Sunday, March 29, 2009

More Moves Made Today....

- Kevin Hart and Randy Wells were optioned to Triple-A Iowa and So Taguchi was reassigned to Minor League camp. Mark Johnson, Esteban German and Andres Blanco were also re-assigned to minor league camp. So much for the idea of So Taguchi replacing Joey Gathright on the 25 man roster.

- Kevin Gregg is the closer for the 2009 Chicago Cubs. Marmol will stay in the set-up role. This is a good move for the Cubs. I have felt all Spring Gregg wanted the job more than Marmol and it showed!

- The Tigers are looking for pen arms and are dangling Ryan Raburn as trade bait. The Cubs should offer a guy like Angel Guzman, Chad Gaudin, or Luis Vizcaino it see if the Tigers will bite.

- The Reds are looking to trade out of options infielder Jeff Keppinger for some pen or depth at the minor league level. Jeff does not fit into there future plans and find it hard for a place on the team for him. The Cubs are still searching for a guy to backup Aramis and other positions on the infield regardless of what they say about them being comfortable with Fonty and Miles backing up Aram.

The Reds could take on out of options pitcher Angel Guzman or even young right hander Kevin Hart. The ideal situation would for the Cubs to send struggling, over priced, righty Luis Vizcaino. He is owed 2.5 million by the Cubs this season with an option for next season and could fill the role of setup man in Reds Camp. He would provide some veteran presence along with Arroyo and Harang on a very young team. Plus you know how Dusty loves his veterans( example- Macias, Perez, Bako, etc).

Keppinger would provide a good glove at all infield spots and a decent bat. He has a .984 fielding percentage in the past 4 years playing 314 innings at 2b, 50 innings at 1b, 12 innings in LF, 880 at SS, and 252 at 3b. He is a lifetime .287 hitter with a .338 OBP. Not a power bat but a very good guy to have on the bench. The only down fall is that he is out of options but then again the Cubs could just get him off waivers if the Reds go that route. Either way they should keep an eye out on the situation happening in Cincy.

That is all for now, more to come!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i expect the cubs to make some sort of trade this week, to move one of the many bullpen arms they have.

Plus, David Patton needs to be in the 'pen this year.

Anonymous said...

so do you know anything on the catcher spot... Hill or Bako?
my vote is for Hill!!

Tony

Nick I Cub Fan said...

Waldo i do read your blog, but i'm not computer smart. I can't figure out how to write anything on your blog. Like this one has a spot to leave your comments. To get old guys like me to respond, you have to make it easy,we did not grow up with computers. You do a good job keep it up.