Tuesday Cubs News Round-Up

Some bits of news from the latest news cycle, most of it mentioned in the comments in the thread below.

- I admit missing out on this rather crucial piece of information, but apparently Aramis Ramirez 2012 option is a mutual option. Technically, if the Cubs exercise the $16M option, he can void it and forfeit the $2M buyout, and his agent suggests that with Hendry gone, that's looking more likely now.

I'm not sure if that's good or bad news yet. $16M for one season is a bit expensive for Ramirez, but there's not a lot out there to play the hot corner either.

- Tracy Ringolsby goes after Cubs team president Crane Kenney today over on Fox Sports.

You've got to love Ricketts saying Kenney is absolved of all blame for what transpires on the field because Kenney is confined to business matters. Yeah, business matters like overruling Hendry on more than one occasion because Kenney felt outside pressure to reel in high-priced veterans.

Veterans like Alfonso Soriano, who Hendry had declared would not get more than a five-year guarantee only to have Kenney's business sense overrule him and provide an eight-year sentence to the organization with its obligation to Soriano.

It was pointed out on Twitter that then president John McDonough took responsibility for the extra years on Soriano's contract, which Ringolsby acknowledges, but also claims to "trust his sources".

- Cot's Baseball Contracts have finally showed up on Baseball Prospectus as announced ages ago. They look cool.

- In the same link as the Aramis article, prospect Dillon Maples says Hendry was a big reason for him signing.

- Yet another prospective GM list, this time from Tim Brown at Yahoo.

- The Astros put Wandy Rodriguez on waivers and he was claimed. Doubtful it's the Cubs with a captainless ship at the moment, but I wouldn't have minded adding him(it's not, it's the Rockies). He's owed just $10M next year, $13M in 2013 and a $13M team option in 2014 with a $2.5M buyout.  He's put up ERA numbers of 3.54, 3.02, 3.60, 3.31 since 2008 and will be 33 next year.

- Andrew Cashner has a rehab outing for the Tennessee Smokies tonight, allegedly can be watched for free on MILB.tv.

- Speaking of the Smokies, Eric Jokisch in his second start since being promoted from Peoria went 6 innings, struck out 10 against 2 walks and 3 hits, while giving up just a run. Vitters went 3/3 with a double in the same game. Brett Jackson keeps going with a 2/4 night for Iowa. Zeke DeVoss went 4/6 for Boise with a double.

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Castro SS, Johnson RF, Ramirez 3B, Baker 2B, Peña 1B, Byrd CF, Soriano LF, Soto C, Coleman P

good to see with Coleman pitching, that "Operation Higher Draft Pick" is back on schedule

lefty Minor going for Braves

"lefty Minor going for Braves"

And operation "Get Reed Johnson a Multi Year Contract" is still being run by Quade.

Bodog has Braves at close to even money tonight. Bet the farm!

Felix Pie DFA'd by Orioles.


you think Hendry will replace McFail in Baltimore?

no? Hendry probably takes an advisor/assistant job to some GM...Colorado, Arizona, Detroit, Baltimore being some possibilities.

He has no shortage of friends in the game and even some of the saber-minded clubs have spoken well of him. He's not going to be in charge of anything, but he's got great relationships with a lot of agents and players. I know the perception is he gives out too much money everytime, but he's signed some nice cheap and/or below market deals as well because of his relationship with players and agents. I'm sure some team will come knocking eventually.

I am thinking at the worst he could certainly be the personal assistant for a player he knows or signed at one time.

Heaven knows they owe him one, and that they can also afford it!

"Jim - pick up my Armanis at the cleaners. Oh, my dogs need walking before I get home from the game..."

PS - I love you !! ;)

Like a hot prospect from Japan named Bobby Scales?

That would be a promotion. MacPhail is Orioles President.

But it's only Tuesday, Rob.

don't worry, it'll still be up tomorrow :)

I love the way Cots is integrated with BP.

Has anybody else besides Levine (in his Tuesday chat) come to Castro's defense in the last couple days?

Much ado about nothing. The guy is the most improved player in the NL since the All-Star Game, hitting .370 with only three errors. I'd like to have eight more of him.

Quade also defended Castro--somewhat indirectly--when he revealed that he usually turned the sound off when Valentine was talking, and by mentioning that the ESPN commercial breaks were extra long. The pitch Castro never saw was the first one of the inning.

