As the baseball world descends on Indianapolis ahead of the Winter Meetings that begin on Monday, the Chicago Cubs made a few off the field headlines on Friday.
From Spring Training to ticket prices to a facelift for the old scoreboard, there were several tidbits to come out of the offices at Clark and Addison ... and of course there was a fare share of rumors to make the rounds as well.
The Cubs will look at Ben Sheets, J.J. Putz and a left-handed hitting centerfielder. Here is the latest before the annual gathering ...
Milton Bradley
The Cubs are still involved with the Mets and Rays (and possibly a third team) on deal that would net them Luis Castillo for Milton Bradley. According to a report from Bruce Levine, the "main clubs appear to be the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Mets." The Cubs would send Bradley to the Rays, the Mets would receive Pat Burrell and Castillo would end up on the North Side ... somewhere a long the way all of the money would be sorted out.
The Cubs could be getting close to trading Milton Bradley ... and are expected to move him before the end of the winter meetings.
Jayson Stark reported Milton Bradley was the "runaway winner" of the player most likely to be traded during the winter meetings. According to Stark, "Cubs officials have told other clubs they are confident Bradley will be an ex-Cubbie by the time they hit the on-ramp to I-65 on Thursday."
According to a report from Cubs.com, as "many as three teams are interested in Milton Bradley" and Jim Hendry will spend next week trying to find the right deal to trade him.
From the Hot Stove
According to Bruce Levine, the Cubs are targeting a left-handed centerfielder and a right-handed platoon outfielder ... like Reed Johnson. The right-handed outfielder would platoon with Kosuke Fukudome in right field.
If the Cubs have room in the payroll, Levine indicated they would like to sign a free agent outfielder. Levine mentioned Marlon Byrd, Mike Cameron, Rick Ankiel and Coco Crisp as players the Cubs "might look at."
According to a report from the Sun-Times, the Cubs are looking for at least one more veteran for the bullpen.
Bruce Levine mentioned the Cubs "will look at players like rehab projects Ben Sheets and J.J. Putz down the line" ... and will look to improve the team further after all of the non-tenders hit the open market on December 12. Jim Hendry must clear payroll in order to have any flexibility to make additional changes.
Ken Rosenthal broke the news and it appears Chone Figgins is on the verge of signing a huge contract with the Seattle Mariners ... and the deal could impact the Cubs off-season. Rumors have suggested the Cubs are interested in Curtis Granderson but if Figgins signs the deal with the M's, as expected, the Angels are expected to turn up their pursuit of Curtis Granderson. Apparently the M's are waiting to see if Adrian Beltre will accept the salary arbitration Seattle offered him. The deadline for players to accept is Monday ...
Off the Field News
- The Cubs will make the announcement by early January on whether they will be staying in Arizona or moving their spring training home to Florida.
- The Cubs are "close to naming a permanent sponsor for the new 60-foot-high sign that will go up on a billboard attached to the left centerfield bleachers" according to a report from Bruce Levine. Budweiser and Bud Light are two of the possibilities.
- The Cubs raised ticket prices in some areas ... and will make the Tribune Seats available to season ticket holders. Seven hundred names of the 120,000 waiting to buy season tickets at Wrigley will be given a chance to purchase the seats ... or other locations vacated by current season ticket holders that decided to upgrade.
- Skyboxes 1-6 have been turned into a new Wrigley Field Club and the Ricketts family will reconfigure luxury boxes 6-8 into their personal boxes and Wrigley office.
- The back of the old centerfield scoreboard will be refaced according to a report from the Tribune. The familiar neon "Chicago Cubs" will remain and the back of the scoreboard will be free of ads for now ... the Cubs are looking into marketing possibilities that would generate more revenue.
Jake Fox on XM Radio
The former Cubs' slugger joined Casey Stern and Kevin Kennedy during Inside Pitch on Friday afternoon. The always positive and upbeat Jake Fox talked about being traded to the A's and playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic.
Jake Fox found out about the trade on his way to Welington Castillo's house for dinner. Fox said he and Castillo are very good friends and were in the car when he received the call from Jim Hendry.
Fox said he respected the way Jim Hendry handled the situation. Hendry told Fox he was not a fit with the Chicago Cubs and said he could not live with himself if he did not find a place for Fox to play in order to further his career.
Fox admitted he will miss Chicago and the Cubs' fans but feels it is best for his career to go to another team and play everyday.
Billy Beane called Fox about 30 minutes after he got off the phone with Hendry and the two discussed Fox's future with the A's. Fox said he's been working hard on his defense ... but realizes what will keep him in a lineup is his offense.
