Chicago sports roundup

Because I'm too lazy to really write about anything, I'm just going to make this one all-encompassing post on the Chicago sports scene in the past couple days. At least the relevant scene. Fuck the White Sox.

The Cubs just complete a 4-game series win over the Nationals, and even on scrub day. Jacque Jones gets two meaningless doubles, but can't do shit with men on base OR against lefties. If I were Jacque Jones, and I'd seen my playing time dissipate, I think I would probably try and, you know, improve on my weaknesses. Especially if they're being presented for the world to see on a nightly basis. But, hey, self-improvement is obviously overrated in some people's mind. And he's got about $4.5 million reasons to say fuck it this year, about about another $5 million reasons for next year. So I guess if he's content, then cool. But, you won't be content in Chicago. Dickface.

Also, Cesar Izturis did something last night. He didn't really field to well, and his inability to yield to the 3rd baseman (which is something you learn very early) could have caused serious injury to Ramirez. But, hey, it's not like Ramirez is important to the team at all. Cesar certainly is though. And, did anyone notice, that although Koyie Hill is hitting a stellar .151 (I'm not calling for a replacement, just noting that it's low) Izturis was still put BEHIND him in the order? That's not exactly a vote of confidence.

So those are the Cubs. On to the Bears, who have reopened negotiations with Lance Briggs. Why? Well, probably because Briggs's agent wants to get paid. And the Bears have done a pretty solid job of playing hardball. I mean, sure they're cheap. But this is one issue where I think they're legitimately being cheap. And, honestly, I don't really care any more. I'm sure we can get something solid for Briggs if we trade him, and I doubt we end up letting him sit out 10 games or whatever. Although, if we do, it's his own fucking fault, and I could care less.

Now, the Bulls. In keeping with moves that fuck with my mind, they actually re-signed Nocioni. Now I stated how drafting Noah was reasonable with the liability that was Nocioni on his way out anyways, and a sign and trade with Nocioni would allow Noah to move right in. So now we give Noce a fucking 5 year contract??? When MEMPHIS WANTS HIM. It's not like Memphis has any players we'd be interested in though. They don't have an inside scoring presence who would like to play for a contender and who was very nearly traded to the Bulls (according to rumors) last year. Nope. I'm glad. Because I would feel like that was a missed opportunity to get the superior player, and then we're stuck with the inferior one at a very, very shitty contract. For 5 years. When that inferior player missed a portion of this past year to do a recurring injury anyways. Phew, what a mistake that would have been.

I get that Nocioni for Gasol doesn't happen straight up. You know who else the Bulls don't really need? Ben Gordon. Hell, I think that gives the Grizz too much. There's no way the Bulls do a sign and trade with Nocioni now.

Also, it's not like I hate Nocioni terribly. But where does he fit on this roster when he's making that much? He's not better than Tyrus Thomas. Offensively, yes, but Ty is also, like, fucking 21. And, to repeat, we probably could have gotten Gasol in a trade. But, anyways, back to Nocioni. His +/- is terrible. When he's on the floor we give up points and leads. He'll take the occasional charge, which is probably closer to a flop (but whatever), I just think he is out of place. And he certainly should not be making that kind of money. You know who's definitely out though? Ben Gordon. They don't have the money to have so many untouchable players, yet also be able to extend these guys.

I'm still waiting to be wowed by what the Bulls are doing this summer. And you know what? I don't think I'm going to see it. We're basically taking in the exact same team we had last year. And if we're relying on experience to propel us forward, I think we've seen in the past (i.e. this year) that additional experience is only going to take us so far.

Maybe Luol Deng turns into Michael Jordan and the Bulls begin a dynasty? Yeah, I don't think so either. But, fucking shit, when there are players out there to be had and we just sit back and re-sign Nocioni, that just fucking bothers me. Come on Paxson, impress me here.

Well that's a start

Obviously, trade rumors have been flying around quite a bit for the past week or so. Well, this morning it seems that finally the Cubs have made an actual trade, perhaps kicking off what could be a pretty active trading season in the MLB.

I read on MLB Trade Rumors that the Cubs have traded Michael Barrett to the Padres for Rob Bowen, a backup catcher. Also included in the deal was a minor league player. Now I've read conflicting things. ESPN sources say that the Cubs got an unnamed minor league pitcher. However, MLB Trade Rumors says the Cubs got an outfielder who was drafted 35th overall last year, showed good power in high school and has a solid right field arm. Sort of a low-risk possibly high-reward type of player, if he can show anything against professional pitching, which so far he has not. Perhaps I can scout him during a Chiefs game and give my two cents, since I obviously know many things about scouting players. And people care what I think. But, it looks like it has since been updated that the Cubs did in fact receive an unnamed pitcher, and perhaps Buster Olney (who broke the trade) was had wrong information. So perhaps I won't be scouting Tyler Burke (the player originally rumored to be in the trade).

So so long Michael Barrett. I can't say that I'm surprised your gone, and I also can't really say that I'm sad to see you go. But you've been relatively good to us, and while your numbers have been down this year, offensively you've been pretty damn solid in the past.

Rob Bowen. Well, he's a backup catcher, but he's hitting better than San Diego's starter, Josh Bard. He's only got 82 at-bats though. Does that mean he's bad at handling a staff, but he can hit? Because we kind of just had a guy like that. He'll definitely be cheaper though. I think I almost would have rather gone with Josh Bard. Just because he seems to be able to handle the staff--well--and that sort of relegates Barrett to backup. And he was just a starter. And he's not really a backup catcher. I don't know the Padres' motives, but hell, if they want him, fantastic.

So, now with Barrett gone, we've got Koyie Hill, who, while not hitting much, is doing a solid job with the staff, Henry Blanco when he gets healthy, and Rob Bowen, whom I still know nothing about. What else could we do?

I read one incredibly unfounded rumor that the Cubs and Reds were discussing a trade involving Ken Griffey Jr. The trade would be Jacque Jones and Sean Marshall to Cincinatti, and Griffey comes over.

Now, as I said, incredibly unfounded, probably not even true. But what would be the point in that if it is true? Sure, Griffey is performing pretty well, and he'd definitely provide power from the left side. And we could use lefties in the lineup. And we definitely need to be rid of Jacque Jones. I just don't see this trade being even. And we need another outfielder when we'd still have too many guys to get at bats? Throw in Cliff Floyd, and Matt Murton. We've got a surplus, and we don't need it.

In addition to that, I still want to be rid of Scott Eyre and Cesar Izturis. They both suck and are dragging this team down. Izturis has lost his job to Mike Fontenot (or Theriot), and we're still going to need to get both Theriot and DeRosa at bats when Aramis comes back. I actually would not be terribly surprised to see DeRosa get traded. If we hadn't just signed him to a 3-year deal he absolutely would be on the block. He seems like he needs to be in the lineup in order to produce, as he's shown by going on a tear since the Cubs were in San Diego.

I still see a ton of moves that can be made, so hopefully Hendry will continue to remain active.

I still don't really get this

Ok, so the Cubs have been doing better, but they're still not doing great, and I'm confused about a couple of things.

Why can't Piniella stick with one batting order? The top three spots in the batting order, for the most part now that Pie is up, are set, and when Ramirez is healthy, the top 4 are set. But why would you move around all of the different hitters? And why would you bat Jacque Jones anywhere but 6th or 7th? Or even Michael Barrett for that matter? Neither of them are hitting as well as they should be, so why would you want to exploit that by putting them in the 4th spot? That spot should go to Cliff Floyd, who should be in the lineup rather than Jacque Jones, and that's how it should stay. And remember when Piniella hit Jones 2? What the hell was he thinking? I just get sick of seeing a new batting order every single day, and it's just baffling.

Now that Murton has been sent down, which still seems pretty illogical, that should make roles just a little bit clearer. Floyd, Pagan occasionally, and Jones will share time in right, but I would hope that Floyd and Pagan get the bulk of the time. Remember how everyone said that signing Cliff Floyd would be a mistake unless they moved Jacque Jones? Well, now it's completely come to fruition. Everyone is playing out of place in right, except for perhaps Jacque, but he's sucking the most of everyone. I still don't see why Floyd needed to be signed in the first place, since Murton proved he can handle playing everyday last year. Baahhh. Still upset at this situation.

But, anyways, why do we still have Jacque Jones? What are we possibly looking for in return? There's one area that we need help at, and it's bullpen. And even that hasn't been too bad of late. Maybe it just took two months for everyone to get into bullpen mindset. Everyone except Eyre or course, because fatty just sucks. Are we looking for another major league caliber position player? We definitely don't need another outfielder, and we have an excess of middle infielders as well. So what do we want? Catcher? First baseman? It seems like those guys would just be wasting a roster spot. So we have to trade for a minor leaguer. I would be fine if we took a risk on a young guy with a live arm, and possibly not a lot of potential, just so we could get rid of Jones. I mean, there you at least have a chance that the kid could turn into something good. With Jones you just have a lot of inadquate play, and there's really not space for it on this team.

Now, about that bullpen. What the hell is going on out there? Why do we need 13 pitchers? We should have traded Scott Eyre when we had the chance, assuming we did have the chance. Sean Marshall has been amazing, and Rich Hill has been solid too (he can't get run support), so we are obviously doing a better job of developing pitchers. Speaking of, Marmol is doing well out of the bullpen also. We need to waive Eyre or something, because if we're not going to use him, it's worthless to have him taking up a roster spot. But remember Neal Cotts? What the hell happened to him? Did I miss something?

