Monday, January 4, 2010

Monday Roundup: Sheets, Garland, Cotts, and More

Ben Sheets to the Cubs?
The big rumor going around the Cubs blogging world today is that rehabbing pitcher Ben Sheets could be on his way to the Windy City. All of the speculation started with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports predicting that Sheets will end up with the Cubs. Rosenthal says the former Brewers hurler makes sense for a high revenue club that can absorb the injury risk. Bruce Miles, of the Daily Herald, says not so fast. Miles points out that the Cubs are hoping to have enough money to sign a reliever and outfielder first. If been doesn't sign by around the time pitchers and catchers report, Bruce thinks the Cubs could offer some sort of deal with a low base pluse incentives.

Cotts Signs with Pirates
Speaking of rehabbing pitchers, the Cubs let Neal Cotts go when he was non-tendered last month. Today, the lefty signed a minor league deal with the Pirates. Cotts was shut down for the year last July when he underwent Tommy John surgery. Neal has spent his hole big league career in the city of Chicago, 4 years with the White Sox before his 3 years on the North Side. He went 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA last year in just 19 games, and had a 4.29 ERA in 50 games in '08.

How about Garland?
According to Bruce Levine of ESPN 1000 the Cubs could have some interest in Jon Garland. Bruce feels that Garland still has a lot to offer and would be a fit for the Cubs. The former White Sox hurler went 11-13 in 2009 with a 4.01 ERA. Jim Hendry is looking to add to the bullpen via trades this offseason.

Muskat's Tidbits
Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reports via her inbox that player like Tyler Colvin will "let the Cubs know when they are ready". Carrie thinks the fact that Carlos Silva is a sinker ball pitcher should help him at Wrigley Field. There have been 37 different Cub second baseman since Ryne Sandberg retired and 118 different third baseman since Ron Santo retired. Muskat expects the Cubs list of non-roster invitees for Spring Training to be released soon.

All Decade Cubs
As we enter the new decade, we continue forming the All-Decade Cubs from the last ten years. This week, be sure to vote on the Cubs starting pitcher of the decade on the right sidebar! Lots of choices, but please vote for only one. Feel free to comment on this post with your thoughts. Thanks so much to all of your who voted on our last poll.

Cubs Convention Updates
Check out today's Countdown to the Cubs Convention post. As expected, David Kaplan of WGN Radio will host his annual "Sports Central Live" on Friday, January 15 at the Cubs Convention.

Also, Cubs Spring Training Tickets go on sale tomorrow!

Hall of Fame Announcement
Wednesday at 12:30 on the MLB Network and live on MLB.com the MLB Hall of Fame Announcement will be made. Cubs legend Andre Dawson should finally get the call. Lee Smith is also up for the Hall. I'll have a number breakdown on "The Hawk" up sometime tomorrow.

I'll update this post if I hear anything else tonight!

2 comments:

  1. I think Garland will go to the Brewers. I would love to see the Cubs look into Sheets. He would fill in for Lilly and be number 4 or 5.

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  2. I would like to see the Cubs sign sheets, but only for the right price. Like Bruce Miles suggests, they should wait until Spring Training once they see him throw to prove he's healthy before they ink him. Also, it depends on whether or not he will be ready to start the year healthy, because it wouldn't make sense to replace one injured pitcher with another injured guy. I like the fact that the Cubs feel like they have lots of options for the rotation, and whoever pitches well will be given a shot.

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