Chicago Cubs

By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com | 02/06/12 5:16 PM EST

CHICAGO -- The Cubs claimed infielder Adrian Cardenas off waivers from the Athletics on Monday, and made room on the 40-man roster when infielder Blake DeWitt was designated for assignment.

Cardenas, 24, batted .314 with 28 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 70 runs scored, 51 RBIs and a .374 on-base percentage in 127 games with Triple-A Sacramento last year. A left-handed batter, he ranked eighth in the Pacific Coast League with 154 hits.

In 2011, Cardenas played second, short, third and left field. He has primarily played second in his pro career.

Originally selected by the Phillies in the supplemental round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, he was acquired by the Athletics as part of the trade that sent Joe Blanton to the Phillies.

DeWitt, 26, was projected as the Cubs' starting second baseman last season but lost the job to Darwin Barney. He batted .265 with 11 doubles, five home runs and 26 RBIs in 121 games with the Cubs.

By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com | 02/03/12 10:23 AM EST

Instead of going into a hearing room in St. Petersburg on Friday, the Cubs and Matt Garza avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $9.5 million contract.

Garza's representatives at CAA Sports announced the deal on Twitter and said he could also earn performance bonuses. The 28-year-old right-hander was the Cubs' only remaining arbitration-eligible player, and had the sides not settled on Friday morning, they would have gone before a three-member panel of arbitrators to decide Garza's salary. He filed for $12.5 million on Jan. 17 -- the date arbitration-eligible players and their teams exchanged figures -- while the Cubs countered at $7.95 million. The sides wound up settling below the midpoint of $10.225 million. Garza made $5.95 million last season -- his first with the Cubs -- and went 10-10 with a 3.32 ERA in 31 starts. He was arbitration-eligible this winter for the third time, but he will have an extra year of eligibility because he entered the system as a Super Two player. That means Garza will not be a free agent until after the 2013 season. The deal extended Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein's streak of never going to an arbitration hearing with a player, including his time as the Red Sox's general manager. Garza has been in the news a lot this winter. On Thursday, the Fresno Bee reported that Garza's California home had been burglarized and his 2008 American League championship ring was stolen. Garza was the MVP of that ALCS for the Tampa Bay Rays. Before that, Garza found his way into print as part of trade rumors linking the rebuilding Cubs to a number of different teams. Because he is under contract for two more seasons and is an established, durable starting pitcher, Garza is potentially the Cubs' most valuable trade chip. Epstein addressed those rumors back in December. "I think Matt Garza is exactly the type of pitcher that you want to build around," Epstein said. "He's a proven performer in the playoffs. I think last year he had his best season, all things being equal. It's hard to find a top-of-the-rotation guy, and if you can keep them around, I think that's always compelling for the club. "That said, I've been honest with you guys that we're in a mode where we have to listen on everybody. If there's a way to improve the long-term outlook for this club in a significant manner, then we can't look past opportunities like that. We're not in a situation where we have to do anything with Garza, but generally we're in the business right now of taking our short-term assets and turning them into long-term assets." Cubs Spring Training officially begins on Saturday, Feb. 18, when pitchers and catchers are invited to report to Mesa, Ariz. Their first workout will take place the following day, and Chicago's first full-squad workout is set for Friday, Feb. 24.

CHICAGO -- Sheri Wilken, wife of Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken, was in a parking lot during a high school baseball game in Arizona when she heard an accent she recognized.

It was someone speaking Afrikaans, and Sheri introduced herself to Tayler Scott's parents. As Sheri headed back to the game with them, all the other pro scouts in the stands were on alert. It seemed the Cubs had an edge.

Scott, a much sought after high school pitcher, was eventually drafted last June in the fifth round by the Cubs. In a few weeks, the South African right-hander will make the long journey from Johannesburg to Mesa, Ariz., for Spring Training.

"They don't really understand baseball or what it is," Scott said of friends in his native land.

He doesn't have a favorite baseball player. He didn't know much about the sport, actually, until he was eight years old and watched a few games on TV.

"We don't get Major League Baseball back in South Africa so don't watch it at all," Scott said in an interview last October at the Cubs' complex in Mesa. "You come to America and everything is baseball."

