Most of Major League Baseball is still dissecting the nine year, $214 million contract that Prince Fielder signed with the Detroit Tigers. As it turns out, the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Washington Nationals were all teams to be in the Fielder derby until the moment the free agent first baseman chose the Tigers. The size of Fielder’s contract is what surprises me the most. Fielder lasted on the free agent market until mid-January, and usually when a players lasts that long on the open market, they generally begin to come off their initial demands. For instance, in the moments leading up to the terms of the contract being released, Buster Olney of ESPN suggested that Fielder and his agent Scott Boras may be willing to settle for a one year deal. If that was the case, I am sure the Cubs would have been more involved in the Fielder sweepstakes. Nonetheless, the Cubs appear to be more focused on adding three Cuban players to their organization. After the jump, there will be an update on one of those Cuban players, take a look at the styles of new manager Dale Sveum and pitching coach Chris Bosio, and a touching on a pair of former Cubs.
Chicago Cubs’ relief pitcher Kerry Wood received an ovation that President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein will remember for the rest of his life. The Cubs’ officially announced that Wood re-signed with the team on the opening night of the Cubs’ Convention, and the fans in attendance consequently went gorillas in light of the news.
But while the Cubs’ officially announced the signing, the move had yet to been placed in the official transaction record of the Chicago Cubs. Reason being when the Cubs’ signed Wood, their 40 man roster was already maxed out. The delay for a corresponding move led some reporters to speculate. Wood re-signed with the Cubs around the same time that the Matt Garza to the Detroit Tigers rumors were reaching a boiling point. Those rumors have since cooled, and there is a growing belief that Garza will be in line for a long-term extension with the Cubs.
But putting the Garza rumors on the back-burner for the moment, the Cubs have finally made the Wood signing official. On Thursday, the Cubs announced that they have outrighted rehabbing veteran reliever Manny Corpas off the team’s 4o man roster. Corpas still will be a part of the Cubs’ Spring Training roster, as his minor league contract included a invite to Spring Training. However, Corpas is facing an uphill battle with the likes of Chris Carpenter, Marcos Mateo, Andy Sonnanstine, and Jeff Beliveau all vying for a spot in the Cubs’ rotation. After all, the Cubs are rebuilding this season; so Carpenter, Mateo, and Beliveau all figure to have the upper-hand in Spring Training.
A lot has been written on Yoennis Cespedes, and quite frankly a lot of it is absolute nonsense. His critics tend to rest their arguments on the assumption that Cespedes is older than he claims and may have been using steroids or other performance enhancing drugs while playing in Cuba. I’m not sure where these rumors and assumptions got started, but I am fairly sure that neither applies to Cespedes. When we look at the basic facts of his professional and international history, we almost have to conclude that Cespedes is exactly what he appears to be – a 26 year old outfielder with five tool potential.
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The Cubs’ farm system is represented in MLB.Com’s Top 100 Prospects List, unveiled Wednesday night. Three Cubs made the cut, including outfielder Brett Jackson (#33), first baseman Anthony Rizzo (#37), and shortstop / third baseman Javier Baez (#62). The good news for Cub fans is that the first two on that list should arrive in 2012.
The strength of the Cubs’ farm system is in the system-wide depth, so it is encouraging that the Cubs have two players in the Top 50. It will take time for the bulk of the Cubs’ talent to emerge out of the lower levels of the farm system and start to earn some national attention. We can expect the Cubs to have more than three in future editions of this list.
I don’t disagree with the Cubs chosen for this list, or with those who were left off. However, there are a couple of players who did not make the cut that probably deserve mention anyway.
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Cuban sensation Yoenis Cespedes is now officially a resident of the Dominican Republic. Since November, that has long been the viewed as the major hurdle to Cespedes becoming an official Major League free agent. Before teams can start bidding on Cespedes, Major League Baseball will send official notification to all 30 major league teams announcing Cespedes’ status as a free agent. There is not much that can be said that has not been said over the course of the off-season. Cespedes is considered to be the best prospect to come out of Cuba in a generation. Cespedes has been hyped as five-tool outfielder and many teams have been linked to the Cuban sensation throughout the winter. The likes of the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, and Cubs have all been linked to Cespedes. Given the amount of teams interested and the potential that Cespedes possesses, it is likely that the Cuban outfielder will receive a contract worth anywhere from $30 million to $60 million. Despite the fact that almost every Major League Baseball team is at least aware of Cespedes’ abilities, the only two teams that should be seriously viewed as potential suitors for Cespedes are the Marlins and the Cubs.