Anyways, here's what I would like to see happen. We package Jacque Jones, Cesar Izturis (who is now out of a job) and Scott Eyre and send them to someone who will give us a reliever in return. I would also say that as much as I hate to do it, Murton should be traded. I would love to get Saltalamachhia from the Braves, and I think we may have something they want, although I'm not sure what it would be. Starting pitching? Murton/Jones? Bullpen guys we have no use for but they may be able to coach?

Also, back to another concern I have. Now, I'll admit, I'm too lazy to look up injuries or anything, but what happened to the guys we had up earlier in the year? I mentioned Neal Cotts before, but what about Ronnie Cedeno? He had a great spring. Is he really sucking in AAA? (Fine, I'll check.) Nope. No he's not. (Neal Cotts however, pretty much is.) He's not hitting to the tune of .389 like a certain other player recently recalled, or even .340 like a player who was also recently recalled, but he's hitting .319. There's really no spot for Ronnie on the roster, so why can't we package him in a deal also? He could easily have a spot on another team looking for a little infield depth, and we just don't have room for him, what with having 4 utility infielders as it is.

Anyways, I guess there's really no point to all of this, except to question whether or not this team really has any direction. Deals should be being made to solve the problems. I realize that with the sale of the team pending, the Cubs, regardless of what they may say, are probably pretty limited in spending, so they're not going to be able to take on much more salary. But if the Cubs are waiting to find the perfect deal for Jacque Jones, they're probably not going to find it. I would have found it, though, because my perfect deal for Jacque Jones is ANYTHING.

So there are players to be moved, and this is really the first time in a while that the Cubs can be sellers with their glut of reasonably talented players. Hopefully Hendry can get off his ass and do something, but that remains to be seen.

The Cubs are bad

I fail to understand how the Cubs continue to lose games that should be won, and I fail to see it for a number of reasons. The only reason that I keep coming back to is that this is just a bad team, and maybe everyone on the team is on the decline. Of course, you look at the mostly excellent starting pitching of the past, oh, month, and then you look at the ability of the Cubs to have an extremely high team batting average (thank you Derrek Lee), and you really wonder why they suck so incredibly bad. The main problem, obviously, is the inconsistency. And it comes from everywhere.

The bullpen sucks. How can you walk in runs? Or, more importantly, how can you walk runs in when there are already two outs? You've got Wuertz who will blow a game, but then you turn around and you see Dempster blow a game. And these have been two of our more consistent pitchers. There's Eyre, who is actually very consistent, in that he's fat and he sucks, Howry, who has been fairly steady in his recent past, but this year has just been inconsistent, and then there's Cotts, who started out hot, but is now sucking. Add into that also Rocky Cherry who's inexperienced, and while you'd like to see him be able to come up and be solid immediately, you need to allow some room for rookie inexperience. All of this results in a bullpen that, when given a lead, never leaves you to feel confident.

Cardinal rules of baseball: never walk the leadoff man, never walk someone with two outs. These seem like pretty simple rules to abide by, and yet the Cubs suck at it. It has bitten Rich Hill in the ass in his last two starts, it hurt Marquis in his last start, it's hurt Dempster and Wuertz. Everyone does it, but when you walk someone, you ruin your chances of getting that player out. I know, it's pretty complicated.

Anyways, on the whole, the starting pitching has been otherworldly when compared to how I thought it would be. I never expected Ted Lilly to be pitching so well, and I honestly didn't even expect Angel Guzman to be pitching as well as he is. And, I will again admit, Jason Marquis may not suck at life like I had originally thought. Zambrano may have turned the corner on his season, and obviously, if Rich Hill can limit his walks, this starting rotation is primed for success. But, that bullpen...

To the offense, inconsistency is perhaps too accurate in describing it. This week is a perfect example. Put up 4 runs on Tom Glavine, then stop. Put up 10 runs the next day. Then get fucking 2 hit by Jorge Sosa, then get 5 runs the next day. The way our starters pitch, 5 runs should get a win. But it does not, because of our bullpen. Let's go all the way back to last weekend against the Phillies, when the Cubs got 1 run(?) against Cole Hamels, then put up 7 only to give up 11 (thanks bullpen), and then they won on like 3 runs or something Sunday (I don't remember and I'm lazy). It's not even this past week either, it's been the entire season. To be able to score so many runs, yet to still have the record we have is ridiculous. Also, the disparity between runs scored and runs allowed is ridiculous with the record we have. It all goes to show that the Cubs, when they score, give up a lot, and when they don't score, they don't give up a lot. I suppose it could also be an indicator that on any given day, despite good pitching performances from our starters, they're being outpitched by their opponents, but that's not really the case when the Cubs squander opportunities to score runs.

Anyways, I have learned that there's really no such thing as clutch hitting. It's not a statistic, and there's nothing that makes one hitter perform better in a "clutch" situation over another. However, they do keep track of things like batting average with RISP, RISP and 2 outs, and I think those are a fairly good indicator of how someone will perform in a clutch situation, and, usually, the better hitters are also better in the clutch. So, when at the end of an inning you've got 2 outs, runners on second and third, and Jacque Jones or Cesar Izturis up, I am uncomfortable. Even with Cesar hitting surprisingly well of late, I do not like the situation. So I would like to make some suggestions as to how I would change this team.

First, unload Jacque. He's not really hitting any more, and he's certainly not doing it with any consistency. He's surprisingly sufficient in center field, but at one point do you trade sufficient outfield ability with inability to hit? Hell, Angel fucking Pagan is hitting really well right now, as he did last year before being injured, so I'd much rather have Pagan in center anyways. And who cares what we get for Jacque? Bullpen pitcher who's prone to big innings but doesn't give up many walks? Minor leaguer with plus arm but terrible control who will never make it to the majors? I DON'T CARE. He needs to go.

As much as I love Ryan Theriot, and as surprised as I am by Cesar Izturis, this team needs to re-evaluate the middle infield. Theriot is reminding everyone that we didn't need to sign Mark DeRosa, at least for second base, and it's great. But I would like to see Theriot play everyday. He's too good, and the other two do not one Ryan Theriot make. So either play Theriot at second or play him at short, but make sure he's in every single day. Also, I would actually like to see what Fontenot does in the lineup. He's tearing the shit off the ball in AAA, so let's see what he does in the bigs. It's not like he'd be any worse than Cesar, and he got a double his first at bat, so give him a start. Please Lou. Please. As for DeRosa, I still like having him around as a utility guy/second baseman/whatever, I just wish he would hit more. It seems like some of the guys just don't get enough AB's to get into any sort of groove, and having too many good hitters is not really a problem I saw the Cubs having. Ever.

As for the bullpen, something needs to be done to light a fire under their asses. There are still too many walks, and it seems like most of the time they're throwing batting practice for the opposing teams. I don't know if this is because of their approach, or because of their lack of execution (the walks have to be lack of execution), but Lou just looks baffled every time he sees a lead coughed up. And I'm baffled too. And enraged. So let's play around with it a little. Bring Rocky Cherry back up, and send someone down who isn't out of options (we're actually pretty limited there, which blows). Maybe look to trade. Switch around roles. I would say Dempster is fine at closer, despite yesterday, but if yesterday is any indication, do not bring him in just to have him pitch. Or, if he blows it, don't be afraid to give him the hook. I find it hard to believe that this bullpen is collectively unable to throw strikes on any given day, so somebody has to be able to do it. Right? Please tell me I'm right.

I really do expect this team to bring it all together at some point, and the season is long, so there's still time. Also, I would consider the bulk of the teams in the NL weaker than the Cubs, so you would have to like our matchups most of the time. That being said, this team better fucking quit sucking.

What's the deal

Last night I managed to catch the bulk of the Cubs game, especially when I wasn't busy and/or disgusted with what I saw. It was one of the first games in a while that I've been able to watch, this is what I took away from it.

From what I've seen basically all year, Jacque Jones is worthless. Not worthless in the Neifi Perez category where he's going to OBP exactly what his BA is, and he's going to hit soft grounders and popups everywhere. He's worthless in that he constantly appears to be trying to much at the plate, and it gets him nothing. In Sunday's game, he had a key strikeout on three pitches that were nowhere near the strikezone, nor was he close to hitting them. He cannot hit lefties, which is a shame because he's one of the few lefties we have on the team, and it's nice to have at least one in your lineup daily.

In last night's game, Scott Eyre, who I'll get to later, came into the game, got two quick outs, then blew ass and gave up a 2-run single. It was hit to right, Jones came up throwing, and the throw was well off target. Now, I think a good throw would have nailed the runner, but it's not like I expected Jones to throw the guy out. Actually, that's kind of the problem, because I KNEW Jones wouldn't throw the guy out.

Maybe I'm just spoiled, or I expect too much, but Jacque Jones needs to go. Pie is already proving that he's a pretty solid lead-off hitter, and he's proving (at least two games in) that he can be an offensive spark. Pie can move to center, since he's an outstanding defensive player (he's got range and a gun), move Soriano to right since he's got range and a good arm, and then you can rotate Murton and Floyd in left. personally, I think Murton should get more ab's than Floyd, because it doesn't seem to me like Floyd is hitting a lot, and he's not really going to. He only hit .244(ish) last year. Give Murton at least 60% of the playing time out there and let him do what he does.