Castro better not wind up with 199 hits, if you know what I'm sayin'

Cashner 1st inning:

K, K looking, groundball single, SB, run-scoring groundball single, runner takes 2b on throw, another run scoring single, Cashner out, Ryan Searle in

so that went well

allegedly throwing 96 at times, hopefully just a very limited pitch count. He threw 23 pitches apparently.

I was duped. I thought this was about Rock

Mark Topkin of St. Petersburg Times doesn't believe Friedman will leave Rays...buddies with the owners. Says Houston is the only place he may consider going.



latest Elias reverse-engineered rankings

Dempster seems a solid Type A
Ramirez a Type B, about 8 spots from a Type A
Pena at the bottom of Type B
Kerry Wood near bottom of Type B

enjoy your "hey, might as well play the kids" baseball game everyone who likes that sort of thing...

coleman wasn't ready...still isn't ready...

5-0 atl/chc...

Coleman will likely never be ready. Short on talent.

dont remember anyone clamoring for casey coleman

no one has ever cared about casey coleman

there's some people around TCR who are willing to play any kid at any time because it's not the toy that's currently in the big leagues at a position...the whole "the kid can't be as bad as..." thing.

no one's clamoring for anyone right now that i know of by name except brett jackson...a few people want the AAAA 1st baseman dujour, too.

well sure, Coleman instead of Ortiz, why the fuck not? same shitty result...

but would like to see Colvin continue to play myself

why? he can't hit left handers.


all im saying is...the "play the kids for the sake of playing a kid" argument is one of the most ignorantly championed ideas that pop up a lot with fan requests...ranks up there with "blow up the entire system and start over" to me.

i know coleman didn't even come up as a result of this...i know no one's championing coleman...i'm just saying...hey, here's your kid for the sake of having a kid, enjoy.

right and what I'm saying is you're over-generalizing...

it's a kid...he's up in the bigs...he's playing.

there's not much to over-generalize about already broad statements that lead others to request kids play over vets without any reason involving baseball ability.

replacing trash with trash doesn't do anything for me because just maybe the kid might have something he's not bothered to show so far. some people would have the cubs scrap almost everyone who's year is going to end in FA and play untalented replacements simply because they're kids.

three people immediately replied that we don't care about casey coleman.

generally the complaints about not playing kids is reserved to the ones we think may have a future with the team or if the vet playing isn't that good.

99/100 understand Byrd and Pena are doing well enough that LaHair and Jackson aren't going to start playing instead of them. On the other hand, Reed Johnson is playing over his head and will never be considered for a regular job, so just let Colvin play.

Personally it's more of a situation where "Veteran player A" has no future in the organization. So lets see if "Productive minor league guy B who is under cheap club control" can do something to help the club in the future.

All the more reason why Reed Johnson, Carlos Pena and Koyie Hill should have been dumped by August.

They aren't here going forward. Why not give their at bats to Colvin/Campana, LaHair and Castillo and see if those guys are viable roster candidates for next year?

There's a difference between putting a veteran on the bench and trading him. Obviously the Cubs were happy to trade Fukudome--since they're paying 84% of his paycheck THIS WEEK to be rid of him--but Quade wasn't comfortable putting him on the bench for a couple of reasons, and I can see that.

I think Jackson and Flaherty will be on the Cubs next year but I don't expect to see them called up any time soon. Maybe after they help Tennessee win the Southern League championship, which I happen to think is a worthy goal.

Switching leagues, it still irks me that the Memphis Redbirds (aka Cardinals), after edging out Iowa to get into the playoffs last year--remember Sandberg's ejection in the second inning of what could have been a clinching game?--went on to play in the AAA "world series" against the International League champ.

so you don't think Sandberg was still managing from the clubhouse?

Sandberg coached third base when he managed.

Even Ryne Sandberg couldn't do that from the clubhouse.

Ok. Who should be starting tonight instead of Coleman? Ramon Ortiz?

i dunno...how about nolan ryan?

coleman isn't the point im trying to make here.

I got the whole "kids for the sake of kids," I just don't thnk Coleman was one of them. He sucks, but he's not out there just for the sake of having a kid out there.

yeah, he's there outta neccessity.

coleman is pitching jay jackson's games out there...only jackson is being too consistently lame to earn that callup. i like jackson way more...i don't want to see him, though...he's not ready.

Remember when people wanted D Lee benched so we could see more Hoffpauir? That was just plain goofy.