Scott, 19, was a standout soccer player in Johannesburg when he decided to try baseball. He joined a recreational baseball team in South Africa, and during a family trip to the U.S. in June 2007, he took part in a two-week baseball camp at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. Scott returned to the camp in 2008, and one of the coaches suggested the Scotts contact USC pitching coach Tom House.

House was hosting a camp that November, and Scott returned again to the U.S. to participate. House was so impressed, he invited the young pitcher to take part in his baseball camp in June 2009 in California.

The message from House was that if Scott was serious about baseball, he needed to compete in the U.S. At the camp, the Scotts met Tim Haubursin, who was coaching at Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The family decided to take a big step and enroll Tayler in the Arizona school. His parents couldn't leave him alone, so they split time between Scottsdale and Johannesburg. That's a 10,000-mile commute.

The Scotts have a occupational health and safety consulting business, and each parent took a six-month shift to be with Tayler in the U.S. Getting a feel for the game seemed to take that long as well.

"I wasn't really up to speed with the American kids but my junior year, I caught up," Tayler said.

He certainly did. The slender right-hander was 7-2 with a 1.74 ERA through 48 innings and helped Notre Dame prep reach the 4A state quarterfinals his junior season.

Scott got his first taste of pro ball this past fall when he took part in the instructional league. When he did this interview, he was a little hesitant about returning to South Africa for the winter because Scott doesn't have anyone who can catch him during his workouts.

"Baseball isn't very big at all [in South Africa]," he said. "There's a few teams down there and a couple players in professional baseball now."

South Africa did compete in the World Baseball Classic, but was overpowered in '09, giving up six home runs in its first game of the tournament against Cuba. No South African player has reached the big leagues.

Scott would like to be the first. Last June, he'd heard pro teams were interested in him.

"Going to the Cubs was very exciting," he said. "My pitching coach in high school is a diehard Cubs fan."

Scott has been to D-backs and Yankees games, but never to Wrigley Field. During his time in the U.S., he admits he missed the food and culture of South Africa.

"Other than that, I like America a lot," he said.

The food has become an issue. He isn't falling for typical high school fast food places.

"I tried [Taco Bell] but it's too greasy," he said. "In South Africa, the food is fresh, fresh, fresh."

Look for the slender right-hander this spring when the Cubs' Minor Leaguers arrive at Fitch Park.

"It still doesn't feel like a job to me," Scott said about playing baseball. "You get money, but it doesn't feel like a job. I'm just playing baseball. It feels normal."

CHICAGO -- The Cubs took a progressive step in 1962, when they named Buck O'Neil to the coaching staff to become the Major League's first black coach.

But the Cubs weren't ready to take that next step when O'Neil had a chance to take a turn on the field in the "College of Coaches," which was disappointing to George Altman and Billy Williams, both outfielders on the team at that time.

Cubs general manager Wid Matthews had hired O'Neil as a scout after the Kansas City Monarchs' season ended in 1955, and his assignment was to search the predominantly black high schools and colleges for talent. In his biography, "I Was Right on Time," O'Neil said the Cubs respected his eye for talent.

"But they didn't hire me just for my eye, they also hired me for my skin," O'Neil wrote. "That may make them seem prejudiced, but they were just being smart."

O'Neil wrote that the "prejudiced teams" were the ones who didn't have any full-time black scouts and made half-hearted attempts to find black ballplayers.

When O'Neil was named to the Cubs' big league coaching staff in May 1962, he didn't think it was a big deal. However, some of the Cubs players felt it was a major step.

"Ernie [Banks] and I and George were proud of that," Williams said about O'Neil's promotion. "Buck had beaten the bushes [as a scout] for a long time. He was like a father figure to us."

John Holland was the Cubs' GM at that time, and he told O'Neil there was the possibility that he would be part of the rotation to manage.

"I soon found out there was no chance of that happening," O'Neil wrote.

The Cubs were playing the Houston Colt .45s in a doubleheader on July 15, 1962. Charlie Metro, who was managing at the moment, was thrown out of the first inning of the second game. Elvin Tappe, the third base coach, took over, and Lou Klein moved to third. Tappe was then ejected, and Klein took over managing duties.

Which coach would go to third? It should've been O'Neil. Instead, pitching coach Fred Martin was called in from the bullpen to take over. O'Neil was far more qualified.

