Odds & Ends: Cubs, Nationals, Myers, Hudson

Would be nice if Lowe wouldn't mind making a return to the closer role. He would be a pricey closer but an effective one.

"I knew the Cubs would be favorites for Jaramillo. I thought the Giants and Mets would be right there, too. I have no problem with Rudy coming to Chicago if it gets done. Now he can help Bradley again. Oh, wait..."

Hahaha.

Anyway, yeah, not bad news at all. I guess it is one of the more likely destinations though. I mean, with the extreme unlikelihood the club will under produce with the bats once again and all. No better way to make yourself look great then to sign up for a job that that will do itself quite a bit. This is a concern I have to admit I kind of hold about him already, coming from the whole Texas inflation and all... Hope he is as good as advertised and not overinflated because of his previous, nearly fail-proof, situation.

if the cubs to get this guy do you think its to keep bradely around??? i hope not... because he is a cancer on the baseball team... it would be awsome to figure out a way to get adam dunn it would be crazy to see how many homers he would hit out of wrigely...

Interesting rumor about Hudson. First he goes from leaving Atl, now they may up the anty to 3 years.

If we were to sign him for a long term deal one of our current SP would have to be traded to acquire a power bat.

It has been mentioned before but I like the match of a Lowe/Byrnes swap. If the D-Backs already look at the 11M in Byrnes as a sunk cost they could take on the 3/45 from Lowe and look at it like a 3/34 contract which isn't that bad for 34 starts a year where 3/4s of those are 3ER or less starts. Also if Webb comes off the books next year(healthy or not) the D-Backs could use a veteran starter to go with Haren and Scherzer.

On the Braves side they woudn't get much of a return or much salary relief this year but they would be free of a contract they don't need over the next two years. Also if they plan on leaving Schafer and/or Heyward in the minors for a few months to start the season, Byrnes could be a perfect stopgap type player until then. His numbers, as you could guess, are pretty bad but his SLG% vsLHP over the last three years ('07 .455,'08 .484,'09 .494) is actually pretty good. So if we planned on going with a Diaz/McLouth/Church OF for the first few months we could spell McLouth and Church (who's numbers dip quite a bit against LHP) with Byrnes's pop and speed vsLHP. Then when we bring up Schafer and/or Heyward we could release Byrnes and send Church and/or Diaz back to being very good 4OFers and PHers.

If I were Myers I would sign a one year incentive deal to pitch in a park where homers go to die, PETCO. I'm not sure they need him but it may give them some freedom to develop their younger starter in the minors more or trade Bell for a CFer and let Myers close.

What are the chances of Myers being signed to be a closer? If I recall corectly, he had some good success out of the pen. Maybe a team like the Blue Jays, Tigers, Rays, or even the Cubs could look at him for a closer candidate. He would be cheaper than some of the other alternatives out there. I don't know what Myers would think of that though.

Myers prefered being a closer, I believe. Pretty sure I saw an interview with him where he said that. He only became a starter when the team got Lidge and he did what they asked him to do.