January 25, 2012

Cubs.com Inbox: Who will bat cleanup for the Cubs? Beat reporter Carrie Muskat answers questions from fans By: Carrie Muskat

The lineup, rotation, and backup are among the topics in this week's Cubs Inbox. Send your questions to [email protected], and please include your name and hometown.

Who is the projected fourth batter in the lineup for 2012? I don't see a clear cleanup-style hitter on the roster now. -- Don Y., Oklahoma City, Okla.

Bryan LaHair could be that guy. He batted .342 with runners on base at Triple-A Iowa, .340 with runners on and two outs, and .351 with runners in scoring position. Alfonso Soriano was asked at the Cubs Convention about possibly batting fourth.

"The most important thing for me is to win, stay healthy," Soriano said. "Batting three, four, five, six, seven, it doesn't matter with me, because you saw last year, I batted sixth, seventh and never complained -- [I was] not happy, but I never complained. So, the most important thing for me is to be happy and try to win and try to help the team win."

Did Soriano plan on telling Dale Sveum where he wanted to hit?

"I want to joke with him [about it]," Soriano said. "We have all of and six months to talk to him."

In 2011, Soriano hit .238 with runners on, .285 with RISP, and .279 with RISP with two outs. Ian Stewart does not have enough of a sample size (he totaled 122 at-bats with the Rockies in 2011, 54 with runners on). Last year, 's numbers also were weak (.194 with runners on).

At the convention, Sveum said he had some ideas about the lineup but wanted to see players first in Spring Training before revealing his order. Sveum did say David DeJesus will likely lead off, and they may look at Tony Campana in certain matchups. Here's one lineup guess: DeJesus, Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro, LaHair, Marlon Byrd, Soriano, Soto and Stewart.

What is the starting rotation for the Cubs in 2012? -- Jack K., Joliet, Ill.

That's to be determined this spring, too. The candidates include Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, , , , Randy Wells, , Rodrigo Lopez, Andy Sonnanstine and maybe Trey McNutt. Jeff Samardzija also will be stretched out this spring.

I'm confused on what [Cubs president of baseball operations] says and what actions he takes. First, he says Garza is the type of player you want to build the pitching staff around but then you hear he is shopping Garza. Second, he says is a great guy to have on the pitching staff with his commitment to the city and the team and then hesitates to re-sign him. What do we believe and what is just lip service to the fans? -- Josh F., Groton, Mass.

The rumors you've heard about Garza being traded are media driven. My contacts with the Tigers say their interest in the right-hander has been overblown. The Cubs aren't "shopping" Garza, but they are listening to interested teams. There's a difference, even if just semantics. Epstein's plan for the Cubs is to take advantage of what assets they have (ex. Sean Marshall, Andrew Cashner) to acquire prospects and improve the depth in the Minor League system. Epstein did say Garza is the type of to build around, which is why the Cubs won't deal the right-hander for a low Class A infielder. The Cubs would only part with Garza if they are able to acquire a significant package of players (such as the Padres did for Mat Latos). The fact that Garza, who is eligible for arbitration, submitted a salary figure of $12.5 million (and will likely settle for $10 million) will probably make him less attractive to teams. As for Wood's deal, what you call "hesitation" was actually negotiations between Wood's agents and the Cubs' front office. Epstein did want Wood back, as he said, but both sides were trying to get the best deal.

Who is the backup catcher? If productive, can he unseat Soto? -- Jason M., Sherwood, Ohio

Naming a backup is another item on Sveum's long to-do list this spring. Welington Castillo may be the leading candidate but the Cubs did sign Jason Jaramillo to a Minor League contract and Steve Clevenger will get a look. I don't see any of them unseating Soto. Jaramillo, who is no relation to Cubs hitting Rudy Jaramillo, has played in 119 Major League games over three seasons with the Pirates. The question regarding Castillo and Clevenger will be whether they and the team are better served with them getting at-bats in the Minor Leagues rather than starting once a week with the big league club. Castillo was slowed by injuries last year, and batted .286 in 61 games with Iowa. Clevenger, a converted infielder, batted .295 in 95 games at Double-A Tennessee and .407 in 25 games over two stints at Iowa. Clevenger has moved up quickly -- keep an eye on him.