"After 40 years in baseball and 10 as a manager, I was pretty sure I knew when to wave somebody home and when to make him put on the brakes," O'Neil wrote. "I would have gotten a huge thrill out of being on a Major League field during a game. Not going out there that day was one of the few disappointments I've had in over 60 years in baseball."

Altman, now 78 and living near St. Louis, Mo., remembers that season and that game.

"[O'Neil] should've gotten an opportunity to manage that year because of the fact that he was the best manager of the group," Altman said. "He had experience and knowledge and the players all took to him, even as a coach.

"He was a fiery guy," Altman said of O'Neil. "In the dugout you could hear his booming voice giving encouragement to players and so forth. Everybody loved Buck."

Why wasn't O'Neil given the same chance as the other coaches?

"Well, there could be only one reason," Altman said. "They just weren't ready for that at the time. I guess they thought they made a major step when they made him the first black coach but they weren't ready to take that next step. If that's the case, why include him in the 'College of Coaches?' All the coaches were supposed to become managers."

Williams, 73, agreed that O'Neil had the most experience of all the coaches. So, why didn't the Cubs give O'Neil a turn?

"I guess they didn't want to take that step," Williams said.

Did Altman ever talk to O'Neil about this, or with the other black players?

"Not really, because I thought Buck was going to get his chance," he said. "It just never came up, I guess. I thought, and maybe the rest of us thought, Buck would be the last man on the totem pole and at least get a brief shot at it but it just never happened."

O'Neil wrote that the other coaches were fearful that if he got the chance, someone else would lose their job. There was some friction in Spring Training between O'Neil and Charlie Grimm because they would manage intrasquad games against each other and O'Neil's teams always won.

"The reason was simple: He chose the white players and let me have the black players," O'Neil wrote. "If he had Lou Brock, George Altman, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks, he might have won."

Altman said each of the coaches took a different approach with rookie Lou Brock, whom O'Neil had signed.

"I remember a specific incident that I heard about when Metro approached Lou and said, 'I'm putting you in the lineup today and if you don't do well, you'll go back to the bench,'" Altman said. "That's pressure."

But Altman didn't feel the Cubs treated Brock differently because he was an African-American.

"Lou's a quiet guy and didn't have that fiery personality at the time," Altman said. "I think it was a way for Charlie to try to stir him up to get him angry or mad or something like that to try to inspire him.

"Coming to the Major Leagues, you don't need any inspiration -- you're already trying to do the best you can," Altman said. "What this did had the opposite reaction, in the way that he tried too hard and didn't relax."

Altman, who played for the Cubs from 1959-62 and again from 1965-67, said the white players and black players didn't mingle.

"We didn't have that chemistry that they talk about today because all the rooming situations were segregated," Altman said. "At the time, we were still segregated in some hotels we stayed at, like in St. Louis we couldn't stay at the Chase [hotel] with the other players. After the game, the white players went one direction, and the other players went the other direction."

The Cubs' lack of patience with Brock resulted in the young outfielder being traded to the Cardinals for pitcher Ernie Broglio in June 1964. Altman roomed with Brock, and offered him encouragement.

"I knew this guy had a lot of talent," Altman said. "He hit .340 in the Minor Leagues and stole a lot of bases. You could see the raw talent."

These days, Altman says he's fully retired, but he still dabbles in computer programs and online marketing. He hasn't lost that competitive fire, and competes in horseshoes.

He played one season with the Cardinals in 1963, but says he's a diehard Cubs fans.

"I'm for the Cardinals when they don't play the Cubs," Altman said. "I'm impressed by the fans [in Chicago]. I think the fans deserve a winner, and I pull for them. I hope they get their act together and put together a winning team for the greatest fans in the world."

By Quinn Roberts / MLB.com | 02/02/12 11:20 PM EST

An American League championship ring belonging to Chicago Cubs pitcher Matt Garza has been stolen from his California home, according to sheriff's detectives.

The ring, which has an estimated worth of $30,000, was taken during a burglary of Garza's Fresno County home between Jan. 26 and Tuesday, according to the Fresno Bee.

Awarded the ring as a result of beating the Boston Red Sox in the 2008 AL Championship Series as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, Garza was the Most Valuable Player in the series.

Along with multiple white diamonds and one yellow diamond, Garza's name is engraved on the inside of it.