Kevin Kennedy raved about Fox's attitude at the conclusion of the segment. Kennedy called the trade a great move for the A's and Billy Beane and wondered how someone could trade a player with Fox's attitude and enthusiasm. Kennedy said you find a place for someone to play with an attitude like that ... you don't trade it.
Jake Fox told Waddle and Silvy that the Cubs underestimated his ability.
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Well, that's the latest ... and I'm sticking to it!
Two things:
1) I read that "more than three teams are looking at Milton Bradley" as teams are trying to screw with Hendry and see if they can't trick him into trading more good players away for "pieces" needed to sweeten the pot of a Bradley dump, much like the Orioles did to the Cubs last year when they heard the Peavy rumors.
2) Why not look at Ben Sheets, I say. If he pans out, then the Cubs are that much better and aren't hurt at all by Harden leaving. If he doesn't pan out, then the Cubs probably won't have had to pay anything for him and can most likely get rid of him on the cheap. Of course, this all relies on Sheets' necessity for being coached, because if he needs someone to work with him on his mechanics, like Maddux was going to do with him in Texas, then he'd be coming to the worst possibly location. Though Putz wouldn't be a bad consolation.
Mets get: Pat Burrell
Rays get: Milton Bradley
Cubs get: Luis Castillo
---
Tigers get: Andrew Cashner, Josh Vitters, Sean Marshall, Mike Fontenot, Jay Jackson,
Cubs get: Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson
Cubs sign: J.J. Putz
Rotation-
Carlos Zambrano
Ted Lilly
Ryan Dempster
Edwin Jackson
Randy Wells
Pen-
CL- Carlos Marmol
SU- J.J. Putz
SU- John Grabow
MR- Angel Guzman
MR- Esmailin Caridad
LR- Justin Berg
LR- Mitch Atkins
Lineup-
Luis Castillo
Ryan Theriot
Derrek Lee
Aramis Ramirez
Curtis Granderson
Alfonso Soriano
Geovany Soto
Kosuke Fukudome
Bench-
Micah Hoffpauir
Andres Blanco
Koyie Hill
Sam Fuld
Jeff Baker
Good young rotation, good young bullpen, good lineup, good young bench especially with Baker who is a younger version of DeRosa and Blanco/Fuld for defense and speed....
I know its obviously alot more complicated than that but the best solution is just so simple, Granderson, Edwin, Putz, Castillo. Done.
Note what the article said about Fox: "great attitude and enthusiasm." Sounds so much like Milton, eh? lol
Fox thinks the Cubs under-estimated his ability. So do I.
Side note;
I've been reading posts that keep saying how happy guys are because we got rid of that "midget" of Aaron Miles. And yeah I'm very happy too that the midget is gone...he has to be one of the worst signings by a GM ever. Any way since now I'm convinced that worthless piec of midget is a midget...well I took a look at his profile and the dude is actually a whole inch taller than me and that is not funny.
any way I just wanted to point that out, but don't worry I get to ride in all of the rides at Six Flags with a special permitt :o
Don't get down on yourself. I'm sure the Cubs added a couple of inches on the roster listing to increase his already high trade value.
I know Miles is listed at 5'8" ... but I don't think so. Same for Mike Fontenot...
I'm 5'8" with tall boots. lol
Augustin, thanks for the laugh...after a few days away...I'm catching up.
The size of a man is not in his height...
it's his heart, my friend.
Suzy ... good to hear from you. Your silence had me concerned.
Thanks Neil, as I said before...this month will be sporatic....transitioning
to a new spot and no internet service for awhile...(I'm at the library just
now). It will take until mid-January
until I'm up and going again.
Best of Holiday wishes to all.
I remember you mentioning that ... I hope the move is going okay.
Two thoughts for an early Saturday morning. Isn't it great when one of the first moves that new ownership (and one that's "a diehard Cubs fan") makes is to raise ticket prices on prime seating. Thank you Ricketts.
Second, Kennedy and others really hit it right on Fox. You can't (or atleast shouldn't) trade genuine attitude and enthusiasm. You have a 28 year-old with sound offensive talent going into the season aligned with the best hitting coach in baseball. I think great things could have developed from that relationship. But hey, nobody in Cubs management will want to discuss the absolutely tragic defensive liability we have in LF...for just 5 more years.
I see Mike Cameron is the latest Cubs target. At 37 he is definitely not a long term solution but would definitely be an upgrade.
I was expecting that headline on Cameron ... you could see it coming. With Lou talking to the media at Reds Fest Friday, it was just a 'matter of time.'
