Jaramillo, Cubs agree to terms
Look for the Cubs to unveil Rudy Jaramillo as their new hitting coach today at Wrigley Field. Cubs people confirmed early this morning that the team and Jaramillo have agreed to a multiyear contract. One report has it as three years and $2.42 million but the Cubs could not confirm that figure.
We had reported last week that Jaramillo was the Cubs' top choice. In reality, he was the only candidate general manager Jim Hendry seriously considered.
The 59-year-old Jaramillo comes to the Cubs from the Texas Rangers, where he spent 15 years and earned a reputation as one of the top hitting coaches in the game. He became available after the Rangers offered him only a one-year contract extension, which he declined.
Hendry moved quickly last week, getting permission to talk with Jaramillo and setting things in motion almost immediately.
Both the Cubs and Rangers suffered drop-offs in offense this season. Hendry fired hitting coach Gerald Perry in June, replacing him with Von Joshua, whom Hendry promoted from the minor leagues. Joshua was informed on the last day of the season that he would not return to his big-league job.
We'll have more from Wrigley Field later in the day.
Voting commences: Are you confidant that Hendry makes some good moves, or that he doesn't do much to improve the team for next year?
Whose contract would you rAther have next year: free agent Lackey (age 31) OR zAMBRANO? hOW WELL DO YOU SUPPOSE Lackey does the first time through the loop in a new league? Is the NL easier to get outs in than the AL? No DH, lineups not as chok full of good hitters? If you sign Lackey, do you trade Zambrano for prospects? A strong farm system is beneficial more so if you actually promote and start some of those prospects, Mr Hendry. I vote no confidance in Hendry for his poor use of farm system and poor judgment in dumping too many players of some value, for next to nothing after the 2008 season ended. I also do not like our chanc to win if we keep Bradley & Soriano in the same OF. MUST have no less than one poor fielder. Wish list: Fox every day LF and we could give Soriano away. I'll live with eithr Soriano of Fox in LF, but not Bradley in RF for defense alone. Bradley may hit well next year, but he is too much of a distaction and cancer on THIS team. I also would try to find a ss and solve the 2B problem by moving Theriot over.
Bruce I remember you wrote something about Lou looking for the "RBI" guy. I just thought I'd post this link to what Theo Epstein said on the radio
http://joyofsox.blogspot.com/2009/10/theo-we-ignore-rbi-in-front-office....
"...you guys can talk about RBI if you want. We ignore them in the front office. ... If you want to talk about RBI at all, talk about them as a percentage of opportunity, but it simply is not a way that we use to evaluate offensive players."
Fascinating comments throught the link.
Scutaro is the only shortstop the Blue Jays have in their system, they probably wouldn't
let him go, but also he had a career year on free agent year- worry ?
Podsednik will stay with the White Sox
Damon is too old, and Boras is already propping him up on his free agent year.
Castillo- maybe, maybe not.
Pierre was here before, did not like Chicago or the Cubs.
Lopez, Cubs could do better.
Brian Roberts, I believe is a free agent.
If Soriano and Soto could get back to where they where in 2008, Fuld and Johnson could
platoon in center.
But, I'd really like to see a better shortstop, that could run, field and cover more ground,
and put Theroit on secound.
Cub fans don't dream about free agents Carl Crawford or Holiday, never happen,
Cubs would have to dump some expensive players via trade, Soriano and Fukodome, including for SURE- Milton Bradley.
Roberts and Crawford are not free agents and would be pretty tough to pry away from their teams.
Other than moving Bradley, I still feel the Cubs best move would be to find a bonafide lead-off hitter, who gets on base and steals bases. Assuming that Lou wants Fukudome back in RF and hitting second, and Theriot at either SS or 2B and hitting 7th or 8th, the Cubs then need to find a CF or a 2B/SS, who meets the lead-off criteria.
What are some of your ideas? Let's assume Chone Figgins is NOT available either by him staying with Anaheim or his price in free agency exceeding the Cubs budget. I'll throw a few names out here that are either going to be free agents or may be available by trade:
Marco Scutaro
Scott Podsednik
Johnny Damon
Luis Castillo
Juan Pierre (wonder if Colletti would go for a Bradley for Pierre move especially if Manny were to void his player option)
Felipe Lopez
Who else?
Hoops
I believe this will be the Cubs #1 target and the reason they won't offer Harden arbitration.
I hope I'm wrong.
We've tried the whole Juan Pierre thing and the Dodgers have tried the Milton Bradley thing and neither worked the first time - can't see it working any better the second time around.
If Rudy can help him, then it'll be absolutely worth it!
Bruce, if you are able to track down Soriano, it would be interesting to hear his comments about Jaramillo since they spent time together in Texas.
Hoops
Pay no attention to the team behind the curtain who stopped taking pitches last year.
