It’s kind of depressing that the biggest news in the Cubsophere right now is what the Cubs should do with Ian Stewart. But there it is:
Whether to tender third baseman Ian Stewart a contract for 2013 could be one of the more significant moves of the Cubs’ offseason.
Having already signed free-agent starters Scott Baker and Scott Feldman, the only question marks remaining are at third base and in the outfield.
As Friday’s 11 p.m. deadline looms, the 27-year-old Stewart is the Cubs’ only arbitration-eligible player whose immediate future is in doubt. If they don’t tender him a contract by the deadline, he becomes a free agent. Matt Garza and the three first-time eligible players — Jeff Samardzija, James Russell and Luis Valbuena — all will be offered arbitration. Samardzija may even get an extension.
Two others, Manny Corpas and Chris Volstad, were dumped before the Cubs had to make a call on tendering a contract.
President Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer repeatedly have said they’re monitoring Stewart’s progress from left wrist surgery in July before making a decision. Stewart’s last game was June 12, and he chose to rehab away from the team.
He also chose to get into various Twitter wars with fans to be kind of a general ass. Cut him loose.
The Cubs are apparently a finalist for some Japanese pitcher:
The Chicago Cubs may be moving closer to a signing that will boost their bullpen.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the Cubs and Los Angeles Angels appear to be finalists for Japanese closer Kyuji Fujikawa, with the Arizona Diamondbacks also in the picture.
And then there’s this, which popped up in my Facebook newsfeed and sent me running for . . . well, it just sent me running.
What? No.
I know what the reporter meant, but calling third base and the OF “the only question marks remaining” doesn’t seem quite right to me.
Because the rest of the team is full of all-stars!
if by all-stars you mean AAA all-stars, you are correct.
Nothing about our new 25 year old director of baseball operations?
What do you want me to say about him. He’s 25 and has a job with the Cubs, therefore, most of us hate him and are fearing middle age.
I decided I need to write a will.
I like the comment in the Daily Herald:
“…And the new director of baseball operations for the Cubs is 25 years old. Let that marinate a while”.
to be fair, Theo Epstein was 28 when he became GM in Boston
Even though that’s 3 years…it seems like a lot more.
From what I’ve gathered, that title makes the job sound 1,000,000x more important than it is.
Yeah…typically, director of baseball operations is one of the top positions in an organization…but since Theo is president of baseball operations, I think this kid is really nothing more than Theo’s errand boy.
That being said, I still wish I had that job when I was 25.
November seems to be taking forever to end.
Agree-this month sucked…
The first problem with the Spellcheck photo is that the bow should be in his flowing hair,but the main problem with the photo is that Spellcheck is there in the first place…
Also that photo looks disturbing like a photo for Medival Times that was in the LA paper a few days ago,minus the Cubs cap…
My wife had been not give me Samardzija for Christmas.
why not, you can hang out and watch Notre Dame in January
Notre Dame sucked when he was on the team…I blame him.
But it’s the
“JULIE IT’S ME!!!” look that is what makes the picture.
Now we know what we all need to pitch in on to gve to julie for our gift of appreciation.
A lump of coal?
But if we give her Spellcheck, AJ’s feelings will be hurt….
The lump of coal’s feelings will be hurt as well.
No kids for the whole weekend.
Good news or bad news?
It’s hard to say.
I’m going to have to deal with a very sad wife when I get home…bad.
It will be very quiet in the house…good.
My wife is going to want to do stuff…bad.
I really get my first chance to watch stuff on our nice new TV…good.
I have no one to read “Goodnight Moon” to…bad.
I have a chance to get caught up on some of my reading…good.
The dogs will be whining all weekend because there are no kids to play with…bad.
No kids coming into our room at 6am during the weekend when I want to sleep in…good.
Will probably oversleep this weekend…bad.
Finally will be able to go and test drive some new cars with my wife this weekend…good.
No kids to go get me a beer out of the fridge while I’m watching the football games…bad.
No kids asking if they can have a sip of my beer while I’m watching the football games…good.
I have no one to make me a fake eggs and bacon breakfast…bad.
My wife and I can go to a restaurant without having to apologize to the staff for the mess our kids made…good.
It seems like it is kind of a wash.
One plus is you can start looking for Christmas gifts for the kids, without them being around. And then you can hide them,if you buy any..
That’s done…my wife takes care of getting the kids christmas give back in july I think…you know…when everything is twice as expensive.
Not all the ‘stuff’ your wife will want to do can be bad.
I hope
The Ian Stewart non-tender watch that is going on right now is kinda stupid. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was the return for Tyler Colvin, no one would probably even care.
Ian Stewart is a nothing. Even if they tender him a contract, he’ll probably be DFAd at some point this season.
And now the Cubs are talking to Michael Bourn. I kind of don’t get it. Are they going for it more than they let on?
I don’t think the Cubs are talking Michael Bourn…I think there are people who are hoping the Cubs are talking to Michael Bourn. Reading the quotes…it seamed to me that Jed was kind of avoiding answering the question.
One thing I’ve learned in the 13 months that Jed and Theo have run this team is that only rumors you should believe are the ones that contain the names of D-list free agents.
Stewart, Putnam and Chapman have been non-tendered.
Chapman was part of the Reedz and Maholm trade.
Nothing too surprising here.
Apparently i am a bad person;instead of going to my brothers house,I am at the mall. I am allergic to most of the food he serves,and when I go there I get stomach flu,flu,or a cold…
What does all that have to do with being a bad person, which I’m not doubting.
The Cubbies now have a closer.
I’m thinking the over/under on Mamol-days-left-as-a-Cub is 18
I don’t see this guy as much more than a setup man in the big leagues.
His numbers are pretty similar to Kaz Sasaki’s in Japan, so he could be a decent closer.
Doc would be better than Marmol.
Not at my age.
So I guess Dave Kaplan has said that Mark DeRosa is being considered to replace Bob Brenly.
LIKE.
I think I like this as well…but I’m sure it’s not for all the same reasons as Julie.