Fall Ball, A Signing, Rumors and Ramblings

By Neil on October 12, 2006 12 Vote 0 Votes

Before the latest on the Boys in Blue, everyone here at the CCO was shocked to hear of the tragic death of Cory Lidle on Wednesday afternoon. All of our thoughts and prayers go out to the Lidle Family during this time. Life is precious and we all have to live it to the fullest extent on a daily basis.

The Cubs made their first signing of the off-season on Tuesday, Joe Girardi named The Sporting News Manager of the Year, the Arizona Fall League got underway on Tuesday and more from the rumor mill and a few random ramblings....

The Cubs signed right-handed pitcher Matt Harrington on Tuesday according to Baseball America. Harrington signed a Minor League contract with the Cubs. He has pitched for the last 4 seasons with the Fort Worth Cats. Harrington was Baseball America's 2000 High School Player of the Year.

Here is a list from the Baseball Cube of all 5 times he has been drafted, the position drafted and by which team.

According to a report (more like a blurb) on Marlins.com and in the Chicago Sun-Times, Joe Girardi was named the Sporting News National League Manager of the Year on Tuesday. And speaking of the Marlins, according to another report on Marlins.com, the Marlins have indeed approached Rick Kranitz about being the pitching coach for new manager Fredi Gonzalez and Kranitz has not yet decided to return to Florida and has apparently leaving his options open to possibly follow Joe Girardi to his next destination.

Arizona Fall League....

The Arizona fall League got underway on Tuesday. The Mesa Solar Sox dropped their first game of the season to Phoenix, 3-0. Eric Patterson and Scott Moore went a combined 0-7. Adam Harben took the loss but Carmen Pignatiello threw a scoreless inning in relief, struck out 1, walked 1 and threw a wild pitch. There are 7 Cubs participating in the Fall Ball session....Carmen Pignatiello, Lincoln Holdzkom, Adam Harben, Clay Rapada, Jake Fox, Eric Patterson and Scott Moore....the Solar Sox are managed by Pat Listach and the CCO will follow the progress of the team all season.

The Solar Sox bounced back on Wednesday night and beat Phoenix, 3-0. Lincoln Holdzkom threw a perfect inning in relief and struck out 2 on 8 pitches. Clay Rapada pitched 2/3 of an inning walked 1, struck out 1 and picked off a runner at 1st. Eric Patterson, Jake Fox and Scott Moore all got into the game. Patterson was 1 for 4 with a run scored, Moore was 1 for 1 with a RBI and Jake Fox was hitless in 1 at bat.

The Rumor Mill....

Phil Rogers thinks Lou Piniella would be the right fit for the Cubs, not Joe Girardi. According to Rogers the Cubs are envisioning themselves as being the 2007 version of the Detroit Tigers. Rogers is convinced that Piniella would be a better fit than Girardi and he mentioned it again late on Wednesday night.

Bruce Bochy continues to get a lot of press in concern with the Cubs' vacancy.

Lou Piniella stated the Cubs job would be a challenge.

Jim Hendry met with Mike Quade on Tuesday an was expected to leave for Arizona on Wednesday to meet with Pat Listach and Bob Brenly in the next couple of days according to Bruce Miles. Listach is in Arizona managing the Mesa Solar Sox in the AFL.

Alex Rodriguez to the Cubs continues to receive talk on a daily basis. Colin Cowherd broke down the comments from Brian Cashman on Wednesday morning and told all of his listeners to "listen" to Cashman's statement concerning A-Rod's future with the Yankees. Cowherd is right....A-Rod will be traded this off-season, but to which team? Whoever it is will pay with promising talent. Speaking of A-Rod, could he be heading to the White Sox instead of the Cubs? Dave van Dyck thinks so and explains how the Sox could afford him in a deal that would include Joe Crede and Freddy Garcia.

If Bob Brenly leaves the Cubs broadcasting booth to either manage the Cubs or Giants, Steve Stone could be his replacement according to Ed Sherman.

Random Ramblings....

- Isn't it ironic that the much-maligned Neifi Perez is the only Cub on this year's roster that is still playing baseball.

- For those of you that missed it, the White Sox have made a deal with the 7-Eleven convenience store chain to change all of their 7:07pm home start times this season to 7:11pm. The time change is worth $500,000 to the club. Maybe the Cubs can work out something with Dunkin' Donuts to get free coffee for all of those day games.

- Ernie Banks was named the Cubs Hometown Hero at the end of the season. The finalists were Ryne Sandberg, Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins. Santo is the only one of the five not in the Hall of Fame and will hopefully join them soon. A fan favorite or not, Santo has the numbers to be in the Hall.

- Does anyone have an extra copy of 'Money Ball'? Even a slightly used one? Just curious....

- Jason Marquis was left off of the Cardinals NLCS roster for the younger Anthony Reyes....WOW!!

Well, that's the news and I'm sticking to it!!

Neil

Jim, you are good....I was writing the article about Bochy, you beat me to it.