Where does Brett Jackson fit in 2012? With the "youth" movement in place, Byrd probably is on the way out. Jackson seems to be the heir apparent. -- Michael V., Princeton, Ill.

Jackson is projected as the Cubs' center fielder of the future, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him with the big league team this year, but not on Opening Day. Jackson, who hit .297 in 48 games at Iowa, most likely will open the year in the Minor Leagues. This is the last year of Byrd's contract with the Cubs, and he's motivated. The Cubs have extra outfielders in Campana, Reed Johnson and Dave Sappelt, who can handle part-time duties. Jackson needs to play every day.

Are Epstein and [general manager] Jed Hoyer thinking about maybe moving Anthony Rizzo or LaHair to third base? -- Robert B., Wilmette, Ill.

No, and they also are not considering moving Soriano to first, which has been suggested by some fans.

Who are the Cubs planning on giving up in compensation to the Red Sox for acquiring Theo? I keep hearing Cubs fans worry about Castro, McNutt or Jackson as possible candidates. I say no way, and think more along the lines of Josh Vitters, Jay Jackson or Chris Carpenter. -- Kevin B., Urbana, Ill.

The problem, most likely, is that the Red Sox want someone like Brett Jackson but the Cubs are looking at picking a player from the Class A ranks. The precedent was set in 1994 when the Cubs hired Andy

MacPhail from the Twins and sent Class A pitcher Hector Trinidad to Minnesota as compensation. The decision is up to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.

Will the renovation in right field at Wrigley Field create an obstructed view? If they elevate that section of right field, won't the individuals sitting in the right-center-field bleachers have an obstructed view of the well, as the stands will be raised 75 feet to accommodate the new scoreboard? -- Ross S., Des Moines, Iowa

Cubs officials say the center-field sight lines won't be affected. What will happen is the people in the right-field corner should have a better view of the center fielder, who was blocked at times because of the well and configuration of seats. I'm still trying to get an answer about what will happen with the wheelchair seating, which was in right field and which Denise Z., of , asked about.

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Tribune With Prince, Tigers join baseball royalty Sox seem consigned to lower echelon with Central foe among AL elite By: Phil Rogers

Forget retooling. The Tigers struck a blow Tuesday that suggests they might do what no team has done since the Albert Belle//-era Indians. They are in position to dominate the Central and scare everyone else in the in the process.

General manager was clear about his goal before the Tigers won their last title in the balanced Central.

"Your goal is to become the behemoth,'' Dombrowski said. "You hope the competition drives you up to where you're winning 95 games every year. That's what you're trying to win.''

Ninety-five victories a year? That was the annual target of the Red Sox during Theo Epstein's years there. It was what they felt they needed to be assured of winning a wild-card spot, if not finishing ahead of the Yankees. It's an awful lot of victories to plan for, but it's become a reasonable goal for at least four AL teams entering 2012.

With hitting next to Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers have joined the Angels, Rangers and Yankees as the cream of baseball's deepest league, with the Rays, Red Sox and Blue Jays hoping a fifth team is added to the playoffs.

Fielder and Cabrera combined for 68 home runs, 84 doubles, 215 walks, 206 runs scored and 225 runs driven in last season. With them joining a team that is headlined by Cy Young winner/MVP , the door into October would seem to have slammed shut for the White Sox and everyone else in the AL Central, which has been a land of opportunity.

The Tigers seem almost certain to win 90-plus games in 2012, and 100 is well within sight with a regular diet of the Twins, Royals, Indians and White Sox.

Chairman already has lowered both ticket prices and the payroll. , Sergio Santos and Jason Frasor already have been traded. You wonder if there's any point in holding onto veteran players who might have value elsewhere, such as , Matt Thornton and even Alexei Ramirez, as the Sox head into a challenging season under rookie manager Robin Ventura.

With Eduardo Escobar already on the fringes of the big-league roster and Tyler Saladino on the horizon, why wouldn't Ken Williams consider sending Ramirez and Floyd to Boston in a package for as much 25- and-under talent as possible?

