Jim Hendry recently stated, "We're just trying to make the club better, which I think we are." Whether or not the team that posted 97 wins a year ago is better in the first week of January on paper is up for debate.
Reportedly Jim Hendry will look for another arm to add to the rotation at a lower salary than Jason Marquis' between now and February 14th when pitchers and catchers report to Fitch Park. Hendry could turn to internal options such as Sean Marshall or Chad Gaudin or to "long shot" Jeff Samardzija as he was described on Tuesday.
Here is a complete list of the starting pitchers still on the market and a few rumblings from the mill....
The Long, Cold Confusing Winter of 2008-2009
The Cubs have made several questionable moves this off-season, most notably choosing to let Kerry Wood walk and trading away Mark DeRosa. While both were fan favorites, once the fan goggles are removed both players played big roles in the team's success last season and were leaders in the clubhouse.
The Cubs agreed to a contract with Milton Bradley on Monday and the terms of the deal and the signing are expected to be finalized later in the week. Jim Hendry made the Jason Marquis trade official on Tuesday. And while Marquis drove many of the Faithful, and at times his manager, crazy...at least he took the ball every fifth day without fail.
Many think Luis Vizcaino could be flipped in another deal and will not throw a pitch for the Chicago Cubs. Again, Marquis and his robust salary should have been traded but what the Cubs received in exchange was a questionable reliever that might have trouble making the team.
- October 31 - Declined the 2009 option on Henry Blanco
- November 13 - Acquired Kevin Gregg from the Marlins for Jose Ceda
- November 18 - Re-Signed Ryan Dempster to a four-year contract
- November 19 - Added Mitch Atkins, Justin Berg and Marcos Mateo to the 40-man roster
- December 3 - Signed Chad Fox to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training
- December 11 - The Pirates picked Donald Veal in the Rule 5 Draft
- December 11 - Acquired David Patton from the Reds (Rule 5 Draft) for Cash
- December 12 - Avoided arbitration and agreed to one-year contracts with Chad Gaudin, Neal Cotts and Reed Johnson
- December 16 - Signed Joey Gathright to a one-year deal
- December 31 - Signed Aaron Miles to a two-year contract
- December 31 - Traded Mark DeRosa to the Indians for Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and John Gaub
- January 5 - Agreed to terms with Milton Bradley
- January 6 - Traded Jason Marquis to the Rockies for Luis Vizcaino
A report from Dugout Central pointed toward desperation as the reason the Cubs have more than just 'tweaked the roster' this winter.
Available Arms
If the Cubs do not attempt to revisit the talks with the Padres over Jake Peavy once the ownership transition is concluded, Jim Hendry will either have to pick from the list below or try to swing a deal with another team. Here is a complete list from Cot's Contracts on the starting pitchers still on the free-agent market.....
- Mario Alvarez
- Matt Belisle
- Kris Benson
- Paul Byrd
- Shawn Chacon
- Bartolo Colon
- Shawn Estes
- Josh Fogg
- Freddy Garcia
- Jon Garland
- Tom Glavine
- Charles Haeger
- Livan Hernandez
- Orlando Hernandez
- Chuck James
- Jason Jennings
- Byung-Hyun Kim
- Jon Lieber
- Esteban Loaiza
- Braden Looper
- Derek Lowe
- Pedro Martinez
- Mark Mulder
- Russ Ortiz
- John Patterson
- Odalis Perez
- Oliver Perez
- Andy Pettitte
- Sidney Ponson
- Mark Prior
- Tim Redding
- Mark Redman
- Kenny Rogers
- Curt Schilling
- Ben Sheets
- John Smoltz
- Josh Towers
- Steve Trachsel
- Jeff Weaver
- Kip Wells
- Randy Wolf
- Jamey Wright
Brian Roberts
According to a report from Jon Heyman on SI.com, the talks between the White Sox and the Orioles over Brian Roberts have "stalled over Baltimore's request for at least one player in addition to Gavin Floyd." The Orioles wanted another player thrown in for one year of Brian Roberts as mentioned on Friday.
Brian Roberts is a tremendous leadoff hitter and would be great at the top of Lou Piniella's lineup. With that said, the Orioles and Peter Angelos have overvalued him. Their price tag will end up costing their organization young players that could help them build for the future.
