The short of it: GMs arrive
Spending the day and evening at the lovely O'Hare Hilton for the GM meetings. Spent many an hour here back in the 1990s covering baseball labor disputes. Anyway, Cubs GM Jim Hendry and Sox GM Kenny Williams arrived and did impromptu sessions.
Also ran into Barry Praver, the agent for Carlos Zambrano and now for Carlos Marmol, who is eligible for salary arbitration for the first time. And just so the speculation doesn't start, Praver said the Cubs and Big Z have not discussed Big Z waiving his no-trade clause. "It's a non-story," Praver said. In other words, the Cubs are not trading Zambrano this winter.
We'll have the long of it online later and in the paper tomorrow. The short of it to get you going and then I'll be back out here in the morning:
--Hendry is hoping to set up some one-on-one meetings with other GMs for after their group dinner tonight. I'm told Jim has had talks with three or four other teams about Milton Bradley in the last 12 or 13 days, but nothing is close yet. Jim made it quite clear he is not releasing Bradley. And no, I still don't see any way Bradley comes back. Time is tight at these meetings. The GMs have a full day of business meetings tomorrow, and they clear out of here at noon Wednesday.
--Kenny Williams said he feels about outfielder Jordan Danks the same way at this time that he felt about Gordon Beckham last year. That's high praise. So maybe we will see Danks at the Cell come spring.
--Both GMs are for expanded use of instant replay, with Kenny being highly in favor.
--Speaking of young players, Hendry remains highly impressed with the play of shortstop Starlin Castro in the Arizona Fall League. However, it's way too early to say Castro can make the big club out of spring training _ assuming he gets an invite to big-league camp _ and push Ryan Theriot to second base.
--It doesn't look like Chone Figgins, late of the Angels, is a monetary fit for either team in Chicago. "That's not 'little,'" Kenny said of the kind of money Figgins will be looking for.
Bruce
A couple questions An earlier post from a reader asked a good question Why is it the Cubs don't seem to lock up their younger players, like the Indians seem to do, and I guess the Royals did with Soria? It would seem prudent Yes, there is a risk of "Jerome Walton Syndrome" but if the player is good, seems to be economically sound You are at the mercy of a arbitrator for three seasons, and I don't think that is good. Secondly, Theriot seems to me to be a guy who will hit .285-.315 for years to come Why does it seem the Cubs are so sour on him? Also, what do you see as the chances of Castro really getting to have a fair shot of winning a job? I like Lou, but he seems to be reluctant to play rookies over renting some veteran for a year or two?
Good questions. I guess it's a matter of organizational philosophy on tying up arb-eligible players. The Cubs have not had a player go to a hearing since about 1993, when Mark Grace went to arbitration. Since then, they've always settled, including a couple springs ago when Carlos Zambrano was on his way to the hotel in Phoenix for the hearing. The room was all set up, but they settled as the last second. So they haven't been at the mercy of an arbitrator. I will ask Jim, though, if he foresees a longer-term deal with a player such as Marmol.
As far as Theriot, I have a new Tuesday blog up, and I mention that. Ryan played in 154 games this year, so I don't think the Cubs are down on him in any way. It seems to me that many fans are down on him, especially if you look around the blogosphere.
Castro will get a shot. If young players can play, Lou likes them. Remember, he put Soto behind the plate in '07 as, really, an untested rookie. Theriot took the shortstop job away from Cesar Izturis early in '07. All managers prefer veteran players, but I've found Lou to be pretty open-minded about playing kids _ as long as he thinks they can perform (see Theriot and Soto). If he doesn't think they can perform (see Pie), they don't play.
I'm glad Marmol hired Barry Praver, an agent who has a history working with the Cubs. Marmol had a good season....one of the lowest opp batting avg and highest combination of saves and holds. He could be even better next year.
Do the Cubs and Marmol want to do a deal to get him through his arbritration years? I think last year the Royals did similar for Soria. Now that Marmol is a closer, I think the Soria contract is a good comparable.
Are there any other Cubs in similar position...how about Theriot?
Thanks
I'll certainly ask later today when the GMs get out of their meetings and we sit down with Jim. I think they'll go year by year with Theriot. Marmol is one guy they might want to do long term, but I don't think they'll rush into it. They've got a lot of arb guys this year, with Guzman, Marshall, Marmol and others.
I am no huge fan of Milton Bradley, but might it not be better if he and Jim Hendryhad a long sit down and maybe the realization for both parties is that the best thing that can happen is for Milton to zip his lip show up and play as hard as he is capable of.
Hendry could let it be known that if Milton puts up good numbers and is still hell bent on leaving Chicago, it would be a lot easier to move him in a mid season trade to a contender. Or maybe the Cubs are looking really good and maybe MB wants to play the game of Life in Chicago.