The Marlins have long been interested in Cespedes, and because of that reason, the team that resides in Miami has been considered as the favorites to sign Cespedes. While the Marlins may have interest in Cespedes, Cespedes may not be interested in Miami?
Tuesday, Scott Boras finally found a kingdom for first baseman slugger Prince Fielder. In a way, the 27-year old returned home in his nine year – $214 million contract with Detroit. His father, Cecil Fielder, spent seven seasons with the Tigers, and young Prince often took batting practice and played catch with members of the team. Now, Prince is all grown up, and looking to lead the Tigers to their first World Series since 1984. Cubs’ fans can breathe a sigh of relief, with Pujols already departed to the American League, and Fielder now set to join him.
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The Chicago Cubs have had an interesting off-season. While the team has seen a lot of turnover from end of the 2011 season, the Cubs have gone the entire off-season without making a big-ticket move. While that is what got the previous front office regime in trouble, the consensus is that President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein is interested in those type of moves. Though, there is no flaw in the way Epstein has handled the Cubs’ off-season. The Cubs’ outlook for the future looks much brighter with prospects with the stature of Anthony Rizzo now a part of the Cubs’ organization.
While Epstein has shied away from spending “big money” on the likes of Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson, and Prince Fielder; the Cubs’ president of baseball operations is apparently willing to spend the money necessary in order to land the best free agent currently on the market.
Covering rumors is a tricky business. I, for one, try to do my best from creating rumors. While I am the site director for Cubbies Crib, I can honestly say that I am not in a position where I can report rumors. Nonetheless, whenever I cover a rumors, I make sure that a link to source in which I found the rumor is present within the article. Now, I have my pet peeves when it comes to those reporters who report their own rumors. There are two reporters that irritate me the most. One is Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune, who I feel picks a player out of hat and connects him to either the Chicago Cubs or Chicago White Sox. The other one who I will not mention makes suggestions that seem “far-fetched” but tries to add credence to the suggestion by saying the information came from a source.
The reason I opened this article with my sentiment on rumors is because of Alfonso Soriano. It is no secret what President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein and General Manager Jed Hoyer are trying to do with the Cubs’ roster. While manager Dale Sveum labels the project as “building”, it is clear that the organization is rebuilding. With Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez no longer with the team, the writing is on the wall that Soriano is not a part of the Cubs’ long-term future.
Last Monday, Cubbies Crib began a series that pitted the 2011 Chicago Cubs against the 2012 Chicago Cubs. The first area that was analyzed was the starting rotation. President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein and General Manager Jed Hoyer have prioritized the pitching staff this off-season. That has led to the 2012 Cubs’ rotation, on paper, looking like an improvement over the 2011 Cubs’ rotation.
Today we will look at the position players. Though there will be some restrictions. Considering the Cubs’ front office is not done making moves it is likely that the bottom-half of the team’s 25 man roster may still be under construction. But what is known is who the starting eight position players will be. So this post will take a look at the starting position players and see if there is an improvement from the 2011 team.
The Future of the Cubs on First
Once upon a time, a long time ago, the Chicago Cubs had no first base prospects to speak of. Since those long ago days of last spring, we have seen this team draft Dan Vogelbach out of high school and trade for Anthony Rizzo from the Padres. Suddenly, the Cubs find themselves paying two of the best first base prospects in the game.
For some, this situation has led to a little bit of confusion. Does the Rizzo trade mean the the Cubs have lost confidence in Vogelbach? Is the real plan to move Rizzo to the outfield in a year or two? Maybe the Cubs acquired Rizzo so they could send him back to Boston as part of the never-ending Theo Epstein compensation saga?
The reality is much simpler. While there are very few definitive rules when it comes to building a winning franchise, one of those rules is certainly this: There is no such thing as too much talent.
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