Very Early Rumor-y Chatter About Jacoby Ellsbury and Other Bullets

Mar 07, 2012

BULLETS!

Nick Cafardo says the Cubs might be a possible destination for Jacoby Ellsbury down the road, especially if the outfielder has another huge season in 2012 and/or 2013, and commands a mega free agent contract. It seems an odd bit of speculation, given that (1) Ellsbury is still two years away from free agency, (2) Ellsbury will be 30 when he reaches free agency (Cafardo hints at an 8-year deal), and (3) the outfield may be the one area where the Cubs’ future looks pretty bright in-house. I know folks like rumor-y goodness, but I don’t see a lot here right now.

Cafardo adds that he expects the Player to Be Named Later that the Cubs still owe the Red Sox will be “someone close to Carpenter’s ability.” I don’t expect that to be the case, but I do think the PTBNL will not be a nobody. I’d be surprised if we’re more upset about the PTBNL than we are about Carpenter, but it could be a young, high upside guy that many folks really like.

Jeff Samardzija isn’t second-guessing his decision to choose baseball over football, and stick to it. Maybe that’s a minor part of the reason I’ve always felt a little extra tie to Samardzija as a fan – he had another option, and he chose to play baseball for the Cubs. Sure, he got a heck of a lot of money to do it, but he could have made as much money in the NFL (in theory). I guess I just want guys like Samardzija (and Matt Szczur, for example), who choose baseball over football, to succeed. It’s good for baseball.

The Cubs Bunt Tournament had its second half of the Sweet Sixteen yesterday, and Dale Sveum was bounced by Paul Maholm. Now, I’m not saying Sveum took a dive, but I did note a weekend interview with Theo Epstein, in which Epstein said it might be time for Sveum to bow out – Epstein was ostensibly joking, but, well, Sveum lost. I hear he was pretty upset about the loss, though. David DeJesus, Randy Wells, and Starlin Castro were the other winners, taking out Jeff Baker, Jeff Samardzija, and Joe Mather.

Tyler Colvin, whom the Cubs traded to the Rockies (the team the Cubs played yesterday), sounds like he’d like to show the Cubs they made a mistake. “[The Cubs] have their ideas of what they want,” Colvin said Tuesday to CSN. “Of course, you can look at it that way and say, ‘Hey, they didn’t want me. Well, these guys want me and it’s a fresh start.’” I sincerely wish Colvin nothing but the best, though I do hope that Ian Stewart is equally interested in demonstrating that his prior team made a mistake.

FanGraphs ranks each team’s shortstop situation (starter and backup), and has the Cubs at 8th in baseball on the strength of Starlin Castro starting and … Adrian Cardenas backing up? Well, strictly speaking, Cardenas can play shortstop, but I doubt he’ll see too much action there. But, in a way, he is kind of like the backup shortstop: if Cardenas makes the roster and doesn’t win a starting job, he’ll play at second base when Castro needs a day off, with Darwin Barney sliding over to shortstop.

Matt Garza and Dale Sveum are developing a bond, it seems. Garza likes to engage Sveum about things other than baseball.

While being as complimentary as he can, Sveum strongly suggests he doesn’t think Junior Lake can stick at shortstop long-term because of his size.

Alfonso Soriano is feeling good after his two-homer, one-double day. His legs feel good and his swing feels good. Ok – stay that way for the next few months. Please.

Chasing MLB Dreams interviews Cubs prospect Marcus Hatley.

MLBullets over at BCB – Angels fans are going nuts, ticket-wise, for Albert Pujols.

written by

Brett Taylor

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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