The GM 'roundtable' that took place during the meetings in Orlando has the baseball world talking collusion. Theo Epstein and Larry Beinfest had the idea of putting all of the GM's together in the same room to talk about each of their teams needs and wants this off-season. Donald Fehr said the meeting was 'improper' and that the union will look into the 'actions' of the meetings. Stay tuned....
Jim Hendry still has until Tuesday to resign Kerry Wood to a new contract before he hits the open market. Some have speculated he could garner a lot of attention if he hits free agency. Here is the latest from the North Side, more from Japan and rumors from around the league....
The Cubs....
The Cubs are rumored to be interested in Carl Crawford. And the newly renamed 'Rays' are rumored to be interested in Ronny Cedeno....along with a few others to fill their hole at shortstop. Could there bill a deal in the works? And what would it take, along with Cedeno, to put Crawford in blue pinstripes next season?
Jon Heyman thinks Kerry Wood will receive a 2-year, $10 million dollar contract....and he is "likely to remain a Cub." The Rangers, however, appear interested in Wood for their bullpen as well.
Kaz Matsui has reportedly been offered a 2-year, $6 million dollar contract by the Rockies but the media in Denver thinks he could end up in Chicago. The Denver Post expects the Cubs to offer Matsui a 3-year deal. The Cubs apparently like Matsui's speed and the fact he could help make Kosuke Fukudome's transition to the majors a little easier.
Phil Rogers let everyone in on what the Cubs need to do this winter. Rogers made a couple of very good points (Geovany Soto and Kevin Hart) but mentioned the Cubs and Torii Hunter in the same article....that is not going to happen.
Fukudome is everywhere....
Several members of the mainstream media are talking about Kosuke Fukudome. John Donovan from SI.com recently said Fukudome "looms as a free-agent wild card." Dayn Perry thinks Fukudome is the "first name to know" when discussing whom will make the "jump from Japan" this winter.
Around the League....
Dayn Perry named 10 of this winter 'big names' that are available for the right price....and not money.
Because of last season's tragic death of Mike Coolbaugh, the GM's voted this past week that base coaches "will wear some sort of head protection next season."
Craig Wilson would like to play in Pittsburgh again.
The Brewers could "contemplate" trading Ben Sheets this off-season.
The Rockies have contacted Michael Barrett according to the Denver Post.
Khalil Greene was rumored to be on the trading block last week. The Padres are now trying "to find out if they can cut a multiyear contract" with him. Greene still has two years worth of arbitration left.
According to the Kansas City Star, the Brewers could non-tender Kevin Mench.
Ed Wade, the Astros' new GM, has contacted the Marlins about what it would take to land Dontrelle Willis....the Houston Chronicle thinks the Astros do not have enough quality prospects to make a deal with the Marlins. Wills’ agent was on XM Radio Friday night and stated a deal that would have sent the lefty from Florida to Houston ‘came very close to happening’ at last week's meetings.
With the free-agent signing period starting on Tuesday, SI.com reminded the baseball world of the 10 worst contracts signed in the last 10 years.
Louisville Slugger announced the Silver Slugger Awards on Friday, here are the winners....
National League
- Prince Fielder - 1B
- Chase Utley - 2B
- David Wright - 3B
- Jimmy Rollins - SS
- Russell Martin - C
- Carlos Beltran - OF
- Matt Holliday - OF
- Carlos Lee - OF
- Micah Owings - P
American League
- Carlos Pena - 1B
- Placido Polanco - 2B
- Alex Rodriguez - 3B
- Derek Jeter - SS
- Jorge Posada - C
- Ichiro Suzuki - OF
- Vladimir Guerrero - OF
- Magglio Ordonez - OF
- David Ortiz - DH
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All I want for Christmas is Crawford, Matsui, Wood, and Mr. Fukudome.....and i've been a good boy!
With the focus on Matsui, does this mean that DeRosa becomes trade bait? I don't see the Cubs bringing the Rockies second basemen without it causing DeRosa to lose some serious playing time. While I don't think that DeRosa is the best 2nd basemen in the game. He did play well for us last season. His numbers were better than Matsui's and he can play anywhere.
