Sports Central at Convention Recap

David Kapan had guests at the Cubs Convetions.

Recap of session 1 w/ guests: Lou Piniella and Larry Rothschild

• Lou told Jim at the start of the off season that the Cubs needed more left handed hitting and speed in the off season.
• The Cubs are going to "bogey".
• Larry says that the team will get guys experience as much as they can during the spring.
• Lou and Larry said that Ryan Dempster's heart was into starting and that's why he was so successful. Ryan is more relaxed as a started according to Larry.
• Kap asked who Lou's lead off hitter was. Lou said that the Cubs won 97 baseball games with the team. He mentioned that we added Miles who could be an option.
• Larry thinks that Carlos will pitch better in 2009 than he did a year ago.
• Lou described working with Zambrano as "a adventure at times". He went onto says that he likes the way Big Z wants to win and compete.
• Larry thinks that Wrigley is a difficult place to pitch at times.
• Rothchild says that sometimes pitchers get a little to relaxed when the wind is blowing in.
• He adds that the elements effects games at Wrigley more than at any other park.
• Lou says stressed the importance of not walking people at Wrigley.
• He expects the Cubs to play as good as last year during the first 162 games and a lot better in the postseason.
• Piniella thinks that the whole 100 year thing put too much pressure on the Cubs.

Sessions 2 w/ Jim Hendry:

• Jim Hendry says that the DeRosa trade was an effort to get more left handed.
• Jim says he gets payed to make tough decisions.
• Hendry said that Kerry Wood's agent told Jim that Woody was looking for a 3 year deal, and the Cubs thought that that was too lengthy of a commitment.
• He described letting Wood go as "one of the saddest days of his career."
• Jim thinks the Cubs got a great deal for Kevin Gregg.
• Milton Bradley made a few mistakes, but he is good clubhouse guy and good teammate.
• Derrek Lee is thrilled that Bradley is a member of the Cubs.
• Jim thinks Cubs fans will love Milton.
• When Kaplan asked about Peavy, all Hendry could say was, "It really bothers me that other teams put our players on the trading block. 19 or 20 year old kids shouldn't be reading there name in the paper."
• He said "We will keep trying to get stronger and add pitching, whether it's that player or not."
• Jim says that if Kosuke Fukudome would have hit better in the second half of the year, he would have won a gold glove.
• Hendry thinks Kosuke will be "more like the Fukudome from the first half of last year."
• Lou is as good at there is at using the whole roster.
• Jim says that Rich Harden is "very good." He moved to Arizona to get more work this winter. He says Rich looks stronger and healthier than he did at the end of last year.
• Hendry said that Sean Marshall was a very under-rated guy for the 2008 team. Jim says he feels that sooner or later Marshall might deserve to be in the rotation instead of being a super sixth starter.
• Hendry won't add any big names without the new owner signing off on it.

I'll have a recap of sessions 3&4 tomorrow.

More posts to come...

Cubs Closer Job: Gregg VS Marmol, Harden out of WBC, Blanco signs with Padres, and Wood thanks Cubs fans

Cubs.com reports that Kevin Gregg and Carlos Marmol will compete for the closers job this Spring. Here's quotes from Lou Piniella, Larry Rothschild, Marmol, Gregg, and Ryan Dempster:



Lou:

• "Let them compete."


• "I feel comfortable with Marmol, there's no question. But we traded for the other young man, and he was a closer over there with success. Give him a chance too."

Larry:

• "That's really for Lou to decide."
• "I think Carlos has proved what kind of job he can do in that role. I'd really be surprised if there is anybody who can do it better. We're confident in what he can do"
• "I think he (Marmol) got a little fatigued at one point and started overthrowing and got into some bad habits."
• "For about better than a year, he pitcher better than anybody could pitch. There was a bump in the road, and he recovered nicely from it. I don't think any of that is unexpected for a young kid."

Demspster said "Nobody can hit him, he's one of those guys who has a chance to do anything he wants because he has a pretty special arm with electric stuff."

Marmol said, "We'll see what happens."

