Saturday Starters-Scales, Oswalt, and Fansided 3.0

Lets recap your morning. As you begin to wake up and gather your senses, you start to reach for your electronic device. While Angry Birds is tempting, you hit the twitter app and begin to look at any update you might have missed while you were sleeping. As you get up to date on your twitter timeline, you also begin to read the latest content on your favorite websites. Hopefully, Cubbies Crib is a a part of that list. As you connect to the Cubbies Crib home page, your realize that the site design is different from the design you have grown accustomed to seeing on Cubbies Crib.

Welcome to FanSided 3.0. Every writer, editor, and director that is a part of the FanSided Network has one goal; that goal is to make FanSided Network the largest sports reporting network online. FanSided 3.0 only advances the network in a direction to ultimately reach our goal. The changes made to the site are simple. but they should have a lasting impact on you–the reader. The biggest difference made to the site is the structure of the home-page. The new structure is designed to get the most content possible on the home page. There are four sections that included articles; Featured articles, Popular Articles, the latest, and the rest. The new design allows the possibility for recent articles to stay on the home page for a longer period of time.

The other addition as part of FanSided 3.0 is the “The Hub” section. The Hub will be a collection of the top links, tweets, quotes, and videos from around the Cubs’ universe. We realize that Cubbies Crib may not be the only Cubs site you read, which is why the staff will be updating The Hub with stories, tweets, etc from other Cubs’ sites we tend to follow. The Cubbies Crib staff as well as the entire Fansided Network are very excited about FanSided 3.0 as we try to enhance your reading experience.

Now, lets dive into the latest on the Cubs. Friday was another quiet day for the team’s front office; but the team did sign another minor league free agent that is familiar face, and a pitcher who the Cubs might have been interested in earlier in the off-season is close to having a new team.

• The Cubs are expected to release the list of non-roster invitees to Spring Training at some point in the near future. Though, some names from that list have already begun to be leaked out. The players that are already in the mix for Spring Training are pitchers Manny Corpas and Andy Sonnanstine, catcher Jason Jaramillo, infielder Matt Tolbert, and outfielder Alfredo Amezaga. On Friday, the Cubs added a new addition to that list. The Cubs have signed utility infielder Bobby Scales to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. Cubs’ fans are already familiar with Scales, whom is liked by most of the Cubs’ fan-base. The Cubs interest in Scales may not be as a player, considering Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald suggested Friday on twitter that the Cubs are interested in Scales becoming a coach for the organization once his playing career concludes.
• Starting pitcher Roy Oswalt is close to signing with the St Louis Cardinals. However, both the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros are making last-ditch attempts to sign the starting pitcher. Oswalt posted a 3.69 ERA in 139 innings pitched with the Philadelphia Phillies last season. If Oswalt does sign with the Cardinals, he would provide a nice insurance policy to Adam Wainwright, who is returning from Tommy John surgery. While the Cubs likely weren’t in on Oswalt, I certainly would have preferred the former Astro over Paul Maholm. Nonetheless, you won’t see me complaining about the Maholm signing.