We all knew it was coming.According to Ken Rosenthal of MSN Sports, the Cubs and Marlins are in the final stages of a deal which would send Carlos Zambrano to the Miami Marlins for Chris Volstad. According to reports from Rosenthal and ESPN Chicago's Bruce Levine on Twitter, the Cubs will eat roughly $15 million of Zambrano's $18 million salary for 2012.Zambrano, in the last year of a massive five-year, $91.7 extension handed to him by former GM Jim Hendry, will move to the Miami Marlins. Full of fresh faces in manager Ozzie Guillen, shortstop Jose Reyes and pitchers Mark ...
The 2011-12 offseason's free-agent list made roars over the top-end talent sure to make headlines when they signed.Two of the best first basemen in the game, Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, were both on the market at the same time.Jose Reyes and Aramis Ramirez also presented huge upgrade potential in the infield, and both switched teams while staying in the same division.Carlos Beltran and Grady Sizemore were easily the top outfielders, both signing short-term deals to play in the Midwest.On the pitching side of things, there were a handful of mighty closers to be had. Jonathan Papelbon, Ryan Madson and ...
Right now, the Chicago Cubs are a wreck of a team.Yes, they have some nice pieces in Starlin Castro and Matt Garza; but they also have a lot of veterans who simply won't stick around long enough to help the team when the time is right for contention. Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster come off the books after this year (a combined $32 million commitment for 2012), and their starts every fifth day will need to be replaced.As of right now, it appears the Cubs' rotation will consist of some combination of Garza, Zambrano, Dempster, Randy Wells, Andrew Cashner, Travis ...
As has been reported by Phil Rogers of ESPNChicago.com, the Cubs and Reds are quite far down the road in working out a trade that would send lefty setup man Sean Marshall to Cincinnati for fellow lefty Travis Wood and a prospect or two.At first, I was opposed to the deal, simply because I was blinded by a strong personal bias towards Sean Marshall. With the exception of his rocky rookie campaign as a 23-year-old, Marshall always performed well as a middle-to-back of the rotation starter and exceptionally once he made the full-time conversion to short relief in 2010. Marshall's ...
The 2011 Chicago Cubs are revitalizing old Cub ways, those of ineptitude and fans only going to Wrigley Field to be there, more as a tourist attraction than a ballpark. More and more members of the younger generation of Cubs fans (myself, 20, included) are now seeing the truth in Steve Goodman's "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request."It's only mid-July, and yet the prospect of a .500 season might take a miracle. The roster is filled with guys that either have no place on an MLB roster, are overpaid, or have the last names of Wood, Marshall, Barney, Castro, and ...
2011 looks to be a year of many questions for the Chicago Cubs. Gone are Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee and Ted Lilly, and in are Darwin Barney, Carlos Pena, and Matt Garza. Mike Quade looks to prove Jim Hendry and Tom Ricketts right in choosing him over fan favorite Ryne Sandberg as manager; and Mark Riggins is the new pitching coach in place of Larry Rothschild - poached from the Cubs by the Yankees. All these changes could prove for a very interesting season - be it good or bad.Begin Slideshow
When Tom Ricketts took over the Cubs coming into the 2010 season, there was new-found hope throughout the entire Cubs fan base. A lifelong fan had bought the team. Surely a World Series was in the works.Since then, all that's happened is more of the same. If Tom Ricketts (who admits he isn't "a baseball person") wants to bring a World Series trophy to the Cubs, he's going to have to shake things up.Begin Slideshow
A good number of predictions have the Cubs going out into free agency and trying to buy their way into a title, as they did after the abysmal 2006. There are a lot of similarities: managerial vacancy, terrible record, and obvious holes to be filled.However, one obvious thing is different from now and then: prospects. Lots and lots of prospects. The Cubs can reasonably fill all the holes they have now with up-and-coming players, rather than spending themselves into a budget nightmare (see: Soriano, Alfonso).Begin Slideshow
Recently, Lou Pinella said he had to start the players who were swinging the bats the best. So he promptly started Xavier Nady's glistening .222 batting average (though he has been getting better lately).
However, just looking at overall season performance, here's the best possible offensive lineup for the Cubs.Begin Slideshow
As the Cubs struggle, there have been some bright young players bringing serious support to the Cubs roster. Starlin Castro, James Russell, Tyler Colvin and now Andrew Cashner have shown the recent trend in the Cubs organization.
I will break down the Cubs minor league teams by hitters and pitchers, based on who I feel, based on 2010 performance, could help the team, be it by their arrival in Chicago or as trade components. Starting it off in no particular order are my personal top five position players for the 2010 AAA Iowa Cubs.Begin Slideshow
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