Official Chicago Cubs Thread

Might as well start this one.

Acquisitions and Signings:
Aaron Miles- 2 yrs for 4.9 mil
Joey Gathright- 1 yr for 800,000
Milton Bradley- 3 yrs for 30 mil
Resigned Ryan Dempster- 4 yrs for 52 mil
Kevin Gregg- via trade, signed to avoid arbitration
Signed Michael Wuertz to avoid arbitration
So Taguichi- minor league deal
Aaron Heilman via trade
Luis Vizcanio via trade
David Patton- Rule 5
Prospects from Cleveland trade: Jeff Stevens, John Gaub, Chris Archer
Prospect Henry Williamson in Baltimore trade

Players Left
Kerry Wood- Free Agent
Henry Blanco- Free Agent
Jose Ceda- trade to Florida
Mark Derosa- Traded to Cleveland
Jason Marquis- traded to Colorado
Ronny Cedeno- traded to Seattle
Felix Pie- traded to Baltimore
Garrett Olson who was acquired from Baltimore and now traded to Seattle for Heilman

Well, the Cubs have been pretty busy this offseason. Have done a lot of deals but not the big one for Peavy. Now with Olson being traded to Seattle it will not likely happen at all because Olson was the prospect that the Padres were looking at along with a few others such as Josh Vitters. Although they could substitute Sean Marshall instead for a trade.

And finally announced the winning bid for the sale of the team.

With Wood leaving a big thing to solve will be the closer's role which will be fought between Gregg and Carlos Marmol. Marmol should win it. It seems like they've traded power for speed and left-handed bats which is ok but not sure how they'll replace DeRo's numbers.Hoping Harden can stay healthy for at least 25 starts. Bradley is a good signing but probably overpaid. Dempster had to be resigned because he was their best pitcher but maybe overpaid on that one as well.

Overall, I feel the team has improved a little but maybe could have done more and has restocked the farm system. That's ok to me because nobody in the Central has made any big signings at all. Mostly I'm worried about the bullpen and the power that was lost.

Discuss!

So...
Pie became Heilman???

Cubs sign Bako to one-year deal to back up Soto.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/art...=.jsp&c_id=chc

Cubs deal Rich Hill to Orioles for player to be named and deal Michael Wuretz to Oakland for two minor-leaguers. Knew the Hill trade was coming but not the Wuertz one. Guess Samardizja will be guaranteed a spot in the bullpen if he doesn't get the 5th starter spot.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/art...=.jsp&c_id=chc

Curt Schilling interested in joining the Cubs. Piniella sounds intrigued.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...,0,27792.story

boooo ;)

I don't think the Cubs improved this offseason tbh.

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Originally Posted by michaelg123789

I don't think the Cubs improved this offseason tbh.

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It's easier to improve a bad team than a good team. Did they need to improve a lot anyways though? It'd be hard to improve the Cubs with the Yankees snatching up some of the big FA's.

The Cubs got better in areas that they needed to. I don't understand a couple of their moves though: Heilman and DeRosa mainly

Heilman is a pretty good reliever despite last year

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx...751&position=P

his K/9 were at his highest but his BB/9 had quite the spike along with HR/9. If you buy in to the NY media hype then Heilman should be better this year. By no means do I guarantee he'll return to form, but he's definitely worth a shot and I believe Cedeno was out of options with nowhere to go.

Cubs should suck some @$$:mad::mad:

He may be good, but I thought the Cubs were trying to dump salary by moving Marquis. and then they sign Bradley to almost the same deal they were giving Marquis. and Heilman brought on salary, and they got rid of Olson for him....a pretty good prospect

Good point about Olson, but I imagine they're more concerned about winning now than gathering prospects. If they thought Heilman would raise their chances in return for 2 guys who aren't going to help them this year I can see why they would make the deal. It is a bit odd though I'll give you that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jeffy25

He may be good, but I thought the Cubs were trying to dump salary by moving Marquis. and then they sign Bradley to almost the same deal they were giving Marquis. and Heilman brought on salary, and they got rid of Olson for him....a pretty good prospect

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They dumped Marquis to make payroll room FOR Bradley.

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Originally Posted by HoustonGM

They dumped Marquis to make payroll room FOR Bradley.

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I thought they dumped the payroll of Marquis so they could take on Peavy. Everything I saw said this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jeffy25

I thought they dumped the payroll of Marquis so they could take on Peavy. Everything I saw said this.

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They traded Marquis two days before inking Bradley. Most of what I saw indicated that that was what the trade was for, and the timing would back that up. I think they pretty much gave up on Peavy earlier in the winter.

Well recent news is that they have given the closers role to Kevin Gregg over Carlos Marmol. I'm not sure if I totally agree because of Carlos' electric stuff but will wait and see.

I have heard reports that Rich Harden has felt the best he has in a very long time. Whether this means anything is still to be determined but he could be in for a big year at least that's what I am hoping for.

Other topics are the stuggles of Derrek Lee so far this spring although I don't think it's a big problem. One problem though is Fukudome. He struggled mightily in the second half last year and now there is thinking by Lou to put him in the 2-hole. I know he wants balance in the lineup alternating righties and lefties but I'd keep Theriot in the 2-hole because of how good of a contact hitter he is.

This would be the projected lineup against righties:
Soriano
Fukudome
Lee
Bradley
Ramirez
Fontenot or Miles b/c you can put either other of them here
Soto
Theriot
Pitchers spot.

Against lefties you'd substitute Fukudome for Reed Johnson and put Miles in. They would probably move Theriot to the 2-hole then.

Cubs 25 man roster

Pitchers B/T Ht Wt DOB
48 Neal Cotts L/L 6-1 200 03/25/80
46 Ryan Dempster R/R 6-2 215 05/03/77
63 Kevin Gregg R/R 6-6 240 06/20/78
37 Angel Guzman R/R 6-3 200 12/14/81
40 Rich Harden L/R 6-1 195 11/30/81
47 Aaron Heilman R/R 6-5 225 11/12/78
30 Ted Lilly L/L 6-1 190 01/04/76
49 Carlos Marmol R/R 6-2 180 10/14/82
45 Sean Marshall L/L 6-7 220 08/30/82
54 David Patton R/R 6-3 205 05/18/84
51 Luis Vizcaino R/R 5-11 210 08/06/74
38 Carlos Zambrano S/R 6-5 255 06/01/81
Catchers B/T Ht Wt DOB
55 Koyie Hill S/R 6-0 190 03/09/79
18 Geovany Soto R/R 6-1 225 01/20/83

Infielders B/T Ht Wt DOB
17 Mike Fontenot L/R 5-8 170 06/09/80
6 Micah Hoffpauir L/L 6-3 215 03/01/80
25 Derrek Lee R/R 6-5 245 09/06/75
7 Aaron Miles S/R 5-8 180 12/15/76
16 Aramis Ramirez R/R 6-1 215 06/25/78
2 Ryan Theriot R/R 5-11 175 12/07/79

Outfielders B/T Ht Wt DOB
21 Milton Bradley S/R 6-0 225 04/15/78
1 Kosuke Fukudome L/R 6-0 185 04/26/77
4 Joey Gathright L/R 5-10 185 04/27/81
9 Reed Johnson R/R 5-10 180 12/08/76
12 Alfonso Soriano R/R 6-1 180 01/07/76

Released Chad Gaudin and optioned Samardjiza to AAA. David Patton and Angel Guzman fill the last two bullpen spots.