The Cubs had 7 players who were arbitration eligible and on the day that teams and players must exchange arbitration figures, the Cubs signed all but Matt Garza. The Cubs’ six other arbitration-eligible players all agreed to one-year deals. DeWitt, who batted .265 in 121 games last season, will make $1.1 million in 2012, while Baker, who batted .269 in …
Taking a closer look at the Cubs supersized rotation
The Cubs currently have 6 starting pitchers on the roster*. Those 6 include Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm, Travis Wood, Chris Volstad and Randy Wells. Jeff Samardzija is also going to be stretched out in spring training, but may return to the bullpen when the season begins. The Cubs also have Andy Sonnanstine and Casey Coleman. If Trey McNutt …
Complete rebuild, Cubs re-sign Reed Johnson, trade Sean Marshall
The Cubs have re-signed Reed Johnson to a one-year contract. The contract is pending a physical. No word yet on the amount he was signed for, but I’m sure it’s under $2 million. As a back-up, Johnson had a fantastic season last year for the Cubs. He hit .309/.348/.467. His wOBA was .354 and he was worth 1.2 fWAR and …
“You better know who your ninth starter’s going to be”
I’ve been a bit confused by one of Theo’s comments since taking over as President of Baseball Operations. “We need starting pitching. You can’t take your chances very seriously as a club if you go in to the season without, not just five guys you can point to, but six, seven and eight guys. You better know who your ninth …
What the Cubs have to consider at the Winter Meetings
We haven’t talked a lot about what the Cubs need to do this offseason. When the season ended they were without a GM so it made no sense. After they hired Theo and he assembled his front office it was difficult to know which direction the Cubs may go. There have been indications they’re willing to trade anybody and everybody, …
Cubs news and rumors
Manager MILWAUKEE — The Cubs will meet Wednesday with Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum about their vacant managerial position. Sveum was already scheduled to travel here to meet with the Red Sox about a their manager job. Chicago general manager Jed Hoyer said there is no favorite among the candidates and no deadline to select one. Hoyer and Theo Epstein, …
Another shitty Cubs season in review: Carlos Zambrano
I was planning to do a few of these a week and I know berselius is going to help, but then Theo-mania started and I got sidetracked. I started thinking about doing them again and my first instinct was to start with some of the back-ups since I’d already done ones for Marlon Byrd, Randy Wells and Alfonso Soriano (player …
Theo is a Cub so what next?
When the reports of Theo Epstein signing with the Cubs began to trickle in this morning (or actually last night), I started thinking about what it means in the short-term for the Cubs. The truth is that I, and you, have literally no idea. I wrote this before reading Aisle 424’s most recent article so there may be some similarities. …
Another shitty Cubs season in review: Randy Wells
The 2011 Cubs posted the 109th worst winning percentage in its history. What’s really depressing about that is since I’ve been a fan the following Cubs teams have been as bad or worse: 1986, 1983, 1994, 1997, 2002, 1999, 2006, 2000, 1980, and 1981. Of the Cubs 137 year history, 11 teams have had a .438 winning percentage or lower. …
Offseason Preview: Trade Candidates
Without even knowing what the Cubs general plan is going to be this offseason, it’s very difficult to look ahead to the offseason with any confidence of what they may do. They could decide to go all in and go after guys like Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder and CC Sabathia. They could pass on all of them and stand …