One rumor bouncing around says Ramirez isn't the White Sox regular the Red Sox are eyeing for the shortstop opening they created when they traded Marco Scutaro to the Rockies. It says they think Gordon Beckham is capable of regaining his ability as a -producer and returning to the position he played at the University of Georgia.

We'll see.

Few saw the Tigers coming in the Fielder sweepstakes. But might be as aggressive as any owner in baseball, and his interest in Fielder spiked after the Tigers lost Victor Martinez to knee surgery last week.

Luckily for the Tigers, Scott Boras still was trying to find a mega-deal for Fielder when Martinez was lost. Tigers owner Mike Ilitch stepped into the void to land Fielder with a nine-year deal worth $214 million.

Score another one for Boras. But, of more importance to 's baseball fans and demanding manager , the Tigers are in it to win it.

"We have a unique owner,'' Dombrowski said. "… He is driven to win. … A (few) years ago I never thought we were going to acquire Miguel Cabrera. That wasn't in my budget. He said to me, 'I think Miguel Cabrera would look good in a Tiger uniform.' I said, 'I do too, but we don't have the finances.' He said, 'Let's see if we can make it work.'''

Substitute Fielder for Cabrera — something Leyland won't have to do — and that same dynamic played out again, four years after Dombrowski landed Cabrera in a trade that stunned Williams and the Sox, who were chasing him at the time.

The Tigers will have a glut of talent when Martinez returns, whether it's late in 2012 or the following spring. With as one of the best young in the game, filling out a lineup card will be awkward if Cabrera can't handle a return to third base, where he last was a regular in 2007. Martinez could try the outfield or the Tigers could trade one of the four.

Dombrowski and Ilitch don't give no-trade clauses, and aren't afraid to trade talented, popular players (Curtis Granderson, for instance). Cabrera, signed through 2015, has 10-and-5 no-trade rights after '13. Martinez is signed through '14. How long can a team carry three first basemen-DHs?

Cabrera and Fielder probably will play together only four years, tops. But for the White Sox and their AL Central brethren, this period may be considered the Tigers' reign of terror.

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Tribune Wrigley rooftop venue sold in bankruptcy auction By: Ameet Sachdev

The owner of a Wrigley Field rooftop business acquired a neighboring property with a rooftop venue at a bankruptcy auction for $4.8 million.

A bankruptcy judge Tuesday approved the sale of the building that houses the Lakeview Baseball Club, 3633 N. Sheffield Ave., to a company affiliated with Mark Schlenker, who owns Brixen Ivy beyond the left-field wall on Waveland Avenue.

The deal is expected to close next week, said the trustee, Chicago lawyer Rick Fogel.

The owners of the Lakeview Baseball Club put the building in bankruptcy in August to prevent the sale of the property in a foreclosure auction. The owners are members of the Racky family.

The Rackys' bank, Orland Park-based First Personal Bank had originally filed a foreclosure suit in 2010, alleging that the owners had fallen behind on a $3 million mortgage on the three-story property. The bank received a foreclosure judgment last year.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Pamela Hollis appointed Fogel to sell property in November.

The Schlenker bid of $4.8 million was named the preferred bidder prior to Friday's auction, meaning other bidders would have to top the price. No one did, Fogel said.

Schlenker's bid was a "credit bid" because another entity he's affiliated with had acquired the claims of the bank and two other creditors, worth a total of $4.2 million, after the Lakeview Baseball Club declared bankruptcy. In a bankruptcy sale, a secured creditor is allowed to bid the amount of its debt as a credit bid and compete with cash bidders.

In this case, Schlenker's company, Rooftop Acquisition LLC, also included about $600,000 in cash in its bid.

Schlenker was not immediately available for comment.

The Lakeview Baseball Club was one of the first rooftop venues to open outside Wrigley Field. It is best known for its two signs written in Latin that face the stadium. One of them says "Eamus Catuli," which roughly translates to "Let's go little bears."

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CSNChicago.com For Cubs, Prince was the right player at the wrong time By: Patrick Mooney

At some point, Theo Epstein will have to go all-in and gamble on the piece that could put the Cubs over- the-top. But it wasn’t going to happen this winter. Prince Fielder wasn’t the right player at the right time.

