From the Wire … Cubs Sign Sean Marshall to Two-Year Deal

January 18, 2011 By 30 Comments

According to multiple reports, the Cubs avoided arbitration with Sean Marshall on Tuesday. Marshall and the Cubs agreed to a two-year deal, which would buy out his last two years of arbitration eligibility.

Marshall signed a two-year deal worth $4.7 million. Marshall will earn $1.6 in 2011 and $3.1 million in 2012. Carlos Marmol is the only arbitration eligible player left unsigned. According to a report from the Tribune, the Cubs and Marmol are working on a multi-year deal.

The Cubs also avoided arbitration with Tom Gorzelanny before trading him to the Nationals on Monday … the trade has not been officially announced. The Nationals will pay Gorzelanny $2.1 million in 2011.

The Cubs have avoided arbitration with Jeff Baker ($1.175 million), Koyie Hill ($850,000), Geovany Soto ($3 million), Matt Garza ($5.95 million) and Sean Marshall ($1.6 million in 2011, $3.1 million in 2012) this winter.

Stay Tuned …


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  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    From Baseball America: Cubs get all nostalgic, sign OF Lou Montanez to MiLB deal. They drafted him 3rd overall in ’00. Huge ’08 for AA Bowie looks like outlier.

    It is a minor league deal

    • Tom U

      Montanez batted .405 with 7 RBI in 13 games for Caugas in the the Puerto RIcan League this winter. He is currently batting .250 for the Creoles in the playoffs. He will be added to the Winter League Report.

    • cubs1967

      Just another wasted H.S. batter that could not adjust……..but I recall based on his size there were comparisions to a mini-ARod…….

      maybe Rudy can at least make him a plausible 4 or 5th OF.

      • Tom U

        Montanez was touted with a skill set similar to Hanley Ramirez. I don’t want to speak out of turn, but I believe Montanez had some substance abuse issues when he was in the Cubs’ minor league system. While I hope that wasn’t true, or if it was that he has gotten the help he needed, not everyone can be Josh Hamilton.

    • Patrick_Schaefer

      Neil, I’m assuming it came with an invite to Spring training?

      • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

        Not that I’ve heard yet.

    • studio179

      I was just talking to a buddy of mine two days ago about Cub prospects from the past and Lou Montanez came up. Blast from the past.

  • Patrick_Schaefer

    Montanez is most Likely a AAA filler.

  • Jerry4572

    jerry. is josh vitters our third baseman in 2012.

    • Patrick_Schaefer

      Vitters has to show he can field at 3b first.

    • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

      No. I think Vitters is at least a September call-up in 2012 away

    • Tom U

      Vitters is one of many in-house options. Current AAA Iowa third baseman Marquez Smith has a lot of supporters. He hits for power, but there is some question as to how he hits in the clutch. Vitters should open as AA Tennessee’s third baseman, but could end up sharing the postions with other prospects, such as Ryan Flaherty and DJ LeMahieu. Scouts say that Vitters has a “plus” arm, but has struggled with his footwork at third. A move to First or Outfield could be in his future. Flaherty has played all over the diamond and showed good power in 2009, his first minor league season. Flaherty was slow to adjust to AA, and had to be demoted to High A ball. LeMahieu posted the second highest average among all Cubs’ minor leaguers. He was drafted as a shortstop, and has played second and third. Matt Cerda looks like he’ll earn a promotion to High A Daytona. He played well offensively and defensively, but is about the same size as former Cub Mike Fontenot. Cerda may have to convert to second. All this doesn’t mean that the Cubs won’t look outside of their organization for their third baseman in 2012.

  • paulcatanese

    The Marshall signing,,, A very good deal for the Cubs.

  • Patrick_Schaefer

    http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110117&content_id=16448410&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc

    7. Josh Vitters, Cubs: Chicago pushed Vitters up to Double-A when it had a hole to fill, and while he didn’t put up good numbers at all, the organization was pleased with how he prepared and dealt with the adversity. He still has the great swing, bat speed and raw power that made him the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 Draft. He hasn’t been so great at making adjustments and doesn’t draw walks at all. He’s not great defensively, but has a good arm and should be able to stay at the hot corner. The 2011 season could be a big one for Vitters.

