Saturday, November 29, 2008

Ibanez?

Yahoo sports is reporting that the Cubs have made Raul Ibanez their top priority in the free agent market. The left-handed hitting outfielder would probably end up in right field or the Cubs. He is 37, though, a little bit old. I'm glad to ehar that he has conditioning that rivals most guys at 25, but no one fights father time and wins. My personal choice is to bring back Edmonds, and give Fukudome another shot to prove he belongs. By that point, we could possibly do better than Ibanez.

Tab Bramford's article at the Bleacher Report (link over at left) goes into more detail, but ends up recommending Junior Griffey. I would love to see Bobby Abreu, on base beast, wearing our uniform next season.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Dempster resigned for $52 million...

Now we can quit stressing about Fukudome's contract. Ryan Dempster just got a bigger one; $52 million, over 4 years. This will keep Dempster a Cub all throughtout the Obama adminstration, barring a second term.

I think we all know Ryan had a career year last year, and that the Cubs are buying him at the top of the market. So, as a business deal, this doesn't make good sense. However, there is one other thing that it does do: establish a high price for pitching. If Dempster gets THAT much, how much for Sabathia? This ensures that no free agent pitchers will sign themselves away cheaply. And as one of the few teams with deep pockets and a core that can contend, the Cubs are in a position to consider driving other teams out of the market for top-shelf talent.

Now who's with me on the Big Unit?

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Free Agency Fever-- Catch It!

Ok, I promised Spot a while back I would respond to his post about free agency, and who the Cubs need. Sometimes who you need depends on what’s out there; for a great player you can find a spot.

With Ryan Dempster out in free agency, it is a given that we will sign someone. It could be him coming back, or it might be someone different. So starting pitcher is one place we can bring in a big name. Some have thought we should get a closer; I don’t think the real reason Kerry Wood is leaving has anything to do with his injury history. It’s about Carlos Marmol. This guy from Florida is just insurance, if Marmol doesn’t work out or he loses his confidence.

The only place in the lineup we could fit anyone is the outfield. We could pick a center fielder, or a right fielder, if Hendry is ready to give up on Fukudome. With the money we are paying him, that might not be possible.

We might also not be the players we are hoping to be: with our economic implosion, Sam Zell, who shockingly still owns the Cubs, can pretty much forget $1 billion. As for Mark Cuban, I think baseball doesn’t want him. By baseball I mean Bud Selig. Such a shame. But Zell has been a decent owner; he’s let Hendry do his thing, and make big signings. Zell, better than the Tribune, understands that great teams make a higher profit, period. If we can’t get Cuban, I’m happy to stick with Zell.

Spot’s recommendations:
Francisco Rodriguez
Mark Teixeira
Eddie Guardado
Adam Dunn
Manny Ramirez
CC Sabathia
Mark Mulder
Mark Prior

Ok heres my take on this list:
I left off Kerry Wood. I’m still a little sad about this, and I’m worried about the way Marmol is at his worst in October. Does he not like cold weather? But K-Rod won’t be here, and we don’t have a closing spot for him. Teixeira, same problem. Eddie Guardado would solve our LOOGY issue nicely; with only Neal Cotts to rely on as a lefty reliever here (I think that Sean Marshall will go back to starting) this is a real need. Hendry may have called Guardado already. If we shifted our entire outfield around, we could get Adam Dunn. It would be a bad defensive outfield though. Here is how we do it; Dunn in left, Soriano moves to right, Fukudome takes center. Fukudome can handle center, though hes borderline, which makes him bad to put next to Dunn. But Soriano would make a good right fielder, if he can handle Wrigley’s sun during day games. Hmmm. With Manny Ramirez, we could just put him in right. He played right field before, with Cleveland. He is an underrated fielder, because he looks so awkward out there. But the truth is that he gets it done. It’s just not pretty. Can we afford CC Sabathia? What are we waiting for? These last two: Mulder and Prior. Their careers are probably over, but why not let them find out in Iowa? Prior especially deserves to be paid for his time, because he messed up his career trying to take us to the postseason, in 2004 and 2005, when he should have been treated conservatively.