Should we decide that Pie isn't quite ready yet (although so far it looks like he is, after all 2 games) then we should play DeRosa in right, Theriot at second and Murton/Floyd/Jones in left. Now, why did we sign Cliff Floyd? Or why did we not move Jones? We knew it was going to come to this, a logjam in the outfield (imagine if we'd kept Josh Hamilton, and had foresight). I just really see no benefit from giving Jones everyday playing time but not the other two guys. He has better range, but probably hits worse. And in a clutch situation, I would rather have either of the other two guys hitting than Jones.

It's not that Jones is bad per se, it's just that I don't think he really fits on the team. He said he'd be willing to move back to left, should Pie stay up and Soriano move to right. Looking like a good team player is yet another thing that will allow him to be traded easier, but we already have 2 left fielders (up to 4 or 5 if you count Ward, Theriot, DeRosa). We don't really need another.

So I just don't see where Jones fits on this team, and I also don't see how he ends this season with the Cubs. I would love to see him go somewhere else, back to the AL perhaps, and succeed, but I'm done with him on the North Side. And should the Cubs end up getting their ass kicked in a trade, I'm still ok with moving him. Seriously, we have 5 outfielders on the roster, and how big would it have been to have Angel Guzman last night.

Speaking of last night, and actually this season so far, it seems like the Cubs have been struggling due to a lack of execution, rather than incompetence from the manager. A perfect indicator of this was last night when Eyre couldn't get the third out in the 7th and we saw Lou in the dugout just shrugging. Eyre had 2 outs quick, then walk, infield hit, walk, 2-run single, then somehow another run scored while I looked away in disgust.

What is that an indicator of? Eyre just had a lack of focus (which was excellent, since he was probably the only pitcher on enough rest to be effective)? Eyre doesn't have the stamina to pitch a full inning (fatty)? Eyre is just not effective enough? Obviously, it's easiest to pin this all on Eyre, and while it's not entirely his fault, I still won't stop from blaming him. Entirely.

Speaking of another lefty, how about that Will Ohman? Lou continues to go to him, and Ohman continues to suck. We all know that it probably should have been Ohman, not Guzman, who was sent to the minors, so what does that mean? The Cubs reward experience over performance (still?? I thought we were done with that)? I'm all for sticking with a guy through some rough patches, but how many losses can you handle until you realize that something could be wrong?

It's nice to see that Rich Hill is going today, since he appears to be the best starter we have in our rotation. Carlos is Carlos, and walks continue to kick his ass. I'm starting to wonder if Henry Blanco shouldn't be the personal catcher for Carlos. Henry is excellent handling Carlos's disposition, while Barrett seems slightly intimidated (and understandably so). Even if Barrett isn't intimidated, he doesn't handle Carlos's demeanor quite as well.

Regardless, hopefully Jacque will find his way out of Chicago (if he'd get hurt, that would save us having to trade him for a while, although it could hurt his value), hopefully Pie will remain up, and hopefully the bullpen gets its shit together, because our starting pitching has been pretty stellar, and it sucks to come away with little to show for it.

Early surprises

Obviously, it's still early in the baseball season. I will continue to say it's early in the baseball season at least until May, and possibly until June. Although the phrase "relatively early" could be used a lot in May regardless. But I digress. So far I've been caught off guard by a couple of things early this Cubs season, so I thought I'd share them.

First, where the hell did Jason Marquis come from? He's supposed to be a terrible pitcher, and yet he's been surprisingly consistent. His numbers aren't terrible, he hasn't had to leave a game in the 3rd inning (knock on wood) because he's given up 8 runs, and he isn't losing us games. In fact, he's kept us in every single game, which is sadly more than you can say for Carlos Zambrano.

And it's not just Marquis. I will admit that I was only cautiously optimistic coming into this season about Rich Hill. I know he came on strong last year, and I know he was pretty dominant throughout his career in the minors, but I just did not see him returning to form right out of the gates. And not only those two, but Ted Lilly has been lights out as well. Now I know we're only 3 starts into the season for these guys, but still, this sort of consistency and performance wasn't expected this early at all. I didn't know if Lilly or Marquis would put together 3 quality starts in a row throughout the entire season, so for it to happen this early is just a huge bonus.

Second, unsurprisingly, Jacque Jones is the same old player. He may be slightly better in the field what with his arm being repaired or recovered or whatever, but he's the exact same hitter in the plate. He may warm up as the season goes along, but he's not going to get on base enough, and he's not going to hit for a high enough average. And he doesn't take enough pitches to hit in the two hole. He swings at shitty pitches, so a pitcher can get him to 0-2 without a problem. Once you get him there, he's going to swing at just about anything, so he doesn't benefit from batting in front of Derrek Lee. In fact, I don't know where he benefits in the lineup, but it's probably going to be at 5 or 6 only.

Another surprise is Ryan Theriot. After starting out the season slowly, he has come on incredibly strong. And he is showing that he deserves at-bats. He was another player I was only cautiously optimistic of because of his inexperience. But daaaaamn.

I can't get over the fact that Theriot is playing BECAUSE he deserves at-bats. That never would have happened under Oldy McNoyoungguys. A player can actually earn his way into the lineup rather than just have it handed to him because he's older, and de facto better. This is just boggling my mind.

Anyways, now to the bad news. With Soriano down, we're going to likely see more of Jacque Jones in the outfield instead of less. And, a question for me is how long Soriano is going to be out. I guess it isn't a big deal necessarily, but if he's going to end up on the DL for 15 days, which it doesn't sound like will happen, we should get Pie up here ASAP so we have a solid-fielding center fielder. Ideally, you'd rather have Soriano go down when Pie wouldn't have to lead off, and maybe with Theriot hitting so well, Pie wouldn't have to, but I'd still like to see Pie up if Soriano is out for an extended length of time.

And we're all under the assumption that Jones is gone as soon as Pie comes up, right? I guess, as a counter-argument to my previous point, it doesn't make sense to move Pie up and down a lot, so we should only bring him up if we're going to leave him up. I digress. What we should be doing is trying to facilitate Pie's time with the ballclub by trying to get rid of Jacque Jones. We don't even need someone of equal value. Hell, we have new scouts, maybe we can find a gem in someone's system. Anyways, Jones needs to be gone.

I could also see us trading a left-handed reliever. Neal Cotts has been lights out thus far, and having 3 lefties in the bullpen doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe we could package Jacque Jones and Scott Eyre for, say, Johan Santana. Hell, we'd even throw in Wade Miller. That's fair, right?

I am hoping that after last night's performance, Lou will realize that having Jacque Jones in the 2-hole just isn't working. And it doesn't work having him in the 3-hole even more. He needs to hit down in the lineup where he can do damage with runners on, and yet not be a rally killer. Floyd can rotate with Murton in left, but Murton needs to get his at-bats.

Also, I am not averse to trading Cesar Izturis in any sort of package. I think Ronnie Cedeno can handle short, as he's much better equipped this season. Hopefully. If not, we can lose a little range and glove-work and put DeRosa or Theriot at short. Hell, let's bring up Luis Montanez and put him at short (even though he's an outfielder now, and he may suck again, I'm not sure).

Anyways, there's some good, some bad, but as it warms up, things should only get better. Especially if Jacque Jones is gone.

Here we go again

Remember how the Cubs started off last year? It was hot. They tore up the month of April. Then they sucked shit for the rest of the season. I mean, individually they still hit pretty well, but guys must have been clogging up the bases or something according to Ol' Cloggy Bases, because the offense was stagnant.

That makes me concerned about the way this team has started out. On one hand, I really love the way that Lou Piniella runs the team, aside from hitting Jacque Jones in the 2-hole. Through the lineup we're pretty solid, and if our worst hitter hits something like .270 (aside from the .230 we're likely to get from Neifi 2 with a glove), this team could really win some big games.

But then Piniella is kind of making excuses for the team's poor performance. I really don't think it's something he should be doing either, since the season isn't even 2 weeks old yet. But he said that the Cubs aren't built for 40 degree weather. What about 30 degrees? Does he realize Chicago is cold in September/October too? I hope so. I would rather have him say something along the lines of "We're just not hitting, and our bats haven't really warmed up yet."

Then he let go this gem. "We're not really built for small-ball." This is just wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. We've got speed throughout this lineup, and while we're not gonna have 5 guys stealing 60 bases, we do have speed. But we easily have enough speed to get a lot of guys in motion with hit and run's and whatnot. And various guys can get bunts down. This team can play small-ball, but it's built for power hitting. You want fewer power hitters? Make guys make adjustments, shorten their swings on cold days when the wind is blowing in. Seems simple enough. Of course, then Adam Everett could go yard on you, but whatever.

I have also heard complaints that this team is too right-handed. Right-handed, shmright-handed. We have enough good hitters that it shouldn't matter what kind of pitchers we face. And if that's not true, then what the hell did we sign all these people for?

Anyways, aside from all that business, guess who got some more bad news. I don't understand Mark Prior. I would love for nothing more than to see him succeed in a Cubs uniform. Chicago Cubs, but also Iowa Cubs first. If I were Mark Prior, I would want as much time for a full recovery as possible. This hurrying back from injury (aside from inability to diagnose the problem) is obviously not working. If he's got a tear, fix it. Then let it recover. If it's unfixable, then let it go. It's not like he's forgotten how to pitch. His arm and his mind probably just don't match up.

