The Cubs have transacted half a zillion minor moves in the last week. We'll take a page from Phil Rogers and use the +/- system, because it actually means something in this context (i.e., how many roster spots are open).
Outrighted to Iowa (i.e., off the 40-man)
- RP Blake Parker
- SP Justin Germano
- OF Joe Mather
- RP Marcos Mateo
- SP Jason Berken
- RP Miguel Socolovich
- IF Adrian Cardenas
Claimed off Waivers (by another team)
- SP Chris Volstad (Royals)
- C Anthony Recker (Mets)
Free Agents
- RP Manny Corpas (refused minor league assignment)
- MVP Shawn Camp
Added
- RP Carlos Gutierrez (waivers from Twins)
Players stashed on the 60-Day DL
- SP Matt Garza
- 3B Ian Stewart
- SP Arodys Vizcaino
That's a net -7 for the Cubs 40-man roster, though Stewart may just be released if they don't think that they want to re-sign him. They'll have to add a few players to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, though given the state of the Cubs system I can't imagine it would be that many. Most of the Cubs guys that are worth stealing are already on (Lake, Sczczcur, Vizcaino, Soler), and the only players I can think of off the top of my head that might be added are Christian Villanueva (3B from the Dempster trade) and maybe the shadow of Trey McNutt. It also sounds like RP Marcelo Cerrano, acquired in the Jeff Baker deal, should be elgible. Most of the Cubs top players are too far down in the system and shouldn't have enough service time to qualify for rule 5. Even if the Cubs do add more minor leaguers and/or FAs, the likes of Casey Coleman, Mike Beliveau, and Brooks Raley aren't going to be tough drops from this roster.
Also of note is that Randy Wells (who was outrighted back in June following an injury) won't be finding his way back on the roster, as he elected minor league free agency.
“MVP Shawn Camp”
(dying laughing)
Does Villanueva have to be protected yet? He has 3 years of minor league service time. I could be wrong, but I think you can wait until after 4 years now. According to your list, I get 10 spots opened up. 7 were outrighted, 2 free agents, 2 waivers and 1 new player.
However, I count 35 on the 40-man roster on cubs.com (excluding MVP Camp).
Who is this fuckin’ guy? (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
Cub Reporter has been pretty intrepid in updating this and says Villanueva is eligible for the Rule 5 draft.
@ mb21:
That makes sense, because there would have been 42 on the roster (excluding Camp) due to the guys on the 60-day DL.
@ mb21:
I didn’t look it up, I was just guessing on Villanueva.
You’re right, I’m still missing someone. I can’t figure out who it is. Maybe Jacob Brigham, though he was already on the Rangers 40-man when the Cubs picked him up in the Geo deal.
Maybe the Cubs just had an open 40-man spot at the end of the year
@ Berselius:
I think they did.
Fucking Bielema. Of course, let’s leave 3 timeouts on the table. It’s not like your team was making a late drive for a game winning field goal or anything.
I don’t know why teams don’t pass on the Badgers on every play.
These Giants!
@ Rice Cube:
Their mojo is strong.
Shit! Guys, I just realized it was my turn to email the Tigers and let them know the Series had begun!
Whoever tweeted on how I shouldn’t go look at video of that guy whose leg got destroyed can eat a bag of dicks. If I hadn’t seen that tweet, I never would have even known about it and now I wouldn’t have that image seared onto my brain.
@ josh:
I’m glad that your curiosity for the day was fulfilled.
@ josh:
Jesus, it was a broken femur. That’s the toughest bone to break.
What are you guys talking about
@ Berselius:
Is taht what it was? It was horrifying, whatever happened. I thought his knee got destroyed. That’s even worse. The femur is as strong as concrete.
I broke the second toughest bone to break, which is the humerus. I couldn’t even stand up for about a month. No joke.
@ mb21:
RB from U South Carolina had his leg broken on the field today.
@ mb21:
Some college FB player got his leg absolutely annhilated on TV. Two guys tackled him and his leg some how got snapped. It’s gruesome. My leg went numb when I watched it. IT was some gladiator style shit.
Giants…
So, Detroit is encountering some Shitty Variance (TM) in terms of hitting the ball? Or what?
I estimate that the Giants have an 85% chance of become world champions, and the Tigers’ chances have fallen to 30%.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Your percentages don’t add up to 182%.
