True to their word, the Cubs brass did claim a player off the wire.
The Cubs claimed right-handed pitcher Guillermo
Moscoso off waivers from the Blue Jays in their continued search for
bullpen help.This decision made Cory Wade,
one of the in-house bullpen candidates off the 25-man roster. Lefty Hisanori Takahashi in still camp, but the Cubs state they are are still
monitoring the waiver wire. Takahashi is a non-roster invitee, and the Cubs would need to open a
spot on the 40-man for him as well.
To make room for Moscoso on the 40-man roster, right-handed pitcher
Arodys Vizcaino was placed on the 60-day disabled list. He is recovering
from Tommy John surgery.
Moscoso, 29, is 11-12 with a 4.16 ERA in 57 Major League appearances,
including 24 starts, over four seasons with the Rangers (2009-10),
Athletics (2011) and Rockies (2012). In each of the past two seasons, he
made 23 big league appearances, with 21 of his 23 outings as a starter
in 2011, and 20 of his 23 appearances as a reliever last year.
In his three starts last year, the right-hander was 0-1 with a 10.80
ERA, and he compiled a 4.42 ERA in 20 relief appearances. With most waiver wire selections, the hope is that the player may "get better" with a change of scenery or be "coached up" by the pitching guru on staff. It does indicate that the Cubs would like to go with major league experience over a rookie in the bullpen.
The Cubs also have yet to finalize the position players on the
Opening Day roster. Steve Clevenger is in the same situation as
Takahashi. He's the last in-house candidate.
If the Cubs keep Clevenger, they would have the rare situation of carrying three catchers on the opening day roster. Clevenger has been playing other positions (1B, 3B) but one cannot say that he is a true utility infielder.
UPDATE:
Moscoso was immediately put on waivers by the Cubs. He has cleared waivers and he has been outrighted off the 40 man roster to the minor league camp. It is expected that he will be assigned to AAA Iowa to start the season.
March 28, 2013
March 27, 2013
WEARING OUT THE WIRE
The Cubs have indicated that the front office will burn through the waiver wire in the next few days to see if there are any cast-offs that could help the club on Opening Day. It sounds like a noble pursuit until one realizes what the waiver wire represents.
If a player is out of minor league options, a team cannot send him to the minors without first putting him on waivers. Then the 29 other clubs can put in a claim for that player's contract.
Since at this time of the year, most teams have their 40 man rosters set, this would mean that if the Cubs are looking for talent now they would be picking up players ranked 1201 of higher in the collective depth chart. (30 clubs times 40 protected roster players equals 1200.) Only the Astros can beat the Cubs on any selection.
Then, again, the Cubs would have to move a player to the 60 day DL or release a player from the 40 man roster in order to take a waiver player. So the club has to make the determination that the 1201th best player in the majors is better value than someone already under Cub control.
The pipe dream is that the Cubs will find a fifth starter on the wire. Teams have enough problems finding starting pitchers to let any go now. The Cubs may be looking for a reserve infielder to be the 25th man if Clevenger does not make the roster. This is most likely a career minor leaguer or a long-in-the-tooth veteran journeyman.
It is interesting to note that the Cubs have become more stubborn in their insistence that they will not promote quickly their prospects. And in this situation, not even marginal tweeners are not getting any attention after the poor showings last season by B. Jackson and Vitters. The Cubs are holding the line for their key players at the AA and below levels for 2013.
If a player is out of minor league options, a team cannot send him to the minors without first putting him on waivers. Then the 29 other clubs can put in a claim for that player's contract.
Since at this time of the year, most teams have their 40 man rosters set, this would mean that if the Cubs are looking for talent now they would be picking up players ranked 1201 of higher in the collective depth chart. (30 clubs times 40 protected roster players equals 1200.) Only the Astros can beat the Cubs on any selection.
Then, again, the Cubs would have to move a player to the 60 day DL or release a player from the 40 man roster in order to take a waiver player. So the club has to make the determination that the 1201th best player in the majors is better value than someone already under Cub control.
The pipe dream is that the Cubs will find a fifth starter on the wire. Teams have enough problems finding starting pitchers to let any go now. The Cubs may be looking for a reserve infielder to be the 25th man if Clevenger does not make the roster. This is most likely a career minor leaguer or a long-in-the-tooth veteran journeyman.
