Another Weekend Update

By Neil on November 18, 2006 7 Vote 0 Votes

One week ago it appeared inevitable the Cubs would lose their All-Star 3rd baseman, arguably the best at his position in the league and a key piece to the mandate from John McDonough that the Cubs would compete in 2007. The deadline came and went but Jim Hendry was able to resign Aramis Ramirez for less than the apparent market value. While many have viewed this signing as that of a non-move, keeping Ramirez and Kerry Wood for under market value sent a message to the rest of the league. The GM Meetings were a prelude to the activity that is just around the corner at the Winter Meetings. Teams are spending money at a record pace and many think that trades will be where the real deals will be done. The amount of money being paid out to middle-of-the-road talent is unparalleled as baseball is flooded with more money than it has been in the history of the game.

While the Cubs resigned Ramirez, Wood, Miller and Blanco, signed Mark DeRosa and traded for Neal Cotts....what is the next step? Many think Alfonso Soriano will not sign with any team before the Winter Meetings and when he does it could be a contract worth $20 million dollars a year for at least 6 years. The teams in the bidding war for Soriano all have a Plan B, so do the Cubs have one? Apparently so....here is the latest from around the league, a few unbelievable contracts, a change in the front office, injury updates and of course, the latest from the mill....

Turn Up the Heat.... The Cubs are on the market and while most are looking at the off-season additions to team on the field, everyone should be paying just as much attention to who will soon own the team. There will be an ownership change and the Tribune Company no longer owning the team will be the biggest step in turning around the fortune of the organization. Bidding could start at $600 million dollars with some speculating the sale cost could reach a billion dollars.

Alfonso Soriano.... By now it is well known the Astros have made an offer to Soriano and the Phillies have had in depth conversations with Soriano's agents on multiple occasions. The Angels are going to be players in the Soriano sweepstakes but the Phillies are convinced Soriano wants to stay in the National League and in the Eastern Time Zone. Mark Patrick and Buck Martinez thinks the Phillies are the team most likely to overpay for Soriano. They feel the Phillies are just one bat away from being able to take the next step and actually make the playoffs....something they have come very close at doing over the past two seasons....they were eliminated in the last weekend the past two years. Buck Martinez used the phrase "most desperate" in reference to the Phillies and signing Soriano. Martinez feels the Astros announcement was just to satisfy the fans but both think Woody Williams will actually end up in Houston and used the phrase "a good fit" especially with the fact Williams attended the University of Houston.

The Phillies met with Soriano's agents, Pat Rooney, Fern Cuza and Diego Benz, at the GM Meetings and appear to be willing to meet or beat the 7-year, $120 million dollar deal that is rumored to be on the table from the Angels and Cubs. The Phillies feel they have a better bargaining chip with Soriano than the Cubs....a 66 win season compared to a lineup that includes Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard. Julio Lugo appears to be the backup plan for centerfield if Soriano is not signed as well as J.D. Drew. The Cubs appear to be less interested in Juan Pierre as everyday passes and Gary Matthews, Jr. is apparently asking for more than the 3-year, $30 million dollar offer the Giants have on the table for both players.

Bill Mueller.... The former Cub announced his retirement on Friday but he will remain with the Dodgers as special assistant to Ned Colletti.

Alex Gonzalez.... No, not that one....the other one is close to signing a new contract with the Reds rumored to be worth $15 million dollars over 3 years according to several reports including one in the Boston Herald. And everyone thought the Cubs over paid for Mark DeRosa. Gonzalez signing with the Reds could end up being beneficial to the Cubs, if Julio Lugo does reunite with Lou Piniella the Cubs would have a trading chip in Cesar Izturis and/or Ronny Cedeno.

Jason Jennings.... The Rockies are shopping Jennings but how interested are the Cubs? Some think the Cubs could trade Felix Pie and Michael Wuertz for Jennings, who will be a free agent after the 2007 season. But according to a report in the Chicago Tribune, the Rockies are looking for Rich Hill from the Cubs for Jennings. Hill has been labeled untouchable.

Jake Westbrook.... Westbrook's name surfaced over the past week in the Cubs rumor mill and there was even an Internet rumor that a deal between the Cubs and Indians had been made....it was just that a rumor. Westbrook to the Cubs was discussed by Mark Patrick and Buck Martinez on Friday and Martinez thinks Westbrook would be a great fit with the Cubs and would be very successful at Wrigley with the sinker he possess. Westbrook is a slow starter but always finishes strong and with pitching in Cleveland he would be used to the climate at Wrigley in April and early May.

Sharon Pannozzo.... The long-time Media Director of the Cubs resigned on Friday but will remain with the team until the end of the year. Pannozzo has been with the Cubs since 1982.

