Clem Fandango

This attitude makes very little sense to me. It's convenient to label him as the 25th man, but reality probably has him much further up the chart than that. He's a garbage old veteran who does nothing for the team now or in the future. Nobody is labeling this a franchise killer, it's just an annoyingly worthless signing in what has been a horrible offseason for anybody who actually cared about how well the Cubs perform in 2012. The Cubs current depth chart has Blake DeWitt and Brian LaHair as backups for our outfielders. The only legit OF backup we have on the MLB roster besides Campana is Reed Johnson, since we traded Colvin. There's no way they'll use Jackson as a backup OF, so he'll either start in the minors to get AB's or they'll move Byrd so he can start. In that situation then without Reed Johnson, Campana is the only other OF backup, and he kinda sucks something fierce. The AAA options we have are Lou Montanez, Brad Snyder, and Matthew Spencer (going off their AAA roster). Snyder and Montanez have a combined MLB OPS of .485 in their limited trials, Spencer has zero MLB experience and doesn't appear to be fit for a MLB team whatsoever. Snyder might have been the best internal option If Johnson ends up with a .680 OPS, what are the odds that it will be better than anything Montanez or Snyder or Spencer could put up? It could possibly be much better, which is depressing. Reed Johnson is a necessary evil, and his cost is not a burden, and as such people should just accept the fact that he's there and that it really won't make a huge difference one way or the other because whether you like it or not, sadly, he's more of a safe bet than our alternatives, and maybe Theo & Co. view that as a worthy of an extra million to gamble on.

Debatable. Debatable, but not worth debating, because it's Reed Johnson and it makes nary a dent on the overall team salary. It's inconsequential. He's one of 25 guys on the team. It's hardly inconsequential. He's probably capable of putting up at least a .700 OPS as a bench player. Last year was obviously smoke and mirrors, but as a 25th man he's not going to destroy the team. Could you have filled the spot internally? Sure, saving you about $1 million, but the minor league filler has no guarantee they'll even be able to hit their weight, and you probably don't want to waste a minor leaguer's development by not giving him regular at bats... so you could spend that $1 million extra and get a guy you can probably predict will give you exactly that much value ($1.5 million) and not have to worry about it. It's a nothing move and certainly not anything to get worked up over. If it doesn't work, trade him for minor league filler or cut him and his paltry salary and be done with it

Debatable. Debatable, but not worth debating, because it's Reed Johnson and it makes nary a dent on the overall team salary. It's inconsequential.

Oh man, I can't believe they signed a marginally useful bench player to continue being a marginally useful bench player.

I have to think Toronto becomes an immediate trade partner for Garza, though. You think they'd be willing to deal Lawrie for him in a package? Don't they need a closer, too?

Holy crap I didn't realize Cain is only 27

For some reason I expected it to be way more than $50 million. I guess I just subconsciously assumed it would obliterate the $50 million it took to land Daisuke... not go $1.7 million over.

Hmmm... that could be a very interesting team to trade with

I'd probably just kick the tires on seeing if we can pry away Rizzo and Headley in a package. Not sure how much they value them though. I'd almost be comfortable with those two for Garza straight up if they'd be willing. Extend Headley through his first couple of FA years (into his age 31 or 32 season maybe) and you've got your corner IF locked up for the forseeable future. I'm a little more impressed by Rizzo than some, I know some on here aren't as high on him as others. I think he'd be just fine.

Ugh. That's the worst package of players I could possibly imagine for Matt Garza. Whoever floated that idea should be tarred and feathered. EDIT: And I just realized he was also talking of including Marshall. Christ

I'm tired of seeing Mitch Moreland's name thrown around like he's some sort of legit trade target for teams who need a first baseman. Mitch Moreland is crap. Also, who is "Ramirez" in that quote?

What a snoozefest

This is going to get pretty exciting here, I have a feeling. Also, I know Rizzo sucked in his MLB time this past season, but his AAA numbers this season were bad ass, especially so for a 21 year old.

Apparently there were earthquakes that day. I'm surprised they didn't try and play that into the video and say Cespedes brought it on from all of his power.

Why would you think that? The conspiracy theorist in me suspects a 3-team trade with the Padres and Boston that involves giving Boston and SD their compensation while also trading for improvements. Involving Garza, too. But that's idle speculation and fantasy

Video of him working out for the Cubs at 1:50 in

But they just got Mark Melancon... who I thought was hispanic. I would very much like to see Marmol traded while his arm is still attached to his body

Blank's bat is pretty great though. His power is off the charts, but all he can really play is 1B. If we nabbed him it would need to be a bench role since I honestly don't see the Cubs trotting him out as the starting 1B given his injury history and lack of MLB service time. Committing to him to be a starter is risky, but his bat can play at the MLB level, but only if he's getting regular AB's, IMO. His talents are wasted as a bench player, but you can only play him in one spot which happens to be of dire importance for the Cubs now. I'd love to have him, but he's not really a fit. If we miss out on all the 1B options, I wouldn't have a problem settling on him and giving him a chance, but that's like the absolute last ditch effort. And even then I'm not so sure how much better he'd be than Lahair. His bat is leaps and bounds better but his ability to stay on the field limits his appeal

He's done more work on the road (nearly 60 more IP on the road) and his ERA away from Petco is a cozy 3.57. He's pretty legit. I know Alonso isn't a small guy (6'2" 240 lbs), but Blanks is a 6'6" 270 pound behemoth. He has that "more athletic than you think" appeal but he shouldn't be out there. Also I think that 270 lbs listing is very conservative. If I had to bet between Alonso or Blanks becoming a better defensive LF over the years, I'd probably take Alonso 10 times out of 10, mostly because Blanks will probably get injured more often out there due to his size and putting all that pressure on his legs

I love the deal, from a "I hate the Phillies" perspective. Next step, extend Chase Utley to a ludicrous contract.

Alonso can't be any worse than Blanks in LF. I think they move Guzman and Blanks and keep Alonso, though flipping Alonso might be beneficial while his perceived value is high

Any time a player comes out of nowhere and succeeds right off the bat despite there being virtually no reason for them to based on their minor league numbers, I kind of always chalk it up to a lack of scouting reports. That's just me though, and it's probably wrong, but I kind of always default to that mode when a nobody breaks out to perform well. Then the league adjusts and so do their numbers. I think Wells is a fine pitcher, but the league obviously adjusted in 2010, but he was still valuable. A 4.00 ERA type pitcher is nothing to gawk at, but they serve their purpose, and Wells was still a 3 win pitcher (3.2 fWAR, 3.0 rWAR) in 2010 and if that's the kind of pitcher he is we should all be happy leaving him in the rotation. But yeah, I irrationally don't trust him

Phillies to re-sign Rollins... http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/phillies-to-sign-jimmy-rollins.html

WOW. Well done, San Diego.

They already have Guzman and Rizzo at 1B, he's gotta be taking over for Blanks. Blanks has no business being in LF and he was only put there because of Adrian Gonzalez. He's a 1B by nature, and his injury woes have probably been due to his weight (leg/foot injuries popping up ever since he's been playing outfield). He can't handle a OF workload. I'd be interested in Blanks has a bench/backup 1B option, or even as a last ditch starter option if we can't find anyone. He's probably not the best fielder, but neither is Fielder and Blanks needs regular AB's to get his swing back, cause when he's on he's dangerous and can hit the ball a mile. Or there's Seth Smith, who will apparently be traded now, but he'd be much more expensive I'm sure.