Last-Minute Dealing

Within minutes of the trade deadline, the Cubs announced Todd Walker is bound for San Diego in exchange for a 19-year-old minor league pitcher. It figures. Walker never got the respect he deserved throughout his stay here in Chicago, but at least he's going to a team that might sneak into the playoffs in a division nobody seems to want to win.

In a post-deadline announcement also affecting that NL West race, WGN Radio is announcing the second Greg Maddux era is also at an end. Pending approval, he's off the the Dodgers with a pile of cash for shortstop Cesar Izturis. I try to stay away from emoticons here, but :-(

So here's hoping the Cubs re-sign Maddux when he becomes a free agent at season's end. And in the meantime, I recommend the Cubs make haste in finally retiring number 31. The Dodgers' visit Wrigley September 12-14, which would be a perfect time. Trot Fergie out as well and have a dual ceremony, and then hope for that number to be un-retired in 2007.

Moritorium

The moritorium I started in May could come to an end. The terms were that until the Cubs won five straight, I wouldn't wear any Cubs gear or buy any tickets.

With four straight wins and Mark Prior hungry for his first win after not allowing a hit in his last outing, Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks stand in his way.

So here's the X factor - a co-worker decided it was too hot to use his tickets tonight, so he gave them to me. The Cubs usually win when I'm there, and I've only witnessed one Cub loss in the last six seasons. I'm bringing along two friends who accompanied me on my first Cub road trip, a Milwaukee game in which Matt Clement chalked up only road win of 2004.

If you believe in good luck charms, bet on the Cubbies. If you read my entry a few months ago about ironic timing, bet on Arizona. But with White Sox fans fidgeting, this would be a good time to trot out the Cubbie blue once again. So in other words, your guess is as good as mine.

Follow-Up

I didn't see the play, but home plate umpire Ed Montague called a strike on a pitch that hit Ronny Cedeno in the forearm today. Montague thought the pitch hit Cedeno's bat, while a bruise on his arm would seem to prove otherwise.

Gotta call those for both sides, Blue...

Why Don't Our Guys Do This?

Check out where David Eckstein sets up on this Rich Hill pitch.

Take a closer look at that left forearm.

So is it any surprise that he was hit by a pitch that was over the plate?

That white blur in front of Michael Barrett's mask is the ball, with Eckstein retracting just far enough to absorb a glancing blow with his forearm for a free trip to first base. It looks like his toes are outside the batter's box as well.

When you need baserunners, does it really matter how they get there? In six-plus seasons, Eckstein is already at 101 hit-by-pitches. A lengthy career could put him near where Craig Biggio will eventually wind up. Biggio trails all-time leader Hughie Jennings (287) by eight.

A-Rod... and A-Reel 'Em In

I wonder what’s in the water over at Tribco…

Today, Trib columnist Phil Rogers suggests that the Cubs could be looking to add Bobby Abreu, Miguel Tejada or, get this, Alex Rodriguez.

While yes, A-Rod’s $27 million-a-year salary for the remaining four years of his Winfieldesque contract is trimmed to a comparable bargain at $14 million after the Rangers dole out their ongoing penance for offering him a quarter-billion dollars over 10 years, and yes, A-Rod is an easy target for Yankee fans to point at when the poor babies complain that it’s been (sniffle) six whole years since their last championship, it’s important to note that just last week Rogers suggested that Dusty Baker should be re-upped after this season.

Rogers’ suggestion is that the Yanks could use both Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones, and GM Brian Cashman could do a little one-stop shopping by picking up two of the dwindling number of Cubs who haven’t rolled over and died over the past three months.

Would I object to the Cubs parting ways with Ramirez and Jones? No. Ramirez is a valuable player an a potent threat over the course of 162 games, but his slow starts haven’t exactly helped the Cubs charge to any early divisional leads in three seasons. Offensive explosions like Ramirez put on over the weekend are of little use to a team that can’t see the Wild Card without a telescope, especially when they still can’t keep the Cubs out of the receiving end of a three-game sweep at the hands of last-place Washington. Ditto Jones, whose adjustment to the National League came too late to make an impact, and in my opinion plays a pretty lousy right field, though the Yanks’ recent tradition of favoring big bats over big gloves might make him a natural for the pinstripes.

Grin and Barrett

Time for a little good news.

Finally the Cubs can once again claim a winning record over a 10-game span after Tuesday night's home win against the Astros. In the midst of being trashed in the media, Phil Nevin hit a three-run homer that provided the winning margin, propelling the Cubs to their (gasp!) sixth win in their last nine games. They're not making headway in any sort of race, but at least the powerdive seems to have been righted somewhat with the touch-and-go return (.242, 4 RBIs in 66 ABs and 2 for his last 20) of Derrek Lee.

