Saturday, July 11, 2009

Some Cubs Chatter.

Here is the latest chatter from the Cubs front-

- The Cubs are not interested in Pedro Martinez anymore but may look to deal Harden for a durable veteran pitcher at the deadline. They are very concerned about Harden's health and are taking calls on him.

- Dempster could miss the minimum time on the DL because he is progressing well. Soto on the other hand could be out a month and Fuld was called up to take his roster spot.

- The Cubs are looking outside the organization for a backup catcher. They tried to claim Chris Coste off of waivers but the Astros snatched him up. Some other catchers the Cubs like and that are available are Greg Zaun, Josh Bard, and Jose Molina. All are very good backups and would be nice to have on this team. I really like Josh Bard!

- Derrek Lee left the game with neck spasms. He is day to day and likely to play one of the double headers tomorrow but not both.

Go Cubs!!!!!

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Ricketts To Owns Cubs... Other notes...

- Ameet Sachdev reports on ChicagoBreakingNews.com that Tribune Co. has reached a deal to sell the Cubs and Wrigley Field to the Ricketts family for about $900MM. This includes the Cubs, Wrigley, and 25% control of Comcast SportsNet. ChicagoBusiness.com passes on a Reuters report says the Tribune Company has not agreed on the deal with anyone and that Marc Utay has recently sent a bid for the Cubs. This report does not seem correct but who knows. It does give the Cubs flexibility make a trade at the deadline if the deal is near completion.

- Roy Halladay is being made available. While the Cubs are not in desperate need of starting pitching it would be great to get Doc. Ken Rosenthal says the Cubs could be a landing place of Halladay but because of lack of prospects and since their ownership is not finalized it is not likely. He still names them as suitors though.

- The Sun-Times has this quote from Jim Hendry-

"We have a pretty good team,and if our guys all play like their capable ... you don’t have to do a whole lot."

Seems like posturing to me. Hendry always makes a deal!

- The Royals acquired Ryan Freel and cash from the Cubs for a PTBNL. Nice to get something for him.

- Aram, Johnson, and Guzman were activated yesterday from the DL and Kevin Hart and Sam Fuld was sent to AAA while Patton was put on the 15 day DL with a groin injury.

- Dempster was put on the 15 day DL with a fractured big toe. No word on how he injured the toe. Dempster could be out 4 to 6 weeks and will get X-rays in two weeks and go from there. The Cubs called up Kevin Hart and he will start Weds. against the Braves. Hart is an interesting choice considering Jose Ascanio has better stuff and better numbers in Iowa.

- The Cubs could now look at trading for pitching at the deadline or sign a guy like Pedro or Paul Byrd. The Cubs biggest concern to me is still an impact bat in the lineup. They should upgrade 2nd base by getting a Teahen or Uggla.

- Johnson will leadoff tonight and may find him in the 1 hole against lefties the rest of the season. It looks like Soriano will not be leading off anymore due to his struggles, but the way Lou is that could change by tomorrow.

That is it for now, GOOO CUBS!!!!

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Cubs like Scott Downs, Teahen, Others....

- The Cubs are very interested in Scott Downs if the Jays make him available. He is currently on the 15 day DL with a big toe sprain.

- According to Gordon Edes of Yahoo Sports says the Cubs, Red Sox, Giants, Red Sox, and Angels have made calls on Teahen. They will likely see how Baker does before they pull a trade off for Teahen.

- The Cubs also have interest in recently DFA Matt Herges according to Cubs execs.

- Casey Fossum signed a minor league deal with the Cubs. Wooohoo!

- The Cubs were so close to trading for Mark DeRosa that he was actually told he should pack his bags for Chicago but then later that day was told he was traded to the Cardinals.

- Neal Cotts is out for the season and will be getting Tommy John Surgery.

- According to the Daily Herald, Jeff Baker and Andres Blanco "are going to stay" while Mike Fontenot, Jake Fox, Micah Hoffpauir and Sam Fuld are the candidates to be sent down to Triple-A. It appears Kevin Hart and/or Jeff Samardzija will return to Iowa when Angel Guzman is activated from the DL ... the better move might be to place Alfonso Soriano on the DL for the remainder of the first half.- thanks to CCO.com.

I think Baker and Blanco should stay and Fontenot and Hart should be sent to AAA with Soriano going on the 15 day DL to get his knee and head right because he is doing awful!

- The Cubs could deal Harden if he does not improve and sign Pedro but his asking price will still have to come down.

That is it for now... GO CUBS!