There’s only one semi-interesting rumor floating around in the ether today, which we’ll get to in a bit. So thankfully, Baseball America went and ranked its top ten prospects for the Cubs. First, Jim Callis gives us a rundown on the big moves in the Cubs organization in 2012.

The Cubs spent the No. 6 overall pick in the draft and $3.9 million in bonus money on center fielder Albert Almora, one of the most polished high school position players in recent memory. To restock an organization seriously bereft of pitching, they spent their next seven choices on arms, starting with Missouri State righthander Pierce Johnson.

A week after the draft, Chicago landed Cuban slugger Jorge Soler with the biggest deal for an amateur in franchise history.

(snip)

At the trade deadline, the Cubs picked up righthander Arodys Vizcaino from the Braves in a deal for reliable veterans Reed Johnson and Paul Maholm.

Lest we forget, the Cubs signed a few international free agent pitchers, too.

 The Cubs spent heavily on three international pitchers, with $1.5 million Dominican righthander Juan Carlos Paniagua generating positive reviews and $6 million Cuban lefthander Gerardo Concepcion getting shelled in low Class A and removed from the 40-man roster in December. They imported Hanshin Tigers closer Kyuji Fujikawa from Japan in December for a two-year deal worth $9.5 million.

Concepcion could end up being the biggest waste of $6 dollars since Lee Majors. Rankings after the jump…

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines: Prospect Rank-A-Palooza”

Shawn Camp’s big ears and winning smile will be back on the Northside in 2013

In 2012, the Cubs needed a rubber-armed veteran to eat up bullpen innings, and Shawn Camp did so adequately. He was the Cubs’ only free agent this year, and we’d already heard that they were likely to re-sign him, and now they have.

The Cubs and reliever Shawn Camp have agreed to a one-year, $1.35 million contract that includes another $200,000 in possible incentives, the team announced Monday. Camp, who was the Cubs’ only free agent, returns to the team after appearing in a career-high 80 relief appearances. He finished tied for the Major League lead in appearances and ranked fifth in the National League with 77 2/3 innings.

I’d be shocked if he makes it through 2013 in one piece, but someone has to go out there and pitch in middle relief. It might as well be Shawn Camp. Shawn Camp is not the only free agent reliever the Cubs have in their sights. Right-handed Kyuki Fujikawa from Japan is said to be sparking the interest of the Cubs and other teams.

Fujikawa, considered among the top closers in Nippon Pro Baseball over the last decade, toured the facilities of Arizona and the Chicago Cubs in the last week. He is expected to also visit with the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers, both of whom have expressed interest.

(snip)

Fukijawa, 32, was 2-2 with 24 saves and a 1.32 ERA in 47 2/3 innings this season with Hanshin of the Japan Central League. Fujikawa is considered a power pitcher with a mid-90s mph fastball. He has averaged 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings in his career.

If he’s touring facilities, the Cubs are probably at the bottom of his list. And I can’t see the Cubs offering more than the Dodgers or Angels for a 32-year-old Japanese reliever.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Welcome Back Shawn Camp”

The questions in the most recent Cubs.com mailbag aren’t too horrible, but it often makes you wonder what the ones that Carrie Muskat doesn’t use are like. That might make a good post some day that I’m feeling creative. For now, we’ll settle on looking at what’s on the mind of Cubs fans. First things first, everyone’s still worried about Javier Baez and Starlin Castro playing the same postition, even though Baez hasn’t yet played above single A.

With Starlin Castro finally showing major improvements to his defense at shortstop, is moving Javier Baez, who has eight errors in 13 games in the Arizona Fall League, really a viable option there?
– Kevin A., LaCrosse, Wis.

Yes. Baez is a very good shortstop, and some of the scouts I talked to think he’s better than Castro. Baez is playing third for the first time in the AFL. Not to make excuses, but the infields aren’t the best. For the record, Baez has nine errors in 11 games through Wednesday (four at third base, five at shortstop). Let’s see how this plays out.

