Spreading Rumors....and a Little News, Too

By Neil on January 13, 2008 17 Vote 0 Votes

Is Brian Roberts coming to the Cubs? Could Jon Lieber be making a second appearance on the North Side? Are the Cubs interested in trading for Marlon Byrd? Bruce Levine discussed each of those topics with Chet Coppock on ESPN 1000 Saturday morning. Levine stated Peter Angelos is "laying down the law and will not trade Brian Roberts." Levine cited Buck Martinez from XM Radio as his source. Levine said the Indians offered a better package to the Orioles than the Cubs. The package from Cleveland would have included their top-pitching prospect Adam Miller.

For the third week in a row, Levine mentioned the possibility of the Cubs signing Jon Lieber. Lieber would give the Cubs pitching depth according to Levine and he went on to say one of his agent sources told him Lieber wants to come back to Chicago.

The Rangers have made Marlon Byrd available according to Bruce Levine. He said Byrd could fit the Cubs need for a right-handed bat that can play all three-outfield positions and serve as a platoon partner for Felix Pie. Levine did not indicate the Cubs have shown any interest in working a deal with Texas.

Here is the latest from the mill, an update on Carlos Marmol from winter ball and a full schedule for the 2008 Cubs Convention that kicks off on Friday afternoon....

The Cubs

A couple of quick notes from Phil Rogers before taking a closer look at Marlon Byrd. Rogers reported the Mariners might be closer to a deal with the Orioles for Erik Bedard "than sending Brian Roberts to the Cubs." Rogers confirmed a report from Dave Kaplan on Friday night that the Orioles are rumored to have asked Jim Hendry about Felix Pie and Tyler Colvin. According to Rogers, if the Cubs were to trade either Pie or Colvin to Baltimore, they would want Erik Bedard involved in the deal.

Marlon Byrd

Marlon Byrd is an interesting name that was thrown out by Mr. Levine. Byrd hit .307 with a .355 OBP in 109 games with the Rangers last season. Byrd hit 17 doubles, 8 triples, 10 home runs and drove in 70. The 109 games were the most he has played since 2003 when he was with the Phillies. He is a career .273 hitter with a career .334 OBP. Byrd is an adequate defender and would help the Cubs bench.

Here are Bryd's splits.... Against lefties, .327/.374/.452 with a home run, 6 doubles and 2 triples last season. But away from Arlington.... .259/.304/.410 with 10 doubles, 2 triples and 6 home runs. Byrd has played 10 games at Wrigley Field during his 6-year career.... In 34 at bats, .206/.341/.206/.547 without a home run.

Carlos Marmol

Carlos Marmol is close to taking over the closing duties for Licey in the Dominican Republic according to Phil Rogers. Marmol took a little time off at the beginning of the season but has allowed just 1 hit with 9 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings....without a walk. Marmol could replace White Sox prospect, Oneli Perez, as the team's closer.

From Around the League

According to reports on ESPN and by Ken Rosenthal, the Cardinals have agreed to send Scott Rolen to the Toronto Blue Jays for Troy Glaus. Multiple reports have stated this is a done deal and is just waiting for both players to pass a physical on Monday. With the health history of both players, this deal could fall through.

Phil Rogers mentioned the Brewers signing of Mike Cameron would allow them to move Ryan Braun to left field and Bill Hall to third base or trade him. Bruce Levine mentioned Bill Hall could be traded to the White Sox for Joe Crede on Saturday morning. Ken Rosenthal did mention Hall as one of the top remaining trading pieces on Friday....stay tuned, it does not appear the Brewers are done this winter.

Also, Rogers is the latest to think Johan Santana will end up with the New York Mets....could this explain why the Mets wanted Angel Pagan back?

The Cubs Convention

2008 Cubs Convention Schedule

Friday, January 18th

5:00pm - 5:30pm - Opening Ceremonies
6:00pm - 6:45pm - Autograph Treasure Hunt

7:00pm - 9:00pm - Sports Central Live with Dave Kaplan and Tom Waddle, Broadcast Live on 720 WGN

- 7:00pm - 7:30pm - Derrek Lee, Mark DeRosa and Alfonso Soriano

- 7:30pm - 8:00pm - Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella

- 8:00pm - 8:30pm - Ryan Theriot, Ted Lilly and Ryan Dempster

- 8:30pm - 9:00pm - Pat Hughes, Ron Santo, Rick Sutcliffe and Glenn Beckert

7:00pm - 8:30pm - Cubs Bingo

Saturday, January 19th

9:00am - 10:00am - WGN Radio's Meet Cubs Management with Spike O'Dell and Dave Eanet
- Jim Hendry, Lou Piniella, Randy Bush and Crane Kenney

9:00am - 10:00am - Injuries, Anatomy and Santo....Oh My!