Here are my thoughts on some guys Bill didn’t recommend that I do recommend:
Sean Casey - this could be the bat to replace Daryle Ward off the bench.
Jason Varitek - aging catchers who slow down too much to play every day make excellent backups. If we are going to win this thing and Reverse the Curse, we need guys like Varitek, who have rare experience in curse-reversing (see 2004 Bosox).
Sal Fasano -- did you know he went to Hoffman? Graduated in 1989. I remember him. That’s totally worth a contract. I’m not kidding. Henry Blanco might not be back by the way, so we have an opening.
Kyle Farnsworth -- you know you miss him. Also with Kerry gone just one 2003 Cub around isn’t good enough. Bring back Kyle!
Freddy Garcia -- we should give him a deal to see if he has anything left.
Bobby Abreu -why not stick this left handed hitting OBP guy in right and move koseuke to center? With the pressure off him Koseuke will probably be awesome. He definitely tried too hard in the second half last year.
Carl Pavano - see Freddy Garcia. Also, if we had him, we would 2 guys from the Marlins that beat us in the Bartman game, and only one of the players we lost it with. Derrek Lee, remember, was a Marlin. It was his triple off Farnsworth that opened the gates of hell.
Frank Thomas -- just to DH at the Cell in interleague. Bwahahahaha.
Randy Johnson -- seriously, we could have The Big Unit. What are we waiting for? He still throws hella hard.
Corey Patterson - yes, I’m checking to see if you’re still reading this far.
John Smoltz - no, I don’t really think so. But here, I have to point out that Glavine, Maddux, and Smoltz are all free for the taking now. Maddux looks finished. But, hmm… Smoltz? I think we do need to bring in one of these rehab cases and see what happens. The upside to Smoltz is real good.
Brian Fuentes - a proven closer. Would make an excellent left handed guy; the only option better than Guardado here.
Glendon Rusch - see Corey Patterson, above. I might as well just do it again with LaTroy Hawkins and get it over with right now.
Brad Penny -- just two years ago, he was an all-star. He didn’t hurt his arm; he just had other problems. This may be the best option as far as a FA pitcher, other than Sabathia.
Pedro Martinez - he’s no longer the dominating Pedro of the mid90s. That was the best pitcher I ever saw, along with the Greg Maddux of that time.

Ok that’s it for now, and Im still not done going down the list. More to follow.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Seize the Day...

I'm 36 years old. This was one of the Cubs during the time in which they started beign about my age, instead of much older. Now, they're typically a lot younger. If you're not sure that life is short here's a little reminder:


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3642624

RIP, dude. Thanks for the memories, and sorry you didn't get to win the WC, here or elsewhere.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

So that's what it takes...

EULOGY FOR THE 00s CUBS, AND THE PLAYER WHO PERSONIFIED THOSE DAYS

I kept meaning to get back to this blog. Like many of us, after the playoffs, I wasn't feeling it. And when the election grabbed my attention, whatever was left for sports went to the Series, and Da Bears. (Yes, I'm in Michigan right now, but the Lions just don't cut it).

Now I have been given the jolt that snaps me back to Cubs consciousness: the Cubs traded for Kevin Gregg, last year’s Marlins closer, and Jim Hendry was quoted as saying that Kerry Wood, last year’s closer, was ‘deserving of a three- or four-year deal, which we were not prepared to do.” In other words, don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya?

Now I would like to call on the usual suspects to ruminate on the end of Kerry Wood’s long tenure with the Cubs. Going back to the middle 90s, when we kept hearing how awesome kerry Wood was going to be (when he was a minor leaguer), to early 98, when Andy MacPhail and Ed Lynch called him up for a night game in Montreal for his big league debut on a cold April night (what a good scam that was, for several reasons). His unbelievable 20-K game against the Astros. The heartbreak of his arm getting sore late that year and leading to surgery, which kept him out all of ‘99 as the Cubs fell apart. The mediocre return the next year. The return to dominance in the early ‘00s, including 266Ks in 2003, and over 200 IP. The home run the day after the Bartman game (amazing that didn’t help!). The re injury and the heartbreak in 2004, and yet again in 2006 as he teamed with Mark Prior to crush Cubs’ fans hope in three straight years, when we all yearned to avenge the 2003 playoff loss. The tentative return late last year, and finally, his 2008 reinvention as a full-out closer, proving those who said he couldn’t wrong (including Steve Stone).

OK, I do understand the real logic here. The REAL plan is for Gregg to be here and to keep the closer job until Marmol can seize it, even if that only means spring training. Then, Gregg would be nest year’s set up man, possibly along with Jeff Samarzija and Sean Marshall. OK then, Kerry, thanks for the memories. It makes me sad that we never won it all with you here. This is the hardest separation since Mark Grace left. Letting Prior go last year was easy; letting Maddux leave a second time seemed right when he was 40 and we were hopelessly out of it. With Kerry Wood go the days of me living in the city and the north side being all about the Cubs, all summer long. Now they’re all gone: Kerry, Prior, Dusty, Corey… all the cornerstones of the team we thought would take us to the Promised Land.

