Cubs Update – 11/14/08
by JayBandit • Nov 14th, 2008 at 7:06 am • 8 comments
Well folks, I think i’ve finally come to grips with the fact that the Cubs were unable to win a single playoff game for the second year in a row (not to mention we were above and beyond the rest of the field in the national league…). So, without further delay, I figured we should see how our beloved Cubbies are doing this offseason:
- Well I’ll start out with the big news. This is sort of a “Good News, Sad News” situation. The good news is we get a great reliever in Kevin Gregg, but we have to give up an excellent prospect (and 99 mph fastball) in Jose Ceda. The Sad news is that this almost assures that Kerry Wood will not be returning to the Cubbies this year. I can’t really blame Jim Hendry on this one though. Kerry would undoubtedly command a hefty salary now that he’s shown he can withstand the rigors of a season as closer, and he did give us a bit of a home-town discount last year. So, Kerry, I wish you the best with wherever you land…I just hope it isn’t in the NL Central.
- The Cubs were unable to come to terms with Ryan Dempster before their exclusive negotiating rights ended this week. Therefore, we’re now bidding on him against the rest of the field, which undoubtedly will drive up his price. This was the expected outcome earlier in the offseason, but recent news had suggested that Hendry might be able to get Demp under contract…I guess they were wrong.
- Big Z was able to snag his second Silver Slugger this year with his .337 BA, 4 HRs, & 14 RBIs. Zambrano also managed a 13-start hitting streak, which also included a streak of 8 straight starts with an RBI. The first of which hasn’t happened since ‘24, and the latter was a MLB first. Good Job Z, we’ll see you in Spring Training.
- Apparently the Cubs have Papelbon on their roster…No, not THAT Papelbon, but it is still a good story nonetheless.
- Sweet Lou won the NL Manager of the Year award. Contrary to what most people think, these postseason awards are voted on the day after the season ends. The MLB is just stupid for releasing them weeks after the World Series ends rather than during the middle of the playoffs on an off day or something intelligent.
- Geo snagged the NL Rookie of the Year award by near unanimous decision. And by nearly unanimous, I mean everyone voted for him except some homer jackass that voted for Joey Votto. Perhaps they were confused since no one in Ohio can pronounce his name other than “G-O-VAN-EE”.
- The Jake Peavy sweepstakes appears to be in mass hysteria at this point, but Lou appears not to be too concerned with acquiring the stud from the Padres this offseason. People are pretty uncertain about how the Peavy trade may go down at this point, but many are surmising that John Moores, the Padres owner, is in a hurry due to his impending divorce.
Well folks, that is all I have at this juncture in the offseason. We’ll see where things go from here. Stay Classy San Diego…
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 14 November 2008 at 11:48 am:
Thanks for this Jay.
I’m a little worried about losing this Ceda kid. Perhaps he would have developed into a Gregg-esque closer within a couple of years. Nonetheless, it seems we have the short-term goal of winning the World Series. This will be come particularly apparent if we sell the farm for Peavy.
Jay, do you think we should go after Peavy or a comparable hitter? Supposing we keep Dempster, do we really need another Ace starter? If we keep Dempster and acquire Peavy, we’ll have one of the best staff in baseball history.
Comment by Joshua on 14 November 2008 at 12:30 pm:
Peavy Zambrano Dempster. Wow
Comment by Kevin on 14 November 2008 at 1:36 pm:
The Cubs are pushing hard for Ibanez from Seattle to play for us in RF. This gives us the left handed power bat we need, and allows us to move Fukudome to center to platoon with Reed Johnson. Alternatively, we’d get Roberts from Baltimore and use DeRosa in RF, again allowing us to move Fukudome to CF in a platoon. I think that either one of these scenarios will take place, b/c without it, we’ll have to play Fuku in RF exclusively, while platooning Reed and Pie in CF.
As for the bullpen, I don’t care about this Ceda kid. Gregg can pitch in the majors, and posted an ERA of under 2.00 all but one month last year. I’m sure the Cubs have about 12 arms in AAA and AA that can throw mid-90s; it means nothing. We need to replace Howry, and this Gregg guy seem to be the man. We need to win the WS w/in the next 1-3 years, not 6 years from now. We’ll have Marmol in the CL role, limiting his innings and keeping him effective, Samarjzjzjajaja in the 8th, etc. While I love Wood, and think when on he’s better than Marmol, he’s too much of a risk for a big multi-year deal.
As for rotation, it seems like we’ll take either Peavy or Dempster, and won’t be able to afford both. Either way, our rotation will be better than last year’s on opening day:
(1) Peavy, Z, Lilly, Harden, Marquis
(2) Dempster, Z, Lilly, Harden, Marquis
I think we’ll see Samargjajjgjajaza compete for a rotation spot in the 2010 season, after Marquis’ contract is up.
Comment by JayBandit on 14 November 2008 at 8:02 pm:
I’d love to see Peavy in the Cubs uniform, but he’ll pull in quite a pretty penny, trade-wise. Peavy is perfect for the Cubs because he is the exact opposite of Harden in one key regard: innings. Dempster did a decent job, but Peavy is simply an innings hog, and with a Harden in the rotation, you definitely need that.
That being said, I don’t know if our farm system has anything worthwhile to even entertain a Peavy trade, thus why the Padres & Cubs were working on including a 3rd team.
The thing that worries me more about this team is the crappy offense that we had in the playoffs. With great explanations like Soriano’s, “we aren’t built for a short series” to Fukkake experiment going terribly wrong (to Billy’s delight), we simply need to commit to a PROVEN offensive talent, preferably in the playoffs. Ramirez finally showed some signs of life this past postseason, but with Lee crapping himself just before each time, there wasn’t much he could do. We need a LEADOFF HITTER!!!
Ceda is a great pitcher, but like Kevin said, we’re trying to win NOW, so I totally understand and like the trade. Gregg is great, and the only reason he was sub-par at the end of the season was for an injury that he should be healed up from.
So, in conclusion, all this pitching talk is great…but we need a real outfielder that can hit. I thought Pie was looking better in September, but they barely gave him a chance to bat, so we’ll see what happens this year. The problem isn’t that Fukudome was a bust, but rather that we placed all our outfield hopes on Soriano, 2 guys we picked up off the waiver wire (Edmonds & Johnson), and then took a huge risk in a Japanese noob. Even 2 of those 3 things is risky, but we decided to say, “hell, I want to guarantee something gets mucked up!”
I think D Lee is past his prime at this point, and I wouldn’t mind us making a move that gets us a lefty at that position. At the same time, I re-emphasize our need for an outfielder.
Focker, Out
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 14 November 2008 at 8:43 pm:
Does anyone remember who predicted that Fukudome would be a bust based on past performance of Japanese to MLB converted players? Now Kevin and Jay are desperately looking for ways to effectively mitigate his presence in the lineup…interesting…
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 14 November 2008 at 8:44 pm:
I want Milton “Mofo Monopoly” Bradley.
Comment by Kevin on 14 November 2008 at 10:54 pm:
Bradley can’t play the field, and has a history of fighting with fans and broadcasters.
“my conclusion is that we should have gotten rowand instead who steals bases (???) and is proven in the MLB and knows NL pitching already.”
Rowand: 549 AB, .271, 13 HR, 70 RBI, .339OBP, .410SLG, .749OPS, 2SB/4CS
Fukudome: 508 AB, .257, 10HR, 58RBI, .359OBP, .379 SLG, .738OPS, 12SB/2CS
They both suck.
Comment by JayBandit on 25 November 2008 at 5:57 pm:
Good thing the Cubs didn’t sign Fuku for a bunch of money for a few years….ooops