The 2010 Cubs Free Agent and Roster Moves Thread: SAVEENG OUR KUBBEEZ!!11

[CT III]

Over on Bruce Miles' blog, our old buddy Sanjay H. (HoopsCubs) was worried that the Cubs have too many good players to choose from when constructing a bench.

Somebody's been on the hooka a little too long.

If they start Lee, Baker, Theriot, E-ramis, Soto, Soriano, Byrd and Kosuke;

Have a rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny (ugh) and Silva (ugh, ugh) with Lilly on the DL;

Have a bullpen of Marmol, Grabow, Marshall, Guzman, (and three spots going to some pair of Samardzija, Berg, Caridad, the immortal Jeff Gray, Stevens, Atkins or the Albino)

That leaves five bench spots.  You need a backup catcher so it'll be Koyie.  Nady gets one.  So that leaves three spots from among this assortment of greatness:

Fontenot, Andy White, Hoffpauir, Chad Tracy, something named Bryan LaHair, something named Brad Snyder, Bobby Scales and Darwin Barney.  Oooh, however will Lou choose?

At this point, worrying about cutting a guy who can play doesn't seem like much of an option.

Oh, and Evans, when you go to make your hilarious Darwin Barney: Origin of the Utility Infielder Photoshop...just don't.

The bench gets a little better if Castro can play (PLEASE GOD), Theriot moves to short, and Baker is in the mix.

The kid is 19 years old and his minor league experience consists of 2 short seasons of rookie ball and 1 season split between Daytona and Tennessee. I think expecting him to contribute this year is as realistic as the camera crew on the Office. They've been there six years already, don't they have enough footage for their documentary!

If we bring castro up to sit on the bench, it will make zero sense. Who knows if Castro will even stay at shortstop, with Hak-Ju Lee playing so well at that position. Keith Law just rated our farm system 6th overall. That ain't bad. Tim Wilken, and I'm assuming Phil Nevin behind the scenes, has actually made our farm system respectable. The white sox farm system, by the way, rated last.

That's because they traded everyone away to help build a pitching staff in a ballpark that is built for a power hitting team. Nice work, Ken.

I want to hear JD's opinion on Keith Law. I hear they're old pals.

Power hitting team?  I guess you never heard of a little thing called Ozzie-ball.

[Yeti]

Over on Bruce Miles' blog, our old buddy Sanjay H. (HoopsCubs) was worried that the Cubs have too many good players to choose from when constructing a bench.

Somebody's been on the hooka a little too long.

If they start Lee, Baker, Theriot, E-ramis, Soto, Soriano, Byrd and Kosuke;

Have a rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny (ugh) and Silva (ugh, ugh) with Lilly on the DL;

Have a bullpen of Marmol, Grabow, Marshall, Guzman, (and three spots going to some pair of Samardzija, Berg, Caridad, the immortal Jeff Gray, Stevens, Atkins or the Albino)

That leaves five bench spots.  You need a backup catcher so it'll be Koyie.  Nady gets one.  So that leaves three spots from among this assortment of greatness:

Fontenot, Andy White, Hoffpauir, Chad Tracy, something named Bryan LaHair, something named Brad Snyder, Bobby Scales and Darwin Barney.  Oooh, however will Lou choose?

At this point, worrying about cutting a guy who can play doesn't seem like much of an option.

Oh, and Evans, when you go to make your hilarious Darwin Barney: Origin of the Utility Infielder Photoshop...just don't.

The bench gets a little better if Castro can play (PLEASE GOD), Theriot moves to short, and Baker is in the mix.

The kid is 19 years old and his minor league experience consists of 2 short seasons of rookie ball and 1 season split between Daytona and Tennessee. I think expecting him to contribute this year is as realistic as the camera crew on the Office. They've been there six years already, don't they have enough footage for their documentary!

If we bring castro up to sit on the bench, it will make zero sense. Who knows if Castro will even stay at shortstop, with Hak-Ju Lee playing so well at that position. Keith Law just rated our farm system 6th overall. That ain't bad. Tim Wilken, and I'm assuming Phil Nevin behind the scenes, has actually made our farm system respectable. The white sox farm system, by the way, rated last.

