The Cub Reporter (TCR) | A Chicago Cubs Blog

It's Cubs Picnic Day at HoHoKam

Arizona Phil — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:35:10 +0000

With most all of the Cubs front office personnel, Scouting Department, and Player Development staff watching from the picnic area high above the third-base dugout, Michael Brenly singled twice and scored once, Starlin Castro singled twice (increasing his AFL-leading batting average to .433) and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and four Cubs pitchers combined to throw seven innings of one-run ball, as the Mesa Solar Sox dropped the Peoria Javelinas 8-1 in Arizona Fall League action at HoHoKam Park in Mesa this afternoon.

box score

The Cubs brain-trust had a bar-b-que at HoHoKam Park today because this week is the annual Cubs "Organizational Meetings" in Mesa (sort of a "Cubs Convention" for club employees). This is the one time every year when all the scouts and coaches and managers and execs all get together in the same place at the same time, drink a lot, and decide that the lineup is "too right-handed." (If you don't think these get-togethers are dangerous, remember it was probably at the Cubs organizational meeting this time last year that the Cubs decided to not offer Kerry Wood arbitration, to trade Mark DeRosa and Michael Wuertz, and to go hard after Kevin Gregg, Milton Bradley, Aaron Heilman, and Aaron Miles),

RHP Andrew Cashner was supposed to have started last Tuesday in Peoria, but his start was pushed back to today, apparently to allow the Cubs brass to get a first-hand look at their prized phenom. That's also probably the reason six of the seven Cubs players assigned to the Solar Sox saw action in today's game. (Only Josh Vitters had the day off).

Cashner worked four shutout innings again this afternoon, on the heels of his last start a week ago yesterday when he tossed four innings of no-run, no-hit ball at the Scottsdale Scorpions. He scattered five harmless singles and hit a batter today, but he didn't walk anybody, and he struck out four (4/4 GO/FO, 49 pitches - 35 strikes).

LHP James Russell followed Cashner to the mound and had a 1-2-3 5th inning, interrupted only by an E-3 on a two-out grounder, but he then retired the side without further incident (2/1 GO/FO, 16 pitches - 10 strikes). He mixed his fastball & change-up very well today..

Hard-throwin' LHP John Gaub worked the 6th, (16 pitches - 11 strikes) and struck out the only lefty batter he faced (the Dodgers' Andrew Lambo) on three pitches, Otherwise, he pitched a shutout inning (two pop-ups in addition to the strikeout and the single).

RHP Blake Parker drew the 7th, and got into immediate difficulty when Mesa CF P. J. Phillips (Angels) lost a pop fly in the sun, allowing Peoria's Jessie Mier (Dodgers) to reach base on a gift double. Parker would later surrender an RBI single to Lorenzo Cain (Brewers),before getting the third out (he threw 18 pitches - 11 strikes), but he should have escaped the inning with no run scoring. NOTE: Phillips probably should be cut some slack as far as losing the pop fly in the sun, because at other points during the game he hit a solo HR, just missed two others (settling for doubles both times), and made a spectacular diving catch in left-center.

On offense, Starlin Castro was the Solar Sox shortstop and hit 2nd, and Michael Brenly (with dad Bob in attendance, sitting just a few feet away from me) got the start at catcher and hit 9th.

Castro grounded a single between the shortstop and third-baseman with a runner on 1st base and no outs in his first AB in the bottom of the 1st inning, but was erased on a DP.

Michael Brenly singled sharply through the box into CF with a runner at 1st base and one out in the bottom of the 2nd, and advanced to 3rd on a throwing error by Peoria CF Lorenzo Cain, before scoring on a one-out F-8 SF hit to medium-deep CF by Castro.

Brenly would later single again, as would Castro,.with Brenly's second hit a line-drive ripped to CF, and Castro's an infield grounder backhanded by Javelina SS Carlos Triunfel (Mariners) deep in the hole with no play at 1st.

Brenly also flied out to deep CF in the 4th (deep enough to allow the runner at 2nd base to advance to 3rd), and grounded out to the third-baseman in the 8th (Peoria 3B Brent Morel making a nice back-handed stop, throwing out Brenly out on a "bang-bang" play at 1st), while Castro popped-out to CF in the 4th and struck out swinging in the 8th.

Castro, Vitters, Parker, and Cashner were named to the AFL "Rising Stars Game" roster earlier this week (the game will be televised "live" on the MLB network Saturday night), but I believe Cashner will be unavailable to pitch in the game since he threw four innings today. If he had pitched last Tuesday in Peoria instead of today in Mesa, he could have thrown in the Rising Stars game on Saturday.

Ted Lilly Complains of Knee Pain and Gets His Shoulder Scoped

Dr. Joseph Hecht — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:58:24 +0000

Ah, another new adventure in Cubbery.

Sorry for missing the day's rampant speculation on Ted Lilly's left pitching shoulder arthroscopy. I was in the OR all day and connecting hip bones to...

So in one hour what can you see during a shoulder scope? Dr. Yokum puts the scope in from the posterior portal, low and behold he sees a caricature of Sean Marshall smiling face on the anterior capsule. He then puts in a Wissinger rod to create an anterior portal and whoa, is that a Tom Gorzellany autograph on his biceps tendon?

As we all remember from a report right here at TCR, the Ted Lilly Chronicles...

Lilly was on the DL as of July 25th after experiencing left shoulder pain that was diagnosed as tendonitis and treated with 3 weeks of rest. In one of the stranger events of the season, he goes on the DL because of his shoulder but because he was going to have to rest his shoulder, he opted to have his knee scoped since it had been acting up for awhile from a torn meniscus. The original plan was for him to tough it out and get the knee scoped after the season but the doctors felt his shoulder pain was a cascade problem stemming from his knee, so the shoulder symptoms changed the gameplan. Lilly did have a shoulder MRI-Arthrogram in July (leading to the DL stint), which was reported to show tendonitis but no structural damage. He returned from the DL on Aug 17 against San Diego and pitched a healthy and strong 6 shutout innings only for the outing to be wasted in one of the more painful losses of the season, courtesy of Kevin Gregg's 4 run ninth inning stint ending with Kyle Blanks walk off HR.

In 2005 with Toronto, Lilly had several DL stints because of left biceps tendonitis which didn't require surgery. His shoulder didn't act up again until around the All-Star break (he was the lone Cub representative last season and didn't get into the game because that is when his shoulder started to ache).

In the media reports of what Dr. Yokum's procedure found and what he did, we see the terms debridement, washout and cleanup. That doesn't say much really except that some tissue was a bit worn and smoothed off. In this context debridement doesn't refer to removal of dead tissue (just worn tissue, so no maggots were needed) but specific anatomic structures like the biceps attachment to the glenoid/socket or biceps tendon as it enters the shoulder joint, the labrum (fibrous rim of the glenoid/socket) or the rotator cuff aren't specifically mentioned. When they say no structural damage was seen, it means none of the aforementioned items had enough damage to require reattachment. If his problem was biceps tendonitis or minor wear of the rotator cuff tendon (supraspinatus) they might have "cleaned up" these problems without feeling the need to repair or reattach anything. If he did have some signs of inflammation from friction outside the joint, often referred to impingement or bursitis, it's common to reshape the bone that rubs on the cuff (the acromion, which is a part of the shoulder blade/scapula). This is referred to as an acromionplasty and by flattening the front of that bone (it's common to have a curved shape in that area), it opens up the area that rubs on the cuff or biceps tendon where it enters the shoulder joint. Unfortunately, we're not told much from the media reports so I don't know if this was done. Clearly, this minimalist news is better news than getting reports that he had a capsular shift or tightening (Mark Prior), a labral repair (Angel Guzman, Kerry Wood) or a rotator cuff repair or even a biceps tenodesis which is a reattaching of the biceps tendon to the upper arm/humerus) and is done when the biceps is severely worn (Curt Schilling's situation which lead to controversy with doctors arguing whether he should have that surgery or not).

