Cubs one of four teams in on Blanton. Cubs should look at Millwood.

According to MLBRUMORS.COM, the Cubs are one of four teams that are interested in trading for Joe Blanton. I am in favor of this deal only if it doesn't cost us a whole lot of prospects. I feel in a couple of years Joe Blanton will become a Brad Penny type of player. He would add depth to the starting rotation and could make a player like Marquis or Dempster expendable. The other 3 teams that are rumored to be involved are the Royals, Mets, and Mariners. Its not likely that he goes to the Mariners because there in the the same division. Leaving the Cubs bidding for the young righty against the Royals and Mets. The Mets are desperate for pitching so I would think there the favorite to land him but the Cubs and Royals could surprise us.

The Rangers have been reportedly shopping the veteran right hander. I think the Cubs should take a look at the guy. He was 10-14 with a 5.16 era last year. The year before that he was 16-12. He is a decent pitcher who will give you innings and could be a good fall back plan if they don't acquire a Bedard, Blanton, or player of that sort. To get him you probably would have to give up a minor leaguer or two but nothing major like a Gallagher or Pie. All I'm saying is the Cubs should take a look at him.

Cubs should trade for Blanton

Joe Blanton would look great in a Cubs uniform. The A's have already dealt Haren to the Dbacks for prospects so it just make sense that they deal Blanton. Blanton is a 27 year old righty with decent stuff. He went 14-10 last year with a 3.95era in 230 IP. His strike outs are decent with 140 last year and era is a little high but that's in the AL, if traded to the NL it should decrease some. Blanton is at 2 seasons of ML service and is making just 380,000, tho he would cost more than that because of the players the A's would command. I'm guessing players like Veal, Murton, Gallagher, Pie, Marshall, Guzman, or Epatt would have to be included in a deal for Blanton. I would start by offering Murton and Marshall for Blanton to see how far that gets you. I think that could be a good starting point.

Roberts deal done by weekend untrue.

Just want to let everyone know that the rumor that stated the Roberts deal will be done by the weekend is untrue unless Bedard is traded soon. The O's want to deal Bedard before trading Roberts and therefore a deal for Roberts done by the weekend is unlikely. I have been getting some heat from some of my "new readers" because of my rumors that involve sources of mine ( in which I don't want to name them). My sources don't want to be revealed for one reason or another and I respect that. I do appreciate all my dedicated readers and posters here and thank you for going to my blog. The reason I do this is because I love the Cubs so much and want to share my knowledge along with my thoughts with you. Thank you again!

My Fukuome Projection.

Here is are the projections of Baseballlprospectus.com for Fukudome-

.289 BA
.401 OBP
15 HR
58 RBI
9 SB
.504 slg

Not a bad projection, they compare him to Bobby Abreu and JD Drew.

Here is Zips projection-

.293 BA
.382 OBP
13 HR
67 RBI
1 SB
.460 slg

Despite the higher BA, Zips has hit homers and OBP lower than BP.

Now for my projections-

.301 BA
.390 OBP
20 HR
85 RBI
10 SB
.512 slg

I think Fukudome will have comparable stats to what he had in Japan. All his numbers I think will decrease some but not as much as Zips and BP has them. I think Lou will think about him in the #2 spot only if the don't acquire a Switch hitting CF/2B. I honestly thing Lou will put Fukuome in the #4 spot between Lee and Aram to break up the 2 rightys, therefore he will have alot of RBI chances and get more pitches to hit being in front of Ram. I compare Fukudome to a Matsui or a lighter hitting left-handed Vladimir Guerrero. I would also agree that he is comparable to Drew and Abreu.

Roberts a Cub by the weekend???

According to some sources of mine the Cubs and O's are in serious negotiations about Roberts again despite him being on the list on names on the Mitchell report. Roberts trade value has gone down some because of the report but he still remains high on the Cubs list of players their interested in. It was rumored that the O's would want Gallagher, Cedeno, and a midlevel prospect but since his value has went down you might not see that exact deal. My sources tell me Hendry has been in "frequent contact since the O's traded Tejada to the Astros" and now "Roberts is at the top of their list." They also said that a deal could be done as early as Saturday.