Phil Rogers on The Baseball Beat
Phil Rogers joined Charley Steiner on XM Radio Tuesday afternoon.....here are a few of the highlights:
- Rogers said Milton Bradley received a bigger deal than he thought he would receive
- Not sure if it is a good deal for the Cubs
- Rogers is concerned about Bradley's health and defense
- Not sure if he likes the signing of Bradley but understands why the Cubs did it
- Talked about "The Countdown to Miltdown"
- The Cubs are counting on Gerald Perry's relationship with Bradley
- The Cubs are not worried about his overall health but wants him on the field for the big games
- Kosuke Fukudome and Reed Johnson will receive a lot of at bats
- Sam Fuld could be a factor in the spring. Fuld had a huge winter.
- The Cubs will be happy if Bradley plays 100 games and is healthy for the last two weeks of the season
- Mike Fontenot will probably get more time at second than Aaron Miles
- Rogers thinks the Cubs got caught up in balancing out the lineup
- Alfonso Soriano would be the first player the Cubs would move if he did not have a no-trade clause. Rogers reminded Steiner that Soriano has six years left on his contract.
- Rogers thinks the ball is in the Padres court concerning Jake Peavy
- Peavy may go into the Padres front office and ask for a trade. But don't count on it.
Blog Maverick
Here is a link to Mark Cuban's blog on the sale of the Cubs....it is well worth the time.
Well, that's the latest....and I'm sticking to it!
A few thoughts......
* Unless Hendry swings a deal for a top flight type of pitcher, Sean Marshall should do just fine as a number 4 or 5.
Ideally, I would like to see Rich Harden as the #5 so that he can miss a start now and then.
* I actually believe the Cubs need another arm for the bullpen. Marmol takes over as closer so who will take over for Marmol's 8th inning role? Does anyone have confidence in the Shark and his 2 pitch arsenal? Not I. Kevin Gregg?
That is going to be a wait and see. Also,
who will join Neil Cotts as the other lefthander if Marshall does start?
* Luis Vizcaino? Uh, no. David Patton?
He'll be back in Cincy.
* Yeah, I am battling insomnia!
Neil,
Thanks for the update....what is the deal with Andy Pettite? I don't have the time anymore to try and keep current on everything, but I didn't realize he was a free agent. Sheesh, a left hander with TONS of post season experience....for our backend? I just checked and he turned down a one year deal with the Yanks for $10 mil. What do you guys think about taking a shot on him? It'd only be for a year, so we wouldn't have to worry about 2010 and on, like we would with Peavy.
Also, fascinating blog by Cuban. I'm sure it's tilted completely to his POV, but still, I thought it was a great window into the process. I completely agree with his assessment of how things fell apart in Q4 and deciding that cash is king and the Trib is out of their mind with the asking price.
Scott...sorry for the delay in responding, it was a long day.
I do not think Andy Pettitte would be a good option for the Cubs. First off he was not happy with the one-year, $10 million offer from the Yankees after earning $16 million last season.
Also with his age and the way he faltered down the stretch last year I would be concerned if he could be effective with the amount of money the Cubs would have to shell out. Plus several of the guys on XM have questioned if he would pitch in the NL again...because he would have to bat.
Surprising comments by Phil Rogers. He was on Chicago Tribune Live on Comcast Sports Net yesterday and had nothing but compliments about Bradley. He actually said he has thicker skin than most people believe. Rogers brought up some instances where Bradley had racial comments directed at him by fans and didn't explode. He also mentioned that there is a lot to him that Cubs fans will like.
Paul K:
I saw that last night as well.
Rogers actually gushed over him as a hitter.
why are the cubs so adverse to just giving Marshall the 5th starter slot ? It seems like they never give him a full shot. Why go out and pay millions for some retread that will most likely be no better than what Marshall could give you ? And oh by the way, it sure would be nice to develop some of your own talent for once vs. always having to go out and pay for it.
Or we could bring back Prior !! LOL
I am not against Sean Marshall being the fifth starter. I say give him a shot. But looking at his track record. its asking a lot for him to go six innings. I don't know what is up with these pitchers that have no stamina and endurance. Plus I happened to be at a game where he started and i wanted to leave after the third inning cause he was getting lit up so bad.(game against the Brewers the day after Rami's heroic homer) If he doesn't have it one day he will burn the bullpen.
He looked pretty good out of the bullpen last year so who knows.
Thats one positive thing i can say about Marquis for the most part he was able to hang in when he didn't have it and save the bullpen.
Wow!!! Neil has served us table full of culinary delights today. Thank You, Neil.
Cuban shows himself to not be a stupid, rich guy. He recognized that he could pay an inflated price for the team--if he could put long-term financing in place with known interest rate costs or reasonable collars on costs. When the banking system imploded, he had to conclude that a manageable deal was a lot closer to (maybe) $600 mil than the $1.2 bil being talked about.
It will be interesting to see who the Trib selects as a buyer and what the price is. Hopefully, they are able to maintain the high payroll we now have.
