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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Piniella § 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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Piniella § 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
When it develops its own players, a solid baseball organization also produces tradeable veterans. Tradeability is something of a foreign concept to Cub fans. It does not apply to high-profile flops, players you wish had never come in the door. Cub fans are quite familiar with players of that sort. Recent examples are Soriano, Fukudome, [...]
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Posted 21 February 2010
† Phil
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Ricketts § prospect § trade
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Tagged: d.j. lemahieu, geovany soto, hak-ju lee, jim hendry, john mcdonough, jose serra, marlon byrd, oneri fleita, rebel ridling, ryan flaherty, ryan theriot, starlin castro, tim wilken, tom ricketts
The Cubs’ second biggest problem with Milton Bradley was his personality. Larger even than the chip on Bradley’s shoulder was his inability to fulfill the role of run producer, the proper role of a right fielder. Bradley ended the season (via suspension on September 20) with forty runs batted in and a slugging percentage below [...]
The Cub team that I’m excited about is a couple years away, but 2010 is shaping up as a solid season, largely because Jim Hendry has been demonstrating the same patience and shrewdness in selecting players that new owner Tom Ricketts has applied to the choice of a spring-training site. Hendry corrected a few [...]
Tyler Colvin had a decent half season at Tennessee (AA) and got called up in September. Starlin Castro had a good half season at Tennessee and is expected by many people to join the Cubs soon. (He’ll be twenty in March.) It’s hard to predict the future of any prospect but we can say with [...]
So far, Josh Vitters looks like a beta version of the player he will become. By contrast, Starlin Castro, Hak-Ju Lee, Brett Jackson and D.J. LeMahieu have shown polished two-way skills that may propel them to the majors while Vitters is working on his glove, his plate discipline, his power stroke. Either way–whoever gets there [...]
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Posted 05 November 2009
† Phil
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bradley § prospect § trade
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Tagged: brett jackson, casey coleman, chris archer, chris huseby, darwin barney, dj lemahieu, hak-ju lee, jay jackson, jim hendry, josh vitters, junior lake, kosuke fukudome, kyler burke, logan watkins, milton bradley, ryan flaherty, starlin castro
Money talks, and so I fully expect Milton Bradley to be back in the Cub lineup next year.
Bradley’s previous employers were careful to maintain leverage over him, so they could jettison him on a moment’s notice. Cleveland traded Bradley in April of ‘04, and Oakland DFA’d him early in 2007. In both cases, [...]
Wittenmyer of the Sun-Times has written a defense of Alfonso Soriano, in which appears this item:
It also has been well documented that what drove the price so high had nothing to do with the baseball operations side of the team, nor Jim Hendry. It came directly from the top of an organization that was about [...]
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 [...]