Jed Hoyer spoke with the media after the Paul Maholm announcement yesterday. Unsurprisingly, he was asked about Matt Garza.
“As a rule of thumb we aren’t going to comment on trade discussions,” Hoyer said on Tuesday after announcing the signing Maholm. “I would say with this Maholm contract and the fact that we have six starters right now is not a precursor to anything. I’m not going to comment on trade rumors, but it’s important to note that [signing Maholm] isn’t a precursor deal.”
But they have six starters now! That’s one too many!
“I think we are very comfortable with the names we have,” Hoyer said. “You never know what is going to happen over the course of the winter and what is going to be available to us. But what we said was that a huge priority was building [pitching] depth. We feel like we’ve really done that. But the minute you feel you have enough pitching, you don’t. We are happy with the depth we built up over the winter, but it’s a dangerous thing to say you are ever done.”
What he’s telling us is that we’ll hopefully never have to see Casey Coleman again. Jed also announced that Jeff Samardzija will be stretched out in spring training and prepared as a starter. But fear not.
“If you prepare as a starter in spring training, it can help you with your command, and it can also help you with your secondary pitches,” Hoyer said. “But with this depth that we have, he may be a quality bullpen arm for us.”
“We’ve been really open with the media on this negotiation,” general manager Jed Hoyer said during Tuesday’s teleconference announcing the Paul Maholm signing. “It is probably a little different than most. I don’t want to abuse that and be too open about that. But we continue to want Kerry back in Chicago. We’ve offered him a substantial raise and we certainly hope it gets done.”(snip)“We come in with somewhat of a fresh set of eyes,” Hoyer said. “That doesn’t diminish what people have done long before we’re here. We both understand the history of the organization and we understand which players mean a lot to the fans. Kerry is one of them, so that is something we’re aware of. Fresh eyes are one thing, but that doesn’t mean you sort of ignore the rich past that the Cubs have.”
I don’t remember the source, but it was mentioned yesterday that the Cubs are expecting Soriano to start the season in left field.
The “source” would be the pits of our deepest, darkest fears.
Well…that’s one source.
I can’t believe we still have 3 more years on that contract. He’s only been on the team for 5 years. These have been the longest 5 years of my life.
Amen – at least he’s not batting leadoff anymore…
Soriano…
New nickname: “Albatross”
Jed’s own ball & chain, his fly in the ointment. The family member you’d like to get rid of because they spoil everything, but somehow you just can’t.
What to do with him, What to do with him?
Decisions, decisions….
Suggestion to Jed: Make him do lots of wind sprints in spring training and make him steal everytime he gets on base…. with luck he’ll pull a hammy and can be buried away on the DL.
So your solution is to make him even less valuable than he already is?
Value? What value???
The guy is a complete liability in the field, unless he’s on his annual 2-week roll during the season he’s a liability in the order, his contract is a liability in trying to move him AND even if that’s somehow circumvented he can only be moved to an AL team!
So, what value am I missing??
Did I forget to mention that he’s 36 years old (or so they sayyyy) and he’s a liability to a rebuilding team going with youth?
Which is exactly why the Cubs should do everything in their power to ensure his value is as high as possible for every other team in baseball so they can unload him.
Don’t know man….
Somehow I’m picking up on some convoluted logic.
Are you an insurance salesman?
“We even pay if your feelings are hurt, ha-ha!”
?
He does some value in the American League as a DH. I know that’s hard to believe, but he does. If he’s hurt, he has no value at all.
A corpse is worth a few grand to a medical school….
Just a thought.
So we’ve gone from trading him, to getting him hurt, to finally killing him. Geez.
With the CUBS’ luck he’d stay healthy and get thrown out everytime.
I’d make him the “face” of the Cubs, and do every press interview,radio interview,tv interview. I’d send him to every school and educational institution in the Chicagoland area. Anything to keep him off the field…
BLARG.
Could you be more specific please.
No, not really.
Just bored with all the rumors. And predicting being very bored with this team.
This team is making me insane. I really have no serious problems with anything they are trying to do right now. The problem is that I must complain about this team on a constant basis. I feel like I’m dying inside right now. I want Jim Hendry back so he can re-sign Milton Bradley and I can have something to bitch about again.
I don’t have any problems, either. I’m just . . bored. Maybe Cubs Con will change that, but everything going on right now is just to underwhelming.
At least when they were signing Koyie Hill is was entertaining to watch everything freak out.
I hope all the off seasons under the new regime will be more exciting than this one has been…My Royals have done more shopping this year than the Cubs have or will…The waiting is killing me…I did hear a rumor that KC was kicking the tires on Fielder…Have you heard anything?