It is interesting to note that the Cubs have become more stubborn in their insistence that they will not promote quickly their prospects. And in this situation, not even marginal tweeners are not getting any attention after the poor showings last season by B. Jackson and Vitters. The Cubs are holding the line for their key players at the AA and below levels for 2013.
March 25, 2013
CALL TO THE PEN
After the injury plagued rotation issue, the Cubs appear to have set their bullpen.
Carlos Marmol retains his role as the closer. Even though the off season plan was to move Marmol, the Cubs are stuck with him.
Kyuji Fujikawa, the Japanese closer, was supposed to be the two-year bridge to get the Cubs pitching staff to a competitive level in 2015. Whether Fuji will be able to adapt to major league hitters is still a question. The Cubs only other Japanese import, Kosuke, did not pan out well.
Dale Sveum's 2012 MVP Shawn Camp is back in middle relief. He made an outrageous number of appearances last season. There is a question of whether he can handle another season of such a workload at his age.
James Russell has become a dependable relief pitcher after his disasterous forays into the spot-starter role. As a left hander, he projects to be the next Sean Marshall of the staff.
Hector Rondon, a Rule 5 pick up who must make the roster in order to be retained, wins a slot like Lendy Castillo did last season, because he has to or the Cubs lose his rights. The Cubs say they are impressed with Rondon's spring, but they also said the same thing about Castillo last year. It is hard to promote a AA pitcher to the majors. It is hard to "hide" a Rule 5 pitcher in the bullpen on a bad team, because the bullpen will be taxed on a bad team with a suspect rotation.
Michael Bowden makes the team as a reliever because he is out of options. He can't be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. So he makes the squad by default.
The remaining bullpen spot will go to Hisanori Takahashi, another veteran left hander. He has had the best ERA among those other candidates for the last pitching spot. And he is the only left hander left in camp after Russell.
Carlos Marmol retains his role as the closer. Even though the off season plan was to move Marmol, the Cubs are stuck with him.
Kyuji Fujikawa, the Japanese closer, was supposed to be the two-year bridge to get the Cubs pitching staff to a competitive level in 2015. Whether Fuji will be able to adapt to major league hitters is still a question. The Cubs only other Japanese import, Kosuke, did not pan out well.
Dale Sveum's 2012 MVP Shawn Camp is back in middle relief. He made an outrageous number of appearances last season. There is a question of whether he can handle another season of such a workload at his age.
James Russell has become a dependable relief pitcher after his disasterous forays into the spot-starter role. As a left hander, he projects to be the next Sean Marshall of the staff.
Hector Rondon, a Rule 5 pick up who must make the roster in order to be retained, wins a slot like Lendy Castillo did last season, because he has to or the Cubs lose his rights. The Cubs say they are impressed with Rondon's spring, but they also said the same thing about Castillo last year. It is hard to promote a AA pitcher to the majors. It is hard to "hide" a Rule 5 pitcher in the bullpen on a bad team, because the bullpen will be taxed on a bad team with a suspect rotation.
Michael Bowden makes the team as a reliever because he is out of options. He can't be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. So he makes the squad by default.
The remaining bullpen spot will go to Hisanori Takahashi, another veteran left hander. He has had the best ERA among those other candidates for the last pitching spot. And he is the only left hander left in camp after Russell.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
In a spare moment over the weekend, I had a chance to see part of the Cubs-Angels exhibition game. The Cubs were playing mostly with their projected opening day line up. Edwin Jackson was the starter. The Angels were playing with a minor league split squad team. And the Angels were cruising to a victory.
A few observations:
The Angels minor league system is more advanced than the Cubs. Their hitters were much more patient and ready to hit major league pitching. The Cubs have a long way to go to catch up.
The Cubs television booth is going to take a while to gel. It could be painful to listen to when the Cubs start poorly.
The organization raves about Anthony Rizzo's play at first base. I came away not very impressed by his defense. On one pick off play, instead of having his right foot on the nearest corner to the pitcher he had it on the back corner (which blocked the umpires view of the tag). Because of poor foot positioning, the umpire could not see the tag and called the runner safe. That was a mental error on Rizzo's part.
Also, Rizzo does not have very good range fielding his position. On a slow chopper to his right, he could not make the play. And on a high bouncer down the line, he could not move two feet to the line to get it before it landed on the skirt of the infield dirt on the line.
He also showed that he had trouble with high throws. When he had to leave his feet, he had trouble coming back down on the bag.
One could explain that he is a young player and experience will make him better over time. But he is not now a gold glove caliber first baseman.