In the 6 months from November until late April, there is more than enough time to rehab and recover from a shoulder arthroscopic cleanup without any major structures needing repair. Unless Cubbery intervenes.

Ted Roosevelt Lilly a tough guy so I suspect he'll just do the return to sender thang, when pitching coach Larry Rothschild sends him the towel drill video. Ultimately we'll know if this surgery worked if it keeps his KNEE from acting up.

Ted Lilly is Broken

Rob G. — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:03:33 +0000

As we know, Ted Lilly was battling through some shoulder issues through 2009 and still delivered a fantastic season with a 3.10 ERA. It didn't seem like it was too serious and something a little offseason rest may take care of, but instead he went under Dr. Yocum's knife.

Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly underwent a left shoulder arthroscopy and debridement on Tuesday by noted orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles. During the surgery, Yocum found no major damage to Lilly's shoulder and the procedure consisted of a washout and clean up of the shoulder.

Hopefully Dr. Hecht can chime in later on this post with what the hell all that means, but Lilly will start motion and range exercises almost immediately and go back for an exam after January 1st to figure out a throwing timetable. Let's go to Bruce Miles for the kicker.

They say they're hopeful he can be in the rotation within the month of April.

This rarely ends well for our Cubbies, does it? On the other hand, if you're going to miss a month of baseball as a starter, April is the month to do it as a team can get away with four starters for a good portion of it. In the Cubs case, they don't need a 5th starter until April 19th at New York. But who knows if there will be complications or lingering problems...which is all a convoluted way of me saying the Cubs should probably offer Rich Harden arbitration or load up on some starting pitching depth before spring training.

Crystal Ballin'

Arizona Phil — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:44:02 +0000

I would expect the following to happen over the next few weeks:

1. FIRST 15 DAYS AFTER CONCLUSION OF WORLD SERIES: Window during which MLB Article XX free-agents can file for free-agency.

Cubs free-agents Chad Fox, John Grabow, Kevin Gregg, Rich Harden, and Reed Johnson will file for free-agency, bringing the Cubs Reserve List (40-man roster) down to 33 players.

2. 4TH BUSINESS DAY FOLLOWING CONCLUSION OF WORLD SERIES: Deadline for clubs to add their own Rule 55 minor league free-agents (so-called "Six-Year Minor League Free-Agents") to the 40-man roster by selection. (Clubs retain exclusive negotiating rights with their own Rule 55 minor league free-agents through the end of the MLB Free Agency Filing Period).

Probably the only Cubs post-2009 Rule 55 minor league FA who is a candidate for selection to the 40-man roster prior to the deadline is RF Brad Snyder, who could be another Garrett Jones or Casey McGehee (an apparent "4-A guy" who gets written off but is in reality just a "late bloomer"). The Cubs claimed Snyder off waivers from Cleveland in September 2008 (he was the Indians #1 draft pick out of Ball State in 2003, and was rated a perennial Cleveland Indians "Top Ten Prospect" by Baseball America 2004-07), and he remained on the Cubs 40-man roster until he was outrighted to AAA Iowa at the end of Spring Training. Along with Kyler Burke and Nelson Perez, Snyder has one of the top three OF arms in the Cubs organization, has plus-power (he was on a pace to hit 50 HR for Iowa before he broke his wrist in May), runs well for a big guy (he looks like he could play TE in the NFL), and is a decent defender who can play all three OF positions (although RF is best position). His only negative (and it's a big one) is an inability to make consistent contact.

The 27-year old Snyder is presently playing for Mexicali in the Mexican Pacific League (LMP), where he is 11th in the league in SLG and 4th in walks (and tied for 10th in strikeouts). He is out of minor league options, so adding him to the 40 would mean he would be exposed to waivers again at the end of Spring Training if he doesn't make the Cubs Opening Day 25-man roster. If the Cubs don't add him to the 40, they could try and re-sign him to a minor league contract with an NRI to Spring Training, but if given the chance to be a free-agent, I would think he would probably take the opportunity to sign with another organization where he would get a better chance to play in the big leagues next year. My guess is the Cubs let Snyder walk.

3. NOVEMBER 20TH: Deadline for adding minor league players who are eligible for selection in next month's Rule 5 Draft to the MLB 40-man roster.

I believe the Cubs will add C Welington Castillo, LHP John Gaub, and RHP Blake Parker to the 40-man roster, and they will also outright RHP Marcos Mateo to the minors (presuming he isn't claimed off waivers). This will bring the Cubs 40-man roster up to 35 players.

It's possible that the Cubs will also add 21-year old RHP Rafael Dolis and/or 25-year old "supersub" IF-OF Matt Camp to the 40-man roster on 11/20, too, because if they don't, Dolis and Camp are good candidates to get selected in the Rule 5 Draft. (Dolis showed a lot improvement at Instructs, and Camp is presently playing for Mexicali in the LMP where he leads the league in stolen bases, is 6th in the league in hitting, and is tied for 6th in doubles). Adding Dolis and Camp to the MLB Reserve List would bring the Cubs 40-man roster up to 37.

4. DECEMBER 1ST: Deadline for offering salary arbitration to MLB Article XX free-agents.

I believe the Cubs will offer salary arbitration to Type "A" FA John Grabow, but not to any of the other four. Because Grabow is a Type "A" FA, the Cubs would get a 1st or 2nd round draft pick plus a "sandwich" pick between the 1st and 2nd round if Grabow signs with another club, which would mean most clubs wouldn't be interested in signing him because signing him isn't worth losing a 1st or 2nd round pick. That should drop Grabow's value down and the Cubs should be able to sign him for below market-value. (I say the Cubs should be able to sign him for below market-value, not that they will). But one way or another, I believe Grabow will re-sign with the Cubs. This will bring the Cubs roster up to 38 players.

Reed Johnson might get re-signed eventually, too, but I doubt that he will be offered salary arbitration on 12/1. Before they re-sign Johnson (or offer him arbitration), the Cubs need to know whether they will be exchanging Milton Bradley for a CF or another RF (presuming Bradley even gets traded during the off-season). Because if the Cubs trade Bradley for a CF (like Aaron Rowand, for instance), I doubt that the Cubs would re-sign Reed Johnson to platoon with Kosuke in RF. In fact even if Fukudome plays CF again in 2010, the Cubs might opt to try and make a trade for a cheaper RH hitting OF like Rajai Davis (A's), who is eligible for salary arbitration as a "Super Two," but still won't be getting "Reed Johnson money" ($3M per year). I suspect the A's would take Sam Fuld back for Davis.