Here are some recent highlights...

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but Michael Barrett has been on fire over the last month and a half, raising his average 55 points from .277 to .332 and getting him promoted to second in the lineup. He batted .392 in a suspension-shortened June, and is up over .450 through the first two and a half weeks of July. If Barrett had the at-bats, he'd be hovering around the top five in the NL.

Juan Pierre has also picked it up, with nine multi-hit games in his last 17 starts and a .413 average since the second White Sox series. Aramis Ramirez is batting .321 over the same period.

Carlos Zambrano is 9-1 since a winless April, and is no longer just about the last person you'd expect to beat out an infield hit and then steal second. The other Carlos, Marmol, has now put together back-to-back six-inning, one-run wins.

Jacque Jones is batting .317 since the beginning of May, and has had his season slugging average up over .500 since the beginning of June.

Even Henry Blanco is batting .362 since the beginning of June.

But despite the guys the Cubs needed to get hot actually doing so, the progress overall had been slow until the announcement of Jim Hendry's "evaluation" of Dusty Baker. The starting pitching just hasn't been there, and it's not just the rookies, as written about so much. Greg Maddux has won 2 of his last 12 decisions. Prior and Wood are a combined 1-6, and again both on the DL, so three counted-upon veteran starters are 3-16 since the beginning of May. Throw in the rookies, even the better ones, and Zambrano is the only starter keeping the Cubs ahead of Pittsburgh and Kansas City.

So with two weeks to the deadline and apparently no imminent firings, does this recent little hot spell mean there might be something salvageable in a truly weak National League? It would take quite a run to make up the 12 games separating the Cubs and the Wild Card leading Reds, who are only four over .500, but if the Cubs could get on a roll and win, say, 10 out of 12 or 12 out of 15, they could pick up some serious ground on some very mediocre teams in that race.

With the clock still ticking, are trades coming? Will there be a push after all? If the Cubs are, as rumored, looking to move Greg Maddux and once-effective swingman Glendon Rusch before the trading deadline, their oldest starting pitcher might wind up being Rich Hill, who's now at Iowa. Is this where you bring in a veteran arm or two, hope Prior gets on track, try to put a consistent threat on the mound every day and hope you get some breaks?

We'll see.

Ballplayers are 'Surfers Too

Check out this Yankees fan thread and look for screen name gehrig38. That's non-Yankee Curt Schilling. No kidding.

I have to give it up for a player who spends almost two hours giving candid, in-depth replies to people who hate his team, and the Pinstripe fans give him props as well. Insightful reading for a fan of any team. It clicks through for several pages - make sure you get to the part about rookies then and now and Mickey Tettleton.

Mid-Season Report Card

“Two C’s, two D’s and an F.... Congratulations, Mr. Kroger, you’re at the top of the Delta pledge class.”

Perhaps worthy of comparison to the boys of Delta Tau Chi, the Cubs’ 2006 season at the midway point has been the roughest first half in recent memory.

Go ahead and blame it on injuries, that song’s been in payola rotation since Kerry Wood signed his first lease on that DL spot, but it’s worth mentioning that the 1985 Cubs squad, historic in becoming the first major league team to have its entire starting rotation on the disabled list simultaneously, only finished seven games below .500 (77-84-1) under the tutelage of Jim Frey.

Similarities? Chris Speier (.243) and Gary Matthews (.235) were there. There was a rookie starting shortstop and an outfield that missed 137 starts. They went through a slew of young pitchers, including Reggie Patterson, Dave Beard, Derek Botelho, Dave Gumpert, Ron Meredith, Jon Perlman and Jay Baller. They also got off to a quick start, opening 35-19, but going 42-65 the rest of the way doesn't look quite so dismal anymore.

Maybe if you don't want to default back to the injury excuse, you shouldn't keep counting on players with chronic injuries hoping you'll win the lottery.

So on to the report card...

Who gets an A? That's a toughie. I don't think anyone deserves one. Scott Eyre would be close, but it was his ill-advised throw that landed Derrek Lee on the DL. Eyre, Bob Howry, and Carlos Zambrano get A- grades. Zambrano's a gimme, save for his first couple of starts, and Eyre and Howry have more than adequately plugged the gap they were signed to plug. Unfortunately this season that accomplishment is comparable to doctors at Parkland Hospital treating JFK's neck wound.

