Trade rumors surrounding the Cubs this offseason have been mostly nonexistent. Sure, they’ve signed some free agent pitchers, but we want trades! Unfortunately, this one sounds like it’s not going to happen.

The Phillies, interested in a right-handed batter to hit behind cleanup man Ryan Howard, talked to the Cubs about a swap of Domonic Brown for Alfonso Soriano but may still be slightly more inclined to sign a free agent, such as Cody Ross or perhaps even Josh Hamilton.

Phillies people are said to be split over how hard to try for Soriano, who had 32 home runs, 108 RBI and a .262 batting average with vastly improved outfield defense.

(snip)

The Cubs are believed willing to pay all but $10 million of the $36 million remaining on Soriano’s deal if they can receive good prospects back. The Cubs are all about gathering assets for the future.

With Soriano’s production last season, 2/$10MM seems like a steal, no? Another place that would seem to make sense for the Fonz is Houston, which is heading to the AL and needs a DH.

The Cubs previously shopped Alfonso Soriano to the Astros as a possible DH, but Houston doesn’t have enough money even with Chicago picking up the bulk of what is owed to him, tweets Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.

Really? Houston doesn’t have $5MM a year to pay a DH? It looks like their top salary commitment for 2013 is Jed Lowrie at $1.15MM. How can they not afford Soriano?

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: We Have A Rumor”

The National League scored five runs in the first and had the game pretty much decided at that point. Tony LaRussa, however, saw it fit to leave his starting shortstop in for 7 innings and use his backup first baseman as the third string first baseman. That was while a third baseman wore his glove to become the second first baseman. All that didn’t matter to Bryan LaHair, who had a good time anyway.

“It was awesome because the team came out banging and we had a dugout that was excited from the first inning on,” LaHair said.

The night was highlighted for LaHair when he batted against Fernando Rodney in the ninth inning.

“I tried to ambush his fastball but it didn’t work for me,” LaHair said of his groundout to shortstop. “I put it in play but I did not get enough barrel on it.”

And in true Cub fashion, he swung on the first pitch. In similarly Cub fashion, Starlin swung on the second pitch in his only at bat.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: NL Wins, LaRussa Still A Big Jerk”

There’s still nothing official happening with the Cubs. Julie’s inside source (Todd Ricketts) has been busy playing with all his new Christmas toys, so hasn’t been much of a source. My only source (Phil Rogers’ dog) has only been whispering to Crazy Uncle Phil, so that’s where we’ll start today.

Kyle Drabek, who was seen as the key to the Blue Jays’ Roy Halladay trade with the Phillies, is being dangled to the Cubs in talks for Matt Garza. He had a nightmare 2011 but some scouts believe he can regain his value if he stops trying to learn a cutter.

Oh, great. Just what we need. A once-heralded prospect coming off a bad year. Maybe someone else has just what the doctor ordered?

The Tigers are interested in Garza and have young pitching to trade in Rick Porcello, Jacob Turner and Andy Oliver.

I don’t know anything of Turner or Oliver, but Porcello? He’s only 23, but has three full years in MLB under his belt. His ERA is 4.54, WHIP is 1.38, but the most alarming of his numbers is 4.84 K/9. It was slightly improved in 2011 at 5.14, but is that the kind of young pitcher Theo and company are looking for? I’d guess not. But back to the whispers.

Andre Ethier, who is one year away from free agency, is high on Theo Epstein‘s wish list. He’s the type of guy the Cubs president might look to acquire at midseason in the hope of keeping him around, like the Reds did with their surprising trade for Scott Rolen in 2009.

What would it take to get Ethier? I’m guessing a lot. And he’s probably high on just about every GM’s wish list.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: 2012 Starts With A Whisper”