From a hitting perspective, Rizzo is going to struggle. The other teams now have the book on his weaknesses. Joe Blanton threw him four straight off speed pitches down and away and he made Rizzo look a clueless t-baller. It was only when a breaking ball did not break that Rizzo looped a weak single to left center. Again, one could explain that he is young player and experience will make him better with in-season adjustments. But he is slotted third in the order. That is reserved for the team's best hitter. People hope he has the repetitious line drive .300 swing of a Mark Grace, but people fear he could be another Micah Hoffpauir.
A few observations:
The Angels minor league system is more advanced than the Cubs. Their hitters were much more patient and ready to hit major league pitching. The Cubs have a long way to go to catch up.
The Cubs television booth is going to take a while to gel. It could be painful to listen to when the Cubs start poorly.
The organization raves about Anthony Rizzo's play at first base. I came away not very impressed by his defense. On one pick off play, instead of having his right foot on the nearest corner to the pitcher he had it on the back corner (which blocked the umpires view of the tag). Because of poor foot positioning, the umpire could not see the tag and called the runner safe. That was a mental error on Rizzo's part.
Also, Rizzo does not have very good range fielding his position. On a slow chopper to his right, he could not make the play. And on a high bouncer down the line, he could not move two feet to the line to get it before it landed on the skirt of the infield dirt on the line.
He also showed that he had trouble with high throws. When he had to leave his feet, he had trouble coming back down on the bag.
One could explain that he is a young player and experience will make him better over time. But he is not now a gold glove caliber first baseman.
From a hitting perspective, Rizzo is going to struggle. The other teams now have the book on his weaknesses. Joe Blanton threw him four straight off speed pitches down and away and he made Rizzo look a clueless t-baller. It was only when a breaking ball did not break that Rizzo looped a weak single to left center. Again, one could explain that he is young player and experience will make him better with in-season adjustments. But he is slotted third in the order. That is reserved for the team's best hitter. People hope he has the repetitious line drive .300 swing of a Mark Grace, but people fear he could be another Micah Hoffpauir.
March 22, 2013
FLEA MARKET
You might have heard that a $3 flea market bowl turned out to be a 1,000 year old Chinese treasure which was recently auctioned off for $2.2 million. Now that is quite the return on investment.
For the past two years, Theo Epstein and the Cubs have been trying to sign and flip "assets" in order to push along a young rebuild of the entire organization. The veterans that the Cubs have traded have been yielding rookie and Class A prospects, that are years away from making any impact on the major league roster.
In the current basket of Cubs assets, are there any players that will actually return more than the initial investment?
It seemed like the front office really thought they could repeat a Dempster and Maholm pitcher flip at the trade deadline this year when they signed Scott Baker and Scott Feldman. Both Scotties needed to "prove" themselves after last season's woes. Baker did not pitch due to injury. Feldman got demoted from the Rangers rotation. But both pitchers this spring have been disappointing. Feldman has been shelled in most of his work. Baker only got one out before he was shelved to the disabled list.
The other pitching assets the Cubs have to deal are Matt Garza and Carlos Marmol. Garza is also injured so he has no trade value unless he comes back strong. But he has had eight months to recover and he is not close to pitching at the major league level. Marmol was almost traded to the Angels for Dan Haren (a swap of big money contracts), but the Cubs nixed the deal. Marmol is an expensive closer at the end of his deal. Not many teams are interested in Marmol. It would take a significant injury to a mid-season contender for Marmol to have a limited market.
Those assets who are at their prime peak for trading value include Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney. Castro is a legitimate All-Star caliber player who just signed a long term extension. The Cubs have no plans to trade him, even though he would bring back the most talent. Barney had his best season, but it was on the defensive side of the slate. Most teams view him as a middle infield bench player than a full time starter. If the Cubs were ever going to get anything for Barney, it would have been this off-season when the sports pages heralded his gold glove award.
The rest of the roster appears to be filled with trinkets of bench types that would not be starters on other teams.
From a major league asset stand point, the Cubs 40 man roster table is pretty picked over. The Cubs, as Sellers, will have a tough time finding quality prospects from their veteran roster.
For the past two years, Theo Epstein and the Cubs have been trying to sign and flip "assets" in order to push along a young rebuild of the entire organization. The veterans that the Cubs have traded have been yielding rookie and Class A prospects, that are years away from making any impact on the major league roster.