What fun this next week will be. I bet that after all the "speculations" of acquasistions, we get garbage in return for anyone and everyone. The Winter Meetings are like a poker game. Well, Hendry was dealt a hand and has showed all of his cards before the flop. All the other GM's are putting on there poker faces while Hendry is worried. Don't worry our "flop" will be Burrell and and the "turn" will be Castillo and the "river" will be Putz. Sorry, no Granderson or Sheets.
BTW, can you say hello to Florida!!!!!! Great spot for Spring Training.
Hola Florida here come the Cubbies
I say go after Sheets on a 2 year incentive filled contract and hope for the same results as we got with Dempster
Tin Tin:
You probably are faster, and have more range with that 5'8 body of yours than Miles.
well, so far,we've had 2 significant trades, ridding ourselves of Heilman and Miles. In both cases, I feel we lost. Heilman cost us more initially (essentially Olson, Pie, and Cedeno) than we got in return for him. Furthermore, with Miles, we had to include Fox just to get rid of him, and netted players that have almost no chance of playing in the majors.
The reason I had just a problem with the inclusion of Fox in that trade, is because outside of maybe Vitters and Flaherty, we had no proven young power hitters in our ENTIRE system. Fox had limited AB's last year, and still hit 11 hr, and outperformed virtually every hitter on the team except for Lee and ARAM. I don't know about you all, but every single time he came to the plate, I had a "Sosa" moment circa 1998, where every time he came to the plate, I thought he'd hit one out or drive in runs. 11 hr, 44 RBI in over half the AB's of Bradley, Fukudome, etc., I'd say that's worth at least a top prospect. DeRosa, when he was traded, was coming off .285 avg, .376 OBP, .481 SLG, 30 doubles, 21 hr, 87 RBI, and we couldn't even get a damn top prospect for him for crying out loud?!? Indeed, Hendry is the dumbest GM in the game right now.
What indicts him even more is the recent returns on trades for Heilman and DeRosa from other teams. Heilman, combined with Chavez, and a few other players netted the Mets Jeremy Reed and JJ Putz. Reed was once a top OF prospect and Putz was a lights out closer for the Mariners. Just think about what we gave up JUST for Heilman ALONE....Pie-top OF prospect, Cedeno-proven young SS with upside and former top prospect, Olson-highly coveted young lefty starter and former top prospect of the Orioles.
DeRosa, we got 2 players 2-3 yrs older than their competition at respective levels in the minors (Gaub and Stevens), and a young starter. NONE of which were listed on top 30 prospect lists...which pretty much says it all, no matter how the Cubs brass tried to spin things. THEN, we basically got kicked in the crotch twice with DeRosa later in the season when he was traded to our biggest rival, AND,the Cards ended up giving up 2 top prospects in Perez and Todd to get him, so not only did it hurt to see him play for our rival, but it also hurt to find out that the Indians essentially traded Stevens, Gaub, and Archer for Todd and Perez, which is a trade almost no organization would do---giving up 2 top prospects for 3 not even listed. Isn't that pathetic?!?
I will say this...and others have echoed this sentiment....how some Cubs fans in their right mind would ever support Hendry is beyond all rationality. It's an apples-to-apples comparison that we have now. We can definitely see what other GM's are able to get in return for the same players that we traded to them all within a reasonable time frame too (less than a year).
Now comes word that it's almost a given Hendry will pursue a Bradley-for-Burrell-for-Castillo swap, and either Marlon Byrd or Cameron for CF. Really?!? Castillo will turn 34 soon, Byrd will be 32 next season, and Cameron will be 37. How exactly have all the aging veteran signings worked for Hendry in recent years?!?
Here is all you need to know about Hendry, and how dumb he really is...opting to go for guys he's had a career long boner for like Floyd, Jones, Kendall, Bradley, etc., instead of going with in-house options. Just take a look at these comments...
**********************************************
"Naturally, I always thought I should have been a little higher than I was, and he always told me, 'No, you're right where you need to be,' " Fox told "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on WMVP-AM 1000. "So we never really saw eye-to-eye."(***Fox was talking about 'higher' in the system)
Fox said he figured he had no future with the Cubs after a postseason meeting with Hendry, who felt the defensively challenged Fox would fare better in the American League.
"He even told me, he said, 'Look, I couldn't look myself in the mirror and know that I was holding your career back,' " Fox said
**********************************************
Aaron's questions for Hendry...
1)Why were you holding back a guy that averaged 20 hr, 80+RBI in the minors in the first place?