Injury Update.... According to a report on Cubs.com, Mark Prior, Cesar Izturis and Jacque Jones are making progress on rehabbing their injuries this off-season. Prior is working out 6 days a week with a personal trainer in San Diego. Izturis had a MRI a few weeks back and was cleared to begin his off-season training program. And despite playing in Japan, Jones is in San Diego working on his shoulder issues with Prior's trainer.

Barry Zito.... According to a report in the New York Post, Barry Zito will be a New York Met. When did they start signing checks?

Kei Igawa.... Igawa was posted on Friday and according to a report in the Chicago Tribune the Cubs are likely not going to bid for the rights to negotiate with the left hander with adding Neal Cotts to the mix on Thursday.

Nomar Garciaparra.... Nomar appears to be off of the market, several reports have indicated the Dodgers are very close at resigning him for a multi-year deal.

Free Agent Signings from ESPN....check out the deals being signed

Daily Transactions from ESPN

Daily Transactions from CBS SportsLine

Well, that's the news, rumors and just a bunch of stuff....and I'm sticking to them!!!!

Larry B

Maybe (just dreaming here) we could send Novoa,and JJ or Murton for Manny. Heck if we had to even throw in Cotts. I seem to remember Manny hitting well at Wrigley, and to think of possibly Soriano,D-Lee,A-RAM,M-RAM and Drew/Murton or JJ(whom ever stays) that could/would be dangerous at any park.

daverj

Aaron - I'm not sure what made you think I need to lighten up ... and I know we are just kicking the tires around and discussing ideas. I realize this is all for fun and I enjoy reading all the posts. My only point was that I think we need to stay within the realm of "giving up value" to "get value" or else we are talking about deals we "hope will happen" and not deals that are realistic.

You are right that the ARam and Nomar deals were great trades for the Cubs ... but I just don't think the circumstances that applied to those deals come up often ... particularly in the offseason as opposed to trade deadline deals when teams out of the race are looking to dump. And remember, Boston was very eager to rid themseles of Nomar and ARam was not a superstar at that point in his career (his defense was terrible if you look at the number of errors he made in Pitt, his offense was inconsistent and he was a year and a half from free agency).

In any event, I hope my comments didn't offend anyone as I value everyone's opinion. I was just giving mine ... JJ isn't going anywhere ... it's not that I want it that way, it's just the reality given his skills and salary.

Overall, I like what Hendry has done this offseason so far and I think more moves will follow. My guess is we end up with one more low end star type player (either LF or SP ... my best guess right now would be Drew or Burrell) and then two more middle tier players (to fill LF, CF or SP slots ... possible Jennings, Floyd, Mench, Lugo, Igawa, D. Roberts, Eaton, Lilly, Padilla, Pierre (when he realizes there aren't a ton of teams after him), A. Huff).

Jim

I am hearing rumors of a Manny Ramirez deal. That would be alot better than Drew.

Agustin Rexach

I saw the way Dusty's Giants broke down after being ahead in the world series and he could'nt pick em up. I would never hire a manager that lets his players decide in the first place and that can't enforce basic baseball. Having said that, the only time Dusty had a good Cub team was in 2003 and I blame him for not being able to make his team compose after that "poor guy incident" in the stands. That was not an excuse to loose that or the next game. But to his favor, the 05 06 Cubs teams were short on players, and with all the injuries not even LaRussa would've made them win.[Or maybe he would have].

I live in Puerto Rico and in 04 when the Cubs came down to play the Expos were very much in the race for a playoff spot and our dear Dusty gave all our players permission to go out and party since most of them had never been in the Island. I remember most of our stars being in the local casinos past 3 in the morning. Sosa, Lofton, Alou, Alfonseca and a bunch more drinking like crazy. They lost that series to a mediocre Expo team. Lou would never allow his players to go wild while in playoff contention.

P.S. Though I'd have to admit that K.Lofton plays gggreat with a hangover. He hit 2 hr in the first game.

Jim (Tinley Park)

A thoughht

uptil now and it is still early, I admire Hendry's proacvtive approach. He certainly is making Lou P happy. He still has a lot of work to do and these next few months should be interesting.

Aaron

Cliff---love your ideas for the rotation, but the comment on JJ is wrong....see my response to David on that....

Anyway, if Matthews Jr is asking for 3 @ 10 mill, I say do it----but only if you were going to do it for Drew, who absolutely is not worth 14 a year. When Matthews Jr. was with the Cubs the first time, I thought he'd develop into the player he is now, but just like always happens to us, we don't have the coaching or patience to deal with "projects"...I guess that's what 98 years will do to an organization. He's a switch hitter too, and I like that versatility.

