We blogged this morning about Joey Gathright possibly being sent down to the minor leagues or being released however general manager Jim Hendry had other ideas. He worked out a trade with the Baltimore Orioles that will send Joey Gathright to the Orioles in exchange for Ryan Freel. This a nice move for the Cubs in my opinion as Freel is a lot more valuable than Gathright ever will be to a team.
Freel is due $3.3 million this year but the Orioles are expected to pay a good portion of it. Freel hasn’t done much this season as he has been on the disabled list after being hit in the head on a pickoff attempt April 20th. He has only two hits in 15 at bats. I still like Freel and his play that he brings to a team. He plays balls to the wall and I think can really be a valuable member of the team. He can also play infield and outfield positions so he fits in nicely. He will probably be a better fit at third base when Aramis needs a day off than Mike Fontenot.
So now the team will be need to make another roster move Saturday and I would probably expect to see Randy Wells sent back down to Triple A Iowa after he makes his start tonight in Milwaukee. Freel is expected to join the team on Saturday. The Cubs might select to send Bobby Scales back down and keep Wells up as well. We will have to see how things play out after the game tonight.
Your thoughts on the move?
It looks like the Bobby Scales experiment will last a little while longer as the Cubs are expected to send down outfielder Joey Gathright when they officially announce the call up of Randy Wells. Wells will be making the start tonight in Milwaukee as he fills in for Carlos Zambrano who is on the disabled list with a strained calf.
Things do get interesting when you start talking about the Gathright situation however. He does have enough service time in the Major Leagues that he could refuse the minor league assignment and become a free agent. However, if he chooses to do that, he will lose out on $800,000 guranteed money from the Cubs.
Wouldn’t it be great if Joey chooses to become a free agent and save the cubs quite a bit of money? I mean he isn’t helping the team at all. His defense isn’t great and he is rarely on base to try to utlize his speed and swipe a base.
We will have to see how things unfold this afternoon and before the game.
It was another terrible performance for the Chicago Cubs offense as they dropped another game against the Cincinnati Reds and dropped their first series of the season. The 7-1 blowout had fans pretty pissed off in the stands, and I know I wasn’t happy sitting here in my office watching it. The offense is terrible, the team has played terrible defense the past couple of games. Pretty much mental mistakes in the field and the bats aren’t hitting the ball.
Gotta feel for Big Z as he took the loss even though he gave up three earned runs over seven hits. Zambrano looked pretty good but an error my Micah Hoffpauir in the seventh inning really hurt and opened the flood gates for the Reds. Don’t expect to see Hoffpauir out there in right field to much more after listening to his press conference after the game. You will see Kosuke Fukudome in right field and Reed Johnson in center field when Milton Bradley is on the bench. Sounds like Micah just planted his butt on the bench with that crucial error.
Oh yeah, the bullpen didn’t get any better either. Neal F’ing Cotts gave up another run in his one run of action. Cub killer Joey Votto took Cotts deep in the eighth inning to give the Reds a four run lead at the time. Votto was a monster at the plate once again against the Cubs as he had four hits, three extra base hits, and two rbi.
So now the Cubs will head down to St. Louis and take on the division leaders who have a 11-5 record and are fresh off a sweep of the New York Mets. Let’s hope the bats heat up down in St. Louis or this will be a very long series.
Before the game the team announced that they released Luis Vizcaino and recalled Jeff Samardzija from Triple-A. Samardzija didn’t have a good outing in the ninth when he made his return as he allowed two runs to score. The Cubs are on the hook for $3.6 million in the Vizcaino contract.
Rule 5 player David Patton and Angel Guzman both received good news on Sunday as they were told that they have earned spots on the opening day 25-man roster. In a surprising move, Chad Gaudin was released after Jim Hendry could not find a taker that would take on his full salary. Instead, the Cubs released him and will be due to pay $1.6 million of his $2 million salary. The other team will be the $400,000 of the contract once someone picks him up.
Jeff Samardzija was also sent down to Triple-A as he had options left. The Shark was the odd man out pretty much because he had options left while Patton and Guzman did not. Samardzija will be stretched out and work in a starting pitching positon for Iowa.
I agree with these moves that Hendry made. Gaudin was absolutely terrible this spring training and really didn’t deserve a spot on the roster. He was never the same player after hurting is back when “falling” into a trashcan late last season. Guzman wasn’t that bad but did start throwing the ball better as spring training went on. Samardzija was optioned to Iowa basically because he had options left and can get more work in there in a starting pitchers role. Patton could be a big player for the Cubs out of the pen if he continues to throw the ball well. The Cubs will have to keep him on the active roster or return him back to the Colorado Rockies if they want him back. Which after seeing him throw this Spring, I’m sure they would take him back in a heartbeat. If that’s the case, it’s too bad we couldn’t also sent back Luis Vizcaino who has pitched like crap.
It will be interesting Monday night when the Cubs open up the 2009 season down in Houston. I’m excited to have the season start but I’m worried about the backend of the rotation and the bullpen. I just need to see the 3-5 starters get some early season wins and see Kevin Gregg save games on back to back days. Once we see those things, I think we will be alright!