Why are we going after 2B? DeRosa did great, and we have Eric Patterson? Matisui hit .256 away from Coors field. I don't understand it...I lso just read that there may be a potential trade of Jones to DET for 2B Omar Infante. Are they going to shift one of these guys to SS? Theriot back to the bench? I don't get it at all. I guess it would help in getting Fukudome, but still...Just get him somehow, and get me Crawford!!
ESPN 1000 was reporting the Cubs have talks about a Jones for Omar Infante swap with the Tigers. If this is true, it's yet another puzzling move in Hendry's career as GM. Why would you trade a decent performing OF such as Jones for a career Neifi-esque utility IF that has even worse numbers than Neifi....or even Ojeda when he was with us. The guy's best season was 2004 in 142 games where he hit 16 hr, 55 rbi, .264 avg .317 OBP, with 40 BB and 112 K's. His 162 game avg gets even worse:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/i/infanom01.shtml
I think it'd be a TERRIBLE move....but what do I know...I mean, even a lower level minor leaguer would be a good move in that case. Consider this....if Hendry can get Jose Ceda for Todd Walker, and Kevin Hart for Freddie freakin' Bynum, then he sure as hell can get at least something for a guy that hits .285, .330 OBP, decent pop and rbi production.....but Infante?!?!?! You gotta be kidding me!
Yup, alot of this is puzzling. Kaz Matsui who's numbers away from the friendly confines of Coors are really bad. Omar Infante??? What?
Alot of this makes zero sense.
I like the idea of Matsui. Everyone is overlooking the fact that he only made 4 errors last year. And he has much better range and speed than DeRosa and Fontenot.
And DeRosa is going to play half of the games at other positions anyway. Fontenot started 50 games at 2nd last year, and Theriot 21 before he moved to SS. There is always going to be someone hurt, or needing a day off. And that's where DeRosa is very valuable. And if he's moving all over the place then it'd be nice to have a regular 2nd baseman. And I'll surely take Matsui over Fontenot in that role.
And I forgot, Matsui is only seeking about 3-4 mil a year. So it's not like they'll have to break the bank for him. He'd actually be a bargain at that price.
Matsui's cheap and gives them a solid player - nothing spectacular but not a stiff either. If it gives them a better shot at Fukudome, so much the better. Don't worry about DeRosa - Lou loves the super-sub angle and it keeps everyone fresh.
Also, I'm more excited about Fukudome's potential as a defender than his bat. He's supposedly as good a defender as Ichiro... and as someone that's been in awe of Ichiro's glove and arm that's a very good thing. Jones might have a average to slightly better than average bat - but a top notch defender he ain't.
And I've seen talk that if they get Matsui and if that gets them Fukudome, then the two Japanese pitchers (forget their names, but one's a solid starter that could be a number three for any team and one's the top closer in Japan) on the market would view Chicago as a top destination - plus it makes the team even more marketable to potential owners as the attention from the far east would be huge.
As for Jones... if they manage to bring in Fukudome (which would be a coup in my opinion) they've got an even bigger surplus in the OF... and then there's still the possibility they bring in Crawford to boot.
ANYthing they get for Jones would be a good thing. I'd rather not have him around since he's already said time and again that he'd rather be somewhere else. I do think he's a decent player - but it might be addition by subtraction in his case. Lou wants his guys to work hard and have fun... I'm not sure Jones fits that mold.
Either way... even though it's pretty likely we're not going to see the wallet open nearly as wide this off season as last (but then again when had anyone EVERY seen that?) we could still be setting ourselves up as big winners over the winter. The FA market is VERY weak, so if Trader Jim can pull off a couple of deals AND manage to sign Fukudome, Wood, and one (or both) of the Japanese pitchers - this could be a very good winter in Chicago
Matsui: "...he only made 4 errors." And the best (worst) one allowed the Cubs to come from behind and beat the Rockies at Wrigley.
Really, Infante is the missing piece? I may have expected Jones for this guy when Jones was really horrible the first half of the season, but he was solid the second half and played a decent CF as well. If that is all you can get, keep him in case Pie falters.
Trevor, I agree. Nice wish list Cory...nothing else??? Crawford would be enough in my book. Pie, Crawford and Soriano! But your list is probably better.
There most be something brewing...otherwise it is a stupid move to add a second baseman when our problem is SS, RF and starting pitching maybe. Why can't a simple plan of a little more OBP and some power in right end up in discussion for the wrong Matzui? He is not bad but we are ok there.