Carrie is toeing the company line, preaching patience. But I think I’d rather play the “wait and see” than to obsess over who is going to wind up at shortstop at some unknown date in the future.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: More Mailbag Mania”

The baseball playoffs are a wonderful time of year. Wonderful, unless you’re a blog contributor trying to find news about a team that is never in the playoffs. Luckily for us, there are still people asking stupid questions over at Cubs.com. Our first contestant today is Jeremy from Atlanta:

What is the Cubs’ plan for Bryan LaHair? I’ve never seen a team bench an All-Star like they did. I know he struggles against lefties but in a season that was about training new players, how come he didn’t get any at-bats against lefties for practice? He couldn’t have done any worse than Brett Jackson or Josh Vitters did. LaHair did carry the offense in the first half of the season and he can hit right-handed pitching with power. If he could bat .260 against lefties and over .300 against right-handers, he would be a valuable starter. Why aren’t the Cubs working more with him?
– Jeremy M., Atlanta

Do these people understand the wealth of information on the internet? If Bryan LaHair could hit .260 against lefties and .300 against right-handers, he’d be great. But, as Carrie Muskat pointed out in her reply, he hit .063 against lefties (3-48). He hit .291 against right-handed pitchers, but his overall OPS was .784. LaHair also turns 30 in November, while Jackson is 24 and Vitters 23. Any idea why the Cubs might want to use more playing time to develop the two of them over LaHair? Plus, Jackson is way hotter.

» Continue reading “Monday Fun: Cubs.com Mailbag Extravaganza”

The Cubs lost again yesterday, and have one chance left to avoid an embarrassing 4-game sweep at the hands of the Brewers.  David DeJesus must be wondering why in the hell he signed that two-year contract with this team, but he’s soldiering on. He wants to show the young guys how to be professionals on a losing team. And he has plenty of experience having been a Royal and an A.

“It’s showing guys the professional side of it,” DeJesus said. “I’ve been through a lot of losing in my career so I understand it’s tough and it’s not something you want to be a part of. I understand that tomorrow’s another game, and tomorrow you have to show up and be mentally ready and physically ready to perform.”

(snip)

“It’s not fun coming to the park every day,” DeJesus said of teams in losing seasons. “You have a little more chance to lose than not. You have to understand this is a game of professionals. We’re men, we have to do a job, and we have to put our best foot forward.”

He’s right about the greater chance of losing. The Cubs are now 31 games under .500 and have gone 6-22 in their last 28 games. The Cubs should probably do their best to win today, as a weekend series with the Giants awaits. And the pitching matchups don’t look favorable.

Friday: RHP Chris Volstad (1-9, 6.28) vs. LHP Madison Bumgarner (14-8, 2.93)

Saturday: RHP Justin Germano (2-4, 5.91) vs. RHP Tim Lincecum (7-14, 5.30)

Sunday: LHP Travis Wood (4-11, 4.71) vs. RHP Matt Cain (13-5, 2.82)

Ugh.

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines/Game Thread: Brewers @ Cubs, 1:20 Central”

Facing a sweep at the hands of the White Sox, the Cubs entered Sunday with their backs to the wall. They didn’t move, and got beat 6-0. Dale Sveum, any words of wisdom?

“You know Peavy is going to be tough,” said Cubs manager Dale Sveum, “he’s one the best pitchers in the league. But with the wind the way it was blowing, you thought [we'd] have some contact … get a solo home run or something.”

Great. Now Dale sounds depressed. He was just hoping for a solo home run. At least we’re getting some honesty from him.

“We’re at about a week stretch of no wins and obviously getting swept by the White Sox at home is about as low as you’re going to get through a seven-day stretch,” Sveum said. “You hope the fans understand and stay patient the rest of the year.”

Carrie Muskat, do you have any historical context for this depressing homestand?

 The Cubs went 0-for-the homestand. The last time that happened for at least five games was June 13-18, 2006, when they went 0-6 against the Astros and Tigers.

2006. Why does that sound familiar? Oh yeah, they were 66-96 that year. It’s going to be a long, brutal season.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Swept Away”

Randy Wells had a bit of a struggle last night, leaving the game in the fourth inning after allowing four runs. Among those who scored was Joe Blanton, who Randy walked on four pitches. How do you feel about walking the opposing pitcher, Randy?

“Obviously the walk to the pitcher is unacceptable and it makes me want to throw up,” Wells said. “I made a pretty decent pitch to Rollins and he just kept it fair. But that has nothing to do with it. It was downhill before that even happened.”

Dale Sveum, how did that inning make you feel?

“It was too bad because he was pitching pretty well and he just couldn’t even find the strike zone,” manager Dale Sveum said. “Things were looking good going into that inning and the lineup was set to just run right through it and he couldn’t even get through the pitcher without walking him.”

So you feel sad and angry? Us, too. Back to you, Randy. What exactly happened?

