Now that the World Series is over and baseball season is officially over it is time to think about next season. Players have until 15 days after the season (World Series) ends to file for free agency. During those 15 days the clubs can exclusively talk to their free agents to be. The Cubs free agents are Reed Johnson, John Grabow, Rich Harden, Kevin Gregg, and the often injured Chad Fox.
Out of the Cubs five free agents Reed Johnson, Rich Harden, and Kevin Gregg seem to be gone. The Cubs don’t have any interest in Reed Johnson because of his bad back and even though he seems to be healthy now, they just don’t seem to like him. Even when he was healthy, Lou seemed to not play him much. Rich Harden was injured way too much and bad towards the end of the season. The Cubs have many other options internally and want to move on from an injury prone pitcher who barley can go 5 innings in every start. They want to find a more durable pitcher who can go deeper into games. Kevin Gregg was terrible and they have better internal options at closer.
That leaves John Grabow and Chad Fox. John Grabow they seem to like even though he walks a lot of batters. Even though many left handed pitchers walks a lot of batters, so it is hard to find someone who doesn’t. They need a dependable left handed pitcher and Grabow was that guy while he was in Chicago since being traded from the Pirates before the trade deadline. I am not a big John Grabow fan and would like them see go after other players for the money they would have to sign him for. Chad Fox they keep singing to minor league deals. So even though his career seems to be done, they have signed him to minor league deals after I said that before so who knows. I like Reed Johnson and he is the only free agent the Cubs have I would like to see them re-sing.
Showing posts with label Reed Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reed Johnson. Show all posts
Patton Injured?
On Monday the Cubs activated three players from the disabled list in Aramis Ramirez, Reed Johnson, and Angel Guzman. They had to make three corresponding moves. I thought they were going to send down Sam Fuld, Kevin Hart, and originally Mike Fontenot until I heard they were leaning towards sending down two pictures. The Cubs had 12 pitchers, but most teams have 11. Many teams shuffle back and fourth between 11 and 12 pitchers. There always seem to be a big debate (at least among the Cubs) to carry 11 or 12 pitchers or go with the extra bench guy. For as long as I can remember the Cubs always go with 12 pitchers for most of the season. When I heard the Cubs were probably going to send down 2 pitchers I thought they were going to send down Kevin Hart and Jeff Samardzija.
I turned out to be wrong. The Cubs ended up sending down Kevin Hart and Sam Fuld to Triple-A Iowa. Then they placed David Patton on the 15-day disabled list with a right groin strain, retroactive to July 5. Sam Fuld did well in limited action, but the Cubs have enough outfielders and there just wasn’t room for him. He batted .364 going 4-11including two doubles, 2 walks, and provided great defense. This was his first chance at the big league level since spring training last year when he lost the battle to be the everyday center fielder with Felix Pie. He never really had a chance then, and there just isn’t room for him now. Hopefully he’ll get another chance when we need him. We have a logjam of guys, who can play the outfield, especially the corner outfield with Johnson, Fox, and Hoffpauir who we have enough problems in finding playing time for.
Kevin Hart is another guy who has been up and down with the Cubs the last three years since we traded for him from Baltimore. In 2007 he looked like a great pick up only allowing 1 run in 11 innings pitched for a 0.82 ERA and also had 13 strikeouts. Last year he had a disappointing season pitching in 21 games going 2-2 with a 6.51 ERA pitching 27.2 innings, allowing 20 runs and 18 walks. Hart was called up for his first time this season on June 21st and had a 1.59 ERA in 5.2 Innings pitched. He looked good in limited action so hopefully he will be able to contribute when we go back to 12 pitchers or some one gets injured. I thought they should have sent down Jeff Samardzija over Kevin but knew they would send Hart down.
The third move the Cubs made was placing David Patton on the disabled List with a right groin strain. I didn’t even know he was unavailable, let alone injured. After the game on Sunday, Lou said it would be a very hard decision because everyone is playing so good. The players who aren’t playing good are signed to major league contracts or out of options and we don’t want to loose them. David Patton is a rule 5 guy. Thus, the Cubs have to keep him on the roster for the entire season or we would have to offer him back to Colorado. Patton was 3-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 24.0 innings pitched in 17 games this season. He has looked good at times, but was hit hard in a few outings. I think he will be good, but just needs time to develop. I wonder if he was really injured or the Cubs put him on the Disabled List to make room for others because he wasn’t doing that well. What do you think?
I turned out to be wrong. The Cubs ended up sending down Kevin Hart and Sam Fuld to Triple-A Iowa. Then they placed David Patton on the 15-day disabled list with a right groin strain, retroactive to July 5. Sam Fuld did well in limited action, but the Cubs have enough outfielders and there just wasn’t room for him. He batted .364 going 4-11including two doubles, 2 walks, and provided great defense. This was his first chance at the big league level since spring training last year when he lost the battle to be the everyday center fielder with Felix Pie. He never really had a chance then, and there just isn’t room for him now. Hopefully he’ll get another chance when we need him. We have a logjam of guys, who can play the outfield, especially the corner outfield with Johnson, Fox, and Hoffpauir who we have enough problems in finding playing time for.
Kevin Hart is another guy who has been up and down with the Cubs the last three years since we traded for him from Baltimore. In 2007 he looked like a great pick up only allowing 1 run in 11 innings pitched for a 0.82 ERA and also had 13 strikeouts. Last year he had a disappointing season pitching in 21 games going 2-2 with a 6.51 ERA pitching 27.2 innings, allowing 20 runs and 18 walks. Hart was called up for his first time this season on June 21st and had a 1.59 ERA in 5.2 Innings pitched. He looked good in limited action so hopefully he will be able to contribute when we go back to 12 pitchers or some one gets injured. I thought they should have sent down Jeff Samardzija over Kevin but knew they would send Hart down.
The third move the Cubs made was placing David Patton on the disabled List with a right groin strain. I didn’t even know he was unavailable, let alone injured. After the game on Sunday, Lou said it would be a very hard decision because everyone is playing so good. The players who aren’t playing good are signed to major league contracts or out of options and we don’t want to loose them. David Patton is a rule 5 guy. Thus, the Cubs have to keep him on the roster for the entire season or we would have to offer him back to Colorado. Patton was 3-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 24.0 innings pitched in 17 games this season. He has looked good at times, but was hit hard in a few outings. I think he will be good, but just needs time to develop. I wonder if he was really injured or the Cubs put him on the Disabled List to make room for others because he wasn’t doing that well. What do you think?
