The annual General Manager Meetings officially begin Wednesday in Palm Springs. The meetings run through Friday and these meetings usually set the groundwork for future trades and free agent signings. Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, Jason McLeod, Randy Bush and Shiraz Rehman made the trek out west and will continue conversations they’ve already had with other teams and agents.
The Cubs have significant flexibility and are going to be aggressive in free agency according to a report from Comcast SportsNet. Jed Hoyer said the team will not do things that might limit them going forward. The Cubs are looking to add at least two starting pitchers, an outfielder, help in the pen, a veteran back-up catcher and possibly a third baseman but Hoyer indicated they will not sign players to contracts that may hinder them down the road.
According to the Sun-Times, the Cubs are pursuing Brandon McCarthy and Shaun Marcum to help fill the two open spots in the rotation. Both pitchers are coming off injury-shortened seasons and Marcum has been linked to the Cubs due to his relationship with Chris Bosio and Dale Sveum. Minor League Moves
Baseball America released the list of 549 minor league free agents on Tuesday. All minor league contracts expired after the 2012 season and the Cubs have 21 players according to Baseball America that have not re-signed with the organization.
Pitchers: Jairo Asencio, Justin Berg, Rodrigo Lopez, Seth McClung, Blake Parker, Miguel Socolovich, Alvaro Sosa, Horacio Ramirez, Ryan Rowland-Smith
Catchers: Juan Apodaca, Brian Esposito, Nathan Maldonado
Infielders: Adrian Cardenas, David Macias, Diory Hernandez, Nate Samson, Alfredo Amezaga, Vladimir Frias, Matt Tolbert
Outfielders: James Adduci, Jeff Frazier
Jairo Asencio signed a minor league deal with the Brewers that included an invite to big league camp and David Macias hung up his cleats for a job in the Cubs’ front office. Macias was named the Cubs player development and international scouting assistant last month and helped recruit new minor league pitching coordinator Derek Johnson.
According to Baseball America, the Cubs re-signed right-handed pitcher Marcos Mateo and signed Edwin Maysonet to a minor league contract. BA did not indicate if Maysonet’s deal includes an invite to big league camp or not but chances are Maysonet will receive an non-roster invitation to Spring Training.
Edwin Maysonet played in 30 games for the Brewers last season and put together a .250/.297/.350/.647 line with a double, a triple and a home run. The home run came against the Cubs on May 12 … a grand slam off Chris Volstad.
Chattin’ with Bruce Levine
Mr. Talkin’ Baseball held his weekly chat Tuesday on ESPNChicago.com. As always, here are the highlights:
- Levine thinks Dan Haren will be looking for more money than the Cubs are willing to offer at this point. The Cubs will pursue Brandon McCarthy-type pitchers … players that might want one year with an option or former star pitchers trying to re-establish themselves. Levine feels the Cubs will go after pitchers such as Brandon McCarthy, Dan Haren, Francisco Liriano, Shaun Marcum and Scott Baker.
- The Cubs have not shown any interest in Kevin Youkilis. Levine said Youkilis could be a possibility for the Cubs and White Sox but Youkilis could be looking for a longer deal than either team is willing to offer.
- Levine does not think the Cubs will be involved in trade talks for Jeremy Hellickson … the Cubs do not have a lot to trade and they will not trade their top prospects.
- Mark Reynolds is not the type of player that fits in with the Epstein-Hoyer program of OBP-type guys.
- Levine brought up Jeff Keppinger again as a possible short-term solution for the Cubs at third base.
- Levine was told that there aren’t any hard feelings between the Cubs and Angels after the Cubs pulled out of the Marmol-for-Haren deal.
- The Cubs would not have both Casey McGehee and Ian Stewart on the roster and use the players in a possible platoon at third base.
- Ryan Dempster will be looking for $10-$12 million per year. Levine thinks Dempster will not be looking for a short-term deal and he questioned if Dempster would put himself in a position to be traded again. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer do not hand out no-trade clauses or any type of no-trade protection.
- The Cubs could hang onto Darwin Barney this winter. Levine thinks the Cubs might keep their Gold Glove second baseman but if he could be traded for a solid starting pitching prospect and a position player of the future, Levine thinks the Cubs would have to consider trading Barney.
Bob Brenly
Bob Brenly spent a little time Tuesday on the Waddle and Silvy Show (ESPN 1000) and discussed his time in the Cubs’ broadcast booth. Brenly said his only regret during his eight seasons of calling Cubs’ games was the remarks he made about Alfonso Soriano in May of 2008.
Alfonso Soriano botched two fly balls in Pittsburgh that cost the Cubs a game (think Brant Brown, just earlier in a season) the worst of the two came in the ninth inning with two outs and his error allowed the tying run to score … the Cubs ending up losing the game in 11 innings. Brenly remained Soriano’s toughest critic until last season when everyone paying attention noticed a difference in Soriano’s performance.
Bob Brenly enjoyed last year, his final season in the Cubs’ booth, despite calling a majority of the 101 losses. Brenly said he liked watching the beginning of the organization’s transition and the development of players such as Jeff Samardzija, Darwin Barney, Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro.
News and Notes
Weekend passes for the 28th Annual Cubs Convention go on sale Wednesday morning at 10:00am CST on Cubs.com.
Baseball Prospectus’ list of the top 10 prospects in the Cubs’ system hits the world wide web on Wednesday.
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