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Home / December 2011
The 2011-12 offseason's free-agent list made roars over the top-end talent sure to make headlines when they signed.Two of the best first basemen in the game, Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, were both on the market at the same time.Jose Reyes and Aramis Ramirez also presented huge upgrade potential in the infield, and both switched teams while staying in the same division.Carlos Beltran and Grady Sizemore were easily the top outfielders, both signing short-term deals to play in the Midwest.On the pitching side of things, there were a handful of mighty closers to be had. Jonathan Papelbon, Ryan Madson and ...
Right now, the Chicago Cubs are a wreck of a team.Yes, they have some nice pieces in Starlin Castro and Matt Garza; but they also have a lot of veterans who simply won't stick around long enough to help the team when the time is right for contention. Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster come off the books after this year (a combined $32 million commitment for 2012), and their starts every fifth day will need to be replaced.As of right now, it appears the Cubs' rotation will consist of some combination of Garza, Zambrano, Dempster, Randy Wells, Andrew Cashner, Travis ...
The Cubs received two good prospects in the Sean Marshall/Travis Wood deal. Here is a closer look at what these two players can bring to the Cubs. Dave Sappelt:Sappelt is a very good contact hitter. In 2010, he was both the Reds' Minor League Hitter of the Year and the Southern League's Most Valuable Player. He batted .361 with an on-base percentage of .416 in the Southern League that year. That performance was not a fluke either; his 2011 numbers are also good: Sappelt hit .313 with an on-base percentage of .377. Sappelt also brings speed and defense ...
When Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts was searching for a man to take over total control of baseball operations, he envisioned someone who could formulate a long-term plan for success, not someone with a "win now" mentality.Sure, 103 years is certainly a long time between championships, and no doubt that Ricketts wants a winner now; however, he also wants his Cubs to be in a position to contend year after year. He had to look no further than former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein.Epstein has promised a new way of doing things in Chicago, and most recently, that new way ...
Barring a sudden change in organizational philosophy, it sounds like Chicago Cubs fans won't be getting Prince Fielder for Christmas this year.According to David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com, the Cubs are not planning on presenting Fielder with a "major offer." No doubt the Cubs have the finances to make a deal with the free agent first baseman, but Kaplan says they have other plans.What kind of plans, you ask?How about tearing this team apart and rebuilding it from the ground up. "After speaking with several baseball sources over the past few days I am hearing that a complete and total rebuild of ...
Divisional trade stigma be damned.The Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds agreed Wednesday to a trade that will send left-handed setup man extraordinaire Sean Marchall to the Reds, in return for left-handed starting pitcher Travis Wood. The Cubs will also receive two minor-league players in the deal.Too often, front offices get bogged down in a fully illusory aversion to intradivisional trades. Usually it applies chiefly to elite players who come on the block, but even in this case, there were those who questioned the wisdom of the Cubs' dealing Marshall to a divisional rival."You can argue the Cubs shouldn't be trading ...
Carlos Zambrano and Alfonso Soriano are still on the team.Aramis Ramirez took his .306, 26 HR, 93 RBI production to the division rival Milwaukee Brewers.Sean Marshall was traded to a different division rival, the Cincinnati Reds.And Chicago's ace, Matt Garza, is rumored to a different club every few days, because apparently good pitching is a position of strength on the North Side (rolls eyes). Carlos Peña and his team-leading 28 dingers are gone, along with his positive clubhouse presence, leaving fans to ask in all seriousness: Who's on first?David DeJesus, the Cubs new right fielder, hit .240 with 10 home runs last season. Yep, new ...
According to sources, the Cubs have agreed to trade left-handed reliever Sean Marshall to the Cincinnati Reds for left-handed starter Travis Wood and two prospects.On the surface, without knowing the names of the prospects, the trade seems like a fair swap. Anytime a club can get a starting pitcher for a relief pitcher, it's usually a good move.But Marshall is a better reliever than Wood is a starter, at least thus far in their respective careers. So the key will be the prospects included in the deal.The Cubs need starting pitching, like most teams, and they didn't have a legitimate southpaw ...
As has been reported by Phil Rogers of ESPNChicago.com, the Cubs and Reds are quite far down the road in working out a trade that would send lefty setup man Sean Marshall to Cincinnati for fellow lefty Travis Wood and a prospect or two.At first, I was opposed to the deal, simply because I was blinded by a strong personal bias towards Sean Marshall. With the exception of his rocky rookie campaign as a 23-year-old, Marshall always performed well as a middle-to-back of the rotation starter and exceptionally once he made the full-time conversion to short relief in 2010. Marshall's ...
With Albert Pujols off the market, Prince Fielder is the biggest name remaining on the free-agent market. There have been several teams rumored to be in pursuit of the power-hitting first baseman, but there is only a few places in the league where he will really fit. In my opinion, there is one team in the MLB that really needs to pursue Prince Fielder. I believe Fielder belongs in a Cubs uniform.The Chicago Cubs are one of the most historically significant teams in the Major Leagues. However, they have struggled to maintain relevance the past couple of years. Prince Fielder is exactly the ...
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