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Cubs Will Be Able To Spend, Hendry Says

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Despite recent reports suggesting the Cubs' free agency plans will be hampered by their violation of MLB's debt service rules, Cubs general manager Jim Hendry says his club's spending won't be affected, reports Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.

"We knew the path we went on in '07, '08, when the club was going up for sale, it was high level spending and obviously turned into divisional championship success," Hendry said.  "When you don't finish that off, and the length of the time that the sale took, there was… an area there where (spending was) a little stagnant, and moving forward. Nobody's fault. That's the price of doing business.

"There's never been any talk of not pursuing any free agents….There are no financial difficulties here with the Ricketts family. And i think it will be a great franchise, and better than it's ever been, down the road."

The Cubs have a lot of money coming off the books this winter, which has naturally set off speculation that Chicago will pursue a top-flight free agent like Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder.  Of course, if the Cubs are indeed able to continue business as usual, the question remains as to whether Hendry will be the one conducting it.  Hendry said that given the team's poor performance, he isn't surprised to hear whispers about possibly being fired, saying "that comes with the territory."

"I expected us to win at a higher level than three division championships," Hendry said.  "I don't mind that. This is professional baseball in a big market and a great fan base. We should've done better the last year and a half. So that comes with the territory, and that is my responsibility."

Cubs Designate Brad Snyder For Assignment

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The Cubs have designated Brad Snyder for assignment reports Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune (on Twitter). The move creates room on the roster for Casey Coleman, who was called up to reinforce the bullpen.

Snyder, 29, started one game in left field for the Cubs this year, striking out three times in four hitless at-bats. He picked up one hit and three more strikeouts in five pinch-hitting appearances. The lefty swinger hit a fine .342/.374/.568 with seven homers in 155 plate appearances with Chicago's Triple-A affiliate before being called up.

2012 Vesting Options Update

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Now that the calendar has flipped to June, let's check in on the status of the various vesting options around the league…

  • Bobby Abreu, Angels: $9MM option vests with 433 plate appearances. Abreu has already come to the plate 276 times this year, so this one seems life a safe bet to vest, barring injury.
  • Rafael Furcal, Dodgers: $12MM option vests with 600 plate appearances. Furcal is back on the disabled list with an oblique strain, and he's still a month away from returning. He has only 69 plate appearances this year, so this one won't vest.
  • Jon Garland, Dodgers: $8MM option vests with 190 innings pitched. Garland has been on the disabled list twice this year (the first two times of his career), and he's currently out with a sore shoulder. He only has 54 innings to his credit and won't be back anytime soon, so this one won't vest.
  • Francisco Rodriguez, Mets: $17.5MM option vests with 55 games finished and if doctors declare him healthy at the end of the year. K-Rod has already finished 25 games, putting him on pace for 65 at season's end. A trade to a team that would use him as a set-up man would change everything, but right now the option figures to vest.
  • Koji Uehara, Orioles: $4MM option vests with either 55 appearances or 25 games finished. Uehara has appeared in 26 games and finished 11, putting him on pace for 69 and 29, respectively.
  • Arthur Rhodes, Rangers: $4MM option vests with 62 appearances and if he's not on the disabled list at the end of the season. He's appeared in 20 games so far, putting him on pace for 50. Rhodes' workload could increase down the stretch.
  • Joakim Soria, Royals: $6MM option vests with 55 appearances. He's already appeared in 28 games and is on pace for 71. It's worth noting that even if the option doesn't vest, the Royals would still control Soria as an arbitration-eligible player in 2012.
  • Dan Wheeler, Red Sox: $3MM option vests with 65 games; increases to $3.25MM with 70 games. Wheeler has appeared in 17 games so far, so a stint on the disabled list did not help his cause.

Adam Wainwright's 2012 ($9MM) and 2013 ($12MM) options will not vest because he will finish the season on the disabled list after having Tommy John surgery. Aramis Ramirez's option depends on MVP Award finishes and whether or not he's traded, not plate appearances or another counting milestone.

Mark Buehrle is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2011 season and although he doesn't have a traditional option in his contract, he gets an extra year at $15MM tacked onto his current deal if he's traded at some point this season.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.

NL Central Notes: Astros, Fielder, Pirates, Cubs

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When the Brewers take on the Cardinals tonight, St. Louis skipper Tony La Russa will be managing his 5,000th MLB game. Here are notes on the Cardinals, the Brewers and their NL Central rivals…

  • The Astros announced that they have signed second round pick Adrian Houser via press release. His signing bonus is unknown, but MLB's slot recommendation for the 69th overall pick is approximately $530K.
  • Prince Fielder says he isn't competing with Albert Pujols or thinking about his next contract. But Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports says the Brewers' first baseman may be a safer free agent target than Pujols this coming offseason.
  • Pirates owner Bob Nutting told Bob Cohn of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he is "extremely pleased" with the progress the 30-31 Pirates have made this year. “Tremendous improvement from last year,” Nutting said. “I'm very pleased where we are. And, I really believe that we're beginning to see the impact of the changes we've made in the organization over the last three and a half years.”
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wonders how long A’s GM Billy Beane will want to remain in Oakland and points out that the Cubs and Astros could be looking for new leadership before long. Beane would be a “leading candidate” for any GM job if he were not in Oakland.
  • Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says new Astros owner Jim Crane should aim to draft and develop players as successfully as the Cardinals have.

