Flubs after Jay's Gonzalez

[duke of dorwood]

And the Cubs are making noises at baseball's annual winter meetings about acquiring Blue Jays shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

Funny, but a year ago this week in Dallas at the 2000 winter meetings, the Jays' top goal was to re-sign Gonzalez, who has been with the organization since being drafted in the 14th round in 1991.

"Shortstop is the one thing we're going to have (to take care of) before we leave here," Cubs president Andy MacPhail said yesterday. "It's not like we just started looking into this when we arrived in town."

The Cubs did not offer salary arbitration to Ricky Gutierrez, who played shortstop for them in 2001.

Besides Gonzalez, who has three years and $16 million US remaining on his contract, the Jays have natural shortstops Felipe Lopez and Cesar Izturis ready to play in 2002.

While the leader of the Jays contingent, new general manager J.P. Ricciardi, did not arrive until late yesterday afternoon at the Sheraton Boston, Cubs scouts have been busy.

Cubs officials have been asking Toronto scouts and former Jays scouts questions about Gonzalez. What's he really like? Why does he strike out so darn much? How is he in the clubhouse?

[Vsahajpal]

It's a done deal...and the Jays took Heredia, lmao!

their new GM is being fleeced. Jays fans must be wondering if Gord Ash left

[jklm]

Originally posted by Vsahajpal
It's a done deal...and the Jays took Heredia, lmao!

their new GM is being fleeced. Jays fans must be wondering if Gord Ash left

It is more like a salary dump... and LH "throwers" always get chances, don't they?

:embree

I won't by unemployed for long.

[duke of dorwood]

:dumbash

The meetings ain't the same without me

[AsInWreck]

And they say the Twins' should be contracted

[cheeses_h_rice]

Perhaps Vic could explain what was so bad about Gutierrez, except for his relatively low OBP vs. AVG.

[Vsahajpal]

his defense, I think he's ranked in the bottom 5 in range factor, nonetheless, he was rated behind only Chipper Jones in the Elias Rankings, so if they offered him arbitration, it's likely he would've gotten well over the 5 million the Cubs offered him. Gonzalez is excellent defensively, just 28 years old, has good power, but strikes out a lot. He kind of reminds me of Jose Hernandez, though he doesn't strike out as much, and his defense is better.

[danman31]

The Chicago Cubs reportedly have found the veteran shortstop they have been looking for.

The Cubs and Toronto Blue Jays have agreed in principle on a deal that would send Alex Gonzalez to Chicago for two players to be named, ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago reported Monday.

According to sources close to both teams, the names of the two players will be revealed later this week. The deal is expected to be announced later Monday.

Gonzalez, 28, hit .253 in 154 games last season with career highs of 161 hits, 17 home runs, 76 RBI and 79 runs scored in 636 at-bats.
Officially it was Gonzalez for Heredia and a player to be named later.