@ Urk:
I think that’s partly true based on some of the great defense I saw tonight from the Giants.
The reason the Giants are winning is Grit, Hustle, and Ice Water in the Veins – not necessarily in that order.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, I imagine so. I missed most of tonight’s game, but saw most of the first two and saw good and bad defense making a big difference in several places.
The Tigers are a poorly balanced team. They have this going for them:
Excellent starting pitching
Good hitting
More superstars (Verlander, Fielder, Cabrera)–this is the Berselius factor that wins WS. (dying laughing)
The Giants are winning because their pitching very good, keeping the Tigers’ hitting from getting starting, and when the Tigers get on base they go nowhere because of good Giants defense (Gregor Blanco, wow), stupid Tiger baserunning, and lots of Tigers Ks.
Plus the Tigers’ bullpen is a shambles. But the Giants are executing well in every aspect of the game. They have absolutely earned their wins. But I hope the Tigers come back and make this interesting for a while. It gives me another reason to ignore the NBA, along with my car needs washing, and I have to rearrange my McDonalds receipts collection.
@ Berselius:
Sparty, Sparty, Sparty!
I was wondering if this would ultimately cost Bielema his job. But then I looked at the standings and Wisconsin would have to FUp really really badly to not be in the Big Ten Championship game. They’d basically have to lose out while Indiana runs the table. I think there is a better chance that the Orioles win the 2012 World Series. Good thing PennSt and Ohio St are ineligible.
@ Rice Cube:
Those percentages weren’t meant to add up.
I predict the following Giants players and their likelihood of winning the World Series MVP.
Panda: 85%
Gregor Blanco: 15%
Madison Bumgarner: 10%
Ryan Theriot: 0%
Barry Zito: 10%
Ryan Vogelsong: 10%
Hunter Pence: 10%
Hector Sanchez: 0%
Buster Posey: 5%
@ BVS:
Saw someone, either Angels or Tigers, say they wanted a team full of Stars. That doesn’t seem like the greatest approach, but what do I know?
Sounds more like the Angels to me, based on their FA approach. It’ll be interesting to see what Detroit does in the off season. Hard to imagine how they fashion a line up with Fielder, Cabrera, Victor Martinez all essentially playing 1B/DH. I assume Delmon Young and Jose Valverde are gone.
mb21 wrote:
Fixed. Just an incredible series for Sandoval.
Berselius wrote:
Just realized that I forgot someone.
Yeah, what about Scutaro’s 279% and Lincecum’s 25%?
How devastating can an MC be? His name is Darryl, but you can call him D.
@ Suburban kid:
Scutaro kind of fell back down to Earth while Panda realized his role as the Dragon Warrior.
@ Rice Cube:
Fine. Romo’s 50% and DeRosa’s 20%?
@ Suburban kid:
DeRosa should get a higher percentage for leaving SF and becoming a Natinal.
The more important question is how much money are the Cubs paying Giants as part of Carlos Silva’s contract?
@ Rice Cube:
Derrek Lee – 99%
@ Rice Cube:
DeRosa should always get a higher everything for everything.
It appears that the Bears have stopped fucking around.
Theriot —> DH
RC —> WTF
@ Rice Cube:
(dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
That game was too close
@ Rice Cube:
At least he won’t be doing any damage with his glove.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Download | Convert YouTube to MP3
I guess they have to keep calling him a designated hitter (DH) because designated maker of outs (DMOO) is a bit too lengthy.
Theriot is also not that much worse of a DH than Delmon Young.
3.5 shitty quarters followed by one sweet-ass half quarter.
so….are the ads here targeted in any way? because if so, i need to figure out why i got an ad for smudoo.com, which appears to be a german hook-up site.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I don’t think they are, but it’s possible some of them are.
I’m getting multiple Earthshare.org PSAs and an ad for a sports betting site.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/whoooooo-bears-vs-aaaaaggh-bears,11535/
Come on Giants, get a few runs so I can celebrate early.
The Giants deserve to lose this game for DHing Theriot
@ Berselius:
I just logged on to say that exact same thing.
Do they have any better bench bats?
@ Rizzo the Rat:
The have the decomposing remains of Aubrey Huff on the bench.