Todd Walker and Michael Barrett also get A-minuses. If there's a productivity-to-respect ratio, Walker would lead the team. Barrett, at .320, only gets the minus for his 10-game suspension, which forced Henry Blanco to remember how to hit Major League pitching. And they're the only Cubs with more walks than strikeouts, unless you count the pitching of Jerome Williams and Rich Hill.

B's, I've got some B's for the kids. Matt Murton and Ronny Cedeno get B's. Yes, there are kinks to work out, but considering there's about one season of combined ML experience there, they've done well and have a bright future. Murton has a knack for getting timely hits in big spots, Cedeno has the tools to become one of the elite defensive shortstops in the game, and both could easily become regular .300 hitters for years to come. Put Sean Marshall on that list too. His 5-7 record doesn't reflect the promise of a kid who was expected to pitch at AA this year instead of making the parent club out of Spring Training, much less being the Cubs' first non-emergency left-handed starter in years.

I'll also give B's to Ryan Dempster and Derrek Lee. Dempster's B is more understandable after reading Sparky Lyle's The Bronx Zoo, which really helps the reader get into the mindset of the closer, than by watching his performances over the last month or two. The more often you're in the situation, the better you do, and a closer who doesn't face a save situation for three weeks is going to have trouble. Giving him an inning for its own sake when you're down six runs doesn't help when he doesn't have that adrenaline rush of the game being on the line.

Lee, well, that one fateful throw was so awful he should have let it go through to the backup. Furcal would have beat it anyway. Split-second decisions don't allow room for error, though, and the same competitive nature that got his wrist broken is what makes him a great player. I'll make the same argument as when I suggested the Cubs should have re-upped on Nomar Garciaparra: A few months with him beats not having him at all... but always have a backup.

Maddux gets a B as well. Apart from his stellar April, he's a great guy to have around if you wind up with a throng of young pitchers.

That leaves a lot of guys with low grades, borderline pass/fail grades, and that includes the entire coaching staff and front office. Enough frustration that I don't want to think about them, much less write about them.

So I won't.

Not My Joke, but Worth Sharing

A Chicago man dies and goes to hell.

When he gets there, the devil comes over to welcome him. The devil says, "Sometimes it gets pretty uncomfortable down here."

The man says, "No problem. I'm from Chicago."

So the devil turns the temperature up to 100 and the humidity up to 80. He then goes back to the Chicago man to see how he's doing. To the devil's surprise, the man is doing just fine.

"No problem. Just like Chicago in June," the man says.

So the devil turns the temperature up to 150 and the humidity up to 90. He then goes back over to see how the Chicago man is doing. The man is sweating a little, but overall looks comfortable.

"No problem. Just like Chicago in July," the man says.

So now the devil turns the temperature up to 200, and the humidity up to 100. When he goes back to see how the man is doing, the man is sweating profusely and has taken his shirt off. Otherwise, he seems OK.

He says, "No problem. Just like Chicago in August."

Now the devil is really perplexed. So he turns the temperature down to -150 degrees. Immediately, all the humidity in the air freezes up and the whole place becomes a frigid, barren, frozen, deathly cold wasteland.

When he goes back to see how the Chicago man is doing, he is shocked to discover the man is jumping up and down, cheering in obvious delight. The devil asks what's going on, to which the Chicago man replies...

"THE CUBS WON THE WORLD SERIES!"

Stereotypes in Mono

Am I the only WGN radio listener who thinks the latest Old Style Cubs campaign with the supposed standup comic was written by a White Sox fan?

One commercial disses Cub fans for doing the wave, something I haven't seen at Wrigley since the '80s, and rarely even then. Another takes pride in losing and insists true Cub fans drink Old Style at the office ("What is that, coffee???"). Another makes fun of people who score the game while watching, as if it's sacrilege to actually follow the game instead of getting loaded on crappy beer at six bucks a cup, or whatever they charge these days.

It's hard to tell which is worse, Old Style for a truly awful campaign or Budweiser for directly padding the coffers of the St. Louis Cardinals.

But then again, perhaps intoxication is the best way to take in the 2006 Cubs without losing a hold of one's sanity.

Mail Call

I get a lot of mail from the folks at Cubs.com. Seems that based on whatever list I signed up for long ago, they need to send me something every single day.

Timely as today's headlines, the one I received this morning was about All-Star jerseys and hats and what-not. Those ugly yellow jerseys that they used for batting practice or something, with a Zambrano 38 on the back.

"Hey, yeah, remember that All-Star game Big Z didn't pitch in? The one when Joey Cora hit him with a fungo bat? I got the jersey, man. Only 120 bucks!"

