Cubs sign Cintron, wake me when there's something to write about
The Cubs signed utility infielder Alex Cintron today, who spent the last few seasons with the White Sox. I always thought he was a sort of useful player with the Diamondbacks, but any Sox fan will tell you that he was worthless on the South Side. Whatever, he's competing with Ronny Cedeno for the role of last infielder on the bench, and he's both younger and better than Rey Ordonez and Enrique Wilson. And you know Lou won't even think about playing him over Theriot or DeRosa. Decent low-risk signing by Hendry.
Other than that, there's not a lot to talk about with the Cubs. The Roberts deal still hasn't happened; because of that DeRosa still can't get comfortable; and Dempster thinks the Cubs are going all the way. Yawn. The only real battles this spring are for 4th and 5th starter, which I covered several weeks ago and exactly nada has changed since then; and starting Center Fielder. Right now the job is Pie's to lose. I wouldn't be surprised, though, to see the Cubs make another move this spring. And if they do, there'll be something to write about. Instead, I'll just have to speculate.
There's talk of the Cubs acquiring Coco Crisp from the Red Sox in exchange for Jason Marquis. To that I ask, have the Red Sox not seen any videotape of Marquis the last few seasons? I know they're desperate, but come on. He's horrible, and I thought the Red Sox employed smart people like Bill James. Whatever, if the Cubs can get anything for Marquis, that'd be a major boon for Hendry. Yes, Crisp's signing might stymie Pie a bit, but I almost don't care. In a perfect world, the Cubs would acquire Crisp and Pie would start hitting again. Then they'd have a young stud center fielder and a quality backup for all three outfield positions. Knowing the Cubs, though, Pie will stink AND they'll fail to aquire a quality backup. And we'll be dealing with a rotating sinkhole of Pie, Cedeno and Fuld in Center for three months.
And that's that. Till next time, and/or something significant happens.