Good teammate To the surprise of no rational Cubs fan here or elsewhere, Alfonso Soriano is a good teammate. During his time in Chicago, Theo Epstein has come to realize what a tremendous teammate Soriano is and how willing he is to help younger players. Epstein considers Soriano an excellent clubhouse presence, and after a 32-homer, 108-RBI season, the Cubs …
Luis Valbuena avoid arbitration with Cubs
The Cubs have signed Luis Valbuena for $930,000, which is about $930,000 more than he deserves. Then again, the Cubs have few options at 3rd so maybe Valbuena is worth $930,000. Valbuena hit .219/.310/.340 in 303 plate appearances with Chicago this past season while playing second base and third base. The 27-year-old was first time arbitration eligible as a super …
Daily Facepalm – 1.10.13
Hall of Fame Nobody was elected to the Hall of Fame yesterday. It wasn’t that surprising based on Repoz’s collection of the ballots published online, but still frustrating. The New York Times covered the front page of the sports with this instant classic. It will only be more difficult to get into the Hall of Fame now that so many …
Nick Cafardo on the Cubs and a Matt Garza non-rumor
MLBTR led to me this article by Nick Cafardo, which talks a bit about the Cubs. “We’re certainly farther along than we were last year at this time,” said Epstein. “When we got here, we identified one core player [Starlin Castro] and now we can look around and see Anthony Rizzo, Darwin Barney, Jeff Samardzija , and others. We do …
Edwin Jackson Signs
Patrick Mooney was first with the news, and the usual suspects seem to be in agreement, though we at Obstructed View reserve the right to retract any and all free agent signing stories up until opening day. The deal is 4 years, $52 million and does not include a no-trade clause, per Heyman. Brief thoughts on the deal, in the …
Carlos Villanueva's contract and Edwin Jackson
The Cubs signed Carlos Villanueva to a contract last night. We didn't know the terms of the contract and I felt about the contract similarly to Myles. If I were a betting man, I'd say this is a one year deal for around $4.5 million, with an option year at $6 or so. That seems reasonable to me for a …
Cubs Sign Carlos Villanueva
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/12/cubs-to-sign-carlos-villanueva.html The Cubs have reportedly signed Carlos Villanueva to an undisclosed deal. Barring some unexpected turn of events (like Bob Nightengale involving the Nippon Ham Fighters in some insane bidding war), this appears to be final. What does it mean for the Cubs? I'm not sure what the contract is, but almost certainly it means that the Cubs are going …
Dodger are listening to offers for Andre Ethier
Word came out a day or two ago that the Dodgers were shopping Andre Ethier. It was then corrected that they were only listening to offers, but now there's a report that the Dodgers are interested in Michael Bourn or Nick Swisher, but first must trade Ethier. Ethier is owed $85 million over the next 5 years and will be …
Tigers re-sign Anibal Sanchez
The Cubs had reportedly reached an agreement on a 5-year deal for around $75 million with Anibal Sanchez, but then the report was contradicted by many people. We learned this morning that the Tigers had reached an agreement with Sanchez on a 5-year deal for $80 million. CAIRO projects a 3.87 ERA, 3.56 FIP and 3.2 WAR for Sanchez in …
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 …