"Awesome. Zambrano's actual jersey. How cool is--"

"No, man. Not the real jersey. But it looks just like it."

"Um..."

They also have Cubs Futures hats, which are just regular Cubs hats with an extra logo on the side. Which is ironic, because until some serious changes are made, this Cubs team has no future.

The Baddest Part of Town, or Hey Nineteen(th)

For the first time since 1989, Sunday I got to see the Boston Red Sox play. The BoSox became my second-favorite team when the Cubs traded Bill Buckner there for Dennis Eckersley in 1984. I sure can pick 'em, can't I?

My local watering hole had a bus trip and a couple of other Boston fans were going, so I figured I'd head into enemy territory and root, root, root for the road team.

It was my first once-every-few-years trip to the Cell since the renovation. Their sign now looks like it belongs at a strip-mall in Berwyn instead of a ballpark. Corporate sponsors, check, check, check, check and check. Home of the White Sox? Umm... not so much. And no, it's not hidden by the school bus.


As for the inside, I never thought I'd see a ballpark where they made the Uecker seats worse by obstructing views that hadn't previously been obstructed. Even on a hot day, I'd prefer baking in the sun in the "old" new Comiskey to having a giant pillar blocking my view of half of the infield.

Seriously, I don't know what it is with me and bad seats this year. I couldn't even imagine how upset I'd be if I was one of the poor souls laying out serious green to sit in that seat for one of the World Series games last year. Excited as all get-out since the moment you got the ticket. Pins and needles all day long for what might be the game of your life, the World Series. Giddily hopping into the car, heading up the Ryan, more excited. There's the ballpark, more excited. Into the lot, through the gate, up the ramps, through the concourse, there's your section, more excited. Up the steps, counting rows, more excited. There's your row, there's your seat, you turn around and sit down and...


...oh.

You'd think for $67 million they could have thrown a little paint over that spot.

From Section 518, Row 19, Seat 20 it's a little tough to follow a game, so fortunately I was able to move two seats over where I could at least see the pitcher's mound.

This was my view when apparently a Red Sox popup landed fair near home plate. Somebody the size of an ant wound up on first base. Alex Cora, I think.

Before the renovation I sat in nearly the same place for a Cubs-Sox game and my only complaint was the distance from home plate. Sunday, with or without the vendor, I was completely unable to follow the game. I couldn't pick up fly balls once they passed the pillar, couldn't track grounders, couldn't track baserunners, and found it pointless to remain in my seat by the seventh inning.

As long as I had to rely on the Jumbotron for any action I was going to see, I figured I might as well stand around a monitor near a concession stand. While I can't say much for the seats, the concourse looks really nice and is covered with pictures and factoids and blowups of baseball cards from throughout Sox history. I don't, however, recall seeing Bill Veeck's picture anywhere.

So I wandered around for three innings, taking pictures from different vantage points around the upper deck (500-level ticketholders aren't allowed on the lower level), then figured I'd poke my head back in when rookie sensation Jonathan Papelbon came on to nail down the 3-2 lead and then head for the bus. Papelbon's younger brother Jeremy was drafted and signed by the Cubs this year and is 1-0, 0.00 with two saves in four appearances at Class A Boise, so I was excited to see this rookie I'd heard so much about all year.

I was in the left field corner and zooming all the way in with my camera when Jeremy's big brother threw this pitch...


...which wound up landing just on the fair side of the pole below me, blowing the save and tying the game. It was only the third run he'd given up all season, leaving him at 0.59 going into the All-Star break. I'd seen enough.

It's a good thing I had. Instead of "30 minutes after the game", the bus left during the 14th inning and arrived back at our starting point in time to watch the 18th and 19th innings on TV. I could have sat for six-plus hours and ten extra innings in that awful seat just to see my team fail to get the three-game sweep, then taken an angry trek through the parking lot looking for a bus that had long departed, followed by two frustrating El rides and a 10-block walk home.

Here's what the line score looked like:

BOS 100 200 000 020 000 000 0 - 5
CHW 000 101 001 020 000 000 1 - 6

All in all, the highlight of the day ended up being an ice cube fight on and around the bus that lasted six innings. Never underestimate the entertainment value of an ice cube fight on a hot July day, where there's no such thing as an innocent bystander.

Buzz Buzz Buzz

The latest speculation and withdrawal by Jim Hendry... well, I'll believe it when I see it.

