Cubs to acquire Baker, DFA Freel (Deal now official)
Expect the Cubs to announce today they've acquired infielder Jeff Baker from the Colorado Rockies. Details should be forthcoming, but also look for the Cubs to designate infielder-outfielder Ryan Freel for assignment, effectively ending his short stay with the Cubs.
Baker, 27, has been on the 60-day DL since early May with a left-hand injury, and he'll have to take a physical as early as today with the Cubs. This year, he was 3-for-23 in 12 games. For his career, Baker has a batting average of .257, an OBP of .313, a slugging percentage of .458 and an OPS of .771.
The Rockies took the right-handed hitting Baker in the fourth round of the 2002 draft.
In 2007, Baker played in 144 games with the Rockies, batting .222 with an OBP of .296 and 4 homers.
He is a native of Bad Kissingen of the onetime West Germany.
More to come online today and in the paper tomorrow.
we all love you....you give great info...you're our only contact with this team....keep up the great work.....without you we have no info...have a great 4th....big fan of you......
A great Fourth to all.
that's my point, leave marshall in there...why bring in a guy who stinks? bad management..now we still may win but it's the point, ...hey am i the only one on here? lol....
Marshall is your only lefty in the pen, and you may need him three times this series to come in and face a lefty or two. So maybe they don't want to use him 1.1 innings. Just a thought. Don't know whether it's right or wrong.
is why not start the 8th with marshall? then you still have marmol and oops gregg...
you put Fuld in CF, Lou will play soriano in LF, Blanco at 2nd and we'll have a good shot...
now you take fox for defense.....
we're looking like a good team and not cause of lou....remember he picked pie over fuld the last 2 years....
now tell me fuld doesn't make a deference? and lou said sorinao will be back in left and lead off tomorrow....now lou are you going to play the hot hand?......
Nice production at the top with the lineup the past two nights.....Fuld, Theriot, and Lee. Soto is heating up quickly and with him seventh and whoever is playing 2B in the eight slot, that leaves 3B and two outfielders to bat 4-6. So you play Fox at 3B until Ramirez returns, and you alternate benching Fukudome, Bradley, and Soriano depending upon matchups and who has the hot bat.
gives his kids a chance like beckman, getz, anderson, etc..let's play some kids...we can't do any worse....and i'm not an Ozzie fan.....
Lou, didn't think he had it in him....cheers....i hope the kid plays well and stays in there. not just a few games and back to Iowa....and we do need Soriano's hitting homers but he has to hit....one of the 3 (Fukudome, Bradley, Soriano)....has to hit, the one that doesn't should sit period......and the kid should play...who knows he may be the spark we need.....Reed in center, Fuld in there and the other one of the big money guys.....the thing about fuld is he knows what he has and uses it..speed, hits the ball on the ground, not like Pie and Patterson....
is an average CF at best, good RF....
Soto has been coming on, he started slow....
when some of us talked good about Theriot you threw some bad numbers at us,
we gave Lee his due, now trade him now or end of year while he has value, as for Soriano, if he doesn't hit homers what good is he, he stinks in left, if this was the 2008 team you could hide him like last year, not today, Bradley is not producing, Fontenot is not an everyday player,
Todd Hollandsworth said Fuld should play left again today, Gail Fisher basically said Lou doesn't have the balls to sit Soriano 2 games in a row.......
is this baker related to dusty? oh noooooooo.....
Randy Wells after the game said "he's done that all year", meaning (Fuld) Iowa...now when's the last time you heard any of the pitchers say that about our left fielder?.......any of our outfielders.......you think the other pitchers don't feel the same? ........pitching and defense wins...
if i don't get the chance, everyone have a great 4th....
Wow.....Fukudome really takes some awful angles on line drives. The Wise hit, and the triple against Pittsburgh.
yeah but he makes up for it with his .169 average for
June
I'd rather have kept Freel than dealt for Baker. Freel's comments must of been true then. I like the way Freel plays the game. He plays hard all of the time, can play a number of positions and doesn't take anything for granted. Now I know he hasn't shown a damn thing while with the Cubs but in years past he's been a baseball grinder who I would take on my team as a utility player any day.
Good luck to Ryan Freel. There aren't alot of your types in the game anymore.
What comments from Freel were you referring too? It sounds like Baker was added to give the team some more power off the bench, and Hendry also specifically mentioned RH power. Over the past three years combined, Baker had 21 HR's and a .795 OPS in 500 AB's, while Freel had only 11 HR's and a .719 OPS in 862 AB's. Baker hit 13 of his HR's in 177 AB's versus LH pitching, while posting a .929 OPS. He's also five years younger than Freel. This may not result in many additional wins, but it seems like a solid move. He sort of replaces that RH versatile guy the Cubs had last year....what was his name again.....oh yeah, DeRosa.... that was the guy. Baker could make a nice platoon partner for Fontenot. He's played 2B primarily, but also the corner IF and OF spots. And since Andres Blanco is a switch hitter and was a shortstop in the minors who is strong defensively, he's a good candidate to backup both Theriot and Fontenot. He's Miles, with a better glove and for a lot less money. I'd look for Hendry to try to unload at least a portion of Miles' salary by dealing him somewhere.