5. DECEMBER 7TH-10TH: MLB Winter Meetings in Indianapolis.

The Rule 5 Draft will be held Thursday morning 12/10, and is the last order of business at the meetings, While the Cubs have not selected any players in the Major League Phase of the draft for themselves in recent years (the Cubs selected OF Josh Hamilton from Tampa Bay in 2006, but then traded him to Cincinnati for cash), they have had other clubs select players by proxy in each of the last two years, and then acquired the players via trade after selection. In 2007, RHP Tim Lahey was selected by Tampa Bay from Minnesota and then was traded to the Cubs for cash, and last year RHP David Patton was selected by Cincinnati from Colorado, and then was traded to the Cubs for cash. Lahey did not make the Cubs 2008 25-man Opening Day roster and was claimed off waivers by the Phillies (and then was subsequently re-claimed by the Twins later in the season), but Patton remained on the Cubs 25-man roster (or 15-day DL) for the entire 2009 season, and so he is no longer a Rule 5 player, and can be optioned to the minors in 2010 (and he will have three minor league options)

While the Cubs have dabbled in the Major League Phase of the Rule 5 Draft the last couple of years, Cubs minor leaguers have been selected in each of the past seven drafts (ten players total). OF Jason Dubois was selected in 2002 by Toronto, but was re-claimed by the Cubs when Dubois did not make the Jays Opening Day roster in 2003. LHP Andy Sisco was selected by Kansas City and LHP Luke Hagerty was selected by Baltimore and then traded to Florida in December 2003, and while Sisco had an outstanding rookie season working out of the Royals bullpen (he was a contender for A. L. Rookie of the Year) and remained with the Royals for the entire 2004 season, Hagerty (who was still not 100% recovered from 2002 TJS) was re-claimed by the Cubs during Spring Training 2004. RHP Jason Szuminski was selected by Kansas City and then was traded to San Diego in December 2004, and Szuminski did make the Padres 2005 Opening Day 25-man roster, before being re-claimed by the Cubs midway through April when the Padres tried to send him to AAA. RHP Juan Mateo was drafted by St. Louis in 2005, but was re-claimed by the Cubs during Spring Training 2006. In December 2006, INF Jason Smith (who had been signed by the Cubs as a minor league FA just a month prior to the Rule 5 Draft) was selected by Toronto, RHP Lincoln Holdzkom (acquired earlier that year from Florida in the Todd Wellemeyer deal) was selected by Houston, and LHP Edward Campusano was selected by Milwaukee and then traded to Detroit. Holdzkom was re-claimed by the Cubs during Spring Training (but then was released prior to Opening Day 2007), but Smith remained in the big leagues throughout the 2007 season (he was claimed off waivers by Arizona in May, and then was claimed off waivers again by Kansas City in July), and Campusano had a very good Spring Training with Detroit and reportedly had made the Tigers 2007 25-man Opening Day roster, before going down with an elbow injury that required Tommy John Surgery. Campusano spent the entire 2007 season on the Tigers 60-day DL, and then was re-claimed by the Cubs when the Tigers tried to outright him to the minors after the season. RHP Randy Wells was selected by Toronto in December 2007, and he made the Blue Jays 2008 25-man Opening Day roster, before being re-claimed by the Cubs when the Jays tried to outright him to the minors in April. And LHP Donald Veal was drafted by Pittsburgh last year and spent the entire 2009 season on the Pirates 25-man roster (or 15-day DL) and so he is no longer a Rule 5 player. (Veal is presently one of the top 5 starting pitchers in the AFL).

So if history is any predictor of the future, expect one or more Cubs minor leaguers to get selected in the Major League Phase of the 2009 Rule 5 Draft, with about a 70% chance that any Cubs player who is drafted will return to the Cubs. The top ten Cubs minor leaguers most-likely to get selected in the Major League Phase of the Rule 5 Draft this year would probably be (in this order): C Welington Castillo, LHP John Gaub, RHP Blake Parker, RHP Rafael Dolis, IF-OF Matt Camp, C-1B Steve Clevenger, C Chris Robinson, LHP Jeremy Papelbon, OF James Adduci, and RHP Alessandro Maestri, although W. Castillo, Gaub, and Parker are virtual locks to get added to the Cubs 40-man roster by 11/20, while Dolis and Camp are both probably 50/50 at this point (with the final decision on Camp dependent to some extent by how he performs over the next couple of weeks in the Mexican Pacific League)

6. DECEMBER 12TH: Deadline for clubs to tender 2010 Major League contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man roster (auto-renewal guys and arbitration-eligibles).

I believe the Cubs will probably non-tender only one player, and that is LHP Neal Cotts (who is at Fitch Park rehabbing from July 2009 TJS). They then will try and re-sign him to a 2010 minor league contract with an MLB split ($150K while he rehabs, then a prorated $900K if and when he is ready to pitch in the big leagues in 2010 and gets added to the 40-man roster). And I believe Cotts would probably take such a deal, too, partly because he isn't likely to get a better offer elsewhere, and partly because I doubt that he would want to uproot his family and change trainers and facilities in the middle of his off-season rehab.

Non-tendering Cotts on 12/12 would bring the 40-man roster down to 37, and would clear a roster-slot that could be made available for any FA the Cubs might sign (or re-sign) after 12/12.

It's possible that the Cubs will also non-tender Andres Blanco on 12/12, but only if they know for sure in advance that they can sign him to a 2010 minor league contract. To do this, the Cubs would probably have to offer Blanco at least $250K plus an NRI to ST. That way, if he makes the Cubs 25-man Opening Day roster, he can be added back to the 40 at the end of Spring Training. And if he doesn't, he can be sent to Iowa (and be available to get called up if needed later in the season) without having to clear waivers at the end of Spring Training (Blanco is out of minor league options).

7. LATER:

While I think Neal Cotts will be the only Cubs player eligible for arbitration to get non-tendered, I would not be surprised if Aaron Heilman gets traded before Spring Training (as happened with Michael Wuertz last off-season). Heilman was reportedly claimed by the Giants off Trade Assignment Waivers at the end of August (and then was pulled back by the Cubs), so trading Heilman to San Francisco (possibly as part of a Bradley for Rowand swap?) might be a possibility.

I also expect Jake Fox to get traded sometime prior to Opening Day, since he is out of minor league options and does not appear (at this point) to have a spot on the Cubs projected 2010 Opening Day 25-man roster. Any American League club looking for a RH platoon DH would be foolish not to have an interest in acquiring Fox.

As for Aaron Miles, because he is guaranteed $2.7M in 2010 and coming off a horrendous 2009 season (185/224/242 in 74 games with the Cubs), he is virtually untradeable, and so I believe he will still be on the Cubs roster come Spring Training. I expect him to be given every opportunity during Spring Training to show he is back to 2008 form (317/368/409 in 134 games with STL), and he will compete with Jeff Baker, Mike Fontenot, and Andres Blanco for a middle-infielder job. But if he continues to suck, Miles will almost certainly get released at the end of Spring Training and the Cubs will just "eat" his contract. So unless the Cubs desperately need his roster slot during the off-season (and that's not very likely), don't expect anything to happen with Aaron Miles until the end of Spring Training.

