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A new reliever is on board.
If you’re looking for big Cubs signings, I don’t have one for you. Not yet, anyway (and probably not at all).
But I do have this:
Sources: #Cubs in agreement with free-agent reliever Daniel Winkler on one-year deal.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) December 6, 2019Dan Winkler is a 29-year-old righthander (turns 30 in February) who had a fairly effective year with the Braves in 2018: 69 games, 3.43...
Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images
Zack Wheeler signs with the Phillies. Teams are starting to make some deals, including the Rays and the Padres. The Gerrit Cole market heats up. The Mets are sold, sort of.
Not to start your day off with a bummer, but Jen Mac Ramos, a writer who has written about baseball for a few publications including us here at SB Nation, is in critical condition after being hit by an alleged drunk driver this past weekend. Their husband was killed in the same...
Getty Images
Indoor baseball, the Bell toils for thee, RIP Luis Valbuena, and other stories
... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a lighthearted Cubs-centric look at baseball’s past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along as we review select scenes from the rich tapestry of Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball history*. Beware of rabbit holes.
Today in baseball history:
1914 - In a vision of things to come, an indoor baseball game...Don Young | Photo by Louis Requena/MLB via Getty Images
The Cubs win four of five; profiles of Don Young and Dick Selma
Hopefully everyone had a happy Thanksgiving with family and/or friends. As the off-season rolls along and the roster ever so slowly begins to come into focus for the 2020 season, we continue our look back at the 1969 Cubs. When last we checked in on them, we looked at the seventh week of the season. That was a week that saw them play seven games on the West Coast and come...
Jim Palmer | Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Two Hall of Fame players and one who deserves more consideration in today’s entry.
It’s our penultimate edition of our countdown and starting with number five, we have nothing but Hall of Fame ballplayers the rest of the way.
If you want to catch up on earlier entries, you can check out the StoryStream. And if you want the rules of the road, check out the first entry.
6. David Cone. New York Yankees. WAR: 61.6
The Lou Brock-for-Ernie...
Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
These were not pretty.
As was the case with the bottom 10 Cubs by WAR article I wrote here last month, the purpose of this article is not to denigrate or embarrass any of the players involved. My purpose here is simply to note some trades made by the Cubs over the last 10 seasons, both by former GM Jim Hendry and by Theo Epstein’s front office, that were miscalculations or mistakes in some way, or that simply didn’t produce the value for the team...
MLBTR is publishing Offseason Outlooks for all 30 teams. Click here to read the other entries in this series. The Cubs will consider major trades as they look to improve a team with holes in center field, the rotation and the bullpen. Guaranteed Contracts Yu Darvish, SP: $81M through 2023 Jason Heyward, RF: $86M through 2023 Jon Lester, SP: $25M through 2020. Includes mutual option for 2021. Craig Kimbrel, RP: $33M through 2021. Includes club/vesting option for 2022. Anthony Rizzo, 1B:...
Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images
The process is broken... but maybe the Cubs can take advantage.
If you thought there were a lot of players non-tendered by MLB teams earlier this week... you’re right:
There were 40 players eligible for arbitration who were non-tendered today. Last year, that number was 27. The year before, 19.
Teams are clearly being aggressive with tenders, recognizing that if there is better value on the open market, using the arb system is not necessary.
Phony bologna | Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Obvious is obvious, the day after Prince spaghetti day, maintaining tabs, and other bullets
Well, free agency is here, and so is the silly season. Some names are off the market already, and some names have been added to the hat and then thrown at the wall, higgledy-piggledy, hoping something will stick. If you see Anthony in a spaghetti metaphor somewhere in here, I don’t blame you. But seriously, the man HAS to stay -...
Manuel Rodriguez pitches for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans during the 2019 season | Larry Kave/Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Some thoughts about one of the new additions to the 40-man roster.
I alternately catch grief and appreciation for minding the Cubs pipeline over the parent club. I doubt I could add much knowledge on a day-to-day role regarding the parent club. By listening to or watching the pipeline, sometimes I learn about baseball, and myself. Baseball is, for me, a vignette cauldron. If...
Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images
He gave the Cubs a good year and two months.
You didn’t really think Cole Hamels was going to re-sign with the Cubs, did you?
I’ll admit. I sort of did. I thought maybe they’d offer him something like a two-year, $28 to $30 million deal, give him security for his age 36 and 37 seasons.
He decided to take one year, for more dollars:
#Braves Sign Cole Hamels: pic.twitter.com/0H1lzw2YDk
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) December 4, 2019I wouldn’t...
Keith and Jerry | Photo by Stephen Lovekin/WireImage
Two of the best players of the 1980s and a Cardinals great who had a brief shining season with the Cubs.
Just two more after today!
One thing I noticed while writing this series up is that one way to become a broadcaster today is to have played for a team that won the World Series between 1980 to 2001. Only two Series-winning teams from that period don’t have a player profiled in this series: the 1981 Dodgers and the 1997 Marlins....
The scoring page from the 1935 Cubs World Series program | Mike Bojanowski
You might not know the name Seymour Siwoff, but he’s an important figure in baseball history.
Seymour Siwoff, who had run the Elias Sports Bureau from 1952 until earlier this year when his grandson took it over, died last Friday, aged 99.
His name might not be familiar to you, but the Elias Bureau probably is, and Siwoff was credited with making the Bureau famous for accuracy in statistics.
Bob Ibach, who was...
Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images
Theo & Co. have traded very, very well.
This article was first conceived as “The Cubs’ 10 best transactions of the 2010s,” which would have included free-agent signings, draft picks, etc.
But I decided to narrow it down to trades, in no small part because Theo Epstein’s front office has been very, very good at them.
Having said that, you’ll see that the best of these are four years gone. More recently, the trading magic has diminished...
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Moustakas decamps for Porkopolis. A look at the non-tenders and the big free agents.
I’ve been in this town so long that back in the city I’ve been taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long, long time.
It was the non-tender deadline for MLB on Monday and here’s a list and a short bio of all 56 players who were not offered contracts by their teams for the 2020 season. If you just want the highlights, here are the ten of the most important...Walks to the mound slowly, one more time | Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Big Lee’s natal anniversary, looks behind the scenes and rules changes
... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a lighthearted Cubs-centric look at baseball’s past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along as we review select scenes from the rich tapestry of Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball history*. Beware of rabbit holes.
Today in baseball history:
1943...The Cubs, just a couple months from the end of a bitterly disappointing campaign, may be on their way to an offseason shakeup. The club has been “aggressive,” “manic,” “motivated” and “obvious” in its effort to trade someone, executives have told Jeff Passan of ESPN.com. The possibility of a trade involving first baseman Anthony Rizzo has looked out of the question to this point, but even the franchise favorite might not be off-limits, according to Passan, who names third...
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... and whether and why they might or might not make such a selection next week.
The Rule 5 Draft is good for three things. It forces MLB clubs to add deserving talent to the 40 Man roster. It gives lower-functioning teams a chance to poach talent on the cheap. It spurs on some of the more wild jingoistic thinking in the baseball calendar. Here is a look at a pathway to a potential Cubs Rule 5 selection this cycle.
When discussing Rule 5 success, the standard look is to the...
What might have been—Nomar Garciaparra | Photo by Sean Brady/Getty Images
Some recently retired players and one of the longest serving players and broadcasters in the game.
We’re up to our top ten television broadcasters. Looks like I’ll finish this week.
If you want to catch up on earlier entries, you can check out the StoryStream. And if you want the rules of the road, check out the first entry.
12. Nomar Garciaparra. Los Angeles Dodgers. WAR: 44.2
It’s hard to remember now how...
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
... who is now a former Cub.
Addison Russell’s time with the Cubs is over, and as I have written here previously, I thought the Cubs should have cut ties with him a year ago. BCB’s Sara Sanchez posted her thoughts here earlier this morning, and without wanting to “pile on,” I had some things I wanted to say as well.
The thought that comes to my mind regarding Russell’s tenure with the team, and his baseball career to date, is: “It’s a...