With the late-July trading season approaching, the usual rule applies that you trade older, more expensive players at positions where you have a surplus. While I hope they make a few deals, this team does not need to be “blown up,” as some fans are saying. The Cubs won’t make the postseason, and the [...]
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Posted 01 July 2010
† Phil
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Hendry § prospect § soriano § trade
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Tagged: alfonso soriano, andrew cashner, brett jackson, carlos silva, d.j. lemahieu, derrek lee, geovany soto, jim hendry, jody davis, joe carter, joe girardi, lou piniella, marlon byrd, micah hoffpauir, rafael palmeiro, rebel ridling, robinson chirinos, sean marshall, shawon dunston, starlin castro, ted lilly, tyler colvin, welington castillo
Lou Piniella says his pitching coach won’t let him keep fewer than twelve pitchers on the 25-man active roster. That leaves thirteen position players, of whom ten, I would say, have already made the team. The ten includes two catchers (Soto, Hill), four infielders (Lee, Fontenot, Theriot, Ramirez) and four outfielders (Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome, Nady). [...]
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Posted 19 March 2010
† Phil
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Hendry § prospect
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Tagged: andres blanco, brad snyder, chad tracy, chris robinson, jeff baker, jim adduci, kevin millar, mark derosa, mike fontenot, robinson chirinos, tyler colvin
Word was out last week that nineteen Cubs not currently on the 40-man roster have been invited to spring training with the major-league team.
Infielders: Barney, Camp, Castro, LaHair, Lalli, Scales, Vitters
Outfielders: Jackson, Snyder
Catchers: Chirinos, Clevenger, Robinson
Pitchers: Cashner, Coleman, Diamond, Kennard, Mathes, Perkins, Russell
Say hello to your 2010 Iowa Cubs!–with the exceptions of under-22 prospects Vitters, [...]
According to Carrie Muskat’s mlb.com article today, the Cubs are 28-17 in games that Koyie Hill has started at catcher this season. Soto is coming off the DL and will be behind the plate when the Cubs next play on Friday.
By my count, the Cubs were 17 and 8 in games that Hill started in [...]
The Cubs have improved in some areas this winter but there are still three trouble spots.
First, they haven’t created an opportunity for Micah Hoffpauir. Hoffpauir was a lefthanded power bat that the Cubs should have gotten into the lineup, even at the expense of Derrek Lee. Fontenot is an additional lefty bat, sure, and so [...]
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Posted 26 January 2009
† Phil
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Hendry § Lefty-righty § lineup § prospect
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Tagged: carlos zambrano, derrek lee, jake peavy, joey gathright, kosuke fukudome, micah hoffpauir, mike fontenot, rich harden, ryan dempster, ted lilly, tyler colvin
Jim Hendry was on a Chicago radio station last Friday where he was quoted saying that “of the 13 position players currently projected to start the season, 7 either hit left-handed or are switch hitters.”
Those two numbers–13 and 7–are pretty good clues as to who will be on the Cubs on opening day and who [...]
The easiest way to understand why Joey Gathright is on the Cubs and why the Ryan Theriot of 2007 was still the shortstop at the beginning of ‘08–and to gain an insight into various other personnel issues that are mysteries to many fans–is to articulate the following as Lou Piniella’s first rule for getting oneself [...]
Does anybody know what Lou means when he says that one of the team’s goals in the offseason is to get “more athletic”? He has said this in many interviews, most recently on XM radio yesterday. Lou often speaks cryptically but there’s usually a way to decode the message, and a meaning behind it.
Apart [...]
I thought Lou was not classy in the postgame on TBS. He blamed the players, and talked about twelve runs scored in six postseason games on his watch. He said you can’t win with this many runs unless your pitchers throw shutouts.
I don’t think he should have been praising his hitters but in the two [...]