Aramis Ramirez To Test The Market
With Aramis Ramirez now available to the highest bidder, the Cubs figure to have yet another vacancy to fill. Trying to win in 2007 with this core of players will be a huge challenge for Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella.
A Cubs source of mine tells me that Hendry offered the original six year, $90MM contract that agent Paul Kinzer wanted. Kinzer of course rejected it, as he feels his client is worth Beltran money now.
The Cubs camp is not happy with Kinzer after this situation as well as Rafael Furcal last winter. The strained relationship may stop the Cubs from chasing Vicente Padilla.
Cubs Could Settle For Kei Igawa
A week ago for my Top 50 Free Agents list, I ranked lefty Kei Igawa 24th overall and had this to say:
"The Cubs have a clear need for a starter or two, and an increased focus on scouting Japan could lead to Jim Hendry to Igawa. Only one team can get Matsuzaka, after all. Igawa would be a fine consolation prize."
With the winning Matsuzaka bid likely to exceed $30MM, it appears that my speculation could become reality. After reading some scouting reports on Igawa, though, I wonder if I ranked him too high. Keith Law ranked him 31st, noting a below average fastball that sets up his plus curve.
With Igawa, the Cubs’ rotation would look something like this:
Carlos Zambrano
Free Agent
Rich Hill
Kei Igawa
Wade Miller/Mark Prior
Relying on the oft-injured Miller/Prior combo for the fifth starter spot could be workable, if the Cubs get a big fish to be the #2 starter. That could be Vicente Padilla or Randy Wolf in my mind. Padilla shares an agent with Aramis Ramirez and Jim Hendry has discussed the possibility.
CubDumb On Pierre, Wood
CubDumb has consulted its insiders and uncovered a couple of near-certainties for the Cubs. (The post begins with a look at the questionable past effects of Gerald Perry, new Cubs hitting coach).
The first certainty is that Juan Pierre won’t return. This pleases me, even if it means the Cubs are three pitchers lighter for just one year of service. Is it just me, or does it seem like teams just aren’t interested in Pierre’s bag of tricks this offseason? I guess that’s progress. Perhaps the Cubs will now turn their attention to Dave Roberts or better yet J.D. Drew.
The second is that Kerry Wood will be back. C’mon Kerry, give us 60 dominant innings before your arm falls off.
Where’s Sheffield Headed?
The Detroit papers this morning seem to see Gary Sheffield wearing a Tigers uniform in 2007.
On the other hand, Peter Gammons appeared on Mike & Mike this morning and saw the Cubs as the favorite with a deal that would include Mike Wuertz. Gammons thinks the deal will be done soon. And don’t forget the Padres and A’s on the fringes of this thing. You have to think the J.D. Drew situation weakens Sheffield’s market value a bit.
Cubs Re-Sign Wade Miller
The Cubs have re-signed 30 year-old starter Wade Miller to a one-year deal. $1.5MM is guaranteed and Miller has the potential to reach $5.25MM with incentives.
Miller looked like an ace in the making after winning 16 games for the 2001 Astros as a 24 year-old. However, he hasn’t topped 200 innings since. He finally had labrum surgery in October of 2005 after tossing 91 innings for the Red Sox.
In 2006, Miller earned a million bucks to pitch 21 innings for the Cubs. After he signed, Miller said it was the best he’d felt in years and was targeting a May or June Cubs debut. He was slowed down by fatigue along the way in rehab, though, and his fastball was coming in around 85-88. He finally pitched the Cubs in September. His velocity was around 88-90.
Back in the day (2001) Miller threw around 92-94, touching 97 at times. He was worked very hard by Larry Dierker, though, and a cascade of injuries followed. Miller ranked 12th in Pitcher Abuse Points in ’01.
If he is to succeed as the Cubs’ fifth starter, he’s going to have to do so as a different type of pitcher due in no small part to Dierker. I’m not even sure Dierker tracked pitch counts back then.
Bucco Blog On Cubs, Pirates Payrolls
Couple of interesting notes just came in via the fine Bucco Blog.
First off, the Cubs may push payroll all the way up to $120MM. The author indicates that Lou Piniella wants Aramis Ramirez, Jason Schmidt, and Gary Sheffield for his 2007 Cubs.
Second, the Pirates are looking at a $65MM payroll for next season. Bucco Blog says that means at least $25MM to spend. With roughly $35MM tied up, the Pirates should be big spenders no matter how the exact math stacks up.
Lot of money flowing out of the NL Central this winter.
Paul Sullivan On Cubs Hot Stove
Could the hiring of Gerald Perry as hitting coach signal an era of change in Chicago? Thus far Jim Hendry has made a point of ignoring the free pass, but Perry is said to encourage a little patience. Of course, Oakland’s walk mandate was organization-wide so we can’t give Perry all the credit.
Anyway, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune has the word on the Cubs’ latest hot stove dealings.
– Final offer for Aramis Ramirez will probably come in Saturday night.
– The Cubs wouldn’t mind adding Dave Roberts as the new leadoff man. He walks at about 10% of the time, which is nice.
– They may also consider bringing Miguel Batista back to serve as the fifth starter. Batista was last seen in Chicago as a 26 year-old starter with control issues. The Cubs traded him in ’97 for Henry Rodriguez. Now Batista is a 36 year-old starter with a tad better control. You could do worse for a #5; he keeps the ball on the ground.
– Sullivan’s sources close to Carlos Lee say that the North Side is the slugger’s preferred destination – not Houston. We had been hearing this talk in Chicago papers for a while but the Houston hype has drowned it out lately.
– The Cubs have interest in Jason Schmidt at four years or less. I would hope that’d be the breaking point – five years would be truly absurd.
Possible Cubs Matsuzaka Bid Amount
The buzz around Chicago today is that the Cubs plan on submitting a bid of $21 million for the rights to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka. If other teams believe this leak to be accurate, it may cause them to up the ante if they have not yet submitted bids.
The Yankees, Mets, Rangers, and Red Sox are said to be the other four teams in the game.
Kaplan: Cubs To Sign Ramirez By Saturday
An emailer writes in to inform us that Dave Kaplan of WGN Radio says that the Cubs should have Aramis Ramirez signed by Saturday or earlier. Apparently Ramirez is trying to squeeze out a few extra bucks but will stay in Chicago.
After that, Cubs GM Jim Hendry can move on to other acquisitions. Gary Sheffield could be a prime target, though the Cubs are hurting for a veteran starter or two.
Ramirez and Cubs Close?
I am hearing from emailers that George Ofman of WSCR The Score out of Chicago is reporting that Cubs sources indicate the team is close to a deal with Aramis Ramirez. Word is that it is for five years and a little over $14MM per year.
Also, while we’re on the topic, check out Fire Joe Morgan’s latest. It’s time intelligent people start fighting back against the whole Ramirez laziness thing with, I don’t know, some logic or stats or something.
And I must say I absolutely loathe the whole "well, we won/lost with this player on the team, so we should keep/get rid of him solely for that reason." Come on now. That logic is the basis of a million bad decisions. Hey, the Devil Rays lost 101 games with Scott Kazmir in the rotation. They should cut him. The Cardinals won the World Series in a season in which they gave Aaron Miles 426 ABs? They should sign him to a three-year deal.