We already know that the pitching staff has some serious holes particulary for 3rd and 4th starters. I heard on WSCR that Jed said they will go after FA pitching.

Would assume 1-Garza, 2- Jeff, 5- Travis. Bullpen- Marmol will be back if they can not trade him this off season (may have more value at trade deadline if he pitches decent). I would assume Camp and Russell, after those 2 it would be anybody's guess. I do not want to see Dolis- worst combination of wild: out of the strike zone and in the strike zone with straight/fat pitches. Chapman 9 walks in 10 IP takes the luster of the sub 2 ERA.

I do not see Jackson and Vitters in Chicago to start the season- it sure seems they need an extra Rizzo season at AAA.

So who starts:

The givens:

Rizzo, Castro, Castillo, and Soriano (situation much like Marmol)

The likely:

Barney

The maybes:

DeJesus in CF, LaHair/Sappelt in RF (Likely LaHair is gone, so FA as opposed to Jackson or Campana in CF and DeJesus in RF)

Upgrade must occur:

3B Valbuena/Stewart/Vitters (putrid batting average but not due to strike outs like Jackson).

So the trade/FA pick ups need to be: 2 starters, 2 relievers minimum, 3B and one OF spot (CF or RF).

So the trade/FA pick ups need to be: 2 starters, 2 relievers minimum, 3B and one OF spot (CF or RF).

I think that although the Cubs have financial flexibility, they are still going to have to be very creative in addressing their needs.

Rotation: The Cubs need to add 2 starters: that is without question. I have to believe that at least one of them will be a multi-year deal with a relatively young starter with (a) proven success, (b) upside, and (c) coming off of an off year. My early bet is that the team signs Ervin Santana (assuming he is bought out of his option year and not given a qualifying offer: both of which seem highly probable, regardless of his strong performance over the last 5 weeks). I would guess that the other starting role will be 2 low-risk signings on guys not given qualifying offers that will compete for the 5th starter slot.

Third base: As the FA market for infielders in general is paltry, my guess is that Theo & the Gang facilitate a trade. I think one of the better options might be to make an offer to Texas on Michael Young to cover 3rd. Texas needs the salary relief to pursue Hamilton, and I have to believe they would be willing to dump a very expensive DH coming off of an off-year (for him, low power numbers). He's under contract until 2014, giving the team time to allow Vitters or Baez to develop into the position. In my opinion, he'd be a smart use of resources to bring in a hard-nosed veteran for the clubhouse that can play multiple positions. As well, I think there's a better chance of magical monkeys flying out of Hoyer's butt than the team acquiring Olt or Castellanos. Unless it's a guy like Young, the team is likely going to be reverting to pre-ARAM 3-headed beasts at 3rd base for the next 2 or 3 years.

Outfield: The FA pickings for outfielders is relatively thin, so the league will see guys getting paydays far beyond their expectations of production. Guys like Cody Ross, Shane Victorino, Michael Bourn, B.J. Upton, Nick Swisher, and (at the top of the list) Josh Hamilton are all going to be getting offers that will price themselves out of Theo/Hoyer's comfort zones. My guess is that when the dust settles, we're going to see the team add either a guy like Delmon Young (young with talent and potential character issues that keep his asking price down & willing to take a front-loaded 2-3 year deal) or a veteran 5th OF (Reed Johnson for a 3rd round?). My guess is we address 3rd base before an OF upgrade. It's a more limited market (and we do have a few, albeit imperfect) in-house options. I believe the veteran 5th OF is the most likely scenario. I wouldn't be surprised to see Delmon Young return to the Rays on a reasonable contract (to replace some of Upton's lost production).

Bullpen: I think the team will make an effort to keep Camp in the fold for 2013. We'll see a bullpen core of Camp, Marmol, Russell, and Bowden... Coprpas may be invited back on a minor-league deal, as will a handful of other reclamation projects be invited to compete for 1-2 bullpen slots available. The FA pool of relievers is almost entirely guys in their mid-late 30's, and I just don't see Theo/Hoyer offering up a 3-year deal for any of the guys worthy of the chance at one on the FA market. I think our bullpen will continue to be an under-addressed facet of the 2013 edition of the team. We'll be lucky to add 1 veteran reliever with a decent shot at an ERA in the 4.00-4.40 range, and I imagine it will be a righty. 

