The Cubs Chronicle

Unsurprisingly, the Chicago Cubs re-signed Jose Macias to a one-year contract, reports the Chicago Tribune. Terms were undisclosed. Macias, who will be 33 next season, has a lifetime OPS 13% below league average. The past two seasons he has been 16% and 24.5% below average.

UPDATE: Macias’s contract is for $825,000.

As reported would happen, the Cubs lost lefthanded pitching prospect Andy Sisco in the Rule 5 draft today, notes The Cub Reporter. The Royals drafted him with the second pick. The Cubs also lost lefthanded pitcher Luke Hagerty, who had Tommy John surgery in 2003, to the Orioles. (See list of draft picks in pdf format.)

I think it likely that both players will fail to stay on the big league roster for the entire 2005 season, and will have to be offered back to the Cubs.

UPDATE: The Orioles traded Hagerty to the Marlins.

Paul Sulllivan reports in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune that the Cubs “are likely to lose minor-league left-hander Andy Sisco to Kansas City with the second pick of the Rule 5 draft.” (1060west first brought to that the Cubs had left Sisco unprotected.) Even if the Royals – or another team – pick up Sisco in the Rule V draft, however, it seems unlikely that a guy who put up a 4.21 ERA in high-A ball last year will make the team out of spring training, let alone stick with the team for the entire year. I assume the Cubs will eventually get him back.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports today that “Cubs general manager Jim Hendry will meet in the next few days with Milwaukee Brewers counterpart Doug Melvin to discuss what it would take for the Brewers to part with closer Dan Kolb.” The Sun-Times also states that Kyle Farnsworth would likely be included in any trade for Kolb. (The interest in Kolb stems back at least a couple of weeks now.)

Whether the Cubs acquire Kolb or not, it appears likely the Cubs will trade Farnsworth to someone this offseason. Farnsworth rumors have been as rampant as Sosa trade rumors, without the national attention. Farnsworth is undoubtedly talented, but his inconsistency and his apparently not having the right attitude appear to have left him unwanted in Chicago.

If the Cubs do end up trading Farnsworth for another reliever, it will tell us at least three things.

First, Glendon Rusch—recently signed to a two-year contract—will be the 5th starter. The Cubs already have LaTroy Hawkins, Mike Remlinger, and Ryan Dempster slated for the bullpen in 2005. Todd Wellemeyer and Jon Leicester (leading the league in silent letters) will also likely be given spots in the bullpen. Add in Kolb and you have 6 relievers. And that’s even without a lefty specialist. The same Sun-Times article speculates that role could fall to Will Ohman, currently performing well in the Mexican League. 6 relievers (with Ohman possibly replacing Wellemeyer or Leicester in the pen) means no room for Rusch, which means he’s starting.

Second, Sergio Mitre, who struggled for the big league club last year, but who has been a very good minor league starter for four straight seasons at four different levels, appears to be headed to Iowa again. With Rusch out of the swingman role, Mitre could be the starter called up should one of the five starters go down with an injury.

Finally, it will mean that the Cubs will lose the player with the best nickname on the team.

The Cubs have decided to decline arbitration to Paul Bako, and sign another one of Greg Maddux’s personal catchers, Henry Blanco. The Cubs signed Blanco to a two-year deal, financial terms unspecified.

A two-year deal for a guy who’s who had .184 and .216 EqA’s the past two seasons seems a bit lengthy, no matter the financial terms. Paul Bako hits about the same. If Baseball Prospectus’s fielding statistics are to be believed, however, Blanco does appear to be the better defensive catcher. For his career, Blanco has been 14 runs per 100 games better than an average catcher. Bako has been -2, a difference of almost one win in a season if you figure either of them would catch about 50 games as the backup catcher (a high estimate).

The Cubs have their double-play combination set for next year. They signed Nomar Garciaparra to a one-year, $8M plus incentives deal, and Todd Walker to a one-year, $2.5M deal. A second year for Walker could become vested if he has a certain number of plate appearances in 2005.

This has the potential of being one of the best offensive double-play combinations in 2005. Garciaparra will have to stay healthy and Dusty Baker would have to resist the urge to “inject” the “energy” of Neifi Perez. Pretty big ifs, but right now things look good.

In a non-move that comes as no surprise, the Cubs have informed Moises Alou that they will not offer him a contract or salary arbitration before the 11 p.m. deadline to do so tonight, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

Alou was not pleased. The Sun-Times quotes him as saying, “I thought at least they’d make an effort to sign me to something fair. I’m very disappointed. I’m upset to know they didn’t want me. How do you let a guy go that led the team in RBI [106] and home runs [39] last year? I got [roughed up] by the business of baseball.'’

In other arbitration related news, the Cubs will not offer arbitration to Nomar Garciaparra if Garciaparra rejects the Cubs’ final contract offer today. They might offer arbitration to Todd Walker if he doesn’t sign today.

The Cubs will likely offer arbitration to Matt Clement (who’s probably leaving via free agency), Paul Bako, and Todd Hollandsworth (both of whom will likely stay). The Cubs will not offer arbitration to Mark Grudzielanek, Ramon Martinez, Kent Mercker, Tom Goodwin, and Ben Grieve.

(Article tip from Michael C..)

Via The Cub Reporter is this post by Wait ‘Til Next Year’s Bryan Smith on the Cubs’ minor leaguers and who should be protected on the 40-man roster this winter.

MLB.com reports Mike Wuertz has made the team. Jimmy Anderson has been sent to Triple-A, and Scott McClain, cut on Thursday, has signed with the Seibu Lions of Japan. McClain has played for the Lions the past three seasons. He’ll earn much more with them than he would have for Iowa.

Both The Cub Reporter and The Big Red C discuss the reports in today’s Sun-Times and Daily Herald that Mike Wuertz may make the club as the 12th pitcher. (For those that don’t know, Wuertz has been a below average to plain bad minor leaguer who’s having a good spring.) But at the same time, Jimmy Anderson is trying to make the case that he should be the 5th starter instead of Sergio Mitre. Anderson came into today’s game with a 2.76 spring ERA in 16.1 innings. He threw 5 innings of no earned run baseball in the start today, striking out just 1, but also allowing just 3 hits. This at a time when Mitre is struggling.

I’ve (briefly) panned Anderson before (see here and here). He’s 28 with a lifetime ERA 19% below league average in 559 big league innings, and as many career walks as strikeouts. He’s Shawn Estes, only not as “good” and without the aberration that was Estes’s 1997 season.

If the Cubs do carry a 12th pitcher, either Wuertz or Anderson could make the team. But with just one open spot on the 40-man roster, only one of them can. The Cubs don’t have many days left in which to decide.