time. I don't believe that either Furcal or Roberts will be with the Cubs in 2009. They're up against it budget-wise, and I can't see either guy fitting, especially if they still want to make a run at Peavy"
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
So its bad if Soriano is still hitting leadoff? People bitched about Pierre so we went out and got the anti-Pierre and people still bitch.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
They do share at least one trait - the inability to take walks.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
The combination of low obp and low slugging were what made Pierre a poor hitter and even worse leadoff hitter. Soriano has low obp, which makes him somewhat ill-suited to be a leadoff hitter, but still a valuable hitter overall in that he can hit for some power (and like Pierre maintain a decent average).
But Soriano really isn't the anti-Pierre. That would be Dunn, I believe.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Barry Bonds?
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
at least pierre could stay healthy enough to accumulate 700 impotent at bats. soriano's turned into a glass doll since we've acquired him.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
Despite all the Pierre hate the man had 204 hits the year he was with us with 32 doubles, 13 triples and 58 SB's. Which means 50% of the time he got a hit he was in scoring position. Thats pretty awesome in my opinion, but hey he was shitty beyond shitty to most people. Whatever.
Re: You Won't Believe This, But...
no Mike, you don't get it. All that matters here is outs made. Since Pierre made a lot of them, anything good he does is negated.
Re: Pierre
How quickly they forget. Pierre didn't show up til the middle of JUNE 2006. After a horrendous April he pulled a .226 .267 .290 out of his bucket-sized cap in May and finished the month with a total of 4 RBI's on the year.
The Cubs were 7-22 in May. Pierre didn't start hitting until the season was effectively over.
But that didn't stop Dustbag from giving him 700 at bats.
JP had a similar start for Joe Torre last year and Joe unceremoniously benched him and kept him on the bench the second half.
Re: Pierre
Aramis hit .197 in April that year, to Pierre's .258.
I don't like Pierre's arm, and an outfielder should be able to slug a little, but his OBP means nothing to me. Pitchers aren't stupid: you don't walk a guy who steals a lot of bases and hits very few doubles or home runs. You throw strikes; and so he gets a lot of hits and makes a lot of outs.
When I see a guy like Burrell or Dunn or Bradley with a high OBP, I just figure he can't run and pitchers are more comfortable with a guy like that at first than at the plate. How many walks and singles does it take to get someone like Pat Burrell home from first? Three, right? Pierre only needs one single.
Did someone say, base-clogging?
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