Julie posed this series of questions over at LOHO today. 1) Where does this team finish in the 2013 NL Central? 2) Do the 2013 Cubs lose 100 games? 3) What moves still need to be made to make this team competitive (and be realistic, no “sign ARod” or any of that baloney). The easy answers to these questions are 1) …
How much ass could this Cubs team suck if this Cubs team could suck ass?
Short answer: probably not much more ass than they sucked last year. After all, the Cubs have lost 101 or more games only 2 other times in franchise history. It's not easy being as bad as the 2012 Cubs were. Long answer? The 2012 Cubs joined the 1962 and 1966 teams as the only ones in franchise history to lose …
Cubs Come Away From Uneventful Winter Meetings with Ian Stewart and Nate Schierholtz
The Cubs big moves during the winter meetings were to sign two players that were non-tendered by their teams a week ago. This is a year! The Cubs signed former Giants OF Nate Schierholtz to a one year, $2.25m deal plus incentives. He's an above-average defender, but has posted a .270/.319/.409 line over the past six seasons. Granted, a lot …
Cubs acquire Hector Rondon in Rule Five Draft
The Cubs acquired RHP Hector Rondon from Cleveland in the rule five draft this morning. He was a former relatively top prospect in the organization (#7 in the org going into 2010) before a few surgeries. This is what BA had to say about him going in to last season. Rondon moved quickly, reaching Triple-A in 2009 as a 21-year-old. …
Cubs interested in Brandon McCarthy and Yunel Escobar
The Cubs are reportedly one of the teams interested in A's free agent Brandon McCarthy. There's a lot of competition though. The A's have been in contact with another of their free agents, starter Brandon McCarthy, but expected that there would be strong competition for the right-hander and they're right: The Chronicle has learned that among the clubs already expressing …
10 years ago today
10 years ago today the Cubs traded Todd Hundley and Chad Hermanson to the Dodgers for Mark Grudzielanek and Eric Karros. It was not only the best trade that new GM Jim Hendry made in his tenure as GM, but one of the best trades the Cubs made in franchise history. Chris Jaffe writes about that trade today on The …
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 …
John Sickels Ranks the Cubs Top 20
Over at his minor league ball blog. Overall, I agree with his analysis that the Cubs system took a major step forward last year with the bats. I'm not as high on Baez as he is but much higher on Candelario. Our pitching is….. Well it's something.
Pat Caputo and the Hall of Fame
I had never heard of Pat Caputo before this morning, but found a link on The Book Blog and had to check it out. Tango highlighted how Caputo won't vote for Craig Biggio because, well, because Caputo is an idiot I guess. I will not mark the names of Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens on my Baseball Hall of Fame …
Cubs sign Kyuji Fujikawa
The Cubs signed 32 year old Japanese free agent Kyuji Fujikawa to a 2-year deal worth $9.2 million. The contract includes a vesting option for 2015 depending on games finished that be worth either $5.5 million or $6 million. Word on the street is that this guy sits in the 92-94 mph range and can touch 95-97 depending on which …