Archive - www.yardbarker.com\", 2008

The Cubs have added three players to their MLB Reserve List (40-man roster), one day in advance of the November 20th deadline that requires MLB clubs to submit major league and minor league reserve lists to the MLB office. .

RHPs Mitch Atkins and Justin Berg were selected from Iowa, and RHP Marcos Mateo was selected from Daytona, and with the addition of the three, the Cubs now have 36 players on their MLB Reserve List.  

Notably absent from the list are LHP Donald Veal (the Cubs 2005 2nd round pick) and 2B Nate Spears (acquired along with two other prospects from the Baltimore Orioles in January 2006 for OF Corey Patterson), meaning both will be eligible for selection in next month's Rule 5 Draft. And I would say that it's very likely that Veal will get selected, and somewhat likely that Spears will be, too.    

Read the rest of this entry>>>

The latest article from Phil Rogers also discusses the Cubs interest in Mark Teahen. I still can't fathom why the Cubs would be interested in a player with a 98 and 91 OPS+ the last two years. Rogers suggests that Felix Pie for Teahen would get the deal done or Mike Fontenot and Ronny Cedeno. I suggest that Phil Rogers finds a new profession and the Cubs actually acquire someone who might help the team.

The best part of the article though is the poll at the bottom of the page.

Read the rest of this entry>>>

The Kansas City Star says the Cubs are making a play for Mark Teahen. This on the heels of a radio report that the Cubs are very interested in Milton Bradley. The KC Star article also says the Cubs have interest in Raul Ibanez, but his cost may be prohibitive.

The Cubs would prefer David DeJesus according to the article, but he seems unavailable as the Royals want to move him to left field and acquire a new center fielder. Teahen though might be attainable. The names thrown out by the author are Felix Pie, Mike Fontenot and Ronny Cedeno.

UPDATE: Here are the contract terms according to SI.com: $8 Million in 2008 with a $4M bonus ($12M total). $12.5M in 2010, $13.5 M in 2011 and a 2012 $14M player option which is almost a guarantee to be picked up. And as I mentioned earlier, I'm about 90% certain he's earned 10/5 no-trade rights.

It's being picked up by multiple news sources that the Ryan Dempster Experience will call Chicago home for the next four years. It sounds like it might be for a total of $52M a year or $13M on average. That's a pretty good deal if he pitches like he did last year, not so much if he pitches like 2001-2003. For what was out there though and for how much the Cubs and Dempster seem to like each other, it sounds like the right deal. He really did have a fantastic 2008 season. His 152 ERA+ was good for third best in the NL.

Read the rest of this entry>>>

- Kevin Towers did a radio interview and basically said the Cubs are the only team the Padres are talking to right now. The Braves are out, he hasn't spoken to the Angels at all and has barely spoken to the Yankees. That's the good news. The bad news is the Cubs do have some interesting pieces but not exactly what the Padres want, so a third or possibly fourth team will be needed to finish the deal. There's also an online version of the story from Tom Krasovic.

- I didn't hear it myself, but some folks claim to have heard a report from Bruce Levine that Ryan Dempster will decide in the next 48 hours on the Cubs offer...whatever it may be. Supposedy in this BP article from yesterday, it says he turned down a 4/52 offer already. Rosenthal mentions "the next day or two" as a potential time frame as well.

- Speaking of Dempster, on an XM radio update either Gary Hughes or Randy Bush said signing Dempster is still their top priority but that Randy Johnson would be a great fallback.

- Beyond the rumors...the folks who ran Thunder Matt's Saloon have rebranded to Pomp Culture - less Cubs, more pop culture, no Matt Murton on the Cubs.

I also wanted to mention one of our new advertisers that you may have noticed at the top of the site. Bob Horsch has been taking pictures of Chicago for over 30 years including a huge collection of Chicago Cubs photos. A rather pleasant fella I might add, so if you're looking for some gift ideas with the holidays approaching, be sure to visit his website.

The Cubs and the other 29 MLB clubs must submit their MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) and minor league reserve lists (38-man AAA roster, 37-man AA roster, and 35-man Class "A" rosters) to the MLB office no later than the close of business this Thursday (11/20).   

What will the Cubs do?

Read the rest of this entry>>>

As several readers have noted in the Comments, Mark Cuban has been charged with insider trading by the SEC "over his sale of shares in Internet company Mamma.com after he learned it was raising money through a private financing."

If any of the clowns who were already resolved to vote against Cuban's quest to buy the Cubs were looking for a pre-emptory "I told you so," I guess they have it.