Cubs Rumor Mill: Iwamura, Bradley & Grabow

Rob G. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:53:21 +0000

I'm not sure I'll get an offseason potential target up tomorrow, but with the World Series almost wrapping up and the Cubs organizational meetings next week, the rumor mill is beginning to warm up for the offseason. Let's blast through these real quick.

- Bruce Levine reported that the Cubs and John Grabow are discussing a two year extension and the Trib concurs that it appears likely he'll be back with the Cubs next year.

The two sides are talking about a two-year deal for anywhere between a total of $6.5 million and $7.5 million. Grabow's people would like a vesting option for a third year added to the contract.

There would also be incentives in the deal for games finished. Relievers and $3-$4M a year don't really mix in my opinion, but this sure isn't the first time Hendry's thrown money at the bullpen, or the second, or third or fourth or...well you get the point.

- The same Trib article says that the Cubs have some interest in Akinori Iwamura - seems like some friendly blogger recently brought that up - and then the Trib suggests an Iwamura/Pat Burrell for Milton Bradley swap with the Cubs throwing $3-$4M into the pot. I guarantee it's not the Cubs holding up that deal if it ever gets on the table. If a deal with Iwamura somehow materializes, it could happen quickly as the Rays have one day after the World Series to decide about his option.

- As for the Bradley market, the Trib brings sobering news that attendance was down for 22 of the clubs in the league and expect most of them to be looking to dump salary making Hendry's job to unload Bradley without paying for it all the more difficult. The Rangers seem to have left the door slightly ajar for a Bradley return if they can get the Cubs to pay the freight.

Cubs Trio Help Solar Sox Glow to Victory

Arizona Phil — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:09:29 +0000

Starlin Castro jacked-up his AFL league-leading batting average to .423 as he ripped two singles, knocked-in two runs, and scored one, Josh Vitters tripled and scored, and John Gaub tossed a 1-2-3 7th, leading the Mesa Solar Sox (Cubs, Marlins, Red Sox, Angels, and Twins) to a 7-2 victory over the Peoria Saguaros (Padres, Reds, Indians, Braves, and Astros) in Arizona Fall League action this afternoon at sunny HoHoKam Park in Mesa.

box score

AFL leading hitter Castro was the Solar Sox DH today and hit 2nd, getting four ABs.

Facing Saguaros starting LHP Mike Minor (Braves 2009 #1 draft pick out of Vanderbilt) with a runner at1st base and no outs in the bottom of the 1st. Castro lined a single to LF on the first pitch he saw, advanced to 2nd uncontested on the back-end of a double-steal, and then scored on a two-out two-run RBI single to CF by Hank Conger (Angels).

Castro bounced out weakly to the third-baseman in his second PA against Minor in the 3rd, before lacing a two-run RBI single past the SS into left-center off RHP Mike Leake (Reds 2009 #1 draft pick out of Arizona State) with two outs in the 5th. In his final AB of the day, Castro struck out looking to end the 7th, only his 5th K in 55 AFL Plate Appearances.

Vitters played 3B and hit 6th, grounding out on a first-pitch broken-bat roller to the second baseman his first time up leading- off the 2nd. before popping out to short RF in his 2nd PA the 5th. But the 20-year old really tagged one leading off the bottom of the 7th against Padres RHP Mike DeMark, juicing a laser-liner stand-up triple into the right-centerfield gap that rolled all the way to the fence. He then scored on an error. In his final AB, Vitters flied out to CF.

Vitters had only one chance in the field today, handling a routine grounder without incident, as he back-handed the ball, squared himself, and made a strong & accurate throw to 1st base to nail the batter by two steps. .

LHP John Gaub entered the game in relief in the top of the 7th and was unhittable, striking out Mitch Canham (Padres) swinging and Josh Rodriguez (Indians) looking, before retiring Lance Zawadzki (Padres) on a lazy pop up to the 1st baseman in foul territory. This was certainly Gaub's best AFL outing (so far), as he alternated a 94 MPH heater and filthy breaking ball.

The 24-year old Gaub was one of the three minor league pitchers the Cubs acquired from the Cleveland Indians in the Mark DeRosa trade last-off-season. He figures to get added to the Cubs 40-man roster on 11/20, because otherwise he would be eligible for selection in next month's Rule 5 Draft. .

And Michael Brenly made his AFL debut this afternoon, entering the game as a defensive replacement at catcher in the top of the 9th. Brenly replaces Welington Castillo (DL retro to 10/23) on the Solar Sox roster.

RHP Andrew Cashner is scheduled to make his 4th AFL start tomorrow, as the Solar Sox travel to Peoria Stadium for a rematch with the Saguaros.

Cubs Potential Offseason Targets: Mike Cameron

Rob G. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:00:53 +0000

I'll go through a few more lower level free agents this week and pick it up to some possible bigger names next week. As we know, there's talk that if the Cubs can move Milton Bradley, they'd put Kosuke Fukudome back to right field and try and improve the outfield defense with a more true center fielder. And that's where Mike Cameron comes in...

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
1995	22	CHW	28	44	38	4	7	2	0	1	2	0	0	3	15	.184	.244	.316	.560	47
1996	23	CHW	11	12	11	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	.091	.167	.091	.258	-31
1997	24	CHW	116	446	379	63	98	18	3	14	55	23	2	55	105	.259	.356	.433	.789	109
1998	25	CHW	141	443	396	53	83	16	5	8	43	27	11	37	101	.210	.285	.336	.621	63
1999	26	CIN	146	636	542	93	139	34	9	21	66	38	12	80	145	.256	.357	.469	.825	105
2000	27	SEA	155	643	543	96	145	28	4	19	78	24	7	78	133	.267	.365	.438	.803	107
2001	28	SEA	150	633	540	99	144	30	5	25	110	34	5	69	155	.267	.353	.480	.832	123
2002	29	SEA	158	640	545	84	130	26	5	25	80	31	8	79	176	.239	.340	.442	.782	109
2003	30	SEA	147	612	534	74	135	31	5	18	76	17	7	70	137	.253	.344	.431	.774	108
2004	31	NYM	140	562	493	76	114	30	1	30	76	22	6	57	143	.231	.319	.479	.798	104
2005	32	NYM	76	343	308	47	84	23	2	12	39	13	1	29	85	.273	.342	.477	.819	114
2006	33	SDP	141	634	552	88	148	34	9	22	83	25	9	71	142	.268	.355	.482	.837	121
2007	34	SDP	151	651	571	88	138	33	6	21	78	18	5	67	160	.242	.328	.431	.759	103
2008	35	MIL	120	508	444	69	108	25	2	25	70	17	5	54	142	.243	.331	.477	.809	110
2009	36	MIL	149	628	544	78	136	32	3	24	70	7	3	75	156	.250	.342	.452	.795	108
15 Seasons			1829	7435	6440	1013	1610	362	59	265	926	296	82	825	1798	.250	.340	.448	.788	106
SEA (4 yrs)			610	2528	2162	353	554	115	19	87	344	106	27	296	601	.256	.350	.448	.798	112
CHW (4 yrs)			296	945	824	121	189	36	8	23	100	50	14	96	224	.229	.315	.376	.691	82
NYM (2 yrs)			216	905	801	123	198	53	3	42	115	35	7	86	228	.247	.328	.478	.806	108
SDP (2 yrs)			292	1285	1123	176	286	67	15	43	161	43	14	138	302	.255	.341	.456	.797	112
MIL (2 yrs)			269	1136	988	147	244	57	5	49	140	24	8	129	298	.247	.337	.464	.801	109
CIN (1 yr)			146	636	542	93	139	34	9	21	66	38	12	80	145	.256	.357	.469	.825	105
AL (8 yrs)			906	3473	2986	474	743	151	27	110	444	156	41	392	825	.249	.341	.428	.769	104
NL (7 yrs)			923	3962	3454	539	867	211	32	155	482	140	41	433	973	.251	.340	.465	.805	109

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/31/2009.

The offensive numbers are pretty generic, but combined with his defense, he's definitely a plus for any team (anywhere from 2 to 4 Wins Above Replacement according to Fangraphs). UZR has him well above replacement level defensively the last couple of years and for his career and BP agrees with a career 106 Rate2 number. The Fan's Scouting Report makes it the triple crown of defensive road marks along with 3 career Gold Gloves to make me feel confident that he still can patrol center field with the best of them.

Now you know with Cameron's ability to hit 20 HR's or more, Lou is gonna want to use him in the middle of the order to drive in runs, so let's see how he does in that area. I like to look deeper than just the standard RBI counting stat and see what kind of opportunties Cameron has had and thankfully BP neatly keeps track of this. Cameron's OBI% (Other Batters Driven In) since 2006:

10.7% - 2009, 16.5% in 2008, 14.7% in 2007, 15.8% in 2006

Well 2009 was pretty ugly there for Cameron - Milton Bradley ugly - but he seems to be around the league average(which is about 15%) or better for the most part which I honestly expected to be a little worse with all his K's. It's not something you can put a guarantee on, but let's say he shows a tendency to get the job done.

Still at age 37, I don't think the Cubs should really enterain much more than a 1-yr offer here and hope you get a Bobby Abreu-special that falls in your lap in March for $5-$7M. Considering Cameron's sensitive (as he should be) to some of the bleacher taunting, I don't see this being a match for the Cubs or Cameron.

The Tom Ricketts Drinking Game

Rob G. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:36:13 +0000

Tom Ricketts and family will be introduced to Cubs fans everywhere in a press conference on Friday morning at 11am CST and probably a couple dozen TV and radio interviews. To help you get through the day, I suggest grabbing your favorite alcoholic beverage(bring a thermos if you're at work) and follow along with this drinking game I designed.

Drink when:

he thanks Major League Baseball, Bud Selig or the Tribune
it's mentioned how great Cubs fans are
how Cubs fans deserve a championship team
mentioned that he's a Cubs fan
met his wife at Wrigley Field
had an apartment in Wrigleyville
how the goal is to build a championship caliber team year in and year out
Ameritrade is mentioned
asked about payroll
he says he has great respect for Jim Hendry
he says he has great respect for Lou Piniella
there's a question about Milton Bradley
he says he'll defer to the baseball people
everytime you're frustrated by a generic non-answer he gives to a specific question
there's question about Wrigley Field renovations
there's any mention of goats, curses or Steve Bartman

Take Two Drinks when:

some reporter asks about his lesbian sister
they ask about the size of the media room at Wrigley
he avoids the Personal Seat License question

Finish your drink if:

he makes any allusions to following sabermetrics or any type of statistical analysis
he fires Jim Hendry or Lou Piniella
he says he ordered the Bradley suspension (Finish another drink if he refers to it as a Code Red)
he sets up his sister with Carrie Muskat

Finish your drink and the bottle or case it came from if:

he lowers ticket or concession prices

Updike to Williams to This?!

Mike Wellman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:04:21 +0000

John Updike was as fine a writer as Ted Williams was a hitter. Updike won two Pulitzers, Williams a pair of MVP’s.

When the former died in January of this year I marked his passing by listening to a recording of Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu. It’s a classic essay he wrote for The New Yorker in the aftermath of Williams’ last game at Boston’s Fenway Park in 1960; a day when The Kid famously and fittingly homered in the final at-bat of a career that was both tempestuous and illustrious.

It’s beautiful; something that could turn non-believers into baseball fans the way Handel’s Messiah might call pagans to church.

It could not have been an accident that Updike was there to observe the event and later share his thoughts with whomever they concerned, although a preface to the recorded essay makes it sound as though it was just that. His first purpose for being in Boston that day was adulterous but, finding his paramour not at home, he went to the ballpark instead.

When Williams died in 2002 the poignancy of his death was overridden by the announcement that his head was to be frozen for future reference. His son, John Henry, who I recall accompanied his father on an autographing expedition to Des Moines in the mid-90's to raise funds for the Bob Feller museum not far from here, was having Ted posthumously decapitated and iced on the basis of a signed cocktail napkin that came with no certificate of authenticity. How at once cryonic and ironic.

It all seemed sad and grisly; certainly not befitting of the great slugger who was the last major leaguer to top .400 when he batted .406 in 1941 [inasmuch as that was the year of Joe DiMaggio’s legendary 56 game hitting streak, Williams didn’t even win the MVP award, nor did he in either of his two, count ‘em two, triple crown years!].

A plaque in Cooperstown, absolutely; a popsicle in a cryogenic warehouse in the Arizona desert - say it ain’t so!

But it was. And now breaks news that the stock boys at the freezer used Williams’ head for sport – even teeing it up on a can of tuna fish! If this too is so, Williams would have been better preserved had he been stuffed and mounted on the wall in a Beantown “man-cave”. Baseball cards are handled with more care than that accorded the remains of Teddy Ballgame. What, were the bored lab techs Yankee fans? Was the place so cold that decency went numb?

Aside from the indignity visited upon the man who aspired to be, “the greatest hitter who ever lived” [twice?], consider the macabre workplace shenanigans in their broader context. Baseball didn’t need another black eye, let alone the severed, frozen head of one of the game’s all-timers being the object of a game of pepper in a [meat] locker room somewhere. Probably just as well that the Bostons were excused early from this year’s playoffs. Had they advanced to the World Series around Halloween there would either have been too much talk or an awkward silence about The Headless Hitman.

Picture, if you can, the boss at the lab issuing a work order as follows: “Bring me the head of Ted Williams!” Then what - “PLAY BALL!”?

If it took none other than John Updike to do justice to Williams’ exploits on the diamond, then Stephen King writes the post-mortem. The whole thing smacks of Rod Serling.

For all his prowess at the plate, Williams earned his reputation for being surly and stubborn with the media and fans. He was repaid in the form of withheld MVP votes and occasional boos. Still, if he didn’t merit a pedestal, he surely deserved better than the alleged tuna can. It’s customary to commend the departed with hopes and prayers for resting in peace, not pieces.

Reports of the mishandling by the staff at the extended stay morgue have lent new meaning to baseball lexicon like bobblehead, sawed-off and disabled list.

Alas, the only head to roll in the matter is Williams’. The man in charge at the facility who should have been made to account for his slipshod oversight instead documented the goings on that he might profit from them in the form of a book.

What would John Updike have to say about all this? I just hope he has a grave to spin in.