9:30am - 10:30am - Cubs Jeopardy

10:30am - 11:30am - Vine Line Presents Baseball in Latin America

10:30am - 11:30am - WGN Radio's Not for Women Only with Kathy O'Malley and Judy Markey

- Ryan Theriot, Scott Eyre, Matt Murton and Matt Sinatro

11:00am - 12:00pm - Baseball Conditioning Clinic

11:30am - 12:30pm - Lou and His Crew

11:30am - 12:30pm - Hitting Clinic

12:00 - 1:00pm - WGN Radio's A Day in the Life of a Major Leaguer with John Williams and Cory Provus

- Derrek Lee, Rich Hill, Ryan Theriot and Daryle Ward

12:30pm - 1:30pm - Life Is A Minor

1:00pm - 2:00pm - Cubs Win, Lose or Draw

1:30pm - 2:30pm - WGN Radio's Storytelling with Cubs Legends with Steve Cochran

- Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Lee Smith and Rick Sutcliffe

2:00pm - 3:00pm - From the Stretch

2:30pm - 3:30pm - 8/8/88....or the Day After

3:00pm - 4:00pm - For Kids Only Press Conference

3:00pm - 4:00pm - Wheelchair Cubs

3:30pm - 4:30pm - Cubs Forever: Celebrating 60 Years of WGN-TV and the Cubs

4:00pm - 5:00pm - The North Side Mystique

4:30pm - 5:30pm - Pitching Clinic

8:00pm - 12:00am - Rock 'n Roll Revue

Sunday, January 20th

9:00am - 10:00am - Meet Cubs Business Management
10:30am - 11:30am - Down on the Farm
10:00am - 12:30pm - Baseball Hall of Fame Exhibit

The CCO will have first hand daily recaps of this year's convention....for the third consecutive year.

Finally from the Sunday funnies.... Randy Hill made a few predictions for the New Year on FoxSports.com. One of them.... "Due to regional dialect and other pronunciation issues, three Chicago-area radio personalities are fired soon after what was intended to be a positive discussion of Cubs outfielder Kosuke Fukudome."

nick

Agustin, Happy belated Birthday.

Santana would be one guy I would give up the farm for. One can dream.

agustin rexach

Thank you all guys.

JimK...funny!

Barry, I hear you.

Don Kessinger; majestic question. Most will tell you that we donâ€™t have in our system what it takes for a Block Buster like that. I say every team has, its just that are not willing to pay the price

and later a contract of over 120million plus dollars to keep Santana long term.

I say we should do it and be a force in the NL for 5 years with Big Z and Big Sâ€¦

IMO it would take at least; Colvin, Jake Fox, Jeff Samardzija, Gallagher, Marshall, and Marmol

I have always thought that Fox is the most undervalued player on our systemâ€¦He could be a force in the DH.

Later!

Jimbo

Augustin: Happy birthday, and have one on me....

Now, it may just be me, but the way I see this BR deal, is we either have Roberts, or we have Pie.

Is it just me, or do others think that the outfield of Soriano, Pie, and Fukodome are going to do great things this year?

I think roberts would be a nice addition, but be cautious about what we give up for him......I fear Pie may break through this year, on our team or somewhere else.

JimK

Don K...Can you still play SS? To get Santana it probably takes Hill, Veal, and Ceda or Pie plus a willingness to do a 4 or 5 year contract for $100 million. That's way too much, I think. Soriano bats leadoff and Theriot second unless we get a high on base, table setter.

Jim (Tinley Park)

Agustin:

Feliz Cumpleanos!

I heard a pretty cool song the other day, I know it has been out for awhile but it is called "Samba de Janeiro." Just picture some Cub pitcher from Brasil

coming out of the pen with that song jamming.

Word!

Don Kessinger

What would it take to get Santana? Considerably more than Cedeno-Gallagher-Marshall for Roberts...Who's going to bat leadoff? Can DeRosa do it? Is the day for upsets, first Indy, now Big D for deflated, defeated losing 7-0 to the other Manning?