Lets see if we can get him. Whether he is on the Mitchell Report or not he would be a great addition to the Cubs!

Former Cubs on Mitchell report. No Sosa and no current players playing for the Cubs.

The report came out today and there was former Cubs, shocking names, and big names.

First the Former Cubs-
Matt Karchner
Todd Hundley- A suprise to me
Glennallen Hill- Not that big of a suprise
Jerry Hariston Jr.- Not suprised
Gary Matthews Jr.- Already knew that
Kent Merker- That was a weird one
Rafael Palmeiro
Benito Santiago
Rondell White

Shocking names-
Brian Roberts- It will be intresting if the Cubs still try to trade for him
Wally Joyner
Greg Zaun

Big Names-
Eric Gagne
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Mark McGwire
David Justice
Miguel Tejada
Mo Vaughn
Barry Bonds
Lenny Dystra
Jason Giambi

I cant believe Sosa and Neifi are not on this list! Its quite a list of names.

Mitchell Report released Thursday.

The Mitchell Report will be released Thursday at 1 pm CST. 60 to 80 former and present players are likely to be named. Hopefully not alot of Cubs past and present will be on that list. I will post the number and names of Cubs that are on the Mitchell Report tomorrow after if get off work. Until then we will hold our breath and hope there are no present players on that list.

I can come up with some former Cubs players that could be on that list. Here is my list-

Palmeiro
Sosa
Garciaparra
Glen Allen Hill

Those are the only player that I can think of.

As for current players, I honestly hope there isn't any and I don't think there will be any but I may be naive.

Hendry on ESPN1000

Ill try to recap to the best of my ability-

1. He wants to add a player or two and will continue to be aggressive through trades and possible free agency.

2. Fukudome is will play RF for the Cubs next year and as it stands now it will either be Fuld or Pie in CF.

2.He likes how his starters stands. Mentioning Z, Lilly, Hill, Dempster, Marquis, Marshall, Gallagher, and Hart in that order.

3. He wouldn't commit to a closer yet.

4. Wont discuss Prior until tomorrow( probably be non-tendered)

4. He says he will look for an outfielder to play all three spots, maybe a starter, maybe not. He is looking for a RH bat that can play all three spots.
Here is a couple of versatile RH outfielders that may be available through trade or free agency-
Brady Clark
Alexei Ramirez
Ryan Freel
Xavier Nady


5. He would be more than happy to have Derosa starting at 2b on opening day.

6. Here is where he stands on Murton- "Unfortunately he's a right handed hitter, and I think we all feel Matt's a left fielder. We'll try to do what's best for the Club and Matt, and if that means finding a home for him on another club that's what we'll do"

Marquis to Mets??Miguel Tejada to Astros, Roberts deal coming soon. Fukudome's offers? Prior to be non-tendered?

Thanks to MLBTR-



On November 29th, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick mentioned that the Cubs are "listening on Jason Marquis." This would clearly be a salary dump, as Marquis will earn $16.25MM over 2008-09.
Since then we haven't heard of any teams interested in the 29 year-old righty. However, Mets manager Willie Randolph brought up Marquis yesterday as a consideration for the team's rotation. The article's author, Adam Rubin, added that the Cubs are fans of Endy Chavez. It wouldn't be fair to equate the two players, however.



I'm kind of shocked that Hendry is shopping Marquis because of our lack of depth in the rotation. I do like Endy Chavez and the Mets would have to trade a prospect or two low level prospects to get the deal done. Here is Chavez's stats-
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6733


He plays great defense and is a decent hitter with average OBP. He is only 29 years old and could take the place of Murton if he is traded. He can play all three outfield positions and only strikes out about 12% of the time, talk about a pesky hitter.

