Having won one and lost one at the conclusion of baseball’s winter meetings, the Cubs “will keep looking” for pitching help, although the free-agent list is dwindling.
“Are we done? No,” said Gary Hughes, special assistant to general manager Jim Hendry. “There are other pitchers still out there, both by trade and [free agency]. We’ll keep looking.
“We’ve done things [shortly after the meetings] in the past. We’ve had a lot of discussions with a lot of people about a lot of players and there’s more stuff that we think has to be done and, knowing Jim, it usually happens sooner than later.”
The Cubs, who came to Disney World looking for two starting pitchers, landed lefty Ted Lilly for $40 million over four years, pending a physical. But they lost out on Gil Meche, who signed Thursday with the Royals for five years at $55 million.
Options for the Cubs, and the many other teams desperate for starters, have narrowed to a handful, headed by Oakland’s Barry Zito, who is probably out of the Cubs’ price range, and the Cardinals’ Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver and Jason Marquis.
The Cubs are reported to have interest in Marquis to the point pitching coach Larry Rothschild watched him work out and there have been several conversations with his agent.
Marquis was 14-16 with a 6.02 ERA for the World Series champions last season, although he was effective at times. In 2004, he was 15-7 with a 3.71 for the Cardinals and is 56-52 with a 4.55 ERA for his career.
The loss of Meche was a blow for the Cubs. They had recruited him heavily and new boss Lou Piniella, his manager in Seattle, had called several times. But the Cubs were not willing to award a five-year deal to a pitcher.
With Lilly’s official arrival next week, the Cubs have allocated $272 million for signing players, including Lilly, Alfonso Soriano, Mark DeRosa and their own Aramis Ramirez.
“Active, very active,” Hughes said when asked to describe the Cubs’ winter. “It has been very productive for us so far. We’re not done. We think we have improved. But it’s only on paper.”
Led by Soriano’s early signing, the Cubs were the focal point of criticism, which has mellowed this week with more high-salary signings.
“For a while, we were driving the bus for the industry,” Hughes said. “Obviously that has slowed down a little bit where other people are making moves they have to make. We just made ours a little quicker. So we were out here and a target for anybody’s comments they wanted to make. Which is really a better position to be in than [to be] one of the guys shooting with a popgun and saying I don’t believe they did that.”
As for Lilly, the Cubs were ecstatic they got the pitcher they targeted, especially after Jason Schmidt signed with the Dodgers for a reported $47 million over three years.
Hughes and Piniella labeled as “insignifcant” Lilly’s late-season blowup in Toronto when he refused to give the ball to manager John Gibbons while being removed from a game. The two, who actually were friends, had a heated exchange in the dugout but each took the blame afterwards.
“It was an isolated incident,” Hughes said. “It was really a non-factor [in the signing].”
“One time, nothing more, nothing less,” Piniella said.
Considered a “good guy,” Lilly apologized quickly. The Blue Jays even wanted him back and were in the bidding with the Cubs until the end.
Gibbons kidded about the episode during his meeting with the media this week, saying the two had quit jogging together.
“He’s too quick for me,” Gibbons said.
While pitching remains the focus for the Cubs, they added veteran left-handed hitter Daryle Ward on Thursday, although they delayed the announcement pending a physical.
Ward, 31, replaces John Mabry as a left-handed corner outfielder, first baseman and pinch-hitter. He hit .308 with six homers and 19 RBIs in 78 games with the Nationals last season. In 2005 with the Pirates he hit .318 with 12 homers and 63 RBIs.
Ward could be a starter if Jacques Jones is traded, although Hughes said Thursday that free agent Cliff Floyd “will probably never be off our radar.”
In other activity Thursday, the Cubs:
– Selected right-hander James Henderson from Washington’s Triple-A team in the minor-league Rule 5 draft. A reliever, he has a 14-21 record in Class A;
– Received Class A pitcher Kevin Hart from Baltimore to complete Wednesday’s trade of Freddie Bynum. Hart, 23, is 20-19 with a 4.51 ERA.;
– Lost Class AA pitcher Edward Campusano in the Rule 5 draft to Milwaukee, which sold him to Detroit. The lefty reliever had a 1.46 ERA over two seasons with 81 strikeouts and 17 walks in 55 innings;
– Drafted troubled outfielder Josh Hamilton from Tampa Bay in the Rule 5 draft and immediately sold him to Cincinnati for $50,000. Hamilton, a former No. 1 draft pick, had been suspended for alleged drug use.