In short, I expect an improved rotation, though certainly not one to be a 2013 threat to the Cardinals or Reds. I expect the team to add a bit of a veteran presence (my guess is via trade at 3rd base) and I expect the team to make only faint gestures at improving the bullpen and OF. Unless we see offensive improvements from Castro, DeJesus, Barney, and Castillo; similar numbers from Soriano and Rizzo; continued development from Samardzija & Wood in the rotation; and see more consistency from the (likely) 4 returning bullpen arms, adding 2-4 guys isn't going to change the results in the W/L columns all that much. They'd essentially just be replacing Dempster, Maholm, Johnson, and Baker... and our team WITH them wasn't close to smelling 'average.'

I agree that both Vitters and Jackson will start the year in AAA

For 3b I would like the front office to explore trades for teams major league ready prospects

It seems like the team is ready to go value shopping for 2 starting pitchers

You need an OF - Campana, LaHair, Sappelt are all backup OF's

Bullpen - Camp turns 37 in November - not sure if he is a lock

Castillo seems to have the catching job - Clevenger is no lock to be a backup. It may not be a bad idea to pick up a veteran catcher to help Castillo and work with a young pitching staff

I don't want an off-season like last year but all sign point that way. You need to either make more trades like the Rizzo deal or start to pay for talent which most on this board seem afraid to do.

cubs2007 wrote: I agree that both Vitters and Jackson will start the year in AAA

For 3b I would like the front office to explore trades for teams major league ready prospects

It seems like the team is ready to go value shopping for 2 starting pitchers

You need an OF - Campana, LaHair, Sappelt are all backup OF's

Bullpen - Camp turns 37 in November - not sure if he is a lock

Castillo seems to have the catching job - Clevenger is no lock to be a backup. It may not be a bad idea to pick up a veteran catcher to help Castillo and work with a young pitching staff

I don't want an off-season like last year but all sign point that way. You need to either make more trades like the Rizzo deal or start to pay for talent which most on this board seem afraid to do.

Coming from the guy that wants to pay double the going rate for free agent starting pitching and swore that Fielder was going to sign a five year deal last year.  I don't think your expectations of the free agent session should be the litmus test for this board.

WadeWalker2012 wrote: We already know that the pitching staff has some serious holes particulary for 3rd and 4th starters. I heard on WSCR that Jed said they will go after FA pitching.

Would assume 1-Garza, 2- Jeff, 5- Travis. Bullpen- Marmol will be back if they can not trade him this off season (may have more value at trade deadline if he pitches decent). I would assume Camp and Russell, after those 2 it would be anybody's guess. I do not want to see Dolis- worst combination of wild: out of the strike zone and in the strike zone with straight/fat pitches. Chapman 9 walks in 10 IP takes the luster of the sub 2 ERA.

I do not see Jackson and Vitters in Chicago to start the season- it sure seems they need an extra Rizzo season at AAA.

So who starts:

The givens:

Rizzo, Castro, Castillo, and Soriano (situation much like Marmol)

The likely:

Barney

The maybes:

DeJesus in CF, LaHair/Sappelt in RF (Likely LaHair is gone, so FA as opposed to Jackson or Campana in CF and DeJesus in RF)

Upgrade must occur:

3B Valbuena/Stewart/Vitters (putrid batting average but not due to strike outs like Jackson).

So the trade/FA pick ups need to be: 2 starters, 2 relievers minimum, 3B and one OF spot (CF or RF).

Well broken down.  There has been some rumblings that the Cubs are going to completely cut the cord on Stewart, but with the rough straits of third basemen in the ML I wouldn't say it is out of the realm of possibilities to see Vitters start up on the parent club.  I disagree with Jackson and I think he will start opening day (At least that is what I am hoping for).

mhuml32 wrote:

cubs2007 wrote: I agree that both Vitters and Jackson will start the year in AAA

For 3b I would like the front office to explore trades for teams major league ready prospects

It seems like the team is ready to go value shopping for 2 starting pitchers

You need an OF - Campana, LaHair, Sappelt are all backup OF's

Bullpen - Camp turns 37 in November - not sure if he is a lock

Castillo seems to have the catching job - Clevenger is no lock to be a backup. It may not be a bad idea to pick up a veteran catcher to help Castillo and work with a young pitching staff

I don't want an off-season like last year but all sign point that way. You need to either make more trades like the Rizzo deal or start to pay for talent which most on this board seem afraid to do.

