Browse >
Home / November 2009
It has been reported that the Detroit Tigers may be willing to trade center fielder Curtis Granderson. I just hope the Cubs aren't interested.
Sure, the Cubs need a center fielder, so they can trade Milton Bradley and move Kosuke Fukudome (who, if it weren't for the money owed to him would be gone by now) to right field, where he is at least adequate defensively.
But let's stop right there, Cubs fans. Granderson isn't an everyday player. He is a guy who can't hit lefties and would be overpriced as a platoon player.
Phil Rogers, who seldom has a lucid thought, has ...
Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, Ernie Banks.
The Chicago Cubs have had some of the all-time greats run out onto Wrigley Field.
While they haven't been to the World Series since 1945, there is more than enough talent in the Cubs' history to fill out a dream team twice over. From Rogers Hornsby to Derrek Lee, the Cubs have had incredible depth and production throughout their lineup.
One question remains. Which Chicago Cub had the greatest ever offensive season at his position?
Major League Baseball has been asking fans this question in an effort to choose each team's best ever collection of stars. ...
The Atlanta Braves and starting pitcher Tim Hudson agreed to a three-year, $28 million contract extension on Thursday.
Hudson originally joined the Braves in a trade in December of 2005, and signed a four-year, $47 million extension that would take him from 2006 through this past season.
But Tommy John Surgery derailed the Braves' plans for him to be their ace in 2008 and 2009, so the team had to go shopping last winter. They signed Derek Lowe to a four-year, $60 million contract and traded a handful of nice prospects to the White Sox for Jaview Vazquez to bolster their rotation.
Hudson ...
It's the middle of November, so there's a ton of speculation flying around the web about baseball players moving addresses before the 2010 season.
For teams like the disappointing Chicago Cubs, the final out of the World Series means the beginning of a new hope. But, this winter, that hope needs to be tempered with a strong dose of reality.
There are some writers on Bleacher Report that think names like John Smoltz and Nick Johnson would make sense for the Cubs this winter. Both of those ideas qualify more as stand-up material than baseball rumors; make sure you take those out ...
When Ted Lilly opted for left shoulder surgery on Nov. 3, he may have put his Chicago Cubs in the market for a free agent starter.
One week later, an MLB.com story revealed that John Smoltz, who filed for free agency Nov. 5, hopes to pitch in 2010. For many Cubs fans, the gravity of that revelation should not be overlooked.
Smoltz struggled in a brief stint in the American League last season, but came around under the tutelage of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan after signing with St. Louis in August. He struck out 40, and issued only nine walks ...
It has been reported most of the week that Detroit Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson could be had if the right offer were to cross general manger Dave Dombrowski's desk.
It has also been mentioned that two teams that would be interested in the services of Granderson would be the New York Yankees (of course) and the Chicago Cubs.
It is not surprising that the Yankees would be interested in Granderson because of the turnover in their outfield with the likely departures of Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon, but also because they are the Yankees, and who aren't they interested in bringing ...
Curtis Granderson, the Detroit Tigers center fielder and 2009 All-Star, may be available in trades, according to Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune. If that is true, then Rogers and I agree on a corollary point: the Cubs must have him.
Looking toward 2010, the Cubs have three needs in regard to position players: a center fielder who can offset the defensive struggles of left fielder Alfonso Soriano; a left-handed bat to balance the lineup; and a slugger capable of picking up the slack if Soriano and catcher Geovany Soto fail to rebound from miserable 2009 seasons.
Granderson fits all three prescriptions ...
Nick Johnson is good at baseball.
In 2009, Johnson played 133 games, the first time since 2006 that he had topped the 130 mark. He posted a line of .291/.426/.405, including a ridiculous .279/.477/.413 after a midseason trade from the Washington Nationals to the Florida Marlins.
He walked more times (99) than he struck out (84), the third straight season in which he has done so.
In fact, Johnson has a lucrative and exceptionally valuable pair of abilities: He swings at nothing outside the strike zone (2009 chase rate a bit over 14 percent, or roughly half of the league average), and he makes contact ...
Somewhere in the world, Mark Reynolds is fuming.
The Arizona Diamondbacks slugger missed a spot on the list of Major League players with between two and three years of service time who will qualify for arbitration this off-season by one day.
Instead of Reynolds or Orioles center fielder Adam Jones—both of whom would have made millions after breakout seasons—Cubs second baseman Mike Fontenot will get the privilege of leverage in salary negotiations with his club. He must agree on a figure by mid-December or go before a neutral arbitrator, who would then decide Fontenot's salary.
Fontenot, like fellow second baseman Jeff Baker, stands ...
Sports Satire by Christopher C. Wuensch
Months after a November photo revealed a drastic difference in Sammy Sosa’s now-lighter skin tone, the infamous Chicago Cubs slugger admits attempts to “desaparezca fuera de vista.”
Translation: disappear out of sight.
A frail Sosa was a mere shell of his former 6-foot, 220-pound Earth-thundering self when he sat down recently with reporters. Slammin’ Sammy—he of a sixth-best all-time 609 dingers and a U-Haul full of steroid allegations in tow—confessed to recently taking a herbal supplement grown along the shoreline of the Yaque Del Sur river of his native Dominican Republic.
The ground-root herb cocktail Sosa had been ...
« Previous Page — Next Page »
