Keep Hope Alive :: A Cubs Blog

First piece of the puzzle locked up?

2006-11-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

According to MLB Trade Rumors, Aramis Ramirez is very close to a contract extension and should be inked in the next couple of days. How credible the sources are is up for grabs, but this site is about keeping hope alive baby! Trading a bullpen guy or two for Sheffield and getting rid of Jacque Jones next on the agenda list.

Dreaming of Daisuke: Scouting Report on MVP of the WBC

2006-11-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

Oh, to dream. Here is a scouting report on the Japanese 26-year-old phenom. The baseball world will find out soon who has the rights to negotiate with him. I'm crossing my fingers and keeping hope alive.

Jim Hendry's Off Season Shopping List

2006-10-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Over at Cubs Hub I put up this story detailing my opinion of what Jim Hendry should do with the many options and decisions he must make by this upcoming March.

In other news, the Cubs have announced that Alan Trammell will be the new bench coach. Trammell coached the Tigers for three years, most notably the dissaster that was the Tigers 2003 season. Despite not having much luck with the Tigers, many of the young players Trammell coached have now blossomed for the 2006 World Series Tigers. Trammell is a baseball man, having played for twenty years in the big leagues. He has been to multiple All Star games and should be a solid presence on the bench for not only the Cubs players, but for Lou Piniella as well.

Not my first choice...

2006-10-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

...but the Cubs could have done worse. Lou Piniella is the new manager of your 2007 (and beyond hopefully) Chicago Cubs. Does that mean Lou will get into a brawl with Ryan Dempster (after fighting with Rob Dibble while manager of the Reds)? We can only hope. Without seeing much of Piniella manage since his last two teams were in the American League, his coaching styles are somewhat unknown here. However, one thing that is for certain, Lou's players will hustle and if they do not, each player will be held accountable.

Thank GOODNESS for this.

Let's not pretend to know everything that was going through Dusty Baker's head when he would make perplexing decisions such as calling for the Neifster to bunt down a run with a man on third...one can never hope to understand such moves. The same should hold true for each and every manager. A manager is measured on whether he wins or loses, a little bit of that has to do with lineup choices, in-game moves etc. but what percent of a win is atributed to a manager no one will ever know. What is known though is that Dusty Baker basically let his players run wild like little banchies on the playground and if one of his "children" was climbing on the monkey bars when he knew he was not supposed to, Dusty could not have cared less.

Lou will not let a player go running around climbing on monkey bars. His attitude is a welcome addition to a clubhouse that was either ruled by a veteran player, or in the case of 2006, by no one at all.

Welcome Lou, good luck, hopefully you can land us a couple free agents. If things don't go your way don't hesitate to toss one of the bases, I'll at least be able to laugh...while I cry.

First Baker, now...

2006-10-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

...the entire coaching staff has been dismissed. This is just another reason for hope in Cubbie Land. Rothschild was horrible, ruining Prior and Wood and was also laughed at by Maddux. Clines and Matthews switched roles and neither could get as much out of Corey Patterson as the Orioles did. Good riddance men. Hopefully this is just the precurser to our announcing Girardi as the next Cubs manager. Keep Hope Alive!

Starting a Riot at Second Base

2006-10-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a little write up on Ryan The Riot, our impressive young second baseman. Some interesting stats in here using Ron Shandler's contact rate formula and walk ratio which can very successfully predict whether or not a player is a true .300 hitter. Some other good stuff in there as well so check it out and the other stories over at Cubs Hub.

MacFail resigns

2006-10-02T07:35:00.001-07:00

Cubs president Andy MacPhail resigned on Sunday, a surprise move that has many Cub fans dancing in the streets. Most people could not have seen this coming. Was MacPhail to blame for the Cubs horrendous year? Probably not any more than Hendry, Baker, or simply injuries, however, it is MacPhails job to see that all levels of management are performing and this past year they did not perform. It is kind of sad to see a man who was so successful as the GM for the Twins not make it in Cubs management. MacPhail was the GM of the Twins during two world series years and many were excited upon his arrival on the North Side.

In all, this will move the Cubs in the right direction. Whether or not he should have resigned is not the issue, the issue is bringing in new motivated management who will shake things up and move this ballclub in a new direction. Of the three, MacPhail, Hendry and Baker I believe the only one who should be allowed to stay is Hendry. While his not addressing the starting rotation to a further extent this year was a big reason for our collapse, I feel that his good moves have outweighed the bad.

This is the same GM who brought us Michael Barrett for next to nothing and traded Hee Sop Choi for Derrek Lee as well as Bobby Hill for Aramis Ramirez. Also, don't forget that it was Hendry who made sure Matt Murton was involved in the Nomar deal. Lee, Ramirez, Barrett and Murton are the heart and future of this team and they are only here because of Hendry's shrewd manuevering.

Bringing in Juan Pierre in the off-season and addressing the bullpen also secured glaring holes heading into 2006. Hendry's problem was underestimating Wade Miller's injury and failing to see Prior and Wood let the team down once again. For this I am willing to give Hendry a pass simply due to the immense talent he has been able to farm from other organizations. The Maddux trade was a nice move as well as Cesar Izturis is regarded by many to be the best defensive short stop in the league. Hendry was able to deal away Walker for a good prospect in fireballer Jose Ceda and also managed to get some value in return for Phil Nevin, who was a good pickup in his own regard.

Hendry will have this off-season to prove he was worth the extension and I believe he will turn this Cubs team around. That turn around starts with ditching Baker and hiring either Joe Girardi who would bring discipline in, or hiring Braves third base coach Fredi Gonzalez in who will bring in years of tutelage under Bobby Cox. Hopefully Baker's firing will be announced today and Cubs fans can begin to get excited for 2007.

An Interesting Note from BleedCubbieBlue.com

2006-09-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

"Another interesting note on team records this year: on July 9, at the All-Star break, the White Sox were 57-31, second to the Tigers by two games but leading the wild card by six. Since that date they have gone 30-40.

That is precisely the same record the Cubs have since July 9, when they were 34-54; they also have gone 30-40 in the second half."

HAHAHA. Wow, how the mighty have fallen. A day after saying good ridance to the Cardinals I say hasta luego to the White Sox. This is so much sweeter when one recalls listening to talk radio in May when everyone was talking about how the White Sox were a lock to repeat as World Series Champions. Classic, have fun next year with Garland as your ace White Sox, us over on the North Side will be pleased to watch Big Z and Rich Hill shut you out when you come to town.

In an Otherwise Lost Season...

2006-09-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

Ha, it is at least beautiful to see the Cardinals collapse, not to mention the fact that the White Sox won't sniff the playoffs. After tonight the Cards are only one and a half games up on the Astros, and after losing 7 straight games it does not look too good for the Red Birds. I cannot think of better news. Next year is a new year and I think this Cubs team is poised to take the division with the Astros and Cardinals both aging. Our toughest competition should be from the Brewers which are infused with youth and if Ben Sheets can manage to stay healthy (Kerry Wood gets so much press for always being injured, what about this guy!? Come on now he's just as bad!) then they have a pretty solid rotation with Sheets, Capuano, Davis and Bush. Right now we are set to take the third pick in the draft...can the Cards or Sox say that? I don't think so! The season is a loss no matter what your record is if you don't make the playoffs, so lets root on the Cardinals collapse, because if they don't make it then they are on equal ground as this year's lowly Cubs team.

Good ridance Cardinals, heres to your collapse!

Go Astros!....(I never thought I would actually utter those words)

Grizzly Men

2006-09-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

Grizzly Men my Bears blog is up and running. It took me a little while but I will be posting regulary on that site now so if you wanna get down with daa Bears then check it out.

Matt Murton's Newfound Power Stroke

2006-09-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been horrible about posting, gosh it was easier when I still had hope back in July and even in August. School has started up and I'm bogged down getting ready to graduate but I would like to make about a post or two a week to keep things going. This is an article I wrote for CubsHub.com about Matt Murton, one of the true centers of hope for this team...Jim, please don't trade him. Corey Patterson was my favorite Cub until you traded him, shocker as that is to most Cubs fans I loved Corey and really thought he deserved one more chance with this team playing right field (this was before Jacque was acquired). Matt Murton is the player every little leaguer out there should aspire to be. A hardworker who battles the pitcher, works counts, takes pitches and hits to all fields. This article shows Murton's power potential and some interesting comparisons to Carlos Lee, Brian Giles and even the great Derrek Lee. Check it out.

And just when you think it can't get any worse...

2006-09-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

...Carlos Zambrano decides to take the mound, knowing he did not feel very well, and go ahead and get rocked, get injured and likely put an end to his Cy Young bid. I don't mean to be so pesimistic, it's just not my style, however, when Carlos goes out after an inning and a third my strength becomes depleated and my resolve weakens into cynicism. Ok, no it's not that bad but in a season of missed opportunities, injuries and too many rookie pitchers to count on one hand the one constant that remained the same was Carlos Zambrano taking the hill and giving this team at the very least, 6 innings of quality pitched baseball. When that one constant is shattered it is just hard to keep hope alive. But I will, because we have to as Cubs fans. Ryan Theriot is one of those reasons to keep hope alive. TheRiot and Matt "The Bat" Murton are the two best things this Cubs team has going for it right now. These are young players with heart and a passion to play the game. Not necessarily exceptional at any one thing, Murton and Theriot give us fans everything they have, leaving it all on the field. There is nothing more refreshing to see as a quality at-bat in an era where the Cubs and their management are simply allergic to walks or the idea of working the count. Matt Murton and Ryan Theriot are guys you can build with, they are the kind of role players that may not have all of the athletic skill as a guy like Manny Ramirez has, but when the games on the line and your team needs to rally together it is role players such as Murton and Theriot who can spark a rally, who will be up at the top of the dugout fence rooting their teammates on. Players like this are invaluable and teamed up with other players such as Michael Barrett, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez the Cub lineup can begin to take shape and form and not just look like a jumbled mass of players who don't really know what their role is on the team. I have faith for next year for a few reasons: we have the best pitcher in the National League, this is arguable, but I don't really care. We are slowly, unknowingly building a team of patient hitters. Now I am almost positive this is not on purpose, but if you look at the strikeout and walk rates of players like Michael Barrett and Aramis Ramirez you may be pleasantly suprised. Derrek Lee has always been a patient hitter and we can see how Matt Murton and Ryan Theriot have the ability to work counts, foul off balls and usually make solid contact. Finally, my last reason to continue to have hope for this team is just how horrible the rest of the division is. The Cardinals are older and a shaddow of their old dominance. The Reds seem flukish, but I guess one never knows. The Brewers will continue to improve, but how much is debatable especially after they lost their best player C. Lee and do I even need to mention the Pirates. Oh, and I am also pretty darn excited for that top 5 pick in next June's amateur draft...hopefully this top 5 pick will pan out better than Corey, Woody and Prior...heres to keeping hope for next year.

