Archive - 2010 - story

The Cubs are a wasteland of news at the moment. Let's look at how Project .500 is doing...

Starting 8 (total guesses right now):

vs. righties: DeWitt, Castro, Pena, Ramirez, Colvin, Soriano, Byrd, Soto

Bench: Fukudome, Baker, Hill, Barney, Guyer or other outfielder

vs. lefties: Baker, Castro, Ramirez, Pena, Byrd, Soriano, Soto, Fukudome

Bench: Colvin, DeWitt, Hill, Barney, Guyer or other outfielder

The Cubs have named their minor league & player development staff for 2011:

Dave Kaplan, fresh off his own new contract, is reporting that the Cubs and Kerry Wood are close to finalizing a deal.

We've done this joke before (well Real Neal did), but Bruce Miles has written the 2010 sequel.

--As we wrote last week, the only prospects the Cubs won’t move are Brett Jackson and Chris Archer. All the others would be on the table in trade talks. That includes Josh Vitters and Jay Jackson.

The Cubs lost two minor league pitchers in the AAA Phase of today's Rule 5 Draft at the Winter Meetings in Florida.

22-year old RHP Ronny Morla was selected by the Mets in the 1st Round, and 24-year old LHP Casey Lambert was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2nd Round.

The MLB Rule 5 Draft is the last order of business at the MLB WINTER MEETINGS, and it is a mechanism that allows MLB clubs to select (draft) players off minor league Reserve Lists. There is a "Major League Phase" where MLB clubs can draft players off AAA Reserve Lists for $50,000, a "AAA Phase" where AAA Affiliates can draft players off AA rosters for $12,000, and finally a "AA Phase" where AA clubs can draft players off the reserve lists of Class "A" clubs for $4,000.

10:30 PM CST (Rob G.): A previous Levine post said Cubs are interested in acquiring Jason Frasor after missing out on him last season. Medical reports on Brandon Webb are in the Cubs doctors hands and Chris Davis for Robinson Chirinos is still on the table, but the Cubs want Darren O'Day included in a deal.