So take a second and vote for your favorite current Cub. I’m voting for Carlos, as I would have done even with Kerry here. Carlos has now been here longer than anyone. Only he and Aramis remain from the team that lost the Bartman game.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Chicagoan Obama Elected. Chicago Real Estate Values Rise?

I'm posting this slightly off topic for the greater good of the Chicago metropolitan area.
Barack Obama, resident of Chicago, has been elected President of the United States.
Surely there is a history of people wanting to move to (and visit) the city where their president is from. If so, this will be a good thing for home owners (and the tourism industry) in Chicago. More people will want to move here, thus increasing the value of real estate in our City and surrounding suburbs, and stimulating the economy.

True, Chicago already has plenty of great reasons to live here, but for those of you still mulling over the decision to relocate to our great city, let me give you a few reasons to do so.
We have cool buildings like the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Building (get a drink at the 95th floor), a bountiful number of competitive sports franchises, plenty of places to see live music and great restaurants (we have more than just italian beef, hot dogs and tasty tasty deep dish pizza - is it lunch time yet?)! We have that shiny silver Bean thing at Millenium Park, fireworks in the summer at Navy Pier, and did I mention we might get the Olympics in 2016? You definitely want to be here for that! For you ladies reading this blog, we have Water Tower Place, the shops on Michigan Avenue and Oprah... and some time in the next 100 years or so, the Cubs will win a world series. Won't you want the chance to say "I lived in Chicago when the Cubs finally broke the curse" ? Come live in the place where Twinkies and Lemonheads were invented!

Hopefully this world famous blog will be picked up by news outlets everywhere and help support Chicago home owners everywhere in this troubling economy.

Move to Chicago! Boost Our Home Values. Help Support the Economy.
Thank you. USA! USA! USA!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

YES WE DID!

... now let's work on the cubbies!

time to fix the fundamentals of chicago baseball.

YES WE CUB!

E Pluribus Catuli
(Out of many, CUBS!)

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Who should the Cubs go after? FA LIST

