Travis Wood

Buster Posey and Joaquin Arias collected three hits a piece, as the Giants defeated the Cubs 9-3 in Cactus League action this afternoon at Dwight Pattrerson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.

Travis Wood threw five innings of shutout ball with eight strikeouts, Steve Bruno singled and doubled, scored a run, and drove-in another, and Wes Darvill tripled, walked twice, drove-in a run, and scored a run, leading the Daytona Cubs to a 5-1 victory over the Modesto Nuts (Colorado Rockies Hi-A affiliate) on Field #3, and Gioskar Amaya singled, doubled, tripled, and scored three runs, Marco Hernandez drove-in two runs with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, and Rony Rodriguez slugged a solo home run over the LF fence and onto Center Street, as the Kane County Cougars and the Asheville Tourists (Rockies Lo-A affiliate) played to a ten-inning 6-6 tie on Field #2, in Cactus League Minor League Camp action this afternoon at Fitch Park in Mesa, AZ.

Javier Baez homered in consecutive at bats, crushing a solo home run in the 7th and a walk-off two-run bomb in the 9th, helping to rally the Cubs to a 7-5 victory over Team Japan this afternoon at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ. 

Team Japan is in Phoenix preparing for the World Baseball Classic Championship Round that will be played in San Francisco next week.

Alfonso Soriano laced a two-out line-drive two-run double down the LF line and Dioner Navarro followed with a towering two-run HR over the RF bullpens to rally the Cubs to a 4-2 lead in the 6th, and then Jorge Soler slugged a solo home run to the top of the berm over the LF fence and Christian Villanueva drilled two-run HR over the left-center fence to key a five-run 8th, as the Cubs defeated the San Diego Padres 9-3 in Cactus League action this afternoon at Dwight Paterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.

LHP Travis Wood contributed with both his arm and his bat, throwing four innings of one-hit shutout ball with six strikeouts, and roping a line-drive lead-off single and then scoring on the Soriano double to ignite the four-run 6th. On the negative side, Wood did walk three over the course of the 4.0 IP (63 pitches - 35 strikes).

Darnell McDonald and Junior Lake each had a single, a double, and an RBI, leading the Cubs to a 5-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics in Cactus League action this afternoon at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.

George Kotarras drove-in five runs with bases-loaded doubles in consecutive innings, as the Milwaukee Brewers hammered the Cubs 10-2 in Cactus League action at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in warm & sunny Mesa, AZ, this afternoon.

UPDATE: Deal is done according to a Bruce Levine tweet, don't know the name of the minor leaguers yet and the players must pass physicals.

ESPN Chicago and Fox Sports both reported last night that the Cubs were close on a deal to send the "best left-handed reliever in baseball" to the Cincinnati Reds, possibly for left-handed starter Travis Wood and 2 more minor leaguers. It seems the "2 more" will be the key to deal. And of course, nothing is official yet with plenty of water already thrown on this rumor fire. But it may happen, and if so, let's see why it might make some sense.

Under the new CBA, relievers will almost certainly not being getting their old club free agent compensation and Marshall was set to be one after 2012. Better to get something now than nothing later with 2012 looking like a non-competitive season for the Cubs. Also, it's generally a good idea to trade a reliever for a starter, at least a starter that won't be a free agent until after 2016 and you probably expect to be average or slightly better. Wood will be just 25 next season after all. And as mentioned, there seems to be talk of at least 2 other Reds coming over and we'll have to see who those are.