Author Archives

Here's the deal, I'll post updates at the top as I have time, since most are Twitter stories, just look at the Twitter box for the link if you must.

3:08 PM CST: Nick Cafardo says Red Sox offered 3/38 for Victorino, don't see the Cubs getting near that.

Dale Sveum had a press conference, said Matt Garza ready to start pitching by end of month and was impressed by Javier Baez's bat speed using the Gary Sheffield comp that's been thrown out a lot.

1:18 PM CST: Muskat scares the Cubs' world by tweeting that Cubs are looking at Yunielsky Betancourt for third base.

12:00 PM CST: Jerry Crasnick says Cubs checking in on Shane Victorino, Red Sox and Yankees as well. Indians seem to have the most interest though at the moment.  Says Reds and Braves not so much with the interest and calls Phillies interest "tepid". Shane looking for a 3 to 4 year deal after seeing Upton and Pagan sign.

...and away we go.

- The big rumor this morning came from Jayson Stark where he mentioned the Cubs among one of four suitors for the recently traded Yunel Escobar (Rays, A's and Yankees were the other teams mentioned). I imagine the Cubs see him as a possible option at third base. Regardless of his past and potential future performance, he's the jack-ass that advertised homophobic slurs on his eye black, so hoping the Cubs just pass on this one.

According to Wittenmyer, the Cubs will non-tender 2 of their 5 arbitration eligible players.

Hoyer says Cubs expect to non-tender two arb guys by tonight's deadline with hope of retaining them. Stewart and ...

— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) November 30, 2012

The tweet seems to indicate Ian Stewart is one of those two, which leaves M. Garza, J. Samardzija, J. Russell or L. Valbuena as the other. It would seem obvious that Valbuena would be that other, as he's hardly a great loss if they can't resign him for less. I imagine the Cubs would be happy to sign Stewart back for less, but he may very well want to test the market.

Hardball Talk is running a list of non-tenders so far, a list of players the Cubs may look into signing, so keep checking back there.

The only other news of note is that Jessie Rogers will take over the ESPN Chicago Cubs beat from Doug Padilla next season, who is moving over to the White Sox. Rogers was covering the Blackhawks beat, which means he had a lot of free time lately.

Today was the deadline to add players to the 40-man so they wouldn't be eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft. The winners were: RHP Trey McNutt, RHP Robert Whitenack, 3B Christian Villanueva and INF Logan Watkins. Nick Struck seems to be the only surprise name left off the 40-man additions...enjoy the Astros! To make room for the additions, Bryan LaHair was desginated for assignment and RHP Carlos Gutierrez was waived and assigned to Iowa after clearing waivers (I swear I don't even know who that is). LaHair is apparently going to sign to play in Japan.

The Cubs also traded RHP Jake Brigham (acquired in the trade for Geovany Soto) right back to the Texas Rangers for RHP Barret Loux and a player to be named later. Brigham allegedly has an elbow injury according to Bruce Miles, so that would explain why the Cubs are getting such high upside with Loux as it must be a reworking of the Soto deal (mighty nice of the Rangers). Loux was a former first round pick of the Diamondbacks (6th overall in 2010) out of Texas A&M. After agreeing on a $2M deal with the D'Backs, the club backed out citing an issue with his elbow and shoulder and the Rangers signed him for $312K later that year as a free agent. 2 years later, he put up a 14-1 mark in AA for the Rangers on a 3.47 ERA (7.1 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9) and Texas League pitcher of the year honors.

The Cubs have signed RHP Scott Baker for $5.5M, plus $1.5M in incentives. He became a free agent after the Twins declined his $9.5M option for 2013.

The Good: Baker will be playing his age 31 season and has a career 63-48 record and 3.44 K/BB ratio. His career rates are: 7.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 1.2 HR/9. He only costs $5.5M in guaranteed money which is pretty cheap for a starter that threw 170-200 innings in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The Bad: Baker is coming off "surprise" Tommy John surgery last April. He also missed time in 2011. His ERA+ for his career is just 102.

The Judgement: While most pitchers are back on the mound a year later or less after Tommy John surgery, it's my personal and casual observation that it takes a good 2-3 months after that for the pitcher to regain their full control and consistency. We may see some flashes of his old self, but I don't know if we'll see it start after start at the beginning of the season. And if they are attempting another Paul Maholm signing to try and flip him at the deadline, a good first half is a key part of that successful equation. Also, he's pretty damn mediocre before the injury (ERA+ starting from 2007: 101, 122, 100, 91, 129). It's not a lot of money, but this seems more like pitching depth than any type of solid foundation. Regardless of the Cubs likelihood to not be very competitive in 2013, I don't think it's wise to make unwise decisions. Sure the risk is moderate, but it's hard to see where the upside is any greater in this case. And while the Cubs new regime may have their moments of brilliance, they've also misfired on their evaluations as well (points and laughs at picture of Chris Volstad).  So ultimately it's a big old shrug of the shoulders on this one for me.