No sooner did the Cubs get a new owner than the rumors began to fly all over the place. We've been dealing with Milton Bradley rumors for about two months now, but with new ownership in place and the World Series winding down soon the rumors are picking up again. This morning we woke up to the Toronto Sun reporting that a Milton Bradley for Vernon Wells swap might be on the table.

Wells is the proud owner of a shiny new contract that still has $107 million left on it. He is also the proud owner of bad centerfield defense and a below-average bat. I talked about Wells in my "Keep Milton" post the other day, so you already know I don't want him. Simply put the guy isn't good at baseball, and even if they did split the huge contract, the Cubs would be paying Wells way too much money. Also he is worse than Milton Bradley at baseball right now.

The good news is almost every Chicago news outlet has shot this rumor down quickly. The Tribune brings us the good news that it isn't true, and also that Ryan Dempster thinks Milton would be welcomed back. Really only one player has really been anti-Milton in the media after the initial suspension questions. That player is Ryan Theriot, he can go if he has a problem for all I care, Milton apologizing to his teammates and moving on still is the best idea in my mind. Much better than taking on Vernon Wells.

Winter baseball updates

Continue reading

Jeff Samardzija had his most impressive start of the winter with six innings of shutout baseball last night. Now the Mexican League he is playing in is supposed to be AAA level, but it is nice to see him rebound from a poor outing earlier in the week. The best part to me is the one walk, control is key for Samardzija to ever be successful in the big leagues. He is expected to get one more start.

Andres Blanco is trying to work on his hitting in a Venezuelan League, and his production is actually really good. He is tearing it up with a line of .304/.353/.474/.827. Now this league doesn't feature the quality of pitching that Blanco would face in the majors. His line actually resembles the line he posted in AAA Iowa this year, so perhaps we shouldn't get too happy about it. Still if Blanco could settle in around a .750 OPS I think he should be the everyday starter at short. Too bad we don't have the games to let him prove himself.

Andrew Cashner was able to have a great start in his last AFL outing going four scoreless innings allowing no hits and striking out four. He did walk two, but it was a nice bounce-back outing and there is some sentiment that Cashner is one of the elite pitchers in the AFL this year. He certainly has a huge ceiling, but it looks like he might end up as a closer type.

Starlin Castro and Josh Vitters are both having great showings at the AFL. Castro will be the name to really watch next season as far as making it to the big leauges is concerned. For Vitters next season will be a test if he can stay healthy and hit the more advanced pitching.

I'll update more each week as these guys continue to play in the various leagues. The good news is the Cubs minor league system looks a ton better than it did a year or two ago.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment