Calls for the Hall

It's nice to see separate Hall of Fame ballots for managers and umpires and for executives and pioneers go to the Veteran's Committee. I think nearly all of them should be admitted. The Hall of Fame has some gaps in coverage, particularly the recognition of non-players, and this can help even the balance.

But are there really no coaches worthy of recognition? Where are the scouts responsible for finding the sandlot heroes in the Hall, or the pioneers who spread the game to the countries they now mine for talent? How about a nice shoutout for Jimmie Reese, who was still coaching major leaguers past age 90?

Maybe next time.

Year, schmear

All right, enough. I’m tired of hearing about “the year”. I’m tired of the 99-100-101 years and counting. It doesn’t matter to me whether the Cubs last won a championship in 1908 or 1969 or if they ever won one at all if I wasn’t around to see it. A lot of teams don’t even have a 1908 to point to. So, enough.

I’m willing to say for the record that I think the Cubs are going to win their third consecutive division title. Beyond that is anybody’s guess. Unless Uncle Lou changes his habit of playing the last week of the season like it was the last week of spring training, he should expect the same results. Last year the Cubs opened by losing three of their first four games, and in 2007 it was six of their first nine. This year, even with almost 40 games on the spring schedule, the first time the Opening Day lineup appears together is Opening Day. I don't like that. Spring training is about more than getting your timing down at the plate or stretching your arm out to a whopping five innings.

What worries me? The World Baseball Classic. Most of the guys around the leagues who participated in 2006 weren’t ready when the bell rang. I’m glad Big Z didn’t go, but Ted Lilly isn’t ready and neither is Kosuke Fukudome. At least neither is going to be counted upon every day out of the gate. I’ve been known to make some off-the-wall suggestions, so here’s another – I’d swap Lilly’s and Aaron Heilman’s roles for a couple of weeks and use Fukudome as a defensive replacement until he starts, to use a golf term, to grip it and rip it.

What else? I don’t think Rich Harden is ready either, after giving up nine walks and seven homers in only 13 innings of spring work - reliever David Patton threw more innings than that. And the Cubs could be in a heap of trouble in the power department if Aramis Ramirez misses an extended period of time, though the excess of outfielders provides adequate trade bait.

Apart from guys staying healthy, I don’t have a lot of major concerns. This team is going to win a lot of games, and it’s going to be a fun summer. Go Cubs!

Tabula DeRosa

The two-time defending NL Central champs cleared the slate of their top run-scorer of 2008 on the year’s final day, sending Mark DeRosa off to join Kerry Wood in Cleveland in exchange for a slew of minor-league pitching.

A lot of people in Cubbie Nation are furious about this, but I’m not.

You don’t see World Series won by teams whose leader in runs scored played 20+ games at four different positions, and the role the Cubs need out of that roster spot isn’t that of a 500-a.b. player regardless of how well he performs. With Aramis Ramirez locked in at third and Mike Fontenot batting .360 in the second half from the left side at second, there wouldn’t be 80 starts for DeRosa on the infield. With a surplus of outfielders and one more coming, and hopefully a DL-free Alfonso Soriano, there’s no room out there for 50+ starts either. There’s simply nowhere to squeeze in the number of at-bats Mark DeRosa deserves.

There’s talk the Indians will start him at third and finally give DeRosa an opportunity to show what he can do for somebody over the full 162 games, and that just wasn’t going to happen here. He played well beyond his price tag for the Cubs, and a chance at an extra 100 at-bats, right before what will probably be the biggest contract of his career, is the best thing that could happen for him this year. More power to him.

I see Aaron Miles as a better fit for the Cubs’ expectations of that roster spot anyway, the versatile sub as opposed to the short-term solution – maybe 300 at-bats, good glove, not necessarily a nine-inning guy, can switch-hit, can jump in anywhere in a pinch (even on the mound) and won a World Series ring coming out of the NL Central. As a bonus, he may have a chip on his shoulder over the Cardinals non-tendering him two years in a row.