Chicago Cubs Baseball Blog » Cubs Transactions

What About Wuertz?

Sweetlou17 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:30:32 +0000

I know what some of you may be thinking.

Or quite possibly none of you.

But why did I? Oh HOW. COULD. I. have not mentioned the departure of the one and only, slider low and away, slider low and away, slider low and away,

Slider low and away

Slider low and away tossing Michael Wuertz. It’s simple.

I forgot.

Wuertz was traded earlier this month to Billy Beane’s A’s for minor league outfielder Richie Robnett and infielder Justin Sellers. Beane, the highly praised general manager of the A’s, seems to be a new favorite target of Hendry’s(along with former Cubs incompetent and current Baltimore GM Andy Mcphail and anyone the from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Seriously, anyone). Mid last season Hendry brokered a deal that brought Rich Harden and reliever Chad Gaudin to the Cubs in exchange for:

RHP Sean Gallagher and his 5.15 era/1.69 whip

IF Eric Patterson and his .192/.284/.246 line which, oddly enough, makes him the better Patterson.

C Josh Donaldson who actually performed quite well at High A. Don’t believe it? Me neither.

and last but not least…

THUNDER MATT MURTON with his boyish charm, ginger mane, and weak ground balls hit up the middle. He was last spotted hanging out with this guy.

You know, the guys we got did alright too( Harden 5-1, 1.77era/.972 whip; Gaudin 6.26era/ 1.4…Okay so he wasn’t all that great but he had some arm problems).

But I’m veering off topic as that was all last season’s news.

Outfielder Robnett finished up last year in AAA where he put up a .236/.307/.351 line. He will be twenty-five this coming season and could either start at AA West Tenn or spend a demoralizing six months riding the bench in AAA behind the aggressively mediocre So Taguchi.

Infielder Sellers will be twenty-three this coming season and spent all of last year at AA, where he projects to start off again after posting a .255/.333/.367.

Look for Wuertz to be floating in the East Bay by sometime midseason.

* all batting stats are .avg/.obp/.slg%

Fuku says Fuk U to Japanese Pitching…Everyone else shows up to work

Sweetlou17 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:00:03 +0000

The Cubs are back!

Once again haunting Ho Ho Kam park in preparation for the 2009 season. Full squad workouts began at their Mesa, Arizona facility on the 20th with only one notable name missing, that being their pirouetting, non-righty hitting, early season mania-inducing only to be disappointed/confused at WHAT EXACTLY IS HE SWINGING AT?! right center fielder Kosuke Fukudome.

But more on him later.

GM Jim Hendry spent the majority of the early off-season dodging rumors(Peavy…Peavy…Peavy) and courting the switch hitting, off-field headline producing Milton Bradley before kicking it into high gear on last day of 2008 by trading Mark Derosa to the Cleveland Indians for three pitching prospects. Trading fan favorite Derosa proved unpopular and left many fans feeling validated in their belief that Hendry is in fact a donut hoarding idiot(why it’s always donuts I don’t understand). He followed that move up by jettisoning:

An idiot(Cedeno to Seattle along with Garret Olsen for former Met disappointment Aaron Heilman)

A malcontent(Jason Marquis and his drain of a salary to Colorado for the Lovely Luis Viscaino, his 5+ era, propensity for drunk driving, and…being a malcontent)

The next Lou Brock?(more likely Corey Patterson Felix Pie and his inabiltiy to hit major league pitching to Baltimore for Heilman bait Garret Olsen and RHP Henry Williamson)

And another idiot(Rich Hill also to Baltimore for a player to be named later determined by his effectiveness…which means that player will most likely be hitting off of a tee and have to be in the house by dark.)

So what have we learned about Hendry this offseason?

*That apparently he considers Baltimore to be his own personal waste dump.

*That he coveted Bradley enough to give him a 3yr/30 million dollar contract(although the third year is dependent upon games played.)

*That Gabor (Paul) Bako must have seen him do something terrible because he is back in camp at the bargain? price of 725K.

*That if you can jump over cars then you can play for the Cubs. No matter how mediocre you truly are.Gathright Jumping Car.

He is projected to cover the quota of bench players being tagged out at second following a walk now that Cedeno is gone.

*He also signed some guys to Minor League deals like So taguchi, Mike Stanton..blah, blah

Im not going to touch on the Kerry Wood subject in this post. But yea, he’s gone too. To Cleveland.

In an effort to shorten what is already proving to be a tedious and long post here is what you have to look forward to in upcoming entries:

*Zambrano needs Lasik–Dempster jealous of His “Sweet Ass Looking” eyepatch.

*Johnson doesn’t think he’s better than Fukudome. His beard reportedly does.

*Short white guy or short white guy, who’s on second?

*The Bullpen/Bench , which is more boring?

*I love Geo Soto(Thats it, no lame joke.)

Spring training play begins Wednesday February 25th at Ho Ho Kam with Jeff ” The Shark” Samardzija starting against the Dodgers.(yea…F those guys), followed on Thursday and Friday by starts from Sean Marshall and Ted F’in Lilly.

Notes:

WBC- Lilly(USA), Fukudome(JAPAN), and Soto(PUERTO RICO) are the only Cubs still committed to play for their country in this years classic.

TV- For a complete listing of Spring training Games on television visit either www.cubs.com or you can link to this post from their message board(kindly provided by one of their posters)– http://www.forums.mlb.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ml-cubs&tid=351492

Fuku- I told you I would get back to him. In exhibition play he has hit a two run triple as well as a grand slam against Nippen league team opponents. In how many at bats I don’t know, but I’m hoping it is two.