Things to look for as a Cubs fan headed into the final stretch

2006-08-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it is almost September. Derrek Lee is back. The Cubs are still losing. But you know what Cubs fans, there are still a few reasons to tune into Len and Bob-- or as I prefer, Pat and Ron-- almost every day for the final month of the season:

1. Carlos Zambrano's Cy Young bid:
Big Z pitches tonight against the Pirates, so hopefully the Cubs offense will give him some run support as he has a good chance of winning his 15th game of the season. Currently Z's 14 wins are good enough to put him in a tie for the most in the National League along with his biggest competition for the award, Brandon Webb, as well as the Dodgers Brad Penny. Over the last month of the season Zambrano will most likely get five more starts in addition to tonights start. This means the chances of winning 20 games are slim, however, these odds are just as slim for any other National League pitcher. What Zambrano has that separates him from the pack are his strikeouts. Zambrano's 180 K's lead Brandon Webb by 40 and other Cy Young hopefuls who are close behind Zambrano, Aaron Haranatang (168 strikeouts) and Chris Capuano (153 strikeouts) both have less wins and a higher ERA than Carlos. For Big Z to win the Cy Young I think two things need to happen; one, he needs to lower his ERA with Chris Carpenter at 2.96 and Brandon Webb at 3.03 and two, he needs to maintain a higher win total than both of those pitchers. With the lead in strikeouts and wins in the National League Zambrano will only need to get a little closer in ERA for him to wrap up this award. Right now it is too close of a race to call. The votes, in my opinion, would be pretty well evenly split for Zambrano, Carpenter and Webb so there is still work to be done. If Carlos can win 4 this month and move his ERA down to around 3.15 I think he will be the clear winner.

2. Emergence of Matt Murton's power stroke:
After failing to homer in both June and July Murton has belted out five homers so far this August and has nine overall this season. Last year Murton only had one home run in August but then had six in September. If Murton could hit another six this September that would give him a modest, but encouraging total of 15 HR on the year. If we can continue to see Murton drive the ball to all fields I do not think it would be out of the question for him to hit 25 HR next year with regular playing time.

3. Second Base
Second Base is currently a mystery for next year. Originally when the Cubs traded for Cesar Izturis it was assumed that Ronny Cedeno would be an adequate second baseman for the 2007 Cubs. I'm sure not a lot of fans, myself included, would be happy with this but one gets the feelings that the Cubs would have been alright with the idea. However, Ryan Theriot has clearly outplayed Cedeno and has shown many more attributes that separate him from many other potential second baseman. TheRiot now has 6 steals in only 50 at bats and his 6-1 stolen base to caught stealing ratio puts him ahead of Juan Pierre in that category. Clearly stealing bases is not all about speed but also about reading pitchers and picking the right pitch to run on. Ryan Theriot appears to excell in these areas. He works every count, hits for average and his approach at the plate looks simliar to Matt Murton's. This ability to work counts, get on base and then steal bases makes him a very attractive option leading off for the Cubs next year. Now I would absolutely love it if the Cubs were to bring in Alfonso Soriano to play second next year, but that just seems like a pipe dream not even worth imagining.

4. Felix Pie
Hopefully Pie will get a September call-up so we can all see what this super-talented 21-year-old can do at the Major League level. He currently leads Iowa in doubles, triples and total bases. He is second to Buck Coats in steals and is hitting .279 on the year. While one would like numbers a little more impressive than that, Pie has been hot lately and this is only his first year at Iowa. I think he is definitely worth a look for the Cubs who have been starting Angel Pagan a fair amount and it would be exciting to see what the future may look like.

Angry at Howry

2006-08-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about Bob Howry, but as I have continued to watch our Cubbies falter throughout this course of this long, never-ending season, it appears that Bob Howry simply cannot pitch when it matters the most. If one looks at his overall numbers he can easily defend himself by pointing out an ERA in the low 3's....check that, that was before he gave up the grand slam....ok, the 3.62 ERA, good strikeout numbers and peripherals all around. However, whenever he comes in during a pressure situation it seems as though he fails to get the job done. Now I do not have any statistics to back this up but I will look into it. I don't mean to take away from the man's obvious talent, because there are far worse relievers out there than him. If I were the manager of the Cubs however, I would leave him out of late inning pressure situations and let him handle the seventh inning, or just use him based on matchups. Now maybe all this excess use the Cubs relievers have gotten this season has tired Howry out and that's why he gave up the homerun to new Cubs-killer Gary Bennet, but when Howry came on to pitch that ninth inning last night I just had a gut feeling that he was going to blow it. On the year Howry has four saves, though he also has four blown saves. In addition, in one of his saves on July 2, he gave up 3 hits making things rather uncomfortable against the White Sox. In another of his saves he came in to record just one out. So all in all he is 4-8 in save opportunities. In those eight appearances these are Howry's numbers: 6 IP, 13 H, 7ER, 1BB, 4K for an ERA of 10.50. That is not what you would like to see from a highly paid setup man and those numbers do not include last nights game obviously as it wasn't a save opportunity. In all these nubmers are embarrasing and Dusty should be aware of this before he inserts Howry into another ninth inning situation.

Pierre vs. Pie: Who Should Play Center in 2007?

2006-08-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here's an article I posted for CubsHub.com comparing Juan Pierre and top Cubs prospect Felix Pie.

Oh Goodness Gracious...

2006-08-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well, just as the Cubs seem to be dying, so does this website. Ok, not really because I have too much fun posting but gosh, this is tough. If anyone was wondering why absolutely nothing has been posted on this website it is because I was on vacation in Wisconsin and had no access to the internet. That, combined with the fact that the Cubs have been on a downward spiral have made it just a little difficult to Keep Hope Alive. However, let's assess where we as Cubs fans are at this moment in the dog days of summer:

Well, this is a familar position to be in, 20 games under .500 for the five hundreth time this season. I honestly thought the Cubs had turned a corner and were headed back to single digits below the mark to allow the most optimistic of fans a chance to dream about a possible wild card berth but instead, our boys in blue have begun to tire out...much like Mark Prior's shoulder.

It is August 13th and we are 48-68; 11 games behind Cincinnati. With Prior joining Wood and Derrek Lee on the DL chances are slim that we have any shot of making a push in the Wild Card, however with eight against Cinci in the final two weeks of the season and still more than a month to play I believe we are still, sorta, kind of alive. Ha, ok, the '06 Cubbies have basically been long dead for a long time, but who's to say they can't come back? Angel Guzman did his best to douse any hopes for this Cub team, as well as any hopes for him as a major league starter last night. This is too bad, I absolutely am in love with his stuff. With last night's performance though, it appears that Guzman will be best suited to a relief role in the major leagues.

Carlos Marmol starts today and that is always good news for Cubs fans, I think he can be a solid number two starter in this league so lets evaluate, and salivate at his stuff today. With a plus fastball that can reach 94 as a starter and that tight breaking ball, Carlos Marmol is a bright spot among Cubs rookie pitchers. He also appears unintimidated on the mound. He does not seem to ever back down and is not afraid to go after hitters (much like Sean Marshall), Marmol's only problem however, is throwing strikes. As a rookie with limited minor league innings, this appears to be a problem that will get better as Marmol eats up more major league innings.

Let's review the rookie options the Cubs are looking at heading into 2007: The first rookie to appear was Sean Marshall who has his head screwed on right and looks like he knows how to pitch and not just throw when he takes the mound. He has good downward movement on his fastball and can usually spot it well, making his big breaking curveball even more effective. While nothing is set in stone, one has to think Marshall will be in the rotation next year.

The next rookie to appear was Angel Guzman. Guzman can hit 98 on the gun and has great movement and nasty overall stuff but like any young pitcher, he struggles to throw strikes. The Cubs used him in the begginning of the year and he did relatively well in my opinion. His ERA was a touch under five but he had more strikeouts than innings pitched and one could see his potential. Last night, however, Guzman showed that he is not quite ready for the big leagues as a starter.

Rich Hill was promoted at the end of April and struggled, struggled some more and was then demoted after the Barrett-AJP game. Hill has put together a couple good starts in a row before getting knocked around by the Rockies last time out. Clearly he has potential to be a good starter in the majors. Seeing him pitch well one start and then dominate the next one is encouraging. With the rest of the '06 season to put together some consistency I think he could be a good option by the time April rolls around next year.

Marmol came next and with his experience this year, combined with his potential, I would not mind seeing him in the rotation with Marshall and Zambrano next year.

JKU was the next to see the mound. The big Korean started his first game against the Braves in the game where the record ammount of home runs by the opposition was set against the Cubs. Ryu went less than two innings and got knocked around. His minor league numbers have been pretty decent, but nothing to write home about. I would not mind seeing him in the bullpen in a long relief role, hopefully filling the spot that Glendon Rusch has (PLEASE designate him for assignment my gosh!). He definitely needs more time around big league hitters before he becomes a starter because I just don't think he has the talent to go against major leaguers right now and consistently get them out.

Juan Mateo won his first start against the Pirates last week. Like Marmol and Marshall he jumped straight from Double A and has had some limited success. I think he should face Triple A competition for a little while before being promoted again to the majors but a relief role for the Cubs could be helpful in his development. He has nice movement on a 90+ MPH fastball but nothing overwhelming. He could be a decent starter, or a good option in the bullpen but not anytime soon in my opinion.

For the rotation next year all we as fans really know to be certain is that Carlos Zambrano will be pitching opening day. One has to figure Mark Prior to be healthy by the time pitchers and catchers report to spring training next year and that Hendry will count on him for one of the rotation spots. If we see the regular old injured Prior in spring training I think with all the experience rookies have been getting this year that we might be able to do a little damage control. I think the rotation next year will look like this:

1. Carlos Zambrano
2. Mark Prior
3. Free Agent acquisition (we can hope for Schmidt or Zito...I'm holding out hope for Schmidt)
4. Sean Marshall
5. Carlos Marmol

Waiting in the wings: Angel Guzman, Donald Veal (please promote him)

I think that rotation should be a quality one for the 2007 Cubs. Marshall and Marmol would make quality back of the rotation guys and Z and Prior should be able to anchor the top two spots. If the Cubs were just able to sign a reliable starter for the three spot I think we will fare well.

As far as the bullpen goes, assuming we stick to 12 pitchers, let's do a rundown of who could be in there...or more specifically, who I want to be in there:

CL - Ryan Dempster (yeah I know he sucks ha I think with consistent innings he should be fine)
SU - Scott Eyre
SU - Bob Howry
ML - Michael Wuertz
ML - David Aardsma
Lefty Specialist - Will Ohman
LR - Angel Guzman

Assuming we somehow get rid of Rusch, there should be a place for Guzman, where I think he would be a great long relief option to eat innings and gain experience. I really like Wuertz and his slider and David Aardsma can be a very good bullpen guy and I think he is showing that this year. Will Ohman's stats are incredibly interesting to look at. His batting avg. against this year is a mere .219, now this is partly due to the fact that he mainly faces lefty's but hey, that's the guys job and he is doing it well if you look at that BAA. Last year his BAA was .209. The interesting thing is that his ERA last year was 2.91 and this year it is 4.74. So the obvious next stat to look at are walks and this is where the plot thickens. Last year, Ohman walked 0.56 men per inning pitched, this year that number has decreased to 0.47. This does not make any sense. On to home runs allowed. Last year Ohman allowed 0.67 home runs per nine innigs; comapare that to this year's number of 0.58 and one is simply baffled at how Ohman's ERA has risen 1.83 points in one year despite better peripheral numbers. Strikeouts have stayed stable between this and last season at just above 9 per 9 innings. The only number that has varied just slightly is hits allowed. In 43 innings in 2005 Ohman gave up 32 hits. This year in 49 innings Ohman has given up 41 hits. Not a whole lot of difference there but it is really the only number that has gone in a negative direction for Ohman. The conclusion? Ohman has been very unlucky this year. He may not be as good as his 2005 numbers indicated, however, he is a lot closer to the 2.91 ERA than his current 4.74 ERA. Strikeouts are up, walks are down and home runs allowed are down. These are all very encouraging signs for the left-hander and hopefully the Cubs will continue to give him innings this year and pencil him in for next year as well.