How bout Heilman and Chavez for Cotts and Marquis?? or better yet how bout Church for Marquis straight up?
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The O's were waiting to trade Roberts until they decided what to do with Tejada and/or Bedard. Now that Miggy has been traded to the Stros, and Fukudome signed, could we expect Hendry to make a deal to have Roberts come to the northside?? I would bet yes. The Cubs have two spots that they could upgrade before Christmas, center field and the middle infield. Acquiring Roberts would upgrade 2b nicely. Lets see if anything develops in the coming week.
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Fukudome had 4 offers on the table and lucky for the Cubs he picked them! The Rangers offered the most money, the White Sox offered a similar deal to Fukudome but Fukudome wanted to be the Cubs first Japanese player. Glad the Cubs got him!
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Thanks to MLBTR-

According to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, Mark Prior "seems headed for the non-tender list" unless the Cubs pull off a trade or Prior concedes to an option year for 2009.
The 27 year-old hasn't started a big league game since August 10th, 2006. If he becomes a free agent, I imagine many teams would view him as a low-risk, high-reward option. The Padres have cooled on him, though.

The Cubs have 3 options-
1. Sign Prior to a one year deal with an option
2. Trade Prior
3. Non-tender him

Since Prior wont take a deal with an option and no team seems interested in a trade it looks like the will be non-tendered. Its a shame he has to leave this way but he gave the Cubs no other option.

Cubs Land FUKUDOME!!! Time to upgrade other positions!

According to many sources including MLB.com and David Kaplan the Cubs have reached a 4 year deal worth 48 million for Kosuke Fukudome. The Cubs got there man!!! He is well worth the money in my opinion. While he does provide a risk because of the difference in stats between the ML and Japanball there is one thing for certain, he will play great defense, has a cannon of an arm, good bat with high OBP.

4 year for 50 million may be high according to some but hey Hunter got 5 year 90 million for a guy who strikes out a ton, OK OBP, great defense and is 33 years old at 18 million a year. Jones got 36.2 million dollar contract for 2 years and he hit .222 last year, and a guy like Rowand who had one good year is asking 5-6 years 80-90 million. How can you not think the Cubs got a good deal now!?!

The Padres where informed earlier today they were out of the race for Fukudome after offering only a 3 year deal worth 33 million dollars according to sources and would not negotiate from that. Looks like the playing on the West Coast didn't matter much to Fukudome.

Now look for the Cubs to get working on upgrading there middle infield and CF positions if they can. The Cubs have already inquired about Roberts and Figgins, if they can't trade for those players look for the Cubs to look at Felipe Lopez who could be released or DFA or they could look at Lofton as a stopgap and mentor until Pie is ready.

Great Day For Cubs Fans!!!

Fukudome Rumors, his choice coming tonight??

Its official Fukudome is coming to the MLB!

Thanks to MLBTR-

Cubs Willing To Offer $50MM For Fukudome?
UPDATE, 12-11-07 at 10:48am: Just talked to a good source on this stuff. He told me Fukudome wants five years, despite what we've read. The Cubs don't expect he'll sign for $50MM for five years, and are offering that amount over four. They're having an internal debate about stretching it to a five-year, $65MM offer. Jim Hendry wants to stop at four years though.
FROM 12-11-07 at 10:03am:
Interesting piece of information from Tom Krasovic today - he says the Cubs are willing to offer close to $50MM for Kosuke Fukudome. They really want this guy and have built their offseason plan around him.
It's hard to believe the Cubs would offer that amount for three years; that would be $16.6MM annually to someone who's never played in the Majors. I could definitely see the Cubs putting out a four-year, $50MM offer though. Who knows how much validity there is to the idea that Fukudome wants three years and only three years.
The Padres have gone at least three years and at least $10MM annually, but it could be more on both accounts. Kevin Towers says the team's offer was final. He sees Fukudome landing in Chicago or San Diego. That might mean he considers the White Sox to be in the mix as well.

Sounds like the Cubs are doing whatever it takes to get Fukudome. I would expect Hendry to go to 5 years 70 million for the free agent slugger. The Pads seem they are firm on there offer and that's good news for Cub fans. The Giants have been rumored to make a late push but are also going after Rowand, so who knows if there serious.

It is rumored that we will hear something late tonight on Fukudomes choice, but as the previous rumors indicate, that timeline will probably fluctuate.

