2011 Chicago Cubs Thread

[little bear]

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/ml...ory?id=6696180

Cubs' meetings to address direction

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs will bring in their top scouts on Monday and Tuesday to have meetings about the direction of the team with the trading deadline just five weeks away, according to a baseball source.
General manager Jim Hendry and assistant GM Randy Bush will preside over the two days of meetings. Hendry's objective will be to give the scouts direction as the team looks to acquire new players or move some off the present 25-man roster.
Hendry will talk to his top scouts about which teams the Cubs might match up with best as far as trades. The Cubs have a number of players with big contracts that not all teams could or would absorb.
The game plan will include going after top prospects and young players from other teams. Three Cubs players -- Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez -- with no-trade clauses or 5-and-10 no-trade rights have responded to media inquiries about whether they would accept trades.
Zambrano told FoxSports.com recently that while he wants to stay with the Cubs, he would accept a trade if the Cubs wanted to deal him.
"If they come to me and want to trade me, obviously it's because they don't want me here anymore," Zambrano told the website. "I always say that. I'll be here until the Cubs decide to trade me."
On June 6, Ramirez told ESPNChicago.com that he would not accept a trade.
Soriano told ESPNChicago.com on June 16 that if the team wanted to trade him, he would not stand in its way.
"It's not the worst thing," Soriano said of being traded. "When I got traded from the Yankees [for Alex Rodriguez] to Texas, that was a difficult one. But when I got traded to Washington, that's just part of the game. We work for the team. They do what they want to.
"I expect to stay here. This is my fifth year, but if they say they want to trade me, then why wouldn't I want to go somewhere else. I wouldn't stay here."
Outfielder Kosuke Fukudome has a limited no-trade clause and can veto a deal to a handful of teams.
The question most baseball people will ask the Cubs is: How much of each contract is the team willing to absorb? Chairman Tom Ricketts will have to be involved in some of these decisions.
Zambrano has $27 million left on his deal, which runs through 2012. Ramirez has $7.5 million left this season, as well as a $2 million buyout and a $1 million bonus he receives if he's traded.
Soriano has about $65 million remaining on his contract, which runs through 2014. Fukudome is in the last year of his contract and has a shade over $7 million left.

[soulman]

Why is it that the Cubs always seem to be ready to get rid of their core stars and bring in others who seem to do no better than those who were traded away. It seems to me liker they've been making bad deals and trades for decades and decades.

[Blue Horse-shoe]

The Cubs need to ( if possible ) trade ALL of their aging veterans and bring up as many of their talented minor leaguers ala Brett Jackson etc ...... to get them the playing time and experience they need . As of today this team is 15 !!!! games under .500. I don't care about " winning " this year, and playing all these old timers is a collossal WASTE OF TIME. Example : Chris Carpenter is a starting pitcher with tons of talent : What the f are they doing bringing him up and making him a relief pitcher, while they gave scrap heap Doug Davis starts ? Then they release Davis a couple of days ago. Wouldn't it have been better to give Carpenter those starts ?! It's decision making like this, that that is proof that Cubs brass has no freaking clue what they are doing. I could do a better job.

[soulman]

That part of the problem. They always seem to be straddling whether or not to make the team younger and live with the growning pains or keep it a vet ball club full of fan favorites. If they don't start playing their prospects instead of trading them away for another worthless vet they'll never build a decent team.

How many years are they picked as a preseason contender on paper only to step on their dicks before the all-star break and trash the season. Don't know how you guys put up with that year after year after year.

[Blue Horse-shoe]

That part of the problem. They always seem to be straddling whether or not to make the team younger and live with the growning pains or keep it a vet ball club full of fan favorites. If they don't start playing their prospects instead of trading them away for another worthless vet they'll never build a decent team.

How many years are they picked as a preseason contender on paper only to step on their dicks before the all-star break and trash the season. Don't know how you guys put up with that year after year after year.