  • Patrick_Schaefer

    http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110117&content_id=16450988&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc
    A.J. Morris: The Nats took Morris in the fourth round of the 2009 Draft after his monster year at Kansas State. As a senior, Morris went 14-1 with a 2.09 ERA and was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award (won by that Strasburg guy). While he was a starter in college and for much of the early stages of his pro career, most see him as a reliever at this point in time.

    The Nationals moved him into the bullpen with Class A Advanced Potomac last year, and while his numbers weren’t great, there was a definite uptick with his stuff. He’s got plus command of at least two above-average pitches. Morris’ fastball velocity was up to 93-94 mph with good life. Movement plus command is a very good thing. He’s also got a very good slider, somewhere in the 83-84 mph range, which he also throws routinely for strikes. He had been working on a changeup, but it was behind the other two offerings. If the Cubs want him to start, he’ll have to progress with that offspeed pitch. If they scrap it, the 24-year-old could be a setup type who could get to the big leagues fairly quickly.

  • Tom U
  • Patrick_Schaefer

    http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/5080#comment-101787

    A definite MUST READ!!!
    Very Insightful.

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    From Baseball America: I have confirmed: Matt Szczur has verbally agreed to $1.5 million, giving up NFL possibilities to stick with Cubs. More to come

    • Matt12882003

      neil whats wrong with the commeniting system on here on the article it says 12 comments then when u click on it it shows 20 comments its been like this for a while now it doesnt show the correct comments

      • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

        Matt, I’m working on the problem.

    • Patrick_Schaefer

      Wow, a lot cheaper than Jeff Samardzija, atleast. I really like the athleticism he has. Hope he develops well.

    • The Maven

      Great to hear. I knew when Mel Kiper didn’t list him in his top 50 senior wide receivers, that his NFL prospects were slim. Still, I support his going back for his last year of football. Now, he’ll have no regrets over that. Perhaps the Cubs had this in mind when they traded Hak-Ju Lee in the Garza deal. Szczur’s speed is elite by baseball standards, and he could evolve into their lead-off hitter of the future (where have we heard that one before!).

      • paulcatanese

        Hey we both agree on this one. I’m so happy that he chose baseball over football,I don’t think he will be sorry for 1.5 million reasons. And he will also be able to get out of bed on his own after 5 or6 years

    • Tom U

      Szczur will most likely be assigned to Class A Peoria, where he ended his season last year. If he is successful, he will be probably fast-tracked to High A Daytona.

  • Matt12882003
    • Matt12882003

      Cubs Sign Matt Szczur For $1.5MM
      By Mike Axisa [January 18 at 7:29pm CST]

      The Cubs have signed outfielder Matt Szczur to a deal worth $1.5MM, tweets Jim Callis of Baseball America. Tony Pauline first reported the deal (on Twitter).

      Szczur, 21, was the Cubs’ fifth round pick in the 2010 draft. He agreed to a $100K signing bonus at the time and hit .347/.414/.465 in 116 A-ball plate appearances after signing. Szczur then returned to Villanova for his senior football season, and this new contract buys him away from a potential NFL career.

      Baseball America ranked Szczur as Chicago’s seventh best prospect, though that was before the Matt Garza trade thinned their system.

  • Tony_Hall

    Congratualations Sean Marshall!!!

    There is no more deserving guy than Sean. He has done whatever was asked of him, starting or relieving, even playing the OF, with no complaints.

    Here is another way that JH is fitting the payroll in for 2011 and spending 2012′s payroll. It is essentially a 2 year $4.7 million (I had an estimate of $2M in 2011 and $2.5M in 2012), JH got him to take a little less in 2011 and made up for it, by paying a little more in 2012, but giving Marshall that guarantee payday,

  • Cheryl

    I wonder if the Cubs will try to package Jeff S. with one of their second base candidates in a trade? I still think Hendry will do one more trade before spring training. Maybe they could put ithe above two together with Fulkodome or Soriano (I hope..l Hope.)

    • Tony_Hall

      That’s an awful lot of NO-TRADE CLAUSES to get waived. All of your guys have them, except the 2B.