Jed Hoyer visited CSN Chicago Tuesday for an interview. He talked about the Cubs’ free agent philosophy, pitching and Alfonso Soriano. First up, free agents.

“We talked about all the free agents,” Hoyer said on “Chicago Baseball Hot Stove” on Tuesday. “Where we are as an organization, we want as many draft picks as possible. We want as much money in the draft as possible. So we would have given up a pick, theoretically, for the right player, the right fit.

“And we will going forward. But right now, I think holding onto our picks is something that makes sense and we’re looking to build as much talent in the minor leagues as possible. We need a lot going forward.”

So don’t expect the Cubs to sign any free agents with qualifying offers unless they’re a perfect fit. There are all kinds of aging closers still available on the free agent market (Jose Valverde, Brian Wilson, Francisco Rodriguez), but we don’t have to worry about the Cubs signing any of them.

“We’ll probably go forward with what we have now,” Hoyer said. “Of course, if there’s just a bargain – or a player that we feel like is at an incredible price – we might add him. But at this point, we feel really good. There also is a point at which we’re full on the roster – we’re taking a spot away from somebody. We really do like the way our bullpen and our rotation fit together now.”

That’s a relief.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines:Jed Hoyer Talks Roster”

The Cubs officially announced the signing of the Edwin Jackson contract yesterday, the four year, $52 million deal we’ve heard about already. What we didn’t know was that the Cubs were concurrently pursuing Anibal Sanchez and Edwin Jackson.

The deal was consummated after GM Jed Hoyer and manager Dale Sveum met with the free agent right-hander in Newport Beach, Calif., at the same time that the Cubs were courting free agent Anibal Sanchez. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and Theo Epstein met with Sanchez in Florida. Both Jackson and Sanchez fit what the Cubs were looking for — young, durable pitchers who they could build around. Epstein’s meeting with Sanchez was leaked; Hoyer’s was not.

“It’s hard to sign free agent players in general and we knew we were going to go after both guys,” Hoyer said. “We did a better job hiding our (meeting with Jackson).”

Maybe Theo’s valet is the leak? Either way, Jackson was flattered that Jed and Dale would fly all the way to California just for him.

“I figured if they were taking the time to fly out and talk to me – regardless of what happened – they definitely had a strong interest,” Jackson said. “The only thing I could control was that conversation we were having at the time. That’s all I was worried about.”

And Dale Sveum used his undeniable charm on Edwin’s soon-to-be-wife.

“From what I was told, Dale was Dale,” Jackson said. “He definitely had an influence on my fiancée. She knows a little about baseball, but she’s learning. She was like: ‘I like him, even though he didn’t say much.’ We had a good aura with those guys and it was a pretty good feeling walking out of the room.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines: Welcome, Edwin Jackson”

The Cubs welcomed their newest free agent signing at a press conference at Wrigley Field Friday. Japanese right-handed reliever Kyuji Fujikawa met with the press and told them how easily he was sold on pitching for the Cubs.

He visited Chicago and Wrigley Field a few weeks ago, and was sold on the city and the ballpark then.

“From that day on, in my head, it was ‘Cubs, Cubs, Cubs,’ and that’s how everything came through,” Fujikawa said.

Isn’t he worried that the Cubs already have a closer (for now)?

“[He wanted] a chance to have a meaningful role and do his job,” Theo Epstein said of Fujikawa. “That’s all he said. He said, ‘My job is not closer or set-up guy, my job is to help the team win and do what the manager asks of me’ and that’s the only time it came up in the discussion.”

Did they give him extra money to say that? Also, Fujikawa will wear number 11, and will have to live up to the standards set but such Cub greats as Rey Sanchez, Jeff Kunkel, Luis Salazar, Ivan DeJesus and Blake DeWitt. Why did he choose no. 11?

“I was No. 22 with the Hanshin Tigers,” Fujikawa said, “but to have a better career than No. 22, I went younger with No. 11. I asked for 11 and it was luckily open.”

Okay.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Fujikawa Introduced At Wrigley”

We’re still awaiting official word from Theo and Jed, but everyone is reporting that the Cubs have signed Japanese reliever Kyuji Fujikawa to a two-year contract.