Hee Sop Ortiz?

2006-08-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

It is really frustrating to be a Cub for many different reasons but one of the most irritating things about rooting for the Cubs is the fact that their top prospects rarely amount to anything. Recently, Carlos Zambrano is about the only home-bred Cub one can boast about. True, Kerry Wood had success, but he’s an overall bust. Mark Prior still can be good but right now the jury is out. As one digs deeper there are first round busts like Louis Montanez, Ryan Harvey and Bobby Brownlie. Of the recent prospect busts one always has to think of Bobby Hill and of course the burly Korean, Hee Sop Choi. While neither player has been very near a Major League ball field for quite some time now, it appears that Hee Sop Choi may be available as the Red Sox have just placed him on waivers.

Cubs, what are you waiting for? Go get him!

Ok, Hee Sop Choi may not be the prospect he once was but guess what Cubs fans, what do we have to lose? John Mabry does not exactly strike fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers when he swings and misses consistently at any fastball that flirts with 90 mph. Nevin the Neanderthal is another story, however, what good is a 35-year-old first baseman to this Cubs team? Nevin can help us in the short term, sure, but he is only useful to this team as a guy who can help try to keep our season loss total under 100 games—and that’s only if Dusty actually plays him, which he hasn’t lately.

Why not put Nevin on waivers and try to trade him to the Red Sox for Choi? The Sox, just like any other team, could use a cave man with pop off the bench. The only problem with this scenario would be if the Yankees, or some other team in the AL competing for the playoffs, blocks the waiver by putting in a claim of their own. If multiple teams put in a claim for a player on waivers before the three day waiver period is over then the team with the lowest record wins the waiver. The Cubs then would have the choice of retaining Nevin, or letting him go and allowing the other team to take on Nevin and assume his contract. If the Cubs are able to sneak him past teams who may want to block the waiver request, then why not take a flier on Choi?

Off of the bench Choi could be a valuable piece of the 2007 Chicago Cubs. Each of the last two seasons in less than 400 at-bats, Choi has had a batting average right around .250 and hit 15 home runs. Those above average numbers are made valuable by his consistently high on-base percentage that has earned him an OPS right around .800. Not bad for a bench guy who is still entering his prime.

One thing to keep in mind as a fan is the massive ascent to greatness that saw David Ortiz go from an average player with some pop to one of the greatest players in the game today—at the ripe old age of 28. When Ortiz was 26 he was not even an afterthought of any talent evaluator. That year, 2001, he split time at first base with the Twins, putting up mediocre numbers: .234/.324/.475 with 18 home runs and 48 RBI in 303 at-bats. While nothing really jumps out from these numbers, the on-base and slugging percentages do look promising. As a comparison, when Hee Sop Choi was the same age last year his numbers looked like this: .253/.336/.453 with 15 home runs and 42 RBI in 320 at-bats. Eerily similar numbers to the 2001 version of Not-so-Big Papi.

No, Hee Sop Choi is not and most likely never will come close to reaching David Ortiz numbers (and at 27-years-old his numbers look nothing like Ortiz’s did at the same age) though, the two players do look incredibly similar through the earlier stages of their careers. David Ortiz did not break onto the scene until he was 28 and did not become a superstar until the following year. Maybe there is hope for Hee Sop Choi, either way, it cannot hurt the Cubs to give the big man a third of a season at first base and let him play out the rest of the ’06 season in blue pinstripes.

Dusty Baker caught on tape holding Neifi's hand in Boy's Town

2006-08-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, while this may really have happened, it is not true as far as I know but it might as well be. Dusty Baker's infatuation with Neifi "I couldn't take a pitch to save my life" Perez has officially gone WAY too far. So the Cubs trade for Cesar Izturis to be their shortstop. Great. Wonderful. He's a Gold Glover. Slot him right in there. And Baker did, only he decided instead of letting Ronny Cedeno get experience right away at second base he would rather Neifi take over there FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON. Ok, actually there is a reason; and I quote from Baker's mouth, "Ronny didn't have the rigtht glove." Are you serious, I mean really Dusty, are you serious? How many professional baseball players are in your clubhouse? How many gloves do you think they own? This was not the only reason Dusty gave, saying that Ronny still needed to get used to the footwork at second. Um, is it just me, or was Todd Walker just playing second base a few days ago. The same Todd Walker who has all of ONE stolen base in three seasons with the Cubs. If my eyes do not decieve me, Ronny Cedeno may have one of the most athletic lower bodies of any player I have ever seen. I am pretty sure the footwork is not going to be a problem. This coming from Baker only 24 hours after Jim Hendry was quoted saying they made sure Ronny saw plenty of time at second in the off-season to be prepared for a future move to the position. Did he just forget? He is a Major League baseball player for GOODNESS SAKE! Dusty, don't you think that Ronny needs as much time as is humanly possible working with Izturis? This could be the future double-play combination for your Chicago Cubs for the next five years, but hey, let's give Neifi the nod at second today. Forget the fact that he's thirty years older than Ronny and has no business starting games for a team that is 19 games below .500. I love my Cubbies; I don't even mind Neifi Perez, I think he's a good bench player. But Dusty Baker, how do you reward us with this? We have suffered through two thirds of a season of your boneheaded moves and SOMEHOW you survived it and got a vote of confidence from your boss Jim Hendry for the rest of the season. This is how you reward us. This is how you reward Jim Hendry for making the trade i the first place and for letting you keep your God-forsaken job. By spitting in the face of the fans and the organization by having an absolute COMPLETE disregard for the future of this team. Dusty Baker, you are my least favorite person in the entire world.

Trader Jim

2006-07-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

Greg Maddux, we salute you. Todd Walker, get your slow ass to San Diego and send that big Dominican kid over here as fast as you can. In case you missed it, both Walker and Maddux were traded away by the Cubs today. Walker heads to San Diego to play third base while Maddux will become part of the Los Angelos Dodgers rotation.

The Todd Walker deal is the one that excites me the most. In exchange for Walker the Cubs recieved Jose Ceda; a young, raw right hander out of the Dominican Republic. Listed at 6' 4" 240 lbs., Ceda's fastball has reportedly been clocked at 99 mph. This kid sounds scary...and i love it. Can anyone say Carlos Zambrano? Yeah, yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself but after the lackluster Scott Williamson trade which yielded two subpar Single A players, it is nice to actually have a prospect to get excited over. In addition to Ceda, Walker's departure means that the Cubs can finally get a good look at Ryan Theriot at second base.

Or can they?

A little while after trading away Todd Walker, Jim Hendry traded Greg Maddux to the Los Angelos Dodgers for shortstop Cesar Izturis. Izturis, 26, is coming off of Tommy John surgury and has not had regular playing time this season. The good thing is that Izturis won a gold glove while hitting .288 in 2004. The bad thing is that he is basically a clone of Neifi Cedeno. This means that Cub fans really do not have much to get excited about. It also means that Ronny Cedeno should move over to second base, a move that seemed inevitable and means that Ryan The Riot will likely spend more time on the bench than out in the 100 degree sun.

Overall I give Jim Hendry a solid B on the day. I love the Todd Walker trade and Cub fans could not expect anything better for a guy who was below average defensively, had all of six homers this year, and who is a free agent at the end of the season. I give Hendry an A on this trade. What brings my overall grade down is the Maddux trade. Yes, I know it is better to get something rather than nothing for a guy who will not be back next year, however, I just feel as though Hendry could have found a younger player with upside in the Dodgers Double A system, rather than bring aboard a good player, but a player who brings nothing new to this team. I give him a C for this trade. As a whole, I think it is a good day for Cub fans. We did not lose much, because I feel as though if Angel Guzman takes over for Maddux in the rotation then he can pitch just as well, if not better, than Maddux and his 4.50 ERA. Also, if it ends up being Izturis and Cedeno up the middle then we will have at the very least improved our defense and should be better for it.

Here's to another four game sweep baby!

Not in the Cards...bitches

2006-07-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Cubs. For those of us who have continued to watch, sometimes in horror, these 2006 Chicago Cubs, through the endless DL stints, to the simultaneous slumps of Juan Pierre and Aramis Ramirez, this weekend almost made one completely forget that there was baseball being played before the All Star break.

0-10. Never before has the record "oh and ten" felt better than it does on this muggy Chicago Sunday evening because that is the St. Louis Cardinals record in Sweet Home Chicago this year. Absolutely nothing makes me happier than seeing the perplexed, frustrated, and eventually pissed off look on Tony La Rusa's face after the Cubs grinded out win after win this weekend. In the end the four game set against St. Louis resulted in the Cubs first four game sweep of the Cards in over 30 years and set their highest win-streak of the season at four games.

Carlos Zambrano is unstoppable. I know, some may think that eventually all of the praise exuding from this site for Carlos may wind up jinxing the young stud, but one simply cannot help themselves when it comes to our favorite burly Venezualen! Nine wins in a row. Twelve wins on the season. Well on his way to a Cy Young award at the deliciously young age of 25. Goodness, can life get much better after the Cubs punish last year's Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter while Big Z goes out there and mows down Jim Edmonds and crew?

Maybe all of this "winning" business is clouding my better judgement, but hey, what the hell, why not take an in-depth look at the realistic chances that the Cubs begin one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history.

Currently, the Cincinnati Reds lead the Wild Card by a game and a half over the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 55-50 record. The Cubs sit 11.5 games back with a 43-61 record. Previously on this blog, it was posted that the Cubs could lose 77 games and make the postseason and I firmly believe that is still true. Going eight games over .500 with a record of 85-77 would presumably put the Cubs in the playoffs with the Wild Card spot.

No one in the East other than the Mets are over .500 for the year, so in my book, the Wild Card will not come out of that division. The West is a carosel that continues to spin, with a new team in first place every week. It is really hard to argue one team being better than another in that division so my guess would be that those teams will continue to beat each other up and all wind up around .500, meaning the Wild Card team will not come out of that division either. This leaves the Cubs competition for the final playoff spot squarely within their own division. Boo ya.

In the loss column, the Cubs are five games behind Houston, six behind Milwauke and eleven behind the Wild Card-leading Cincinnati Reds.

The trade that sent Carlos Lee to the Rangers and Kevin Mench, Fransisco Cordero and Laynce Nix to the Brewers has to weaken Milwaukee. It was a smart move for the Brewers because now they have a left fielder for beyond 2006 and also a potential closer, however, for this year the trade weakens their team.

Houston has problems but for different reasons. After a hot start, Morgan Ensberg's bat cooled off severely and now he is on the DL. Trading for Aubrey Huff was a good move, however, he is marginally better than Jason Lane who was sent down to Triple A. The real problem with Houston, other than their offense, is their closer Brad Lidge. Something simply has to be wrong with Lidge. The closer came in to shut down the D-Backs today and promtly gave up a run, recording only one out and raised his ERA to 5.77. On the offensive side of the ball Lance Berkman has been outstanding, however, Cubs fans will attest right away to the fact that a team needs more than just one consistenly contributing superstar in order to win games.

