CubsWin

I met Ernie Banks once. It was at one of my very first games at Wrigley. We were sitting near the Cubs bullpen down the third base line. At some point in the middle of the game, there was a commotion behind us. I must have been 7 years old (1976), but I still remember turning over my right shoulder to see what all the hubbub was about. A small crowd had gathered at the top of the stairs leading down to the concourse under the grandstand. They seemed to be rather excited as did the people in the seats surrounding the area. Fans were standing and craning their necks to see what was going on. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of who it was. The crowd around him parted a bit more, and there he was. Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks. I wasn't a particularly bold or adventurous kid, but I don't have any memory of asking if it was okay to get up out of my seat and go over there. I just got up and left my dad and brothers in their seats. I didn't think twice. I ran over because the crowd was thickening. Being a kid has it's privileges and people allowed me in to meet him. Here I am, a 7 year old kid with the biggest, goofiest smile on his face and probably mustard stains on his shirt, and Ernie stopped to talk to me. I gave him my scorecard. His friendly, smiling face was on the front cover. He signed it with the pencil I was using to keep score. I still have it 39 years later. Rest in peace, Mr. Cub.

Some nice video of Moncada. http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/new-video-analysis-yoan-moncada/

Yyeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!

At first blush, I wasn't thrilled with this deal. A lot of that feeling had to do with Vizcaino's name value and the hopes I had for him. Those hopes took a hit this year when he struggled in AAA. He righted that ship after a terrible start, but his command was still shaky. Armando Rivero seemed to have passed him on the readiness/pecking order list, so while I'm still a believer in Vizcaino as a potential impact reliever, the Cubs were definitely dealing from a place of depth. I wasn't too familiar with LaStella, but after doing some research, he reminded me a lot of Matt Carpenter. I'm not saying LaStella is going to be as good as Carpenter, but his minor league numbers are as good if not slightly better and were produced while a year younger at every level. Overall, in 1197 minor league PAs, LaStella hit .322/.407/.474 while striking out less than he walked at every level on the way up (102 K/132 BB). In 1448 minor league PAs, Carpenter hit .297/.408/.450, striking out 212 times against 210 walks. Carpenter is 6'3", 215 while LaStella is quite a bit smaller at 5'11", 185. Carpenter's major league SLG sits at .433. If LaStella can beat that, I'll be pleasantly surprised. In fact, LaStella's minor league numbers are similar to Pedroia's but Dustin produced his while about 3 years younger. So not similar in terms of upside, but he is the same type or profile of player just with less power. He seems like he has a floor of a very solid left-handed, bench player with a ceiling of a starter who puts up a line .280/.360./400. The Cubs definitely traded from depth by dealing a RH relief arm, but I don't think they added to a position of depth, at least not yet. While it's true the Cubs have a glut of MIFers in the system, they don't have one yet in the majors. And they certainly don't have a lot of left-handed bats that get on base often. All in all, I understand the deal. It has a chance of being a good deal for both teams. The Cubs definitely got the player with the highest floor.

And he can walk on his hands, like, really well, so it should probably be 5/85.

Well, there's the fWAR he's put up over his career. But the Cubs front office has emphasized acquiring players with excellent make-up. Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora all possess the make-up necessary to get the most out of their ability. Apparently, Russell Martin does, too. He never stops working to improve the weaknesses in his game. There's leadership. There's his physical conditioning and discipline. There's his impact on a pitching staff. And finally, there's his post-season experience, something this young team almost completely lacks. Martin has already played in ten post-season series. He played in the 2006 NL Division Series and twice played for Dodgers teams that advanced to the NL Championship Series in 2008 and 2009. He played in the 2012 AL Championship Series with the Yankees, and the 2011 AL Division Series with New York. And he's led the Pirates to their first post-season action since 1992 the past two years in a row. Excited yet?

This is weird. Doesn't smell right.

Yoshio Itoi is interesting. If his price isn't real high, I'd be interested in the Cubs signing him. Jed talked about "lengthening" the roster. Having Itoi to platoon and/or provide depth in case of injury would be cool. What's really great about him is that he went to a school called Kinki University. Oh, those Japanese... I agree on Kemp. I'm not suggesting the Cubs should trade for him, quite the opposite. I'm saying he's a less than ideal fit. Lester would definitely bring playoff and championship experience, but my sense is Theo wants this leadership guy to be a position player. He's specifically stated that he wants someone to help Rizzo and Castro grow into team leaders. Someone like Victorino is a much better fit. Plenty of playoff and world series experience, 1 year left on his contract, gives good at bats, plays the "right" way, etc. I don't think this will happen necessarily because I don't see the Cubs signing Russell Martin, but my ideal (somewhat realistic) off-season would be for the Cubs to sign Martin, Lester and trade for Victorino.