Coming from the guy that wants to pay double the going rate for free agent starting pitching and swore that Fielder was going to sign a five year deal last year.  I don't think your expectations of the free agent session should be the litmus test for this board.

I never said Fielder was signing a 5 year deal. My opinion on Fielder was he would be a good signing at up to 6 years and 7+ you would have to pass. My opinion on Darvish was there are very limited opportunities to obtain elite young talent. You need to separate the posting fee and his actual salary which is a very fair 6 years 56 million.

pretty much the same team in the field.


I really want edwin jackson in the rotation.

I'm not so sure on Jackson. The rate at which he strikes out is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen, but I don't know that another 3 months in the minors is going to change that. He does a lot of other things well. He draws walks, he plays good defense, and he's shown some ability to drive the ball. In fact, he has more extra base hits than he has singles. Plus he's already 24 and he hit every level in the minors, so I'm kind of inclined to just give him 500 at bats and see if he can work it out. Why delay his development another year?

Jackson and Vitters need to play winter ball. Do the LaHair circuit. I think if they are willing to do that, then maybe they start on the big club. If they aren't, then they need to work it out in AAA to start the year.

DeJesus is fine in the outfield. You just need to find a right-handed platoon partner to face lefties. Against righties DeJesus had an .832OPS, which is plenty good enough, especially for when he plays CF. It is his .447OPS  against LHP that has to go . No more facing lefties for him. None. You may have a platoon partner on the team for him already in Sappelt. Yes, Sappelt may be able to displace DeJesus completely, but barring that, this platoon is better than having DeJesus face lefties. Limited sample size for Sappelt, so if you want to resign Reed Johnson to take DeJesus's ABs against lefties that's fine.

Pitchers. Volstad's gone. Not saying he is worse than Berken, Rusin, Wells, Raley, Coleman, or Germano (wow, what a looong string of bad), but he would cost them a bare minimum of $2.1M next year and probably closer to $3M and I think he is out of options. Save the money. Sign 2 decent starters and you roll into 2013 with those guys, Samardzija, Garza and T. Wood. When someone gets injured or when Garza (or one of the new pitchers) gets traded, you can then bring up the revolving door of bad. Man, you would think that one of the guys in the cycle would have pulled a Randy Wells and at least fooled us into thinking we had something for a while.

Catcher. Limited sample size. Yes, I like Castillo's approach thus far. No reason not to give him a shot again in 2013 with this team. Clevenger has majorly regressed to the mean.

3B. Bring back Valbuena ...and sadly bring back Ian Stewart. Stewart is probably going to be a waste of money, so I wouldn't be surprised or upset if they cut bait like I am recommending with Volstad. But he was injured, so he might bounce back...and there aren't a lot of attractive options out there short of trading for someone else's 3B prospect. If you do that (trade for a 3B), what are you willing to give up that they would actually want?

SportsGoblin wrote3B. Bring back Valbuena ...and sadly bring back Ian Stewart. Stewart is probably going to be a waste of money, so I wouldn't be surprised or upset if they cut bait like I am recommending with Volstad. But he was injured, so he might bounce back...and there aren't a lot of attractive options out there short of trading for someone else's 3B prospect. If you do that (trade for a 3B), what are you willing to give up that they would actually want?

I agree. There isn't anyone on the market worth getting that would be much better so might as well go with Valbuena for now (who is good defensively) and give Stewart one more chance since if healthy, he can be a pretty solid player.

I honestly don't think your going to see a lot of changes made when it comes to the everyday lineup. I think our infield is set (including Castillo at catcher), Soriano in left (no takers folks your stuck with him) and DeJesus in right or center. That leaves one outfield slot and I think they will take another mid-tier guy.