Sounds like you and the gang did a hell of a job on the farm system. Give yourself a pat on the back, BH... If you can

[BH]

Over on Bruce Miles' blog, our old buddy Sanjay H. (HoopsCubs) was worried that the Cubs have too many good players to choose from when constructing a bench.

Somebody's been on the hooka a little too long.

If they start Lee, Baker, Theriot, E-ramis, Soto, Soriano, Byrd and Kosuke;

Have a rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny (ugh) and Silva (ugh, ugh) with Lilly on the DL;

Have a bullpen of Marmol, Grabow, Marshall, Guzman, (and three spots going to some pair of Samardzija, Berg, Caridad, the immortal Jeff Gray, Stevens, Atkins or the Albino)

That leaves five bench spots.  You need a backup catcher so it'll be Koyie.  Nady gets one.  So that leaves three spots from among this assortment of greatness:

Fontenot, Andy White, Hoffpauir, Chad Tracy, something named Bryan LaHair, something named Brad Snyder, Bobby Scales and Darwin Barney.  Oooh, however will Lou choose?

At this point, worrying about cutting a guy who can play doesn't seem like much of an option.

Oh, and Evans, when you go to make your hilarious Darwin Barney: Origin of the Utility Infielder Photoshop...just don't.

The bench gets a little better if Castro can play (PLEASE GOD), Theriot moves to short, and Baker is in the mix.

The kid is 19 years old and his minor league experience consists of 2 short seasons of rookie ball and 1 season split between Daytona and Tennessee. I think expecting him to contribute this year is as realistic as the camera crew on the Office. They've been there six years already, don't they have enough footage for their documentary!

If we bring castro up to sit on the bench, it will make zero sense. Who knows if Castro will even stay at shortstop, with Hak-Ju Lee playing so well at that position. Keith Law just rated our farm system 6th overall. That ain't bad. Tim Wilken, and I'm assuming Phil Nevin behind the scenes, has actually made our farm system respectable. The white sox farm system, by the way, rated last.

Sounds like you and the gang did a hell of a job on the farm system. Give yourself a pat on the back, BH... If you can

Thanks Yeti, but I can't take all the credit here. You'd be a retard for thinking Kerm hasn't been stockpiling young talent to trade for Peavy.

[Kermit IV]

Over on Bruce Miles' blog, our old buddy Sanjay H. (HoopsCubs) was worried that the Cubs have too many good players to choose from when constructing a bench.

Somebody's been on the hooka a little too long.

If they start Lee, Baker, Theriot, E-ramis, Soto, Soriano, Byrd and Kosuke;

Have a rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny (ugh) and Silva (ugh, ugh) with Lilly on the DL;

Have a bullpen of Marmol, Grabow, Marshall, Guzman, (and three spots going to some pair of Samardzija, Berg, Caridad, the immortal Jeff Gray, Stevens, Atkins or the Albino)

That leaves five bench spots.  You need a backup catcher so it'll be Koyie.  Nady gets one.  So that leaves three spots from among this assortment of greatness:

Fontenot, Andy White, Hoffpauir, Chad Tracy, something named Bryan LaHair, something named Brad Snyder, Bobby Scales and Darwin Barney.  Oooh, however will Lou choose?

At this point, worrying about cutting a guy who can play doesn't seem like much of an option.

Oh, and Evans, when you go to make your hilarious Darwin Barney: Origin of the Utility Infielder Photoshop...just don't.

The bench gets a little better if Castro can play (PLEASE GOD), Theriot moves to short, and Baker is in the mix.

The kid is 19 years old and his minor league experience consists of 2 short seasons of rookie ball and 1 season split between Daytona and Tennessee. I think expecting him to contribute this year is as realistic as the camera crew on the Office. They've been there six years already, don't they have enough footage for their documentary!

If we bring castro up to sit on the bench, it will make zero sense. Who knows if Castro will even stay at shortstop, with Hak-Ju Lee playing so well at that position. Keith Law just rated our farm system 6th overall. That ain't bad. Tim Wilken, and I'm assuming Phil Nevin behind the scenes, has actually made our farm system respectable. The white sox farm system, by the way, rated last.

Sounds like you and the gang did a hell of a job on the farm system. Give yourself a pat on the back, BH... If you can

Thanks Yeti, but I can't take all the credit here. You'd be a retard for thinking Kerm hasn't been stockpiling young talent to trade for Peavy.

