Cubs Rumors

Padres Backed Away From Cubs-Peavy Deal?

By Tim Dierkes | January 6, 2009 at 8:08am CDT

A note we missed from last night’s Gordon Edes story:

The Cubs and Padres appeared close to a deal for Jake Peavy in Las Vegas, but the Padres backed away, leaving the Cubs convinced that someone over Kevin Towers’ head pulled the plug.

You may recall that during the Winter Meetings Towers told reporters that Cubs GM Jim Hendry pulled out of the deal.

Odds and Ends: Burrell, Bradley, Abreu

By Tim Dierkes | January 6, 2009 at 12:13am CDT

Links for Tuesday…

RotoAuthority asks for your #1 fantasy baseball bust for 2009.
Keith Law calls the Pat Burrell signing a "major bargain," panning the Raul Ibanez contract by comparison. River Ave. Blues says the recent Burrell and Milton Bradley deals prove that Brian Cashman was wise not to offer arbitration to Bobby Abreu.
Will the Rays have enough money to re-sign Rocco Baldelli now? Buster Olney still thinks he will land with Boston.
Gordon Edes says Jim Hendry had a stealth dinner with Bradley during the November GM Meetings. Edes adds that the Cubs believe Derek Lowe is too expensive.
Cool story about a guy trying to get an autograph on each card in the 1983 Fleer baseball card set.
Baseball America’s Jim Callis has the updated ’09 draft order. Callis also weighs in on the broken free agent compensation system, which is up for discussion after the 2011 season.

Tribune To Choose New Cubs Owner Soon?

By Tim Dierkes | January 5, 2009 at 11:51pm CDT

The Cubs’ ownership situation may be resolved soon, according to Ameet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune. Sachdev says the Tribune Co. is close to choosing one of the three finalists. But the decision is no lock to happen quickly, and even then negotiations for the sale would still have to take place. Other complications exist as well. Sachdev fills us in on the finalists:

Three prospective buyers made offers for the franchise at the end of November: Chicago real estate investor Hersch Klaff; the Ricketts family, founders of online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; and a group led by Marc Utay, a New York private-equity investor who grew up in Chicago.

Mark Cuban is not among the finalists, but here is his take on the whole situation.

Odds and Ends: Andruw, Marquis, Coonelly

By Tim Dierkes | January 5, 2009 at 10:42am CDT

Links for Monday…

In his first post for RotoAuthority, David Chase looks at players who were said to have lost weight or gained muscle during Spring Training ’08. How did they perform in ’08?
The Red Sox inked infielder Nick Green to a minor league deal.
Murray Chass explains why the New York Times Company’s purchase of a share of the Red Sox was a conflict of interest.
Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik: "We’ve got an offer out right now for a piece of the puzzle, and I’d hope to hear in the next few days."
David Laurila talked to new Mariners exec Tony Blengino. One of many interesting quotes (in reference to the Bill Bavasi regime and the ’07 club): "I thought that it was clear going in that, with all due respect, they overrated their team from the last year."
The Yankees will introduce Mark Teixeira tomorrow. He passed his physical today.
River Ave. Blues and Peter Abraham ask whether the Yankees should consider Andruw Jones. Evan Brunell looks at other possible fits.
The Dodgers talked to the Cubs about Jason Marquis, according to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick.
Pirates president Frank Coonelly joins Mark Attanasio (Brewers) and Drayton McLane (Astros) in supporting a salary cap.
Jeff Moorad might be aggressive in the draft if he takes over the Padres. Tom Krasovic adds that the Padres have already discussed spending up to $6MM on their #3 pick this June.
Keith Law likes the Angels’ Brian Fuentes signing, and doesn’t think the Indians gave up much for Mark DeRosa.
If the Indians are to add another significant player, they’ll have to get creative with contracts.
RAB and In Mo We Trust discuss Kevin Kernan’s recent suggestion that the Yanks sign Oliver Perez over Andy Pettitte.
A couple of recent Hot Stove Dailies from Jeff Passan: the Braves and A’s.
Athletics Nation asks whether Brian Sabean is "out-GMing" Billy Beane this winter.
Sox Machine on why the Gavin Floyd–Brian Roberts rumor makes no sense.

More On Aaron Miles

By Alex Walsh | January 3, 2009 at 4:02pm CDT

Some interesting facts are mentioned in Derrick Goold’s article about Aaron Miles’ departure from St. Louis.

Apparently, the Cardinals were prepared to offer $4.3MM themselves – only $600,000 less than the Cubs. What drew Miles to Chicago, however, was a more sincere interest demonstrated by Cub management. As reported previously, the Cardinals waited until the last minute to give Miles their offer. Goold suggests that offer was delayed by dealings with Adam Kennedy.