Kevin Gregg quotes:

• "I'm going in competing."
• "I know what I'm capable of; I know what I've done the last couple of years."
• "I know how to get outs in the 9th innings."
• "I've kind of covered every role that there possibly can be- minimal starts- but in the bullpen I've covered every role out there."
• "I'm definitely more comfortable closing the 9th with the game on the line. Hopefully that's where it takes me."
• "Every game situation is different."
• "I'm pretty mellow and never had a big spike in adrenaline."
• "Going to Florida was kind of a culture shock for me."
• "It'll be nice to go back to 40,000 fans, and fans who are intense about the game and expect to win."
• "The one thing is we all have one thing in common, we all play baseball."
• "We all have one goal in common, and that's getting to the World Series and winning. It makes it pretty easy because you have something in common right away, even though you don't know the guy, you have something in common and that makes the connection a little easier."
• "It takes some time to feel things out. The great thing about the Cubs is the chemistry and atmosphere there is tremendous. that always makes it easy when you know there are good things going on, good people, good ideas. I'm excited to be around it and excited to be a part of it."

We got a few Cubs Notes:

• Rich Harden will not pitch for Canada in the World Baseball Classic because of his "on and off" right shoulder. Harden is disappointed but his number 1 priority is the Chicago Cubs.
• The CCO brought to my attention that Kerry Wood thanked the Cubs fans in the Chicago papers last weekend. He said; "It has been an honor to have been a Chicago Cub for the last 13 years and to have played in the greatest ballpark, Wrigley Field. My deepest thanks go to my teammates and the Cubs organization for taking a chance on a kid from Texas and welcoming me into the Cubs family. Thank you Cubs fans, the greatest fans in all of baseball, for believing in me and supporting me over the years. I will always be proud to have been a Chicago Cub. Although I'm a member of a new 'Tribe', I will forever be a Chicagoan."
• Henry Blanco has signed a one year deal with the San Diego Padres worth $750,000. In my opinion, the Cubs should have resigned Henry. Rumors say that Paul Bako could sign with the Cubs for $500,000. I would much rather have Henry for only $250,000 more. Blanco was always one of my favorite non-superstars (along with Reed Johnson and Mike Fontenot). I bet the Hank White fan club is disappointed. I'd love to see Blanco come back to the Cubs as a coach down the road.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted.

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.

Hope You Had a Great Christmas

Well, It's the day after Christmas. I hope your Christmas was a great as mine. Let's get to a few more Christmas links.

• The twelve days of Christmas Cubs version from Chicago Cubs Online.
• Holiday Q&A with Kevin Gregg from Cubs.com.
• The Night Before Christmas from Hire Jim Essian

And Sweet Lou was on WGN Radio with Steve Cochran and Cory Provus on Tuesday. Here's the recap:

• Lou talks about how he is playing golf and enjoying the warm weather in Florida. (lucky him)
• Lou came to Chicago for a few days and says he doesn't miss the cold weather.
• Cory Provus came on and wished Lou a happy holidays.
• Cory asked how Lou's hammock was. Lou said he hadn't been on his hammock too much because he's trying to loose some weight.
• Piniella said he had all his shopping done for Christmas.
• Lou says Jim's working on getting a left handed bat.
• Lou said he's going up to Iowa for the fan fest in Mid-January and says he's going to be pretty busy for awhile.
• He encourages people to go to the Cubs Convention at least once in their lifetime. Fans can get autographs, ask players questions, take pictures, and have fun.
• Cory asked what his message to the players will be this year at the start of spring training. Lou says he's got to think about that and says that the first meeting in Arizona will be an important one.
• Steve asked about Santo getting nipped for the Hall again. Lou says that going back to Ron's career he was a dominate player at 3rd base for many years and says Ron should be in the elite group.

Here's the latest Cub related rumors:

• Mark Gubicza of XM Radio is convinced that Milton Bradley will sign with the Angels.
• The Rays, Yankees, Cubs, and Nationals are also interested in Bradley.
• Ken Rosenthal says that the Cubs are confident they can acquire Bradley.
• Rosenthal also reports that the Cubs could revisit Peavy talks if they get approval from their new ownership which is expected to be settled in about a month.
• Former Cub Corey Patterson has agreed to a minor league deal worth 800,000 on Wednesday with the Nationals.
• Sammy Sosa is ready to come back and play in the major league. reports say that he is waiting for an offer to play in 2009. Before he was expected to announce his retirement after the WBC, but not anymore. I think the Cubs would have interest in bringing him back if he was left handed.

Well, That's it for now. I'll keep you posted on everything throughout the weekend.