They were do most of their spending this offseason in terms of FA on the pitching staff especially SP. Hoyer came out and said earlier this week they will be major players in the FA pitching market. Don't expect a big name but a couple mid-tier guys for both the rotation and the bullpen.

Well with 500 AB's, he has a great chance to break a MLB record and unlike Reynolds or Dunn will not hit over 20 HR's. He may be our current version of Jose Hernandez, but with 15% more whiffs!

As bad as Vitters has been he has striking out less than 25% of the time compared to 50% of the time for Jackson. FWIW- Noticed LaHair is at 33%.

Sappelt looks functional, so if the Cubs can sign a full time CF that would be great. If they do not and keep LaHair, than you need Sappelt and another RH bat for platoon (bring back Reed Johnson or Jeff Baker?).

FYI- probably should not have Barney in the "givens" category, he is certainly a serviceable player (but should not be in the 2 hole) who will be a Cub for at least a couple more seasons until the high regarded prospects are ready.

DoubleDown11 wrote: I'm not so sure on Jackson. The rate at which he strikes out is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen, but I don't know that another 3 months in the minors is going to change that. He does a lot of other things well. He draws walks, he plays good defense, and he's shown some ability to drive the ball. In fact, he has more extra base hits than he has singles. Plus he's already 24 and he hit every level in the minors, so I'm kind of inclined to just give him 500 at bats and see if he can work it out. Why delay his development another year?

PorkChopExpress12 wrote:

SportsGoblin wrote3B. Bring back Valbuena ...and sadly bring back Ian Stewart. Stewart is probably going to be a waste of money, so I wouldn't be surprised or upset if they cut bait like I am recommending with Volstad. But he was injured, so he might bounce back...and there aren't a lot of attractive options out there short of trading for someone else's 3B prospect. If you do that (trade for a 3B), what are you willing to give up that they would actually want?

I agree. There isn't anyone on the market worth getting that would be much better so might as well go with Valbuena for now (who is good defensively) and give Stewart one more chance since if healthy, he can be a pretty solid player.

I honestly don't think your going to see a lot of changes made when it comes to the everyday lineup. I think our infield is set (including Castillo at catcher), Soriano in left (no takers folks your stuck with him) and DeJesus in right or center. That leaves one outfield slot and I think they will take another mid-tier guy.

They were do most of their spending this offseason in terms of FA on the pitching staff especially SP. Hoyer came out and said earlier this week they will be major players in the FA pitching market. Don't expect a big name but a couple mid-tier guys for both the rotation and the bullpen.

Both Bruce Miles and Bruce Levine are reporting that the Cubs are ready to cut ties with Stewart. Valbuena is a bench player at best.

Mid-tier does seem to be the route the team will go with pitching and maybe an OF.

Epstein is right when he said 2013 won't be much better.

SportsGoblin wrote:

3B. Bring back Valbuena ...and sadly bring back Ian Stewart. Stewart is probably going to be a waste of money, so I wouldn't be surprised or upset if they cut bait like I am recommending with Volstad. But he was injured, so he might bounce back...and there aren't a lot of attractive options out there short of trading for someone else's 3B prospect. If you do that (trade for a 3B), what are you willing to give up that they would actually want?

Yeah, trading for somebody like Jedd Gyorko or Mike Olt is a great idea, but the only way I can realistically see a deal like that working involves us giving up Jeff Samardzija, which just creates another hole on our roster.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the cubs overpay on a 1-yr deal for guys like Santana or Haren and then deal 'em at the deadline.  I don't see how any other pitcher coming off a good year would sign unless there is an overpay. There's likely to be a hole in LF too, I think Soriano gets dealt this offseason, he's really had a phenomenal year and probably accepts more teams to avoid this mess in 2013.

Well here are the 2013 FA's for 3B, OF, and pitching. I noted with "XXX" some names I would be interesting. On many of these FA's with salaries below 5M I have no clue if they are any good.