My hunch is it is borne out of a "anything is better than what we got" mentality and I think you'll hear less of it during those times when the Cubs are playing well... or at least playing not-shitty.

I wanted Hee Sop Choi over Fred McStiff

I was in attendance for McGriff's first game as a Cub. He didn't do anything memorable.

well I wasn't one of them and that was odd...they just were predicting Lee's decline a year too early and that Hoff was actually good.

Why the hell not give LaHair an opportunity? Dude has put up great ML numbers his whole career. Nothing about this year is really a fluke in regards to his past performance.

If he played College football he'd be working on Multi-Million dollar contract with the Cubs at this point.

cubs already have colvin if they want a 20+ HR range 1st baseman who will K a cubic fuckton.

Minor league career OPS's

Carlos Pena .902
Bryan LaHair .878
Tyler Colvin .782

That's almost akin to "replacing" DLee's bat with Todd Walker in 2006.


hey, i got nothing against the guy, btw...just sigh.

I'm not saying the guy will be any good. Just saying at this point you might as well roll the dice? Carlos Pena played his age 28 season in AAA just the same as LaHair has. And Pena is a 10 million dollar player right now.

What harm could it do?

no harm...i just don't see it as a big deal or even a deal if it's just to get a peek at a guy like lahair.

file under "omg i really miss jason dubois"...only lahair probably doesn't close his eyes as much when he swings hard.

These guys all kind of remind me of what I always hated the most about the Hendry/McFail regimes. They'd never give a legitimate shot to a player they didn't deem a suitable prospect. No matter how productive they were in the minors.

Yet they continued to hype and push guys like Colvin and Vitters up levels. Even if they never really earned the spot.

Makes you kind of understand where some of these guys found their sense of entitlement.

Andres Torres is another guy who fit the LaHair mold in the cubs system. Though they were a better then, so it was more understandable.


another guy or the only guy?

is there some grand list of Cubs players being held back that proved useful eventually?

Casey McGehee is the only other one I can think of that got away, but no one cared about him when he was in the minors.

Fox, Murton, Darwin Barney, Theriot, and several relievers were all given a chance and Theriot worked out until he fell victim to The Peter Principle. Most of the others didn't work out because they weren't good (jury still out on Barney). I know it's TCR blasphemy to say Murton wasn't good, but he wasn't good. Murton wasn't good. Jake Fox wasn't good. Murton wasn't good.

Just because a guy is young and energetic and has the drive doesn't mean he can compete with big leaguers. You're better off going with a guy with a proven track record. I know how blood-curdling this sounds to many of you, but it's true.

In fact, one of my complaints of Hendry in recent years is relying too much on minor leaguers on a major league team.

Yeah, like that Neifi Perez guy.

So the existence of a crappy veteran who was allowed to play proves... what exactly? Just say what you mean.

I was agreeing with you.

How dare you...

I always wear a safety helmet when agreeing obtusely with someone at TCR. :^)

Disagree that Murton wasn't good. Dude was a 6 WAR player in less than 2 season's of at bats in Chicago. His OPS's when he was here were better than anyone other than Aramis Ramirez this year. And he did it all for league minimum.

He was exactly what was wrong with the Hendry regime.


I would like to hear your opinion on why he's playing in Japan rather than making loads of money in the US. I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious.

I'd also like to get your opinion on why Cecil Fielder was playing in Japan too, while you're at it.

Anyway, we signed Soriano to take away Murton's job, so that was clearly the way to go.

You think Murton will be back in MLB?

Doubt it. Guy is making 1.5 Million to play his prime in Japan. He led that league in hits last year. I imagine he will stay where the money is.

He's not playing in the big leagues because if he were, he would be near the bottom of the list of left fielders. He is not good. One either fields good players or accepts losing and fields mediocre players.

Thanks Manny. Do you need this disproven, or can you think that through on your own?

Touche. Still, we knew what Soriano was all about and we knew years 2012-2013 would be agonizing when the contract was signed.

True...I was just hoping that 2010-2011 wouldn't have been so agonizing... lol.


It's debatable about whether it's better to be playing Pena over LaHair right now. Knowing whether or not LaHair can play in MLB is more important to the organization than the extra game they may win playing Pena.

Now if the Cubs were in contention for anything other than the #2 draft spot, you may have a point, but they're not, so why not figure out what you have now, rather than waiting until September where all the guys will be playing against the same guys they just saw in AAA?

