Potential Under-Radar Free Agents for Cubs

Interesting article from SI.com on a few below the radar type free-agents.

Some of the players mentioned piqued my interest as possibilities for the Cubs.

For each of those players I’ve included a snippet of the article summary below. To read in its entirety click here.

• Jason Grilli, RP
  2012: Pittsburgh Pirates, 2.91 ERA, 13.8 SO/9 in 58.2 IP
  2013 age: 36

Since returning from a 2010 season lost to knee surgery, Grilli has improved his control dramatically and missed bats at an alarming rate. With both his fastball and slider netting swings and misses on at least 15 percent of his pitches in 2012, his 36.3 percent strikeout percentage ranked fourth among NL pitchers with at least 50 innings, behind only Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen. He can be a setup man for a contender and will get a nice raise from this year’s $1.1 million.

• Brandon Lyon, RP
  2012: Houston Astros & Toronto Blue Jays, 3.10 ERA, 9.3 SO/9 in 61 IP
  2013 age: 33

Lyon came into the year still recovering from surgery to repair tears in his labrum and rotator cuff and wound up with a new lease on life in the bullpen. Thanks to an increasingly effective curveball, he got the highest swing-and-miss rate of his career (18 percent of all strikes); his rate of strikeouts per nine, a pedestrian 5.8 from 2001-2011, shot up to 9.3.

• Maicer Izturis, IF
  2012: LA Angels of Anaheim, .256/.320/.315, 2 HR, 17 SB in 319 PA
  2013 age: 32

Izturis isn’t fit for a full-time job, but as a guy who can play second and third competently (and spot at short, briefly) while getting on base at a better-than-league-average clip with virtually no platoon split (.276/.326/.367 versus lefties from 2010-2012, .259/.327/.357 versus righties), he’s a handy bench guy, though he’ll have to take a pay cut from the $3.8 million he made this year.

• Joe Blanton, SP
  2012: Philadelphia Phillies & LA Dodgers, 4.71 ERA, 7.8 SO/9 in 191 IP
  2013 age: 32

He misses bats and has good control; his walk rate was the league’s third-lowest. Give him better defensive support than the .314 BABIP he suffered through in 2012 (.347 with the Dodgers, making for a bust of a trade), and a big enough ballpark to offset his flyballing ways and trim his inflated homer rate (1.4 per nine last year, 1.1 career), he can provide 180 or so innings of league-average work at the back of a rotation.

• Scott Feldman, SP
  2012: Texas Rangers, 5.09 ERA, 7.0 SO/9 in 123.2 IP
  2013 age: 30

Thanks in part to the development of an effective changeup, his strikeout rate was the highest of his career — well above his career 5.0 per nine prior — and not simply the product of a ton of short stints out of the bullpen (it was 7.2 in 13 2/3 innings in the latter role). Meanwhile, his walk rate (2.3 per nine) was a career low, so his strikeout-to-walk ratio effectively doubled. His ERA was inflated by a .318 BABIP and a hitter-friendly ballpark; in Arlington, batters tagged him at a .300/.333/.487 clip, compared to .255/.307/.351 on the road. In a more hospitable environment, he can help.

Milk Man Fails Drug Test, Earns October Bonus

It turns out Melky Cabrera will earn a full share of the Giants’ postseason revenue split.

What a shame.

Al Saracevic of SFGate.com does a nice job explaining the details of what he calls an ‘obscure union rule’ that entitled Cabrera to get his full piece of the money pie.

“He spent 117 games on the roster this season, and he stood to make 72.2 percent of a full share. But an obscure union rule mandates a full share if a player’s team plays 10 games after the suspended player is eligible to be reinstated.

Cabrera was eligible to come back for Game 1 of the NLCS. The Giants chose to keep him on the shelf, but the team also played 11 more playoff games. And that triggers a full share for Melky.” –Al Saracevic

It’s absolutely ridiculous if you ask me. A player suspended for PEDs use shouldn’t get the benefit of a paycheck he didn’t fairly earn.

As with any union, the Players Association’s job is to look out for the best interest of all of its members. But this is an obvious loophole that needs closing.

The players share their own responsibility in protecting the integrity of the game. Protecting suspended PEDs users like Cabrera clearly is not in the best interest of the players or the league.

In fact, it’s time baseball amended the rules on suspended drug cheats of which I’d like to suggest the following:

• Increase the suspension for first time offenders from 50-games to a 100-game ban.
• Any offender is automatically disqualified from winning league awards during the season of his suspension.
• Automatic ineligibility from season’s postseason series, including any earnings from addition playoff revenue.
• A lifetime ban for funding a fraudulent website in attempt to clear any wrongdoings.
• Do not cross ‘Go’. Do not collect $200 (too harsh?)

Seriously though, if the league and its players are truly committed to discouraging the use of illegal performance enhancers it must adopt a policy with punishments that outweigh the risk for potential gains by an individual player who uses PEDs.

Additionally, the Giants proved this year a team can lose its best player and still win the World Series. That leaves no excuse for the other 29 teams to take further actions to discourage players from using performance enhancers.

Not only is Melky Cabrera a coward and a cheat, he’s a disgrace to professional baseball, his peers and his fans. To reward this clown with postseason earnings he didn’t earn is absurd.

Baseball deserves credit for taking long strides to clean up the game post-steroids era. But the league and the Players Union need to take another step forward to get this snafu patched up.

Melky won’t be the last idiot to try and cheat the game, but he should be the last player who receives additional financial compensation after testing positive for steroids. It’s an embarrassing ‘obscure rule’ that doesn’t make sense or should play out a second time.