Anyways, it's same old same old in Cub country. I think the lack of performing, while a problem, is not a horrible problem. Look at how even the NL Central has been so far. And with Carpenter going down for the Cards so early, they could be in a lot of trouble.

Whatever the case, it's a long fucking season, so it's way too early to get our collective panties in a bunch. Let's just all chill out about not winning every game this season, and just win out from here on out.

Preparing for Opening Day

It's almost here. I can't believe it. I'm giddy. Giddy like a school girl that is. Opening day for the Cubs is Monday. It seems like March has gone so fast, and suddenly there are meaningful (more than spring training at least) games to be played. So, with all that in mind, I thought I'd report on some stuff about the Cubs, because, hey, there's stuff, and I really don't want to do any work.

First up, Monday is the deadline for the Cubs to get a deal done with Carlos Zambrano. Of course, Zambrano imposed his own deadline on negotiations. The Cubs are not dumb enough to let Big Z walk, especially after shelling on $60 million on Marquis and Lilly. Those two, while hopefully serviceable, together do not make up one Carlos Zambrano. To lose him would be devastating.

But, regardless of my opinion on the situation, basically everything I've heard is that the Cubs are going to get a deal done. That's coming from outside sources or whatever, but basically everyone, aside from Mets fans, is in agreement that a deal will be reached and Carlos will have a deal in place Monday. And that's a relief.

Next up, the Cubs have set their 25-man roster. Notables on the team include 12 pitchers and neither Mark Prior nor Kerry Wood. Also notable, both Ronny Cedeno and Ryan Theriot have made the roster. I was a big fan of Ronny Cedeno back when he was in AA, and even in his first extended action in 2005, but last season was a disappointment. I am, however, glad to see that he's back doing well in a Cubs uniform. And, if nothing else, he's improving his trade value. He's still an extremely young dude, and he still has the ability to improve. And he's shown that he can this spring, both offensively and defensively. He may never have the glove that Alex Gonzalez had, but he can definitely be a much more reliable hitter.

Also, as far as Theriot is concerned, he has been absolutely tearing shit up this spring. It seems like he really may be as good as he looked last year. It's a new thing for the Cubs to have position players come from their system who actually appear to be able to perform at a major league level (for the Cubs). I would like to see Theriot get a shot in the outfield, so he can be a defensive replacement or just a replacement in general for Jacque Jones. However, we know that DeRosa can play right, so it's not as imperative that Theriot can play outfield. I would just like to get his bat into the lineup as much as possible.

With regards to Felix Pie, unfortunately he will not begin the season with the Cubs. When I say unfortunately, I mean unfortunately we're stuck with Jacque Jones in our outfield. This is actually great for Pie because it allows him more time to work on his hitting. We've seen in the spring that he can hit. We already know that he can throw and field and run. Because we don't have to thrust Pie into the lineup right now, he can continue to mature, and he can get out and play everyday, facing live pitching, as opposed to, say, taking bp and then sitting on the bench for 7 innings. In addition to that, Piniella has told Pie what he needs to do to get ready for the big league level. Go back to AAA, hit .315, .330, learn better command of the strike zone, take some walks. So Pie still has motivation to do well, and hopefully he feels like he has something to prove, rather than just waiting to be called up to showcase his skills. I really think this is a great move. If only we had tried it with Corey.

Mark Prior supposedly was not questioning being sent down to AAA to begin the season this year. I didn't read any articles about his press conference or anything, but a lot of excerpts made it sound like Prior wasn't too happy about being sent down, but he was going to do it. Which is good, because he doesn't have a choice. So Prior was sounding like kind of a bitch.

Listen. I am a huge Mark Prior supporter. He just has to realize that he's not performing the way he has in the past. Would he rather be getting lit up at the major league level while throwing towels every day? Or would he rather be in AAA where he can get some useful tutelage? I wouldn't say this is the Cubs writing off Prior, and I wouldn't say that this should even be considered a demotion. I would look at it as a chance for Prior to regain confidence, rebuild his strength, and get back to the level he was at back in 2004 (or whatever year he almost won the Cy Young). If Prior were to return to that level, there is no doubt he would return to his place as a cornerstone of the organization. It seems like this is the best situation for everyone, and I just wish Prior would understand that.

Another surprising name on the roster is Angel Guzman. Remember back in 2001 when Guzman was, like, a year away from being on the roster? Well, 6 years later, he's finally made it on opening day. He's older now, and he's, what, 8 surgeries (that's supposed to be an exaggeration, but I'm not sure how much of one it is) more mature. His ERA wasn't that great this spring, but he had a great K/BB ration. And I think, should anyone in the rotation faulter (I'm looking at you Jason Marquis), Guzman can come in and long-relieve us some great innings. Like how I just made 'long-relieve' a word? The problem is, now the Cubs are in a situation where there could feasibly be too much depth, which is a good problem to have. But you've got Miller as your 5th starter, even though he'll be way better than your fourth, you've got Guzman who should be a starter (remember when Carlos started out? I hope Guzman can follow in Big Z's footsteps on how to become an effective pitcher), you've got Prior, who in a recent start supposedly had much better command and was hitting 93 on the radar gun. Then you've also got Sean Marshall, who I assume could fill in a role should he need it, and you've got Rocky Cherry who could be useful in the bullpen. Suddenly depth, especially in our rotation, is not as much of a concern, which is actually a great thing. I still worry about Cotts though. If he's not going to be a setup-man, couldn't we have just kept Aardsma?

Aside from the fact that we're probably taking one too many pitchers on the roster, I'm really excited about the job Lou Piniella's doing. He's saying things like the Cubs will "practice," whatever that means, and that he'll "teach" the young guys things. Remember Old Nopractice McNoteach? It's so nice to hear that your coach actually understands what is necessary for people to continue improving.

It's also nice to hear Piniella give shit to the media. He's going to coach this team, and he's going to be unapologetic. It sounds like he's not going to make excuses for losses, and hopefully he won't ever say anything along the lines of 'well, you really have to hand it to the other team.' I really think this can be a great year for the Cubs, and I don't think it's delusional at all to say that the Cubs will win their first World Series (of 3 consecutive) this year.*

*It sure is delusional, but it should be a great year nonetheless

Two weeks and counting

I probably should have written this yesterday, but what are you going to do. I didn't have the inspiration (that is to say, I had no inspiration) that I have today (which is very little). What I do have, however, is plenty of boredom. So with Opening Day now under 2 weeks away, why not give an update as to what's going on with the Cubs.

First up: Zambrano, still without a contract extension. He said he wanted one done before Opening Day, or he would wait until after the season. He may still be willing to give the Cubs a hometown discount should they not get an extension done before the beginning of the season, but why take the chance? Just give him the extension (it will probably be cheaper now than later) and get it over with.

The Cubs are also interested in acquiring Clint Barmes from the Rockies. There's a great idea. I'd heard rumors that the Cubs were looking for another middle infielder, although I'm not really sure why. I mean, I would hope it would be to replace the offensive black hole that is Neifi Perez #2. But I can't confirm that that is why. I actually think it would be a mistake to bring in a middle infielder with poor range to replace/spell Cesar Izturis. The one thing that Izturis does is field the ball. As terrible at hitting as he is, I currently am semi-comfortable with him playing.

Here is what Barmes did last year: .220 BA, .264 OBP. Youch. We like his game? I mean, he's 28, so he could still improve, and he did well the season before, but .220? That's painful. Here's Izturis: .245 BA, .295 OBP. The sad thing about that is it looks good compared to Barmes. Maybe Barmes can make a turnaround. But he's not having a stellar spring, so I don't really know why the Cubs like his game. They hate offense and guys who get on base?

Other rumors I've heard are that the Cubs have a reasonable chance to trade Jacque Jones. I personally think this would be pretty great. We all know that Jones has suspect defense, and we all know about his slow start last year. If we trade Jones, possibly for a middle infielder or *gasp* a prospect(! probably wouldn't happen though), we can bring up Pie, who tore it up this spring. Pie gives you very solid defense in center, you can move Soriano over to right and take advantage of his strong arm, and then everybody's happy. Plus, with the firepower this team has at the top of the lineup, you can bat Pie down in the lineup (probably in front of Izturis) where he's under less pressure. Also, just to reiterate, PECOTA lists him as batting in the upper .280's this season.

The final rumor I've heard (I think, at least recently) is that the Cubs may have a trading partner in the Marlins, who are interested in Angel Pagan. I'm not exactly sure what you could get for Pagan, but I don't think it's outlandish to think we could trade Pagan for Dontrelle Willis, straight up. Right? Seriously, we'd probably get a lower-grade prospect, or possibly a backup infielder or something. I don't really know, but it does clear room on the 25-man roster.

Man, I can't wait for this season to start.

I cannot wait for baseball

Spring training is finally here, and I've neglected to say really anything about the Cubs since Carlos avoided arbitration. Last week. Well, that's over for now, as I'm dying for the season to begin.

