Archive - Oct 2011 - story

The best thing MLB Trade Rumors ever did was buy the rights to Eddie Bajek's reverse-engineered Elias rankings. This year he nailed all but two free agents before the official list came out (Kelly Johnson and Joel Zumaya).

As for the Cubs, Ryan Dempster exercised his $14M option for next year, so his Type A status is a moot point. But the Cubs did exercise their $16M option on Aramis Ramirez last night and it seems to be a mere formality at this point that Ramirez will decline it to seek a multi-year deal. That saves the Cubs $2M on the buyout and the Cubs will likely get a supplemental draft pick if and when Ramirez signs somewhere else as he just missed Type A status and is a Type B free agent. Carlos Pena also qualified at Type B status and his situation is a bit trickier as he could potentially accept the Cubs arbitration offer.

Late Friday night, Bud Selig apparently had enough of the Cubs and Red Sox distracting from what now appears to be a real good World Series and the two teams sent out press releases saying Theo to the Cubs is official. The issue of compensation still needs to be resolved,

This is starting to feel a lot like the Brian Roberts and Jake Peavy negotiations. Of course missing out on both of them ended up turning out pretty well for the Cubs. Hmmm...

The latest foolishness...

It's day 8 of Theo Hostage Watch...I hear he's doing as well as can be expected. The Red Sox have taken his cell phone away and all other lines of communication and they have him bordered up in his office on Yawkey Way.  He is allowed to speak to his wife and children through closely monitored Skype chats. Once the Red Sox receive their terrorist demands, he's been assured of being released. Stay tuned...

Here are the final statistics for the Cubs 2011 AZ Instructional League team.

There is no official scorer at AZIL games so the stats are “unofficial.”

Trey Martin blooped an opposite-field single over the second-baseman's head to score Rubi Silva from 3rd base and cap a furious comeback, as the Cubs rallied to score seven runs over the last four innings to tie the Rockies 7-7 in AZ Instructional League action this morning at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa.

Carter Jurica tripled and scored to key a two-run 1st inning, and blasted a solo HR leading off the bottom of the 6th to provide what proved to be the game-winning run, as the Giants edged the Cubs 3-2 in AZ Instructional League action this afternoon at Indian School Park Field #2 in Scottsdale.