Interesting point made last week by Jim Memolo on WGN Radio, who was reacting to that anonymous source who told the Sun-Times that Cuban had "zero chance" of getting a thumbs-up from Major League owners:

Here is a guy who, from all indications, would do everything he could as Cubs owner to ensure the team's success and thus, live up to the highest standards of competitive integrity, and MLB wants absolutely nothing to do with him. In San Diego, meanwhile, the fans and MLB are watching the Pads get stripped bare because the guy who owns the team is being sued for divorce.

The World Baseball Classic is happening again this spring and the rosters are starting to take shape. MLB.com came out with an article on the Dominican Republic team and it sounds like Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Marmol will be playing for them. In Carrie Muskat's latest mailbag, she says that Carlos Zambrano will sit out for Team Venezuela this time. It doesn't appear any Cubs will play for Team USA unless the Cubs do land Jake Peavy. You have to hope that Rich Harden wouldn't participate for Team Canada, although I'd guess that Ryan Dempster would. Kosuke Fukudome has indicated he would be honorod to play for Team Japan if they ask. And that's all the Cubs I can think of off the top of my head for the major league squad.

As for the minor leagues, I assume pitcher Alex Maestri will play for Team Italy. The Cubs also signed two Australian pitchers Ryan Searle and Cody Hams and they may play. There are also a few Korean prospects in the system, Lee Hak-ju and Dae-Eun Rhee, so watch for them. And there's a good chance I'm missing a few players so fill in the gaps in the comments if you know of anyone else. (UPDATE: And there you go, Geovany Soto is probably a good bet for the Puerto Rico team).

In the 2006 WBC, Carlos Zambrano and Henry Blanco played for Team Venezuela, Derrek Lee and Michael Barrett played for Team USA. The 2009 WBC will start on March 5th.

UPDATE: Apparently the NSBB story guy(DonnieD) was vacationing in Puerto Rico, not that he lives there. Apperently some folks at NSBB think this is vital information. I think it's inconsequential. I also think most of the folks on that board have an extra chromosome, especially this genius who thinks Chad's bit of information has anything to do with the NSBB story. They're two mutually exclusive stories pal, I just posted them together - try to figure that out.

So to sum up for the reading impaired, i.e. the posters at NSBB - dude met Jake Peavy at a resort in Puerto Rico and Peavy said he's not going to Atlanta and if he can't end up in Southern California, he wants to be in Chicago. Padres rightfully aren't interested in sending him to the Dodgers and Peavy still would prefer to pitch in the NL.

Then, a completely isolated story was related in the comments by one of our readers, NOT The Cub Reporter or any of its writers. That reader heard something from a source that has been reliable in the past for him. I have no reasons to doubt Chad as he's been at posting at The Cub Reporter longer than I've been writing and Chad may be a lot of things, but he's not a liar. 

Oh, the Internet...the wild west of information and speculation has spewed out a couple of beauties for us. First, a fella that claims to live in Puerto Rico relays a story of running into Jake Peavy over on the Northside Baseball Message Boards. Read the entire link but he basically says that Peavy only wants to come to the Cubs. There was a Nike Tour in Puerto Rico this week, so he's either a good researcher who has weaved together a fantastic story or telling the truth.

Then, long-time reader Chad relays this bit of information:

MAJOR GRAIN OF SALT ALERT

My boss has an inside guy in the San Diego Padres front office. Says the deal is done. Just waiting on the announcement.

I will say that a few things that my boss has tipped me off on in the past came true.

Please notice the bold type, but we've known Chad a long time around here and I'm confident he  heard what he heard. It MAY NOT come to pass, as it is a rumor afterall, but I don't have any doubts that is what he was told.

So there you go, if nothing happens, don't blame me, I'm just passing along the information. They are rumors afterall. 

UPDATE: Arizona Phil's much anticipated top 15 list was kind of lost in the shuffle yesterday with the Kevin Gregg trade, so I'm putting it up top for the weekend. Obviously it was done before Ceda got traded, so Phil will have to drop by with #16 and you can move everyone else up one.

I also wanted to add, and sorry if it's a repeat, that the Cubs 6th round pick of 2006 Joshua Lansford has moved from third base to the pitcher's mound as of Instructionals last month. Word comes from friend of TCR, Steve Holley at Inside the Ivy. (Rob G.)

Using the criteria Baseball America uses to rate their Top Ten prospects (50 MLB IP and 130 MLB AB limit, but not concerned with MLB service time), here are my Top 15 Cubs prospects pre-2009. It's just my opinion,and I'm sure many of you have your own idea of who should be where. I probably tend to place greater weight on players at the higher levels, although I do consider players further down the pipeline as well...    

Read the rest of this entry>>>