The timing is terrible for the Trib, and I wouldn't be surprised if the sale were put on hold. But to not sell within a few months is probably a worse case situation for the Trib that has a lot of creditors wanting payment on loans. I can see the Trib keeping a minority interest in the team--to sell later when prices may inflate or their getting some perks like long term advertising contracts at inflated prices.
Of the 13 listed moves by the Cubs, I can not understand the signings of Chad Fox and David Patton. They are not significant, but I see no value in the deals. Last winter, I thought the likeable Fox was brought to camp to end up a minor league pitching coach.
One more appetizer for the today's table: The Cubs have only one player on the 40 man roster aged 33 (DLee). Everyone else is younger. The Cubs are a young team. I do understand that young and healthy are not the same things, but dementia and breaking hips in falls are a few years away for the ...........damn--what's the name of the team, again.
Not sure why we would go after Redding or Looper. They are pretty much the same as Marquis. There is a lot of talk about Peavey again, but I think that is a pipe dream now that The Padres are being sold. The new owners will not want to part with their ace and big name draw for fans. I've heard talk about Lowe. He would be great in Wrigley, but the price is way to high and I'm sure he'll get it from someone(RedSox). So the name I have not heard and think would be great is rival Ben Sheets. His price should be down, he knows our division well, has posted great numbers every year dispite injuries. He would be a great 4th starter. The only draw back is his histroy of injuries, but that is what marshall is for. We still have Hill in the minors to. If he can ever but it back together. a rotation of Dempster, Zambrano, Lilly, Sheets, Harden would be one of the best rotations in baseball. Depending on health. But that is the biggest question mark for all clubs, not just the Cubs. every team worries about injuries and the fact of the matters is that they do happen regardless if we want them to or not. We need a good pitcher not an innings eater. If we wanted that we might as well have just kept Marquis and his 4+ ERA. Becasue short of Lowe, Sheets and maybe Wolfe everyone else out there is just another Marquis. GO CUBS GO!!!!! Lets win it in 09.
I agree that Sheets would be great if he could stay healthy. An incentive based contract with a 2 to 3 million base salary. I think that might do it. He has always been tough on the Cubs, but he has to stay healthy. We already have two babies that already get hurt a lot. (Harden and Bradley) what is one more???
I said it before, and I'll say it again: Bartolo Colon will be this season's Cliff Lee. He showed signs that he was coming back to form before he got hurt late last year, and a former Cy Young caliber pitcher doesn't just stop being that way. This year'll be a bounceback year for him, and whoever picks him up will get a cheap All-Star.
While he's not a guy that you can exactly count on - if Sheets is available for $5-6M then I'd say go get him. Anything more is too risky.
So #21 will be patrolling RF at Wrigley again. I wonder if Bradley will do a hop after every HR.
Like the Colon idea. A huge risk but one that we could afford to take with the handful of guys that could fill that 5th slot.
Here's the strategy: sign Sheets and make him your closer. He's just like Wood, can't stay healthy pitching 6 or 7 innings, so why not take pressure off his arm and make him a reliever ? His stuff is electric.
He won't sign a deal to be the closer. He just made 31 starts last year and started the all-star game. Why would he come to the Cubs and close? What about Marmol? Thats just stupid.
Sheets as a closer is a very interesting idea. I'm surprised nobody has jumped on the idea of making Harden a closer or setup man. IF Peavey is obtained, I'd make that move immediately (Harden to relief). I'd also slot Marshall as the 5th starter and leave him there - you could count on an ERA below 3.99.
Another lefty reliever is definitely needed.
The writing is on the wall regarding Cedeno, Pie and Wuertz as goners. My money is that they end up in San Diego.
I like the Sheets as a closer idea - we need more help in the bullpen anyway. Not sure if Sheets would be excited about it.
I think we could have had Roberts last year for Pie, Hill, Cedeno, and Veal for sure. Hind site is 20/20.
Is no one able to discuss Pettite? Am I the only one who thinks this is a viable option?
Pettite is going to be 37. He hasn't been that special. Good yes. Great No. He turned down 10 million from the Yankees....he's WAY to expensive and not a good option for the Cubs.
I'm loving the Petite idea.
interesting tidbit about Peavy..
Sounds like the pending sale of the team will not have an impact on whether they trade Peavy or not.
It also sounds like that the Pads are still waiting to hear an offer from the Cubs.
http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/38701
I am optimistic. As a Cubs fan you have to be.
Pettite would cost too much - he just turned down a $10MM one year offer from the Yankees
Yeah, but it's probably because he realized the Yankmes are pathetic.