What a difference a year makes. During the 2007 spring training, the starting rotation discussion centered around which of these three candidates would be our number five starter: Wade Miller, Mark Prior, and Angel Guzman. Combined, they started six times (three apiece for Miller and Guzman) Trachsel also started four games, with the next smallest total belonging to Sean Marshall, at nineteen. Congrats to Marshall for grabbing the "Ruben Quevedo Fifth-Man" mantle, and running with it.
This year? Carrie Muskat gives the rundown on the candidates for the two open spots in the rotation. The first bit of news is this notion that the fourth spot is open, that Marquis evidently has to apply for his old job. The other applicants being Dempster, Lieber, Marshall (also applying for his old job) and Gallagher.
Among the more interesting observations from the Muskat article is that Marquis has a history of fading in the second half. A quick check of ESPN's stats page shows Marquis with a 4.41 ERA pre-All Star break for the last three years, 5.54 after it. How stupid and unrealistic would it be to let him have the fifth spot for the first half of the season, then ship him off to some unsuspecting foe, and bring up Gallagher for the second half?
Bonus amount has been added.
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.