For the sake of the argument, I don't care what the name on the marquee is. What did the Wrigley family ever do for me? What did they do for the Cubs in the last 40 years they owned the team after Bill Veeck left the franchise? Zip. Zero. Bupkis. One World Series in the first five years of that period, in a season when half the league was off fighting the Axis. Big f'n' deal. Even the St. Louis Browns got into a Series during the war. And they lost too.
Cubbie Nation should have no more loyalty and no more respect for the Wrigley name than Blackhawks fans have for Bill Wirtz, just like White Sox fans owe nothing to Charlie Comiskey. Names associated with failure, cheapskatery and decades of bad decisions.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Cubs open with a bang
The Cubs opened their Cactus League season by showing a little bit of everything I was hoping for out of the players I’m counting on to keep the Cubs playing October baseball. Cubs over the Giants 12-6 in the opener on the road in Scottsdale.
Three hits and a stolen base from Ryan Theriot in the leadoff spot. A triple and a three-run homer for Mike Fontenot. Kosuke Fukudome got on base three times in three trips including a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Felix Pie had a homer, a double and a walk in three trips. Derrek Lee had a hit and a walk in two trips. Geovany Soto got a hit. Ronny Cedeno had a RBI, stole a base and scored a run. Even Koyie Hill and Micah Hoffpauir each had a hit and an RBI. Best of all, as a team they drew six walks while only striking out three times.
On the pitching side, four of the six runs were given up by pitchers with no Major League experience who weren’t expected to make the cut a month from now, five if you add Sean Gallagher, who has a lot of veterans to squeeze past to make the cut. That left one run, a solo homer, on three hits over 5-2/3 innings among Ryan Dempster, Neal Cotts, Carmen Pigniatello, Jose Ascanio and Kevin Hart.
Meanwhile the Cubs scored 10 of their 12 runs against three pitchers who were on the Giants roster all last year; Noah Lowry, Edwin Correia and Brad Hennessey.
Sure, it’s just the spring training opener, everybody’s still getting their feet wet after a long winter and both managers have to play as many guys as they can to visualize their final rosters. But boy oh boy, it’s a good way to start.
Three hits and a stolen base from Ryan Theriot in the leadoff spot. A triple and a three-run homer for Mike Fontenot. Kosuke Fukudome got on base three times in three trips including a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Felix Pie had a homer, a double and a walk in three trips. Derrek Lee had a hit and a walk in two trips. Geovany Soto got a hit. Ronny Cedeno had a RBI, stole a base and scored a run. Even Koyie Hill and Micah Hoffpauir each had a hit and an RBI. Best of all, as a team they drew six walks while only striking out three times.
On the pitching side, four of the six runs were given up by pitchers with no Major League experience who weren’t expected to make the cut a month from now, five if you add Sean Gallagher, who has a lot of veterans to squeeze past to make the cut. That left one run, a solo homer, on three hits over 5-2/3 innings among Ryan Dempster, Neal Cotts, Carmen Pigniatello, Jose Ascanio and Kevin Hart.
Meanwhile the Cubs scored 10 of their 12 runs against three pitchers who were on the Giants roster all last year; Noah Lowry, Edwin Correia and Brad Hennessey.
Sure, it’s just the spring training opener, everybody’s still getting their feet wet after a long winter and both managers have to play as many guys as they can to visualize their final rosters. But boy oh boy, it’s a good way to start.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Leading the arms race
Brian Roberts rumors notwithstanding, the Cubs will have a surplus of pitching going into Mesa next week.
Kinda nice to hear that, eh, Cub fans?
I’d say the front three starters are set in concrete – Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill. But what after that? The Cubs have a bevy of starters fighting over two spots, many with some established cred around the league. Jason Marquis started hot last year, but even after his ERA started to balloon he still only had one sub-.500 month. Lefty Sean Marshall gave up three or fewer earned runs in 15 of 19 starts last year and dropped his ERA from over 5 to under 4. Jon Lieber is back, supposedly at full health for the first time in three seasons. Then there’s Sean Gallagher, trying to be the next in a continuing series of emergent stars out of the farm system. That makes seven.
