Quick Hits: Coleman, Fujikawa, Stewart, Sosa

The Cubs have been busy the last few days making plenty of moves but still have much work to do before they can rest. Here’s the latest:

Casey Coleman

has been DFA’d in order to make room for recent singing

Scott Feldman

. While this move isn’t surprising considering Coleman really didn’t belong on the 40 man roster anyway, Coleman is still an extremely good pitcher who could theoretically make a splash for another team in free agency. Will he chose to do so? Unlikely considering his season ended early with a shoulder injury in 2012. He’ll probably accept a designation to AAA Iowa. This also brings the Cubs’ 40 man roster to an even 40.

June 7, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Chicago Cubs third baseman Stewart (2) during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE

Japanese reliever Jyuji Fujikawa has expressed interest in coming to Chicago to play for the north siders. The Cubs have been courting him for some time now (as well as the Diamondbacks and Angels) and could be rivaled to current closer Carlos Marmol. Fujikawa throws a nice heater in the mid 90’s and hasn’t had an ERA over 2.01 since 2004 in the NPB. The 32 year old has experience, a quality pitch mix and a solid K/9 ratio of ~12. This could be a premium pickup for the Cubs as most international players are undervalued for their skill – something the Cubs have been working hard towards maximizing on this season. Keep an eye out for this one.

Ian Stewart has yet to be tendered as the November 30th deadline looms closer. The Cubs have a few options in this case: They can either grant him free agency outright, grant him free agency then attempt to resign him for a bargain considering his injury or go to arbitration and tender him a deal. There’s a significant void at third base and his retention on the 40 man roster leads me to believe the Cubs are interested in keeping him for 2013 pending his recovery. All in all, its messy, but we’ll have a verdict by tomorrow.

Sammy Sosa is on the 2013 HOF ballet and reactions are mixed considering his steroid use. I have yet to formulate a proper opinion on this myself but two arguments are present: 1 – Steroid use makes your HOF candidacy null and void and 2 – he was one of the best and deserves to be in the HOF. A friend of mine brought up an interesting point (you can follow him on twitter here – his profile picture alone is worth the follow) that the HOF represent all of baseball, through good and bad regardless of substance abuse. Interesting point.

Should be a busy weekend with the Rule 5 draft coming up quickly. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest.

Schedule