Randy Wells had another successful start and was in line for a win, which he watched evaporate from the bench. Kerry Wood played villain today – alternatingly striking guys out and throwing meatballs in a four-run 8th.
Fortunately the Cubs came back in the top of the 9th (almost squandering a second and third with nobody out situation), and Aramis Ramirez came through with a two-out, two-run single. Carlos Marmol locked it down, and the Cubs win. Swell.
Brett Taylor is the lead writer at Bleacher Nation, and can also be found as Bleacher Nation on Twitter and on Facebook.
Recent Message Board Posts
23 May 2013
Fun awaits you, my friends.
(6 Comments)
23 May 2013
That's a bad sweep, folks.
(112 Comments)
23 May 2013
Why it's a lot tougher to sell guys for value now than you might think, even if they offer their new team more starts in 2013.
(61 Comments)
23 May 2013
Epstein, Hoyer, McLeod, Madison all in attendance. Due diligence is reaching its final stages.
(114 Comments)
23 May 2013
It turns out the Cubs might not have done it if they'd known the extent of Shawn Camp's injury.
(68 Comments)
23 May 2013
Each of The Big Three were in action yesterday, finally, and each had a notable performance. Also: looking ahead to the second round of the Draft.
(38 Comments)
22 May 2013
Doesn't matter if you hold them to one. Can't win if you don't score.
(103 Comments)
Copyright © 2013 Get My Bat Media, LLC.
Powered by Hybrid
Bleacher Nation Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Bleacher Nation is not affiliated in any way with Major League Baseball or the Chicago National League Ballclub (that's the Cubs).
There should be somebody on this list of potential free agents who can help us
Potential Free Agents for 2012
The following players have contracts expiring or should have the six years of service necessary to become free agents after the 2011 season.
* – player whose current contract includes 2012 option
Player Club
First Basemen
Lance Berkman STL
Russell Branyan LAA
Jorge Cantu SD
Prince Fielder MIL
Brad Hawpe SD
Eric Hinske ATL *
Ross Gload PHI
Nick Johnson CLE
Derrek Lee BAL
Xavier Nady ARI
David Ortiz BOS
Lyle Overbay PIT
Carlos Pena CHC
Albert Pujols STL
Jim Thome MIN
Second Basemen
Clint Barmes HOU
Willie Bloomquist ARI *
Orlando Cabrera CLE
Robinson Cano NYY *
Jamey Carroll LAD
Luis Castillo NYM
Alex Cora WAS
Craig Counsell MIL
Mark Ellis OAK
Carlos Guillen DET
Jerry Hairston Jr. WAS
Aaron Hill TOR *
Omar Infante FLA
Joe Inglett HOU
Kelly Johnson ARI
Adam Kennedy SEA
Felipe Lopez TB
Jose Lopez FLA
Aaron Miles LAD
Brandon Phillips CIN *
Shortstops
Yuniesky Betancourt MIL *
Ronny Cedeno PIT
Adam Everett CLE
Rafael Furcal LAD
Alex Gonzalez ATL
J.J. Hardy BAL
Cesar Izturis BAL
John McDonald TOR
Augie Ojeda ARI
Jose Reyes NYM
Nick Punto STL
Edgar Renteria CIN
Jose Reyes NYM
Jimmy Rollins PHI
Ramon Santiago DET
Marco Scutaro BOS *
Jack Wilson SEA
Third Basemen
Wilson Betemit KC
Casey Blake LAD *
Eric Chavez NYY
Mark DeRosa SF
Greg Dobbs PHI
Edwin Encarnacion TOR *
Wes Helms FLA
Melvin Mora ARI
Aramis Ramirez CHC
Miguel Tejada SF
Omar Vizquel CWS
Catchers
Rod Barajas LAD
Henry Blanco ARI
Ramon Castro CWS
Ryan Doumit PIT
Ramon Hernandez CIN
Jason Kendall KC
Gerald Laird STL
Jose Molina TOR
Yadier Molina STL *
Dioner Navarro LAD
Jorge Posada NYY
Ivan Rodriguez WAS
Brian Schneider PHI
Kelly Shoppach TB *
Chris Snyder PIT *
Matt Treanor KC
Jason Varitek BOS
Outfielders
Bobby Abreu LAA *
Rick Ankiel WAS
Carlos Beltran NYM
Milton Bradley SEA
Pat Burrell SF
Mike Cameron BOS
Coco Crisp OAK
Michael Cuddyer MIN
Jack Cust SEA
Johnny Damon TB
David DeJesus OAK
J.D. Drew BOS
Kosuke Fukudome CHC
Jonny Gomes CIN
Gabe Gross OAK
Vladimir Guerrero BAL
Scott Hairston NYM
Willie Harris NYM
Raul Ibanez PHI
Conor Jackson OAK
Andruw Jones NYY
Austin Kearns CLE
Jason Kubel MIN
Ryan Ludwick SD
Hideki Matsui OAK
Nate McLouth ATL *
Jason Michaels HOU
Laynce Nix WAS
Magglio Ordonez DET
Juan Pierre CWS
Juan Rivera TOR
Cody Ross SF
Grady Sizemore CLE *
Matt Stairs WAS
Nick Swisher NYY *
Marcus Thames LAD
Josh Willingham OAK
Starting Pitchers
Mark Buehrle CWS
Chris Carpenter STL *
Bruce Chen KC
Aaron Cook COL *
Kyle Davies KC
Ryan Dempster CHC *
Justin Duchscherer OAK
Zach Duke ARI *
Jeff Francis KC
Freddy Garcia NYY
Jon Garland LAD *
Aaron Harang SD
Rich Harden OAK
Livan Hernandez WAS
Edwin Jackson CWS
Kenshin Kawakami ATL
Scott Kazmir LAA
Hiroki Kuroda LAD
Rodrigo Lopez CHC
Paul Maholm PIT
John Maine COL
Jason Marquis WAS
Kevin Millwood NYY
Scott Olsen PIT *
Roy Oswalt PHI *
Brad Penny DET
Oliver Perez NYM
Joel Pineiro LAA
CC Sabathia NYY (may opt out)
Carlos Silva NYY