Agreed. And it seems the role the Cubs are targeting is a veteran who can still produce who has playoff/championship/leadership experience. The positions available to fill are catcher, outfield and starting pitcher. Montero's production isn't great. He's 31 and he gets paid 13.3 million per thru 2017. If the D-Backs took back EJax in some sort of package, maybe, but he doesn't check off a lot of the boxes. I'd be interested in Kemp, but he'll require a lot of talent to acquire and his contract goes thru 2019. If Almora/McKinney develop and if Bryant/Schwarber have to move to the OF, a contract that long could create some problems, but that's less of an issue for me than what it would take to get him. That stuff usually sorts itself out. He's signed thru his age 34 season, so the contract isn't timed as terribly as say Ethier's. Are the Dodgers motivated enough to deal him without getting back one of the Cubs top prospects? I doubt it. Would you deal Baez for Kemp and that contract? If Kemp were still able to produce at a .900+ OPS clip, maybe. It's not an ideal fit that's for sure. Victorino still interests me the most, and I think the price could be right. But it's an interesting discussion.

I just did some sifting through team's rosters and their payrolls, and (outside of them and the obvious Cole Hamels) I found a few names worth discussing. There's the aforementioned Cliff Lee. He's seen plenty of post-season action and performed well, but that contract at his age/health is a scary thing to take on. Carlos Gonzalez has been discussed previously. I'm not a big fan. His road splits aren't inspiring. His contract, while about to get much more expensive, ends after 2017 which is about a year too long for my tastes, but he's a good hitter and a decent outfielder who hits left-handed. Not a lot of post-season experience though, just 4 games back in 2009. John Arguello at Cubs Den has mentioned Michael Bourn and Dexter Fowler as two possible targets. Bourn's production is slipping but Fowler is still productive. He doesn't fit the veteran, playoff-tested leadership profile though. One name seemed to check off that box perfectly, though. Shane Victorino. He's signed only through next season and has played on two World Series champions. He could come cheaply because he's coming off of injury and because the Red Sox have a rather crowded outfield at the moment with Cespedes, Betts, Castillo and Craig on the roster. The Sox don't need the salary relief, but he looks to be more valuable to the Cubs than to them. Thoughts on the Cubs trading for Victorino this off-season?

With the rumors, and they are just that, rumors of the Rockies considering trading Tulo, would we put them in this category?

This is sort of a hybrid of the "Offseason Trade Ideas" and "What Should We Spend Our Money On" threads. (Off topic, I hate when we "the fans" use the term "we" to refer to the Cubs. But that's just me.) It's well known that Theo is looking to bring in veterans to help provide leadership to their increasingly young team, and they currently have openings in the OF, C and the rotation. But at the Cubs On Deck 2015 Season Ticket Holder Event on October 10th, Theo was alsoquoted as saying the following: That doesn't necessarily mean these potential "veteran leadership" acquisitions would have to fill starting roles, but it's unlikely the Cubs would look to take on a high-salaried player to be a part-time player. So what specific high-salary players whose teams can no longer afford them should the Cubs target? We know that Cole Hamels fits that description. Who else? This link has every players salary broken down by team as well as every team's total payroll. 1. LA Dodgers.......................$235,295,219 2. NY Yankees.......................$203,812,506 3. Philadelphia Phillies...........$180,052,723 4. Boston Red Sox.................$162,817,411 5. Detroit Tigers....................$162,228,527 6. LA Angels..........................$155,692,000 7. San Francisco Giants..........$154,185,878 8. Texas Rangers...................$136,036,172 9. Washington Nationals........$134,704,437 10. Toronto Blue Jays.............$132,628,700 11. Arizona Diamondbacks....$112,688,666 12. Cincinnati Reds................$112,390,772 13. St. Louis Cardinals...........$111,020,360 14. Atlanta Braves..................$110,897,341 15. Baltimore Orioles.............$107,406,623 16. Milwaukee Brewers..........$103,844,806 17. Colorado Rockies.............$95,832,071 18. Seattle Mariners ..............$92,081,943 19. Kansas City Royals...........$92,034,345 20. Chicago White Sox...........$91,159,254 21. San Diego Padres.............$90,094,196 22. NY Mets...........................$89,051,758 23. Chicago Cubs..................$89,007,857 24. Minnesota Twins .............$85,776,500 25. Oakland A's.....................$83,401,400 26. Cleveland Indians............$82,534,800 27. Pittsburgh Pirates............$78,111,667 28. Tampa Bay Rays..............$77,062,891 29. Miami Marlins.................$47,565,400 30. Houston Astros...............$44,544,174 Ah, the Cubs at #23. What a joke. But which teams need to cut payroll? Certainly not Miami and Houston. The Phillies do for sure but the Cubs don't have room for their high-priced infielders (Howard, Utley and Rollins). Would the Cubs be interested in Cliff Lee? He's set to be paid 25 million next season with a vesting option for 27.5 million for 2016 if he reaches 200 IP. If it doesn't vest, he receives a 12.5 million buyout. If Lee gets injured again (he's coming off an injury plagued season and is 36), that would mean he'd be paid 37.5 million for one year in which he pitches less than 200 innings. Not exactly a value-driven GM's type of trade target. But when Lee's been healthy, he's been very, very good. What other teams need to cut payroll? What other players might the Cubs target?