3rd Basemen – Free Agents
Player	Age	’12 Team	’12 Salary	Contract Notes
Geoff Blum	39	ARI	$1,350,000
Miguel Cairo	39	CIN	$1,000,000
Eric Chavez	35	NYY XXX	$900,000-
Mark DeRosa	38	WAS	$800,000
Brandon Inge	36	OAK	$5,500,000
Maicer Izturis	32	LAA	$3,966,667
Jose Lopez	29	CLE	$800,000
Placido Polanco	37	PHI	$6,417,000	$5.5 million mutual option with a $1 million buyout
Mark Reynolds	29	BAL	$7,833,333	$11 million club option with a $500K buyout
Scott Rolen	38	CIN	$8,166,667
Ty Wigginton	35	PHI	$4,000,000	$4 million club option with a $500K buyout
David Wright	30	NYM	$15,250,000	$16 million club option with a $1 million buyout
Kevin Youkilis	34	CWS	$12,250,000	$13 million club option with a $1 million buyout

Outfielders – Free Agents
Player	Age	’12 Team	’12 Salary	Contract Notes
Bobby Abreu	39	LAD	$9,000,000
Rick Ankiel	33	WAS	$1,250,000
Lance Berkman	36	STL	$12,000,000
Michael Bourn	30	ATL	$6,845,000
Melky Cabrera	28	SF	$6,000,000
Matt Diaz	35	ATL	$2,125,000
Kosuke Fukudome	36	CWS	$500,000	$3.5 million club option with a $500K buyout
Jonny Gomes	32	OAK-XXX	$1,000,000
Curtis Granderson	32	NYY	$10,000,000	$13 million club option with a $2 million buyout
Scott Hairston	33	NYM	$1,100,000
Josh Hamilton	32	TEX	$15,250,000
Willie Harris	35	CIN	$800,000
Torii Hunter	37	LAA	$18,500,000
Reed Johnson	36	ATL	$1,150,000
Andruw Jones	36	NYY	$2,000,000
Austin Kearns	33	MIA	$600,000
Mark Kotsay	37	SD	$1,250,000
Ryan Ludwick	34	CIN	$2,000,000	mutual option for 2013
Xavier Nady	34	WAS	$700,000
Angel Pagan	31	SF	$4,850,000
Juan Pierre	35	PHI	$800,000	$4 million club option for 2013 with a $500K buyout
Cody Ross	32	BOS	$3,000,000
Grady Sizemore	30	CLE	$5,000,000
Ichiro Suzuki	39	NYY	$18,000,000
Nick Swisher	32	NYY	$10,250,000
B.J. Upton	28	TB	$7,000,000
Shane Victorino	32	LAD	$4,000,000
Delmon Young	27	DET	$6,750,000