Trevor I was actually thinking that about Guzman at the end of the season, especially if they do land Kranitz with Girardi.

Jim (Tinley Park)

Fox Sports is reporting that:

Bruce Bochy is available to be interviewed .

Hendry's wet dream just came to fruition.

Jim

Jim Hendry will not trade for A-Rod. Not going ot happen. We will have to give away what little talent we already have. We need to worry about getting a manager quickly, getting rid of the albatross in RF. JJ had a good season at the plate. SO WHAT. He cost us more on the field and on the bases than what he did with his bat. All the "great catches" he had this year were because he was out of position or jumped the wrong way. Yes Right field at Wrigley is known to be a hard position on the field to get used to but Pagan and the other who trotted out there seemed to have a lot more luck than JJ. Whether we have to DFA, trade, taken out back, whatever it is we need a RF for next year. I would rather see Pagan in Right that Jones. Jones needs to play in a Dome.

How many of you will be going to games next year if or when the cubs wait to long to sign a manager and we lose Aramis and/or Pierre. Sign Woody Williams, Gary mathews Jr. and some other fillers. If the cubs don't fix this disaster this offseason or at-least make a huge improvementt they will not get a cent from me this season. No one in my family can stomach watching that again with a $100 mill payroll.

Tribune company, would you please quick bleeding cubby nation dry and just give us what we deserve. Haven't the cubs made you rich enough or has greed fully taken over.

Trevor

Think anyone is still remotely interested in Guzman after the season he put in? Doubtful. We can only hope he finally blossoms this year ala Hill last season.

Jason B. from AZ

I just don't see how the Cubs will swing any big trades, simply because they don't have the assets to trade.

If we trade Hill, we are down a pitcher in an already suspect starting rotation.

The only assets to even trade would be Murton and/or Jacque Jones, presumably for a pitcher. That would be under the assumption you are bringing in a Carlos Lee type player as a free agent.

Signing Pierre and Ramirez must happen asap, or immediately fill their positions with free agents. What Hendry can't do is wait and see what happens and get nothing at all...

Jim (Tinley Park)

A few thoughts...

* Nick: Bingo! Hendry should make his pick now. Connie Mack, Joe McCarthy aren't coming back. Pick between Joe, Lou or Bob.

* Jim: Jones is useless to the cubs now, I don't think they could even give him away.

* I Don't want to wait on Murton's developement if we could upgrade now. Murton would be a nice fit on a team that is built to win in 2007. However, if he is our next leading hitter (After Derek Lee), we are in for another long season. In order to get better the Cubs are going to have to part ways with some decent players a la Murton, Barrett, Izturis, Cedeno etc. They aren't going to get Vernon Wells or A-Rod for the likes of Freddy Bynum type of players.

Brian

I like Vernon Wells also, not sure what it is going to take to get him though, he is not a free agent. If we strike out with JP, Gary Matthews Jr. seems more likely.

nick

I agree Murton is the left fielder of the Cubs, now and in the future. I would really like adding Vernon Wells to the lineup. He will help solve the power issue in the outfield and also has gold glove defense.

But you guys are right we need to get the manager issue cleared up NOW, not this weekend, not next week and definitely not after the World Series, NOW.

Brian

Jim,

I completely agree with you regarding Matt Murton. He lead the team in hitting, HE LEAD THE TEAM IN HITTING at .297. His power will increase. I love the kid, he should be an everyday starter.

jim

How come no one is talking about Murton in left next season. Jones should get the boot after this labrum debacle. If he is not smart enough to tell his boss that he has this problem I don't want him. And now he wants some time off before looking into the problem.?????????!!!!!!! M

Matt Murton is a great ball player and has a ton of potential. His homeruns will increase as the years go on. I could definetly see him put up 25 next season. His defence will get better along witht the rest of his game. JJ is the one we need to get rid of. Tradeable or not.

If we lose Aramis all this talk is pointless because we will be back in the same position as last season. One great hitter with no one to protect him. Trading for A-Rod??? Come on you should know better. I would rather trade for Vernon Wells. If we get A-Rod what will be the price?? Big-Z?? Hill??

Hendry needs to sign a manager and get it over with. Who cares if MLB doesn't like announcments during the playoffs. No one is handing us a championship. Get the deals done now. So we have some room to make the right moves when the playoffs are over.

Trevor

If the Cubs don't sign Giradi now the honeymoon might not ever happen. Giradi is at the beginning of his managerial career and the amount of times in the future that both the Cubs have an opening and Giradi needs a job may be very few. Pinella is at the end of his career, so he certainly will only be with the Cubs for a few before retiring for good. At that point, the Cubs will again be searching for another manager. Sign Giradi, let the Cubs grow with him, (and his pitching coach).

Larry Brown

X-Cubs for manager? Why not ask former short stop Larry Bowa? Proven hard nosed,demanding results (though not getting results)has experience and can work off a smaller payroll.