From the same thread... Looking at that list, it's safe to say that 5 of those players contributed well to the major league team. Six of the seven minor leaguers listed made it to the majors. When you add in the resurgence of Castro and Rizzo, the emergence of Soler and the additions of Russell, Schwarber and McKinney to the organization, 2014 looks like an even bigger success. One could look at the win-loss record and disagree, but in a rebuild there are other metrics and better ways to gauge progress and success. The good news is I think the Cubs are entering the denouement of this rebuild and the win-loss record starts becoming the only metric that matters very soon. And that might be the clearest sign of success. Three years into a complete, ground-up rebuild and the Cubs are to a point where the only metric that really matters is the win column. They've come a long way from the start of 2014.

It's always interesting to see what we thought would or wanted to happen a year earlier. http://www.northsidebaseball.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62309 After the first few pages, you can skip ahead to page 18 in the thread if you want to stick to actual 2014 roster discussion. It got pretty hilariously and classically side tracked for a bit. Pages 18-25 are particularly good discussion about what we thought the Cubs should do. But the real reason I wanted to revisit that thread was because I remembered writing a post that talked about how 2014 would be a year of progress (and not winning obviously). And that the progression of key players and prospects would tell the FO a lot about how they would proceed in the pre-2015 off season. I may have expressed myself a little better in the Tanaka thread: I can understand why Theo & Co. didn't want to commit long term to a player older than 30 in the first few years of this rebuild. It just didn't make sense for the team's competitive window. But that window seems to be opening, maybe just a crack, in the coming season. Quite a few things would have to go right for the Cubs to make the post-season in 2015, but in 2016 that window will likely be wide open, so signing a player who is 30 or 31 makes a lot more sense now. But being in a position where it makes sense to sign someone like Lester was far from guaranteed back in April. A lot of things would have to go right in order for that to happen. I think a lot of those things did go right. And by that measure, I think 2014 was a successful season.

1. The Cubs are becoming well known has being a class org top to bottom that is committed to and on their way to winning a lot of baseball games and possibly some championships which would drive up their national popularity. 2. The Cubs already have a huge fan base all over the country thanks to their history with WGN over the past decades, so they likely have fans near Myrtle Beach and throughout Tennesee and Oregon, not to mention obvously South Bend and Des Moines. 3. This FO is committed to and is proving they are successful at bringing up talent through their system which means a greater likelihood of those teams winning games as evidenced by an FSL championship and MWL championship in the last two seasons. I would think people enjoy watching winning baseball. Those are the reasons I can see.

Thanks, Raisin for your diligence. This season was a lot of fun to follow. Already looking forward to next year. Russell, Edwards and Johnson in AAA. Schwarber, Almora and McKinney in AA. Underwood, Tseng, Torrez and Blackburn in A+. Stinnett, Torres, 2015 1st round pick and Clifton in A. Jimenez, Mejia, Sands and Steele in Short Season A-. Moreno, Galindo and Matos in Rookie. Waves.

The Fort Myers starter D.J. Baxendale (10th round pick in 2012) doesn't look very formidable. He posted a plus-5 ERA in AA this year and last and had a plus-6 ERA in 11 A+ starts this season. If Z can have a good game, the Cubs have a decent shot of forcing a game 5 for all the marbles. Game starts in 45 minutes. Current radar shows...it's not raining. :beg:

Welp, looks like the Cubs just cost Garza his 32nd win... http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/27/matt-garzas-advice-to-cubs-right-hander-jeff-samardzija-pitch-your-way-out-of-there/

That's got to feel unfair to Wisconsin. AAA/major leaguer rehabbing during a playoff game hits a 3-run HR that's currently the difference in the game.

Mike Olt is playing 3B for Kane County?

McKinney adds an RBI single to make 8-0.

Wow. 2-run HR from Rademacher as well. He's been red hot lately. Batting .425 with 2 HRs in his last 10 games heading into this one.

Beeler only had 54.2 IP in 2013. That's a little over 80 innings added from last season. That makes sense to me. Scott is only 5 more than last season.

Underwood Zastryzny Stinnett Sands (Need to know more, but for now) Steele (See above) Mejia Clifton Torrez (Unless he adds some velo) Blackburn (Unless he regains some velo) Norwood Black (High Leverage Reliever) Skulina (Injuries held him back) Martinez Pineyro Pugliese (Reliever) Paniagua (Reliever) Williams

Wada implosion. Baez explosion. Heard it here first...