@ Berselius:
Xavier Nady, Joaquin Arias and Hector Sanchez (who sucked as DH in Game 3)
So I guess the answer is “no”
Disappointed in the absence of alliterative answers.
Bah!
Tigers would be winning this series if only they had a bunting tournament in ST.
That was a recent home run I enjoyed.
AT least the Tigers aren’t laying down.
The first three games of this series hadn’t been all that exciting with the exception of Panda in game 1. This is a fun game tonight.
@ mb21:
I think it would be exponentially more fun if they can annihilate the Tigers bullpen.
Goddamn, Affeldt
Clown shoes all around for the middle of the Tigers lineup
@ Berselius:
That was a recent unexpected strike-out-the-side outing I enjoyed.
@ Berselius:
I thought having him face all those righties was stupid but he made them look silly. Fielder too.
@ mb21:
It was almost very very stupid but that fly ball off Peralta’s bat amazingly died. Jesus.
I think “Carlos Marmol” is just a character that Santiago Casilla plays when he is drunk.
That was an epic super slo-mo.
Theriot. Of course.
Maybe Theriot can get thrown out on the bases, just for old time’s sake.
WTF is with the Giants nailing catchers with backswings?
@ Rice Cube:
He won this World Series. Just ask him, he’ll tell you.
(dying laughing) Is Theriot wearing a nicotine patch?
Gameday thinks this happened:
“Pablo Sandoval reaches on a fielder’s choice. Third Baseman Miguel Cabrera unassisted. Three out.”
If that was the last out, then I don’t think Pablo “reaches.”
Romo is fucking nasty right now.
Wow. Sweep. That was unexpected.
YAS
I wonder why they didn’t throw Verlander out there today.
Let the overreacting to vague rumors commence!
/HotStove
Somehow Barry Zito became something of a hero this postseason. He was left off the roster last time.
@ Berselius:
That’s the only kind of reacting I know how to do!!
Panda ——> WS MVP
Offseason ————-> started
21st World Series Sweep, if you count the two in the early days that had one tie game. Giants are 3-1 in sweeps. Tigers 0-2 (including the 1907 WS that had a tie, vs the Cubs).
@ josh:
They coulda, but his last couple starts he was kinda garbage. I don’t know if it would’ve mattered.
@ Rice Cube:
Like Grace in 2001. (dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
True, they beat him up last time. Still, don’t you go with your ace in this situation? I think you have to.
They seem to be overanalyzing Ryan Theriot and Marco Scutero on the radio. Also, they’re really sucking each other off on how great National League baseball is.
All right. GM’ing time. Let’s see the magic, Theo.
@ josh:
It could have gone either way.
@ josh:
NL baseball is terrible if Ryan Theriot is your DH and has to wait until the 10th inning to do something awesome
http://deadspin.com/5955686/csn-interviewed-matt-cain-while-a-urinating-ryan-theriot-looked-on
@ Rice Cube:
Wrong. Those are the reasons it is awesome.
Although unspoken in their analysis was any mention of the fact that the Cards and Reds are also National League teams. Maybe they don’t play “National League Style” baseball. In the announcer’s minds, the Giants are the only true National League style team out there. Though, given their lack of homeruns and close games, couldn’t you say that Baltimore and Oakland play National League style ball? It worked out during the season for them, but not during the postseason. Maybe this whole “National League Style” thing is as meaningless as consciousness itself *Stares off into void.*
@ josh:
I was surprised to not see Verlander out there as well.
@ josh:
I think the only difference is that one set of teams plays in the AL and the other set plays in the NL, and their so-called style is dictated more by the ballpark than the league. Every team would try to kill the ball every time if they had the capability. And they’d do everything they could to get on base and score runs anyway. So I think of this as just another narrative.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/29/jon-heyman-and-pat-burrell-almost-came-to-blows-in-a-bar/
I would have had my money on Pat the Bat.
@ WaLi:
I think we would have seen Verlander if Scherzer struggled, but he had a pretty good start. It seems like if you’re going to use him in a game like this you’d want to get some innings out of him – the Tigers chances of winning were good enough to keep him on the bench and save him for tomorrow, otherwise you’d be looking at everyone pitching on short rest for the rest of the series, if it went that long.
new shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/cubs-offseason-begins-now.html