Starting Pitchers – Free Agents
Player	Age	12 Team	12 Salary	Contract Notes
Scott Baker	31	MIN	$6,500,000	$9.25 million club option
Erik Bedard	34	PIT	$4,500,000
Joe Blanton	32	PHI	$10,500,000
Bartolo Colon	40	OAK	$2,000,000
Aaron Cook	34	BOS
Kevin Correia	32	PIT	$4,000,000
Jorge De La Rosa	32	COL	$10,500,000	$11 million player option with a $1 million buyout
Ryan Dempster	36	TEX	$14,000,000
R.A. Dickey	38	NYM	$4,750,000	$5 million club option with a $300K buyout
Scott Feldman	29	TEX	$6,500,000	$9.25 million club option with a $600K buyout
Jeff Francis	32	COL
Gavin Floyd	30	CWS	$7,000,000	$9.5 million club option
Freddy Garcia	37	NYY	$4,000,000
Zack Greinke	28	LAA	$13,500,000
Jeremy Guthrie	34	KC	$8,200,000
Dan Haren	32	LAA	$12,750,000	$15.5 million club option with a $3.5 million buyout
Livan Hernandez	38	MIL	$750,000
Tim Hudson	37	ATL	$9,000,000	$9 million club option with a $1 million buyout
Edwin Jackson	29	WAS-XXX	$11,000,000
Hiroki Kuroda	38	NYY	$10,000,000
Colby Lewis	33	TEX-XXX	$3,250,000
Francisco Liriano	29	CWS-XXX	$5,500,000
Kyle Lohse	34	STL	$12,187,500
Derek Lowe	40	CLE	$15,000,000
Paul Maholm	31	ATL	$4,250,000	$6.5 million club option with a $500K buyout
Shaun Marcum	31	MIL	$7,725,000
Jason Marquis	34	SD	$3,000,000
Daisuke Matsuzaka	32	BOS	$10,333,333
Brandon McCarthy	29	OAK	$4,275,000
Dustin McGowan	28	TOR
Kevin Millwood	38	SEA	$1,000,000
Brett Myers	32	CWS	$12,000,000	$10 million vesting option with a $3 million buyout
Roy Oswalt	35	TEX	$5,000,000
Carl Pavano	37	MIN	$8,500,000
Jake Peavy	31	CWS	$17,000,000	$22 million club option with a $4 million buyout
Brad Penny	35	SF
Andy Pettitte	40	NYY
Anibal Sanchez	29	DET	$8,000,000
Jonathan Sanchez	30	COL	$5,600,000
Ervin Santana	30	LAA-XXX	$11,200,000	$13 million club option with a $1 million buyout
Joe Saunders	32	ARI-XXX	$6,000,000
James Shields	31	TB	$7,500,000	$9 million club option with a $1.5 million buyout
Chien-Ming Wang	33	WAS	$4,000,000
Kip Wells	36	SD
Jake Westbrook	35	STL	$8,500,000	$8.5 million mutual option with a $1 million buyout if club declines
Randy Wolf	36	MIL	$9,500,000	$10 million club option with a $1.5 million buyout
Chris Young	34	NYM
Carlos Zambrano	32	MIA	$19,000,000
Closers – Free Agents
Player	Age	12 Team	12 Salary	Contract Notes
Jonathan Broxton	29	KC	$4,000,000
Matt Capps	29	MIN	$4,500,000	$6 million club option with a $250K buyout
Francisco Cordero	38	HOU	$4,500,000
Kyle Farnsworth	37	TB	$3,300,000
Brandon League	30	LAD	$5,000,000
Ryan Madson	32	CIN	$6,000,000	$11 million mutual option with a $2.5 million buyout
Juan Carlos Oviedo	29	MIA	$6,000,000
J.J. Putz	36	ARI	$4,500,000	$6.5 million club option with a $1.5 million buyout
Mariano Rivera	43	NYY	$15,000,000
Francisco Rodriguez	31	MIL	$8,000,000
Joakim Soria	29	KC	$6,000,000	$8 million club option with a $750K buyout
Jose Valverde	35	DET	$9,000,000
Right-Handed Relievers – Free Agents
Player	Age	12 Team	12 Salary	Contract Notes
David Aardsma	31	NYY	$500,000	$500K club option
Jeremy Accardo	31	CLE
Mike Adams	34	TEX	$4,400,000
Luis Ayala	35	BAL	$825,000
Grant Balfour	35	OAK	$4,000,000	$4.5 million club option with a $350K buyout
Miguel Batista	42	NYM	$750,000
Shawn Camp	37	CHC-XXX	$550,000
Todd Coffey	32	LAD	$1,000,000	club option
Jose Contreras	41	PHI	$2,500,000	$2.5 million club option with a $500K buyout
Juan Cruz	34	PIT	$1,250,000
Octavio Dotel	39	DET	$3,000,000
Chad Durbin	35	ATL	$900,000
Jason Frasor	35	TOR	$3,750,000
Kevin Gregg	35	BAL	$5,800,000	$6 million club/vesting option
LaTroy Hawkins	38	LAA	$3,000,000
Clay Hensley	33	SF	$750,000
Bobby Jenks	32	BOS	$6,000,000
Brad Lidge	36	WAS	$1,000,000
Matt Lindstrom	33	BAL	$3,600,000	$4 million club option with a $200K buyout
Mark Lowe	30	TEX	$1,700,000
Brandon Lyon	33	TOR	$5,500,000
Mike MacDougal	36	LAD	$650,000	club option
Guillermo Mota	39	SF	$1,000,000
Micah Owings	30	SD	$500,000
Vicente Padilla	35	BOS	$1,500,000
Joel Peralta	37	TB	$2,175,000
Chad Qualls	34	NYY	$1,150,000
Ramon Ramirez	31	NYM	$2,650,000
Jon Rauch	34	NYM	$3,500,000
Fernando Rodney	36	TB	$1,750,000
Takashi Saito	43	ARI	$1,750,000
Rafael Soriano	33	NYY	$11,000,000	$14 million player option or a $1.5 million buyout
Yoshinori Tateyama	37	TEX	$1,000,000
Carlos Villanueva	29	TOR	$2,277,500
Dan Wheeler	35	CLE	$900,000
Kerry Wood	36	CHC	$3,000,000	$3 million option
Jamey Wright	38	LAD	$900,000
Left-Handed Relievers – Free Agents
Player	Age	12 Team	12 Salary	Contract Notes
Jeremy Affeldt	34	SF	$5,000,000
Sean Burnett	30	WAS	$2,300,000	$3.5 million mutual option with a $250K buyout
Tim Byrdak	39	NYM	$1,000,000
Randy Choate	37	LAD	$1,500,000
Pedro Feliciano	35	NYY	$3,750,000	$4.5 million club option
Brian Fuentes	37	STL	$5,000,000	$6.5 million club option with a $500K buyout
Mike Gonzalez	35	WAS
J.P. Howell	28	TB	$1,350,000
Will Ohman	35	CIN	$2,500,000
Darren Oliver	42	TOR	$4,000,000	$3 million club option with a $500K buyout
J.C. Romero	37	STL	$750,000
Hisanori Takahashi	38	LAA	$4,200,000