Cubs Potential Offseason Targets: Kelvim Escobar

Rob G. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:28:13 +0000

Trying to figure out which relievers the Cubs may try to acquire - if any - to bolster a poor bullpen performance is like trying to find a decent Cubs position player developed by the Cubs farm system over the last 35 years. For all I know the Cubs won't do much but try and resign John Grabow and then see who might stick from the current crop of youngsters plus a few Chad Fox-type reclamation projects that they might hope to stick...and probably Chad Fox himself.

We do know Hendry likes his strikeout pitchers and Escobar has a 7.89 K/9 rate for his career which trends higher when he's worked out of the bullpen as you'd expect. There hasn't been much chatter on Escobar since he went down with a shoulder injury after pitching just 5 innings in 2009 (and he missed all of 2008 as well after labrum surgery), but I think it's a fair bet he'll come back in 2010 as a reliever...that is if he's coming back at all.

Year	Age	Tm	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	HBP	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
1997	21	TOR	3	2	.600	2.90	27	0	23	14	31.0	28	12	10	1	19	36	0	156	1.516	8.1	0.3	5.5	10.5	1.89
1998	22	TOR	7	3	.700	3.73	22	10	2	0	79.2	72	37	33	5	35	72	0	124	1.343	8.1	0.6	4.0	8.1	2.06
1999	23	TOR	14	11	.560	5.69	33	30	2	0	174.0	203	118	110	19	81	129	10	86	1.632	10.5	1.0	4.2	6.7	1.59
2000	24	TOR	10	15	.400	5.35	43	24	8	2	180.0	186	118	107	26	85	142	3	95	1.506	9.3	1.3	4.3	7.1	1.67
2001	25	TOR	6	8	.429	3.50	59	11	15	0	126.0	93	51	49	8	52	121	3	132	1.151	6.6	0.6	3.7	8.6	2.33
2002	26	TOR	5	7	.417	4.27	76	0	68	38	78.0	75	39	37	10	44	85	5	109	1.526	8.7	1.2	5.1	9.8	1.93
2003	27	TOR	13	9	.591	4.29	41	26	12	4	180.1	189	94	86	15	78	159	9	110	1.481	9.4	0.7	3.9	7.9	2.04
2004	28	ANA	11	12	.478	3.93	33	33	0	0	208.1	192	91	91	21	76	191	7	114	1.286	8.3	0.9	3.3	8.3	2.51
2005	29	LAA	3	2	.600	3.02	16	7	2	1	59.2	45	21	20	4	21	63	2	140	1.106	6.8	0.6	3.2	9.5	3.00
2006	30	LAA	11	14	.440	3.61	30	30	0	0	189.1	192	93	76	17	50	147	4	126	1.278	9.1	0.8	2.4	7.0	2.94
2007	31	LAA	18	7	.720	3.40	30	30	0	0	195.2	182	79	74	11	66	160	3	134	1.267	8.4	0.5	3.0	7.4	2.42

2009	33	LAA	0	1	.000	3.60	1	1	0	0	5.0	4	2	2	0	4	5	1	127	1.600	7.2	0.0	7.2	9.0	1.25
12 Seasons			101	91	.526	4.15	411	202	132	59	1507.0	1461	755	695	137	611	1310	47	113	1.375	8.7	0.8	3.6	7.8	2.14
162 Game Avg.			11	10	.526	4.15	46	22	15	7	167	162	84	77	15	68	145	5	113	1.375	8.7	0.8	3.6	7.8	2.14

TOR (7 yrs)			58	55	.513	4.58	301	101	130	58	849.0	846	469	432	84	394	744	30	105	1.461	9.0	0.9	4.2	7.9	1.89
LAA (5 yrs)			43	36	.544	3.60	110	101	2	1	658.0	615	286	263	53	217	566	17	125	1.264	8.4	0.7	3.0	7.7	2.61

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/28/2009.

For his career, he's actually got a better ERA as a starter(4.09 vs. 4.44) than a reliever, but a lot of that relief work was done early in his career. He can throw up to six pitches, but said he scrapped his slider so that takes him down to a 2 and 4-seam fastball, split-fingered fastball, curveball and change-up and that's probably 2-3 more pitches then he needs to be an effective reliever. Obviously the big concern will be how well that shoulder is doing and then what kind of contract he'll be expecting after missing out on two seasons. If he does show to be healthy, at least one other fanbase wouldn't mind getting in on the action.

Any type of serious statistical analysis on Escobar isn't going to have much merit as he hasn't pitched in two years and we don't know what the shoulder injuries may have done to his arm. This signing would be up to the doctors, trainers and scouts and if they feel that something resembling the old Escobar is still out there. Now I realize the Cubs and their fans feel snake-bitten by some of these high risk-high reward type talents the Cubs have employed over the last decade, but with the expected budget crunch, Hendry's gonna have to roll the dice on a few of these spots. If they can get Escobar on a one year incentive-laden deal, maybe with a 2nd year club option - and the doctors give the all clear signal - it could be a decent risk for the Cubs in 2010. He'd probably start the season as a set-up man but definitely has the ability and experience to step into the closer role if/when "Wild Thing" Marmol isn't getting the job done.

Cub Contingent Leads Solar Sox to Victory

Arizona Phil — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:35:22 +0000

Andrew Cashner threw four innings of no run, no hit ball, and Starlin Castro had two hits, drove in a run and scored two more, and made the defensive play of the day, as the Mesa Solar Sox exterminated the Scottsdale Scorpions 12-5 in Arizona Fall League action this afternoon at HoHoKam Park in Mesa.

box score

Pitching on a cool & breezy day with the wind blowing out at 15-20 MPH gusting to 30, the 23-year old Cashner (Cubs #1 draft pick out of TCU in 2008) had no trouble with the Scorpions. He threw just 44 pitches (25 strikes) in his four innings of work, getting ahead of most of the hitters as he mixed a 94-96 MPH fastball with a sharp breaking ball and an occasional change-up. The only glitches were a four-pitch walk to Steve Susdorf (Phillies) leading off the 3rd and a walk to Brandon Allen (Diamondbacks) on a 3-1 pitch with two outs in the 4th. He struck out four (including Phillies top position-player prospect Domonic Brown, swinging), got four outs on ground balls, and another four on fly balls or pop-ups.

Starlin Castro played SS for the Solar Sox and hit 2nd today, and got five plate appearances. He grounded a single sharply through the box into CF off RHP Chaz Roe (Rockies) with one out and nobody on base in the bottom of the 1st inning and later scored on a Josh Vitters RBI single, lined out to right on a hit & run play with a runner on 1st base and no outs in the 2nd off junkballin' RHP Tooru Murata (Tokyo Yomiuri Giants), punched an RBI single to left through a drawn-in infield off RHP Edgar Garcia (Phillies) in the bottom of the 3rd and later scored, struck out swinging on a hard-breakin' slider in the dirt against RHP Andrew Johnston (Rockies) in the 5th, and reached base on an E-4 (short-hopper ricocheted off Scottsdale 2nd baseman Chase D'arnaud's chest).in the 7th.