Becoming a star in Cinci after a stellar first half, it appears the league has figured out Bronson Arroyo. After giving up 15 home runs in 130 first half innings, Arroyo has already given up 5 bombs in 21 and 2/3 innings in the second half. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Arroyo and Arron Harangatang are legit starters, however, after those two there is not much to speak of for the Reds starting rotation. Eric Milton is horrible. Moving on, the kid Elizardo Ramírez dasnt been bad, but he is nothing to brag about. To round out the rotation is Justin Germano. Who the heck is Justin Germano? Apparently a rookie that no one has heard of, I don't see this kid leading the Reds on any kind of a playoff run. That said, the Reds have a pretty solid lineup, even though they hurt themselves by trading away Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns. Are the Reds as good as their 55-50 record says? Maybe, but that is it. I see them playing .500 baseball the rest of the way.

For the Cubs to make the playoffs they would have to go 42-16, meaning they have to play .725 baseball here on out. They need to become the Detroit Tigers of the first half, on steroids. This is not realistic. What could maybe, possibly, in our wildest dreams happen is that the Cubs play .667 baseball the rest of the way. Let's see where that puts us: that means roughly 39 wins in our next 58 games; a 39-19 record which would give the Cubs an 82-80 record. You never know, with a record above .500 that could give the Cubs a wildcard spot. If the Reds regress as expected (by me) and the other teams beat themselves up anything could happen. The Cubs have seven games against Cincinnati in the last two weeks of the season so guess what? I am going to keep my hope alive baby!

D-Lee DL-ed

2006-07-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well, as much as I love watching Derrek Lee pound a ball onto Waveland, or make a backhanded stab at first base, news of him being put on the DL is probably good news for Cubs fans. It was just painful watching his plate appearances lately. I don't know how many called-third-strikes he looked at in the past month, but I would venture to guess that it was more than he looked at all season long last year. When D-Lee is looking at pitches knee high, middle in instead of using that short and sweet stroke to punish the ball something is not right.

I guess Phil Nevin is one happy camper.

As Derrek heals up and gets ready for our World Series run next year, hopefully Nevin the Neanderthal can increase his trade value--and he has so far tonight. Hitting a blast after Ramirez tattooed a pitch to left, the Cubs have now gone back-to-back three different times in the past week. Before this stretch they hadn't gone back-to-back all season long. It sure is a good thing that Ronny didn't make the trip with the rest of the WGN 720 radio crew or else he might've had to be taken out of the booth and into the emergency room with a heart attack for how excited he has to be that people are finally winning money in the back-to-back-jacks game. Ron, I hope your wife is near as you're undoubtedly listening to these games on the radio.

With D-Lee's departure to the DL and assuming that the Cubs do trade Phil Nevin (not garaunteed) then who takes over first base for August and September? In a perfect world Todd Walker will also be traded and he is the only other real canidate on the team to play first. Let's take a look at some possible scenarios:

Michael Barrett plays first:
This is probably not very likely, but it would give Barrett some extra at bats in the lineup and would also allow the Cubs to try out some minor league catchers for the last two months of the season. With Henry Blanco's contract up after the season, the Cubs may want to see if either Geovany Soto in Triple A, or Jake Fox in Double A are ready for full-time duty in the majors possibly in 2007.

A Minor Leaguer is called up:
This is probably even less likely than Barrett playing first for the simple fact that we are really strapped for talent at first in the minors. Micah Hoffpauir has shown great power so far this year with 10 home runs in only 138 Double A at bats before being promoted to Iowa where he has 10 homers in 195 at bats. His batting average, however, was .268 and .251 at West Tenn and now Iowa. A positive sign though from the power hitter Micah is a great walk-strikeout ratio. Combined between the two leagues is he has walked 45 times to 77 strikeouts. While he does have his fair share of K's he also has shown the ability to take a free base, similar to Reds monster and Cub-killer Adam Dunn.

Playing first base right now for the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx is Brian Dopirak. The former Baseball America Cub's number one prospect has been fighting an injury this year and has been less than impressive at Double A.

John Mabry takes over:
Oh geez I really hope that this doesn't happen. I don't even think there is much to write here other than this choice would make zero sense at all, but with the Cubs coaching staff I could easily see it happening.

Other than these options there isn't much else I could see the Cubs doing. Im sure Dusty could find a way to put Neifi at first though. Other than a trade for a first baseman which would make less sense than Mabry playing first I think the Cubs would be out of options. Personally, I like the Michael Barrett moves to first base option the best. It would be nice to see if Barrett could play the position again (he played first in 2002 for the Expos) and give the Cubs the option of getting his bat in the lineup more often next year. If Nevin and Walker are both traded it will undoubtedly be interesting to see how the Cubs handle first base.

CubsHub.com

2006-07-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

I have started writing a bit for a larger Cubs Blog called Cubs Hub so this post is actually directing you to that site. The write up is on Aramis Ramirez and has some interesting statistics on him. Check it out, it's a cool site.

Shades of Oz

2006-07-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

Seeing Greg Maddux face Roger Clemens last night was undoubtedly a sight to see, and as one may expect Clemens came out on top when the dust was settled, however, that is not to say that Maddux did not pitch well. In another otherwise meaningless game for the Cubs, Maddux hopefully increased his trade value with solid all-around numbers through seven innings.

The focus of this particular post, however, centers around similarities I noticed between two different Cub and Astro pitchers; Carlos Marmol and Roy Oswalt. Going back to Monday night's matchup, while watching these two pitchers deal, I noticed traits that both of these men share. First one notices the size of the two pitchers. On the mound they both appear short and without a lot of meat on their bones. Marmol measures out to be 6' 2" 180 pounds, while Oswalt tops out at 6' and 185 pounds. After the purely cosmetic appearance similarities one will notice that both have equally quick motions to the plate. Both pitchers bend their right knee to the extreme as they attempt to generate the power needed to release the ball at an accelerated speed, and in both of their cases, the power generated from this quick yet powerful motion results in a fastball that tops out at about 98 mph and settles in comfortably from 91-94 during the course of a game. Each pitcher also features a decieving curveball that can be placed with precision. Oswalt has developed multiple curveballs throughout his career thus far while Marmol only features his tight-spinning breaking ball.

From watching both men pitch, each releases the baseball from a similar armslot as well. However, upon a closer statistical analysis, differences between the two pitchers are found. When one digs deep to find out how each pitcher retires most of the batters he faces, the stats show a wide gap in the ground ball to fly ball ratio of Oswalt and Marmol. Thanks to Jon at http://topcubsprospects.blogspot.com, one can see that Oswalt records many more of his outs via the groundball, as seen by his GB-FB ratio of 1.81 while Marmol's ratio is only .75. The league average ratio of 1.17 lies right in the middle of these two numbers, so one can see that these two pitchers have a decidedly different way of retiring major league batters at this point in their careers. Some possible explanations for this gap between two pitchers with similar size and stuff is the fact that Oswalt has been in the league far longer than the rookie Marmol and has learned to pitch in on the hands of right-handed hitters in order to coax weak ground balls. As Marmol matures he should also learn how to "pitch" and not necessarily just how to "throw." Being a converted catcher, Marmol still has a wealth of pitching knowledge that he can soak up sitting in a dugout with Greg Maddux and Carlos Zambrano. In fact, Zambrano is said to be a mentor to Marmol--I cannot think of any better knews for the youngster than this. While I am not saying Carlos Marmol is, or will be Roy Oswalt, I think the similarities are notable. Marmol is a talented pitcher with great stuff, and with the right direction, I think he can develop into a dynamite starting pitcher on this Cubs staff.

In Dusty We Trusty!

2006-07-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Do I have your attention? Ok, I thought so. Do you remember this endearing slogan? Goodness, I remeber at the beginning of the '04 season seeing a gigantic banner bearing those blasphemous words on an apartment complex while riding the Red Line to Wrigley and thinking, "aren't we overdoing it just a little bit guys." Not that I cared a whole lot, I had to like Dust-in-the-wind at least a little bit that year, I mean I was still high as a kite after the tear-wrenching yet beautiful 2003 season. However, thinking about that banner now simply triggers a signal to my brain to send a gag reflex to my throat as I try my hardest not to throw-up. Hopefully this time next year we can all have a nice laugh at the unemployed Dusty, who we unintelligibly put our "trusty" in. In that perfect world, left field will be patrolled by Carlos Lee, Alex Rodriguez will be playing shortstop and our Cubbies will be in the heat of the Central Division race with those pesky Cardinals.

However, what if (gasp) Dusty is retained and given an extension!?

Just when one thinks the plight of the Cub fan cannot get much worse, this scenario comes to mind, giving Cub fans around the world a reason to never tune into WGN again. Ok, well I still will, but I can just see the flock of ex-Cub fans sprinting to the South Side. But lets just say for whatever reason, the Cubs decide that Dusty is the best option for the future. If this really is the case then you have to give him the extension NOW! Dusty Baker is managing like a man who has no clue as to the direction of his team, his organization, or his future as a member of the organization.

The Cubs must either extend him or fire him and sign a long-term replacement right stinkin now. If not, then Baker will continue to play his veterans every day, will argue not to bring up Rich Hill, and will continue to go to Boys Town with Glendon and Neifi every weekend. However, if Baker is given an extension then maybe he would actually consider the future of this team seeing as his employment would be invested in these young players. I know it is a horrible thing to think about, but if the Cubs truly want to grow and become a better team for 2007 a decision needs to be made and very soon.

Who am I?

2006-07-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Cubs need to take a lesson from Derrek Zoolander and ask this question. Who are they? Because while the goal is to win as many games as possible, the answer to that question is not "we are a solid team in the thick of a playoff race." This being the case, the Cubs need to find out now which players are major league producers, and which are simply career minor leaguers. This time next year this team had better not have gone through six rookie pitchers, and discovering in season who can play and who can't. This is why I do not understand why when Mark Prior goes down the team called up Ryan Theriot (who has been playing well at Triple A) instead of Rich Hill, who has been absolutely dominating at Iowa. I mean, how much sense does it make to trot out Glendone Rusch and 7.48 ERA to go along with his 1.66 whip when Rich Hill has not a thing left to prove at Triple A? As opptimistic as I have been, the magic number is down to 21, so with 71 games left the Cubs need to go 50-21 to make the playoffs...ha, while I won't say it isn't possible, I will say its obviously not probable. So after promoting Ryan Theriot from Triple A when Prior went on the DL--and then after his double, triple and stolen base on Saturday--why the hell isn't he in the lineup on Sunday? Todd Walker is going to be traded soon, or at the very least be on another squad come March of '07 so why is he in the starting lineup? We need to be looking to the future and assesing our assets and options for the next season. Can Ryan Theriot play a quality second base and contribute at the major league level? Who the heck knows! but I do know that we're not going to find out if we bench the guy. Subsequently, Todd Walker starts, commits two errors in one inning and allows eleven runs to score--in that ONE inning! Insanity! What a time to be a Cubs fan, at the very least show us what the young guys can do! But nooo, Dusty said he wasn't going to change, he's never played the young guys so why start now? Maybe it is because he's a selfish tooth-pick guzzling DustBag who believes that walks "clog the bases." A selfish and ignorant manager who is concerned with scrapping out as many victories as it takes with his veterans to try and salvage his job. Is he concerned with the youth and the development of the Chicago Cubs as an organization? NO! Why would he be? As far as he can see he is at the end of the line and likely won't be back in 2007, so when it comes to players like Angel Pagan or Ryan Theriot Dusty will most likely opt for John Mabry and Neifi Perez. Well, I am going to keep on watching...who knows, maybe Walker and Mabry will be traded and Baker won't have any choice, or maybe we go 50-21 and make the playoffs. Either way this Cubs team needs a swift kick in the ass.

