While you were all eating too much, holding hands and telling everyone what you were thankful for, the Cubs were doing much of the same. We did hear about a few things that went on over the Thanksgiving holiday, including the migration of Bryan LaHair to Japan.

The SoftBank Hawks are close to an agreement with Bryan LaHair, according to a Sanspo report passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The Cubs designated LaHair for assignment yesterday, announcing that the team and player were “pursuing an opportunity” for LaHair to sign with a Japanese team.

MLBTR reports that the value of LaHair’s contract is $4.7MM over two years with the signing bonus and buyout included. Maybe Bryan can become the next Tuffy Rhodes. We also heard of a trade between the Cubs and Rangers, wherein the Cubs traded back a pitcher they received in the Geo Soto trade.

The Cubs dealt Jacob Brigham (acquired in the Geovany Soto trade in July) back to the Rangers, receiving Loux, a 23-year-old right-handed pitcher, in return as a sort of re-do on the Soto deal after Brigham was limited to just two appearances for the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate in Tennessee. The Cubs will also receive a player to be named later.

Any word on this Loux?

  Loux reached Double-A in 2012 and made all his starts without incident, showing a simple, repeatable delivery and an idea of how to pitch. He works downhill, sits 90-92 mph and commands his fastball to both sides of the plate, though neither his velocity nor his secondary pitches separate him from the pack. His average slider and curveball blend together, but most scouts like his changeup best and think he knows how and when to use it. He profiles as an innings-eating No. 5 type on a good team.

That’s a much better ceiling than most of the arms in the Cubs system.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Back To The Grind”

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 Cubs lost in Colorado 10-5 last night, but look at the bright side: rain stopped the game after six and a half innings, so it could have been worse.

“It’s always tough to win out west,” manager Dale Sveum said. “Here’s a different story. The bottom line is we haven’t been able to get anybody out either. In LA, we came back once and had a chance but couldn’t pull it off. Tonight, to scored (five) runs early and then just give it right back. … You’re not going to win that many road games when you’re giving up that many hard hit balls and balls hit out of the ballpark.”

That many hard hit balls was six runs in 3.2 innings for Chris Rusin and another four surrendered by Rafael Dolis and Manny Corpas. All told, the Cubs gave up 15 hits in 6 innings, including 6 extra base hits.

“We couldn’t get them to make any soft contact, that’s for sure,” Sveum said. “There were some balls hit pretty hard on their side. Evem the outs were got, we were lucky they were at people. Rusin was just up in the zone without a whole lot of life on anything.”

But Dave Sappelt hit a home run!

“Since he’s been here, he’s shown us some realy good at-bats and shown the ability to hit a fastball and get his walks as well,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Tuesday. “I thought I’d stick him in that leadoff spot and see what happens.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Rain Merciful To Cubs”

I hope the title of today’s headline thread pulled you all in but that you’re not expecting much. Yes, I falsely advertised, but what do you expect from a 94-loss team after a day off? First, we’ll hear from David DeJesus. He has plenty of experience playing for crap teams.

‘‘It was tough,’’ said DeJesus, who went through three consecutive 100-loss seasons with the Kansas City Royals from 2004 to ’06. ‘‘It’s just that number you don’t want to be a part of.

‘‘We tried to go young, then we brought in some [veteran] guys, then injuries came and took those guys, so we were back to bringing young guys up again. It was just one of those things where we couldn’t really get over the rebuilding stage.’’

So how do today’s Cubs compare to those Royals?

‘‘At first glance, I feel this team has more talent than those teams,’’ he said. ‘‘But it all depends on pitching. This game’s about pitching.

‘‘We have guys that are going out there, and time will tell if they’re going to be ready to play up to the [Cincinnati] Reds, the [St. Louis] Cardinals. This is a tough division. There’s some good pitching going on in this division.’’

At second and third glance, I feel this team is screwed. I know it doesn’t get much more exciting than David DeJesus, but I’ve held the best part for after the jump. Come inside and see what other thrilling news exists…

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines: A Bounty Of News”

15. That’s the number of times the Cubs struck out against the Brewers last night. Add 14 the night before and you’ve got the beginnings of a pretty impressive streak. Oh, and Paul Maholm  gave up four runs in only four innings.

“He just couldn’t keep the ball down in the inning, he gave it up,” Sveum said. “He got the ball up to Braun. His change-up was up, so he just couldn’t get the ball down.”

Maholm was not pleased when Sveum pinch hit for him in the fifth inning.

“I understand it, but I’m never going to agree with it,” Maholm said. “I want to go deeper into the game, but I completely understand the move, but me, I want to be out there.”

Maholm has thrown just 14 1/3rd innings over his past three starts during which he has given up 10 earned runs.

And the Cubs could have used some of the 10 runs they scored Tuesday night, as they were shut out.

“Today we really didn’t put together any good swings or anything,” Sveum said. “(Greinke) kept the ball down, we just didn’t cover the outer part half of the plate.”

Geinke has now run his Miller Park record to 15-0 since being traded by Kansas City before the 2011 season.

“When you have chances and you don’t come through, you start pressing when you have a guy like him on the mound,” said Cubs outfielder Tony Campana, who struck out four times Wednesday. “They are tough guys to hit against out there. It’s not really an excuse because you just can’t chase stuff like I have been doing the last couple days.”