Whats new on the Fukudome Front??

Thanks to MLBTR-

-The Padres have a three-year offer out to Kosuke Fukudome that may make him the highest paid Padre ever, aside from Jake Peavy. Kevin Towers expects to get an answer today from Fukudome's agent, Joe Urbon. Urbon basically said that geography would only come into play if offers from competing teams were similar. Towers admitted he sees the Cubs as the lead horse in this race.

-This is getting annoying...Fukudome will decide whether to come to MLB tonight. We all expect him to come, so it's been a lot of back and forth for nothing.

I think we will hear something by the latest Thursday. Its nice to hear that Towers thinks that were in the lead. I think there will be a big difference in offers. The Cubs have rumored to offer 3 years 45-48 million and the Pads have rumored to offer 3 year 36 million. The difference is about 3 million a year. I expect the Cubs to up the offer if that's what it takes to land Fukudome.

Update Fukudome decides on Monday?!?! Grienke trade revisited??

According to many sources Fukudome will make a decision on what team he will be playing for next year. He has narrowed the choices down to 2 teams, being the Cubs and Padres said ML sources. The Cubs have offered a 3 year deal worth 45 million and the Padres have offered a 3 year deal worth 36 million. Both teams reportedly are offering high incentive bonuses and perks comparable the H. Matsui and Dice-K. Kosuke will mull over the offers between the Cubs and Padres and make an choice on Monday. The Padres have lost there fall back option of Bradly to the Rangers and now only have Cameron as a fall back if they don't land Fukudome. The Cubs have not made it know if they have a fall back but have been rumored to trade for such players as Josh Hamilton, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Church, Nick Markakis, H. Matsui and Mark Teahen if they don't land Fukudome. The Cubs seem to "do whatever it takes to get Fukudome to the northside" one source said.

Another rumor coming out of the Hot Stove is the Cubs are in trade talks with the Royals for fireball righty Zach Greinke. The Cubs discussed a trade at the dead line last year that would have sent Greinke here for a couple of prospects, rumored to want Donald Veal, Ronny Cedeno, and Eric Patterson. The Cubs have sparked those talks again in which they want to add depth to there starting rotation.

Greinke went 7-7 in 52 games last year, 14 in which he started. He posted a 3.69 era with 106 SO and 36 BB in 122 innings. He is a 24 year old righty who has hit 96-98 mph on the gun. He has pitched pretty well for being on a terrible team. His overall record is 21-35 with 4.63 era. He has just over 2 years of ML and is making 407,000.

Lets see if anything materializes out of this rumor.

Fukudome coming to US, this time its for real.

Thanks to SFGATE-

Japanese free-agent Kosuke Fukudome has decided not to move to the Yomiuri Giants and will sign with a major league team instead, the Nikkansports newspaper reported Sunday.
Fukudome had previously indicated the Giants would be the only Japanese team he would consider playing for next season, but has now ruled them out, opening the way for a move to the major leagues. Fukudome has drawn interest from the Chicago Cubs, the San Diego Padres and the Chicago White Sox.
The 30-year-old Fukudome is regarded as one of the best outfielders in Japanese professional baseball. He was a key member of the Japan team that won the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March 2006.
He had surgery on his right elbow in August and sat out the Japan Series, but has 192 homers and a .305 batting average over nine seasons with the Chunichi Dragons, who won their first championship in 53 years on Nov. 2.

Now if he comes back and says this is not true I'm going to pull my hair out. Lets hope he makes a decision quickly so Hendry can move onto other matters like Roberts and Figgins. It seems Fukudome fever will hit Chicago Monday. He is expected to make a decision sometime next week on weather he will be a Cub, Padre, White Sox, or Royal. He has narrowed his choices down to those 4 teams with the Padres and Cubs being front runners to land him. Should be an interesting week to say the least because as soon as the Cubs get there RF situation handled they can move to other needs and upgrades like pitching, 2b, and CF.

Quote of the day-

"He's got enough information to decide which [offer] he plans on taking early next week, the Tokyo [Yomiuri] offer or a Major League club," Urbon said.