Kicking the spare tires on Fielder you mean?
Be careful what you wish for….
Way to drum up excitement for CubsCon!!! Woohoo!!!!
In my favorite news story of the day, a guy in Indiana, who was handcuffed in the back of a squad car, stole said squad car (while still handcuffed) and later radioed police to ask them there the handcuffs key and the cigarette lighter was.
Always nice to get news about Dad…
I
HATE
SNOW
I love snow. So excited for tomorrow!
Keep all that snow north please…..We had 2 feet in the Tulsa area last year & that’s enough to last the decade…
I’m a huge proponent of global warming. I think everyone should just go out and leave their car running 24 hours a day. Add all the carbon dioxide we can to the atmosphere. That’s a hell of a lot easier than it is for me to move to warmer climate.
My daughter said Tulsa hasn’t had a flake yet this year. I think she misses it
I might tolerate snow more if there was mass transit through all the corn fields of southern Wisconsin making it easier for me to get to where I need to go.
Tolerate…not love…tolerate.
You really don’t want to live in warmer weather trust me. The state of CA is dusting off the water rationing program again, our some ski areas have shut down 2-3 months early and 2-3 resorts are talking bankruptcy, which means even more layoffs. In the meantime, every grassland fire must be jumped on quickly as we had Santa Ana winds, and will again next week. That means even more $$ for fire resources. And then after the firefighers save their houses, the good poeple of CA will seek to gut their pensions. Throw in skin cancer, and West Nile believe me rain and snoe sound real good……
Warmer weather doesn’t mean necessarily mean California. I would never live in CA. I’m thinking more along the lines of Italy.
Do the trains still run on time in Italy? I know that the food is terrifc there…
I’ll go with you.
You should have your own weather blog.
No. No I shouldn’t.
Kerry Wood just congratulated Paul Maholm, via Twitter, on becoming a Chicago Cub.
Al Yellon is a complete moron.
(And thanks to Tim McGinnis for tricking me into looking ABATT today.)
And rumors are starting to swirl that the Cubs are closing in on an agreement with Wood on a 1 year contract with an option for 2013.
This isn’t TOO predictable….
Just in time to give all the sentimentalists the warm & fuzzys at the Cubs Con Lovefest.
Could someone please explain to me the adoration of former Cub players who did nothing but carry forth the legacy of losing?
Is Larry Biitner still alive? I’m sure he could use a hug if he is.
“Lovable Losers”
Do we need any other explanation?
After saying that Kerry Wood is likely done as a Cub yesterday, David Kaplan is taking credit for getting the two sides to get close to making a deal now.
Kaplan is becoming a serious douche.
I supposed he’s going to take credit for the Cubs keeping Garza a little later today.
link?
Look it up on twitter…I’m at work and don’t want to look it up.
I honestly can’t remember the last time a Chicago media member broke a Cubs story. Everything is coming from the national guys or out of Boston. Hilarious.
My theory behind this right now…
Jed and Theo (and whoever) are being extremely tight lipped about anything right now. As a result, most of the accurate information we are getting is from people in the national media or other markets because they have sources with other teams that may be involved in these deals.
I think that’s the obvious theory, and it’s hilarious. I had a writer tell me a few weeks ago that Paul Sullivan has no sources on the team and that most of the Chicago beat writers had sources from Hendry’s camp. Not sure what they’re going to do now, but I’m enjoying it.
Did you see how snippy Paul Sullivan had gotten with people on Twitter yesterday? He obviously is completely lost right now.
I’m not sure the beat writers have no sources right now, but if they do, their sources are really unreliable. I’m guessing Paul Sullivan’s source is a janitor or something.
I’m enjoying it too.
The sad part is that Carrie Muskat, who had become a great resource over the last few years is pretty much silent. If she does post anything, it’s usually retweeting something Dave Kaplin or Paul Sullivan said.
It’s only a matter of time before Theo tells Crane to shut up, and then Kaplan will be out of the loop, too.
Then Theo will tell Todd Ricketts to shut up, and then you’ll be out of the loop.
Never. Todd takes order from no one.
It shows.
Re: Slackerano…Hope the manager insists on a serious effort to earn his money.Then I can live with this situation.(ithink)
And Spellcheck…Julie,I can’t wait to read your bit if he becomes a starter.
The Bears really really really really need a receiver next year.
Don’t you think Spellcheck would be a little rusty?
not compared to the receivers the Bears have now.
never know,Hurd might be back
yeah…in about 20 years….10 if he behaves himself.
or 18, have to do at least 85% of your time in federal prison. Learn that during internship.
Oh…damn. You’re right. I should have remembered that from the Blago trial.