Castro also turned-in the defensive play of the day, showing off his range and his arm as he made a diving stop behind second base, and then, from his knees, threw out speedy lead-off man Jose Tabata (Pirates). Castro also made a nice turn on a 6-4-3 DP in the 8th. And although Castro was charged with an error on a D'arnaud RBI double in the top of the 5th when his relay throw got past Solar Sox catcher Hank Conger (Angels) allowing D'arnaud to advance from 2nd to 3rd on the play at the plate, the throw really wasn't that bad. Conger just couldn't catch the short-hop.

Josh Vitters (Cubs #1 draft pick in 2007) was the Solar Sox DH and hit 5th. He grounded an RBI single through the box to CF (scoring Castro) off Roe in his first AB in the bottom of the 1st and scored later in the inning, and then he ripped another hit through the box off Murata in the bottom of the second. He flied out to the warning track in CF in the 3rd, bounced into an inning-ending 5-4-3 DP against Johnston in the 5th, and struck out swinging on a 1-2 breaking ball at his shoe top (and looked bad doing it, too) in the 7th against LHP Matt Reynolds (Rockies).

LHP James Russell entered the game in the top of the 8th and pitched a shutout inning (11 pitches - eight strikes). He gave up a lead-off line-drive single to LF to Brandon Crawford (Giants), but then got Buster Posey (Giants) to ground into a 4-6-3 DP (that was the nice turn by Castro) and Susdorf (Phillies) to ground out weakly 3-U to end the inning. Russell had a really good change-up today, and he threw strikes, which is the key for him.

After allowing three runs in his first AFL outing a couple of weeks ago, Russell has thrown five consecutive shutout innings over his last four appearances. The son of one-time MLB closer Jeff Russell, James was the Cubs 14th round selection in the 2007 Rule 4 Draft out of the University of Texas, although he did get "3rd round money" to give up his senior year in college (he was considered to be likely unsignable going into the draft, which is why he fell to the 14th round). He should be a strong candidate for a back-of-the-rotation starter gig at Iowa in 2010.

Bad Contracts, Milton Bradley and Other Cub Related Links

Rob G. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:36:43 +0000

- Nick Steiner takes a look at Milton Bradley using Pitch F/X data and comes away impressed.

The fact that Bradley has such a bad year - and it wasn't even that bad - can be placed solely on a huge drop in ISO from his previously established norms. His plate discipline and contact skills were just as good as they were in 08 and the year before that, and there is no evidence that the drop in ISO is anything "real". Despite the personality problems, teams are apparently lining up to try and steal Bradley away from Jim Hendry because he is still a very good player.

You'll make no friends around here Mr. Steiner with that sort of reasoned analysis.

- Speaking of Bradley, he makes MLBTR's list of bad contracts along with Soriano and Aaron Miles. All the hype to date has been that the Cubs will have to take on one of those (or something similar) to move Bradley.

- Bruce Miles says the Cubs should pass on Gary Matthews Jr. and responds to my inquiry in the comments that there are indeed clubs interested in Bradley.

- Bruce Levine concurs with Chris DeLuca that a payroll around $140M for 2010 should be expected and save up for another ticket price increase. He also says the Cubs are in talks with "Tampa, Toronto and three or four other clubs with players with big contracts that they would like to move."

- Dave Cameron at Fangraphs is thinking about bad contracts as well and suggests a ratings bonanza would follow a GM summit where each team brought one bad contract and threw them into a pile. Then each team picks one from the pile and has to go home with it in what he has dubbed Bad Contract White Elephant.

- This one isn't so much Cub-centric from Geoff Young, but I thought an interesting look at how K/9 rates have increased over time and then contextualizing them for each era.

So, Lincecum had a much higher strikeout rate (by 1.71) in 2009 than Gooden did in 1985. But taking context into account, we see that the entire league had a much higher strikeout rate (by 1.53) in 2009 than in 1985. In today's environment, Gooden's 8.72 K/9 from 1985 would translate to 11.15 (i.e., 8.72/5.50*7.03), which looks more impressive and gives us a more proper appreciation of his accomplishments.

- You can vote for the 2009 This Year in Baseball awards at MLB.com. Carlos Marmol is up for set-up man of the year (I guess), so is Michael Wuertz (whoops). Milton Bradley forgetting how many outs is up in the Oddity category along with Mr. T's 7th Inning Stretch which I don't recall and after watching, I'm not sure what was that odd about it other than another pseudeo-celeb butchering the lyrics. A little surprised not to see Randy Wells in the Rookie category(Casey McGehee is though, another whoops) or Derrek Lee in the hitter category but neither would have won anyway. You'll be shocked to learn Hendry and Lou didn't get nominations either.

- A Q&A with Cubs Minor League Player of the Year Kyler Burke at Inside the Ivy (Subscription required)

Really the biggest thing was confidence; I got my confidence back and tweaked a few things here and there with my swing. I worked a lot on my mental approach and just went out, relaxed and had a good time and stayed consistent throughout the whole year. For me, I think the mental part was huge. There are guys that can play with the talent but you have to figure out for yourself how to take failure and also success. You can’t get too high or too low, and that’s a big thing. It’s nothing you can really do to get there; it just kind of has to happen. For me, I got a lot of confidence back this year and things went smoothly.

Burke also says he tweaked his batting stance a bit at the beginning of the year.

- For all I know, this Cubs minor league blog has been around forever, but it's new to me - Wrigley Bound.

- George Castle had an article earlier this month saying that Geovany Soto is determined to get back in shape and will be teaming up with workout fiend Ryan Dempster to do so...the article and comments also have some good things to say about Koyie Hill. Castle more recently discussed potential Wrigley Field renovations and seems to be in favor of rebuilding the entire grandstand area.

- A blast from the past as Sharapova's Thigh looks at the most undeserving Starting LIneup action figures...four Cubs make the list including the acceptable Jerome Walton, Rick WIlkins and Damon Berryhill. A Luis Salazar action figure though is a head scratcher. Supposedly there's a Marvell Wynne one as well in 1989, but not sure if that's as a Cub or Padre.

- Sam Zell says goodbye.

"I think the team should be owned by somebody who is local, somebody who is really passionate about baseball," Zell said. "I happen to be local. I'm not passionate about baseball, so I wish them all the best of luck. And maybe we'll break the 101-year curse."

- I obviously don't get the print versions of the Chicago newspapers, so apparently the Tribune debuted a new layout recently. One of the reasons is that they've fallen behind the Sun-Times in sports coverage, which is hard for me to fathom. More importantly, Steve Rosenbloom is the grand plan to overtake them?

- This is horrible...cubs.com is having a vote for the best single season by position but only lists the standard set of BA, HR, R, RBI and SB. At the very least you have to include a column for OBP and I sure would have at least liked to have seen OPS or OPS+. They even put Sosa's 1998 up there instead of his 2001 season. I think I'll have to examine that list in a future post with a more discerning eye.

- Cubs convention tickets go on sale on November 4th and the convention will take place January 15-17.

Cubs Potential Offseason Targets: Akinori Iwamura

Rob G. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:39:33 +0000

Let's move back to the infield and check in on another possible second basemen...the Rays Akinori Iwamura.