Interviews/Batting practice- Here is a link to Spring Training Interviews with Marshall, Fuld, and Cotts provided by mouthpiece sports: http://www.mouthpiecesports.com/blog/tag/Chicago-Cubs/

And here are links to BP from spring training:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW3bRyPq0q4&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn_b5BcH_ww&feature=channel_page

Thats it for my first post of 2009. I’ll be updating regularly with news, rumors, transactions, winning series recaps, losing series excuses and in general lousy humor and shoddy reporting. As I learn how to use this more I am hoping to be able to make it easier to follow links.

Sweetlou

Cubs trade Derosa and Marquis while signing Bradley

NorthsideBum — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:23:06 +0000

Sorry I haven’t been around as much lately. I was very busy over the holidays when the Cubs traded utility player Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians for three pitching prospects. I’m like most Cubs fans out there that do not agree with the trade but not a whole lot we can do when we aren’t Jim Hendry!

Soon after the DeRosa trade, their were reports that Jason Marquis would be traded to the Colorado Rockies for a relief pitcher. Now, it looks like that trade will happen this week so look for Marquis to be moved while the Cubs will pick up part of his salary.

Last but not least, on Monday afternoon the Cubs and Milton Bradley agreed on a three year contract as long as he can pass his physical in Chicago. Bradley will be paid $30 million over the three years as long as he can stay healthy.

Cubs and Dempster agree on new contract

NorthsideBum — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:16:24 +0000

The Chicago Cubs and starting pitcher Ryan Dempster have signed a new four year contract ESPN.Com is reporting. The four year deal will pay Dempster $52 million total including a $4 million dollar signing bonus. The contract will pay Dempster $8 million next year, $12.5 million in 2010 and $13.5 million in 2011. Dempster has a 2012 option for $14 million

It is a decent contract, but I would have preferred for it to be around $45 million total and not so backloaded but I can see why Jim Hendry and management did it this way. They had to break the $50 million mark or you know Dempster would have been very serious about leaving Chicago and signing with another team. By back loading the contact, it also lets the team still actively look at trading for Jake Peavy.

Say what Cubs Fans?

Wood won’t be coming back to the Cubs as they trade for Kevin Gregg

NorthsideBum — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:08:16 +0000

The Chicago Cubs announced on Thursday that they would not be re-signing closer Kerry Wood after he has spend the last ten seasons with the team. General manager Jim Hendry said that Wood deserves the three or four year contract that he is asking for but right now the Cubs just can’t give that to him.

To fill Wood’s role, the Cubs traded for Kevin Gregg on Thursday as well. The Cubs will be sending Jose Ceda to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Gregg. Gregg wasn’t that great last year in the closers role so I hope he a setup mane for Carlos Marmol. Marmol needs to be the closer of this team in my opinion.

What do you think Cubs fans?

The Cubs release Alex Cintron

NorthsideBum — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:56:01 +0000

Alex Cintron has been released by the Chicago Cubs. Cintron was mostly planned to be a backup for Ronny Cedeno or Mike Fontenot if they were ever included in a trade for Brian Roberts.

With Cedeno and Fontenot staying with the Cubs, Cintron really had no value with the team, and will now be looking elsewhere to play in 2008.

Cubs sign Reed Johnson to platoon with Felix Pie

NorthsideBum — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:01:21 +0000

The Chicago Cubs have signed former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Reed Johnson. Johnson was released by the Blue Jays after they figured out they didn’t have much room for Johnson on the roster.

Johnson is expected to playtoon with Felix Pie in center field.

The Cubs trim their spring roster to 50 players

NorthsideBum — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:29:34 +0000

On Friday the Chicago Cubs trimmed their spring roster to 50 players after sending down 7 players. Billy Petrick was sent to Triple A Iowa, while Tyler Colvin was the most notable player that was send to minor league camp.

Colvin isn’t the only player being sent to minor league camp as Esmailin Caridad, Jose Ceda, Geoff Jones, Andres Torres, Bobby Scales, Wellington Castillo, and Josh Donaldson we also sent to minor league camp.

Alex Cintron signs minor league contract with the Cubs

NorthsideBum — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:43:42 +0000

Bruce Levine has reported that the Chicago Cubs have signed Alex Cintron to a minor league contract. Most Cubs fans this morning are asking why Cintron? The Cubs already have quite a few players that can play the middle infield positions.

Is this just an insurance incase Ronny Cedeno, Mike Fontenot, and Ryan Theriot stink it up? I think there is going to be another move after this one, that will involve Cedeno more then likely where he will be headed to the Baltimore Orioles in the Brian Roberts deal. Hmm sure makes things interesting!

Cubs Blog

Michael Wuertz signs one year deal with the Cubs

NorthsideBum — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:23:33 +0000

Relief pitcher Michael Wuertz and the Chicago Cubs have agreed on a one year contract to avoid salary arbitration. Wuertz will make $860,000 so he will receive a little raise but not the $900,000+ he was hoping for.

Wuertz went 2-3 with a 3.48 ERA last year. If he can put away batters instead of throwing a bunch of crap to them when he gets them 0-2 or 1-2 I think he can be very good out of the bullpen. Key is keeping the pitch count down when he does get in there and be under control.

Cubs Blog