If this Cub offseason is all about moving Milton Bradley then 2010 shapes up to be a disaster. Jim Hendry has very serious work to do this offseason. Very difficult work too in light of the fact that he has loaded this roster up with bad bloated contracts and the minor league system remains bereft of major league ready help.
Hendry spent his way into this mess. Now he had better come up with a plan to improve this club for 2010 and stop fixating on moving Bradley. The starting rotation is thin and shaky and there are big fat holes at catcher, center field and the middle infield.
Fukudome's offensive numbers rank quite well against other CF'ers and Soto just needs to bounce back to anything close to his rookie season. They do need to find an everyday second baseman, and the bullpen is a huge hole at this point. They have a closer who walked or hit about a batter per inning and will be counted upon to finish big games in the playoffs if they make it that far. That's a lot of pressure for a kid, especially one who experienced such issues with his command. After that, they have Guzman who was pretty good this year but has a history of injuries that make it difficult to count on him. The rest of the suspects are mediocre or unproven or both, and Grabow isn't as good as the Cubs are making him out to be. They are going to need to add at least two quality arms to the bullpen, and preferably at least one who would be capable of stepping into the closer role if necessary.
Looking back over the last few winters, Hendry has proved he can spend more money than a drunken politition. As far as building a winning baseball team -- I'm skeptical. How much rope/money is the new ownership going to give before unloading him?
Muskrat is stating, via twitter, that Hendry is saying that Bradley could be back in 2010....is this Jim just using the media to make other teams think that the Cubs would take MB back?
By now, you've probably heard the rumor on foxsports.com.
That rumor has Milton Bradley going to the Blue Jays, Lyle Overbay going to the Mets from Toronto and Luis Castill coming to the Cubs from New York.
I'm sure the Cubs would love to do this. However, people around to the Blue Jays are saying the Jays have no interest in Bradley.
I asked Jim Hendry if he'd rather have the Bradley situation done sooner rather than later, but Hendry would not let himself get boxed in on this one and allow GMs think he has to rush into a Bradley trade.
Everyone is waiting for something to happen but wouldn't it be best for Hendry to wait a little while to expand the market? Getting it done quickly helps things along for the rest of the offseason but by waiting for other chips to fall (other trades, free agents, etc) a few teams might get desperate. I would not be surprised to see a long off-season and I hope we do not see a lot of trades involving the newly improved minor leagues.
Speaking of the farm system, what are the thoughts of the organization on their prospects? Are there any can't miss, untouchable guys (Castro, Cashner)? Are they gunshy about holding onto guys too long or overvaluing them, ala Felix Pie, and more likely to put players like Vitters, Jackson and Coleman in a package? Last year at this time the thought was sell the farm for Peavy because the system was so thin and not likely to help anytime soon so what did it hurt, but now it seems things are improving at the lower levels. What do you see happening in the next few years?
The Cubs pulled out of the Peavy trade at the winter meetings last year after deeming the Padres' demands too high. The system, although maligned in recent years, netted the Cubs Rich Harden in 2008.
Under Tim Wilken, the Cubs' system has added significant depth, but the Cubs still need to prove they can draft and develop an impact position player. Starlin Castro, Josh Vitters and Brett Jackson could change that, but we'll have to wait and see. Players like DJ LeMahieu, Logan Watkins, Tyler Colvin and a few others provide some promise. Pitchers such as Jackson Coleman, Cashner, Raley, Carpenter, Huseby and others should give the Cubs some depth from which to deal.
2010 is a critical year in his development. Right now the verdict would be that the Cubs flubbed the # 4 pick in the 2007 draft, especially in light of some of the other high profile names picked after Vitters.
Do you have any links from any credible source that states that the Cubs "flubbed" with the pick?
BRUCE..Thanks for the update. I remember walking through that hotel on a way to a flight back in the 90's, there were tons of camera's on hand. Some security guy told me that a vote was going on about Marge Schott, You probably covered that too. If Z's agent
is there, it sounds more like a trade is possible. Do agents normally come to these meetings, unless they are shopping their clients or need to meet with perspective new teams. Replay..I bet Kenny is big on expanded replay, since every night when the Sox are losing, your good friend The Hawk, is telling everyone all broadcast long how the umps are missing tons of calls and screwing the southsiders. Might Jim have to "eat" some salary to get rid of Milton. I hope he finds a taker. I also hope Theriot ends up at second base, that to me seems like his normal position.
Yes, I covered the Marge Schott meeting. Agents do come to these meetings. Praver has a lot of clients who are arb-eligible and he has some interesting guys like Juan Uribe. There is not going to be any Carlos Zambrano trade. I can't repeat that enough. Right now, the Cubs have three pitchers in their rotation: Zambrano, Dempster and Wells. Lilly is scheduled for sometime in April, but who knows? But Zambrano trade talk is a dead issue and has been from the day rumors started. The Cubs will eat some salary on Bradley, but if several teams express interest, the Cubs will have a market and some competiing offers.