To bring a title to Wrigley

[twinsGM]

Game 4

It was either Cormier or Marquis who would start this game, and based on playoff performances, we chose Marquis. That didn't go so well. He allowed 2 in the 1st, we got one in the first, and another in the 3rd, but the Indians offense unloaded in the 6th. The Tribe scored 8 runs, 5 off Marquis, who got one out in that innings, then 3 off Pena, who also got one out, the Delcarmen finally ended it, and went on to pitcher 2.1 innings allowing one run. We couldn't score once again, and the Indians scored 11 in the game, we scored 2. We have one game left in Chicago, and possibly in the season.

Pre-Game
I could feel the owners breathing down my neck for the whole of batting practice. After all these years of never having a trophy, they would settle for nothing less than a championship, and were disappointed when that didn't happen. and 'YEAH DAAAAWG' thought he had it tough....

To make matters worse, Rich Hill, the Game 7 starter if there is one (hopefully there is) told us he doesn't want to return to Chicago next season during BP. Pretty much, he doesn't like it here. He is a very good pitcher and I was interested in re-signing him for 2009, I decided I'll find someone else who would appreciate playing for us.

[twinsGM]

Game 5
From the atmosphere at Wrigley, you would think the Cubs were up 3 games to none, but it was still Indians 3, Cubs 1. That's what I love about Chicago. No matter what, we always have faithful fans, unlike many clubs who just have a handful of hardcore fans, and mostly fair-weather "fans.

The first third of the game was scoreless, but in the 4th, the owners' faces started to look as if they were attending a funeral for one of their parents. My face was close to the same, as were the 38,000+ Cubs fans at the game and the 100's of thousands watching at home. Victor Martinez hit a 2-run homer to get the 2-0 lead, and in the 6th, Hafner singled in a run to make it 3-0. But it didn't end there. Johnny Gomes doubled, scoring martinez, then Gutierrez homered in the very next AB, scoring 3. Every ounce of life was sucked out of the owner's box.
In the 8th, with a 7-0 score in favor of Cleveland, Soriano tripled, scoring the pinch-hitter Daryle Ward, but that was it. We showed no effort at all in the 9th, as Lee, Aramis and Fukudome all struck out to end it, and the Indians were world champs. "Maybe next year", Chicago, for the 100th time.

[rockiesfan4ever]

Nice Try

[twinsGM]

We had our second meeting in a week, in one of the meeting rooms at Wrigley, just 1 day after Game 5.
The owners and I put the World Series behind us very quickly, and we were already thinking of next year's possibilities.
For re-signings, here's what we did:

Released:
D. Ward
M. Jacobs
M. Treanor
A. Cintron
R. Hill
L. Cormier (we couldn't pay what he wanted)
R. Dempster
B. Howry
S. Erye
N. Cotts

Re-Signed:
Dan Uggla (1 year, 3.55 mil)
Carlos Marmol (1 year, 2.3 mil)
Angel Guzman (1 year, 2 mil)
Kelly Shoppach (1 year, 1.2 mil)


Our biggest loss was Rich Hill, who wanted 9 mil per year, but didn't want to stay in Chicago anyway, so we let him go.


The 3 best FA hitters were:
prince Fielder 87/93 seeking 13mil per
Corey Hart 91/91 seeking 9 mil per year
Miguel Cabrera 89/89 seeking 12 mil per year


We decided no on all of them, mainly because of money (26 mil under budget) but more importantly the positions they played were already taken on our roster.

Pitchers:
Seth McClung was one of our top choices (90/96, seeking 2.6 mil per), and he signed with us to become our new third starter, for 3 years, 2.3 per.

Dustin McGowan was another, to be our 4th starter. the 90/93 SP signed for 2 years, 6.35 per with a team option of 7 mil.

Our rotation was now:
1. Zambrano
2. Lilly
3. McClung
4. McGowan
5. Marshall 80/85

I still wasn't satisfied. I put Marshall and Marquis on the block, and Colorado offered Ubaldo Jimenez, 83/90.

I was real interested in Ubaldo, and I put together this offer, which was accepted:
CHC traded Marquis, Jason (P), Holliman, Mark (P), Marshall, Sean (P), Qunitero, Ramon (P) and Casmpusano, Edward (P) to COL for Jimenez, Ubaldo (P), Nix, Jayson (2B), Stewart, Ian (3B) and Smith, Seth (RF)

Now my rotation was awesome and young. The last piece of the Cubs to fix was the bench, and we called up Houston, who had just signed Willy Taveras.

CHC traded Petrick, Billy (P), Gomez, Danny (P) and Hart, kevin (P) to HOU for Taveras, Willy (CF) and $6,500,000

Taveras is very fast and has good contact, and he will compete with Pie for the starting CF job.

For my last moves, I aded 2 FAs:
Howie Kendrick for 2 years, 6.2 mil per (his 94 contact is just what we need off the bench)

Matt Diaz for 2 years, 5.15 mil per
(also great contact)


In just one week, right before spring training, my coaches and I will be sitting down to talk about our position battles, the roster and any FAs that are available still.