The Japanese closer is on the verge of signing with the Cubs, as multiple reports on Saturday said he’s agreed to a two-year deal worth $9.5 million. Fox Sports reported the deal contains a vesting option for 2015 based on games finished – $5.5 million or $6 million – as well as a $5.5 million club option if it doesn’t vest.

The Cubs declined to comment, but they also didn’t deny that there was a lot of momentum heading in this direction. General manager Jed Hoyer confirmed on Friday that the Cubs had recently met with Fujikawa and came away impressed.

We all know the Japanese League isn’t MLB, but Fujikawa has amassed some impressive numbers in his career.

Fujikawa, 32, played 12 seasons with the Hanshin Tigers, totaling 220 saves, and a 1.77 ERA. Last season, he appeared in 47 2/3 innings and compiled a 1.32 ERA. He was sidelined with an adductor strain and has not thrown 70 innings in a single season since 2007.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Wherein I Learn To Spell Kyuji Fujikawa”

The Cubs announced yesterday that they’ll be signing starting pitcher Scott Feldman to a one-year contract. Feldman was 6-11 with a 5.09 ERA and 1.38 WHIP last season in 29 games (21 starts). When looking at Feldman, the Cubs aren’t looking at those ERA stats, they’re looking at more peripherals, which Jed Hoyer seemed to like.

“I think part of why he agreed to a one-year deal is that he has a lot of confidence in himself and felt like, ‘Hey, I know I can pitch better than I did last year and I can potentially use that as a spring-board,’” Hoyer said. “He showed a lot of confidence in wanting a one-year deal.

“I think last year, if you look inside his numbers, the numbers were not what he probably hoped but they were pretty misleading. If you look at his ratios and different underlying numbers, he’s one of the most unlucky pitchers in the game last year. While it wasn’t his best year, it certainly wasn’t nearly as bad as the ERA on the page says it was.”

With the 40-man roster already full, the Cubs will have to adjust one spot before the Feldman signing is official.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: All Hail Scott Feldman”

There have been various rumors bandied about so far this off-season about free agents, trade possibilities and the like. One such vague trade rumor floating around has been the possibility of Justin Upton coming to the Cubs from the D’Backs. Theo Epstein says don’t get your hopes up about any wild trades.

“[We’ll] try to identify possible trade fits,” team president Theo Epstein said Wednesday. “But I don’t think it’s the type of offseason where we have potential fits with 25 of the 29 other clubs. We’ll pursue everything, but realistically I think our fits might be narrower this year. [We’ll] try to use that as a strength, turn it into an advantage and focus on the free-agent market.

“We’re going to have a pretty well-defined trade market really quickly, because we don’t have unlimited assets to deal. We don’t necessarily have redundancies at positions in the big leagues or at the upper levels.”

Maybe he’s just tempering our hopes so that we’ll be super excited when he pulls off the trade that will bring the Cubs the 2013 World Series crown.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Cool Your Jets On A Blockbuster Trade”

To no one’s surprise, the Cubs lost again last night. They’re now 0-15 against the NL West on the road. Standing at 96 losses with 7 games left and 4 road games yet to play against the Rockies and D’Backs, 100 losses is looking more and more likely. But you know what? Jed Hoyer isn’t too worried about 100 losses.

“People in every walk of life focus on round numbers,” Hoyer said Wednesday at Coors Field. “One hundred losses is a round number. I’m not going to feel any better about a 96-loss season or a 98-loss season or a 100-loss season. In any way, shape or form, we have to get better. I don’t want to lose 100 games either. That’s something people talk about and it’s a round number we clearly want to avoid.

“If we avoid it, it doesn’t mean I’ll feel better about our season. … We have to get better. That’s the focus.”

I love that he and Theo are just so damned reasonable. Jed’s also not ready to stock the 2013 roster with the same guys that currently populate it.

“Every guy who’s come up hasn’t shown we need to reserve a spot for him next season but that’s to be expected,” Hoyer said. “We need to get better next year and having depth at [Triple-A] Iowa is important. A lot of those guys may feel they’re ready but if they start the year at Iowa, that’s probably a positive for our roster.”

With Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster’s contracts coming off the books, we can expect some movement in the free agent market.

“We’re obviously going to be active in the free-agent market. I don’t think there’s any question about that,’’ general manager Jed Hoyer said.

