Geovany Soto has a tear in the meniscus in his left knee and will or already has undergone arthroscopic knee surgery. He'll be out at least 3 weeks. Blake Lalli was called up to fill his spot on the roster. The Cubs entered the season having a great deal of depth behind the plate. Soto was to be the starting …
Blake DeWitt DFA’d
The Cubs have DFA'd Blake DeWitt and re-caled Travis Wood who will start today against the Dodgers. I don't believe Berselius published a projection for Wood, but Oliver did project him to be worth 2.5 WAR at the time the Cubs traded Sean Marshall for him. Wood has had mixed results so far at Iowa. He has struckout over 9 …
Marlon Byrd traded to Red Sox for Michael Bowden
probable that the Cubs will trade Marlon Byrd to the Red Sox. It's likely the Cubs pick up the bulk of Byrd's remaining contract ($6 millionish) to increase the package they get in return. It's unlikely the Cubs will acquire much talent in this trade. A decet relief pitching prospect is probably about as good as it will get. More …
Cubs 6th Best Since 2007 In Free Agent Signings
Matt Swartz has published a very interesting article about buidling an organization. I've said for several years now the idea that the Cubs under Hendry just handed out contracts like candy was ridiculous. Yes, there were some bad contracts. Name one GM who has been around for a decade without some bad free agent contracts. The Cubs current President gave …
Cubs and Red Sox finally complete Theo Epstein compensation
Several months after being on the 5-yard line the two sides have agreed to a compensation package. The details were released this morning. The Cubs send Chris Carpenter and a player to be named later. The Cubs will also receive a player to be named later. That part is confusing to me. They said a player had to be sent …
Who do the Cubs trade for Theo Epstein?
The Cubs hired Theo Epstein 4 months ago and it was about that time that we were told the two sides were on the 5-yard line regarding compensation. I can only assume that Ken O'Keefe is running the offense. Every week we're told that Bud Selig will resolve the compensation issue soon. Each week goes by without a resolution. Recently …
Cubs sign Jorge Soler?
Apparently the Cubs have or are close to signing Jorge Soler to a 4-year deal for $27.5 million. There's no inclusion in the contract that he become a free agent after 4 years. Instead, he'll have to accrue 6 years of MLB service time before that happens. The Cubs will have 4 options. More on this tomorrow.
Cubs claim Adrian Cardenas, designate Blake DeWitt
Yesterday the Cubs claimed Adrian Cardenas off of waivers and to make room for him on the 40-man roster they designated Blake DeWitt for assignment. The Cubs signed DeWitt a couple weeks ago to $1.1 million. The Cubs will owe DeWitt $183,333. He wasn't going to provide much or any value to the Cubs this year or next so there …
Cubs reach deal with Matt Garza
The Cubs have signed their final arbitration eligible player on the day he was set to go in front of the arbitrator. Matt Garza will earn $9.5 million next season, which was the midway point between what the two sides had offered. The deal also includes performance bonuses, which seems kind of odd for me for arbitration eligible players. It's …
Cubs sign Gerardo Concepcion
The Cubs signed 18 year old Cuban defector Gerardo Concepcion today. It's reportedly a multi-million dollar deal. More information to come. UPDATE: Who is Gerardo Concepcion (Yankee Analysts, h/t to DJ) UPDATE 2: I was going to write more about this, but after looking at the stats that were found in the link on Yankee Analysts, I have no interest …