The Cubs have avoided arbitration with another of their players. Last week they re-signed Luis Valbuena and they have now reached an agreement with Matt Garza for $10.25 million. Cubs right-hander Matt Garza avoided arbitration and agreed to a new $10.25 million contract on Thursday. Garza's representatives at CAA announced the new deal on Twitter: "#Cubs Matt Garza (@Gdeuceswild) agrees …
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 …
How many games will the 2013 Cubs win?
Over at The Cub Contrarian, Kyle used an estimated WAR for players to get a team win total. I thought I'd do the same thing, but I'm going to do it two ways: projections and my wild ass guesses. Wild Ass Guess Catchers: Welington Castillo (1.0), Dioner Navarro (negative infinity) I could easily see Castillo being a 2 WAR player, …
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 …
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 …
Cubs offseason begins now
The end of the World Series marked the start of the baseball offseason. We'll hear tons of rumors over the next few month, some of them may even have to do with the Cubs. Most of them won't and most of them will be nonsense, but it's still fun. In the past this time of the year was quite busy. …
Arbitration salary projections for the Cubs
MLBTR has posted their salary projections for the Cubs arbittation eligible players. The projections are done by Matt Swartz who did a bunch of math and came up with a system to estimate the value that each arbitration eligible player would receieve. First time: Luis Valbuena ($900K), Jeff Samardzija ($2.9MM), James Russell ($900K) Second time: Chris Volstad ($3MM) Third time: …
Season in review: Ian Stewart
During the Winter Meetings the Cubs traded Tyler Colvin and DJ LeMahieu to the Rockies for Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers. Stewart would replace the departed Aramis Ramirez at 3rd base and would instantly be an upgrade defensively. That much we were sure of. Whether or not he would hit the ball much was something we'd learn throughout the season. …
Cubs “shifting gears” because we have to
According to Paul Sullivan, the Cubs are going to shift gears with regards to what they're doing at 3rd base. You're not alone if that doesn't make any sense. Sveum says they are "shifting gears" on playing time for Vitters. Valbuena to get bulk of starts down stretch. — Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) August 30, 2012 About 10 days ago this …
Cubs upset Alfonso Soriano won’t waive no-trade clause
This is getting old. Cubs personnel are disappointed that Alfonso Soriano won’t waive his 10-and-5 rights to go to the Giants. The outfielder doesn't want to play in a colder climate that could adversely affect his hitting. If this is true, why can't the Cubs just shut up about it? Sure, they'd probably try to trade him, but what fucking …