Former Cub Updates: May 1, 2010

For the first time in 2010, let's take a look at how our ex-Cubbies are fairing! For this post, we will focus only on players that were members of the Cubs in 2009.

• Kevin Gregg, Blue Jays: 0.82 ERA, 6 SV, 11 IP
• Reed Johnson, Dodgers: .282 AVG, 3 RBIs, 19 games
• Rich Harden, Rangers: 1-1, 4.56 ERA, 23.2 IP
• Milton Bradley, Seattle: .211 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBIs, 18 Games
• Jake Fox, Oakland: .182 AVG, 1 HR, 8 RBIs, 16 Games
• Aaron Heilman, Arizona: 0-1, 5.59 ERA, 9.2 IP
• Kevin Hart, Pirates: Has torn labrum, could have season ending surgery.
• Aaron Miles, Cardinals: The Cubs traded Miles to Oakland, then they shipped him to Cincinnati. Then, he was released on April 14 after being DFA out of Spring Training. This week, he signed a minor league deal to return to St. Louis.
• Neal Cotts, Pirates: Has not pitched yet this season after signing with Pittsburgh on January 4. He is not listed on the Pirates 40-man roster.
• Luis Vizcaino: Free agent
• Chad Fox: Free Agent
• So Taguchi: Playing for Orix BlueWaves in Japan
• Ryan Freel: Signed with Somerset Patriots, an independent club
• Andres Blanco, Texas: .214 AVG, 1 RBI, 14 Games
• Jason Waddell: Pitching in the Tigers' system

That covers them all!

Marquis deal is finalized

The Jason Marquis trade to the Rockies has been finalized. The Cubs receive reliever Luis Vizcaino in return. Cubs GM Jim Hendry will continue to look for another starter for the team until pitchers and catchers report on Valentines Day, but he also feels good about some of the candidates in the organization. Sean Marshall, Angel Guzman, Kevin Hart, Chad Gaudin, and Jeff Samardzija are in the mix, but cubs.com called Samardzija a "long shot". I would like to see Samardzija get a chance because he grew up right by my home town, however I think Marshall deserves the job.

Hendry Quotes:

• "Anybody would love Marshall in that role and he did great at it, At the same time, in fairness to the young man, if he keeps improving -- he's made big steps each of the last years -- if he makes another step up and comes into camp and competes and wins a job, then he certainly has a right to stake a claim to that."
• "He proved to us last year, whatever role we put him in, and as tough as we made it on him, he did a quality job, sooner or later, you like to reward that, too."
• "We don't call anything a salary dump, we're no different than anybody else except maybe my buddy Brian Cashman. We have a payroll and a fair payroll. You still have to, in this job, especially the situation we have now, until there's a new owner, you follow the guidelines of the payroll and that's what we're doing."
• "We were very fortunate in that we spent a lot of money the last couple years and it turned into two outstanding regular seasons. At he same time, some of those contracts escalate. I have no complaints. No matter who my boss has been, I've always been given a payroll that I've felt you could compete and contend with and for the most part, I've been allowed to spend it how I want to."

I'll keep you posted.

Updated; Big News: Cubs close to trading Marquis, XM Radio says deal is done, Levine Updates

According to ESPN and the Denver Post the Cubs and Rockies are close to a deal that would send Jason Marquis to the Cubs for reliever Luis Vizcaino. The post reports that the deal is done "in principle" but an announcement is not expected before next week. The Cubs will net a pay roll savings of about $5 million with the deal.
Luis has pitched for the A's, Brewers, White Sox, D'backs, Yankees, and Rockies. Last year he had a 5.28 ERA in 43 games.

Update 8:35 CT: XM Radio says the deal is now done. They are the only source to report that it's a done deal. I'll keep you posted. XM Radio also says that the Cubs will let Rich Hill and Sean Marshall compete for the fifth starter spot. We'll see...

If this deal gets done, Gordan Wittenmyer of the Sun Times says that should create enough payroll for the Cubs to sign Milton Bradley.

More Cubs updates from Bruce Levine:

• The Cubs ownership situation should be resolved sometime in January.
• The Cubs are planning to announce the Marquis trade in the next 3-4 days and the Cubs will save about 5 and a half million.
• The Cubs are planning on using the money to sign Bradley.
• Levine also says that the Cubs could trade DeRosa in about 3-5 days.
• The prospects that the Cubs get in a DeRosa trade would be used in a deal for Peavy.
• Hendry is moving money around so these moves can happen.
• Vizcaino could be traded before he puts on a Cubs uniform.

I don't think all this is going to happen but we'll see. Things are finally heating up again on the hot stove! It seems that about a week after I started this blog things cooled down.

There's lots of questions to be answered. Is the deal really done? Will they add Bradley after they trade Jason? Who will be the 5th starter for the Cubs in 2009? Are the Cubs going to revisit Peavy? Will the Cubs trade DeRosa? Or is Bruce Levine just going crazy?

I'll keep you posted...