They also suck at reading the tea leafs, and trading veterans while they still have value. They never closely watch guys and dump them just as their skills are starting to erode ..... and hence never trade for emerging talents while they can ( something the Patriots are good at doing). Plus they've given out contracts that are too long and too expensive which makes it harder for them to trade players in the first place. I've never been more disinterested in baseball in my life as I was last year and this year ( which sux cuz contending teams are fun to watch ). Guess after 35+ years I've finally run out of patience.

[little bear]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story...-fukudome-deal

Kosuke Fukudome to Indians?

MILWAUKEE -- The Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians are close to a deal that will send outfielder Kosuke Fukudome to Cleveland, according to multiple major league sources.
The Cubs will receive a minor league pitcher and an outfielder from the Indians.

The Cubs, who signed Fukudome to a four-year, $48 million contract before the 2008 season, will kick in more than half of the $4.7 million owed to Fukudome for the rest of the season, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

Tyler Colvin will be with the team in Milwaukee in case the deal is completed before game time, according to sources. Colvin is expected to get most of the playing time in right field the rest of the season.

Fukudome is batting .273 with three home runs and 13 RBIs. In three-plus seasons with the Cubs, Fukudome batted .262.

[Henry Burris]

Cubs baseball today is like Bears football in the 1910's...

[little bear]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story...ger-jim-hendry

