There was some intriguing news that came out of this weekend’s Cubs Convention, most notably the proposed $300 million renovation the Cubs have planned for Wrigley Field. If you’d like to see some images of the proposal, click here. The team changed course and announced that they’ll no longer be seeking any public funding of the renovations.

On these conditions: The city lift restrictions on game-day use of Sheffield Avenue, game times for certain days and large-scale signage behind the outfield.

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But the shift away from an attempted money grab from a financially strapped city has given Cubs officials renewed optimism that they might get cooperation from City Hall in time to start work on the five-year project this fall.

That requires getting permit and zoning approval for some of those projects this spring, explaining the full-court press the team applied Saturday.

‘‘One of the ways we look at it is treat us as a private institution,’’ chairman Tom Ricketts said. ‘‘Let us go about doing our business, and then we’ll take care of ourselves.

We all lament the tedium that is most of the offseason. There is little-to-no news most days, and the speculation that does exist is oftentimes laughable. I mean, we’ve resorted to making fun of the Cubs.com mailbag a few times. Today’s news isn’t very exciting, but it means that Spring Training is just around the corner. The Cubs announced several non-roster invitees to big league camp this spring. You won’t be impressed.

The Cubs announced some of their non-roster invitees, including Brian Bogusevic, Brent Lillibridge and Darnell McDonald. The players received an invite to the big league Spring Training camp. The list includes Bogusevic, 28, an Oak Lawn native, who attended De La Salle Institute in Chicago. A left-handed hitter, he batted .203 with seven home runs, nine doubles and 28 RBIs in 146 games last season with the Astros.

McDonald, 34, is a former first-round pick, who has played for the Orioles, Twins, Reds, Red Sox and Yankees since 2004. A right-handed hitter, he batted .205 combined for the Red Sox and Yankees last season. Another outfielder invited include Johermyn Chavez, 23, who has not played above the Double-A level. He batted .232 in 75 games with the Mariners’ Jackson team last season.

Lillibridge, 29, has played for the Braves, White Sox, Red Sox and Indians, and posted a .213 average over five seasons.

Who else is getting excited? But wait, there’s more!

The Cubs also invited infielder Alberto Gonzalez, 29, who has played for the Yankees, Nationals, Padres and Rangers. Last season, he batted .241 in 24 games with Texas.

Edwin Maysonet, 31, who batted .250 in 30 games with the Brewers last season, also received an invite, as did first baseman/outfielder Brad Nelson, 30, who has not played in the big leagues since 2009 with the Brewers.

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Catcher J.C. Boscan, 33, who has spent 16 seasons in the Minor Leagues, also will be in Mesa. Last season, he batted .189 for the Braves’ Triple-A Gwinnett team.

Who wants to know what pitchers will be there? You’ll find out after the jump…

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Spring Training Invites Abound”

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.

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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”

Have you heard the word “replacement” enough today? Well guess what? The Cubs are following in the footsteps of the NFL and are fielding our grasshoppers today.

Yay! Third baseman Josh Vitters is back in the lineup Tuesday as the Cubbies open the final stretch of their schedule with nine games against non contenders.

Vitters, Dave Sappelt, Joe Mather and Chris Rusin are all scheduled to play in the opener of a three-game series in Denver against the Colorado Rockies.

Vitters is batting just .167 this month and .114 in 88 at-bats since he arrived in the big leagues.

I’m impressed mehhh.

The Cubs and Rockies began the series with identical 59-94 records. The only team with a worse record in baseball is the Houston Astros at 50-104.

If we win with the kids our chances of receiving the #2 pick in next years draft decrease and our chances of losing less then 100 games also decrease.

Whats more important? The wins, the draft, the integrity, the fans???

Well whateves…….

The Replacement lineup against the Rockies:

1. Sappelt, RF
2. Darwin Barney, 2B
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Alfonso Soriano, LF
5. Starlin Castro, SS
6. Welington Castillo, C
7. Vitters, 3B
8. Mather, CF
9. Chris Rusin, P

So now our job is to rain on Dusty’s parade.

The Cubs and the Reds both have a “Majic” number and it just so happens that its the same number.

5 that’s right folks 5 is the number of games that we need to win in order to not lose 100 games for the third time in team history. And 5 is the number of games the Reds need to win to clinch the pennant and secure home field advantage.

Before Monday’s rain-delayed game against the Pirates, Cubs manager Dale Sveum reiterated the Cubs’ dogged pursuit of 99 or fewer losses.

“The goal for these guys — they started talking about it a couple weeks ago — is about not losing 100 games,” he said. “It’s their motivating factor, as well as (for) all of us bcause nobody wants to be associated with that.”

And here is what he had to say about the Reds clinching at Wrigley Field.

“Word gets out and (players) start knowing,” Sveum said. “Nobody wants anybody to clinch on your turf, that’s for sure. It’s inevitable they will end up clinching. You just don’t want them to do it at your place.”

