Lilly surgery and a little trade talk
The Cubs say Ted Lilly’s arthroscopic surgery on his left knee went fine today and that Teddy Ballgame will be back at the park tomorrow to continue working on his shoulder rehab as well as having the knee mend.
Against lefty Wandy Rodriguez tonight, the Cubs go this way:
Johnson, CF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Bradley, RF
Soriano, LF
Baker, 2B
Hill, C
Zambrano, P
Lou says he likes the way the lineup is working, with the lefty-righty combo of Johnson and Fukudome for the leadoff spot. Soriano is riding a nine-game hitting streak, during which he’s gone 16-for-36 (.444), and I don’t see him moving back to leadoff any time this year.
Lou referred all trade talk to Jim Hendry. From talking with several people with the Cubs, I look for the Cubs to look for bullpen help first. Two lefties may be of interest: Joe Beimel of Washington and John Grabow of Pittsburgh. Grabow has a 1.51 WHIP and a 3-0 record this year. Lefties are hitting .275 against Grabow, with righties hitting .243.
Beimel, pitching for a really bad Nats team, has a 1.35 WHIP to go along with a record of 1-5, an ERA of 3.43 and 1 save. Lefties bat .233 vs. Beimel, with righties going .270.
Grabow’s salary is $2.3 million. Beimel is making $2 mil.
I’m not sure now much flexibility the Cubs have. But let’s remember back to the winter meetings, when chairman Crane Kenney said the Cubs would be able to add by July 31. Those type of salary don’t seem out of line.
Hendry doesn’t talk names when trades come up, but he did say players could change teams well after the July 31 nonwaiver deadline. He pointed to ’03, when the Cubs added Randall Simon and Doug Glanville after July 31.
We shall see.
Do you think Oswalt plunks Soriano the first time through the order tonight after Soriano's 'performance' while running around the bases?
That was just Fonzi being Fonzi. After the game he said his family was in the stands and he was waving to them. Astros fans are all confident that he was pointing and waving bye to the Houston bench, but I'll buy Fonzi's story since you can see a bunch of people jumping up in down in the first row where he was pointing. What about when Carlos Lee stared back into the Cubs dugout after being walked? Ryan Braun untucks his shirt and throws his helmet off every time he his a walk-off so I don't think waving to family members that don't get to see you play many times a year is a big deal. Maybe next time Crane will give up his seats next to the Cubs dugout for the Fonz.
I doubt Oswalt is going to take that as a legitimate excuse since it was more than just waving at his family. Soriano was doing that hand wave thing from second base almost to home plate. That, coupled with watching it go out and his slow trot is probably going to necessitate retaliation from the Astros.
I know it's 'Fonzi being Fonzi' but I doubt Oswalt puts up with it.
That would mean that we actually got some good production from a guy we got for the sainted Mark? And we have two other guys to get production from?
Could it be that the DeRosa deal was actually a really good one?!?!?!?!?!?!?
has been traded many times for a reason.....if he had range he'd still be here at 2nd......or RF........
Once cuz the Cubs are idiots and "needed to get more left handed" and the second time because the team that thought they were going to compete, fell out of it, so traded him to a contender.
what are you trying to imply? that derosa is a bad egg and was therefore "traded many times" for a reason?? and *twice* is "many times"???
how are your sox doing? are the fans still getting drunk, jumping on to the field and beating old men up?
why don't you read what i said sox fan.....how many teams has he played for sox fan.....where do you get "bad egg" from what i wrote sox fan?
here's what you said regarding DeRosa:
"has been traded many times for a reason"
What reason? He's been traded TWICE. Once because the team became sellers and traded him to a contender. Once cuz the Cubs wanted to get more LH. So what reason has he "been traded many times"?
Love how you call me a Sox fan when you've done nothing but complain about this team all year long while I try to talk you and everyone else off the ledge...
The guy looked electric last night. Please tell me that he's moving up the bullpen depth chart.
Kudos to the entire bullpen last night, 6 IP, 5 hits, 0 ER, 7 K's, 2 BB's....
Lou commented specifically on Stevens last night, saying how much is curvevall had improved. His fastball was pretty damn good, too. The Cubs probably will send Justin Berg back to Iowa tonight when Dempster comes off the DL. Stevens, as you well know, is one of the three pitchers the Cubs got for Mark DeRosa. All three have done pretty well this year.
Bruce,
Let's just assume .200 is his ceiling at the plate. You can almost live with that if Bradley and Soriano are coming out of their slumps. My issue now is the workload behind the plate. He's been solid, but he's played something like every inning, but 2 in the last 16 or so games. Temps heating up, you have to start worrying about his mental load.
Any talk of acquiring a backup C - Soto seems like he's still 2+ weeks away.
Hoops
I think the Cubs are confident Soto will be back next week and that Hill can resume his former role. That one seems far down the list of priorities, from what I've been told.
Bruce,
One of the great highlights of my day is to see a new blog from you.
There are 2 places to upgrade in my opinion: bullpen and 2B. You discussed bullpen above - I think it would be easier to get Beimel than Grabow because of the whole within division uproar. I think Pirate fans are stil sore with the Lofton and Aramis for Hill and Bruback deal.
The Cubs are last in the NL in OBP from the 2B position and 14th in SLG. The committee of Fontenot, Miles, Baker and Blanco has been useless at the plate. Bobby Scales was okay, but was sent down. So, it would seem if Hendry could find some cheap production from a team that's out of it, it would be a wise move. That's why I am big on Orlando Cabrera, but I think Beane's price might be too high. The other interesting name I heard today (also rumored name last offseason) was Mark Teahan from KC. He's predominantly a 3B/RF, but I read an early scouting report on him that suggested he'd be a major league 2B. Lou would probably love his lefty bat.
Hoops
Marco Scutaro would be a great addition at either 2B or SS. He's played both positions and is an excellent defender. He's hitting the ball well this year and has been on fire lately. He wouldn't cost the Cubs much in terms of payroll, but the Jays might want more than from the prospect pool then the Cubs are willing to offer. I know he bats from the right side, but we've tried that little experiment without results. I do like Baker, but Scutaro would be an upgrade over him and allow Fontenot and Blanco to battle it out for the lefty backup infield spot (with Blanco being a left).
Bruce - any idea if this is even feasible?
What would be the point of dealing for another RH shortstop who is four years older than Theriot and not as good with the bat? He's better defensively but you don't suddenly bench Theriot unless you bring in a top SS to replace him and then move him to a 2B platoon with Fontenot and say goodbye to Baker. Baker crushes LHP pretty well and if Fontenot gets it going against RHP the Cubs will be okay in the middle infield. I'd rather see Luis Castillo at 2B than add Scutaro. Same age, switch hitter who hits both LHP and RHP, 300 hitter who makes contact (more BB's than SO's five of last six years), and Mets would probably like to shed some of his salary.
I don't think you guys have to worry about this one. I'm not discerning interest from Cubs people I talk with every day.
You really are the best GM not in baseball. How about actually replacing a second baseman with a second baseman?
LOL
You may as well play Fox at 2b. He's got just as much experience as Teahan. Not to mention Baker is hitting .250 with a .764 OBP with the Cubs....I don't pretend to be a GM but those are decent numbers if you want to compare to the rest of the 2B that have played this year.
plus he has no range nor the athletic skills for that position.....believe me if he did he'd be at 2nd....
once a week in Left, 3rd, 1st, and C would be good enough for now......he's a big bat....