First, there was an article on Jason Marquis on chicagosports.com. The article was pretty stupid, and it was mainly Marquis making excuses for his performance last year. He pretty much blames his poor numbers on the start against the White Sox where he was left in to get a pounding. And, supposedly, his ERA skyrocketed just because of that. Not true. His ERA is still terrible if you take that out. His PERA for last year, taking into account peripheral statistics I don't even understand (Baseball Prospectus is fucking loaded with stats. It is literally insane) was 5.71. The PERA is less subject to luck, and 4.5 is average. Obviously, Marquis was well below average. What about his other numbers though? Well, the other two that stick out to me on his PECOTA card are his "Stuff," which measures his dominance, WHICH WAS NEGATIVE, -14 to be exact. The other is his VORP, Value Over Replacement Player, WHICH WAS ALSO NEGATIVE, at -5.7.

So Marquis sucked last year. In 15 innings, J.K. Ryu, whom the Cubs traded over the offseason, performed pretty poorly, and his VORP was only -3.7. Les Fucking Walrond had a better VORP than Marquis. Ok, Angel Guzman had a worse one. Seriously, I was looking at Cubs pitchers who performed poorly last year (in short stints) and it took me three to find one with a worse VORP than Marquis.

But what about this article? First, Marquis is pretty much blaming La Russa for his poor numbers last year. Didn't La Russa realize it was his contract year? How dare he.

Then, Paul Sullivan goes on to say that the Cubs expect big things out of Marquis this year. Not true at all. Well, if it is true, then we're up shit creek. He was brought in to be a 4th starter out of spring training, only because we have so many question marks at the end of the rotation. But we are not lacking in depth. So, if we can find two pitchers to perform better, Marquis probably moves to the bullpen. But, given the shitty, shitty, shitty contract we gave him, money matters might make us keep him in the rotation over, say, Sean Marshall, who, surprise!, has better numbers than Marquis. Definitely by mid-season though, Marquis should be our fifth starter, and if he's not, he will still be our worst starter.

Then Sullivan talks to Lou Piniella, who I'm liking more and more all the time. I really hope I don't start to hate him, because I've said a couple times that I actually think he could be a good manager. I guess that's easy to say before the season starts. Anyways, Piniella says if you take three or four of Marquis's bad starts away, his ERA drops to about 4.5. This is actually probably pretty close to true. Well, it probably drops to 5. But the problem is that you can't take 3 or 4 of those starts away. Lou also uses the phrase "malt-liquor-bull type of approach." I don't know what that means, but I like it.

So let's get off of how depressing the Jason Marquis signing is and to SPECULATION!

Well, first, I saw this article about a week ago, talking about how Felix Pie and Alfonso Soriano have been hanging out together a lot at camp. This is awesome news, because Soriano can help Pie with what to expect, and Pie can help Soriano with defense. And obviously, having Pie around keeps a very expensive Soriano happy.

Now to the speculation. Jacque Jones may spend a lot of time in center field this year. Perhaps the Cubs are showing him off a lot right now so they can build up his value as a team player. But why would they want to ship him off when there's really no viable replacement?

Well, first, there sort of is. We've got Angel Pagan who started out last year awesome, and who knows?, maybe he can hit a curveball this eyar. Pagan can play for when Cliff Floyd gets hurt, while we've got Soriano in center.

Second, Soriano is happy when Pie is around. It makes no sense to have Pie up with the team unless he's playing every day though. Why not give Pie center? Well, don't give it to him, but if he earns it, why not let him have it? PECOTA (STATS!!!) projects Pie will bat .289 this year, in his first year in the majors. That would be stellar. Hell, all Pie really needs to do is hit somewhere around .270.

I think that the spring games will show what direction the Cubs will move in. If Pie is hitting, because we all know he can do EVERYTHING else, then I say the Cubs intensify the plan to move Jones. If Pie isn't hitting, then they'll probably keep Jones around, at least for a little while. I really can't see the Cubs moving Jones to bring in another CF though, when basically everyone on our roster can play the outfield.

So, in review:

Jason Marquis sucks, and he's kind of being a bitch about his terrible numbers last year. The Cubs are not looking for big things from him. Unless you consider not getting hurt "big things."

Jacque Jones probably won't end the season with the Cubs, but will he begin it with them? I hope not.

These aren't your grandfather's Cubs

And I kind of wish they still were. Remember back in the good old days of 2003? The Cubs had a pretty decent team and all of Chicago's North Side had high expections for the upcoming season. Unfortunately, 5 outs from greatness, the Cubs stumbled. It happens. It happens to some more than others, but it happens.

Then came 2004. Ok we all thought. The Cubs came really close last year, so with a full season of everyone healthy, the Cubs should be money. Of course, the Cubs made zero to few offseason moves, as is customary under Jim Hendry: follow up a winning season with multiple players having career years, then expect them to duplicate that.

2007 is a new year for the Cubs though. Penny-pincher MacPhail is out as CEO. He was holding us down. The Cubs re-signed Aramis Ramirez, signed the top free agent Alfonso Soriano, brought it at least one adequate pitcher, and an adequate 2nd baseman/RF that we may or may not have needed necessarily.

And now this. The pristine mecca of baseball, Wrigley Field, has been sullied. It is impure, unclean, bogged down by STD's. Wrigley Field is famous for drawing sell-out crowds, despite the on-field performance. The Cubs always make money for the Tribune Co. They're one of the few, if not the only, entities that actually turns a profit for them.

After MacPhail was shown the door, John McDonough was brought in as interim (is he still interim?) CEO. McDonough has no experience as CEO; he's a marketing guy. So, obviously he had to have some hand in this. All of this makes me wonder:

1.) Has this been in the works for a while? The Cubs make money, but have the fatcats in the Tribune Co. just been to greedy and they want more? Was one of the reasons MacPhail was fired because he didn't approve of this deal, and with him out of the way, they could make it? Also, is this the reason why Hendry was able to expand the spending money for Soriano, etc.?

or

2.) Was this just a McDonough as CEO type of deal, where he's more about making the biest profit possible. A winning team brings in more fans which brings more money, and sponsorships bring in more money.

or

3.) Did Hendry spend a lot of money that resulted in the Cubs needing to do this?

In the article the Cubs marketing director fills our heads with propaganda. "Waa waa, the Cubs cost money. Waa waa, Wrigley costs a lot in upkeep. Waa waa, you want top free agents, this is what it costs." I'm paraphrasing obviously.

It's impossible to buy into this type of bullshit. This is the first top free agent that the Cubs have brought in. They gave out their highest contract. They are one of the highest earning teams, and yet they only have a top-10 payroll (last season at least). Last year, following the Derrek Lee deal (in which he got a raise), the Cubs payroll was $99 million.

I can't imagine what this deal actually means for the team. How much moeny are they actually going to see as a result of allowing Under Armour to strip Wrigley Field of basically the purest thing it had (outfield walls)?

In addition, the Cubs are jacking up the prices. The Cubs are, like, the only team that is not privately owned. Therefore, they technically have unlimited spending money. So to argue that they need to do all of this bullshit to be able to maintain Wrigley Field at its current pristine status is useless. We know you've got money, and you finally spend it on fielding a good team. Then you lie about it, and say that signing big contracts means the Cubs need to make money elsewhere. Bullshit.

Remember how it seemed like the Cubs were posturing to be sold? Well, I think this may prove that they aren't. Or maybe they can void the contract if the team is sold. Bring in Mark Cuban and have him take all that shit down. Yeah, doubtful.

So, I don't know if I like where this is heading. On one hand, you've got trying to win, which hasn't really happened. Hopefully we actually will win. That will make the eyesores slightly easier to look at.

Also, just a note, but how shitty does that photoshop look? Real professional Tribune.

I hope we don't get a Hendry*

Yesterday Carlos Zambrano came out and stated that if he didn't get a new contract from the Cubs by the beginning of the season, he would refuse to negotiate his contract any more and he would leave the team at the end of the year, if not at the trading deadline. I absolutely believe he is not bluffing, and I am nervous about Jim Hendry giving the Cubs a Hendry.

A Hendry is a multi-functional verb. It actually has two meanings. The first is just when the Cubs GM fucks over the Cubs by letting a player go in free agency rather than getting something for that player when said player's value was high. See Pierre, Juan. The second meaning is new to this season, and it is when Hendry fucks over the team in the long run because he's about to lose his job and he doesn't care what it takes to win before he inevitably gets fired. So how are we about to get a Hendry now?

Most Cubs fans know about the situation with Carlos Zambrano, but let's just revisit it for a second. Carlos is in an arbitration year, and he's asking $15.5 million. The Cubs, however, are only offering $11.025 million for this upcoming season.

The problem with this is two-fold. First, Big Z doesn't want to get screwed over in what he's making, as he's been underpaid pretty much since he joined the rotation. He's still young and he still has such a huge upside. So, he wants to get paid as close to $15.5 million as he can, which is more than fair. However, I don't think Carlos cares what he gets out of arbitration because he wants a new contract before the beginning of the season, which would either replace the contract out of arbitration (if the two sides can't reach an agreement before February 20th, his arbitration date) or add on to that contract.

So, let's assume that the arbitration hearing is split down the middle, and Carlos earns $13.25 million for the 2007 season. A solid raise from last season. Zambrano's career numbers are 64-42 with a 3.29 ERA, and he's pitched over 200 innings in each of the past four seasons. And he's only going to be 26 this season (I'm no sabermetrician, and I don't really understand those stats, so we'll just keep this analysis simple). Now, the biggest free agent pitcher this past offseason was Barry Zito. Zito will turn 29 this season and is basically making $18 million a season for seven seasons. Zito is 102-63 with a 3.55 ERA. Zito has thrown over 200 innings in his past 6 seasons, and in his first season he didn't get nearly enough starts to come close to that. So durability has never been a problem for him. His ERA is not nearly as good in the past 3 years compared to his first 4 years.