Jones needs to go...absolutely needs to go. You have to have a guy with an arm in the corner outfield position. I'd love to see Pie get a chance, and I hate how everyone says he should remain in the minors longer. Why? At some point the Cardinals had to give Pujols a chance, right? He only had one season in the minors and belted 19 hr w/ about 90 rbi's. Pie had 15 w/ like 56 rbi's while batting mostly leadoff. Why can't we give him a shot? In spring training he seems to hold his own, so I see no reason why we shouldn't at least have him as a fourth outfielder.

As for Murton, I think he has a great OBP, good poise in the batter's box, and I think it's only a matter of time until he adds more power. Unfortunately, if they don't add a Soriano or (gasp) JD Drew for the outfield, they'll probably have to trade him and sign Carlos Lee for LF, which, by the way, I'd be completely fine with, and I think his HR and RBI totals would only increase into about 40-45 HR and 120 RBI averages. Ideally, you'd like a big bat in left with a decent arm, and a big bat in right with a power arm, and speed and OBP for CF. Last year we lacked all of the above, and that is why we failed. The Yankees struggled with pitching, yet made it to the ALCS, as did the Cardinals, who won it all. But we only had ARAM to drive in runs when Lee went down, putting added pressure on a guy who's not used to leading a team. If we had some outfielders who could blast the ball, and drive in runs like Lee and Drew, I believe we would've had a shot at the Cardinals. We could've afforded to have rookies in the rotation, getting their feet wet, and probably would've had better results with less pressure to pitch the perfect game for fear your team wouldn't score (which happened all too often last year). Why couldn't Hendry get Carlos Lee last year? He could've packaged pitching to the Nationals for Soriano. Even at the All Star break, we weren't completely out of it, and those guys would've been available then.

However, I am glad that there was one productive thing that came out of the losing season----Dusty, and Clines, and Matthews are gone. Those guys have no clue how to coach a team. All you heard from Dusty when things were going wrong was comments of disbelief, and surrender, or comments like, "I don't know man...I just don't know." Yeah, you didn't know what to do, and that's why you should've been fired long ago for not getting the best out of your players.

cliff

Matthews Jr. is looking for a better offer than 3 yr/30 Million? Please, please, please, please JH... Do not acquire this guy for that kind of money. Do not acquire him at all in my opinion. I am not going to take anything away from his '06 season because it was great in every aspect. BUT... true baseball fans see this all the time especially to players in contract years. I will bet my bottom dollar that he doesn't come close to the numbers he posted last year offesively. I know what you are going to say... that doesn't take away from his defense he will bring cliff. True... but a contract for over 3 yr./30 Million for a guy that only plays great defense is absurd. I rest my case.

David - I agree completely with your post about other teams trading significant value for JJ or any of our other under achievers, namely Novoa. We will be lucky to trade JJ and some low level prospect for a decent arm unless JH pulls one over on the Pirates again (Duke).

Felix Pie - I think dealing him and Weurtz for Jennings could be a big mistake. I do like Jennings but I think many teams value Pie quite high and if we were to deal one of our only blue chip prospects I would like to see equal value in return. For example, rumor has it (Newsday) that the Mets are considering offering Lastings Milledge and Aaron Heilman for Vernon Wells of the BJ's. This is what I am talking about.

Florida Marlins - I believe it was wednesday that the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that the Marlins were looking to deal for Rocco Baldelli and were rumored to willing to give up any of Scott Olsen, Josh Johnson, or Ricky Nolasco for him. If we are going to deal Felix Pie, JJ, Pagan, or Murton I hope JH is talking to Florida. Baldelli is as fragile as Prior and I am sure the Marlins would be interested in atleast one or two of the aforementioned OF's the cubs have. I am not sure if any of you have seen Olsen pitch but this guy is ELECTRIC!!! 166 K's in 180.2 innings pitched. He butted heads with Miguel Cabrera last year which I am sure rubbed some of the Marlins execs the wrong way. He also has Illinois ties as well having went to HS in Crystal Lake. I doubt we could pry away Josh Johnson from the Marlins with our trade bait.

Think about this starting rotation (when i can't sleep this is what i think about, sorry):

1 Zambrano

2 Hill

3 Duke

4 Olsen

5 the 15 headed monster headed by Prior/Miller/etc.

*obviously we would have to split up three lefties from pitching in a row but we can worry about that later.

This would allow the Cubs to go BUY a good OF (Soriano & Lee) and Duke and Olsen have front of the rotation type stuff that we could lock up for for far less than D-Mat, Zito, and Schmidt.

-Just in case JH is reading.