Late-night high-level summit
INDIANAPOLIS _ One of the more amusing sights on this late night was watching an impromptu meeting among Cubs president Crane Kenney, GM Jim Hendry and assistant GM Randy Bush. They held it in the vestibule between the lobby doors of the Marriott.
Every time a door would open, the wind would rush in. The only one whose hair wasn't moving was Crane's. Crane was doing a lot of gesticulating and Jim and Randy were doing a lot of listening. Care to fill in your own dialogue?
Hey, don't you guys have a nice suite where you can conduct this business? No doubt the conversation was about you-know-who, whom the Cubs have to trade sooner rather than later.
Nothing happened tonight, as we were told would be the case by a couple of Cubs people.
We'll see about the morning.
We have lunch with Lou Wednesday afternoon. Maybe he can make some sense of all this.
Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com reports that Rich Harden is willing to sign a one-year incentive-laden contract.
With a chance to re-establish his value headed into 2011, as well he should be. Harden is perhaps the most-talented arm available in free agency, managing an astounding 10.9 K/9 in 141 innings in 2009, but he comes with a considerable amount of risk, given his history with injury. Still, that won't scare off some of the winter's biggest spenders (Red Sox, Yankees, Mariners) from participating in the bidding.
Still not on Cubs radar I presume?
"Sources say that Rich Harden is on the verge of an agreement. It was not immediately known which team signed him, but he has been heavily involved in negotiations with the Mariners."
per Buster Olney a few minutes ago....
most likely the rangers....hope Rich figures out how to pitch when it's hot out!
That's something for me to ask Hendry later this afternoon when we meet with him. It all depends on how much the base salary is.
Bruce, OK, Granderson is gone. Alot of other stuff has been shot down. How about these 4 semi major moves for the Cubs? Bradley traded in some kind of deal that the Cubs get Luis Castillo back for 2nd base and leadoff. Mike Cameron for CF, Ben Sheets and JJ Putz. Is that too agressive for the payroll? I would prefer Pineiro to Sheets, but Sheets probably has more upside and can be had for less money. Have the Cubs considered Pineiro at all? Or How about Uggla? Would be the RBI guy that Lou wants.
You don't suppose Hendry is taking a page from the Scott Boras book by leaking out this "mystery" team rumor and trying to build some kind of market for Bradley when one isn't there?
It seems like any time a "mystery" team is involved in rumors, the rumors usually turn out to be bunk. After all, in the internet age, a "mystery" team shouldn't be a mystery for long, right?
That is bunk. From what I hear, you can eliminate the AL West. Jim doesn't do stuff like leaking that kind of information or misinformation. It usually comes from other parties. We'll see. I had one baseball guy ask me this morning what happens when the Cubs are still stuck with Bradley right before spring training starts. I don't even want to think about that.
It's still Tampa or Texas, is that correct? With all the rumors I'm losing track of who the front runners are.
Tampa is still very much in it, and Texas is in the outside lane.
Bruce - You seem to accept that there is a new "mystery" AL team in the mix and that discussions have gotten to the point of negotiations. There just seem to be so few candidates for this mystery team. If the AL West is out, given that Leyland has said he wouldn't want Bradley in Detroit and all the other disclaimers, the only teams I can think of that would be left are the White Sox (unthinkable), Indians, Orioles, Red Sox and Yankees. But none of those seem likely - maybe the Indians most likely.
Thoughts?
I don't know who made up the term "mystery team," but it's silly. Tampa Bay is still in the picture, and any team out there can afford to make the Cubs wait. With Eric Wedge gone from Cleveland, that might be a fit, but I hear the GM there doesn't want Bradley. And no, I don't see a Bradley for Kerry Wood trade. Baltimore looked to have nothing going on with Bradley, and I can't see MacPhail doing that anyway. If any team in the AL West does jump back into it, I'd imagine it would be Oakland. The other teams out there aren't interested.
No doubt about it. Jim's in a very tight spot here of his own making.
Bruce...
Since you seem to have defended Jim from those who propose that the "mystery" team is a hoax of some sort (and I agree with your defense); I am assuming that you mean because he signed Bradley in the first place!
But it really is the "mystery team" that has everyone's attention. I have pondered this all night, and after eliminating the NL teams, the "usual suspects" (Rays & Rangers), those who have publicly denied interest (The AL West except the A's, plus the Jays, Royals, Tigers), The Media Pressure teams (Yankees, Red Sox & presumably White Sox) I was left with The A's, Twins, Indians & Orioles.