I will put my personal picks in RED


AMERICAN LEAGUE
BALTIMORE (4)—Juan Castro, ss; Alex Cintron, ss; Kevin Millar, 1b; Jay Payton, of.
BOSTON (10)—Paul Byrd, rhp; Sean Casey, 1b; Bartolo Colon, rhp; Alex Cora, ss; Mark Kotsay, of; David Ross, c; Curt Schilling, rhp; Mike Timlin, rhp; Jason Varitek, c; c-Tim Wakefield, rhp.
CHICAGO (6)—Orlando Cabrera, ss; Joe Crede, 3b; Ken Griffey Jr., of; Toby Hall, c; Horacio Ramirez, lhp; Juan Uribe, 3b.
CLEVELAND (4)—Brendan Donnelly, rhp; Scott Elarton, rhp; Sal Fasano, c; Juan Rincon, rhp.
DETROIT (7)—Kyle Farnsworth, rhp; Casey Fossum, lhp; Freddy Garcia, rhp; Todd Jones, rhp; Edgar Renteria, ss; Kenny Rogers, lhp; Vance Wilson, c.
KANSAS CITY (2)—Mark Grudzielanek, 2b; Miguel Olivo, c.
LOS ANGELES (6)—Garret Anderson, of; Jon Garland, rhp; Darren Oliver, lhp; Juan Rivera, of; Francisco Rodriguez, rhp; Mark Teixeira, 1b.
MINNESOTA (4)—Adam Everett, ss; Eddie Guardado, lhp; Nick Punto, ss; Dennys Reyes, lhp.
NEW YORK (9)—Bobby Abreu, of; c-Jason Giambi, 1b; c-Damaso Marte, lhp; Chad Moeller, c; Mike Mussina, rhp; c-Carl Pavano, rhp; Andy Pettitte, lhp; Sidney Ponson, rhp; Ivan Rodriguez, c.
OAKLAND (4)—Emil Brown, of; c-Alan Embree, lhp; Keith Foulke, rhp; Frank Thomas, dh.
SEATTLE (3)—Willie Bloomquist, of; Miguel Cairo, inf; Raul Ibanez, of.
TAMPA BAY (4)—Rocco Baldelli, dh; c-Cliff Floyd, dh; Eric Hinske, of; c-Trever Miller, lhp.
TEXAS (5)—c-Hank Blalock, 1b; Milton Bradley, dh; Jason Jennings, rhp; Ramon Vazquez, 3b; Jamey Wright, rhp.
TORONTO (6)—c-Rod Barajas, c; p-A.J. Burnett, rhp; Kevin Mench, of; John Parrish, lhp; Brad Wilkerson, of; Gregg Zaun, c.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
ARIZONA (7)—Tony Clark, 1b; Juan Cruz, rhp; Adam Dunn, of; David Eckstein, ss; Orlando Hudson, 2b; Randy Johnson, lhp; Brandon Lyon, rhp.
ATLANTA (8)—Elmer Dessens, rhp; Tom Glavine, lhp; Mike Hampton, lhp; Jorge Julio, rhp; Greg Norton, of; Will Ohman, lhp; John Smoltz, rhp; Julian Tavarez, rhp.
CHICAGO (8)—c-Henry Blanco, c; Ryan Dempster, rhp; Jim Edmonds, of; Chad Fox, rhp; Bob Howry, rhp; Jon Lieber, rhp; Daryle Ward, 1b; Kerry Wood, rhp.
CINCINNATI (9)—Jeremy Affeldt, lhp; Paul Bako, c; Josh Fogg, rhp; Jerry Hairston Jr., of; Mike Lincoln, rhp; Kent Mercker, lhp; Corey Patterson, of; Javier Valentin, c; David Weathers, rhp.
COLORADO (6)—Brian Fuentes, lhp; Matt Herges, rhp; Livan Hernandez, rhp; Adam Melhuse, c; Scott Podsednik, of; Glendon Rusch, lhp.
FLORIDA (4)—Luis Gonzalez, of; Mark Hendrickson, lhp; Paul Lo Duca, c; Arthur Rhodes, lhp.
HOUSTON (5)—Brad Ausmus, c; Doug Brocail, rhp; LaTroy Hawkins, rhp; Mark Loretta, 2b; Randy Wolf, lhp.
LOS ANGELES (14)—Joe Beimel, lhp; m-Gary Bennett, c; Casey Blake, 3b; Rafael Furcal, ss; Nomar Garciaparra, ss; Jason Johnson, rhp; Jeff Kent, 2b; Derek Lowe, rhp; Greg Maddux, rhp; Pablo Ozuna, 2b; Chan Ho Park, rhp; c-Brad Penny, rhp; Manny Ramirez, of; Mark Sweeney, 1b.
MILWAUKEE (12)—Russell Branyan, 3b; c-Mike Cameron, of; c-Craig Counsell, 3b; Ray Durham, 2b; Eric Gagne, rhp; Gabe Kapler, of; Mike Lamb, 3b; Guillermo Mota, rhp; CC Sabathia, lhp; Ben Sheets, rhp; Brian Shouse, lhp; c-Salomon Torres, rhp.
NEW YORK (12)—Moises Alou, of; Tony Armas Jr., rhp; Luis Ayala, rhp; c-Carlos Delgado, 1b; Damion Easley, 2b; Orlando Hernandez, rhp; Pedro Martinez, rhp; Ramon Martinez, 2b; Trot Nixon, of; Oliver Perez, lhp; Ricardo Rincon, lhp; Matt Wise, rhp.
PHILADELPHIA (5)—Pat Burrell, of; Scott Eyre, lhp; c-Tom Gordon, rhp; Jamie Moyer, lhp; Rudy Seanez, rhp.
PITTSBURGH (4)—Chris Gomez, 3b; c-Jason Micheals, of; Doug Mientkiewicz, 1b; Luis Rivas, ss.
ST. LOUIS (9)—Juan Encarnacion, of; Jason Isringhausen, rhp; Cesar Izturis, ss; Jason LaRue, c; Braden Looper, rhp; Felipe Lopez, 2b; Mark Mulder, lhp; Russ Springer, rhp; Ron Villone, lhp.
SAN DIEGO (3)—c-Brian Giles, of; Trevor Hoffman, rhp; Mark Prior, rhp.
SAN FRANCISCO (2)—Rich Aurilia, 1b; c-Omar Vizquel, ss.
WASHINGTON (2)—Aaron Boone, 1b; Odalis Perez, lhp.