I thought I was done with this till first cuts, but business sure is picking up. (Try not think of the many moves Hendry might have done if he made the Sosa deal earlier.)
Personally, and let’s context it by me thinking Sammy could co-exist with the rest of the ball club this year, give the lack of an obvious closer, you might as well find out if Kyle could live up to his initial promise and give him first shot at closer. I mean, Corey’s a close comparable age wise, and they’ve given him plenty of chances to be the leadoff guy, but never really given Kyle one.
However, Hendry’s parting quotes
“He certainly had his moments when he could pitch very well,” Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. “Maybe the consistency will be better for him in another location.”
Those words sound like a GM who did not have much enthuasim to bring back his player.
When I heard about the deal (txt message while driving – almost off the road), I figured it was a roster uncrunch. At some point this preseason, the Cubs have to lose a man on their 40 man roster, or they’ll be unable to keep NRI Scott Williamson, and they’ve very much like to have him rehab on their dime. (Any other NRI would require another roster move, so I don’t think it’s likely any of them make it.)
But this deal is not that deal, because one of the three people they’ll be getting back – Roberto Novoa – was on the 40 man and has to stay there. So expect one more move.
Given Kyle was unlikely to be back in ’06 – either he got bad and finally got ran out or he got good and a better deal from a team not as familiar with his failures – it’s nice we got something for him, even if I don’t expect any of them to turn out to much. I hope the PTBNL doesn’t change my mind on that.
The Tigers bullpen has a chance to be really good, if Percival doesn’t fall off and Kyle gets on one of his sane stretches and Uggie isn’t distracted. The Tigers bullpen has a chance to be really bad if Percival falls of like some expect, Kyle is Kyle and Uggie is too busy dealing with ransom demands.
Promotion: Figure Leicester gets Kyle’s spot on the roster, though it’s not clear. This is the thing with the Novoa pickup – even if he has pitches, he’s still going to behind Wuertz, SERGIO and maybe even Pinto in ‘right handers who might steal a spot on the roster’. The 15 taxi squad is skewed heavily towards pitching (10 of them, 1 C, 3 IF, 1 OF – and that’s Kelton, who’s only LF as far as they have to put him somewhere.) Things are going to get iffy if hitters get hurt, so you’d think if Hendry’s going after marginal people, he would’ve picked up a batter instead of a pitcher.
Other notes:
The Dave Hansen sign was added on my own copy, but not posted because it’s Dave Hansen. Same thing with the Catchers they NRIed.
Many uniform numbers added.
The 40 Man total salary is now down to 86.07. When I first ran the numbers on 01/21, it was 98.52. (A lot’s moved to Buy Out.)