Javier Vazquez FLA
Adam Wainwright STL *
Tim Wakefield BOS
Chien-Ming Wang WAS
Brandon Webb ARI
C.J. Wilson TEX
Chris Young NYM
Relief Pitchers
Danys Baez PHI
Miguel Batista STL
Matt Belisle COL
Heath Bell SD
Rafael Betancourt COL
Blaine Boyer
Jonathan Broxton LAD
Tim Byrdak HOU
Shawn Camp TOR
Matt Capps MIN
Todd Coffey MIL
Clay Condrey MIN
Francisco Cordero CIN *
Lance Cormier TB
Juan Cruz TB
Octavio Dotel TOR *
Kyle Farnsworth TB *
Randy Flores NYY
Frank Francisco TOR
Ryan Franklin STL
Jason Frasor TOR *
Chad Gaudin WAS
Mike Gonzalez BAL
John Grabow CHC
LaTroy Hawkins MIL
Brad Lidge PHI *
Scott Linebrink ATL
Javier Lopez SF
Ryan Madson PHI
Damaso Marte NYY *
Sergio Mitre NYY
Joe Nathan MIN *
Hideki Okajima BOS
Darren Oliver TEX
Jonathan Papelbon BOS
Joel Peralta TB
Chad Qualls SD *
Jon Rauch TOR *
Chris Ray TEX
Dennys Reyes BOS
Arthur Rhodes TEX *
Fernando Rodney LAA
Francisco Rodriguez NYM *
George Sherrill ATL
Rafael Soriano NYY (may opt out)
Brian Tallet STL
Koji Uehara BAL *
Jose Valverde DET
Tyler Walker WAS
Kerry Wood CHC
Jamey Wright SEA
Michael Wuertz OAK
Joel Zumaya DET
I am probably not as up on these players as I should be but for third base – Encarcion; outfielders, Cuddyer, Ludwig, Swisher; for pitchers, Maholm, Chris Young, C. J. Wilson and Harang; and for relief pitchers Mitre and Bell. What do the rest of you think of them? If LaHair continues as he has been, he may take over at first base. I can’t see a big investment in first when the pitching needs to be shorn up.
encarncion has put up good numbers this year. .276/.331/.464 with 122 hits, 67 runs, 35 doubles, 16 homers, 50 rbi, and 7 sb. Those arent bad numbers, you could do alot worse at third.
Brett…do you(or your sources) have any idea why the media and sports talk radio continues to hammer Ricketts for extending Oneiri Flieta?…I have a hard time believing that would deter ANYONE from coming here…are they just trying to make news or do they have a hard-on for Ricketts?
I think it’s largely the latter two (depending on the member of the media – some hate Ricketts, some just like to make waves). I also think it’s a matter of some folks getting married to a position and then refusing to acknowledge, in the face of mounting evidence, that they were wrong. My initial reaction to the signing was that it might have ruled out a few long-shot GM options. Since then, I’m not sure I think that anymore. Folks in the media hate to step back like that.
I have said this elsewhere…
Any GM candidate that says NO because of this was going to find something, somewhere to say no to.
At the end of the day, my money is on Beane being the next GM
Kuroda? Capps? Crisp? Kubel? Willingham? All second tier but may add to club if Johnson, Wood, Grabow, Byrd, Pena gone
I tend to believe the whole thing is overblown and the analysis that the media is overreacting is probably fair. That said, I also think it’s fair to criticize Ricketts if prior to finding a GM he continues to extend people. Fieta is an exception, but I’m less certain on Wilkens. Fieta is pretty unique and well respected through out baseball, but if they extend Wilkins, it becomes more obvious that Ricketts wants to butt in to the GM’s role and more difficult even with the outs that they can be reassigned. It would not be a certainty that a great candidate would just walk away because of that, but egos are involved here more than we credit.
I think the one thing to watch, is how far he goes and if this is actually a trend. Like I say Fieta is an exception, if he starts extending scouting and baseball operations people and worse yet coaching staffs or gives voted of confidence to Quade and his staff, hell yes the media would have point.
One more thing, for such a high profile gm job we know very little. I continue to think Beane is the best available for the job with the added benefit if you don’t get him, by interviewing you at least get to pick his brain and gain his insight. Epstein isn’t going to come to Chicago, I don’t think it has anything to do with Ricketts or this move. It makes zero sense to me that Cashman would come. He’s with a storied franchise, They spend more money than God and honestly what would the attraction be, to lift the curse?Don’t see it. So once you get beyond the premier guys of which there are others, what do we really know. To me this will be the key, is the guy fitting his profile? Or conversely is an idiot flag going up like he’s a Chicago guy or a former pr guy. I really think he can get the right guy or the next Billy Beane Theo Epstein, but I guess like the media I fear he might settle for a Ned Collletii type.