There can be no doubt that the bulk of the offseason movement is behind us – re-signing John Grabow, dumping Milton Bradley, and signing Marlon Byrd and Xavier Nady are the big moves for this year. Like ‘em or lump ‘em.
But that doesn’t mean that the Cubs are totally done making moves. Bruce Levine held his weekly SportsNation chat, and dropped a few tidbits of note:
- The Cubs are still interested in Adam Kennedy, but don’t have enough money. It’s hard to see what Kennedy brings to the table that a Mike Fontenot/Jeff Baker combination doesn’t already, so let’s be glad that the Cubs “don’t have enough money” to add a guy that probably only deserves to be getting a minor league deal anyway.
- The Cubs are “tapped out moneywise,” so any other moves will have to be via trade.
- The Padres really like Angel Guzman, and the Cubs really like Luke Gregerson. The Padres believe if Guzman can stay healthy, he could be their closer of the future. Gregerson was as good as Guzman last year, but is younger and cheaper in the near term, so if it was a straight up swap, I suppose it could make some sense.
[...] There are still rumors swirling around the Cubs making some more moves before camp [...]
Sure, you can hate me for being a Cardinals fan, but I respect what the Cubs have been doing in recent years. They’re not being like the big name team, your Yankees or Red Sox, or Dodgers for that matter. They play hard nosed ball. You look at some of their best players, Lee, Ramirez, Fontenot, Theriot and you know they got what it takes.
Lee was traded to the Cubs in ’04 from the Marlins. Before he got to the windy city he had never hit over .285. The only year he’s hit under .285 since he got there was his first year with them, and he’s continued to produce runs at the plate.
Fontenot and Theriot are both young players experience wise in the majors, three and four years, respectively. They are also both very solid defensively, and decent at the plate.
They just need to come around. They got the stuff they need to win games, they just need to use it.
I hate you for being a Cardinals fan.
I kid, I kid. With respect to your substantive, if disjointed points, I respectfully disagree with virtually all of them.