My wife and daughter and I went to the Saturday and Sunday games at Nationals Park. Bryce Harper sat on Saturday (and the night before) with an ingrown toenail. Sunday he was oh for two with two walks. Feldman gave him one walk, Russell the other. Both pitchers have pinpoint control but had no intention [...]
Greg Rohan was a 26-year-old corner infielder and occasional left fielder when he began the 2012 season at Daytona, where he had already played during the previous two seasons. The Cubs must have thought of him as pretty fringe-y at this point, given his age and level, and when they finally promoted him to Tennessee [...]
After consulting, apparently, the Mayan calendar, baseball’s cognoscenti determined that Sunday, July 31st, would be the end of the world for the Chicago Cubs, coinciding with the major-league trading deadline; or, less metaphorically, that the Cubs’ GM would dispose of every remotely tradeable player on the team just before being disposed of himself. Management would [...]
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Posted 07 August 2011
† Phil
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Hendry § prospect § Quade § trade
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Tagged: alfonso soriano, aramis ramirez, brandon guyer, brett jackson, carlos pena, darwin barney, geovany soto, jeff beliveau, jim hendry, marlon byrd, mike quade, ryan flaherty, starlin castro, tim wilken, tyler colvin
If you like the Fukudome trade–and what’s not to like about a deal that nets the Cubs another 21-year-old prospect with the size, speed, power, glove and strong right arm of a Junior Lake?–then you should hand most of the credit to Mike Quade. When none of your starting outfielders is punching his weight, it’s [...]
Here are a few predictions about various Cub players and about the team as a whole in 2011. Some of this might sound more like admonition than prediction, more a question of what the team should do than what it will do. But I am prognosticating, not giving advice. I have confidence in Cub management [...]
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Posted 01 April 2011
† Phil
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Hendry § prospect § Running
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Tagged: aaron shafer, alfonso soriano, brett jackson, carlos zambrano, david cales, jeff baker, jeff beliveau, josh vitters, kosuke fukudome, marquez smith, michael brenly, rebel ridling, ryan flaherty, sam fuld, tyler colvin
The fact that he vented is more interesting than anything that he said. The outburst was not surprising, though, since you probably didn’t expect the Mariners to send you an Eagle Scout in exchange for Bradley. While everyone knows that Silva was linked to Bradley, few recall the chain of causation that connects both of [...]
Cub fans were encouraged when the Angels obtained Vernon Wells and his $86 million contract in a trade last week, since the Blue Jays were considered by many to be stuck with a contract as bad as Alfonso Soriano’s, now worth $72 million over the same four years. By next winter, Soriano’s list price goes [...]
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 team [...]
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Posted 01 July 2010
† Phil
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Hendry § Piniella § prospect § 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
Can Soriano or Fukudome be traded? Following Tyler Colvin’s impressive spring performance, Lou Piniella has promised to steal three starts a week from Byrd and Fukudome and give them to Colvin. Xavier Nady, meanwhile, will replace Soriano from time to time. Truth be told–and the truth is seldom more than whispered when hefty contracts are [...]
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, the [...]