The Cubs acquired RHP Hector Rondon from Cleveland in the rule five draft this morning. He was a former relatively top prospect in the organization (#7 in the org going into 2010) before a few surgeries. This is what BA had to say about him going in to last season. Rondon moved quickly, reaching Triple-A in 2009 as a 21-year-old. …
Cubs interested in Brandon McCarthy and Yunel Escobar
The Cubs are reportedly one of the teams interested in A's free agent Brandon McCarthy. There's a lot of competition though. The A's have been in contact with another of their free agents, starter Brandon McCarthy, but expected that there would be strong competition for the right-hander and they're right: The Chronicle has learned that among the clubs already expressing …
10 years ago today
10 years ago today the Cubs traded Todd Hundley and Chad Hermanson to the Dodgers for Mark Grudzielanek and Eric Karros. It was not only the best trade that new GM Jim Hendry made in his tenure as GM, but one of the best trades the Cubs made in franchise history. Chris Jaffe writes about that trade today on The …
Winter Meetings Facepalm ***UPDATED***
The Winter Meetings are underway and even though the Cubs won't be that active, I wanted to keep up with what's going on with them. Kyuji Fujikawa It still appears as though the Cubs have signed Fujikawa to a 2-year deal worth $9.5 million plus an option. However, the Cubs have not yet confirmed this. Early arriving scouts at the …
John Sickels Ranks the Cubs Top 20
Over at his minor league ball blog. Overall, I agree with his analysis that the Cubs system took a major step forward last year with the bats. I'm not as high on Baez as he is but much higher on Candelario. Our pitching is….. Well it's something.
Pat Caputo and the Hall of Fame
I had never heard of Pat Caputo before this morning, but found a link on The Book Blog and had to check it out. Tango highlighted how Caputo won't vote for Craig Biggio because, well, because Caputo is an idiot I guess. I will not mark the names of Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens on my Baseball Hall of Fame …
Cubs sign Kyuji Fujikawa
The Cubs signed 32 year old Japanese free agent Kyuji Fujikawa to a 2-year deal worth $9.2 million. The contract includes a vesting option for 2015 depending on games finished that be worth either $5.5 million or $6 million. Word on the street is that this guy sits in the 92-94 mph range and can touch 95-97 depending on which …
An early look at the 2013 rotation
Assuming health, the Cubs rotation appears to be set with Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija, Travis Wood, Scott Baker and Scott Feldman. I was curious what we could reasonably expect from this group next year and decided to use the CAIRO projections to calculate percentile forecasts. Before that, there's been some recent talk about how this rotation is better than last …
Barry Bonds: "I do really care" about the hall of fame
"I do really care," Bonds said. "I may say I don't, but I do really care. I've been through a lot in my life so not too many things bother me. Making the Hall of Fame, would it be something that's gratifying because of what I've sacrificed? Sure. Baseball has been a big part of our lives. We've sacrificed our …
Venezuelan league team was worse with Josh Vitters so they released him
Josh Vitters had a decent season in AAA and then was ridiculously bad at the MLB level. He was playing the Venezuelan Winter League until yesterday when Leones del Caracas released him. Vitters will almost certainly go back to AAA Iowa next year and may at some point get a chance to show he can at least play well enough …