cubs2007 wrote:

PorkChopExpress12 wrote:

SportsGoblin wrote3B. Bring back Valbuena ...and sadly bring back Ian Stewart. Stewart is probably going to be a waste of money, so I wouldn't be surprised or upset if they cut bait like I am recommending with Volstad. But he was injured, so he might bounce back...and there aren't a lot of attractive options out there short of trading for someone else's 3B prospect. If you do that (trade for a 3B), what are you willing to give up that they would actually want?

I agree. There isn't anyone on the market worth getting that would be much better so might as well go with Valbuena for now (who is good defensively) and give Stewart one more chance since if healthy, he can be a pretty solid player.

I honestly don't think your going to see a lot of changes made when it comes to the everyday lineup. I think our infield is set (including Castillo at catcher), Soriano in left (no takers folks your stuck with him) and DeJesus in right or center. That leaves one outfield slot and I think they will take another mid-tier guy.

They were do most of their spending this offseason in terms of FA on the pitching staff especially SP. Hoyer came out and said earlier this week they will be major players in the FA pitching market. Don't expect a big name but a couple mid-tier guys for both the rotation and the bullpen.

Both Bruce Miles and Bruce Levine are reporting that the Cubs are ready to cut ties with Stewart. Valbuena is a bench player at best.

Mid-tier does seem to be the route the team will go with pitching and maybe an OF.

Epstein is right when he said 2013 won't be much better.

cubs2007 wrote:

mhuml32 wrote:

cubs2007 wrote: I agree that both Vitters and Jackson will start the year in AAA

For 3b I would like the front office to explore trades for teams major league ready prospects

It seems like the team is ready to go value shopping for 2 starting pitchers

You need an OF - Campana, LaHair, Sappelt are all backup OF's

Bullpen - Camp turns 37 in November - not sure if he is a lock

Castillo seems to have the catching job - Clevenger is no lock to be a backup. It may not be a bad idea to pick up a veteran catcher to help Castillo and work with a young pitching staff

I don't want an off-season like last year but all sign point that way. You need to either make more trades like the Rizzo deal or start to pay for talent which most on this board seem afraid to do.

Coming from the guy that wants to pay double the going rate for free agent starting pitching and swore that Fielder was going to sign a five year deal last year.  I don't think your expectations of the free agent session should be the litmus test for this board.

I never said Fielder was signing a 5 year deal. My opinion on Fielder was he would be a good signing at up to 6 years and 7+ you would have to pass. My opinion on Darvish was there are very limited opportunities to obtain elite young talent. You need to separate the posting fee and his actual salary which is a very fair 6 years 56 million.

