A few days ago, every Cub fan and every personnel in the Cubs front office has a smile on their face. The Cubs quietly designated starting pitcher Chris Volstad and was claimed on waivers. The lucky team that claimed him was the Kansas City Royals. The White Sox people also had a smile on their face as that’s an easy win IF he makes the team. There’s still a great chance he won’t make the roster and may be DFA again.
As you recall, the Cubs traded SP Carlos Zambrano for Chris Volstad last off-season. The Cubs, some how, came up in that deal. That’s how much everybody wanted to give rid of Zambrano. Volstad actually had a great spring training, but it didn’t carry on to the regular season. He pitched so poorly that he was actually sent down. The move does not surprise me at all and thought he would have been non-tender in December. So, I knew Volstad was not going to be on the Cubs roster next season. The Cubs also saved a few million by him leaving, but nothing more than that.
Over the last few days the Cubs have been clearing spots on the 40-man roster. Manly to protect players from the Rule V draft and possibly trades/free agent signings. Here are the moves the Cubs made earlier in the week:
*The Cubs DFA catcher Anthony Recker and he was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets.
*The Cubs sent down P Justin Germano, P Blake Parker, IF/OF Joe Mather, P Marcos Mateo, P Michael Socolovich, IF Adrian Cardenas and P Justin Berken … removing them from the 40-man roster.
*The Cubs also sent down P Manuel Corpas, but he elected for free agency.
*The Cubs also claimed P Carlos Guiterrez from the Minnesota Twins about a week ago. He is a former 1st round pick.
**The Cubs 40-man roster currently stands at 33 and more moves could be on the way.
Other players who could be removed from the 40-man roster at some point in the off-season:
*1B/OF Brian LaHair may be released/DFA and could try to pursue a career in Japan.
*RP Shawn Camp is a free agent and could play for another team next year. He had a great season an I do expect teams to have heavy interest in him. However, Theo Epstein said he would love to have Camp back. So, we shall see what happens.
*3B Luis Valbuena is also a free agent, but I do expect him to be back next season.
*P Lendy Castillo may be DFA and hope he slips down to Triple A. He didn’t have a great season, but I do think the Cubs would like to keep him in the organization. This is all speculation on my part and don’t know what the Cubs think of him.
Side note: The Cubs have brought over Vanderbilt’s pitching coach Derek Johnson to be their new pitching coordinator in the minors. This is said to be a great signing by the Cubs,. No surprise with this front office in place.
So … let’s see if there are any moves on the way!
Pure conjecture — three cures for the 2012 off-season
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