Any rumors going around about the Cubs being buyers/sellers? I know they are waiting for A-Ram to come back but could Harden/Gregg/Heilman/Cotts be out the door the final week of July or will the Cubs hold them and take whatever draft picks they might get? Levine said on the radio that they might go after Orlando Cabrera and move Theriot to 2nd? Anything rumbling??
The Cubs won't determine the buyer-seller thing until this homestand ends, at the very earliest.
They can move who....Harden? Who is a free agent anyway and could probably get more if they offer him arbitration in the draft compensation. Marmol whose value is at an all time low (so actually I COULD see Hendry doing that!)???
Don't see any Cubs really having any value...Lilly I guess??
We don't play Colorado much anymore, but I don't remember this guy. His numbers do not sound like he is a "world beater."
Ryan Freel seemed to provide a little spark from time to time....I remember that sprint from third to home last week. I would have preferred to see Miles go (Aaron that is!). He hasn't contributed much. I suppose the money is the reason Miles is still here.
Glad you made that clear about which Miles you wanted gone. Freel was easier to dump. Besides, they didn't like his comments last weekend about how he implied the club didn't believe he was hurt.
Miles (Aaron) has a two-year deal at about $4.9 mil. Ouch.
I'm thinking, and hoping that Hendry will deal Miles to gain some payroll flexibility he can use to find a quality lefty for the bullpen. Maybe he could accomplish that in one swoop. No team is likely to take on Miles' full salary and overpay like Hendry did, but he should be able to shed a portion of it. What will be interesting is how the team shapes up once Ramirez, Johnson and Guzman return. Guzman figures to replace Hart or Samardzija, most likely the former. If Fuld is still performing at somewhere even close to his present level, he's going to make Jim and Lou's decision difficult. Bruce, if Lou does finally agree to reducing his bullpen to six like you've suggested, he could have a bench of six. Baker, Blanco, Fox, Hoffpauir, Hill and Fuld makes six and would give the team some nice balance and guys from both sides of the plate that could win a game with a pinch hit homerun, but leaves no spot for Johnson. Dare I say it, could Hendry move both Miles AND Fukudome? That would set up a CF platoon which would be an improvement defensively and there's a good chance it would make them stronger offensively. Whoever is in CF could leadoff, followed by Theriot, Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, Bradley, Soto, and Fontenot/Baker/Blanco. Use some of the savings to upgrade the bullpen, and possibly even the SP for next year, if not before the trading deadline. It would be great to add a true "ace" who preferably would be proven in post season play. With Zambrano's propensity for blowing up, Dempster's bouts of wildness, Harden's health and return to dominace a big question mark, Lilly's history of giving up the long ball and being more of a middle of the rotation starter, and Wells being a rookie, a true ace would really help in the playoffs.
Cubs send minor-leaguer right-hander Al Alburquerque to the Rox in exchange for Baker. The DFA of Freel also is official Alburquerque, 23, was 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 23 relief appearances at Class A Daytona. The Cubs signed him as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2003.
Wonder if Al is on the list of 70 or so international players under investigation for misrepresenting their date of birth.
He's here as a bench bat, platoon partner. Not even worth the enegy to hate on the move....which isn't terrible.
Does this mean Fuld might stay as the extra OF when Reed comes off the DL or how do you see the dominoes falling once A-Ram comes back.....Fox/Blanco back to Iowa? Patton gone?
Fuld is holding Reed Johnson's spot. I think that the Cubs have to look at letting David Patton go once Aramis comes back, but then again with the double header coming up and one off day it seems unlikely to carry one less pitcher. I think that one would really have to consider sending Fontenot back to AAA. If for some unforsaken reason they decide that a pitcher who never makes an appearance is more worthy of a brief stay of execution and option Fox, then we should question how Hendry lost his marbles.
I expect either Blanco or Fox to go back once Ramirez comes back. I'd keep Fox as a third-base backup, but the Cubs seem infatuated with Blanco's range and fielding. When Guzman comes back, they just may send Samardzija back. For me, it would be Patton. They toyed in May with cutting their losses there, but I'll check today when I rejoin the team what the feeling is.
he's been here this long, he's probably here all year. Stupid Hendry.
gotta expect Kevin Hart or Jeff Samardzija to go when Guzman gets back.
would expect Fuld gone when Reed comes back.
and one of Blanco/Fontenot to AAA when Aram comes back, and I wouldn't be surprised if its Fontenot.
Now Soriano, Fukudome, and Soto will be less
depressed about their batting averages.
Fukudome is batting .260. League average is .256. I don't see how Fukudome should be depressed about his batting average at all.
And for those who want to know what he's done lately... .256 over the past few weeks. His OPS is right around the league average too, about any way you want to slice it. I don't know why Cubs fans want to continue to dislike a guy who hits about average and plays center field.
As for Soto, he's having a disappointing year with the bat following last year, but he's having a decent season for a catcher at the plate. People want to gripe about Theriot too, who's having a respectable year. People wanted to bury Lee after a rough start and he's been one of the best players on the team.
The guys who are really not producing are Soriano, Bradley and Fontenot.