“It’s mindboggling to me,” Wells said. “I can watch the tape and see but it’s obviously a mechanical thing. Runners get on and the tension gets high and you kind of rush and speed up and I’m just burying [pitches in the dirt] that aren’t even close. You have to make pitches when your back is against the wall and I didn’t do it tonight.”

(snip)

“I had a pretty good changeup going,” he said. “The gameplan was working. I just got away from it and lost command of the changeup. I threw way too many, back to back. I brought the hitters back into the count and didn’t make the pitches when I had to.”

Oh, Randy.

» Continue reading “Sunday Headlines & Game Thread: Cubs @ Phils, 12:35 Central”

All of Major League baseball is seeing a dip in run scoring. The average runs per game per team are 4. The average runs per game for the Cubs are 3.4. Dale Sveum, what gives?

“There is much more velocity than we have seen in the past,” Sveum said. “People are turning guys like (Lance) Lynn into starters like we did with (Jeff) Samardzija, so there is more velocity with starters, and coming out of the bullpen, you see a lot more velocity than you did 5 or 10 years ago. That makes hitting a lot more difficult.”

One person who hasn’t had any trouble hitting is Bryan LaHair.  He hit his fourth home run yesterday for the Cubs’ only run.

“It’s nice because coming in he was one guy we needed to hit home runs,” manager Dale Sveum said. “It’s been nice each time because basically besides today his other home runs were big home runs that either put a game out of hand or got us back in it. It’s nice because we definitely need those two corner guys to drive the ball out of the ballpark.”

Speaking of two corner guys, Ian Stewart hasn’t been hitting.

“He swung the bat good that one day when he hit the ball hard four times and I think sometimes when you don’t get results, guys start pressing a little bit and swinging out of the zone,” Sveum said. “But we’ll get him going. He has too much bat speed. The good thing is, for the most part, he’s getting good pitches to hit. We just have to get things going swinging the bats.”

He swung the bat good that one day.

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines: Sveum Explains Offensive Woes”

As you probably know by now, Chris Carpenter was sent to the Red Sox yesterday, ending our long national Theo compensation nightmare.

‘‘I think both sides are happy it’s behind us,’’ Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said. ‘‘Now we can just move forward with the spring without worrying about the compensation.’’

Except the problem of it not really being over.

 The deal also includes an additional player to be named later from each club.

Is this a scenario where these guys just can’t quit each other? They need to have a reason to talk on the phone. Now that we can move on from CompensationWatch2012, we can see what exciting things Dale Sveum is doing with the team. Like a bunting contest.

“It’s fun and the guys really get into it,” manager Dale Sveum said. “It just makes them focus a little more and it’s kind of a, ‘I don’t want to lose to my teammate [situation].’ They bear down a lot more and work on their mechanics leading up to the tournament.”

I’m glad Aramis Ramirez isn’t around for this.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Compensation, Bunting And More!”

These terra cotta soldiers might win more games than the Cubs this year, but either way, PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT TODAY. If that’s not reason for celebration, I don’t know what is. Matt Garza is excited for Spring Training, as he was already in camp yesterday, and talked to Carrie Muskat.

“I learned a lot from the second half and I remember what that feeling is like and I want to get out here and duplicate it,” Garza said. “Right now, my body is better than when I’ve come in before. I’m in better shape, things are stronger. It’s just been a great offseason.”

So, Matt, you avoided going to arbitration with the team, is there a contract extension in the works?

“I don’t talk about that,” Garza said. “That’s between my agent and myself, and my agent and the front office. If they want to contact us, whatever way it works, is great. My main focus is getting ready for April 5 and having fun again.”

I hope there will be oodles more information to report from Spring Training tomorrow, but for now, it’s back to SolerWatch2012. Someone at CSN Philadelphia heard from an MLB executive that he thinks Theo will want to make a big splash by signing Soler.

The Phils, and other teams, are waiting for Soler to be declared a free agent so they can officially hear what his price is. It wouldn’t be wise for a club to pull out of the running before it even hears the player’s price. The Yankees, Cubs, White Sox, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Marlins are also interested in Soler. One baseball executive predicted that new Cubs general manager Theo Epstein would look to make a big splash and land Soler. Stay tuned.

Will this be another Carl Crawford moment for Theo? Does Jed Hoyer get upset that we always mention Theo but rarely him?

» Continue reading “Cubs Saturday Headlines: Reporting For Duty”