From all appearances, Chicago Cubs management has been using this winter off-season to either find the perfect pitching machine or the ultimate batting practice pitcher.
It’s hard to say which.
One thing is for certain, the Cubs have been adding spare arms at a pace that would make Dr. Frankenstein envious. To my knowledge Chicago general manager Jim Hendry hasn’t placed any calls to Bavaria as of yet, but he’s seemed to have found every other arm once attached to a major league body.
In a seven-day period last week, Chicago Cubs baseball added former major league pitchers Shingo Takatsu and Chad Fox as well as signing free agent Jon Lieber.
It was an odd collection of dealings for players who’ve had major league ties with the city of Chicago. Takatsu, for example, has spent the last two seasons in Japan after a short and mediocre career with the crosstown White Sox. Fox, meanwhile, was last seen in a Cubs uniform back in April 2005 when his suspect arm lasted less than a month. He hasn’t pitched a major league game since.
As for the signing of Lieber, it’s not as head-scratching as the other moves. Although aging and saddled with a past of sidelining injuries, Lieber, when healthy, has the promise of becoming a workhorse for the Cubs rotation. His experience with Wrigley Field, where he enjoyed his finest year, along with his big-game experience allows Lieber to be at least considered a calculated risk
Even the signing of Takatsu has some semi-logic. Who better to show high-dollar free-agent Kosuke Fukudome the Windy City ropes than someone who speaks the language? No pun intended.
But Fox, at age 37 and with an injury-plagued past makes former reclamation projects (see Wade Miller) look like sure bets.
The Chicago Cubs arms chase hasn’t stopped there. Over the winter meetings Hendry and the Cubs purchased Tim Lahey from Tampa Bay in a Rule 5 acquisition and picked up right-hander Jose Ascanio from Atlanta for disgruntled lefty Will Ohman and Omar Infante.
Most recently, Chicago Cubs baseball avoided arbitration with Neal Cotts and Michael Wuertz by agreeing to a pair of one-year contracts for roughly $800,000 each.
At last count, 23 pitchers were listed on the Chicago Cubs 40-man roster.
Speculation around the league sees the Cubs arm-grabbing as a means to an end. The extra arms gives Hendry and the Cubs a little more bargaining leverage in trading for a big-name player such as the Baltimore Orioles’ Brian Roberts.
Or maybe since the Cubs can’t seem to win the World Series they can at least claim the best batting practice staff in baseball.
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