Like you I can't see Andy getting involved and there is really no "contract" there to come back to Cubs anyway. Ditto the Twins! Beane is being a little cryptic, but too much so in my way of thinking, and again what contract? So I was down to the Indians until I read that you had heard the GM there didn't want Bradley.
Since I had the Indians picked, your statement begs the question, is your source for that statement something that you can "nail down" or just something you are pretty sure you heard but can't recall where????
My money is still on the Indians. I'd like to think or hope that they would trade Woody back to Cubs for Bradley, but I can't really bring myself to believe that. When one analyzes their teams stats and salaries, I came up with a "suspect" list of players, who's production is going down hill (Haffner, Sizemore, Peralta & Carmona).
I really can't see Hendry being "ready to jump as soon as the other team is" over getting back a contract like Haffner's; and I can't really see the Indians taking Bradley and giving up one of the others......But TWO of them...Now THAT is another story!
Jim could get excited about splitting the "load" into two pieces, especially if one of those pieces might be usable.
So there you have it. The Mystery team is the Indians!
And the players are probably Peralta and Carmona, because we couldn't be so blessed for it to include Sizemore!
n/t
The Oakland A's site has a surprising article suggesting they may be the mystery team. It even includes favorable quotes about Bradley from Billy Beane, who refuses to either confirm or deny that he's been in discussions about Bradley.
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp? ymd=20091208&content_id=7777274&vkey=news_ oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak
Could the A's be the team? Hard to imagine how the money would work out or who the Cubs would get back.
There is NO salary match on the A's. I guess it is possible that Beane would take on Bradley at a reduced salary. Would be typical Beane to value what everyone else is discounting, but I don't really see what they are going to give back.
how about this?.....the Cleveland Indians, and the player is Kerry Wood. Virtually the same salary as Bradley, Cleveland can use either a LF or DH, with either LaPorta or Hafner moving to DH. Obviously the Cubs would have to make up some of the salary for Bradley. Cubs might even explore moving Wood back to starter. Wood is the clubhouse leader that this team is missing.
even if it meant picking up Woody's option. $$$ for $$$, straight up.
After the utter lack of leadership on this team last year, Woody would be the guy.
He won't start IMO so it's how the affect on Marmol is what I'd worry about most if Woody would go back to closer. The Cubs won't want a $10M set-up guy. They're not the Yankees.
Trying to figure out just how much cash the Cubs can throw in any deal for Bradley.....or explaining to the new owner how the Cubs couldn't even get in the chase for Granderson.
Bruce is there anyone besides M.Byrd, Melky and Cameron the Cubs have interest in.
Cameron and Byrd don't seem to excite me.
If the Cubs dump Bradley in a favorable way, I hope they look at Melky Cabrera. I like the idea of getting someone younger with upside and a manageable contract.
Braves released Ryan Church earlier today. If Lou insists on a veteran, we could probably get him for a one year deal.
I don't want to see anymore contracts of more than one year for veteran outfielders.
I'm still holding out hope for David DeJesus, but Bruce has mentioned there isn't much interest there. He could man CF while he's still in his prime and isn't very costly over the next two years then could make room for Colvin / Jackson if everything goes as planned. Oh...and he could lead-off instead of fukodome / theriot.
Melky would be a nice fit as well....just not sure if he could hit lead-off.
They're looking at him, too, but the interest level doesn't appear high. I was told they were just doing their normal homework on him. Maybe the dog can eat that homework.
Was the impression that Crane was frustrated in his gestures? I've read in several spots that there is a general feeling that a deal could be in place by morning. Would this indicate the deal has been agreed upon by the GMs but requires final sign-off by higher officials due to money or other nuance?
Maybe Ricketts told Crane they're staying in Arizona for spring training and that he can't sneak away to catch Red Sox games. We don't appear any closer this morning to a deal than we were when I headed back to my budget hotel around midnight.
Bruce - As the offseason progresses, I look forward to hearing your observations on the dynamics of the Cubs new business office. This week, someone made the insightful comment that Ricketts kept Crane on the payroll to take the bad PR hit when bad news needs to be delivered (example: this week's ticket price increase).
The real power in the business office rests with Wally Hayward and the people he will hire.
I hope so....AZ is a great place to watch ST baseball.
...hope it wasn't about losing out on Granderson.
Because he would have been a good fit.