Odds and Ends: Bard, Cubs, Guardado

By Tim Dierkes | January 2, 2009 at 10:00pm CDT

Links for Friday (feels like a Monday)…

Boston’s deal for catcher Josh Bard is official. Bard had offers from the Cubs and Nationals as well.
SI.com’s Jon Heyman ranks the top 20 remaining free agents.
RotoAuthority asks readers to name their #1 sleeper for 2009.
The Marlins reportedly have interest in reliever Jesus Colome.
MLB.com’s Barry Bloom explains that the arbitration filing period begins Monday. He gives a nice primer on the arbitration system for those that need to brush up. Ryan Howard is due for another big raise.
Buster Olney does not like the Cubs’ recent moves, particularly the Mark DeRosa trade.
Jeff Wilson says the Rangers remain in contact with free agent reliever Eddie Guardado.

Cubs To Win Battle For Milton Bradley?

By | January 2, 2009 at 6:13pm CDT

Chico Harlan of the Washington Post believes the Cubs will win the sweepstakes for free agent outfielder Milton Bradley.

The Nationals made it known earlier this week that they also have serious interest in signing Bradley. But Harlan spoke to a source in Chicago who "thinks it’s just a matter of time before Bradley puts on the C– especially because Chicago just dumped some salaries to clear space for the 30-year-old free agent." Bradley is thought to be looking for a three-year, $30MM contract. The Cubs have cleared around $8MM from their ’09 payroll, so they should have no problem reaching his demands.

Odds and Ends: Bonds, Boras, Snell

By Tim Dierkes | January 1, 2009 at 10:06am CDT

Links for Thursday…

MLBTR had over 3,500 posts in 2008. Thanks for reading! In ’08 we added a Facebook page, a mobile site, and weekly chats while also redesigning the main site. It was my first year working full-time on MLBTR.
Barry Bonds had hip surgery with the intent of playing in 2009, according to John Shea.
The Rays re-signed catcher Michel Hernandez to a minor league deal.
Darren Rovell interviewed Scott Boras.
Ian Snell agrees with Jack Wilson – the Pirates need more players.
A discussion of power/speed players over at RotoAuthority.
The River Avenue Blues writers break down the Johnny Damon contract in a post on Peter Abraham’s blog. They argue that he’s been worth 13MM per year so far.
Mike Berardino expects the Marlins to remain quiet for now, but predicts that they’ll find a bargain or two before Spring Training.
The Toronto Star looks ahead towards a potentially tough year for Toronto sports fans, no thanks to the Blue Jays.
The recent merger of Aaron Miles and the Cubs isn’t well-received at FanGraphs.

Peavy To Cubs Unlikely

By Tim Dierkes | January 1, 2009 at 8:55am CDT

Yahoo’s Tim Brown asked Padres GM Kevin Towers whether the Cubs’ talks for Jake Peavy might reopen now that they’ve freed up cash. Towers’ reply: "Doubtful." To Tom Krasovic, Towers said, "The Cubs’ most recent trades have no bearing or connections with us and the Cubs in a potential Peavy deal." Krasovic notes that one big factor for the Cubs remains getting approval from new ownership to add Peavy’s $16MM salary to the 2010 payroll.

Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times agrees that the team’s trade of Mark DeRosa "was made independent of Peavy considerations." Brown says the $8MM or so the Cubs cleared from the ’09 payroll is to pay for Milton Bradley, their top right field target. Bradley wants three years and $30MM and the Cubs will approach that.

Bruce Levine of ESPN Radio considers the Cubs signing Bradley a "done deal," though the Nationals were reported yesterday to have serious interest. Wittenmyer says the Cubs still "appear confident" about signing Bradley. It could be something they try to announce at the Cubs Convention, which begins January 16th. Paul Sullivan says the Cubs have been Bradley’s "preferred choice since Day One of the offseason."

Odds and Ends: Miles, Bako, Sheets

By | December 31, 2008 at 8:50pm CDT

A couple of links for you bar-hopping kids with Blackberries. Happy New Year’s Eve. Be safe out there…

Aaron Miles said the Cardinals jumped in on the last day, but by then it was too late. He was somewhat miffed by being non-tendered twice during his Cardinals career.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Paul Bako is expected to sign with the Cubs for around $500,000. He’ll be a nice, cheap backup to Geovany Soto.
Indians GM Mark Shapiro told Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Mark DeRosa is the "perfect fit" for the Tribe.
Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic wants the Diamondbacks to go after Ben Sheets. "Right now."
San Francisco Chronicle beat writer Henry Schulman is preaching patience to the Giants’ fan base.

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