Four days after the Cubs traded Mark DeRosa the Faithful is wondering what, or who, Jim Hendry may have up his sleeve. The Cubs off-season, to this point, has many shaking their heads, including Buster Olney. The Cubs have made some unpopular moves and have not addressed their biggest need going into the winter....a left-handed middle-of-the-order right fielder.
Here's the latest on Milton Bradley, Jake Peavy, Brian Roberts, Rich Aurilia and more....
Milton Bradley
The Cubs appear set to officially sign Milton Bradley in the coming weeks...remember the Cubs Convention is in less than two weeks. Bruce Levine reported on Saturday morning that he is hearing $8 or $9 million a year for Bradley while Lee Hamilton (XM Radio) on Saturday afternoon reported the Cubs offer for Bradley is 3 years and $24 million. Hamilton is hearing Bradley is looking for 5 years and $50 million (note, Hamilton is the first to report a deal for Bradley of that length and dollar amount....most are reporting Bradley is seeking a 3-year, $30 million dollar deal.)
Ryan Dempster would welcome Milton Bradley to the Cubs according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.
Jason Marquis
Bruce Levine is expecting the Jason Marquis trade to the Rockies to be made official on Sunday or Monday. A report last week indicated Marquis is currently out of the country and once he returns and takes a physical, the deal will be announced.... the MLB front office returns from the holiday break on Monday, January 5th.
Jake Peavy
Bruce Levine reported the players the Cubs received in the Mark DeRosa trade would allow them to make another run at Jake Peavy. Levine is convinced Jake Peavy is back on the Cubs radar. He added the recent announcement that Jeff Moorad is near a deal to buy the Padres from John Moores will not affect them dealing Jake Peavy.
Levine is hearing Josh Vitters, Jeff Stevens, Welington Castillo and Kevin Hart would go to San Diego in return for Jake Peavy. Levine thinks there is an 80% chance that the Peavy deal to the Cubs will get done.
Levine stuck to his reports last week that the Cubs new ownership will have to be in place for the Cubs to trade for Peavy and add his contract. He thinks the new owner could be in place in the next month.
Brian Roberts
Brian Roberts may or may not be on the Cubs radar once again but he is not headed to the South Side for Gavin Floyd according to Bruce Levine. Levine shot down the rumor that was reported by Roch Kubatko on Friday night. He said there is no way the White Sox are trading away Gavin Floyd for Brian Roberts.
Levine added Roberts would be a one-year rental and Floyd is a year away from being arbitration eligible....beside the fact he won 17 games last season.
Talkin' Baseball closed on Saturday morning with Levine confirming from one of his sources that the talk about the Sox trading Gavin Floyd to the Orioles for Brian Roberts "is a load of crap."
Rich Aurilia
Dave Kaplan mentioned on Friday night that the Cubs are talking to the agent for Rich Aurilia. Apparently the Cubs are interested in signing the veteran to back-up first base and third base.
Felix Pie, Ronny Cedeno and the Farm System
One of the many topics discussed on Talkin' Baseball were the futures of Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno with the Cubs. Bruce Levine is not quite sure either will be on the team and both will probably be involved in trade talks for the next two weeks and could be dealt....Levine added Aaron Miles will backup Ryan Theriot at shortstop once Ronny Cedeno is traded.
Oneri Fleita joined Levine and Chet Coppock in the first hour. He still feels confident Felix Pie will put it together at the Major League level. With Pie being out of options and Joey Gathright on the roster, Pie must pick up in the spring where he left off in winter ball in order to make the Cubs roster....if he's not dealt.
Fleita was asked about if the Cubs have any players in the system that could be surprises in 2009. Fleita mentioned Jeff Stevens, Darwin Barney, Welington Castillo, Andrew Cashner and Esmailin Caridad. He added that Josh Vitters is by far the best natural hitter in the Cubs system.
Fleita briefly discussed the three pitchers they received from the Indians for Mark DeRosa. He said all three projects to be big league pitchers one day and added the Cubs needed to replenish the farm system after losing Sean Gallagher, Donald Veal and Jose Ceda in the last year.
Late Inning Defensive Replacements
The Cubs are concentrating on defense, as well as offense this winter. Many questioned the signing of Joey Gathright (and most still do) but Bruce Levine brought up an intriguing scenario on Talkin' Baseball.
The Cubs see Gathright being a late inning defensive replacement in centerfield which would allow them to move Kosuke Fukudome to right field on the days he is starting in center. The Reed Johnson-Kosuke Fukudome platoon appears to be the option the Cubs will go with in the early innings. Then Lou Piniella will turn to defensive replacements late in the game.
Will Alfonso Soriano be replaced as well by Reed Johnson?
Well, that's the latest....and I'm sticking to it!
I do not have one problem with the Peavy trade above. I would prefer not to trade vitters but you gotta give something to get something. Lets get him.
A thought.