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2007	28	TBD	123	559	491	82	140	21	10	7	34	12	8	58	114	.285	.359	.411	.770	105
2008	29	TBR	152	707	627	91	172	30	9	6	48	8	6	70	131	.274	.349	.380	.729	92
2009	30	TBR	69	260	231	28	67	16	2	1	22	9	1	24	44	.290	.355	.390	.745	94
3 Seasons			344	1526	1349	201	379	67	21	14	104	29	15	152	289	.281	.354	.393	.747	97

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/27/2009.

Iwamura will be 31 next season and missed most of 2009 with a torn MCL. He's due $4.25M in the final year of his deal with a $250K buyout according to Cot's (the St. Petersburg Times says $4.85M with a $550K buyout). Although he has less than 6 years service time, his contract allows him to be a free agent if his option isn't picked up which is becoming standard fare for the Japanese players signing in the U.S. I have no idea what the Rays plans are at second base, and Iwamura himself would like to stay in Tampa according to that link above. But as a small market team, you have to think the Rays would always be willing to move a contract in the right deal if they have other options and Ben Zobrist made a pretty fine other option last season.

The offensive numbers won't really strike the fear of God in anyone. He has spent most of his time with the Rays as their leadoff man and with a walk rate around 10% per plate appearance while seeing well over 4 pitcher per plate appearances, he seems well suited for that part of the job requirement. His basestealing numbers are rather poor though, being successful less than 65% of the time and a career high of 12.

Defensively, BP has his Rate2 numbers at 96 and below average at second base and 101 for his season at third base in 2007. UZR is a little kinder and the Fan's Scouting Report was really high on him for 2007 and 2008. He also won a bunch of gold gloves in Japan.

I say if the Cubs are chatting with the Rays about Milton Bradley, let's see if they can get Iwamura in a deal instead of Pat Burrell who would have no place to play with the Cubs. Now of course there are other logistics to the whole Bradley/Burrell rumor and I don't even know if the Rays are shopping Iwamura yet or will just buy him out. But if the Cubs did acquire Iwamura, he could challenge Jeff Baker for the starting spot at an affordable price and be a good backup/bench option at third base. It's not Chase Utley but could be another small improvement for the 2010 team.

Ricketts Gets the Keys, Spring Training Update and Other Notes

Rob G. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:02:04 +0000

- The Ricketts family are the new official owners of the Chicago Cubs and will have a press conference on Friday. Maybe they'll bring a new GM with them.

"My family and I are thrilled that this day has finally come and we thank Commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball owners for approving our ownership," said Tom Ricketts. "Now we will go to work building the championship tradition that all Cubs fans so richly deserve.

- It's hard to tell how much is Chris DeLuca taking educated guesses or basing his column off some sources, but he seems to expect much of the same for the next two years with Ricketts in charge. Certainly don't expect a big jump in payroll (he throws out $143M) and Hendry isn't getting a blank check to rid himself of the Bradley mess.

- Speaking of the sale, Paul Sullivan is as bitter as ever.

Tribune era is officially over as Ricketts familly takes control of the Cubs. First order of business: Get rid of Milton Bradley.

- Bruce Miles offers up some free advice for the new boss.

- While Florida keeps moving forward on their bid to try and lure the Cubs spring training home to Naples, Wittenmyer spells out why Arizona will likely keep the Cubs.

But working against any Florida bid is the lengthy spring travel in that state -- especially in a location nearly three hours from the Tampa area -- and a decadelong exodus of teams from Florida that will put 15 of 30 big-league teams in Arizona next spring for the first time.

And considering the Cubs are the jewel of the Cactus League, the state's biggest spring-training revenue producer, filling stadiums across the Phoenix valley and owning almost every league attendance record, Arizona is especially motivated even in a tough economy to invest in the team's future there.

- Kerry Wood confirms the racist letters sent to some Cubs players. Stop making that shit up Milton.

- The Daily Beast says 5 of the top 10 richest baseball players including endorsement deals and so forth are Yankees. Competitive balance at its finest.

- Via Baseball Musings, some fun caricatures of the Yankees.

- Kevin "Tampering" Towers, who I must remind everyone is not the Padres GM anymore, has let it be known that it's just a matter of when the Padres will trade Adrian Gonzalez.

- After missing out on Manny Acta, the Astros have settled on Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills as their new manager.

- I generally scoff at these "this is how to fix the Cubs" articles, because ultimately the writer falls into the trap that there are no limitations and every player in the league is available and they're all dying to play for the Cubs. And while I don't think John Lackey is headed to the Cubs, Hendry's favorite contract toy - the backloaded deal - could possibly net the Cubs one decent free agent this offseason.

- Kevin Goldstein's recent take on Jeff Samardzija:

It's almost remarkable that the Cubs still think Samardzija can be an effective starter in the big leagues. He's made no secret that he wants to return to the rotation, but two late-season starts in the majors were disasters, and now he's merely holding his own in Mexico, allowing 10 runs and 28 baserunners in 18 innings for the Aguilas. Turning 25 in January, with each passing year, it seems that Samardzija will never graduate from thrower to pitcher, and for most, his ceiling ends at middle reliever.

I'm not really gonna argue against Samardzija detractors right now, but that's a leap on the definition of a disaster start. (5 IP, 3 ER versus the Brewers in his last appearance of 2009).

- Baseball Intellect takes a look at J.J. Hardy's swing and if he can bounce back in 2010. I still don't see any reasonable scenario that involves the Brewers willing to trade Hardy to the Cubs and the Cubs looking for a shortstop.

What I Would Ask Mr. Ricketts

Cubnut — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:39:28 +0000

On Friday, the Cubs' new owner will be confronted by more microphones, cameras, and sweaty members of the press than I imagine he has ever been confronted by before. I predict he will say something to the effect of, "I can't give you a definite answer at this point, but that is absolutely something we are going to be looking at," more times than we'll be easily able to count. Nevertheless, after the ridiculously protracted sale process and with so many critical issues facing the team—from the immediate future of the leadership team to the long-term viability of Wrigley Field—I will join many of you in hanging on every word Ricketts has to say. (I've also never heard his voice, so I'm curious.)

Apart from all of the obvious questions Ricketts will face, probably multiple times, here are some questions I would ask if I had press credentials or the ingenuity to sneak in.

– In your wildest dreams, did you ever imagine when you began this process that it would take this long to resolve?

– How hard was it to persuade your family to pursue this purchase?

– Did you always consider yourselves favorites to win the team?

– On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being virtually no involvement with day-to-day decisions and 10 being complete immersion in every detail of the team's operation, how would you characterize your ideal level of involvement with the club?

– During the long period when you were clearly the eventual owner but not yet officially so, did you have any contact or decision-making authority with regard to the operation of the team? If not, were Crane Kenney or Jim Hendry at least able to "keep you in the loop"?

– Though the Ricketts family is prominent in Omaha, by the end of this press conference and the subsequent replays of it, you will not be able to go many places in Chicago without being identified. Did you or your family consider that level of visibility when deciding whether to pursue the team? How do you feel about the possibility of hostile encounters with fans if the team is not doing well?

– How often in recent years have you seen the Cubs play at Wrigley? Where did you sit?

– Dating back to when you first became a Cubs fan, who was/is your favorite player?

That's my list. What would you ask a 44-year-old billionaire-turned-baseball team-owner?