Relievers in High Demand

2006-07-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

This time of year the premium on reliable relief pitchers is always at its highest but after yesterday's trade involving the Nationals and Reds one can see an example of a team in desperate need of bullpen help overpaying for above average relief pitching. In case you somehow have not heard the paticulars of the trade this is what went down:

The Nationals recieved:
Austin Kearns, RF
Felipe Lopez, SS
Ryan Wagner, RP

The Reds recieved:
Gary Majewski, RP
Royce Clayton, SS
Brendan Harris (ex-Cub prospect), INF
Bill Bray, RP
Daryl Thompson, RP

Majewski is a 26-year-old with an average to below avgerage k/bb and whip, however, he has proven useful posting sub-3.50 ERA's the past two seasons. Everyone knows 67-year-old Royce Clayton and his defense is marginally better than Lopez, however, the Reds would be better off starting Ryan Freel everyday. Harris could wind up being an everyday player someday, maybe next year, however, one can see plainly that the Reds gave up two quality everday producers and in return only recieved one player who is going to help their big league team at all this year. So what does this mean for the Cubs? Well, after we as fans get annoyed as hell at Jim Hendry for not landing Lopez and Kearns himself we can hope that he takes advantage of the market and in turn fleeces another team of solid players. Here is a look at the Cub bullpen and where they will likely be playing on August 1st:

Scott Eyre, LHP:
Scott could be the most valuable relief pitcher on the team. Everyone covets a good lefty and that is what Scott is. He had a sub-2.50 ERA last year and is following that up again this year with fine stats around the board. If traded one would have to believe if Jim Hendry were smart he could land us a good, but not excellent, outfield prospect who could produce as soon as next year. The White Sox are a team in need of relief and I would love to find out the availability of players such as Brandon McCarthy, Ryan Sweeney and Josh Fields. Currently, Eyre is signed to a three-year-deal so it may be in the Cubs best interests to hold onto him. As seen in a perfect example this year, a great back end of a bullpen means nothing if your team can't score runs. If Hendry receives an offer of a top-100 prospect he would have to consider it.
Probability Eyre moves: Not likely. Hendry will not want to admit defeat and trade a guy with two years left on his contract.

Bob Howry, RHP:
Howry is in almost the exact same boat as Eyre. Both are reliable veterans who are among the best at what they do. Howry is in the first year of a multi-year deal as well. The only real difference between the two of these pitchers is the fact that Howry is right-handed. Personally, I would LOVE to see Howry traded. His is a incredibly valuable reliever, however, I believe that if he leaves the Cubs will be able to find a decent right-handed replacement on the free agent market or possibly in their own system. Michael Wurtz has been tearing apart Triple A and could be due for a call up soon. Remeber, Howry blossomed late too. He has not always been the reliable sub-three ERA guy that he is right now and I think Wurtz could replace him next year without too much trouble. The bounty the Cubs could potentially recieve for Howry is limitless, citing the recent Reds trade as an example. Howry is much more reliable and talented than Majewski so I would love to see what the Cubs could potentially stock their farm with if Howry is traded.
Probability the Cubs smartly trade Howry: Not likely, but its a possibility.

Scott Williamson, RHP:
This is the one lock in the entire Cubs organization. Scott Williamson is in the end of an experimental contract that Hendry has been known to give to currently injured players (Williamson, Dempster, Miller) and this roll of the dice may actually work out well. Williamson has a career opponent's batting avg. of .200...pretty impressive. Quality relievers are in demand and while the Cubs wont net for Williamson what they would for Eyre and Howry they still should be able to recieve a talented player in return. Another possibility is that the Cubs package the Neifster in a Williamson deal, similar to how the Marlins packaged Mike Lowell in the Josh Beckett trade. A kind of "if you want one, you've got to take the other also." Hopefully they can use this philosophy to get rid of ridiculous $2 mil+ contracts like Neifi or Rusch this way.
Probability Williamson and his bad attitude hit the road: You better bet your ass he will, if not then Hendry better pass whatever he's smoking my way.

The only other trade possibility would be John Mabry...and if he's not packaged in with another guy the only thing we can expect in return is a new supply of tooth picks and wrist bands to keep DustBag happy.

Raising the White Flag

2006-07-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

As the weather heats up so do the trade winds surrounding major league baseball. And with only a couple weeks left till the July 31st trade deadline, why not assess what current Cub players may be wearing a different uniform come August. I'll go on a rundown of the lineup and comment on any player with a possibility of being traded.

Todd Walker, 2B:
Ok, obviously D-Lee isn't going anywhere so we start off with Walker. Todd has been quoted as saying that he would rather sit on the bench of a contending team than play for the Cubs right now. This is just like Todd Walker because he said the exact same thing to the Cubs a couple years ago when he thought they would contend claiming he would rather sit on the bench in Chicago than play for a team that had less of a chance at the post-season. I'm not bitter towards Todd at all for saying this, he's just speaking his mind. As far as getting traded, it would seem like a good possibility that the Cubs find a new home for a solid hitter who will be a free agent after the season. Finding a possible suitor may be hard in the National League because most of the contending teams are happy at second base leaving the possibility that Todd is traded to an American League team as a DH.
Probability Walker gets traded: Toss-up

Aramis Ramirez, 3B:
Say what? Aramis has been a solid contributer to the Cubs since they traded for him in the summer of '03 but lately he has been falling out of favor with the fans for his lack of hustle. Aramis' recent offensive woes this season most definitely contribute to his falling out of favor, however, he has been turning things around lately and I'm willing to bet he finishes the season with a line something like .285 33 105. From printed reports it appears that Hendry would have a high asking price for Aramis but if any team could meet that asking price it would be the LA Angels who currently have no regular third baseman. LA is loaded with minor league talent, topping the list is SS/3B (possibly) Brandon Wood who is solid defensively and has a lively bat with a lot of power potential. LA also has catcher Jeff Mathis who was highly thought of before the season started as well as hot shot second base prospect Howie Kendrick, who some say could have a batting title or two in his future. The probability that the Angels trade away Kendrick or Wood is minimal so while it sounds good on paper, a deal is not very likely.
Probability Aramis is traded: Not likely

Phil Nevin, 1B/LF:
Nevin was brought over as a short term solution to Derrek Lee's injury, however, Hendry brought him over a few weeks too late. While Phil provided some nice pop in his early Cub at bats he has cooled off considerably since switching to left field. Nevin wasn't a bad idea by Hendry, and this team sure does not miss Jerry Hairston, however, trading Nevin is not likey to bring back any kind of a prospect. An AL team looking for some pop off the bench could be interested in Nevin and the Cubs should be looking to trade him away as he has no real position to play on this team.
Probability Nevin is traded: Not bad

Juan Pierre, CF:
This is the most interesting trade possibility the Cubs have. Juan has begun to turn things around offensively making this a tough decision for Jim Hendry. At the beginning of the season most expected #1 Cub prospect Felix Pie to be ready for the big leagues in 2007, however, at the half-way point this does not seem to be the case. Felix is 7-9 in sb attempts and obviously needs to work on his base-running skills. Not only that, but he is hitting around .255 right now for Triple A Iowa. The positives are that he leads the team in RBI, has 7 home runs which is decent power from a 21-year-old in his first year at AAA. Pie has also legged out 5 triples and a dozen or so doubles. The second half of the season will tell if Pie can play for the Cubs in '07, however, Hendry does not have that kind of evaluation time. The thinking would be that it would be smart to bring back Pierre to play center field...but at what kind of contract? Then one has to ask the question, what is the market for Pierre? Right now the only contending team with real center field problems is the White Sox...interesting. If the Cubs could grab Ryan Sweeny, or somehow get Josh Fields from the Sox farm system they should not hesitate, however a trade probably isn't likely.
Probability Pierre is gone: Not very good.

Zambrano gets Fungoed

2006-07-12T14:23:00.000-07:00

Unreal. UN-Real. This is the only expression that can describe the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan like hit that Carlos was a victim of prior to last night's All Star game. Kerrigan: that would be Zambrano, all set to show the world what he could do against the toughest of competition. Tonya Harding: dare we say...Ozzie Guillen? Perhaps it was National League mangager Phil Garner, whose Astros will have to face Carlos a few times down the stretch as they prepare for a playoff run. Or was it Colonel Mustard, in the Billiards Room with the Candlestick. We will never know exactly what happened to Zambrano Tuesday night, however, these are the facts: the culprit was Joey Cora, and instead of a candlestick he opted to go with a Fungo bat, used to hit ground balls to infielders. Zambrano was busy talking to a reporter near the backstop when Cora, "accidentaly," hit Zambrano in the elbow--conveniently in the throwing elbow.

No one will know for sure if this was simply an accident, however, it is just another blow to the Cubs in a season no one can deny they are ready to forget. Carlos is slated to start this Saturday and the x-rays on his elbow came back negative. He has not hit the DL since 2002 and because he is the Warrior that he is (and because I have a man-crush on him) I think he will make that start and light the New York Mets on fire. Then again I still have hopes for a miraculous comeback in the second half so what do I know.

Zee All Star Game

2006-07-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Who's excited for Kenneth Rogers versus the vaunted Bradley Penny? I sure am! Ok, kidding aside both of these pitchers have some pretty nice stats at the break, even though a Venezuelan showdown of Santana against Zambrano would seem to make more sense. That said, however, Carlos is slated, as heard on ESPN radio, to pitch the third inning of today's game. One would have to think Carlos will be jacked up to pitch, and even if it is just one inning I can't wait to see him on a national stage against the league's best. The only concern is that he gets too pumped up and his balls go all over the place, but I think he'll be just fine personally.

It's a sad day, really, for Cubs fans who could easily have been expecting to see D Lee and Aramis in this All Star game based on last year's performances. A Prior sighting would have been nice as well. As dissapointing as this season has been, however, Cub fans have at least had the pleasure of seeing two near no-hitters from Big Z and I wouldn't doubt if he sniffs another couple in the second half. I have said it before and I will say it again, Carlos Zambrano is the best pitcher in the NL, his only comparable across the majors as far as consistency, age and talent/stuff is Johan Santana. Other than him, Zambrano has no peer. Again, I will say I would not trade this horse for any player in the major leagues. His excitement, love for the game and devestating movement on his pitches makes him a wonder to watch. We should feel blessed to watch this kid, and hopefully, to watch him don his blue Cub jersey for years to come. Best of luck to you tonight, Carlos, and best of luck to the National Leauge...8 losses in a row, are you serious? I think tonight that will change.

Can Rich get over the Hill?

2006-07-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Ok now come on, one player cannot be absolutely dominating at Triple A and then simply suck in the major leagues--or can they? Rich Hill has logged 84 innings so far at Iowa and has struck out 107 batters in that time and walked only 19! His ERA sits comfortably at 1.81 and because of his stellar performance in the Pacific Coast League so far this year, he is scheduled as the starting pitcher for the leagues All Star game on Tuesday.