Pena keeps playing, he's on track for a Type B.

there's a lot of value in that...

on that note, Olney says Pena claimed on waivers. Someone better pipe up in that office and let Ricketts know that they should just let him go regardless of prospect.

Would you risk offering Pena salary arbitration though? He had to wait til December to sign a 1/2 deferred one year contract last year. He's still a sub .800 hitting first baseman. I'd rather sign Fielder, Pujols or Jason Kubel before I'd want Pena back.

For 10 million difference I'd rather see if Bryan LaHair could handle the job.

I might, I'd bet the new GM would like the option to decide on it.

if Pena goes away, LaHair should play. Do they need to make Pena go away, to give LaHair a month of PA's?

not for me, unless the Cubs are truly punting next season.

Resigning Pena IS punting next season. Especially if Dempster and Aramis decide to leave.

Ray Guy has 2012 in his hands ane they are about to open up.

+1 Nice


You know, I kind of agree with you on this. You were the only one around here expressing skepticism about Colvin at the start of the season. Of course, you apply that skepticism to too may youngsters, in my opinion, but I have to give you credit for Colvin.

I like Colvin a lot, by the way, but I think the Cubs are hurting him by putting him in over his head. They should let him find a level where he can rake. It wasn't even Iowa, it's probably Tennessee.

He's like a guy who isn't ready for college and needs remedial math and reading.

an age appropriate comp of LaHair vs. Colvin would be more suitable.

Pena was a top 10 prospect in all of baseball at one point

6th year in the PCL is kind of flukey

also Pena being a Type B for the Cubs if he keeps playing is probably worth more than playing LaHair.

Here we go again

Samardzija, Szczur, who else?

I would like the AAAA 1b and the prospects we would have received for Pena...maybe we receive a serviceable reliever or decent prospect. Whatever we received will be more valuable for the future of the Cubs than Pena's 2011 action. And maybe Lahair proves people wrong and becomes a useful reserve or pinch-hitter...I am going to guess that you and I (and scouts and GMs) have had their projected major league performance of prospects proven wrong when that player was promoted.

hey, your point is valid...i just find it hard to get excited about the whole situation.

I do agree with you on that...there are very few things exciting about the Cubs right now, and Lahair (or Jay Jackson or Flaherty or Lamaheiu, etc.) certainly don't cause a huge jump in expectations for future improvement.

Pena's a fringe Type B right, think the possibility of a supplemental pick at this point is worth more than the Cubs would get in a trade for him.

Soriano inside-the-park HR?

that's gotta be awesome, how many Braves outfielders killed themselves?

that's a typo or something...if it's coming from a boxscore

Practical joke, perhaps?

Yahoo says inside-the-park HR to deep left, 5-1 Braves


In the NFL, each side gets two challenges per game, plus a third if both challenges are used successfully. In Little League, each manager is allowed two review requests in a regulation six-inning game. Other than balls and strikes, the manager can ask for just about anything to be reviewed. If the manager is right, he keeps the challenges. Each time he's wrong he loses one. If the game goes to extra innings, each team gets only one challenge from that point on.

gee, that seems simple enough, now doesn't it? Umps can also call for a replay if they feel they need help.

it's a game again...5-4, bottom 5.

Reed Johnson must have gotten a big hit.

hustle double for soriano...first since 2003. =p

Is aram going to end up with 30 hr and 100 rbis?

Holy Danny Tartabull

1 IP, 2 more Ks for Kerry...he is becoming unhittable.

Zeke DeVoss goes 4/4 with a BB tonight


Olney says it will be a big name...even mentions Theo Epstein and giving him the president title.

Cashman, Friedman, Beane and Gillick are the others mentioned.


Wilken committed to keep getting paid by the Cubs, er, I mean committed to rebuilding the Cubs.

Archer promoted to AAA

he should get 2-3 starts...neat. he's from the area...clayton, nc (where he's from, not raleigh, nc) is about 45 minutes from AAA durham.

yow, he exited AA on a bad game...hope he has better luck in AAA in front of friends/family.