You might say every trade I've made leading up to this point has been for Peavy.  But I can't take all the credit for stockpiling this talent.  Huey is the one who picked all these kids up on his tandem bike and rode them all the way back to Iowa.

[BH]

Over on Bruce Miles' blog, our old buddy Sanjay H. (HoopsCubs) was worried that the Cubs have too many good players to choose from when constructing a bench.

Somebody's been on the hooka a little too long.

If they start Lee, Baker, Theriot, E-ramis, Soto, Soriano, Byrd and Kosuke;

Have a rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny (ugh) and Silva (ugh, ugh) with Lilly on the DL;

Have a bullpen of Marmol, Grabow, Marshall, Guzman, (and three spots going to some pair of Samardzija, Berg, Caridad, the immortal Jeff Gray, Stevens, Atkins or the Albino)

That leaves five bench spots.  You need a backup catcher so it'll be Koyie.  Nady gets one.  So that leaves three spots from among this assortment of greatness:

Fontenot, Andy White, Hoffpauir, Chad Tracy, something named Bryan LaHair, something named Brad Snyder, Bobby Scales and Darwin Barney.  Oooh, however will Lou choose?

At this point, worrying about cutting a guy who can play doesn't seem like much of an option.

Oh, and Evans, when you go to make your hilarious Darwin Barney: Origin of the Utility Infielder Photoshop...just don't.

The bench gets a little better if Castro can play (PLEASE GOD), Theriot moves to short, and Baker is in the mix.

The kid is 19 years old and his minor league experience consists of 2 short seasons of rookie ball and 1 season split between Daytona and Tennessee. I think expecting him to contribute this year is as realistic as the camera crew on the Office. They've been there six years already, don't they have enough footage for their documentary!

If we bring castro up to sit on the bench, it will make zero sense. Who knows if Castro will even stay at shortstop, with Hak-Ju Lee playing so well at that position. Keith Law just rated our farm system 6th overall. That ain't bad. Tim Wilken, and I'm assuming Phil Nevin behind the scenes, has actually made our farm system respectable. The white sox farm system, by the way, rated last.

Sounds like you and the gang did a hell of a job on the farm system. Give yourself a pat on the back, BH... If you can

Thanks Yeti, but I can't take all the credit here. You'd be a retard for thinking Kerm hasn't been stockpiling young talent to trade for Peavy.

You might say every trade I've made leading up to this point has been for Peavy.  But I can't take all the credit for stockpiling this talent.  Huey is the one who picked all these kids up on his tandem bike and rode them all the way back to Iowa.

Then we should also thank Oleg. Judging by all the grease on every shirt I've seen him wear, he greases the chains on Huey's bikes.

[Internet Apex]

Over on Bruce Miles' blog, our old buddy Sanjay H. (HoopsCubs) was worried that the Cubs have too many good players to choose from when constructing a bench.

Somebody's been on the hooka a little too long.

If they start Lee, Baker, Theriot, E-ramis, Soto, Soriano, Byrd and Kosuke;

Have a rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny (ugh) and Silva (ugh, ugh) with Lilly on the DL;

Have a bullpen of Marmol, Grabow, Marshall, Guzman, (and three spots going to some pair of Samardzija, Berg, Caridad, the immortal Jeff Gray, Stevens, Atkins or the Albino)

That leaves five bench spots.  You need a backup catcher so it'll be Koyie.  Nady gets one.  So that leaves three spots from among this assortment of greatness:

Fontenot, Andy White, Hoffpauir, Chad Tracy, something named Bryan LaHair, something named Brad Snyder, Bobby Scales and Darwin Barney.  Oooh, however will Lou choose?

At this point, worrying about cutting a guy who can play doesn't seem like much of an option.

Oh, and Evans, when you go to make your hilarious Darwin Barney: Origin of the Utility Infielder Photoshop...just don't.

The bench gets a little better if Castro can play (PLEASE GOD), Theriot moves to short, and Baker is in the mix.

The kid is 19 years old and his minor league experience consists of 2 short seasons of rookie ball and 1 season split between Daytona and Tennessee. I think expecting him to contribute this year is as realistic as the camera crew on the Office. They've been there six years already, don't they have enough footage for their documentary!