So you could look at Zambrano at $15.5 million as a bargain. Which I believe it is. But the Cubs have also brought in two "starters" (I use the term loosely for Jason Marquis). Ted Lilly was brought in as a starter. Lilly will be 31 this season and was signed for $10 million a year for 4 years. Lilly is 59-58 in his career with a 4.60 ERA, and his highest inning total for his career is 197 (he's been over 170 IP 3 times in his career). Jason Marquis, the worst starting pitcher on the free agent market, and one of, if the THE worst starter in major league baseball last year, got a $21 million contract for 3 years. Marquis is 56-52 with a 4.55 ERA, and he's been near or over 200 innings in the past 3 years. And he's only going to be 29 this season. It would appear based on these statistics that Marquis is actually the wiser signing.

This is why numbers can lie. But, regardless, is Hendry saying that Zambrano is worth only slightly more than Ted Lilly? Not necessarily. Perhaps Hendry thought he had a lot of time left to get a deal done with Zambrano for a contract extension, so they made fiscally wise decision to pay him as little as possible, then reward him with the extension.

But now Zambrano has said he wants a new deal or he's leaving.

So what will Hendry do? Obviously it would be ridiculous to let Zambrano go, suggesting we can't pay him. We just threw $40 million at Ted Lilly, who is obviously a far superior pitcher. If Zambrano hits the free agent market, he will be the best free agent pitcher to have been on the market in years. And the Cubs don't need another Greg Maddux situation.

The question is, will he Hendry us? He's already done all he needs to (supposedly) to build a solid team for this season, and slightly into the future, as the core players are locked up for a while. But another member of that core is Big Z.

I really hope he doesn't Hendry us and he gives Zambrano a contract before Opening Day. I just can't be sure if he will or not. On one hand, Penny-pincher MacPhail is gone, but this is also the GM who passed on Jeff Suppan for Jason Marquis.

I think we can all assume that if Z walks though, Hendry will be out after this season, if he makes it that long.

*I hope getting a Hendry is a phrase that doesn't require catching on, but I proclaim myself the first to use such a phrase, and should it catch on, I own the rights to it. Also, I demand credit for verb "Hendry."

Hey, remember the Cubs?

I've taken a little bit of a break from the Cubs lately, as basically there has been absolutely nothing going on. And as exciting as nothing can be, I just haven't really cared much. But, it appears as if something may actually be happening again. That's right, I've got speculation!

But first, this weekend was the Cubs Convention. I of course have never been to this, as sinking that much money and being around that many crazy Cubs fans unless it's in Wrigley Field. Plus, I also would get really bored standing around in line all the time. But, I was reading up on it at Goat Riders of the Apocalypse, and I saw one really awesome thing from the Q & A sessions with Lou Piniella and Jim Hendry.

In response to the insinuation that Rothschild deserves blame for the failings of the pitchers last year, Piniella responded with: "You can't blame a pitching coach for that. You can't blame a strength coach for that. You can blame a manager if he allows a guy to go out there and throw 100, 145 pitches consistently, and all of a sudden he breaks down, and that won't happen."

Then, later, Hendry said "[Larry isn't responsible] for who comes in in the seventh - that's the manager's call."

Goatriders goes on to question why we retained Dusty Baker as manager, but that's beside the point. The point is that, finally, someone is willing to pin blame on someone who actually had the most responsibility for the sucktitude of the pitching staff and all of the arm problems over the years. Imagine if, say, Mark Prior hadn't been rushed back from injury, or Kerry Wood hadn't been rushed back from injury, and once back they didn't throw so many pitches.

I remember a post I made a while ago in response to an article in the Tribune about how so many pitchers had gone on the DL this past season. I believe it was right after Carlos Marmol went on the DL. Dusty was quoted as saying something about the problem being that the pitch counts were too high. But he refused to accept responsibility in setting pitch counts or anything. Also, Marmol would have been an obvious one to need a pitch count because he used to be a fucking catcher! It's common sense, something obviously lacking under Dusty Baker.

So, this could be yet another positive of bringing in Piniella as our new manager. First, pitch counts. This will be especially important with our young pitchers. I'll admit that I was pissed off about the low pitch counts that Kerry Wood had imposed on him during his rookie year. But, in hindsight, think about if he'd had those low pitch counts and didn't end up requiring surgery any of the times he's had it. Or at least one of the times. Imagine what kind of pitcher he could have been if Dusty had kept a closer eye on what was going on. And also consider how lucky we are the Zambrano's arm hasn't fallen off.

In addition to that, hopefully Piniella's rules will force the pitchers to work closer with Rothschild. I'm not expecting Rothschild to be a savior or anything of the sort for terrible pitchers like Jason Marquis and, well, Jason Marquis, but at least maybe the young guys can learn a little something. And if they can't learn from Rothschild, maybe at least Rich Hill can help them. I also want to point out that it can't be a bad thing that Piniella speaks Spanish.

Now for the rumors that have recently started swirling. Well, recently in some cases. First is that Cliff Floyd is, a month later, still close to signing with the Cubs. Apparently he's also gotten some interest from a couple other teams. He's probably just waiting for an offer from the Cubs, and if he doesn't get one, which he probably will, he'll move on. I'm hoping it's been made pretty clear to him however that he'll only be a fourth outfielder. Of course, I'm fine with having his bat on the bench, but I'd prefer our fourth outfielder to be, you know, a good fielder as well. I guess you can't have it all though. It seems as though Piniella likes Murton, so it's at least good to know that Jones shouldn't steal too many AB's from Big Murt.

One crazy rumor is that the Cubs may have had discussions about bringing in J.D. Drew. His deal with the Red Sox still hasn't been finalized, and maybe he's getting sick of waiting and not getting the money he thought he would get. At this point I think we could bring him in for maybe 2 years. That would allow us to get rid of Jacque Jones.

Speaking of the Jacque, I've read various things about him being ok with staying in Chicago, even though it was reported earlier that he wanted out. So he may or may not be on his way out and he may or may not want out. But, Soriano has given his approval for a move to CF, so we could either keep Jones in right or move him to center, whichever works better. I personally think I like Soriano a little better in right, but I don't really care a whole lot. I just want the season to start.

Speaking of, less than 1 month until pitchers and catchers report. Awesome.

I'm bored: Let's talk Cubs

I think I'm going to start a new series of blogs (the last series technically being why Dusty Baker should be fired, which of course was very successful) in which I try and fight off boredom with various topics. Or maybe it won't really be a series at all and I will just keep writing random shit. Either way, let's talk about what's going on with the Cubs.

I was reading an article on the Tribune website today about the Cubs hopes for the pitching rotation for the upcoming season. We thought we would be well-off last year. Well, what did we have last year?

Mark Prior (rehabbing)
Kerry Wood (rehabbing)
Carlos Zambrano
Greg Maddux
Wade Miller (rehabbing)
Glendon Rusch (overweight)
Jerome Williams (terrible)
Sean Marshall (rookie)

So what do we have this year for the rotation?

Carlos Zambrano
Rich Hill
Ted Lilly
Jason Marquis (awful)
Mark Prior (rehabbing, may be ready for spring trainging)
Wade Miller (continued improvement from shoulder surgery)
Neal Cotts (success in minors starting, hasn't started for years)
Sean Marshall (portion of a year under his belt)

We are absolutely better off this season with the rotation than last year. First off, we're not going into spring training with two pitchers in our rotation yet to complete rehab. We actually have 4 healthy pitchers, possibly 6 or more, who are completely healthy. It's just a matter of who can perform while healthy.

We know Zambrano can pitch, and hopefully he can continue to cut back on walks, which are his really his only downfall. You can talk about his demeanor on the mound, but it doesn't really seem to hurt him, at least as much as walks.

Lilly has had a history of arm problems. Not severe arm problems, but if I'm correct, and I'm too lazy to research it, Lilly hasn't pitched 200 innings in a season. Still, he managed a pretty solid record last season (despite just being 1 game over .500 for his career) for a Toronto team that was slightly better than average (average meaning terrible). So we could consider Lilly like Maddux in stamina only. Some see him as a pitcher who could get better with age, as he learns to pitch to his strengths wisely. If he wins 15 games for us this year, I'm definitely satisfied.

Rich Hill came from obscurity last year. He hadn't pitched very well for us before last year, and he started off the season pretty poorly. He went back to AAA, then when he was recalled, he was dominant. His numbers for the second half of the season rival all pitchers. If he can replicate that, we are in excellent shape and he becomes our #2 starter (I think he'll be better than Lilly).

Rich Hill got absolutely no help from Rothschild. Rothschild had no idea how to help Rich Hill. So why do we think he can magically make Jason Marquis a better pitcher when two better pitching coaches have given up on Marquis? The good news is that Marquis is very durable, and he can rack up innings. So, should we get better performance from, say, both Wade Miller and Mark Prior, Marquis can fill the role of a spot starter and go long distances while saving our bullpen. Sure, it's a lot to pay a spot starter, but I blame Jim Hendry for that, and no one else.