“A big part of our research and a big part of our work is evaluating the guys that are likely to be free agents. Exactly how much money we spend in part will be determined by the market and where it goes. We have some money to spend, and that’s an area we’re going to focus on heavily.’’

Where will we see some of this money spent?

“We certainly have to be aggressive with starting pitching over the course of the winter,’’ said Hoyer, whose payroll commitments for 2013 so far involve only four players and just over $40 million.

I hope Boo Radley, Jason Berken and Chris Rusin have enjoyed their time in the Cubs’ rotation.

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines/Game Thread: Quest For 100 Continues”

The Cubs lost again to the Brewers last night. This time they did manage not to give up 9 runs in the 9th inning, so that’s something. The highlights of the night were Travis Wood’s home run and Darwin Barney tying the National League record with his 113th consecutive game played without an error.

“It was one of those things where when I was younger I always thouht that defense was my weakness so I put a lot of effort into working on it and getting it as solid as I could,” Barney said.

(snip)

“I don’t think it about it as much as last year,” he said. “Last year, making that transition there were a lot of plays that I felt were not as comfortable, primarily turning double plays. But we came in with a plan to fix those things and to work on the plays I had trouble with and secured that up.”

Barney’s mark ties the record for games played in a single season. He still has 10 to go to match Ryne Sandberg’s 123 over the course of two seasons and 29 to go to match Placido Polanco’s 142 for the MLB record.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Darwin Barney Greatest Defensive 2B Of All Time”

Word on the street is that the Cubs and Starlin Castro are closing in on a 7-year, $60 million contract extension.

The contract covers four years of arbitration eligibility and three years of free agency, and includes a $16 million option for 2020. Castro, 22, was projected to qualify for salary arbitration as a “Super Two” player at the end of the year.

When contacted by ESPNdeportesLosAngeles.com, Castro’s agent, Paul Kinzer, said he would not comment on new contract because the sides are still in the process of negotiating.

Castro said that the deal has not been finalized.

“I’m just focused on playing baseball,” said Castro after the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader in Cincinnati. “When it’s done, I’m ready.”

Cubs president Theo Epstein also said the deal had not been finalized when he spoke to reporters on Saturday afternoon.

Jed Hoyer gave us a glimpse into what to expect on deals like this and in the future on Chicago Tribune Live Thursday.

“One of the problems with free agency is that there is an illusion in some ways that you’re acquiring this great talent,” Hoyer said. “Most of the time, players hit free agency when they’re on the back half of their career. Players peak [at] 26, 27, 28 [years of age]. Free agents [are usually] in their 30s. So, you’re spending a lot of money sometimes for declining performance. It doesn’t mean you don’t do it. It doesn’t mean you don’t seek the right guys out.

“(But) we have to build from within and build young players, because the days of going out and signing young free agents is over,” Hoyer said. “Teams lock up their guys. Look at how many long, multiyear deals teams are signing with their pre-arbitration players. You know that you’re going to delve into free agency, but if you have an offseason plan, or a plan of the future dependent upon those names, I think you’re doing things the wrong way.”

It’s so nice to hear things like this.

» Continue reading “Cubs Sunday Headlines/Game Thread: Starlin Gets Extensions”

So am I the only one that feels like the Chicago Cubs  are a mirror image of our AAA Iowa farm system?

I’m sure it comes to no surprise to any of you that our big league team is a developmental team that our Front office has decided to use as a project team at the big level.

With no major acquisitions taking place except for stocking our farm team and I use that term lightly (Iowa). I actually for once am a bit shocked that our Brain Trust has not made a single move to land us any type of free agent player that could make an impact this year and for years to come.

It’s fully understood that we are rebuilding from the ground up but to me it’s seems like Theo/Jed have spent ALL of their time worrying about the future while not worrying about the here and now. We do play in the Major Leagues and put out a big league team everyday to play in front of 30-35 thousand fans.

What happened to the ballsy, surprise making trades that you made in Boston Theo?

When will we see a move that will knock our (Sox) off and leave us utterly confused at the same time? You did it in Boston, did you get scared?

» Continue reading “Cubs Live Game Thread: Feels Like a AAA Kind of Day…”