Stark On Rollins, Fielder, Pujols, Olivo, Tigers

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A number of iconic players are in contract years, so ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark looks ahead to their free agent stock and provides other rumors from around the league. Here are the details:

  • No one Stark spoke with predicts David Ortiz will leave the Red Sox for another team.
  • Jose Reyes will be the number two free agent on the market this winter behind only Albert Pujols, according to one executive.
  • Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. acknowledges that it wouldn't be easy to replace Jimmy Rollins, even though the shortstop is no longer an MVP-caliber player. The Phillies ‘poked around’ for possible alternatives at short last offseason, according to Stark, who predicts a two-year deal for Rollins and the Phils this winter.
  • Prince Fielder will no doubt sign a lucrative free agent deal, but one executive says the first baseman’s body will be an issue: "It has been since high school, and it always will be." Fielder is 27 now, so an eight-year deal would expire after his age-35 season.
  • Pujols will test the market, but Stark and his sources find it hard to believe that he’d leave St. Louis for any old team. One executive predicts that the Cubs are the Cardinals’ main threat.
  • The Cubs aren’t ready to start selling and haven’t started shopping Carlos Zambrano, despite his recent outburst.
  • The Red Sox offered Miguel Olivo a one-year deal before re-signing Jason Varitek last offseason. Olivo eventually signed a two-year deal with the Mariners.
  • The Rangers are ‘stepping up’ their search for a right-handed setup man and maintain interest in Nationals reliever Todd Coffey.
  • Rival teams say the Tigers are looking for a left-handed reliever. Southpaws Daniel Schlereth, David Purcey, Charlie Furbush and Adam Wilk are currently in Detroit’s bullpen.

Olney On Padres, Wood, Pirates

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Teams like the Yankees, Rangers and Cardinals may not have to wait much longer for bullpen help. There will probably be relievers available immediately, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. Here’s the latest on the relief market and other notes from Olney:

  • The industry-wide expectation is that the Padres will trade Heath Bell soon.
  • Executives wonder if the Padres will decide to take advantage of Mike Adams' substantial trade value and trade him now. The setup man is under team control through 2012.
  • Rival teams will presumably call the Cubs to see if Kerry Wood would accept a trade. The right-hander signed a discounted $1.5MM contract last offseason because he wanted to return to Chicago.
  • Grant Balfour, Luke Gregerson and Michael Wuertz are other possible trade candidates, according to Olney.
  • Though the Pirates have developed more top talent under Neal Huntington, it’s an important year for the GM, who doesn’t have a contract after 2011. The Pirates drafted aggressively once again this year, so Huntington and his scouting staff will have a number of tough signs this summer, such as high schooler Josh Bell.

Central Notes: Humber, Cubs, Rasmus, Draft

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The Central divisions are home to not just the four worst records in baseball (the Twins, Astros, Cubs and Royals) but also to the Cardinals and their MLB-best 37-25 record.  Here's some news from the middle of the baseball map…

Quick Hits: Ramirez, Indians, Fowler

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Let's take a breather from the draft news with some Quick Hits..

  • Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez reiterated his agent's comments from earlier today, saying that he "wouldn't accept a trade", writes Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com.  The veteran is in the final year of a five-year, $75MM deal
  • The Indians announced that they released infielder Wes Hodges to create Triple-A roster space at Columbus for Nick Johnson, who joins the Clippers today (Twitter link). Hodges, a 2006 second round pick, had a .219/.276/.325 line at Triple-A this year, though he posted a .270/.308/.430 line with 15 homers there last year.
  • The Rockies probably couldn't move Dexter Fowler for much right now if they wanted to, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post.  The centerfielder is hitting .238/.340/.348 so far this year.

Aramis Ramirez Won’t Waive No-Trade Clause

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Aramis Ramirez's agent Paul Kinzer said that his client most likely would not drop his no-trade clause this season, writes Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune.  Furthermore, the third baseman hopes to play for the Cubs again in 2012.

“He doesn’t even want to take a trade. He took less years and less money to stay in Chicago [in 2006], so that is definitely his first option,” Kinzer said. “Aramis has a full no-trade clause, so he doesn’t want to go anywhere. He’s a 10-and-5 guy and I don’t think he’ll go anywhere. We will have to see when it comes to that.”

Ramirez, 32, is in the final year of a five-year, $75MM deal.  The Cubs hold an option on Ramirez in 2012 for $16MM, though roughly two weeks ago SI's Jon Heyman wrote that the club doesn't plan on exercising it.  If the club doesn't exercise the option they will instead pay Ramirez a $2MM buyout.

Kinzer also represents Cubs players Geovany Soto, Starlin Castro and John Grabow.  The agent isn't concerned about the club moving Soto or Castro, though he acknowledged that Grabow could attract trade interest.

Draft Notes: Bradley, Bundy, Hager, Starling, Cubs

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The first and supplemental rounds are over and teams are reaching out to their top picks and setting up media conference calls with them. Here’s the latest on the draft from the players and teams themselves…

  • Archie Bradley (selected seventh overall by the D’Backs) says fellow Oklahoma high schooler Dylan Bundy (selected fourth overall by the Orioles) pushes him to be a better player. “With his workout and the way he goes about the game, it puts some weight on my shoulders to try to equal that or better that” Bradley said.
  • High school infielder Jake Hager (selected 32nd overall by the Rays) wants to start his pro career soon. Though he sees himself as a shortstop, he remains flexible to playing elsewhere on infield if that’s where the Rays want him to play. Hager describes himself as a hard worker who’s coachable. The Nevada native “had a feeling” the Rays would take him, since they were scouting him hard most weeks.
  • High school outfielder Bubba Starling (selected fifth overall by the Royals) describes himself as an equally good football and baseball player. The Kansas native admits to being a Royals fan, though he says he didn’t have time to see tons of games, since he plays so many sports. Starling says he felt stronger later in the season, after returning from a tweaked quad muscle.
  • Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken explained the selection of Javier Baez (ninth overall). “Javier has a tremendously live bat, is versatile in the field and we are happy to welcome him to the Cubs organization,” Wilken said in a team statement.  “He has a great arm and is a smart baserunner in tune with the game.
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