Especially when your only value to the team is base stealing.

» Continue reading “Thursday Headlines/Game Thread: Cubs @ Brewers, 1:10 Central”

As of  the end of Tuesday night’s game, the Cubs have and impressive streak going. They have now failed to have a lead in 59 consecutive innings. That’s right. Almost seven complete games in which they have not had more runs at any single moment than their opponent. Last night’s main culprit was the lack of offense. Other than Alfonso Soriano’s solo home run, the Cubs failed to do much of anything.

“We just can’t seem to get anything going,” manager Dale Sveum said. “You get a guy at third and less than two outs and you get a couple of strikeouts. We just can’t get anything out of the ballpark. Soriano hit a solo shot but we just can’t seem to get that three-run shot.”

One thing the Cubs did manage to do was strike out 13 times, including the golden sombrero by Starlin Castro.

“He’s just in his third year in the league so he’ll figure it out,” Soriano said. “That happened to him last year too. He had little struggles. It’s a long season and sometimes you have (struggles) one week or two weeks. But when you get out of your slump you become a better player. I hope when he gets out he will come out hot and be a better player.”

One bright spot for the Cubs was Travis Wood. He allowed a home run to the leadoff batter and a double immediately after, but then didn’t allow another hit in his final 5.2 innings.

“Travis was great,” manager Dale Sveum said. “A leadoff home run and other than that he was really, really good. He kept the ball on his arm side all day, he kept it down and he had a really good changeup. It was 12 mph off his fastball with some good fade.”

He also had a double, making his batting average .750 for the season.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Offense Continues To Stink”

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”

Before we get to yesterday’s game, we’ll get to what happened before yesterday’s game. With Matt Garza unable to pitch due to the flu, Travis Wood had to be called up from Iowa. The Cubs needed to do something to clear a roster space for him, so they DFA’d Blake DeWitt. Dale Sveum tried to sound genuine in his parting remarks for Blake.

“Hopefully he clears waivers and stays with us,” manager Dale Sveum said. “It’s unfortunate, because of the flu bug it costs somebody his job. But hopefully he stays in the organization.”

Hopefully he’ll stay in the organization but never make it back to Chicago. As for yesterday’s game, the Cubs got a not-horrible start from Travis Wood.

“It felt good,” Wood said. “Pitches were working. I had some unfortunate walks that I don’t like and left a pitch up that Rivera ended up hitting out of the park but I kept them close, we battled back and ended up winning the game.”

Unfortunately for Wood he’s likely to end up back in Iowa today as an extra position player (likely Adrian Cardenas) will be needed. Dale, what did you see out of young Travis?

“He just had a little bit better command,” manager Dale Sveum said of Wood’s turnaround after the Rivera long ball. “He was getting ahead easier after that. I just think he settled into the game and it might have relaxed him a little bit. They had three runs but he threw the heck out of the ball after that and got some pretty weak contact.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Dodgers OutCub Cubs”

Oh, man, it feels really good to see that happen to not-us.

In case all the shouting and hysteria didn’t reach you on your justifiably Cub-free Sunday, Travis Wood’s spot start went better than expected, and the Cubs managed to win the game 4-3 on a walk-off walk by David DeJesus in the 11th inning.

Wood had a messy second inning in which he walked two Dodgers and allowed a run, but otherwise he acquitted himself well. The problem was a two-run homer that he served up to Juan Rivera in the third, putting the Cubs in a 3-0 hole.

Starlin Castro answered back immediately with a two-run single in the bottom half of the frame, and Wood retired 11 straight batters after the homer. But despite putting the leadoff man on base five times (and more often than not, it was Bryan LaHair; he went 3 for 4 with a walk today), the Cubs weren’t able to stage a rally.

Until the ninth.

Ian Stewart, apparently feeling well enough to pinch-hit, reached on a one-out single. DeJesus followed with a walk. Now, in this situation, I definitely don’t enjoy seeing Tony Campana at the plate, but this time, he delivered: Campanarama 2.0 lined a double into center, plating Stewart.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha”

Remember this thing? It's flying today.

Strange things that happened today:

1. Tony Campana was caught stealing for the first time.
2. He also walked. Twice.
3. Jerry Hairston missed hitting for the cycle by a double.
4. Jerry Hairston hit a home run. Matt Kemp did not.
5. Joe Mather hit a home run – to the opposite field.
6. The bullpen didn’t blow a lead (though not for lack of trying).
7. Yes, it’s true: the Cubs actually won!

Not at all strange things that happened today:

1. Matt Kemp hit an RBI triple.
2. Kerry Wood was depressingly bad and gave up two runs.
3. Tony Campana dove for a ball and managed to deflect it for extra bases.
4. Rafael Dolis closed the game and scared the crap out of everybody.
5. He also had to face an extra batter because of a blown call by the home plate umpire.

All told, today’s game was pretty promising. There was some late-inning excitement, even without Carlos Marmol closing; but the Cubs maintained a respectable lead through seven innings after getting on the board in the first, finishing with a 5-4 victory over Los Angeles.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: Unexpected Success!”