Breaking News: Hoyer & McLeod Added to Front Office

Theo Epstein has made his first additions to his staff. Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod have officially been announced as the Cubs Executive VP/General Manager and Senior VP of Scouting and Player Development. The Cubs will send a player to be named later to San Diego as compensation.

McLeod will be in charge of Oneri Fleita and Tim Wilken. His title will not be assistant GM, as originally reported. As of now Randy Bush remains the assistant to Hoyer.

On a side note- Bruce Levine tweeted today that Aramis Ramirez is open to returning to the Cubs now that Theo is in charge.

With the front office set, it's time to start talking about what moves it should make. We'll have breakdowns of managerial and free agent options this weekend.

Cubs Convention Day 3

Throughout the weekend at the Hilton it was noticeably less packed. For the first time, the convention was not a sell out. However, it was still packed.

On Sunday there were just two sessions. Many people are always cleared out by the final day, and when you top that off with the lower attendance to begin with this year and the Bears game- the two sessions were not all that crowded.

The first session was called "The 25 Club". Wayne Messmer chatted three of the Cubs 25-year-olds about life in the bigs. Tyler Colvin, Scott Maine and Darwin Barney were on the panel. James Russell was also scheduled to attend, but he did not show up.

Colvin told a story about an elementary school teacher who gave him a low grade on an essay about his career goal. She told him that becoming a Major League Baseball player was not a realistic goal. He showed her. Tyler also said that he was never a standout player growing up.

Darwin Barney hit over .600 in high school but still did not get drafted until after he went to college. When asked about a avoiding the temptation to go out and party in the city of Chicago, Barney said that it is pretty easy since he has a wife and a two-year old to go home to. Colvin said the same, but instead of a child he has his beloved dog.

Scott Maine said that Greg Maddux gave his season a huge boost by the instruction he gave him this season. Colvin credited Billy Williams and Derrek Lee as guys who have given him hitting advice.

Next up was the annual Down on the Farm session hosted by Vineline editor Mike Huang. Before the session, a handout describing Cubs prospects that will appear in the February issue of Vineline was passed out. Albert Cabrera and Rob Whitenack are the two guys who Vineline editors think will make a big splash in 2011.

In the past, they have listed 50 names from the farm, but this year they cut it down to 20. Here is the list:

• Tony Campana, OF
• Brett Jackson, OF
• Chris Carpenter, RHP
• Jay Jackson, RHP
• Welington Castillo, C
• Aaron Kurcz, RHP
• Rafael Dolis, RHP
• Junior Lake, INF
• Ryan Flaherty, INF
• DJ LeMahieu, INF
• Micah Gibbs, C
• Marcos Mateo, RHP
• Reggie Golden, OF
• Trey McNutt, RHP
• Brooks Raley, LHP
• Chris Rusin, LHP
• Hayden Simpson, RHP
• Kyle Smit, RHP
• Josh Vitters, 3B
• Logan Watkins, UTL

DJ LeMahieu, Jay Jackson and Chris Carpenter were all at the minor league session. The guys enjoyed their first Cubs Convention experience and the thrill of getting their names announced at the Opening Ceremonies.

All three guys had different draft day stories to share. Carpenter followed the whole thing with his family. DJ watched from his room at LSU with some teammates since the Tigers were still in the College World Series at the time. Jackson did not even watch his draft. He was outside shooting baskets when he got the text that he was a Cub.

Oneri Fleita (farm director) and Tim Wilken (scouting director) were both at the session. Fleita talked about how much he hates making the phone call to tell someone that they are traded or released. Wilken mentioned that a player's "make up" on and off the field is taken into consideration.

Tim talked about the Matt Garza,mentioning the fact that the Cubs have a lot of depth in their organization at positions like shortstop and catcher. Jim Hendry worked on the deal for three to four months. Wilken actually spent time at the end of the 2010 season watching Carlos Pena and Fernando Perez play in person. Both were already on the Cubs' radar.

Even though the Cubs are coming off a down year, the Cubs Convention was just as much fun as it always is. There is a lot of hope for the future in this organization. Welcoming Kerry Wood back, honoring Ron Santo and introducing the two ex-Rays to Chicago were the highlights of the weekend.

Click if you missed my recaps of Day 1 or Day 2. I'll have some more Convention wrap-up thoughout the week.