Wade Miller has had an additional offseason to recover from shoulder surgery. It took him a long time to recover last season, longer than expected, but he performed fairly well when he made it back to the majors. If he can improve his stamina this season, his control could serve us pretty well, especially if he picks up some sort of change-up and becomes less of a power pitcher and more finesse, since it's tough to be a power pitcher when you top out at 85 mph. However, hopefully he can improve that fastball a little more this offseason as well.

Mark Prior has been rehabbing since August. Well, not necessarily, he's been on the shelf. But here's hoping that he can stay healthy this season. His velocity was down last season, but he was still able to get fairly good results while topping out at 91 mph. Maybe with more down time, he can improve the velocity, work on mechanics, take his time and get back to complete full strength. I would love to see Prior back in the rotation but he needs to defeat the stigma that he's always injured. And that could be tough because it seems like he's always rehabbing. So that needs to stop.

Neal Cotts was supposedly a dominant starter when he was in the A's farm system. But when he came up on the south side, they had a full rotation so they put him in the bullpen. He did well in 2005, and sucked in 2006. Maybe a change of scenery will serve him well, but if he can be a solid starter, there's really no reason to not give him a shot. We already have an assload of lefties in our bullpen. If he can't pitch in the rotation, then put him in the bullpen and move one of our other lefties.

Finally, the Cubs have a list of rookies who performed well in spots last year and looked terribly shitty in other spots. I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to improve (especially Sean Marshall) their abilities. Remember, it took Zambrano almost a full season in the bullpen before he finally came into his own as a dominant starter.

On a similar yet unrelated note, the Indians made an offer to Mark Mulder that they're still waiting to hear back from (I think). If they sign Mulder, it would make it more likely that they would move a pitcher out of their rotation (most likely Jake Westbrook). I would love to see the Cubs trade for Westbrook. We have plenty to give.

In other news, the Cubs may invite David Newhan to spring training. Who is David Newhan? Basically Cesar Izturis, except probably not as good with the glove. He's an outfielder who doesn't hit or get on base. I would much rather just stick Jacque Jones out in center than Newhan.

Anyways, I consider us much better off as far as the pitching is concerned. I may or may not post about position players later, so you may want to look for that. Or not, it's really not going to affect whether I do it or not.

Cubs for the week

I used to love the week after Christmas. I got to play with all the new toys I got, and I didn't have anything to do. At all. I wasn't worried about New Year's because one of my friends or I would have people over that night. And there would be much youthful shenanigans. Even as I grew up, I still loved having absolutely nothing to do for a week. What's that? Sure, I'd love 2 weeks of no classes. Thanks.

And now today. I'm stuck at work with very little to do, and I'm positive it's nothing that couldn't wait an extra couple of days. And a ton of people are actually not at work at all. So when I'm reading online blogs, it's much harder to find entertainment with no new material.

Speaking of no new material, I present to you the Cubs. Still have Jason Marquis on the roster, eating up $21 million over the next three years. I consider him like a black hole. He eats that $21 million, and he also sucks all talent from the pitching staff. He is worthless and I will probably never be happy with him on the team.

Hendry has done a pretty good job of improving the offense. I have no problem with the Soriano deal. None. Hell, if the Cubs are shitty for a year or two his name may come up in trade rumors and I doubt we'd need to eat much of the salary. So I'm not worried about length. And we obviously have the money for it.

DeRosa could be an awesome signing too. Here we get a dude for roughly what we paid Mike Remlinger who's younger, plays everyday and is much more versatile. I think when we evaluate what he can do for us, we should always keep in mind Mike Remlinger. And if he doesn't play like he should, Theriot will be waiting.

My problem with Hendry is that he seems to get so caught up in being in love with a player that all logic and sensibility goes out the window. And when I say 'being in love with a player,' I mean that he is truly in love with the player. You know. In the gay way. Players like this include Neifi Perez, um, possibly Glendon Rusch. Basically everyone whose contract he extended way before necessary.

There is absolutely no reason to spend so much money on Shitty Marquis. We totally outbid ourselves, and all we needed to do was give him 1 year, $3 million. If he doesn't take it, fuck him. (This of course obviously pre-supposes that we were destined to sign Marquis, which sucks for us anyways, because Hendry was absolutely head over heels in love. I would have never offered him a contract in the first place, but then again, I try to follow baseball and understand it, so that's probably where Hendry and I differ.)

Then you've got Cliff Floyd. Since he was with the Marlins there were rumors he would be a Cub. At least going back to the 2000 season, there were rumors the Cubs wanted him in left field, or that he would be involved in a deal to get Sosa out of Chicago.

Cliff Floyd was a solid player back in 2000. I would have been glad to have him. Even when Sosa was dealt, I think I would have been fine with getting back Cliff Floyd in the deal (he would have been much better than Hairston). But it's not 2004. It's not 2000. It's going to be the 2007 season.

Cliff Floyd hit around .266 last year (I checked the actual stat a while ago and can't remember the actual number, but I was incorrect when I first implied he hit in the .240s). He was also hurt for a large portion of the year.

We all know what Matt Murton did last year, as I can't stop talking about it in this argument. So why do we need Cliff Floyd to platoon with Murton? Please, please can't someone clear up this egregious mistake of an idea?

Here's what we need to do. I will be fine if we bring in Cliff Floyd, assuming we trade Jacque Jones. Trade Jacque to anyone who will take him, try to bring back a starter. Then look for a center fielder. Soriano can probably play it, but if we can find better, then why wouldn't we? Oh, yeah, we're the Cubs.

I'm getting nervous now that Hendry has gotten complacent with this team. Much like how he was most of last season. 'Oh, Derrek Lee will be out for months with an injury? Well, we'll see how we perform before I do anything about it.' He's complained before about how hard it is to get a deal done early in the season, but if we're without a center fielder, what is he going to do?

So. Let's trade Marquis to the Nationals for Ryan Church, and we'll pay $3 million/year of Marquis's contract. Hell, we'll pay $4 million/year. It's still less than what we'd pay if we actually had him. Church becomes our starting center fielder, Soriano in right, Murton in left.

Let's trade Neifi 2 and Jacque Jones to the Indians for Jake Westbrook. Or the Orioles for, say, Erik Bedard, or one of their dude's who still seemingly has potential. Wait, scratch that Orioles suggestion. Trade those two for whoever will take them and give us back a pitcher with low walk totals. That's all I need.

Then our infield has Ramirez, DeRosa/Theriot/Cedeno in some combination up the middle and DLee. Our rotation is Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Miller/Prior/Marshall/Cotts/Marmol/Guzman/Ryu/Mateo battle it out for the final two spots. And, please put the young guys on a pitch count! I'm normally against pitch counts, but the fewer times they throw 120 pitches the better.

So there. It's simple.

Why does he lie?

So I saw this this morning and I immediately puked. Not just a little, oops I puked in my mouth but swallowed it back down. I mean I used like two or three garbage bags to contain the massive amounts and almost projectile vomit.

Perhaps it was metaphoric vomit, but nonetheless, Jim Hendry is disgusting me with his comments on the Marquis deal.

So Paul Sullivan, the Cubs beat writer for the Tribune, apparently was struggling to come up with something to write about. Jason Marquis finalized his contract yesterday, and he thought surely this warrants an article.

But, Jim Hendry is just blatantly lying about the Marquis deal. Well, not lying per se, but he's putting his own spin on the contract, and on Marquis's statistics.

So I'm just going to point out some of Hendry's lies here, since really no one should believe what he's saying on this matter.

"He was going to get $20 to $21 million from three or four different [teams]; that was a definite."

Wrong. There were no rumors that Marquis was getting any deals. The only team rumored to have any interest in Marquis was the Cubs. Also, Marquis had some of the worst numbers of absolutely all of the starters in the MLB, let alone free agent starters. Hendry's next lie was that this was deal at market value. Which is a lie! You can set the value of a shitty starter. Because no one wants him! Also, why would you give a shitty starter 3 years? It's entirely unnecessary. What a liar.

"Certainly over a three-year look back, Jason's statistics, and wins, certainly validate that kind of a salary."

You're fucking wrong again. Wins are the most misleading statistic when it comes to deciding the value of a pitcher. Sure, they're important, but if you judge just by wins alone, they're not important. Basically you could have shitty numbers, say, almost the worst in all of baseball in terms of ERA and still rack up, about, oh, 14 wins if you get enough run support. All you have to do is last 5 innings for a win as a starter. When evaluating a player's value, salary or otherwise, you have to look at all of his statistics: ERA, innings pitched, home runs given up, opponent batting average, run support. Also, when evaluating starters' records, it's important to look at how many leads were lost by their bullpen. Or runners stranded by the bullpen. Wins alone are almost meaningless, unless you are single-handedly going out, giving up 2 runs and pitching 8 innings everytime (props to Johan Santana, who I think is the most dominant starter in the game currently. I know, I'm going out on a limb).

"Over the last three years [Marquis] won more games than Zito and Schmidt."

Of course he did, he didn't play on underachieving teams. Maybe it should come as no surprise that he was able to win games for a team that has had one of the most potent offenses in the past three seasons, especially in a division that normally has at least 3 teams well below average every season. This technically isn't a lie, but it's misleading nevertheless.

I mean, I suppose if hell freezes over and Rothschild is actually able to help a pitcher improve, then there may be a chance that Marquis will perform well and be worth this kind of money. Will he be considered a bargain? Hell no. If he is ever considered a bargain at this price, I will shave all of the hair on my head.

