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 § Piniella § prospect § soriano § trade
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Also tagged: alfonso soriano, andrew cashner, brett jackson, carlos silva, d.j. lemahieu, derrek lee, geovany soto, 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
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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Hendry § Ricketts § prospect § trade
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Also tagged: d.j. lemahieu, geovany soto, hak-ju lee, john mcdonough, jose serra, marlon byrd, oneri fleita, rebel ridling, ryan flaherty, ryan theriot, starlin castro, tim wilken, tom ricketts
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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Hendry § bradley § prospect § trade
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Also tagged: brett jackson, casey coleman, chris archer, chris huseby, darwin barney, dj lemahieu, hak-ju lee, jay jackson, 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, [...]
Looking back to December ‘07, this news item is noteworthy:
[Pacific rim scout Steve] Wilson and several members of the Cubs’ front office watched Fukudome play many times this season, and they came away impressed enough to make him the Cubs’ No. 1 off-season target. Hendry credited Wilson, along with assistant GM Randy Bush and scouting [...]
I’m very glad Jim Hendry pushed himself away from the table at the winter meetings. In post-mortem remarks to Tribune reporter Phil Rogers, Hendry discussed–very refreshingly, I thought–what the impact of the trade would have been on the team three or four years out.
Hendry said he was looking beyond the 2009 team when he [...]
Jim Hendry worries me. He thinks of his job as finding a few missing pieces in a large jigsaw puzzle, and he has no qualms about trading prospects to acquire those pieces. I disagree with that philosophy. I think a GM’s job is to make deals that increase the aggregate value of the players [...]
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 [...]
Five weeks ago I wrote a post suggesting that Mike Fontenot might begin to squeeze Mark DeRosa at second base.
Fontenot’s numbers have improved since then, but DeRosa has responded in kind and will probably crack the fifteen home-run barrier for the first time in his career this season. DeRosa’s RBI and OBP numbers are high, [...]
Not a good trade. I wouldn’t trade Gallagher, period, and certainly not for a pitcher who, Broglio-like, comes with duct tape included.
The argument that “this is the year” and we have to pull out all the stops, etc., is a child’s argument–or a sportswriter’s. Its logic dictates that the Cubs should have traded Soto [...]