POS Number First Last Roster 2005 2006 2007 08 09 10 C 8 Michael Barrett 25 Man 4.00 4.00 4.00 C 9 Henry Blanco 25 Man 1.20 1.50 P 48 Joe Borowski 25 Man 2.30 OF 3 Jeromy Burnitz 25 Man 4.50 P 46 Ryan Dempster 25 Man 2.00 LF 4 Jason Dubois 25 Man 0.32 SS 5 Nomar Garciaparra 25 Man 8.00 UT 15 Jerry Hairston Jr 25 Man 1.80 P 32 LaTroy Hawkins 25 Man 3.50 3.50 OF 28 Todd Hollandswor 25 Man 0.90 1B 25 Derrek Lee 25 Man 7.33 8.50 P 51 Jon Leicester 40 Man 0.32 UT 1 Jose Macias 25 Man 0.83 P 31 Greg Maddux 25 Man 9.00 t+v option P 50 Will Ohman 25 Man 0.05 arb CF 20 Corey Patterson 25 Man 2.80 arb arb arb SS 13 Neifi Perez 25 Man 1.00 P 22 Mark Prior 25 Man 2.75 p escape arb arb 3B 16 Aramis Ramirez 25 Man 8.95 P 37 Mike Remlinger 25 Man 3.80 P 33 Glendon Rusch 25 Man 2.00 p option 2B 7 Todd Walker 25 Man 2.50 t+v option P 40 Todd Wellemeyer 25 Man 0.32 0.32 0.32 arb arb arb P 34 Kerry Wood 25 Man 9.50 12.00 t+v option P 38 Carlos Zambrano 25 Man 3.76 arb arb Count 25 Total 83.43 29.82 4.32 POS Number First Last Roster 2005 2006 2007 IF ?? Ronny Cedeno 40 Man 0.32 P 58 Dave Crouthers 40 Man 0.05 2B 63 Mike Fontenot 40 Man 0.32 P 67 Angel Guzman 40 Man 0.05 LF 27 David Kelton 40 Man 0.32 P 64 John Koronka 40 Man 0.05 2B ?? Richard Lewis 40 Man 0.05 P 52 Sergio Mitre 40 Man 0.32 P ?? Roberto Novoa 25 Man 0.32 0.32 0.32 arb arb arb P 54 Renyel Pinto 40 Man 0.05 P 45 Stephen Randolph 40 Man 0.32 P 71 Russ Rohlicek 40 Man 0.05 C 53 Geovany Soto 40 Man 0.05 P 60 Carlos Vasquez 40 Man 0.05 P 43 Michael Wuertz 40 Man 0.32 Count 15 Total 86.07 OF SFG Moises Alou Buy Out 2.50 2B STL Mark Grudzielane Buy Out 0.25 RF BAL Sammy Sosa Buy Out 16.15 P FLA Luke Haggerty Rule 5 fee -0.05 P KCR Andy Sisco Rule 5 fee -0.05 104.87 P 49 Jimmy Anderson NRI 0.05 OF 61 Peter Bergeron NRI 0.05 OF 19 Angel Echevarria NRI 0.05 P ?? Chad Fox NRI 0.05 1B ?? Dave Hansen NRI 0.05 IF 29 Danny Klassen NRI 0.05 OF 17 Calvin Murray NRI 0.05 P 57 Eddie Oropesa NRI 0.05 UT 11 Cody Random NRI 0.05 P ?? Scott Williamson NRI 0.32 t option OF 66 Adam Greenberg NRI-M 0.05 P 72 Raul Valdez NRI-M 0.05 P 76 Jermaine Van Buren NRI-M 0.05 C 88 Casey Kopitzke NRI-M 0.05 C 74 Jose Reyes NRI-M 0.05 105.79 Bonuses First Last Met? Nomar Garciaparra 535 PA 0.50 550 PA 0.50 130 G 0.40 135 G 0.40 140 G 0.40 145 G 0.40 150 G 0.40 All Star 0.08 Gold Glove 0.08 NL MVP 0.20 NLCS MVP 0.15 WS MVP 0.25 Jerry Hairston Jr. ??? PA 0.35 LaTroy Hawkins 60 G 0.05 65 G 0.05 70 G 0.05 20 GF 0.10 25 GF 0.10 30 GF 0.10 35 GF 0.15 40 GF 0.15 45 GF 0.15 50 GF 0.20 55 GF 0.20 60 GF 0.25 All Star 0.50 Cy Young 0.50 Mark Prior All Star 0.50 Cy Young 0.50 Todd Walker ??? PA 0.25 Scott Williamson Activation 0.17 Options First Last Type Year Amount Buyout Vests Greg Maddux Team 2006 9.00 187 1/3 IP in '05 Glendon Rusch Player 2006 2.00 Scott Williamson Team 2006 3.00 Kerry Wood Team 2007 13.50 3 400 IP in '05 and '06 Todd Walker Team 2006 2.50 ??? PA Mark Prior Player 2006 2.75 Jeromy Burnitz Mutual 2006 7.00 Notes First Last Other Notes Kerry Wood no trade in '05, '06 Mark Prior eligible for aribitration if option is declined Todd Walker bonus is added to '06 deal
Bad news-The PTBNL will NOT be Crash Davis.
The Original Donald
and I think Nuke LaLoosh is on his last legs.