- The Cubs will raise payroll higher than expected. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times was told by CEO Crane Kenney that the team's payroll will exceed 140 million. The Cubs have 133MM committed to the current group so that is a significant amount. Wittenmyer said the Cubs would be willing to eat 4MM of Marquis' 9.875MM to move him. If the Cubs were to add Peavy they would be around 138 million allowing the Cubs to add a left-handed hitter. Gordon also said Kenney said that he thinks the Cubs' sale will be complete by Opening Day.
- This is according to the San Diego Union-Tribune-
"The chances of the Padres and Cubs pulling off a Jake Peavy trade appear on the rise, if the latest financial report on the Cubs is to be believed"
and
"are now optimistic they can afford a left-handed hitter and a starting pitcher without great difficulty."
- Buck Martinez was on XM and thinks the Cubs will revisit trade talks for Roberts. Ron Santo said " the Cubs will try to get a leadoff hitter", also saying if doing so Soriano would hit 4th or 5th.
- According to a report from the Sun-Times, Jim Hendry "will be working former boss Andy MacPhail in his latest efforts to land leadoff hitter Brian Roberts."
- A report in the San Diego Union-Tribune said Padres like their chances of getting the Cubs best prospect(Vitters) and mention a 5 for 1 trade that involved Sean Marshall and Kevin Hart. Plus a talent from another club.
- Jim and Kevin plan to meet face to face at the meetings where is deal is likely and identified a couple of clubs that would work as the third team.
- Kevin Towers has already reported in Las Vegas according to a source with Jim Hendry expected to arrive on Sunday. Jim has said he would like to add a left-handed hitter before anything with Peavy takes place but that might not happen with major signings going at a slow pace.
- Jim Hendry would rather acquire players via trade rather than free agency according to sources with Hermida and others on his radar. He prefers Giles according to a baseball exec, but he blocked a trade to Chicago last year and is unknown what it would take to acquire him.
- Cubs sign 3 players to minor league deals, RHP Angel Castro, LHP Jason Waddell, and C Mark Johnson. Here is their stats-
Castro: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... pid=502162
Waddell: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... pid=455730
Johnson: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb ... pid=150322
- Maddux will announce his retirement Monday. Maddux was loved and/or respected by everyone associated with baseball. He finishes his HOF career with a lifetime 3.16 ERA in 5008.1 IP. He had 3371 SO, 355 wins, 109 CG, and 35 shutouts in 744 games. He is one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history and an all around great human being. Good luck Greg, you will make a great coach someday( hopefully for the Cubs!).
4 comments:
Any word on Lee being moved to open up first base for a lefty? Or are they going to stick with just trying to get 1 left bat to go in right? Seems to me they need 2 serious left bats added to this lineup to give it enough balance. Otherwise we are in the crap heap.
FisherKingAlan-
Lee has blocked a trade according to one source so I would assume they are trying to trade him. If the Cubs traded Lee, Hoffpauier and Derosa could platoon at first, leaving Font at 2b and them aquire a left fielder.
An ideal thought is the Cubs trade Lee and Marquis and get Dunn to play first and either trade for Roberts or sign Furcal, Hudson, Abreu, Ibanez, or Bradley but that is unlikely.
I expect one of two routes to be followed by Hendry to get the additions he wants to make. Specifically, he wants to add a L or S hitting leadoff hitter, a middle of the order LH hitter w/power to play RF, AND obtain Peavy to strengthen the rotation. The latter is more necessary than people may understand, but Hendry doesn't know what to expect from Z this year and Harden has to be handled with care to get him through each season.
With the budget at $140M+, it will take all of that (+) and maybe a little more, but his 3 goals are doable.
As Jim has said the first order of business will be the middle of the order LH hitting RF. He wants Ibanez, but may have to settle for Bradley, but I do expect this to be a F/A signing and not a trade.
Next, he will finish the Peavy deal. He doesn't want to trade Marshall and Fontenot, and he will try to keep both, but probably will not be able to. The first phase of this deal will be to acquire the young starter from a 3rd team. IF it turns out to be the O's, Pie will definitely go to the O's. The difficult part will be where Cedeno goes. Both the O's and the Padres want him, so it will be interesting to see who gives up the claim to make the deal happen. I expect him to go the Padres and perhaps another young pitcher going to the O's. The Padres would then get Olson, Cedeno, Vitters, and two pitchers from the Cubs from among: Hart, Guzman, Wuertz, Gaudin, and as a last resort Marshall. All of that for Peavy! If the 3rd team is not the O's, who the Cubs give up could be a little different.
The last major piece of business will be the leadoff hitter and Jim will have to move quickly to preserve his options. He will offer Harden and perhaps Fontenot to the O's for Roberts, and he'll do so demanding a quick decision from MacPhail so he can move on to option 2, if he needs to. This should be readily acceptable to Mac as he needs both a good starter and a 2nd baseman. Fontenot started his career as an O and he has improved greatly while with the Cubs.
That second option would be to sign Furcal. Jim is not easy about this, as Furcal's attitude is not the best, and his back trouble could become chronic, but there really are no 3rd options.
He will either overpay to get Roberts or overpay to get Furcal, the farm system will be nearly emptied of real talent, but that's all he can do, they are going all out to win the next 2-3 years.
What a team he will hand Lou!
Roberts or Furcal leading off
Theriot at SS or 2b hitting 2nd
Lee in his familiar 3 spot
The new LH hitting RF hitting 4th
Soriano 5th
Ramirez, who prefers hitting 6th
Soto, 7th
Fukudome/Johnson 8th
A rotation of:
Peavy
Zambrano
Lilly
Dempster
Preferably Marshall, but more likely a combo of Samardzija and Wells (neither of whom are ready to shoulder the IP load of a full Major League season)
That's the way I see it, but we'll see and I expect it to unfold rather quickly over the next week.
c'mon..this talk of Lee on the trading block? no way are the Blue Bears shopping their cornerstone. good luck Santo! Jimbo
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