However, AMAZINGLY, Richard Hill has walked only 4 more batters in his 84 Triple A innings than he has (15) in 19 major league innings. This has obviously led to an ugly 9.31 ERA at the major league level so far in 2006.

What's the deal here Rich? You are easily our best minor leauge pitcher, your control is absolutely impecable at Iowa, but when you come up to the bigs it is as if home plate was the size of Ozzie Guillen's brain. I think like Carlos Marmol is at times, Mr. Rich Hill is simply afraid of major league hitting. Hopefully with his increased and almost unbelievable success, given his major league performances, Hill can gain some confidence heading into the second half of the season. Carlos Marmol and Sean Marshall will both soon be entering uncharted waters as far as innings pitched go here in their first major league seasons (Marshall has already thrown only one third of an inning less this year than he did all of last year and Marmol is a converted catcher). This means that Rich Hill mad need to be called upon by the big league club to come up and eat some innings in late July and August. The question then becomes, what do the Cubs do with Rich Hill? Right now one would have to think his trade value is high given his unreal stats at Iowa and if the Cubs do bring him up and he struggles again then they would only be decreasing his value on the open market. However, one can look at it from the other side of the coin and say that major league GM's have seen what Hill has done in the majors and can simply throw out his Triple A stats and say he's just a AAAA pitcher, meaning that calling him up would not only help the Cubs out, but could prove to erase doubts in the minds of possible trade partners. What I propose is this: Trade him away to the highest bidder NOW! He has to have pretty good value to some team, especially a team like the Cincinnati Reds, who are on the cusp of being a real contender but lack the pitching to do so. If, however, their is no team actively pursuing Hill then I say we should send him back up to the big leagues and see what the man can do by gosh! His ERA is 1.81!!! My goodness, he HAS to be better than the pitcher he has shown while wearing a Chicago Cubs uniform. One trade that was proposed over at Bleed Cubbie Blue was a Rich Hill and Matt Murton for Austin Kearns trade. I think it makes sense, the person who proposed it also stated that the Reds have been interested in Hill before, so now it makes even more sense. The Reds shed future payroll and add pitching and a solid hitter. Reds fans if your out there weigh in, what do you think of this trade? Rich Hill, the best of luck to you, personally I hope it is in another teams uniform but please, whatever they're feeding you in Iowa, bring it to Chicago for goodness sake!

Young...and not so young pitching

2006-07-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

MARMOLADE!...I really love this Carlos Marmol-Aid kid, his stuff is simply electrifying...if only he would challenge hitters with it instead of trying to nibble around the plate and he might have more than just two wins so far in six starts. In his first two appearances with the Cubs he went two innings each outing out of the bullpen and it seemed like all he was concerned with being recently promoted from Double A was throwing strikes. And in these first four innings for the Cubs, Marmol lit the opposing hitters on fire, striking out six, walking none and giving up only three hits. His next outing--his first start of the year--he had more success, going six innings, striking out seven and walking a modest but not great three batters. He got the win. After this first win we can start to see how things began to fall apart for Marmol, and it begins to explain his bloated walk total in his starts since this first one at Cincinnati. His next start came against a red-hot Detroit team and this was the first time Carlos began to feel what its really like to pitch in the big leagues and get knocked around. Carlos continued in the tradition of throwing strikes, however, this time the Tigers were simply hitting his strikes for base hits. In his start at Cinci, Marmol gave up only 2 hits and obviously, this 3-hits per 9-innings rate would not continue. Marmol's line against Detroit looked like this: 6 innings, 7 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Not a good outing at all but at the same time it wasn't horrible either. However, being the first time that Marmol had given up more than one run in an outing I think this game rattled Carlos and from then on he became afraid to give up hits and instead of challenging hitters in the strike-zone with his good stuff, he began to nibble around the plate and therefore began walking more hitters and getting himself into trouble. His following start against Minnesota was his worst of the year, walking four and giving up seven earned runs. However, he matured quickly and followed this up with a solid outing against the Brew Crew, walking only two and giving up just one run. He regressed mightily with seven walks and four earned runs against houston but then again followed that up with last night's strong start against Milwaukee with a Zambrano-like effort in which I'm not sure he, or the hitters knew where the ball was going, seen by his 5 walks, but only 3 hits in six innings. As one can see, when Marmol throws strikes he can be incredibly successful, sometimes his stuff is so good even--like Big Z's--that he can miss the strike-zone but get away with it with hitters chasing bad pitches, or simply not being able to hit the ball at all as seen in last nights game. In the end, all I can say is I am very excited about this kid, and on a night where Cub Nation learned Kerry Wood's career as a Man--not a boy--in blue might be over, Carlos Marmol is a reason to have hope for the future.

24

2006-07-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

24. That is our magic number. After plugging many various formulas in and out of spreadsheets, my friend Chase and I came up with a number a few days ago that became the number of games the Cubs are allowed to lose from here on out if they want to make the postseason. A few days ago that number was 26--then the Cubs decided to promptly lose their next two games--that number is now 24. After yesterday's win the Cubs have presevered the number 24 for one more day. After tonight's game against Capuano that number could very easily move to 23, however, I think Greg Maddux may have a few tricks up his sleeve tonight for the Brewers.

Speaking of the Brewers, it appears to me that our pals up I-94 are the new team to beat in the Central. No, they don't have Albert Pujols, but I believe they have a better supporting cast than the Cards do. Jim Edmonds is old and way beyond his prime. Scott Rolen is injury prone, and while a good player still, he is a shaddow of the monster player we saw in 2004. The Brewers, on the other hand, have a beast in C-Lee and youth to back him up. Prince Fielder is a masher who is actually hitting for avg. and stealing bases to go along with his moon-shots. Rickie Weeks is one of the most talented young players in the game and they will be even better when short stop J.J. Hardy returns. Bill Hall must be on HGH to have 17 or so homers and they also have solid veterans like Damien Miller and Geoff Jenkins. To go along with all this I like their pitching staff better than the Cards as well. What all of this means is that if the Cubs can somehow win this four game series to close out the break then you never know what the second half will hold.

24 left boys, lets try to keep it that way for at least one more day.

Cubs Trade for.....A-Rod?

2006-07-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

On Sunday at Bleed Cubbie Blue a rumor was started that apparently came from a reliable source. This rumor said that the Cubs and Yankees were discussing a trade that would send Aramis Ramirez and Jacque "Strap" Jones to New York in exchange for Alex Rodriguez. Wow. In an otherwise forgetable Cubs season this would be a reason to continue to watch and have hope for the future. We are talking about one of the greatest players of all-time. A Gold-Glover at two different positions. High on-base, high OPS, more power than Ramirez, better glove than Ramirez or Cedeno and we would also rid ourselves of JJ's contract at the same time. And you know, I could actually see it happening. A-Rod continues to get booed at Yankee Stadium and the Yankees are not strangers to trading superstars away as seen by the Soriano for A-Rod trade a couple years ago. Needless to say I would love it if this trade went down, especially considering that Aramis might choose to excercise his player option after this year and test an extremely weak third base market in free agency.

Another rumor that's out there has the Cubs trading Michael Barrett away. At first I don't like this idea at all. Barrett is one of the best hitting catchers in the majors right now and is just 29. However, I heard something on the radio today on the way home from work that was interesting. When current Sox catcher A.J.P. was traded from the Twins to the Giants a few years back the Twins netted in return phenom super-star in the making Fransico Liriano, lights-out closer Joe Nathan and you've been "Boofed" Bonser, the man who legally changed his name from John to Boof. That's one heck of a return on a decent hitting catcher. Barrett has more power than A.J. and a similar avg. to A.J.'s back in '03. If the Cubs could get similar talent in return then that would be great, go ahead and pull the trigger. Jake Fox is playing well in the minors right now and could be ready to catch next year.

Generally, I am against breaking apart key players from my Cubs teams. I hated the Sosa trade rumors years ago that would have brought Alfonso Soriano and Ted Lilly from the Yankees to the Cubs but obviously in retrospect that would have been an unbelievable trade. It's just that I get attatched to the players on the team and want to see them succeed and succeed in a Cubs uniform. Entering the year I would never have thought I'd be advocating the trades of Barrett and Aramis but sometimes you just have to break a team apart. The only untouchables on this team should be Zambrano, who I think can be a hall-of-famer, and D-Lee, other than that trade them all away if you think it'll help the club now, later, whenever.

Classic

2006-06-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

An annonymous reader had this to say in response to the last post:

"just for fun i did the math and if carlos lee played a whole season at wrigley (no away games) he would hit 295 home runs."

That's just rediculous.

El Caballo

2006-06-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

Carlos Lee is scary. Maybe it is just because he absolutely obliterates the Cubs at Wrigley but this man instills fear into Cubs pitchers I can just feel it. Every time he steps up to the plate I think the ball is headed straight through the Budweiser sign across Waveland. The rumors out of Milwaukee right now are that team officials have been gauging the interest other teams may have to trade for this beast of a man, most specifically seeing what they could possibly harvest from the Yankees farm system. This has led to many Cub fans saying, "TRADE FOR LEE...GO GET CARLOS." Which, don't get me wrong, would be cool and all but it would not seem like the smartest idea. After this week in Chicago Lee said multiple times that he'd like to play in Chicago next year, citing that his home is still in Chicago, and the fact that his career numbers at Wrigley are about .876 with 55 homers in 115 at bats it would make a lot of sense for him to come home to Chicago. This is why trading for the monster seems misguided because we would be forced to give up our future to land a guy who we would have a good shot at landing in free agency next year.

It seems apparent that my man Matt Murton is not quite polished enough for the big leagues so while we wait for him to hone his skills at Iowa we can have El Caballo man left field and maybe, just maybe our lineup will strike some fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers.

I love it how the White Sox clamor about all of their trades, pretending that they always come out on the better side of the deal. Lee for Podsednik is a great example. The Sox were great last year, obviously, the douchebags won the World Series for gosh sakes but in no way do I think that Lee for Pods was a good trade. The White Sox were good last year because of amazing pitching. They had basically zero offense. They did not have one guy hit .300 last year and their only power was Konerko and a Jermaine Dye who was not nearly as good as he is this year. Yes, Pods did get on base and steal but, for the most part, you can't steal home and the fact of the matter was that the Sox did not score a lot of runs. Carlos Lee score more runs than Pods on his own last year, not to mention driving in 90 more as well. I would LOVE it, if the Sox get rid of Podsednik next year and we land C-Lee and show them what a bone-headed trade it was. Giving up a guy who walks more than he strikeouts out, looks like the Incredible Hulk but still is 12-14 in stolen base attempts, and is on pace for about 50 stinkin home runs this year. Who knows how many he could have in quaint little Wrigley Field. If the Cubs could land him by trading Marshall and a Double A guy like Scott Moore, or maybe a Roberto Novoa then go ahead and let the Brew Crew do a little salary dump action. Otherwise, lets wait till the off-season and spend that money we'll be saving on Wood and Maddux, as well as the money we didn't spend on Furcal and go out and get Carlos, maybe to go along with Zito and turn the tides on an aging team on the South Side.