And what about Ryan Dempster? The Cubs plan to give Dempster a shot at the rotation while Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol and Bobby Howry fight over his closer’s spot. If one or more of those guys goes lights-out in Mesa and Dempster doesn’t break the rotation, does he become a swing man after reliably closing out games in ninth-inning save situations?
At least two of the three guys fighting over the closer’s role will work setup, while Shingo Takatsu and returning former Cub Chad Fox, effective before Dusty Baker burned him out, will also be trying to crack the bullpen as non-roster invitees. Scott Eyre will have one of those slots, and probably Michael Wuertz, but what about Neal Cotts? Or playoff invitee Kevin Hart? Or new Cub Jose Ascanio? Or Carmen Pignatiello?
Obviously the Cubs won’t be bringing 19 pitchers out of Mesa. And the Iowa Cubs will be stocked with quality pitchers ready to step in and fill any cracks that develop. But there’s enough surplus talent to serve as trade bait.
I’ve said before that the Cubs don’t need Roberts. Not only has Ryan Theriot put up better numbers in the leadoff slot given his number of plate appearances and green lights on the basepaths, but the addition of Roberts would mess with the role of the very effective Mark DeRosa. His versatility at multiple positions offers the perfect chance for Mike Fontenot to develop as a Major League second baseman alongside his old double-play partner Theriot.
If it was up to me, I’d stand pat instead of looking for one more offensive piece and wait to see if a mid-season offer comes along that they can’t refuse. Every year there are teams that need pitching help to fortify playoff runs, just like there are always teams that give up after two months and look to move quality veterans to cut payroll.
Sit back and crack open a cold one, folks. It looks like we’re in for an exciting summer.
Kinda nice to hear that, eh, Cub fans?
I’d say the front three starters are set in concrete – Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill. But what after that? The Cubs have a bevy of starters fighting over two spots, many with some established cred around the league. Jason Marquis started hot last year, but even after his ERA started to balloon he still only had one sub-.500 month. Lefty Sean Marshall gave up three or fewer earned runs in 15 of 19 starts last year and dropped his ERA from over 5 to under 4. Jon Lieber is back, supposedly at full health for the first time in three seasons. Then there’s Sean Gallagher, trying to be the next in a continuing series of emergent stars out of the farm system. That makes seven.
And what about Ryan Dempster? The Cubs plan to give Dempster a shot at the rotation while Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol and Bobby Howry fight over his closer’s spot. If one or more of those guys goes lights-out in Mesa and Dempster doesn’t break the rotation, does he become a swing man after reliably closing out games in ninth-inning save situations?
At least two of the three guys fighting over the closer’s role will work setup, while Shingo Takatsu and returning former Cub Chad Fox, effective before Dusty Baker burned him out, will also be trying to crack the bullpen as non-roster invitees. Scott Eyre will have one of those slots, and probably Michael Wuertz, but what about Neal Cotts? Or playoff invitee Kevin Hart? Or new Cub Jose Ascanio? Or Carmen Pignatiello?
Obviously the Cubs won’t be bringing 19 pitchers out of Mesa. And the Iowa Cubs will be stocked with quality pitchers ready to step in and fill any cracks that develop. But there’s enough surplus talent to serve as trade bait.
I’ve said before that the Cubs don’t need Roberts. Not only has Ryan Theriot put up better numbers in the leadoff slot given his number of plate appearances and green lights on the basepaths, but the addition of Roberts would mess with the role of the very effective Mark DeRosa. His versatility at multiple positions offers the perfect chance for Mike Fontenot to develop as a Major League second baseman alongside his old double-play partner Theriot.
If it was up to me, I’d stand pat instead of looking for one more offensive piece and wait to see if a mid-season offer comes along that they can’t refuse. Every year there are teams that need pitching help to fortify playoff runs, just like there are always teams that give up after two months and look to move quality veterans to cut payroll.
Sit back and crack open a cold one, folks. It looks like we’re in for an exciting summer.
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