[twinsGM]

Trade Log: (putting this up here for reference)

1. CHC Traded Ascanio, Jose (P) and Veal, Donald (P) to BOS for Ramirez, Manny (LF) and $1,000,000


2. CHC traded Samardzija, jeff (P), Blanco, Henry (C) and $1,500,000 to FLA for Jacobs, Mike (1B) and Uggla, Dan (2B)

3. CHC traded Mateo, Juan (P) for Cormier, Lance (P) and $500,000

4. CHC traded Gallagher, Sean (P), Patterson, Eric (2B), Murton, Matt (LF), Pawelek, Mark (P) and $1,000,000 to BOS for Delcarmen, Manny (P) and Okajima, Hideki (P)

5. CHC traded Closser, J.D. (C) and Atkins, Mitch (P) to FLA for Ross, Cody (OF)

6. CHC traded Cedeno, Ronny (2B), Reynolds, Kyle (3B), Torres, Andres (LF), Hill Koyie (C), and Huseby, Chris (P) to ARI for pena, Tony (P)

7. CHC traded Lieber, Jon (P), Fontenot, Mike (P), Blanco, Andres (SS), Colvin, Tyler (CF), Jackson, Lewis (SS) to CLE for Shoppach, Kelly (C)

8.CHC traded Marquis, Jason (P), Holliman, Mark (P), Marshall, Sean (P), Qunitero, Ramon (P) and Casmpusano, Edward (P) to COL for Jimenez, Ubaldo (P), Nix, Jayson (2B), Stewart, Ian (3B) and Smith, Seth (RF)

9. CHC traded Petrick, Billy (P), Gomez, Danny (P) and Hart, kevin (P) to HOU for Taveras, Willy (CF) and $6,500,000

10. CHC traded Ramirez, Manny (OF), Mrestrik, Alessandro (P) and Pignatiello, Carmen (P) to FLA for Treanor, Matt (C) and $1,500,00

[filihok]

That's a busy year, I hope your cell phone has a lot of minutes

[twinsGM]

LOL, no I just use 5 different cell phones, and I usually don't run out of minutes.

[twinsGM]

Awards:
AL MVP: David Ortiz
NL MVP: mark Teixeira
AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb
AL ROY: Taylor Teagarden
NL ROY: Kosuke Fukudome

(Tex had 11 more RBI than Soriano and an average 20 points better.

[twinsGM]

With Spring Training right around the corner, My coaches met me in the board room right next to my temporary office at Hohokam Park in Mesa, Arizona.

"Hello, gentleman." I said as they all entered at once.
They all entered at the same time, headed by manager John Farrell.

"You all know what you're here for, so let's get to it. Our roster. Let's start off with the lineup. At catcher, we got Kelly Shoppach and Geovany Soto."
Bob Apodaca, the pitching coach answered this one, "Soto is a better hitter, handles pitchers better, and with his young talent, we want to keep him in the lineup, not on the bench, where he could lose interest in the team and become unhappy."
"I agree." Dave Collins and Farrell both said.
"So, Soto's pretty much got the job, but we're keeping Shoppach on the roster as a backup and pinch hitter. Now, first base, I think Derrek Lee is the best choice there, especially since we released our 2 backup first-basemans." I said, "At second base, we've got Dan Uggla and Howie Kendick. This may be the toughest one here."


"I say since it's so close, we let them battle it out during spring training, but if I had to make a decision now, I'd go Uggla because he is a little better of a hitter, and can field just as well as Kendrick." Farrell said.
"yes, let them battle it out in March." Brad Mills, the 3rd-base coach said.


"Shortstop, our only option is Theriot, and he's good, so unless something goes terribly wrong during spring training, he gets the job." And everyone nodded in agreement.
We decided the same thing for third-base, left field and right-field, where we'd have Ramirez, Soriano and Fukudome.

In center, we have 3 candidates:
Willy Taveras, Matt Diaz and Felix Pie
I personally like Taveras, with his great contact and great speed, which are the 2 most important skills for a leadoff guy, which we need.
Farrell disagrees; "Pie is the same situation as Soto. We need him, and we don't want him to lose interest. He can hit good and field as well."

" That's not a good reason at all. We picked Soto because he is better than Shoppach anyway, but you're saying we take Pie over Taveras just because he is younger and will be better in 2012 than Willy? That's ridiculous! We're in it to win now! I'll trade Pie if he doesn't like there's someone better than him playing while he's not! We need to----" Farrel cut me off:
"Pie is almost as fast, and fast enough for a leadoff. Willy is over 30 years old, and Pie will be better than him next year and every year past that until he retires, maybe even this season!"
I told everyone we were going to take a break, and that they should come back in 10 minutes. As I walked over to my office and watched BP from my window, I thought about how I was going to get rid of one of my center fielders, and Pie was the one I thought was the best one to trade; the one we needed least and the one who'd get us the most in return, and if Farrell didn't like that, I could remove him from the club as well...

[twinsGM]

After the meeting resumed, we voted on our preferences, and the coaching staff decided Taveras is the front-runner going into spring training for the CF job and the leadoff spot.

[CatKnight]

Looks like there might be some tension developing between you and Farrell. Keep it up! Multiple ideas on where the club should go makes for great reading

[twinsGM]

Looks like there might be some tension developing between you and Farrell. Keep it up! Multiple ideas on where the club should go makes for great reading

Yeah, there is, but it's only one thing and the team did well in his 1st year so he's still got the job for sure. Thanks!

[twinsGM]

Ok everyone, I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow, getting back June 22, so don't think I just became unactive, I will keep posting on this after the 22nd of June.

[twinsGM]

I will start the season soon...

[twinsGM]

I was going to start that, but Mogul won't let me open that game. Guess I'll be doing a new franchise soon...