Cubs fire GM Jim Hendry

With one of the highest payrolls but the second-worst record in the National League, the Chicago Cubs fired general manager and vice president Jim Hendry, the team announced Friday.
The actual firing was done July 22, but Hendry wanted to help the team by staying on through the July 31 trading deadline.
"[Team chairman] Tom Ricketts told me July 22," Hendry said during a news conference Friday. "He's a very honest guy and a very classy guy. At that time, we decided it was best for me to stay on. We had a deadline coming up and a lot of draft choices that needed to be signed. I think we both felt that possibly me staying through that gave us the best chance to sign the rest of the players.
"I apologize for not telling anybody sooner, but it may be one of the best-kept secrets in Cubs history. It was a little tough at the end. I was glad we got through and signed all the picks we wanted to. That was good. Those scouts deserved that."
Assistant general manager Randy Bush was named interim general manager, the team announced, but Ricketts said the search will be focused on candidates outside of the organization.
"We didn't win enough games," Ricketts said Friday, before praising Hendry as a baseball man and person. "In a culture of accountability, we need to look at these kinds of results. Secondly, our goal is to win the World Series, and to do that, we have to get better. I just believe that by bringing in new leadership for the baseball organization, we'll get some different perspectives and maybe some different ideas on where to go in the future.
"Nothing that happens today should diminish Jim's great legacy as general manager of the Chicago Cubs. Three division titles during his tenure, and a winning record. We would like to thank him for his great service to the organization during his many, many years."
The Cubs went into the All-Star break 18 games under .500 and that's where they were Friday morning, 18½ games out of the National League Central lead. Much of the attention has focused on Mike Quade, who got the manager's job last October after leading the Cubs to a 24-13 record late last season on an interim basis after Lou Piniella abruptly retired.
"Real tough day," Quade said. "As good a guy as I've worked for in the game and I've worked for a lot of them. I'll miss him a lot, that's for sure."
Asked if he'd thought about his own future, Quade responded: "Nothing. This day is not about me. It's the furthest thing from my mind. Everybody lost a good friend today."
Cubs reliever Kerry Wood, who signed his first major league contract with Hendry and came back to the Cubs before this season, was one of many players who enjoyed a personal relationship with Hendry.
"He's not your prototypical GM," Wood said. "Players respect him and enjoy talking to him, and we feel like we could have gone and talked to him about anything at any time.
"He was that kind of a person. He's a great person, he did a lot of great things for this organization and helped turn this organization around. I owe a lot to him."
Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez said that Hendry's dismissal was mostly a result of underperforming players.
"We didn't play the way we should have played," Ramirez said. "A lot of veteran guys making a lot of money did not perform like they should have. Somebody has to pay the price. Jim doesn't play, but the bottom line is players have to get it done between the lines and we didn't do it."
Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen tweeted that he'll miss Hendry.
"I will miss you," Guillen tweeted. "Go spend time with ur family enjoy them and I hope you come back sir.
"A great baseball man leave today. Always classy Jim. One of the good guys."
Guillen also credited Hendry for sticking around through the trade deadline and signing draft picks.
"He showed how much class he has to stay with the organization, to help them get better and [help] the organization move on without him," Guillen said. "He's a better man than me. If that happens to me, I get fired, I leave the same day."
Hendry was hired in 1994 as director of player development. He was promoted to scouting director the next season. The 56-year-old Florida native was promoted to general manager in 2002 after serving as assistant to then-president Andy MacPhail.
Under Hendry, the Cubs hired two high-profile managers in Dusty Baker in fall 2002 and Lou Piniella in fall 2006.
The Cubs won division titles in 2003, '07 and '08. The 2003 team came within five outs of going to the team's first World Series since 1945.
The back-to-back playoff berths were the first for the franchise since 1907-08.
Hendry paused several times to compose himself while talking with reporters.
"Not many get to be the GM for nine years without a world championship," said Hendry, who had one year left on his contract. "So I got more than my fair chance to do that. I'm disappointed in myself that we didn't get it done in the first five to seven years when I thought we could. I'm very thankful for the way I've been treated."
Asked about Ricketts, Hendry said: "I think he understood that we probably weren't going to be great the way things were set up. Moving forward there are a lot of huge decisions that have to be made this offseason and I think that if I was the one making them and they all didn't work out, then the person after me would have to wear some of those for longer."
Rumors surfaced earlier in the season that Ricketts had conversations with former Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes.
"The search for a new general manager effectively begins today," Ricketts said. "I will be reaching out over the next few days to industry veterans and people who have been through this situation before to get their thoughts and opinions on what I should be doing and what I should be looking for.
"Those conversations in combination with our own evaluations and analysis will help us narrow down our list of prospective candidates shortly and we'll work diligently to get the right person into the baseball organization as soon as it's practical. I don't have a timeline for that. There's no date set. We'll just play the cards we're dealt in terms of timing and get someone in as fast as we can."
Ricketts said he'll be looking for a candidate with strong player development skills and a winning track record.
"When I look at the candidates, I kind of see a couple of criteria," Ricketts said. "I see No. 1 they'll have to share a commitment to player development, which obviously is the key to consistent success. I think we can look for guys that have a little stronger analytical background than maybe some of the guys we have here. Someone who has worked with some of the new tools, that would be a plus.
"And then someone who's been in a winning culture and who can bring the lessons of that over and has a track record of success. The sabermetric stuff is important, but it's just a piece. We're not running the baseball organization by a computer model. "
Ricketts said the new GM will report directly to him, meaning the team will likely not bring in someone else at the level of team president.
Former Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick has said he'd be open to a president-level job.
Rumors of discussions with Gillick were shot down by people close to Ricketts a month ago.
Bush, 52, has been the assistant general manager with the Cubs for the past five seasons. He played 12 seasons with the Twins and won two championships (1987 and 1991).
"I would love to stay on in some capacity," Bush said. "I'm very realistic. I understand that the new GM will come in and evaluate who fits where and how it all fits going forward. But this has been a great opportunity for me. I've learned a lot."
Ricketts indicated he would like to retain player development executives Oneri Fleita and Tim Wilken, but said that ultimately will be up to the new general manager.
He also said team president Crane Kenney was doing "a good job" with the business side, and that there is "a really great win-win solution out there" that will spur economic growth as the team tries to secure public funding to renovate Wrigley Field.

[vmx12]

Not trollin but how do Cub fans do it. First big Z with his crap and now your short stop staring of into space DURING A PITCH!

[Blue Horse-shoe]

Not trollin but how do Cub fans do it. First big Z with his crap and now your short stop staring of into space DURING A PITCH!

Yea it was a blunder but Castro and Barney have been basically the only bright spot on this team this year. They are at least solidifying the middle infield for the Cubs going forward. ( Now watch em trade Castro to the Jankees for "prospects" ). The kid is a bona fide talent and shouldn't be traded.