2)If you were hyping up guys like Vitters, Castro, and others in the past....did you even stop to look at their stats? They weren't anything to brag about in comparison to guys like DuBois and Fox that you had in your systems at various points. In fact, you only gave Dubois 20 games in '04 and 52 games in '05 to prove himself, and furthermore, he actually had better stats than even Fox had in his minor league career. What gives? And to make matters worse, you traded him for an older Jody Gerut, who had worse minor league #'s, and average MLB #'s. Why?
3)Why do you consistently go after aging veterans in free agency, rather than looking at cheaper, internal options in order to develop them for the future?
4)Why didn't you demand more for DeRosa, a player that was arguably the MVP of our team in '08 AND, one of the most productive 2B in the entire MLB AND one of the most versatile players in all of MLB...AND, had a VERY affordable contract?
5)After the Indians received 2 top prospects for DeRosa after you received NONE, why didn't you just resign your post then? It was quite clear that every single decision you made after the 2008 season turned to absolute shi$!!!!! Gregg vs Marmol ($4.5 million vs $400k...hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......9 blown saves, knee surgery, and headed toward a non-tender, and he thought he needed to trade a top pitching prospect for him?!?) THEN, you make a series of questionable moves:
-Miles vs DeRosa ($2.5 million vs $5 million)
-Gathright vs Pie ($800k vs $400k)
-Bako vs going into season with K Hill ($200k buyout vs $400k)
-Bradley vs Dunn/Abreu/Ibanez (3 yrs $30 million vs 2 yrs $20 million/1 yr $5 million/3 yrs, $31.5 million)
-Heilman vs internal candidates ($1.625 million vs $400k)
-Harden for prospects when we were out of the race vs letting him go via FA, and NOT offering arbitration to receive compensatory pick
So, if Hendry makes his typical moves, here's our roster:
Z
Dempster
Wells
Gorzelanny
Samardzija
*Lilly on DL
pen: Stevens, Berg/Patton, Marshall, Caridad, Grabow, Guzman, Marmol
C-Soto
1B-Lee
2B-Castillo
SS-Theriot
3B-ARAm
LF-Soriano
CF-Cameron
RF-Fukudome
bench-K Hill, Baker, Fontenot, Fuld, Reed Johnson
Likely scenarios:
-Z will get hurt, making at max 25 starts
-Lilly will be back mid-May rather than early April
-Lee will produce at his '08 levels, around 20 hr, 85 RBI
-ARAM will play in 110-120 games, spending time on the DL for his shoulder again
-Soriano will hurt his knee and calf, and his season will be cut short yet again, and he'll finish with under 20 hr and under 60 RBI
-Cameron will hit between 10-15 hr and under 70 RBI for the first time in a full season in his career, and it'll be blamed on day games and first year adjustment to being a Cub
-Fukudome will become a very expensive platoon player, only facing righties
-Soto will injure his wrist, hamstring, and oblique during the season, and will finish with 80-90 games played, mostly due to ineffectiveness
-Castillo will hurt his hamstring, and also due to ineffectiveness, which, like Cameron, will be blamed on day games, and he'll finish with a .270-.280 avg with no hr, and under 30 RBI, with under 10 SB
on the flip side:
-Pie will continue to develop into a regular, and add to his impressive showing at the end of last year
-Heilman will be turned into a starter, and will finish with an ERA in the 3.70-3.90 range
-Fox will finish the year with 25+hr, 80+RBI, .270+avg, .350+OBP
...and we'll be left wondering...
Fox vs Cameron ($400k vs likely $6 million)
Baker everyday vs Castillo everyday ($700k after arbitration vs $6 million)
That's how I look at every single decision Hendry makes. He's an idiot...sorry for being so blunt about it, but it's the truth. I approached the situations with Ceda, Veal, and Pie last year. We could've easily gotten more for them in expanded trades, etc., rather than the crap trade to get Gregg, letting Veal go for nothing when he was highly coveted (another question for Hendry...if you know Veal's highly coveted going into the Rule 5, wouldn't that lead you to believe other teams consider him valuable in trades?)I'll never understand Hendry's reasoning.
I mean, seriously...there's like a hamster wheel inside of his head...it's ridiculous how bad he's looked in trades and free agency. How long can one guy live on 2 trades (ARAM and Lee) to make his career?!?
Amen Aaron....Just what we need, two more aging signings in Castillo and Cameron.
Why would anyone want to play in our farm system based on our track record of promotions and providing a real opportunity to make the big league roster? Hendry is indeed an idiot!