Cubs Invite 21 to Camp; Sign Michael Wuertz

We don't need any bastardized French names. Come back when it's Doo-bwa.

on January 21st, these Type A free agents are still out there...

Bobby Abreu*, Orlando Cabrera, Juan Cruz, Adam Dunn*, Orlando Hudson, Oliver Perez, Andy Petitte*, Manny Ramirez, Ben Sheets, Russ Springer*, Jason Varitek

* means they were NOT offered arbitration

for those that were, that's some great advice they got from their agents to not take it.

Hollandworth's number's last year:

http://www.scorebook.com/P000153547?WEBEVENT+L602E...

Only the catchers have an outside chance to make the team, since the Cubs are still deciding on a backup, and the competition is Koyie Hill and Paul Bako. Bako's lifetime BA is .231, which looks good only next to Henry Blanco's .227 and Mark Johnson's .218.

The Cubs seem to like Clevenger's (lefty) bat, although it hasn't produced much in the way of doubles and HRs yet. Even without pop, he gets to play a fair amount of first base and DH when he's not catching. A .306 hitter over three seasons, he hit .302 in the AFL; but he hasn't established himself at the AA level yet, so he's quite a long shot, although an interesting one.

(What I meant was that only the catchers among position players had a chance.)

Aardvark traded to Seattle for a single-A pitcher named (Fabian) Williamson with even worse stats than our Hank

(Williamson, 20, had a 4.10 ERA and a 67/27 K/BB ratio in 52 2/3 innings in the Appy League last year)

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/...

Wonder how McFail likes it?

Submitted by Q-Ball on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 5:22pm.

Interesting post, I looked up their salaries last year to see how stupid they were (IIRC, if you offer a player arbirtration, you MUST offer at least 80% of last year's pay) Cabrera: $9 mil (he won't get that) Hudson: $6.25 mil (Maybe not per year, but he can get more) Varitek: $10 mil (uh, no) Juan Cruz: $1.8 mil (He'll get more than that) Ben Sheets: $10 mil (one year flier?) Manny: $20 mil (shouldn't have torn up those options) Oliver Perez figures to get a multi-year deal from the Mets or similar. So, I would only really say Varitek will pay for this, and Cabrera, Manny, Sheets may pay.

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Q-BALL: The minimum 80% of previous year's salary (and minimum 70% of salary from two seasons ago) rule does NOT apply to Article XX MLB free-agents who accept 12/1 arbitration offers, and it also does not apply to an arbitration-eligible player who received a contract the previous year through the arbitratioin process (went to a hearing) where the player received more than a 50% raise. For these players, the club must offer at least the MLB minimum salary ($400K), but otherwise there are no resrictions.

Auto-renewal players players must receive a salary which is at least the MLB minimum ($400K in 2009) and must be at least 80% of their previous year's salary, and their minor league "split" salary (which is what they get if they are optioned to the minors) must be at least 60% of what the player was actually paid the previous season. So last year, the minor league split for Rich Hill and Matt Murton was about $250K, because both spent the entire 2007 season in the big leagues and so both actually were paid somewhere around $400K (of which $240K is 60%) in 2007.

Otherwise the minor league split minimum in 2009 is $32,500 for players who are on a 40-man roster for the first time (Atkins, Berg, Mateo, Stevens, and Patton), and it's a $65K minimum for all others. 

Luis Rivas signed to minor league deal and NRI'd to spring training. He convinced Lou and Hendry that he could be the slugging switch hitter they need on May 25th, 2008, when he hit two homeruns. The stout second baseman took Ted Lilly deep in the first and third innings, both solo shots. Rumor has Lou Piniella considering him as a leadoff hitter, which is where the biggest slugger in the lineup belongs.

Said Jim Hendry of the 29-year-old middle infielder, "We like the kid. We think he can hit, and we think he can play short. We're gonna give him a good long look." Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot have been looking into apartments in the Baltimore area.

Apparently Ryan Howard has asked for $18 million in his second year of arbitration. The Phillies should have just declined him and signed Dunn.

Ken Kadokura pitched for the Yokohama Baystars from 04 to 06 and then went to the Yomiuri Giants as an FA in 07 and remained in 08.

in 05 he was 11-8, 3.37, 197IP (177K/76BB)
in 06 he was 10-9, 4.84, 154IP (114K/51BB)

an FA after the 06 season he tried to negotiate for more money over several years, but yokohama being cheap as they are let him walk. it turned out to be the wise choice for them...

in 07 he was 1-5, 5.97, 31IP (26/14)
in 08 he was 0-2, 3.55, 12IP (16/6)

what the hell he's doing with an NRI to cubs camp i have no fucking idea.