In the current basket of Cubs assets, are there any players that will actually return more than the initial investment?
It seemed like the front office really thought they could repeat a Dempster and Maholm pitcher flip at the trade deadline this year when they signed Scott Baker and Scott Feldman. Both Scotties needed to "prove" themselves after last season's woes. Baker did not pitch due to injury. Feldman got demoted from the Rangers rotation. But both pitchers this spring have been disappointing. Feldman has been shelled in most of his work. Baker only got one out before he was shelved to the disabled list.
The other pitching assets the Cubs have to deal are Matt Garza and Carlos Marmol. Garza is also injured so he has no trade value unless he comes back strong. But he has had eight months to recover and he is not close to pitching at the major league level. Marmol was almost traded to the Angels for Dan Haren (a swap of big money contracts), but the Cubs nixed the deal. Marmol is an expensive closer at the end of his deal. Not many teams are interested in Marmol. It would take a significant injury to a mid-season contender for Marmol to have a limited market.
Those assets who are at their prime peak for trading value include Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney. Castro is a legitimate All-Star caliber player who just signed a long term extension. The Cubs have no plans to trade him, even though he would bring back the most talent. Barney had his best season, but it was on the defensive side of the slate. Most teams view him as a middle infield bench player than a full time starter. If the Cubs were ever going to get anything for Barney, it would have been this off-season when the sports pages heralded his gold glove award.
The rest of the roster appears to be filled with trinkets of bench types that would not be starters on other teams.
From a major league asset stand point, the Cubs 40 man roster table is pretty picked over. The Cubs, as Sellers, will have a tough time finding quality prospects from their veteran roster.
March 20, 2013
THE WAR ROOM
The starting rotation and fielding eight are pretty much set for opening day. How good are these Cubs?
Based upon last year's performance, not so good. By WAR (Wins Above Replacement) metrics, the Cubs are well below average. A replacement player (AAA-AAA level) is a zero. A zero to 2 represents a bench player level. Two plus indicates a player is a MLB starter level. Five plus indicates that player is of All-Star quality. An eight plus indicates that a player is MVP caliber.
The starters for the Cubs:
Barney 4.6 - - - mostly calculated based on his defense, a starter
Castro 3.5 - - - a starter level player
Rizzo 2.2 - - - a starter level player
Soriano 1.8 - - - a bench level player, as in former starter losing his skills
DeJesus 1.6 - - - a bench player
Valbuena 0.4 - - - a low bench player level player, barely above a minor leaguer
Schierholtz -0.1 - - - negative zero point one is below a replacement level player.
Samardzija 1.6 - - - a reserve or middle reliever level pitcher
E. Jackson 1.6 - - - a reserve or middle reliever level pitcher
Villanueva 1.2 - - - a reserve or middle reliever level pitcher
T. Wood 0.6 - - - a low reserve or middle reliever level pitcher
Feldman 0.0 - - - at minor league replacement level.
The Cubs will field only three legitimate major league level starters: Barney, Castro and Rizzo.
The rotation is filled with long relief-spot starter bullpen pitchers, and two that are replacement level AAAA minor league talent.
Based upon last year's performance, not so good. By WAR (Wins Above Replacement) metrics, the Cubs are well below average. A replacement player (AAA-AAA level) is a zero. A zero to 2 represents a bench player level. Two plus indicates a player is a MLB starter level. Five plus indicates that player is of All-Star quality. An eight plus indicates that a player is MVP caliber.
The starters for the Cubs:
Barney 4.6 - - - mostly calculated based on his defense, a starter
Castro 3.5 - - - a starter level player
Rizzo 2.2 - - - a starter level player
Soriano 1.8 - - - a bench level player, as in former starter losing his skills
DeJesus 1.6 - - - a bench player
Valbuena 0.4 - - - a low bench player level player, barely above a minor leaguer
Schierholtz -0.1 - - - negative zero point one is below a replacement level player.
Samardzija 1.6 - - - a reserve or middle reliever level pitcher
E. Jackson 1.6 - - - a reserve or middle reliever level pitcher
Villanueva 1.2 - - - a reserve or middle reliever level pitcher
T. Wood 0.6 - - - a low reserve or middle reliever level pitcher
Feldman 0.0 - - - at minor league replacement level.
The Cubs will field only three legitimate major league level starters: Barney, Castro and Rizzo.
The rotation is filled with long relief-spot starter bullpen pitchers, and two that are replacement level AAAA minor league talent.
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