And tonight’s Lineup:

Cubs

DeJesus, D, RF
Valbuena, L, 3B
Rizzo, A, 1B
Soriano, A, LF
Castro, S, SS
Clevenger, S, C
Jackson, B, CF
Barney, D, 2B
Germano, J, P

• Tuesday 9/18, 8:05 PM ET at Wrigley Field
• Radio: CIN: WLW 700 CHC: WGN 720, WRTO 1200
• TV: CIN: FS-O CHC: CSN

GO CUBS GO!!!

Yes once again Chris Volstad (Voltron) is back on the mound again tonight. If Chris can play like Voltron instead of like Volstad we might be able to pick up yet another win in this dismal season.

Volstad (2-10, 6.23 ERA) will try to help the Cubs snap that skid while bouncing back from his first loss in three games. The right-hander gave up five runs and nine hits over five innings in a 9-1 defeat in Washington on Wednesday after recording back-to-back wins for the first time since June 25-30, 2011.

The Cubs (54-86), meanwhile, swept a three-game series in Pittsburgh with Alfonso Soriano hitting the go-ahead homer during a 4-2 victory Sunday. The two-run shot was his fifth in 10 games.

So once again our boys will try once again to win 4 games in a row against the worst team in baseball.

The lineup for today:

Chicago

1.    J. Mather, CF

2.    D. Barney, 2B

3.    A. Rizzo, 1B

4.    A. Soriano, LF

5.    S. Castro, SS

6.    W. Castillo, C

7.    J. Vitters, 3B

8.    D. Sappelt, RF

9.    C. Volstad, P

GO CUBS GO!!!

So the boys are at it again tonight with a team that refuses to not give pity to our baby boys. I for one care not to see another 6 home run ball game. But like all of you good soldiers  I will sit around and watch us get destroyed by a team with a solid game plan and a farm system in place.

I know that Theo/Jed are taking notes on what the Nationals have been doing and how they have become dominant in the NL.

Yet our kids in blue will continue to try to not not break records by having a 100 loss season.
Coming off its second straight six-homer game, NL East-leading Washington looks to continue to pound Chicago’s pitching and sweep its first four-game series from the Cubs in 15 years  tonight.

“This is by far the best team we’ve played all year,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. “It’s like an American League lineup, too. Guys that hit the ball a long way.”Next up against Washington’s potent lineup is Justin Germano (2-5, 6.30 ERA), who has done a decent job of keeping the ball in the park but has  still been getting knocked around plenty in losing his last three starts.

So with that being said and our miserable season slowly coming to a close I leave you with tonight’s lineup:

D. DeJesus, RF
L. Valbuena, 3B
A. Rizzo, 1B
A. Soriano, LF
S. Castro, SS
S. Clevenger, C
B. Jackson, CF
D. Barney, 2B
J. Germano, P

Game time:

6:05 PM CST, September 6, 2012

Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.

And once again GO CUBS GO!!!!

What’s there to talk about?

Well not much.

Instead of talking about breaking records for best batting averages, most home runs, ERA etc. The only record were talking about breaking is the 100 losses record. The team does seem adamant about  spoiling it for division rivals and will be putting the best lineup on the field (which isn’t much) for those games. We will see the likes of speedsters Tony Campana and Dave Sappelt in the lineup a lot this September. You will also see the likes of newcomer Miguel Socolovich and also recalled Chris Rusin who is on the mound tonight.

Veteran right-hander Edwin Jackson (8-9, 3.53 ) will try to make another contribution to the Nationals’ division title chase by building on a superb outing Tuesday night against the visiting Cubbies.

Chris Rusin (0-1, 1.80) will try to help the Cubs snap a three-game skid as he returns to the majors. The left-hander gave up one run and one hit over five innings in his MLB debut Aug. 21 in Milwaukee but took the loss in a 5-2 defeat.

I’m not going to sit here and bore you with blah blah blah because there isn’t blah blah blah to talk about.

The lineups consists of:

Cubs lineup:

DeJesus RF, Valbuena 3B, Rizzo 1B, Soriano LF, Castro SS, Castillo C, Jackson CF, Barney 2B, Rusin P

Nationals lineup:

Werth CF, Desmond SS, Zimmerman 3B, Morse RF, LaRoche 1B, Espinosa 2B, Moore LF, Flores C, Jackson P

GAMETIME:

7:05 PM ET, September 4, 2012

Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.

Go Cubs Go!!!

By now, we all know that Chris Volstad is having a horrible season. In fact, it goes back over a calendar year that he hasn’t won a game. It’s to the point where I just feel bad for the guy, and he only has four more winless starts to go before he ties the MLB record at 28. I’d prefer he not go down in infamy as a Cub.

The aforementioned Volstad (0-9, 6.88) will take the mound against Jhoulys Chacin (1-3, 6.16) of the Rockies. Chacin made his first start since May 1 last Tuesday, allowing one run on four hits in six innings against the Mets. He only struck out two, so look for the Cubs to strike out 12 times against him.

All you Luis Valbuena fans are going to be so excited about the lineup today. Check it out after the jump.

» Continue reading “Cubs Sunday Game Thread: For The Love Of God Get Volstad A Win”

Who’s it gonna be?