* I am not crazy about the MLB network quite yet. For example, They have shown the Laresen perfect game 8 times already, they keep showing the 2004 Boston Red Sox story a bunch of times, great Yankee moments etc. It's just been all reruns. The hot stove show is good for about the first 10 minutes. Maybe when the season starts it wiil be more diverse.
Neil, I always look foward to listening to the Cubs Convention on WGN Radio on the Friday night of the Convention. I noticed that the Blackhawks are on WGN Radio on that night (Jan. 16) when I look through the WGN Radio listings. Does anyone know anything about this?
Brandon, that is an excellent question. I have not thought about that, it has never been an issue till this season.
WGN Radio has not posted a schedule yet for the first night, this could explain why.
Great catch and if I hear anything I will let you know.
Brandon, I called WGN Radio and they are not sure what they are going to do about Friday night at the Convention. The guy that I spoke with said he is about 90% sure that Kaplan will do the show and mentioned they could tape it and re-air at a later date.
Thanks Neil!
does anyone know when at&t will be getting this mlb network?
JJ...I cannot find out when MLB Network will be added to the AT & T U-Verse. Here are a couple of links:
http://www.foxcitiestv.com/
http://www.foxcitiestv.com/node/1279
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6624340.html
From what I can find, your best bet is to go to the MLB Network page and begin requesting the channel to be added. It appears Dish Network and AT&T are the holdouts.
http://mlbnetwork.mlb.com/network/index.jsp
On the MLB Network site, go to the Channel Locator, punch in your zip code and request the channel.
Hope this helps.
Looking at the Cubs bullpen...I think we still need another lefty...a couple of questions...
1)Assuming the Marquis trade goes down as stated...and Vizcaino carries a 4 mil
contract...do you think JH will keep him or flip him in another trade.
2)Seems to me Gaudin and Vizcaino are about the same...with the exception of age and contract.
If you could only keep one of those 2...
on a purely upcoming performance basis...
(no consideration of contract)which one
would you like to keep?
I;m kind of torn between the two.
Gaudin is a lot better than Vizcaino. Vizcaino's LH RH splits are awful. Gaudin was injured last year but gives the Cubs a great deal of versatility when it comes to starting, long relief, or short relief. Vizcaino is a reclamation project who costs a lot and is old.
Im not seeing a youth movement here by the Cubs. Im seeing the Cubs looking for the World Series Crown now. I guess that would be ok since Lee and Rameriez contracts are up in 2010 along with a few others. Rich Aurelia? Back up at 3B and 1B? Can anyone say Hoffpauir and or Miles? Seems like we keep going after the "bench guys" and nt the left handed bat that we are looking for. What do you think, are the Cubs going for Bradley (who is younger than Abreu and Dunn) or do we get Markakis or Hemedia in a trade?
My take is that JH would like to move Vizcaino, whom he seems to have to take to move Marquis. Bradley is younger and apparently cheaper than Abreu, and there seems to be confirmation that Bradley is option #1.
Markakis is in the same class as McLouth--so that's not a realistic possibility. IMO, we could end up with Hoffpauir being next year's Daryl Ward, but hopefully a more productive lefty bat. If Aurelia could be had for $1.5 mil to be a right handed bat with some power off the bench that would be helpful in our quest for post-season success. He can play all around the infield, and he has a DeRo-like reputation as a gamer and team guy. Hoffpauir, Aurelia, Johnson and Miles would be most of a very good bench.
Rich Aurilia??? The guy is freaking 38 years old.....
What the F$#% is goin on here.... why are we looking at a bunch of old has-beens and re-treads... Jim Hendry needs a lobotomy....
Keeping Viscaino for the bullpen would be an awful decision. He's absolutely terrible, as evidenced by his numbers from last year, both at Coors Field and away from it. He's washed up and shouldn't be on this team. That being said, his contract is pretty large, and looks to be immovable, similarly to the other backloaded and insane contracts that Hendry gave to Lee and Soriano. Although his contract doesn't contain a no-trade clause, I'm really doubting Hendry's ability to move Viscaino. But I guess it's a waiting game for us fans. Always has been and always will be.
Markakis and McLouth are going nowhere. At least not yet. Maybe in the final year of a contract so that the Orioles or Pirates can obtain some high level propects, but as for now, don't even think about it. These guys are the only good things going for those teams.
Aurelia could be had for cheap, and I wouldn't mind that on the bench, but then you'd have to move a lot of other guys with the addition of Miles. Gathright, Pie, Cedeno, Hoffpauir, Johnson, and the 2nd string catcher would still all be there in addition to those two. I guess Pie and Cedeno are on their way out, but I'd much rather have Pie than Gathright. Not like Joey is that much of a financial burden if cut, though.
There's really no use speculating what's going to happen until it does. As constructed now, the Cubs look pretty messed up and not very good. But this isn't over yet, and there will be more to come, I hope. If not, then yea, Hendry does need a lobotomy.