The shocked the baseball world on Tuesday with the news that Fielder had agreed to a reported nine-year deal worth $214 million. Life in the Central will be a lot different without the star power of Fielder or Albert Pujols.

Fielder is only 27 years old, with a left-handed swing that would be perfect for Wrigley Field. He plays hard every day and should be good for 35 homers and 100-plus RBI every year through 2016.

But there is so much work to be done at Clark and Addison that it didn’t make sense to pour so much money into one player (especially one who looks like a ).

The Ricketts family plans to control the Cubs for generations. They are still learning the business and don’t yet have the same urgency Tigers owner Mike Ilitch showed in trying to win a right now.

They also don’t have to worry about capturing a market the way owner did in giving Pujols a 10-year, $254 million megadeal.

Epstein had just left a team burned by the wrong bets in free agency – for a five-year commitment to an organization that had been crippled by bad long-term contracts.

For the moment, the Cubs have removed emotion from the equation. Even franchise icon Kerry Wood had to wait until the middle of January to sign a one-year, $3 million deal with a club option for 2013.

Epstein has acknowledged that the Cubs aren’t at a point where they will make countermoves against the division, the way the roll in their rivalry with the Red Sox. They weren’t going to make an impulse buy with Fielder or Pujols.

You could hear the ambivalence in Epstein’s voice one night last month at the winter meetings in Dallas. The next morning word spread throughout the lobby of the Hilton Anatole that Pujols was heading to Southern .

“It’s like that moment after you sign a free agent,” Epstein said up in his hotel suite. “By definition, you overpaid, because you were the high team, right? The high bidder usually gets the player, so there’s a winner’s curse associated with that sometimes.

“That moment when you’re at the press conference and you’re holding up the jersey, you’re sitting there thinking this could be a great moment in franchise history. And then there’s a big voice in the back of your head saying: ‘I might be regretting this for the next six years.’

“You can’t get away from it. And that voice is louder than the one that says: ‘This could be a great thing for the team going forward.’ Because just look at the history of long-term free agent contracts. They tend not to work out.”

That’s why it would be a mistake to completely write off the St. Louis Cardinals and . These front offices are resourceful and have assembled enough high-end pitching to keep their teams competitive.

And if they had given in and stretched their budgets for their franchise players, it could have paralyzed those organizations for years to come.

The Cardinals squeezed 11 great years out of Pujols and finished under .500 only once during that window, making the playoffs seven times and winning two titles.

The Brewers formed their identity around Fielder, playing with a hard edge that almost got them to the World Series last season. That’s the way this Scott Boras client approached free agency. A good relationship with new Cubs manager Dale Sveum wasn’t going to matter much.

The Cubs are prepared to let 29-year-old Bryan LaHair – a former 39th-round pick and last season’s Pacific Coast League MVP – play first base. Waiting at Triple-A Iowa will be Anthony Rizzo, the top prospect acquired from the in the Andrew Cashner deal.

Cubs executives Jason McLeod and Jed Hoyer watched Rizzo beat Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a Red Sox minor-leaguer, and thought he might one day replace Adrian Gonzalez in San Diego. Rizzo is supposed to eventually become a force in the middle of the order and the clubhouse.

“For a 22-year-old kid, he’s got a lot of leadership ability,” Epstein said. “(He’s) mature beyond his years. He’s already overcome adversity in his life with the cancer that he beat. I think that’s important. Baseball’s all about overcoming adversity. Failure’s inherent in this game, so if you’re looking for one characteristic in a player, you want to (see how he handles) adversity.

“Even in the minor leagues, he put the team first. He wasn’t all about his statistics. Because of his imposing size and his character and the fact that he cared about his team and his teammates, he was kind of magnetic. His teammates – even those who were older than him – kind of rallied around him.”

So Epstein will build around Rizzo and try to collect as many young players as possible, with an eye toward the future. Ownership resisted the urge to make a splash with a box-office draw who would sell tickets.

This doesn’t have to be “The Year.” Maybe, in their own slow, steady way, the Cubs just shocked the baseball world, too.