Happy Arismendy Alcantara Day! Of all the strange consequences for prospects under the current CBA, perhaps the strangest is this: the less potential a prospect has, the quicker he is likely to make the majors. If your goal as a prospect is to get to the “Bigs” as soon as possible, the sweet spot is being good enough to contribute …
Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 14
Trade season kicked off this week, so pour one out for all those unfortunate single-leaguers who lost Jeff Samardzija or Addison Russell. Jason Hammel owners get no sympathy from me, since they have been playing with house money. For mixed leaguers, the change in venues from this week’s trades didn’t really affect fantasy values much. Samardzija and Hammel move to …
Reflections on the Samardzija Trade
Last night, the Cubs traded Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel for Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, Dan Straily and a PTBNL. In following reactions around the Cub twitter-sphere, I was pretty surprised at how split the reactions were: fans who have bought in to what Thoyer is doing think this is on par with the Wedding at Cana, those who haven’t …
Cubs Trade Samardzija, Hammel to the A’s
Well, that escalated quickly. The Cubs have traded Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Athletics for Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, Dan Straily and a player to be named later. Ken Rosenthal was the first to report discussions about an hour ago, and was the first to call it done. Tom Loxas has been all over these discussions, as well, …
IFA: Cubs Sign Four Players; Video and Potential Trade Partner Updates
Cubs Summary I was wrong, there was one Cubs signing today: Panamanian SS Francisco Garay. Has to be below $250k as penalty for last year’s spending. — Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) July 3, 2014 There seem to be some questions about his birthday. Cubs Sign Dominican LHP Wander Cabrera For $250,000 (via @iplbaseball_rd). Story at Baseball America: http://t.co/FMOF3f9sxP — Ben Badler …
Who Will the Cubs Trade With on July 2nd?
The new international free agent signing period starts Wednesday. The Cubs were unable to stay within their allotted bonus pool limits last year, and won’t be able to spend more than $250,000 on a single player this year, despite having nearly four million dollars to spend. What that adds up to is the that the team is likely to trade …
Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 13
Mookie Betts The Red Sox pulled the trigger on Betts yesterday after struggling to find production in the outfield all year long. He will likely be better for them than your fantasy team, but he should help in batting average and steals. In approximately 2 full seasons worth of minor league plate appearances, he has stolen 88 bases, but only …
Yasmani Tomas Cuban Stats
Slugging outfielder Yasmani Tomas Bacallao has defected from Cuba. Tomas traveled to Haiti early last week and has since made his way to the Dominican Republic. The story was first reported two days ago by Ben Badler at Baseball America, and has been confirmed by Cuban officials. Tomas is 23, right-handed, and has played in parts of five seasons with Industriales …
Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 12
The waiver wire is getting fairly thin. The Super-2 callups have mostly passed. Kris Bryant and Joey Gallo aren’t seeing any time in the majors this year. FWW favorites Corey Dickerson and Alex Wood are owned in most leagues. As a result, I’m skipping the position players this week, and some of the SP’s might be deeper than is typical. …
Are the Cubs Being Cagey About Signing Bonuses?
The Cubs appear to be making steady progress in signing their most recent draft class. Updated information can be found here.* Top pick Kyle Schwarber is in Boise, and no less than 15 others have given strong indication in one form or another that they have agreed to terms. Notably absent, though, is any indication about signing bonuses for most …