There is one scenario which works for the Cubs, in which they fill 2 positions at which they are deficient and move two talented players who have perhaps worn out there welcome in Chicago. Trade Carlos Zambrano and Milton Bradley to the Mets for Carlos Beltran and Luis Castillo. This deal works from every angle.
First the Cubs - Cubs get a true centerfielder who is a switch-hitter, and a switch-hitting 2ndbaseman. Beltran and Castillo make 25 million this year. Both Beltran and Castillo have 2 years left on their deals and would be free agents after 2011 season.
Now the Mets - Mets get starting pitching which they so desperately need and a corner OF who can be very good offensively. Fernando Martinez takes over CF for them (.877 OPS in minors 2009). Zambrano and Bradley make 27 million in 2009. Basically an even money swap.
Obviously, that leaves the Cubs just a little shorthanded on the mound, so they take whatever money they have available and sign Joel Pineiro who would give them lots of innings and pitched deep into games. Plus, he is a major ground ball pitcher. They also offer arbitration to Rich Harden who would be the #5. Defense is greatly improved by moving Fukudome back to right and having Beltran in CF.
Lineup
2b - Luis Castillo
RF - Fukudome
1b - D Lee
3b - Ramirez
CF - Beltran
LF - Soriano
SS - Theriot
C - Soto
Rotation
SP - Lilly
SP - Pineiro
SP - Dempster
SP - Wells
SP - Harden
Cubmadness - love your suggestion and agree that a Zambrano for Beltran swap woudl work very well for both teams. The problem is with the 2nd half of your trade - Mets aren't taking Bradley for Castillo - if we would takle the albatross named Oliver Perez off their hands, the Mets may be interested.
Would love to know why anyone would think he's available and would waive his No Trade?
They all have no trade clauses nowadays - so we should just shut the site down if you can't speculate about trades.
guess its too much to ask to speculate about players that are actually rumored to be available rather than making things up that have no chance of ever happening.
Search the internet on any given day and you can likely find a rumor about your favorite player on every team being traded. Even the St Louis papers were speculating about life without Pujols if they could not resign him and considering what types of packages would be required to consider trading the best hitter in the game. Is that a legitimate enough "rumor" for you? Do you actually think that the Mets would never consider trading Carlos Beltran?
Its rather easy to figure out what's legit and what's not.
Brad Hawpe. He was someone to talk about. Now he's not.
Albert Pujols....Really? You believe that one huh?
I made it up. Didn't say or imply it was a rumor. Yes, the Mets would move Castillo in that deal. The Mets are desperate for pitching and thanks to contracts like Beltran and Castillo(and Perez), they don't have the financial resources to sign a pitcher(reports from NY papers). That leaves the option of trading for a pitcher. Beltran is expensive, valuable to other teams, and the Mets top prospect happens to play his position. It is easy to see how this trade could happen, if the right people discussed it. And he might waive his no trade clause because he has historically played very well at Wrigley and he might think the Cubs are closer to contention than the Mets.
In a mailbag at MLB.com, Marty Noble says the Mets are "boxed in" when it comes to Carlos Beltran because not many clubs can assume the $37MM he's owed the next two years, not to mention concerns about his physical condition.
"Who do you think the Mets could acquire in a trade for Carlos Beltran? It seems the Mets need to trade somebody to shake up their roster -- Beltran, David Wright, Jose Reyes and Santana appear to be the only players with good trade value. Much is made of Beltran's ability to block a trade. But the Mets are such a mess, I'm sure he'd approve a trade to a team with a better chance of contending in 2010. Could the Yankees, Dodgers or Red Sox use his services? If a Beltran trade could bring a decent young starting pitcher and a decent young power-hitting left fielder, it would help. And his departure would free up a lot of money that could be applied to free-agent acquisitions. Do you agree? Do you think any other team would agree to such a package?
-- Andy S., Sunnyside, N.Y.
I'm not sure the Mets would agree to a deal for "decent" young players in exchange for Beltran. And how many clubs are looking to assume a $37 million obligation for two years? Moreover, who plays center field for the Mets? Beyond that, are other clubs sure about his physical condition?"
I'm happy to see him join the Cubs. But the sabermagicians of the world who preach patience at the plate and garnering walks are not going to like Jaramillo. The man's hitting philosophy is aggressiveness at the plate, ala Dusty Baker.
A trade that makes realistic sense is to ship Milton Bradley to the Angels for Gary Matthews Jr. Both are owed roughly $20 million on the remaining of their ugly contracts. Matthews thrived under Rudy Jaramillio while in Texas in 2006, plus is an excellent defensive centerfielder thereby enabling Kosuke Fukudome to move over to right field where he is ideally suited.
I guess it depends on one's level of suspicion/cynicism: Did Matthews Jr. have his (thus far) career-best season (per OPS and wOBA) in '06 because of PEDs or because of Jaramillo? If the latter, then, yeah, perhaps the Cubs should take a chance on him.
