Hoping the Cubs Can Grab Logan Morrison in the Offseason and Other Bullets

You’re going to be on bullets overload today, because this morning’s bullets are densely-packed with good stuff, and coming later is a GM search bullets post loaded with good stuff. Pace yourself.

  • Kerry Wood wants everyone to ease up on the Andrew Cashner expectations for next season, mostly because that will help the young man succeed. “We all know what he’s capable of doing. But you don’t want to risk sending a guy out there to go through 180-plus innings next year coming off a nine-inning season. So you can’t put too muck stock into that until the time comes …. He knows he’s good enough to be here. I know he’s frustrated he didn’t get back sooner. But he knows that he took care of himself and got it back to be at this level and be here for awhile. He went about it the right way and was patient with it. He’s bounced back and looks great so far.”
  • As for his own future, Wood, 34, says he feels good about next year, but he’ll take some time in the offseason to talk with his family and think things over.
  • Logan Morrison for the 2012 Cubs? The talented young Marlins outfielder has filed a grievance against his team related to a midseason demotion, which he says was unjustifiably punitive. Most think Morrison will not return to the Fish next year, and, whoever the GM, I’m sure the Cubs will be one of many teams interested in acquiring Morrison. Even though the Marlins may be against the wall, they’ll still get plenty for Morrison – he’s just 24, has a career .811 OPS in the bigs, can play in the outfield or at first base, and won’t even be arbitration-eligible for another couple years. He’s also one of the best Twitter athletes out there.
  • I noted here a couple weeks ago that the Cubs had quietly added pitching prospect Marcus Hatley to their AFL roster, but, because the team is limited to six participants, I wondered whether that meant Hatley would be joining pitching prospect Jeff Beliveau as a “taxis squad” participant, or would be replacing one of the six primary participants. Well, it turns out it was a combination of both: Beliveau has been selected to join Brett Jackson on Team USA this Fall, and will no longer participate in the AFL. Beliveau, who turns 25 in January, had about as good of a season as a reliever can have. He was absolutely dominant at High and AA, and he will get a long look for the big club in the Spring.
  • Mike Quade says Bryan LaHair has looked good defensively in the outfield so far, which is actually important information for the Cubs to have when they make a 40-man roster decision about him this Winter.
  • Marty Brennaman on Joe Morgan versus Ryne Sandberg: “I give the nod to Joe Morgan, with the understanding that there were things Sandberg could do that Joe couldn’t do, and that’s obviously hit for more power,” Brennaman said Thursday. “I never saw Sandberg leave his feet to field a ground ball. And that always stuck in my craw. … Morgan, for the two years he won the MVP award, was the best player I’ve seen since I’ve been around. He could beat you everywhere there was to beat you. And while Sandberg had more power, Sandberg couldn’t steal bases like Joe did.” I suspect those comments spawned this angry Message Board post.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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