Durham in the playoff hunt or something?

as always..yeah.

hehe...at least i get to see one competitive team regularly =p

i haven't made it out to the park since april, though. it's a really nice park...kinda like a mini-blue-walled-fenway. the seats are roomy. food is getting better, but nothing worth mentioning.


waaaaaaaaaaay better than the dump featured in the Bull Durham flick.

to face the heart of the lineup in the 8th b.mills (hou) brought in a lefty to face the first hitter...then brought in a righty...sent the lefty out to RF to keep him in the game...the righty gets his man...lefty returns to the mound to face the last batter while a replacement fielder comes out to RF.


So some managers DO know how to manage? Cool.

I remember Piniella doing this with Marshall going to LF for an at bat, replacing Soriano, then back to the mound.

Can't be, I'm pretty sure that such a move would require the manager to be awake.

I remember that too. It must have been his first year on the job, when he actually cared.

Herzog did this quite regularly.

Caliis chat


Dan (Lansing): How good is the Cubs system right now? I know there is not a lot in the way of impact player's but a lot to like considering the influx of IFA's and the last 2 draft's so a ton of depth right?

Jim Callis: Solid depth, middle-of-the-pack system.

followed by
Jim Callis: Yes. You obviously want both (ed. depth and stars), but I believe you win with stars, so I'd rather have some potential stars and less depth than solid depth but no real standouts.


Rick (Miami): Is the 2012 draft really looking bad or just not as strong as 2011? Can you still get impact players near the top?

Jim Callis: Wouldn't say bad, but I'd say below average because of the college crop and it doesn't have the headliners we had at the top of the above-average 2011 draft

in good news, Wood wants back next year if they want him


He's going to land on his feet and he's going to be doing this for a long time. He'll be fine. I'm not worried about Jim Hendry.

I've got just the job for him. http://sugarlandskeeters.com/index.cfm

The coming 2012 apocalypse ensures there will only be one year left for the Cubs to win it all anyways. Might as well sign him to a 7-year back-loaded contract.

With this season another embarrassing chapter in Cubs history written for the final time by Jim Hendry, we should cheer things up by starting a thread where people can post their thoughts of what they think were some of Jim Hendry's biggest blunders.

I will start the list in no particular order (I think we might be able to get to 1,000 posts on the new thread):
1. Thinking Corey Patterson was any good
2. Thinking Felix Pie was not Corey Patterson 2.0 (in almost every way)
3. Signing Milton Bradley

I hope the Cubs go after a big name GM. Here in NY they are even talking about Cashman. Not sure he would leave, but Epstein would be nice.

Go Cubs!

4- Trading Mark DeRosa to free up a spot for Milton Bradley
5- Giving Samardzija a huuuge contract

7. Glendon Rusch for 2 year contract
8. Giving Neifi, Rusch, Howry and Scott Eyre 12.5 million, and then complaining that Raffy Furcal wanted 13 Million.
9. Burnitz,Jack Jones, Cliff Floyd, Kfuk, Bradley in successive seasons to fill the same hole

10-Aaron Miles two year contract

11. Koyie Hill for FIVE FREAKING YEAR NOW!!!!!!

this is mostly a rather sad list of minor moves I might add...

Bradley and Fukudome have to be top 2, past that there hasn't been much named that has been all that impactful past the Corey one. The DeRosa thinking was flawed, on the other hand, it turned out to be a good trade.

Not a bad haul,just terrible timing.

Juan Pierre's tiny head.

Does not entertaining Jim Thome's home town discount offer after 2002 count?

get the last of that hendry complaining in while you can.

grab your lube and tissues, manny.

Yep this year is the last I complain moving forward. Saying that, the Cubs will not be able to compete for at least 2, most likely 3 years and that is due 100% because of Hendry!

Unfortunately, Cubs fans took sooooo long to get behind the fire Hendry train. This should have been done 2 years ago.

I'd say there were many on the Fire Hendry bandwagon for quite some time. I wanted him gone after 2006.

just imagine the change that 50 blog readers can inspire :)


It only took us 5 years to effect change. But I think the TCR influence is what finally got Ricketts to move on Hendry.

The Maddux trade was the day I was over Hendry... that should be added to his list of dumb fucking moves.

Actually, it never made sense to me to fire MacPhail and keep Hendry. New owners of bad organizations need to clean house.

Who would you like the GM to be? Or what qualities do you want the GM to have?

I am looking for a proven winner. The Cubs job, while not pretty right now, is still one of the most sought after jobs in baseball. With the right amount of money, they can get almost anyone.

Anyone seen Chad around here lately? Did I activate the flux capacitor in my DeLorian this morning by accident?

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