If we bring castro up to sit on the bench, it will make zero sense. Who knows if Castro will even stay at shortstop, with Hak-Ju Lee playing so well at that position. Keith Law just rated our farm system 6th overall. That ain't bad. Tim Wilken, and I'm assuming Phil Nevin behind the scenes, has actually made our farm system respectable. The white sox farm system, by the way, rated last.

Sounds like you and the gang did a hell of a job on the farm system. Give yourself a pat on the back, BH... If you can

Thanks Yeti, but I can't take all the credit here. You'd be a retard for thinking Kerm hasn't been stockpiling young talent to trade for Peavy.

You might say every trade I've made leading up to this point has been for Peavy.  But I can't take all the credit for stockpiling this talent.  Huey is the one who picked all these kids up on his tandem bike and rode them all the way back to Iowa.

Then we should also thank Oleg. Judging by all the grease on every shirt I've seen him wear, he greases the chains on Huey's bikes.

Funny, Oleg was always talking about "greasin' the union." Who knew that was what he meant! LOLOLOLOLOL

[Simmer]

That leaves five bench spots.  You need a backup catcher so it'll be Koyie.  Nady gets one.  So that leaves three spots from among this assortment of greatness:

Fontenot, Andy White, Hoffpauir, Chad Tracy, something named Bryan LaHair, something named Brad Snyder, Bobby Scales and Darwin Barney.  Oooh, however will Lou choose?

I for one think the bench is in decent shape.  Mostly because of the omission of Jermaine Dye.  Might have been an okay deal if he filled the Daryle Ward role, but we're all better off for not knowing.

[BH]

Que Pen's boner.

"During an interview on XM Radio, Chad Tracy revealed his former teammate and good friend, Eric Byrnes wants to be a Chicago Cub. Tracy said Byrnes' first choice for a new team is the Chicago Cubs.

Eric Byrnes was designated for assignment on January 15 by the D'Backs to make room on the roster for Adam LaRoche.

The D'Backs signed Eric Byrnes to a three-year, $30 million extension before the start of the 2008 season ... and Arizona is on the hook for the final year of the deal. The D'Backs will pay Eric Byrnes $11 million in 2010.

Chad Tracy was very forthcoming to Joe Castellano and F.P. Santangelo (a former teammate) about Eric Byrnes' desire to play for the Cubs.

Tracy said Byrnes was very jealous of him signing a minor league deal with the Cubs and asked him to put in a good word with the Cubs' front office."

[PenFoe]

Que Pen's boner.

"During an interview on XM Radio, Chad Tracy revealed his former teammate and good friend, Eric Byrnes wants to be a Chicago Cub. Tracy said Byrnes' first choice for a new team is the Chicago Cubs.

Eric Byrnes was designated for assignment on January 15 by the D'Backs to make room on the roster for Adam LaRoche.

The D'Backs signed Eric Byrnes to a three-year, $30 million extension before the start of the 2008 season ... and Arizona is on the hook for the final year of the deal. The D'Backs will pay Eric Byrnes $11 million in 2010.

Chad Tracy was very forthcoming to Joe Castellano and F.P. Santangelo (a former teammate) about Eric Byrnes' desire to play for the Cubs.

Tracy said Byrnes was very jealous of him signing a minor league deal with the Cubs and asked him to put in a good word with the Cubs' front office."

Finally we can get some goddamn hustle on the squad.

However, my heart now belongs to Xavier Nady (pending physical).

[Slaky]

Que Pen's boner.

"During an interview on XM Radio, Chad Tracy revealed his former teammate and good friend, Eric Byrnes wants to be a Chicago Cub. Tracy said Byrnes' first choice for a new team is the Chicago Cubs.

Eric Byrnes was designated for assignment on January 15 by the D'Backs to make room on the roster for Adam LaRoche.

The D'Backs signed Eric Byrnes to a three-year, $30 million extension before the start of the 2008 season ... and Arizona is on the hook for the final year of the deal. The D'Backs will pay Eric Byrnes $11 million in 2010.

Chad Tracy was very forthcoming to Joe Castellano and F.P. Santangelo (a former teammate) about Eric Byrnes' desire to play for the Cubs.

Tracy said Byrnes was very jealous of him signing a minor league deal with the Cubs and asked him to put in a good word with the Cubs' front office."

Finally we can get some goddamn hustle on the squad.