This time he's waited far too long to salvage the season. If you're in a 2-14 spell in early May, you can't just sit around and backslide through the standings, putting up the worst record in the majors over the next two months. There's a good reason the first managerial firings around the leagues often come in early May, even if it wasn't the case this year.

If there's such a lack of leadership that the troops can't be rallied after the loss of only one of their big guns, missing the same Two Big Pitchers as when they opened the year 13-8, it's time to look for another field general.

Hendry technically has 22 days to make up his mind if he's going to try to contend, but there's a lot of ground to make up and three teams to leapfrog before even looking to the other divisions in the Wild Card race. I might add, the '14 Braves, '35 Cubs, '51 Giants, '64 Cards, '69 Mets, '78 Yankees, none of them were 20+ below .500 before pulling off their miracle finishes. If it's gonna happen, he'd better get cracking A.S.A.P.

So okay, names were named. Lou Piniella, that's a pretty big name. Big enough a name that he's the only one I consider worth mentioning. He could be this generation's version of what Leo Durocher was supposed to be. Fiery. Passionate. He's not there to be your buddy, he's there to win, dammit. Joe Diehard couldn't give a squat whether or not there's a swell clubhouse atmosphere, especially when White Sox fans have such a new-found smugness that he half wishes he was the one who popped A.J. Pierzynski, and the Cub fans for once are the ones who are too ashamed to wear their jerseys around town.

But then Hendry backed off. Is he backing off the traditional "vote of confidence" speech that often is a manager's harbinger of doom? All we can do is wait until, far as we know, the All-Star break. I could really care less about the game. The AL wins every year anyway; more top-tier free-agents and fewer team-representative spots clogging the roster. And an exhibition game determining the home field advantage for the World Series is so asinine I want as little to do with it as possible.

But back to the Cubs.

If you bring in a new manager, you have to bring in new coaches. I have some wacky and not-so-wacky suggestions.

First, the first-base coach. Bye-bye Sarge, we love ya for '84, but Vince Coleman is long overdue for a promotion. Man stole over 100 bases in his first three seasons and 145 in his last year in the minors, so he knows a thing or two about how to get over and in as often as possible.

Look who the White Sox put next to first base, Tim Raines. Over 800 stolen bases. Coleman had over 700 in a much shorter career. Their main job all their lives was getting from first base to second. And Coleman's even worked with the kids coming up through the Cubs' farm system. This one should hopefully be a no-brainer.

Next, the pitching coach. This is the wacky part. I'd like to see Greg Maddux finish his career with the Cubs, as a playing coach like Warren Spahn and Yogi Berra back in the '60s. The kids look up to Maddux. They go to him for advice when there's a guy a few seats over who gets paid for that sort of thing. They respect him, as well they should. So make him your pitching coach.

Sure, there might be a bit of a learning curve, but he already knows everybody, and look how much higher in the standings his brother Mike is as pitching coach for the Brewers. God forbid he might teach someone how to field a bunt or a ball hit right back through the box after winning 15 Gold Gloves.

As for the hitting coach? Well, if you want someone who knows how to get on base at Wrigley and re-establish a home-field advantage, I can't think of anyone better suited than Mark Grace. He wants to get back in the game as a coach and, well, he's one of us.

With all the scrub ex-Cubs run through coaching positions since time immemorial, Grace has to be a better choice than Gene Clines. Here come the numbers... NL top 10 in most at-bats per strikeout in each of his first 14 seasons, including every year he was a Cub. Frequent top tens in things like bases on balls, times on base, singles, doubles, sac flies and batting average that you have to rely on from two-thirds of your lineup if you don't want to score all your runs on homers. Look how far that got the Cubs last year. The only question is whether he can teach it, and the Cubs owe him that first shot for keeping him around so long until they finally let him go off and get himself a World Series ring before he hung up his spikes.

All of this prospecting of course hinges on Jim Hendry. If Hendry decides to sell the Cubs for scrap, it won't make much difference in the standings if Baker lasts through the season or not.

But when you could be looking at the worst record for a bad franchise in 40 years and you could have the pick of the managerial litter, you have to consider that guys with Piniella's track record don't come up the pike very often. Won a World Series in his first year in Cincinnati. Seven winning seasons, three division titles and a Wild Card in 10 years after joining a tight-fisted Seattle team that had one .500 season and no postseason appearances in its 16-year existence.

Whether or not the Cubs are going anywhere in 2006, Piniella gives you a better shot in 2007. He even got the Devil Rays out of last place for the only time in their history. And who got the D-Rays all comfy in the cellar while their expansion counterpart Diamondbacks were building a championship? Larry Rothschild.

See, it all comes around.