It's hard to say how good he is defensively in centerfield. Going by UZR, in the two seasons he played there full time, he had one decent year ('06) and one awful year ('07).
Trading for Matthews Jr. would allow the Cubs to put Fukudome back in right field where he belongs, and Matthews Jr. is a switch-hitter, which Lou would no doubt appreciate.
This may be the kind of dark horse deal that takes many fans by surprise.
heaven help us if it does...
GM Jr also tested positive for HGH shortly after that 2006 season and has been a mediocre hitter since.
Gary Matthew's Jr. sucks.
Now go get Dave Duncan and we will have the 2 best coaches in all baseball.
If getting Rudy means we keep Bradley, I don't like it.
There has been lots of talk the past couple of weeks about the Cubs effort to unload Bradley. Let's hope Hendry is successful this offseason and does not need to eat a lot of salary.
To a lesser extent, I think the Fukodome signing is also a disappointment. His performance is not worth 4 yrs at $40 million.
Please give us some insight into Fukodome. Will he stay with the Cubs the entire 4 years and collect his money? Or is there any chance, as a matter of pride, he will return to Japan where he is more successful? The thought crossed my mind this week after reading the story about Johjima walking away from $16 mil in Seattle and returning to Japan.
It would be good if the Cubs could get Fukodome's contract off the books.
If you don't think he's worth 4 for $40M, you'll be even more unhappy as it is 4/$48M. :-)
Johjima sucked and was relegated to back up. Fukudome doesn't suck. He's a good enough player to compete in America.
Fukudome has given no indication, nor have the Cubs, that he won't fulfill his four-year contract.
Why am I unimpressed with anyone that Jim Hendry really...really...wants.
Enough about the hitting coach. Bruce, you could be the hitting coach and have the same impact. IT DOESNT MATTER.
Derrek Lee said hitting coaches are overrated when asked about it on the last day of the season. For players such as Lee and Aramis Ramirez, they may well be. Both have had good careers with the Cubs under the likes of Gary Matthews, Gene Clines, Gerald Perry and Von Joshua. I'm sure it will be the same under Jaramillo. We'll see how it work with Theriot, Soto, Fontenot, Fukudome and any of the young players the Cubs bring up. You're not wrong in being skeptical.
that this means Bradley will be staying with the Cubs and Rudy will make it all better.
I don't see how Bradley walks back into that locker room after the players lined up to tell us how glad they were he was gone. Stranger things have happened, I guess, but I don't see this scenario. Bradley has played for seven teams in nine years so chances are he might have crossed paths with a coach or two again along the way.
Bruce ,
You wrote it earlier that Hendry has this laser beam focus when he sets his sights on someone. He did it with Soraino, bidding against himself and gave him the ridiculous 8 year deal and did it again with Bradley. Obviouosly stupid years given when no one else was going to give that kind of long term deal. So now he jumps on Rudy with a three year deal. What happens if he sucks ?
for 3 years, so no big deal. Its basically a rounding error for an organization like the Cubs.
Bruce,
Riddle me this Batman. Why sign a hitting coach to a three year deal when the Cubs will have to fill the managers job after next year ? Lou says he is done after 2010.
Why saddle a new manager with the previous regime's coach and if the new manager you have to hire for 2011 wants his own guy then your on the hook for his contract?
Thats like keeping Larry for three different managers.
Dave Righetti has been the pitching coach in San Francisco under Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou and Bruce Bochy. In 15 years at Texas, Jaramillo worked for however many managers, including control freak Buck Showalter. Lou inherited Rothschild, and Hendry promoted Quade and Lester strode from within. You see this all the time.
Bruce,
While I agree it does happen, how many times have you seen where a new manager wants to name his own personel. I would think a new manager would want his say in who helps run his team. What was it Parcells said, "If you want me to make the dinner then I have to do the grocery shopping"
Is Sandberg, who has no experience, no connections to other coaches, etc, etc, so the Cubs felt the need to bring in the best possible people to surround Sandberg in 2011 to make it as easy as possible for him.
the plan, because the Cubs don't plan that far ahead. They react on a year-by-year basis to the one or two biggest perceived weaknesses. A year ago, it was more LH balance in the lineup. This time around it will be ditching Bradley. Scary to read comments that the Cubs think they are set with their pitching. It sounds like Grabow has been made priority one, and he's just not that good. What's he going to get, three years and $14M or something similiarly ridiculous?
I wasn't a fan of this pursuit of Rudy but no point in that now. Let's hope he can help the Cubs hitters become more productive.
Is this officially the first 'free agent' signing by the new ownership group? If so, the 800k a year for a hitting coach might mean they are going to open up the pocketbooks for players.....fingers crossed.....