However, my heart now belongs to Xavier Nady (pending physical).

Well, we all hope your heart is ok so you can continue your Nady love.

[Oleg]

Que Pen's boner.

"During an interview on XM Radio, Chad Tracy revealed his former teammate and good friend, Eric Byrnes wants to be a Chicago Cub. Tracy said Byrnes' first choice for a new team is the Chicago Cubs.

Eric Byrnes was designated for assignment on January 15 by the D'Backs to make room on the roster for Adam LaRoche.

The D'Backs signed Eric Byrnes to a three-year, $30 million extension before the start of the 2008 season ... and Arizona is on the hook for the final year of the deal. The D'Backs will pay Eric Byrnes $11 million in 2010.

Chad Tracy was very forthcoming to Joe Castellano and F.P. Santangelo (a former teammate) about Eric Byrnes' desire to play for the Cubs.

Tracy said Byrnes was very jealous of him signing a minor league deal with the Cubs and asked him to put in a good word with the Cubs' front office."

Finally we can get some goddamn hustle on the squad.

However, my heart now belongs to Xavier Nady (pending physical).

Well, we all hope your heart is ok so you can continue your Nady love.

If it's not, I bet The Cubs could mend it!

[ChuckD]

Que Pen's boner.

"During an interview on XM Radio, Chad Tracy revealed his former teammate and good friend, Eric Byrnes wants to be a Chicago Cub. Tracy said Byrnes' first choice for a new team is the Chicago Cubs.

Eric Byrnes was designated for assignment on January 15 by the D'Backs to make room on the roster for Adam LaRoche.

The D'Backs signed Eric Byrnes to a three-year, $30 million extension before the start of the 2008 season ... and Arizona is on the hook for the final year of the deal. The D'Backs will pay Eric Byrnes $11 million in 2010.

Chad Tracy was very forthcoming to Joe Castellano and F.P. Santangelo (a former teammate) about Eric Byrnes' desire to play for the Cubs.

Tracy said Byrnes was very jealous of him signing a minor league deal with the Cubs and asked him to put in a good word with the Cubs' front office."

Finally we can get some goddamn hustle on the squad.

However, my heart now belongs to Xavier Nady (pending physical).

That's the opposite of (no homo), right?

[BH]

rotoworld

"Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com was told by an MLB executive that free agent Jermaine Dye turned down a $3.3 million offer from the Cubs this week.
The Cubs sent that same offer to Xavier Nady and worked out a deal quickly. Dye, 35, hit hit 27 homers in 2009 and posted a .302/.375/.567 batting line over the first half of the season, but he's going to have to accpet the fact that most organizations now value things like defensive metrics. He ranks among the worst outfielders in the league when it comes to such things.
Source: Jerry Crasnick on Twitter
Related: Xavier Nady, Cubs"

[PenFoe]

rotoworld

"Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com was told by an MLB executive that free agent Jermaine Dye turned down a $3.3 million offer from the Cubs this week.
The Cubs sent that same offer to Xavier Nady and worked out a deal quickly. Dye, 35, hit hit 27 homers in 2009 and posted a .302/.375/.567 batting line over the first half of the season, but he's going to have to accpet the fact that most organizations now value things like defensive metrics. He ranks among the worst outfielders in the league when it comes to such things.
Source: Jerry Crasnick on Twitter
Related: Xavier Nady, Cubs"

Thank God.

[Saul Goodman]

Some commenter summarizing, so take with a grain of salt:

Bruce Miles was on 670 The Score earlier today talking about the Cubs.

The Big News is that he says the Cubs are seriously annoyed with Ryan Theriot holding out for $3.4 million. So pissed off they may try to trade him or even non-tender him when the season is over. Bruce said he's sure the Cubs will go to arbitration this year ( unless RT backs down of course )

The lesser News is that Xavier Nady pronounces his hame EXavier rather than Zavier. Like many of us, Bruce thinks Lou very well could make Nady his every day right fielder over Fukudome if Nady is healthy and hitting. .

Other stuff:

The Cubs really don't expect Lilly back before May 1.

Kiko Calero: The Cubs have been up and down about him. Right now they're worried about his health but still could pick him up if he's still on the market in two weeks.

Bruce thinks both the Cubs and Cards have Starting Pitching problems and opined that the Brewers have really improved their staff with Wolf and Davis.