Earlier today, A's skipper Bob Melvin suggested that the club is ready to discuss a new contract with Jonny Gomes. The interest seems to be mutual, as Gomes re-iterated that he wants to be back in Oakland next season, writes Casey Pratt of CSNBayArea.com. "Would I like to? Absolutely," Gomes said. "I don't know, I mean this season has been magical for me, it has been a dream come true. When you've been kicked in the teeth as much as I have in the offseason you realize nothing is a guarantee." Here's more from around baseball..
- Dayan Viciedo will see his four-year, $10MM deal expire at the end of the year, but the White Sox outfielder says that he is not focused on his next contract, writes Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Viciedo has 1.123 years of major league service to his credit and won't be arbitration eligible until after the 2014 season.
- In his latest mailbag, several readers ask Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune why the Cubs can't build for the future while also looking to win in 2013. Sullivan writes that the main answer is a lack of pitching, which is a problem that can't be remedied overnight.
- The Dodgers announced earlier today that hitting coach Dave Hansen will not return in 2013. However, Hansen has been offered another position in the club, tweets Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.
- The Rockies officially kicked off their managerial search yesterday by meeting with bench coach Tom Runnells, writes Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post. Stu Cole, manager of Triple-A Colorado Springs, is the club's other internal candidate in the search.
The Cubs can’t contend because of more than their pitching. It is a little something called the Reds. A second something called the Cards. A third something called the Brewers…
You mean the Milwaukee Ryan Brauns?
The Cubs have, have had and always will have more revenue than any team in their division. It’s up to the front office to use it successfully. They should be able to contend every season, no matter what shape Hendry left the player development system in.
There was no player developmental system under Hendry.. he had no understanding of it, so set aside little budget for it and had poor scouting/time for it and the results have been plain for all to see.
Epstein came in and had to rebuild from the bottom up and it takes time and it all is/will be hampered by the new CBA that hinders everyone (except 2-3 poor mouthing teams that never did spend anyway) in the future.
Still.. Epstein will find a way to build as much toward that goal as he can.. it seems he has ownerships blessing and has brought/stolen(lol) as many of his ex comrades as he can to help in his new venture in Chicago.
His results are plain to see in Boston in the draft. Not that he was any better/smarter than Duquette, but he had the budget and proper ownership funding to accomplish his goals.
This is true…but what seperates them from, say, the Yankee organization has always been mismanagement of revenue. One thing that gets overlooked in with the Yankees free agent spending is the stellar development system they have had over the years. There’s really no excuse for the Cubs history…they have the money to spend in free agency and on the farm system. With the advent of the multi-wild card….no real reason to ever lose 90 games let alone over 100 like this season.
Unless there is something that we’re not seeing on the books…..a renovation of Wrigley maybe.
The Orioles could have used that same excuse as well.
I think the Cubs have way too many holes to fill in one year but the idea of 3-5 year plans is gone now. You really don’t need to take that long to get a winning team, especially with a franchise who gets great fan support regardless of the product on the field.
Well stated.
If fans thought that the Rockies were horrible this year, they’ll be worse if Runnells is hired as the manager. He was HORRID as the manager for Colorado Springs. Cole has done a tremendous job at the AAA level, I’d like to see him get a chance at the big club.
Rockies should go after Sandy Jr. He has alot of major league experience and would do good with the right guys. Plus he was a catcher and look and pro catchers that was managers in the majors. Mike in LA. Joe in New York. Plus another Joe in New York and LA. (Even though he played other positions too.) Hey it Couldn’t hurt to try right.
As for the chisox. I could easily see them making a move that would clear space for the future in the outfield. I would love for it to be Viciedo, Jared Mitchell, and Jordan Danks everyday. Let Tank and Danks played the corners and Mitchell have center.
Not sure if Danks is gonna be able to hit for an everyday player and Mitchell still has to prove he can not strike out 200 times a year. I like the OF they have already. Will Rios have another year like this one? Not too sure. I know De Aza was a Godsend to the team with his production out of the lead off spot and you really don’t want to just get rid of him. I would consider moving Viciedo to third again if they can’t find a thirdbaseman before spring training. Before all the Stat geeks tell me how bad he is at third let me stop you. I watched all his games that season he played and he was passable. No Brooks Robinson but hell who is?
Evan Longoria
Batting coaches seem to have the roughly the lifespan of fruit-flies.
1.123 years of major league service? Damn, Viciedo must be some kind of God or vampire. 😛
i’d like to see the cubs put a premium on signing good quality middle relievers. they don’t require crazy long contracts, and it’d be nice to keep leads that this team can actually scratch together. throw in some combo of scott feldman/liriano/mccarthy/jeremy guthrie. add in a mike adams, re-sign shawn camp. the holes on this team were so huge, it’s not like it’d take world beaters to actually give us better production and actually be respectable next season. best case scenario you dump them all at the deadline for prospects and repeat 2012. worst case scenario they all stink but at least the front office tried while not being stuck into long contracts.
That’s not a bad thought…but it seems like such a waste of payroll. This is actually something that the Royals have done very well….developing in-house relief. Bullpens arms can be very eratic from one season to the next.
Not sure the Cubs could get real prospects for middle relievers at the deadline.
is Mickey Hatcher the former angles hitting coach gonna take over the hitting coach duties from hansen.maybe hansen becomes 3rd base coach and wallach becomes the red Sox Mananger since they have shown interest and he has shown interest in becoming an mlb manager
The Dodgers are looking for an UPGRADE from Dave Hansen. Micky wouldn’t fit that requirement.
maybe they can go after Rudy Jaramillo the ex hitting coach for the cubs who was let go by them in june
I understand that you can’t build a rotation or a bullpen over night, but when you look at the Cubs minor league system, it would appear that we’re not very well stocked with potential major league starters that will be ready any time soon. That being the case, why not sign some FA starters that you plan to keep for 3-4 years? If you’re in KC or Pitt, you may have to go on the cheap while you rebuild, but a Chicago team (especially the Cubs) shouldn’t have to do that. IMHO
And especially if they were able to unload Soriano. He’s eating up a majority of the payroll…..but I suppose the Cubs will more than likely eat most of it.