...On second thought, I change my mind. Trade for him now and make the trade contingent on a contract extension. The Brewers need a third baseman so we give them former Tiger first round pick Scott Moore, and then maybe Novoa would be enough? Ha, we give them both of the guys we got for Farnsworth, now that would be awesome. More realistically we give them Moore and Marshall, but thats a fair trade. That would go a long way for Cubs management to pull that trade off. Hey, we can all Hope right?

Looking Ahead

2006-06-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

It was brought to my attention that only three of the teams in the wildcard hunt are over .500. I found this hard to believe so today I took a look at the standings and this, in fact, is correct. Only the Reds at 42-36, the Dodgers at 40-38, and the Rockies at 39-38 are over the mark. Both the Rockies and Dodgers have weak pitching, and the Reds anchored by Bronson Arroyo and Arron Harangatang do not scare me. I said earlier that the West would beat itself up and a wildcard team would not come out of there, I stick to this, it just makes sense that they'll all wind up around .500 just like last year. This would leave the Reds, the Astros at 38-41, and the Phillies at 35-42 ahead of us who I would see as the only real wildcard competition. Luckily we play the Astros a ton and finish out the first half with them on the road...ha, where we have actually played our best ball. The Phillies have all sorts of problems with their rotation, the whole Brett Myers punching his wife in the face to go along with starting lots of rookies. The Reds, on the other hand historically fall off in the second half and I think this could easily happen again as the National League figures out Arroyo, I figure for him to have a weak second half. These are just more reasons to KEEP HOPE ALIVE.

Comeback City

2006-06-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

I hope you Cub fans had a chance to watch this game. I found myself taking many a "bathroom" break at work to keep up with the action. First off, I loved chanting, "hit a homer Juan" when I'm at a ballgame because you know he has that one homer in him per season and you just never know when it's going to come. It's actually kind of cool thinking, "hey, you never know, he just might put one in the seats, it'll happen one of these days." Today he hit his first homer of the year and maybe with the Cubs taking an early lead the home run helped Carlos Marmol to get into a groove and give us 6 solid innings. This kid was lights out today. I really think he can be a solid major leaguer and hopefully scouts were watching this start because while I like him a lot, it's always nice to see a prospect do well sometimes because then their trade value goes up. 6 and a third today, 8 k's, 2 walks and 2 hits. What a line. I can't decide whether I like Marmol or Guzman more. I like to think of Guzman as a little Zambrano because he can touch 98 and his balls have such impressive movement. Marmol doesn't have quite the stuff that Angel Guzman has but right now it seems that he has better control over it, which really is the only thing that matters. Back to the game though, what better time for a Derrek Lee to hit his first homer back. Gosh, I was excited. I shouted out and clapped my hands so loud I swear everyone in the building probably heard me. Believe it or not, this Cubs team today put together a rally, a real rally meaning consecutive hits....some even with two outs! Ha, we have not seen this Cub team in a long time, when was the last time we saw a two-run homer even? Hey, Derrek Lee is back and we saw today what that means. As happy as I was for the Lee blast I was even happier for the Dempster save. I know I ripped the guy in the last post, and I stick to my opinion, but I felt bad for the guy after last night and you could feel the energy levels at Wrigley just soaring through the roof. I can honestly say that I have not been happier for a Cubs win like I was for this one since the '03 playoffs. Hey, Prior goes tomorrow folks, you never know. Here's to Houston and Cardinal losses later tonight!

The Dumpster Truck Unloads his Trash all over Wrigley, Yet Again

2006-06-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

The closer. Your hard-nosed, gritty, nasty end of the game guy. Sometimes quirky, always eager to forget the previous night's blown save. And that's supposed to be one of their positive attributes, right? That lack of a short term memory. Not letting previous ineffectiveness effect the next nights outing. Well, in the case of Ryan Dempster, this may be part of the problem. Perhaps he forgot that walking guys and allowing the leadoff batter to reach almost always results in a run scored for the opposing team. Last year, SOMEHOW, Mr. Ryan Dumpster led the NL in save percentage. Don't ask me to explain it, this is baseball, crazy shit happens. However, in 2006 we have seen Dumpster for his true colors. We have realized that it is incredibly difficult for him to find the strike-zone...an attribute not generally associated with good closers. Perhaps Dumpster Truck is better suited for middle relief, I would think he's better than just a long reliever, but with his walk rate I would not want to see him in the 8th inning, trying to bridge that gap to the closer. The closer who should be, drumroll please...

KERRY WOOD

Yes, you heard it here first folks. Ok, all kidding aside, and I know everyone has heard this a million times before but it MAKES SENSE. What was he throwing out of the pen last year, 98? With that nasty slider? Come on, this guy can't throw 60 pitches without whining and complaining that he's sorrrre. Sore. Give me a break. But fine, lets baby him and let him just throw 15 pitches at a time, in the ninth and actually WIN games. We can keep Kerry on the north side, we can sign him to a dempster-like contract and then trade Ryan away to a team needing bullpen help, say the Sox. Ha, yes lets dump dumpster on the south side and take one of their prospects away in the meantime. I know Kerry has had occasional control problems, but when he's healthy--and he should be if he's only throwing 45 pitches a week--then he can be incredibly effective and absolutely unhitable. For his career opponents are hitting somewhere around .215 against him. That's through the difficult injury plagued outings as well as the fireballer eras of '98 and '03. Do you guys really want to see our team part with Kerry on these terms? We all know he'll just follow the Corey Patterson path and become a star wherever he goes if we let him leave. Lets sit down with Kerry, explain to him that closers can make $50 million just as easily as starters (B.J. Ryan anyone?) and for the next 5 years we can have a dominant closer and a healthy Kerry Wood.

"Time to admit this seasons over?"

2006-06-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is a text message I just received from a fellow big Cubs fan, my friend Chase. However, I don't agree with him as bad as things are. Haha, because as bad as things are the Astros and the Cards have lost just as many times as we have. What is that, 7 losses in a row for our friends down I-55? The whole National League Central has been embarrassingly HORRIBLE lately and so somehow we really haven't lost much ground lately. This is what I say, lets watch the last few series before the break. If we can be 10 games out of first, or single digits out in the wild card then we have a chance. At least in my mind. I believe our lineup matches up with the Astros and the Cards and Zambrano-Prior can beat any two the Cards throw at us and are just as fearsome as Oswalt-Clemens. Why can't we get hot? Why can't Jim Hendry make a trade? With more than half the season left it is not time for anyone to hang their hats just yet. If you want to do that, then you are just not a true fan. Go put on a White Sox cap if you think this season is over, thats fine with me. I LOVE weeding out the non-fans. If the Bears were 2-5 after the first 7 games of the season, would you give up? No. This is sports, anything can happen. More importantly, this is BASEBALL, come on people this is the craziest f-ing game there is.

Is it any Surprise?

2006-06-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

No, a lefty, a good lefty coming into his own as a pitcher who has always beaten us beat us again. There is no surprise here, I was hoping but not expecting any kind of Cubs offensive breakout. I was not surprised at Greg Maddux's performance either. He went 7 inn, and gave up 5 er...all on long balls. This has been Greg Maddux of late, he keeps your team in the ballgame but he has not dominated a team since April. The first inning rolls around and you can tell Maddux has some good stuff going as he whifs the first two batters. Geoff Jenkins puts one into left for a single but quickly Maddux is 0-2 on the dangerous Carlos Lee. Out loud I said to the TV, "please, dont give him a pitch to hit, this pitch better be nowhere NEAR the plate." Sure enough, in classic Maddux fashion of late he groves a spinning curveball right down the middle and quickly we are down 2-0. As the first inning closed again I said out loud, "this game is over already." Maddux is a good pitcher, and for a team that scores runs Maddux can still win a lot of games, but right now, he and the Cubs are just not a good fit. It is almost too frustrating to watch the Cubs anymore. I found myself switching to the Yankee-Braves game, even to the College World Series towards the end of the game when the Brewers were batting...luckily missing two Prince Fielder moon shots. At least Zambrano goes tomorrow...what is it, 88 games left boys?

Reasons For Hope

2006-06-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a weekend, what a Sunday afternoon. What a HORRIBLE Cub game to watch. You would think with the return of Derrek Lee our band of merry men would rally and step up their play and prevent a sweep at the hands of Boof Bonser and crew. But no, only the Cubs could play their worst baseball of the year on the day their best player returns to the lineup. I'm not even going to go into the dropped balls and idiotic play that can only be the result of Neifi Perez attempting to teach the whole roster how to play defense. No, after yesterdays game it is time to look and scrape for hope in this delicious Cubs season we are having.

Ronny Cedeno
Young, little Ronny has had an excellent first full season in the big leagues so far. He has shown extraordinary range at short, has a strong arm and has shown the ability to hit .300 in the majors for an extended period of play. He has had problems defending the outside corner of the plate, and at times his strong arm has been off target, but these are minor matters when looking at his first full season as a whole. He has excellent speed as well and i believe he can be a 30+ steal threat and a solid hitter the cubs can put in the two-hole for years to come.

Carlos Zambrano
It truly is unreal how effective and consistent Zambrano has been over the last three years after recently turning only 25. With Pedro declining in age, Big Z has shown he can be the National Leauges best starting pitcher for the next decade. Opposing hitters are hitting .191 against Carlos this year. That is absolutely insane. Maybe the best closers in the game, the Gagne's, the Rivera's have opposing batting avg. under .200, but not a starting pitcher. Now I am obviously in no way advocating trading Carlos, but to put things in perspective to show how good I think he is and will be, I don't believe there is one player in professional baseball who's trade value would be higher than Carlos Zambrano's...I would rather have this kid than any other player in the major leagues is basically what I am saying. The only thing holding Carlos back is his walk rate. For whatever reason walks have been up this season for Carlos, with 80 walks in 220 innings pitched last season Carlos already has 60 in just over 100 innings this year. Simply, Carlos' fastball has so much movement that sometimes he just does not know where it is going. Coinciding with this increased walk rate is an increased strikeout rate of one more k per nine innings this year. Lets be pessimistic and say that the walk rate continues for Carlos throughout his carreer, the guy is just too unhittable for opposing teams to do enough damage to him. He has just missed on no-hitters twice this year and we are not even to the halfway point. Carlos Zambrano is the National League's best pitcher and will be for a very long time.

Derrek Lee
...is back. No, he is not a savior. No, he is not the best player in baseball. Yes, Derrek Lee is the best Cub player since Ernie Banks. How can you argue? Ryan Sandberg: gold glover, .300 hitter...could he hit 45 home runs? Sure Sammy Sosa hit 60-something home runs a couple years for us but how many times did he strike out? What was his on-base percentage? What did he contribute defensively? Simply put, if Derrek Lee can perform like he is cabable for the next few seasons, he should go down as one of the best Cub players of all-time, and getting a guy like that back is going to be huge for this team. One player can't make that much of a difference but he basically carried the team last year and we saw what happened when he went down this year. His return should spark an increasingly-hot Aramis Ramirez and you know what, the National Leauge SUCKS ASSS. We have a chance, it may be slim, but it's there with this guy in the lineup everyday.

Phil Nevin
Say what you want about Jim Hendry, but he got us a leadoff hitter...no one complained about the Juan Pierre trade when it happened, we all applauded Hendry and Juan will continue to get better. He also greatly improved the bullpen and we now sport one of the leagues best. The Phil Nevin trade is another bright spot in the dark cloud that has hovered over Hendry's head of late. Hitting .285 for us with 5 jacks already, Phil is the power this lineup needed in addition to Lee and Ramirez. Personally, after seeing Matt Murton's defenisve blunders this season it looks like he needs a year at Triple A to get his head right. He's been pushing at the plate and making stupid mistakes in the outfield. Nevin would look great in left and a Nevin, Pierre, Jones outfield is pretty capable to go along with the solid bats around the horn in the infield.

This team is NOT THAT BAD. We are playing horrible, yes, but we are way too talented for this. Zambrano-Prior will be a great one-two punch down the stretch, the bullpen is rock solid and Maddux consistenly has posted an ERA one run to a full run and a half lower in the second half of the season than the first half. There is time left Cub fans. Lets do the unthinkable and beat a good left-handed pitcher in Capuano tonight, I can't think of anything better for this team than to turn it around against a solid lefty.

Unleash the Mad Dog

2006-06-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

We all know that Juan Pierre looks like a T-Baller in his 3-sizes-too-big hat, but has anyone realized that Greg Maddux looks like a railroad engineer with that giant hat on his frail 40-year-old body? Greg Maddux is a great pitcher...or at least he was a great pitcher and now is a "good" pitcher, but I believe it is in the best interest of the Cubs to trade him and his tiny little head away. I know this is no breaking news to baseball fans out there, but as a die-hard Cub fan and big Maddux supporter I finally agree with the speculation. This is coming from a guy who was 8-years-old back in Maddux's Cy Young year with the Cubs. I was sitting on the couch, unaware of the fact that a pitcher only needed over 5 innings to qualify for a win, and as Maddux went for his twentieth win he was lifted after six innings and I started to cry, thinking that now Maddux would never win his twenty games. Well, I was wrong. Maddux not only won twenty that year but again and again with the Atlanta Braves, and it is this history as a winner, Cy Young awards in toe and the "Future Hall of Famer" stamp firmly planted on his forehead that will make Maddux so attractive to teams such as the Yankees or Red Sox in the coming month.

Hell, all a pitcher needs is ONE good year for the Yankees to invest upwards of $10 million a year for multiple years on a guy--cough, Carl Pavano, Jered Wright. With Maddux's track record I believe a pretty good prospect can be procured from a team such as the Yanks or Sox who have deep starting rotation problems. Never mind that Maddux's ERA is over 4 and when he misses with a pitch in the strike-zone the batted ball ends up bouncing off of satelites in space. Despite all of this, however, the man needs to buy a new house just to hold onto all of his awards and his post-season experience and history will be very attractive to teams in the hunt.

Let's say Kerry Wood really is done for the year, that puts our rotation at; Zambrano, Prior, Maddux, Marshall and say Marmol. When Wade Miller is healthy in a couple weeks he will be in the rotation giving us four veterans, including Maddux, and then Marshall. I am confident that if we trade Maddux away that either Marshall, Marmol, or Guzman who pitched great on Sunday, can come in and post a Greg Maddux ERA of 4.50 for the rest of the year. All we would need is for one of those three to step up, and I'm confident that all three of them are capable of that 4.50 mark that is solid for a fifth starter.

While we're on the topic of trades, I heard news on the radio this morning that almost gave me a boner. I was sitting in horrible traffic on 355 N, when all of a sudden Mike and Mike start talking about a "request" George Steinbrener made to his brass about acquiring one, Jacque Jones from the Cubs. Wow. I like Jacque Jones, he's not bad. When he's not spiking throws to the plate into the ground as if he just scored a touchdown the guy is at least pretty solid at the plate. However, getting rid of him and his contract would give the Cubs some incredible flexibility. Right now the Cubs are handcuffed in right field. When Jones is 34 he is still going to be out there making over $5 million a year and by that point it is going to be hard to unload him. This way, if the Cubs trade him they have the option of signing back Juan Pierre and slotting in the 21-year-old Felix Pie in right field. Or...say the Cubs don't want to sign back Pierre and think Pie can lead off. Then we stick Pie in center and go out and sign a Carlos Lee or Alfonso Soriano to fill out the rest of the outfield with Matt Murton--who is going to be a very solid major leaguer.

Trading Jacque Jones should be a priority for the Cubs I believe. As far as prospects go I like the Yankees Melky Cabrera. He has only played in a month of so of ballgames and is already tied for the league lead in outfield assists with 6. Ha, can you see anyone in our current outfield throwing a player out? Murton MAYBE could, if home plate were at second base then Juan Pierre is your man, and Jacque can cut down all the worms in the world but will never throw out a runner at the plate. The Yanks also have a stud 19-year-old pitcher but I doubt they would part with him, you never know though. Maybe Todd Walker gets packaged in and the Cubs get Robinson Cano and an outfielder? We can all speculate, but the bottom line is trading away Jacque is good for this ballclub. The trade may also free up a position for Phil Nevin to play everyday in right when Derrek Lee comes back. A Pierre--Walker--Lee--Ramirez--Nevin front five could pack a punch.

Down on the Farm

2006-06-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

Since Monday's are often off days for the Cubs and the MLB in general, tuesday's will be a day to check in on some of the Cubs' more promising prospects at different levels of the minor leagues. Our top prospect, as mentioned yesterday, is the future "Michael Jordon of baseball" Felix Pie. Fast little Felix turned 21 this year and hopefully has 30-30 potential in his future. He hits from the left side and while he began to show some real power potential last year, he still needs to work on his base running.

His Double-A season was cut in half last year after suffering a stress fracture in his ankle, but through the halfway point Pie was hitting about .300 with 11 home runs. He has been elevated to Triple-A this year at Iowa and started the season strong but has been struggling of late. Here are his stats:

R HR RBI 2B 3B SB CS AVG OBP OPS

25 6 32 12 4 4 7 .253 .321 .719

The positives one can find in these stats is the strong OBP despite a low avg. Pie also leads the team in RBI's and has shown some power, but overall these statistics are dissapointing for the young star. Pie made a perfect transition to Double-A last year, and it is looking like he was not quite ready for the majors as Matt Murton was last year, going from West Tenn to the majors. Through the first month and a half of the season Pie had been playing well so hopefully he can bounce back with a strong second half and prove he belongs on the big club. One big concern though is the baserunning stats. A player with his speed should never get caught stealing as much as he does. It is rumored that when he gets thrown out he becomes very frustrated and does not attempt another stolen base for a while. What is clear about Felix, however, is that he has a great character, is always smiling and wants to win more than anything else. Hopefully he'll be manning the outfield on the north side in the near future.

As far as pitchers go at Iowa, Rich Hill continues to be lights out, posting a 2.38 ERA to go along with 76 strikeouts in just 56 innings. His walks also remain down, at just 12, so this is a good sign...if only he can remember where the strike zone is when he hits the big leagues because command has been his only detterant whenever he is promoted.

At Double-A West Tenn Corey Patterson's brother Eric continues his solid play. The speedy second baseman is hitting a respectable .277 with 4 HR and 20 SB in his first year with the Diamond Jaxx. It will be interesting to see where E-Patt finishes the year, most likely he will stay with the Double-A club, but and end of the year promotion to Triple-A does not seem out of the question as Eric led the midwest league in batting last year and has ok power to go along with his blazing speed.

Unlikely Contributors

2006-06-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

The Hank White fan club finally has something to cheer about. Back on May 18 Henry Blanco was hitting a robust .051 as he entered a heated series with the White Sox which climaxed with the well publicized Michael Barrett sucker-punch to A.J. Pierzynski heard round U.S. Comiscular Field. Since that day, Blanco has turned into Albert Pujols, raising his batting average a whopping 187 points, finishing Monday night's game batting .238. In the past week alone Blanco has hit .750 with 3 home runs, 9 RBI's and 6 runs scored and has been the Cubs hottest hitter. This is fatastic news for us Cubs faithful who just recieved news that Barrett's appeal has been denied, meaning he must begin serving the 10-game suspension immediately. Blanco has always been a streaky hitter throughout his not-so-illustrious carreer and hopefully the Cubs can ride out his hot streak until Barrett joins the team ten days from now.

Along with our friend Hank, the other major Cub contributor of late has been Phil Nevin. Acquired a few weeks ago for the light-hitting Jerry Hairsont, Nevin has blasted 5 home runs in limited duty for the Cubs, including his 200th carreer shot Monday night against the Indians. Nevin now has 14 on the year and is hitting over .300 in his days as a Cub. This hot play begs the question, when Derrek Lee returns in a couple weeks, what do the Cubs do with Nevin? He is too valuable to just be sitting on the bench, but really has no spot in the field to play with Ramirez manning third, Lee at first and Barrett at catcher. He isn't exactly the hottest trade commodity either though with his .235 batting avg. and the fact that he is 35-years-old. Time will only tell what low-level minor leaguers the Cubs get for Nevin at the trade deadline but for the time being, he's not a bad guy to have in the lineup.

Fast Freddie Bynum is another contributor to the Cubs lineup as of late, however, this is due to Matt Murton's poor play against right-handed pitchers. In 2005 Murton looked to be a great outfield prospect for the Cubs, who would hit for avg. and have 20-10 potential in the home run and steals departments. However, lately the plate-disciplined Murton has been struggling and this has led to a platoon situation with Bynum that was not even a glimmer of a thought in Cubs fans' minds through the first two months of the season. Bynum has shown that he is the fastest player the cubs have and has also shown a little bit of power, however, Frederick Bynum is NOT the Cubs left-fielder of the future.

This is what I propose...

I have been Matt Murton's biggest fan for a very long time. His plate discipline is something that no other Cubs hitter has other than D-Lee. However, Cubs management will never realize that this plate discipline and high on base percentage, the highest on the team, is best suited at the top of the order where the big boys can drive him in. As long as they keep hitting him 7, or 8 in the lineup he is not being used properly. This leads me to think we can get the most out of Murton by trading him away. Other teams realize the importance of on-base percentage even if the Cubs dont so this is what I propose: Cubs trade Matt Murton, pitcher Sean Marshall, Jacque Jones and cash to the Washington Nationals for Alfonso Soriano. Jacque Jones has been solid for the Cubs, hitting .295 with 13 home runs, but is a defensive liability and was a rediculously stupid signing by GM Jim Hendry, giving him $16 million over three years with stud prospect Felix Pie being blocked to the majors by Jones. Marshall has shown flashes of a reliable starter and should have trade value as he is only 22 years old and Murton should have clear trade value to other major league teams, especially the offense starved Nationals.

This trade would do multiple things; first, it would give the Cubs a HUGE offensive boost from the left field position. Next, after Soriano saw just how friendly the friendly confines of Wrigley Field can be to a hitter's offensive numbers then hopefully the Cubs would have a leg up on signing him back next year. Thirdly, it would get rid of Jacque Jone's contract and would give Pie a spot in the big leauges in right field. Pie could put up similar numbers to Jones for far less money. This would then mean the Cubs would have a reason to sign back Juan Pierre, who would likely be gone if the Cubs want to bring Pie to the majors in center field.

The Cubs are in one of the biggest markets in baseball being in Chicago, never should they be sellers in the trade market. We need to be buyers and go out and pursue players such as Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano...now this trade would only be if in the next month the Cubs have made their way back towards .500, if not then obviously we should hold onto promising guys like Murton and Marshall, but with Pie in the minors Murton can be replaced and once the Cubs rotation is healthy Angel Guzman, Carlos Marmol and Sean Marshall will all be fighting for a spot.