Garciaparra's Cub days look short-lived
PITTSBURGH -- The consensus belief is that the Cubs won't offer shortstop Nomar Garciaparra another contract in the offseason, unable to risk the chance that he can return in 2006 as the player he used to be after physical problems held him back the last two seasons.
The Cubs aren't prepared to say that directly with Garciaparra still playing for them, but manager Dusty Baker and general manager Jim Hendry agreed Sunday that rookie Ronny Cedeno could be on the verge of developing into the starting shortstop next year.
Hendry emphasized that Cedeno also can play second base, but the team's offseason plan likely will be to re-sign veteran infielder Neifi Perez and pair him at shortstop next season with Cedeno, who would get most of the starts as long as he fulfills his promise. Asked if Cedeno was close to being the full-time starter, Baker indicated that it could happen.
"He's pretty close to me,'' Baker said. "Yeah, he's real close. He can run. He can hit-and-run. He works hard and is respectful -- confident but not arrogant. He has to work on getting his throw truer. His throw now kind of runs into the runner. Those are things we have to work on and correct.
"I have always wanted to have a Rookie of the Year. I know how much it means to the organization and the person because I could have been Rookie of the Year and wasn't. He's going to be a fine player. It's a matter of when we have to clear a spot for him, and do we hold somebody in reserve in case he doesn't do it?''
Perez seems perfectly suited for that role.
"Ronny has learned a lot from Neifi,'' Baker said. "It's hard to play better shortstop defensively than Neifi has.''
Hendry agreed that Cedeno looks to be on the fast track toward being a starter in 2006.
"If he continues to progress, he has a good shot of playing for us next year,'' Hendry said. "He can play second or shortstop.
''It'd be foolish now to decide where he is going to play and who we might sign or re-sign. We all feel he is ready to be an every-day player.''
NO HOUSE CLEANING: Baker reiterated that he would like to see all of his coaches re-signed for 2006. He already has broached the subject with Hendry.
"We have talked about it, and we're going to address it again,'' Baker said.
While no decision on rehiring coaches will come down until after the season, Baker was asked if he feared one or more coaches would have to go after an underachieving season.
"That's wrong,'' Baker said. "That way you are placing blame on one department. When you don't win, you can point to a number of departments. We are all responsible. Sometimes the players have to take some of the responsibility, too.''
After the 2004 season, third-base coach Wendell Kim was fired and hitting coach Gary Matthews was demoted to first-base coach.
"I'm not here to single out blame in any area,'' Hendry said. "We have all had our share of not doing as well as we'd like. Our coaches have worked hard to correct some of our deficiencies, and sometimes we haven't overcome them.''
BARNSTORMING: Keep your ears open around baseball, and you can hear some people speculating that former Cubs star Sammy Sosa will be lucky to get minor-league contract offers in the offseason after the poor season he has had in Baltimore. Any club offering him even $1 million to $2 million for 2006 seems a stretch.
So what will Sosa do? Some believe he will sign a contract to play next year in Japan, where he is still a bona fide celebrity.
As far as money is concerned, it appears Japan would be more lucrative for Sosa than any deal he might muster up in the majors. It could be sayonara to Sosa in the big leagues.
Source: http://www.suntimes.com/
The Cubs aren't prepared to say that directly with Garciaparra still playing for them, but manager Dusty Baker and general manager Jim Hendry agreed Sunday that rookie Ronny Cedeno could be on the verge of developing into the starting shortstop next year.
Hendry emphasized that Cedeno also can play second base, but the team's offseason plan likely will be to re-sign veteran infielder Neifi Perez and pair him at shortstop next season with Cedeno, who would get most of the starts as long as he fulfills his promise. Asked if Cedeno was close to being the full-time starter, Baker indicated that it could happen.
"He's pretty close to me,'' Baker said. "Yeah, he's real close. He can run. He can hit-and-run. He works hard and is respectful -- confident but not arrogant. He has to work on getting his throw truer. His throw now kind of runs into the runner. Those are things we have to work on and correct.
"I have always wanted to have a Rookie of the Year. I know how much it means to the organization and the person because I could have been Rookie of the Year and wasn't. He's going to be a fine player. It's a matter of when we have to clear a spot for him, and do we hold somebody in reserve in case he doesn't do it?''
Perez seems perfectly suited for that role.
"Ronny has learned a lot from Neifi,'' Baker said. "It's hard to play better shortstop defensively than Neifi has.''
Hendry agreed that Cedeno looks to be on the fast track toward being a starter in 2006.
"If he continues to progress, he has a good shot of playing for us next year,'' Hendry said. "He can play second or shortstop.
''It'd be foolish now to decide where he is going to play and who we might sign or re-sign. We all feel he is ready to be an every-day player.''
NO HOUSE CLEANING: Baker reiterated that he would like to see all of his coaches re-signed for 2006. He already has broached the subject with Hendry.
"We have talked about it, and we're going to address it again,'' Baker said.
While no decision on rehiring coaches will come down until after the season, Baker was asked if he feared one or more coaches would have to go after an underachieving season.
"That's wrong,'' Baker said. "That way you are placing blame on one department. When you don't win, you can point to a number of departments. We are all responsible. Sometimes the players have to take some of the responsibility, too.''
After the 2004 season, third-base coach Wendell Kim was fired and hitting coach Gary Matthews was demoted to first-base coach.
"I'm not here to single out blame in any area,'' Hendry said. "We have all had our share of not doing as well as we'd like. Our coaches have worked hard to correct some of our deficiencies, and sometimes we haven't overcome them.''
BARNSTORMING: Keep your ears open around baseball, and you can hear some people speculating that former Cubs star Sammy Sosa will be lucky to get minor-league contract offers in the offseason after the poor season he has had in Baltimore. Any club offering him even $1 million to $2 million for 2006 seems a stretch.
So what will Sosa do? Some believe he will sign a contract to play next year in Japan, where he is still a bona fide celebrity.
As far as money is concerned, it appears Japan would be more lucrative for Sosa than any deal he might muster up in the majors. It could be sayonara to Sosa in the big leagues.
Source: http://www.suntimes.com/
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