JimK

Augustin...Sorry, I might have said, We love you guys and are looking forward to the season, but we are anxious. Then--as we critics want to talk about what's important to be competitive, here might be the factors. Some are more important than others.

The post wasn't that good, it was a slow news day and we seemed to be in a "build or buy" debate. I say yes. JimK

Gary J

Amen Trevor :-)

Trevor

Here's another thing to remember about "additions" and the upcoming year. The Cubs started out horribly last year, and did not gel until later. After the All-Star break, however, they had one of the BEST records in baseball.

Consistency is all we need. A couple additions this offseason and a second season of Lou and I don't feel bad going into the season. I would like to see another quality starter added still but its not like we are coming off of the 90 loss season two years ago. We won the Central last year after playing up to expectations finally. Every team has holes, you just try not to have too many.

Barry

Well I am glad that all of us are understanding that BR was just too expensive and I agree that Mr. Angelos was smoking crack thinking that Pie Colvin and/or Hill would go along with Gallagher and Marshall. All you JH haters should be swallowing some pride. I hate to be defending him all the time but he deserves credit for withdrawing from the negotiations. Now I say GO GET SANTANA!! I would give up the previous names with no regrets for Santana as our #1 Pitcher. We will be nearly unstoppable if Johan comes to the CUBdom! BLANTON would be nice as well...... and as far as Lieber is concerned I say sign him. as a #4 or 5 he will either complete a most dominating rotation in the NL but if it isn't working we trade later on for our Teams needs.

All in all I still feel great about this upcoming year and the post Season.

Happy Birthday Augustin

Jeff in AZ

Agustin-

Happy B-day. Yes I only see Lieber as a 4 or 5 to compete with Dempster and Marquis. Obviously he is not going to make a huge impact except maybe push the other guys to stay on their game.

Neil

Thanks Ben and you are welcome.

Agustin.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

jw

If the Crew gets Crede they will have a very capable line-up with strong players at every position except catcher.

agustin rexach

First of all, today is my birthday...(224dog years)

ask Neil for my email and address so that you guys can have some gifts delivered to me. [Cubs memorabilia is preferred] Some Fuks' stuff would be nice! Seems like an old joke already. Still-lol!

Jeff in Az; I agree with you. But obviously Lieber is not the answer. I suspect that you mean is that you would not mind him taking the 4-5th spot for Marquis or Demp and me neither... in fact he would be an upgrade for the back end of the rotation but we do need a Blanton or Bedard or somebody that is at least a #2 for a serious World Series run.

JimK? You are too deep...I do not understand your post! lol!! Please explain in an elementary manner or add subtitles! [no Shakespeare allowed]

Jeff in Az

I know this may not be the popular feeling on this site, but I think it is the right of Baltimore to ask for a quality player in return for Roberts or there would be know reason to trade him. A trade has to make sense for both teams. If the orioles let Roberts go for people like cedeno and gallagher, they probably would have a hard time selling that story to the fans. Now I don't know exactly what the Orioles wanted, we probably will never know. Of course if it was Pie and Colvin that would be ridiculous, but asking for one of them is reasonable in my book. I also don't fault Hendry for not making the deal. If Roberts does not offset the loss of a guy like Pie then you don't make the deal. Colvin would be gone in my book, as there are no guarantees he will ever be able to hit major league pitching.

Is this another case of us overvaluing our prospects? Or were the Orioles trying to fleece us? You probably can fault teams like the astros for overvaluing Tejada the roider, that is what drives up the market for guys like roberts.

I do agree with most of you on the site that we should just settle down and go get some pitching. Give Pie the job if he performs during spring. I like the thouhgt of Lieber coming back, why not?

JimK

Lingering Doubts and Rising Anticipation--as Spring is nearing the horizon. For our Cubs: some improvement, more is likely needed, we've got a chance, the chance could be better, it comes down to a few pleasant performance surprises, probably more good surprises than we can reasonably expect, we'll happily shout, "We did it!" even if we also know that we got lucky.

Could these be the four parts of a highly successful baseball team?

1. Player selection, development and management.

2. Player selection, development and management.

3. Available budget for retention and acquisition

of proven talent.

4. Team's strength vs. competiton and luck.

ben

fun fact there at the end neil!! i always look forward reading your stuff. BTW, i hope Hendry told off McFAIL and Angelos with a big "Blow it out your ****ss!!" for asking for such players...especially angelos. good luck competing with the rest of the AL east Baltimore....