STILL. There is no reason to give this kind of pitcher this kind of money when he's basically had one good season in the past 3. ESPECIALLY WHEN HE WAS ARGUABLY THE WORST STARTER ON THE MARKET. We fucked up the market value when we offered him that kind of money. So I refuse to buy any of Hendry's bullshit about this being the market rate. Give him a one year contract, perhaps laden with incentives should his ERA crack 5 (doubtful) or if he gets to 13 wins (questionable), and then we can re-evaluated him next season or extend him before the season's over.

Really this should not have been a complicated deal. It never should have happened at all, that money would be better spent on, say, Jeff Suppan. But, it's done (poorly). But luckily if we only look at, say, half the stats, it looks kind of ok, right?

Venting my Cubs frustration

I realize that the offseason is a very long one. A lot of times deals don't get done until February, and then even in March, teams realize what they have or don't have and get a lot of deals done. The Cubs signed Greg Maddux in February 2003 (or 2004, I think). However, I'm just not satisfied in what is happening or not happening for the Cubs right now.

The Cubs are reportedly close to signing Cliff Floyd to a (probably) one-year deal. They're doing so to give Matt Murton a platoon partner out in left field. I've stated this before, but apparently a valid opinion is not something the Cubs would want to listen to (see: Jason Marquis).

Murton hit .298 last season. He is a right-handed bat who's capable of hitting roughly 20 HR's, while still maintaining his batting average, and he's a pretty good situational hitter, especially with two outs and runners in scoring position. Also, in the field he's (probably) the worst defensive outfielder we have (assuming he hasn't improved this offseason), but that's almost always the case for the left fielder. Murton's arm is also what I would consider above average. Oh, I should also mention that Murton absolutely murders left-handed pitching. But here's the thing: not all pitchers are lefties! So he obviously hit everyone really well last season.

So let's platoon him. I'd rather not see what he can do when he gets the chance to play, say, 162 games. Or even 158. Nope.

I think we should bring in someone who hit all of .244 last season. .244! That's higher than .298, right? And also someone who has leg problems, and is in the twilight of his career. Just because our GM has been having a love affair with the idea of bringing him in for the past 8 years. Now is as good a time as any, right?

So, let's face it, we're probably going to have Cliff Floyd. But what about Jacque fucking Jones? Why do we still have him? We could have moved him at the trade deadline and we would all be incredibly happy (of course, that's assuming Hendry wanted to do his job, which at that time, he did not). But now we'll have to trade Jacque Jones.

With this, I'm entirely happy. Except no one wants him. His contract is a bargain for the kind of production he showed last year. I would love to see the Cubs trade him for anyone. A prospect who looks average and is three years away, Jay Gibbons, Jake Westbrook (the Indians almost definitely don't want Jones).

I'm still under the assumption that Piniella will field his lineups much the same way that Dusty Baker made his. Ignoring stats, hitting streaks, and talent, and just picking the veterans to play over the young guys. This could be wrong I suppose, but I'm going to believe that when I see it.

To end the week of little Cubs action

Basically the Cubs are done doing anything this offseason. This may or may not be actually true, but judging from the lack of any rumors flying about, I would assume that the Cubs are fine with the line-up they have (I assume Jacque Jones rumors will still persist, just no one will care until something happens) and they're also fine with having a shitty shitty starting rotation. Shitty.

So, let's just tie up most of the rumors. Jason Jennings was traded to the Astros, so write him off. I would assume if the Cubs were really that close to a deal with the Nationals for Ryan Church, it would have been completed by now. So, we move Jones, we still have a whole in center field. Also, the Cubs apparently do not seem that inclined to rush into signing Cliff Floyd at all. Maybe they're just cooling off on Floyd since there aren't as many people interested in Jones.

So, assuming we can move Jones for a good pitcher, we need a center fielder. I don't care who JAKE WESTBROOK we get for Jones, I would just like a JAKE WESTBROOK pitcher who we can plug into the JAKE WESTBROOK rotation so Jason "I'm a worthless piece of shit for 3 years Cubs fans!" Marquis doesn't have to JAKE WESTBROOK pitch in the rotation. He will solely be used as a spot started when our bullpen has been overused and we need to give up 15 runs over 4 innings. I would rather have Les Walrond start. (That may or may not be true, and even I can't tell if I'm joking.)

So who should we put in center field? Well, you can bet that Felix Pie will get a shot in Spring Training. I doubt he wins the job though. There is still the possibility of trading for Ryan Church, but I think Pie would possibly be a better option.

Vernon Wells is close to extending his contract (read: get a monster raise) in Toronto, so write him off the list. It would be awesome to have him, and we could afford to pay 4 position players (unless we turn Zambrano into an outfielder when he doesn't start) and 1 pitcher $15 million or more, but then we turn into the Yankees. And it's not like we need Wells to win, he would just be super awesome in helping us get there.

Rocco Baldelli is a name that is constantly coming up in conversations. The D-Rays have a lot of good young players in their system, their infield is packed full and overflowing into the outfield, and the outfielder who could be moved to make room could very well be Rocco Baldelli. You know what a team who has a lot of position players could use? Young pitchers. You know what the Cubs have a lot of, based on the incorrect idea in the past (14?) years that you build a winning team with pitching prospects only and not focusing on position players? That's right, pitchers.

My only concern with a trade for Baldelli would be the Pie situation. When we still had Corey Patterson (and I was under the incorrect impression that he would be good) I was excited about having someone like Murton in left, Patterson in right and Pie in center. Then Corey could take advantage of being a 'power' hitter.

Well, I think Baldelli wants to be a center fielder. Carl Crawford! Trade for him from the D-Rays! He would be great, but he doesn't like playing center. If he did, we could have him play center for a year, then move him over when Pie got ready.

Meh, I think we could put together a deal of two young arms, then either Murton or Pie for probably either Baldelli or Crawford. It won't happen, but it's wishful thinking.

Seriously, we could be screwed in center field if we don't get Jones out and bring in someone good. Glad we're actually addressing it.

Cubs

I posted about the huge mistake that is the signing of Jason Marquis on Saturday, so I don't have a whole lot more to say about it. The deal is for $21 million over 3 years. The pitching market is so fucked up that even the terrible pitchers still on the market are going to be asking for that kind of money now. And most of them are not as terrible as Marquis. So I'm sure a lot of GM's are thanking Hendry for that one. The Cubs plan to release 'their own numbers' in regards to Marquis soon, hopefully to try to rationalize why they signed someone so bad to such a terrible deal. I'm not buying that though, if anything they will make up numbers. He's a 5th starter in our rotation! He shouldn't have gotten anything over $3 million! Ok, calm down, calm down.

In other news, because Kenny Lofton is close to signing with the Rangers, it appears as though the Cubs will look elsewhere to get their center fielder. Apparently they made a pretty strong push for Ryan Church but the Nationals must not have liked the offer. Hendry says he will not seek a long term player for center field, as it will be Felix Pie's in the future. This is a good idea, but there are going to be some dominant, proven players on the market next year. A player like Vernon Wells. I'm pretty sure we could put together a deal for Wells (including Pie) and about 10 pitchers, and Theriot and Izturis (Theriot being the only other of any value in that deal) for Wells.

This probably isn't too likely though. Some names being thrown around are Aaron Rowand, Steve Finley, Bernie Williams. I wouldn't mind Rowand, as he's a pretty solid defensive outfielder and we don't need a whole lot more than a .270 average out of him (and that's probably about all we'd get).

However, one intriguing name is Rocco Baldelli. The Devil Rays have been listening to offers for him all spring. He's had injuries previously, but he came back strong last year when he returned. He's solid both defensively and offensively, and he's fast. The problem comes in putting together a deal. He's only owed $900K next year, with options the following two seasons. Which makes him extremely attractive to bring in. But the Braves have reportedly offered three top prospects (the Cubs don't have 3 top prospects any more) and the Rays rejected the offer, so it doesn't seem too likely that he'll end up going anywhere, unless the exact deal they want is offered.

Piniella coached Baldelli in TB, so there's at least a history there. The DRays GM has a history of requesting way too much in return for his players, which is really a shame because with all the top prospects they've received, very few have turned into legitimate players. Their player development must really suck, and the Cubs development is only slightly worse.

So as of right now I don't think there's really a clear direction that the Cubs are leaning in for center field. There haven't really been any rumors about Jacque Jones, although on Friday I believe I read that the Orioles were now interested in him. They probably don't have much to trade, but if we could get a starter away from them, that would be pretty awesome. They've got some young starters who haven't proven much, but they now have a year with a good pitching coach, and hopefully Rothschild wouldn't destroy that foundation for a year or two.

Rumor is that if the Cubs get rid of Jacque Jones, they'll sign Cliff Floyd. Floyd is a left fielder, Soriano is in right, someone will go to center. But it won't be Murton. It looks as if the Cubs do not want Murton in the field every day. This is a great choice. I'd much rather have 2 left handed guys who don't field well and one of those (the one who would get the bulk of the playing time in left) is old, he's now injury prone, and he proved nothing last season. That's much better than a young guy who constantly works to improve and hit almost .300 last year.

Murton should not be platooned in left. This is a huge mistake, and I actually hope we trade him instead of platooning him because he deserves to play. And the Cubs are jackasses if they don't let him.