- Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune says some baseball people think the White Sox could have interest in Zambrano and may even include Peavy in a deal for him. He does say that Peavy may have more value than Zambrano, no argument there. I think the Cubs would and should jump all over that deal.
- Royals officials say that they have no interest in troubled outfielder Milton Bradley.
- Harden has been shut down for the year and will likely not be with the Cubs next year as they look for a stable inning eater this off season. Doug Davis tops my list.
- The Cubs top priority this off season is getting a consistent speed guy who can play 2nd base. They have Chone Figgins at the top of their wish list but if money gets too much they will look at guys like Orlando Hudson, Placido Polanco, Felipe Lopez, Adam Kennedy, or Akinori Iwamura. They could also target Mark Teahen through a trade but with the flooded 2nd base market the Cubs are likely to get on of the players above for a good price.
- The Cubs also plan on addressing their bullpen and outfield if they trade Milton Bradley and do not acquire an outfielder in return. For outfield help the Cubs are looking for a low cost veteran and will not get in a bidding war for players like Matt Holliday. Instead they will look at center fielders like Mike Cameron, Marlon Byrd, and maybe even Andruw Jones. They could also get a guy for right field and keep Fukduome in CF. They could consider Jermaine Dye, Bobby Abreu (oh please!), Randy Winn, or even Vladimir Guerrero.
- The Cubs are confident in Soto and like Koyie Hill as his backup so changes there are not likely. The same with LF, CF or RF, 3rd, SS, 1st, Closer, and 4 spots in the rotation.
That is it for now Cub fans!
4 comments:
I like hill and all, but I really think the cubs need a better backup who has the ability to play everyday if Soto cannot regain his old form.
Hill is a fine back up. Its Soto I'm more concerned about. My vote is to still pursue Pudge Rod to a cheap one year deal and let Spring Training determine which two C break camp with the team.
I'm surprised Reed is pushing for the Rowand trade. I would think his playing time would decrease even more if the Cubs got Rowand. I know Reed can play all the OF spots, but who would he platoon with? Fuku?
If the Cubs have no interest in Harden they better at least offer arbitration for the draft picks. I'm not sure how the SP market is lining up this offseason, but you would have to imagine someone is willing to offer a two year double digit mil deal. Even Mark Prior got one when he ditched the Cubs for the Padres.
I feel like we have a log jam of part time players (Fonty, Scales, Baker, Blanco, Fox, Houf, Fuld). It would nice if we can deal a couple of them for some decent pen help. After watching the Cubs just give away players last off season (Hill, Pie, Marquis, Vizcanio) I hope the Cubs dont fall in love with their guys and pull the trigger if something is out there (if I remember correctly Hendry was gun shy on the Bedard Hill deal? I know there were more parts the Cubs were sending and BAL is difficult to deal with).
I'm not off the Hendry bandwagon yet. He had a horrible offseason last winter, but he's had good offeasons in recent years to have earned another shot.
Joe
Tim,
Hill is a very capable back-up.You don't find good defensive catchers(which Hill is) who hit better than .250 available to be back-ups.
To the moderator of this blog,
Who is the centerfielder ?next year?
allan-
If the season started today Fukudome would be the full time guy in Center but the Cubs want to move him back to RF when they trade Bradley and maybe platoon him with Johnson or someone else.
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