Why take out the posting fee? Not only is part of the expense in signing this player, but the entire fee has to be paid up front. Nobody is arguing that Darvish wasn't/isn't worth 6/56. The argument is that paying 100 million for the services of any pitcher is very risky, that Asian pitchers have not fared too well in MLB and that combining the 2 was extremely dangerous. The Cubs accepted all of that risk, put in an offer, and ended up with the 2nd highest bid.

In your world the posting fee doesn't mean anything, like funny money. In that case they should have posted 100 million offer. Of course, if another team offered 101 million, you would be making the same argument.

cubs2007 wrote:

PorkChopExpress12 wrote:

SportsGoblin wrote3B. Bring back Valbuena ...and sadly bring back Ian Stewart. Stewart is probably going to be a waste of money, so I wouldn't be surprised or upset if they cut bait like I am recommending with Volstad. But he was injured, so he might bounce back...and there aren't a lot of attractive options out there short of trading for someone else's 3B prospect. If you do that (trade for a 3B), what are you willing to give up that they would actually want?

I agree. There isn't anyone on the market worth getting that would be much better so might as well go with Valbuena for now (who is good defensively) and give Stewart one more chance since if healthy, he can be a pretty solid player.

I honestly don't think your going to see a lot of changes made when it comes to the everyday lineup. I think our infield is set (including Castillo at catcher), Soriano in left (no takers folks your stuck with him) and DeJesus in right or center. That leaves one outfield slot and I think they will take another mid-tier guy.

They were do most of their spending this offseason in terms of FA on the pitching staff especially SP. Hoyer came out and said earlier this week they will be major players in the FA pitching market. Don't expect a big name but a couple mid-tier guys for both the rotation and the bullpen.

Both Bruce Miles and Bruce Levine are reporting that the Cubs are ready to cut ties with Stewart. Valbuena is a bench player at best.

Mid-tier does seem to be the route the team will go with pitching and maybe an OF.

Epstein is right when he said 2013 won't be much better.

I'm hoping for just a little worse, or the Astro's being a little better. Carlos Rodon, R-O-D-O-N.

Wshington had the good luck of having two ultra high ceiling guys, in Strasberg and Harper available in consecutive drafts, when they picked no. 1.  A similar haul may be available to the Cubs if Manaea somehow slips to no. 2 and they have the adacity to try for the no. 1 pick in '14, in the hopes of landing Rodon. Those two really are that good, IM not so HO.

Lastly, that FA list really underscores the need for this rebuild. Few premiere talents make it to that point anymore and those that do receive finacially stiffling packages that tend to run years beyond the players prime. The majority of players on that list are beyond their prime years or will soon be exiting them.
Yet, if the scouting department does their job, there are some bounce back and breakout candidates on that list. At this point in the process, I'm hoping for more Maholm type pick ups that can be flipped for adding to that young core. If that's done properly and thoroughly it won't be long before they are looking at future FA lists in a whole different light.
For those looking to this list in the hopes of significantly moving up in the standings in one short year of the rebuild are as always lacking the vision to see the big picture.

HolyMackeral wrote: Lastly, that FA list really underscores the need for this rebuild. Few premiere talents make it to that point anymore and those that do receive finacially stiffling packages that tend to run years beyond the players prime. The majority of players on that list are beyond their prime years or will soon be exiting them.
Yet, if the scouting department does their job, there are some bounce back and breakout candidates on that list. At this point in the process, I'm hoping for more Maholm type pick ups that can be flipped for adding to that young core. If that's done properly and thoroughly it won't be long before they are looking at future FA lists in a whole different light.
For those looking to this list in the hopes of significantly moving up in the standings in one short year of the rebuild are as always lacking the vision to see the big picture.

The mistake most make when looking at the free agent list is thinking you have to sign the premier free agents. You can fill needs without breaking the bank. Theo was able to draft and develop prospects without tanking seasons. The strategy of trying to find Maholm type free agents in order to flip for prospects is not a good way to build the farm or major league team. Rebuilding was going to take a couple years but at the current pace it will be 2015 or 16 if prospects develop.