The Cubs’ neverending quest to combine the best elements of last year’s Pittsburgh Pirates’ and Florida Marlins’ position players continues. Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the Marlins thought they had free agent second baseman Luis Castillo all ready to sign a new three-year contract, until the Cubs came in and made a competitive offer:
[Castillo representative Seth] Levinson would not divulge details of his negotiations, but an industry source said the Chicago Cubs entered the bidding Friday with an offer that was “very competitive” with the Marlins’ three-year, $15.5 million bid.
Like the Marlins, the Cubs apparently are willing to include a fourth-year vesting option based on the number of plate appearances Castillo makes over the next three seasons. The Marlins’ offer would make that additional year worth $6 million, pushing the total package to a potential $21.5 million for the 28-year-old switch-hitter.
Who knows how ready Castillo really was to re-sign with the Marlins. The Mets have also reportedly offered him a contract, and the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox or Los Angeles Dodgers are also all interested, according to the article.
Castillo, 28, hit .314/.381/.397 last year in his fifth full season, good for an adjusted OPS 4.5% above the league average. That’s the second time he’s finished the year with an adjusted OPS above league average, the other year being 2000. For his career, he has an adjusted OPS 4% below league average.
The Cubs today traded Hee Seop Choi and a minor leaguer to be named to the Florida Marlins for Derreck Lee. Lee, 28, has been consistently good, posting between an .875 and .888 OPS in three of the past four seasons (with an .820 OPS in 2001). Baseball Prospectus had Lee ranked as the 6th best offensive first baseman in the game this past season, in terms of Runs Above Replacement Player. I think that’s probably a little higher ranking than what we can expect out of him in the future, but he’s good.
This is a good trade for both teams. I think Choi will ultimately be better than Lee, but not for a few seasons. And Lee gives the Cubs what they desire: assurance.
Even though Lee is a good player, I really like Choi, and am sad to see him go.
Apparently on purpose. Who were they bidding against? And why can’t the Cubs beat a team year-in and year-out that signs contracts like this? This is like some team going out and signing Joe Girardi to a three-year, multi-million dollar contract in 2000.
Eric Gagne was named the National League’s Cy Young Award winner today. He received 28 of 32 first place votes. Jason Schmidt, who received 2 first place votes, finished second. Mark Prior received the other two first place votes and finished third.
Gagne’s receiving the award was expected. Despite my definite preference for Prior, I’m not disappointed, because I really thought Schmidt deserved it.
I also appreciate Prior’s response. Too many athletes today think they deserve whatever award, and when they don’t win, they say something like, “He’s good, but I think I should have won.” Or something even less gracious. But the AP reports:
Prior, who is getting married Saturday, thought Gagne deserved to win.
“To do what he did and to not blow a save, especially in the situations he was put in, one-run games a lot of times, and to rattle off 50-some odd straight saves, is unbelievable,” he said.
I think that’s a great response even if the player saying it was the really the one who deserved the award. And congratulations to Prior and his bride.
The team was the Chicago Cubs. The island was Santa Catalina. The time was a unique span of 20th-century America – a span that included the sumptuous backdrops of the roaring ‘20s, the Great Depression, and World War II.
Corporate mega-giant William Wrigley owned both the island and the ballclub. And from 1921 to 1951, he put the two together. The result . . . is way better than any fiction . . . .
The Cubs would go to the island each spring to play and get in shape, among other things. The book looks to contain plenty of anecdotes and photos. I haven’t read it, so I can’t recommend it, but as I said, it looks like it might be worth checking out.
Arizona’s Brandon Webb had an ERA a half-run lower (in a hitter’s ballpark) than Florida’s Dontrelle Willis, threw 20 more innings during the year, struck out more guys in total and per 9 innings, and according to Baseball Prospectus’s more advanced metrics was the 2nd best starting pitcher in the National League this year compared to Willis being the 14th best.
And these are the guys who vote for the Hall-of-Fame? We certainly can’t be surprised that Hall-worthy Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg are still on the outside looking in.
But I guess Webb can really only blame himself. That’ll teach him for having an ordinary wind-up rather than some crazy leg kick.
There’s been a surprising lack news coming out of the Chicago papers regarding what the Cubs are going to do about first base next season. It’s really hard to imagine them keeping both Hee Seop Choi and Randall Simon, unless Choi was given another year at Iowa, which would border on the absurd.
This is a huge decision. And I don’t mean huge in tough. I mean huge in that this decision is going to tell us how serious Jim Hendry is about position player development (and perhaps about how much influence Dusty Baker has over personnel). As David Geiser wrote at The Cub Reporter, “One thing is certain, and that is that Randall Simon needs to go away. . . . Re-signing him would be a huge mistake, and deciding on him over Choi for the long-term would be a blunder for the ages.”
Something to keep in mind: As bad as Choi slumped after his return from the disabled list following his concussion, he still ended up with a higher OPS than Simon on the year (771 to Simon’s 743).
Other things to keep in mind: Choi is younger, cheaper, a better defensive player, gets on base more (even with Simon’s batting average advantage), has a minor league history of being able to hit lefties, and has a good chance, if given everyday playing time, of becoming the first Cubs year-in and year-out power threat at first base since Ernie Banks.
What I think will happen: Simon is the everyday first baseman against righties next year after the Cubs trade Choi away. Ever since the College of Coaches debacle of ‘62 and ‘63, the Cubs organization has been risk averse. Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker, as much good as they may do, are not the people who are going to change that mindset. Choi is risky in the minds of the Cubs and the Chicago media. Simon is safe. Hence, Simon will play.
A rare scorebook from Game One of the 1907 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs has turned up in Holland.
Hope College senior Michael Douma was doing research at the Holland Museum when he found the souvenir scorebook.
. . . .
Museum officials say a similar scorebook from the World Series in 1903 recently sold for 35-thousand dollars.
But did someone use the scorebook to keep score?? We need details!
In any case, the lesson here is, if you keep score at games (and you should), hang on to those scorecards! 100 years from now, if you fail to instill in your descendants a love for the game and they decide to get rid of the scorecards, at least they’ll make some money in the process.
The Cub Reporter has lost his home to the southern California fires. Say a prayer for him, and everyone else who has suffered some loss from the fires.
The Cubs’ neverending quest to combine the best elements of last year’s Pittsburgh Pirates’ and Florida Marlins’ position players continues. Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the Marlins thought they had free agent second baseman Luis Castillo all ready to sign a new three-year contract, until the Cubs came in and made a competitive offer:
There’s been a surprising lack news coming out of the Chicago papers regarding what the Cubs are going to do about first base next season. It’s really hard to imagine them keeping both Hee Seop Choi and Randall Simon, unless Choi was given another year at Iowa, which would border on the absurd.
This is a huge decision. And I don’t mean huge in tough. I mean huge in that this decision is going to tell us how serious Jim Hendry is about position player development (and perhaps about how much influence Dusty Baker has over personnel). As