Catching Up Quick Hits: Rotation Switch, Sori Resting, Injury Updates and More

• Casey Coleman will make his first big league start in on Wednesday. He will take Thomas Diamond spot in the rotation. Diamond will switch roles with Coleman and head to the bullpen.
• Alfonso Soriano was out of the lineup for two games this weekend, but he just go two days off because of the heat. He returned on Monday night.
• Darwin Barney got his first career hit on Monday, a double in his first at bat at Wrigley.
• Barney was starting at shortstop in place of Starlin Castro, who got a much needed day of race after playing three games in the heat in St. Louis.
• Ron Santo returned to the broadcast booth Monday night. He missed the last road trip to rest up, but says he plans on going on the next road trip. The Cubs visit Washington D.C. and Cincinnati next week.
• Derrek Lee is out with a bulging disc in his back. He left Sunday's finale against the Cardinals after he had already launched two home runs on the day. D-Lee was heating up with four bombs in the three game set. He is expected to return on Thursday.
• Geovany Soto is expected to take batting practice tomorrow. He could return from the DL as soon as next Sunday.
• Carlos Silva is expected to begin a minor league rehab program soon.
• Oneri Fleita joined WGN Radio's David Kaplan on Monday. He said that Chris Archer, Brett Jackson, and Josh Vitters will all be in the Arizona Fall League in Mesa this October. Vitters, who is rehabbing from a broken hand, will see time at first base and third base.
• Bruce Levine reports that Padres bench coach Ted Simmons is interested in the Cubs managerial opening. The search for a new manager could go all the way up to the team's organizational meetings in November.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted on Everything Cubs as always!

Notes from Day 3, Pie traded, other Notes

Well, the 2009 Cubs Convention is in the books. Today was the last chance for autographs. We spent some time on autos today and ended up with Lee Smith and Alan Trammel. The only session worth going to today was "Down on the Farm". Oneri Fleita and Tim Wilton talked about the Cubs minor league organization with Micheal Huang from Vineline. Cubs minor leaguers Darwin Barney and Brandon Guyer were also a part of this panel. This session provided a lot of good info:

• Oneri was asked to give 1 hitter and 1 pitcher in the minors who he thought would have a big impact on the big league team some day. He said Andrew Cashner for the pitcher and Ty Wright for the position player.
• They revieled that only about 13 percent of guys who play in the minors make it to the bigs.
• They also talked about how the team gets ready for the draft. Tim says that they have a board with about 900 guys and then they look at the team need. Wilkins added that if there is a very talented player, you take him no matter what position he plays.
• Tyler Colvin is recovering from surgery and will be at Class A Daytona to start the season because of the warm weather in Daytona and because they use a DH is A ball.
• Sam Fuld is recovering from his injuries and Oneri expects him to be on the big league radar in 2009.
• Spring Training will be a "last chance" for Rich Hill who is out of options or else the Cubs will have to part ways with him.
• Darwin and Brandon talked about being drafted. Darwin had baseball practice so he didn't find out that he got drafted by the Cubs until he got a phone call. Brandon was watching the draft with his dad. Guyer said he would have been better of not watching all the rounds go by until he finally got drafted.
• Wilkins and Fleita said that Wellington Castillo should be at AAA this year. The Cubs feel confident with their depth at each position in the system.

News has just broke that Felix Pie traded. Ken Rosenthal and the Sun-Times are reporting that the Cubs and Orioles have agreed to a deal that would send Pie to the O's in exchange for pitchers Garrett Olson and Henry Williamson. The Padres were rumored to be interested in acquiring Olson in a Peavy deal. Williamson pitched at Single-A in 2008. Here are the stats for Olson and for Williamson. Cubs.com is reporting that the deal is official.

A few other Cubs Notes:

• Carlos Zambrano is going to have LASIK surgery on his eyes.
• Most Cubs fans have good first impression of Milton Bradley because he signed tons of autographs all weekend long at the Convention. On the other hand, Big Z wouldn't sign at all after his sessions.
• Lou was MIA all weekend because he has the stomach flue.
• Santo wasn't seen after the opening ceremony because he wasn't feeling well.
• The Iowa Cubs will play a game at Wrigley on Aug. 9 like the Peoria Chiefs did last year.
• Sweet Lou reveled that he plans to read some books on sports physiology and winning.

The Convention was amazing. Lots of great places to buy stuff, very organized, lots of people but very spread out, most players are nice and sign autographs, and lots of good sessions with good inside info. I highly recommend going if you can.

I'll have more links and recaps from convention segments throughout the week. And of coarse, I'll keep you posted on all rumors and news.