Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

7/31/2008: Quick hits on MLB, the NFL and the NBA

Ain't nothing like random thoughts by a faceless dude on the internets, so here goes:

• Today was the MLB Trade Deadline, and this might have been the most active trade deadline in terms of star power ever.  Three first ballot hall of famers (Pudge, Junior, and Manny) were traded in the last 24 hours, along with one borderline hall of famer (Kyle Farnsworth).  The Manny Being Manny deal is pretty easy to understand from every team's perspective, so I'll just give quick thoughts on the other two deals.
• I understand why the Yankees acquired Ivan Rodriguez, but what on earth do the Tigers think they'll get from Kyle Farnsworth?  He blew ten years ago, he blew five years ago, he blows now.  I can understand dealing Pudge to cut some costs and start looking towards 2009.  But to get a 30-year-old head case middle reliever is mind-boggling.
• I have similar reaction to the White Sox' acquisition of Ken Griffey, Jr.  The dude's a statue in the outfield, he's a fraction of his former self at the plate, and he frankly doesn't seem to care anymore.  (Five years in Cincy will do that to you.)  That said, he's a slight upgrade over the massively slumping Paul Konerko at the plate.  So I guess it makes a sort of sense if Paulie ends up on the bench with Griffey in Center and Swisher at first. But the problem is I've seen Junior up close and personal this year, and he can NOT play Center.  He can barely play Right.  He looks like an older version of Barry Bonds in the outfield.  If he hit like Steroid Era Barry, you'd put up with it.  But he's hitting .235.  This can't end well.
• The Cubs completed their sweep of the Brewers today, and they outscored the Brew Crew 31-11 (with 3 of those Brewer runs in a meaningless 9th when the score was 11-1).  After the recent stretch of losses, I wasn't very optimistic about this series.  In fact, on Monday morning, I'd have happily taken a 2-2 split.  But to sweep them in their home park, after them being en fuego for a month?  Just a punch in the mouth to the people up north.  And I love it.
• The Favre saga drags on and is getting more and more bizarre by the day.  I can't believe the Packers offered Favre $20 million to stay retired.  That's "I spit on your grave" insulting.  Can you imagine Jerry Reinsdorf offering such a deal to Michael Jordan?  While Jordan may have been eased into the general direction of the door, the Packers have decided to take a dump on Favre's scrapbook.  This is the ultimate no-win situation for the Aaron Rodgers and the Packers now.  It's so bad, they're considering trading Favre to the NFC North.  I don't blame them there.  At this point, you have to a) end it, and b) maximize your value because you're screwed either way.  If the Vikings have made the best offer, it's the best offer and you have to take it.  There's no sense worrying about the 2-4 times you might face him in the next 1-2 years, and it's a good way to stick it to your enemies in the long run.  You deal with him.  This whole thing could have been avoided, though, and both sides are to blame:
• The Packers shouldn't have been so pushy to get his decision in the first place.  Immediately after last season ended, they should have gone to Favre and said, "You're a big part of our future and we absolutely want you back.  Take your time"  Even if they didn't mean it, that's how you take the high road.  Favre comes back -- everything's fine.  Favre retires, you're fine with Rodgers.  Favre flip-flops, you appear eager to take him back and none of this stuff happens.
• Favre has made it all infinitely worse.  Supposedly he told the Packers that he was considering coming back in March.  The GM and President went down to Mississippi, offered him a deal, and tried to get him to officially commit to coming back.  He changed his mind again.  Then whining to every Jay, Chris, and Peter makes no sense in the slightest,
• All I know is, I'm glad it's happening to the Packers.  It couldn't happen to a finer nemesis.  What would really be awesome now would be for Aaron Rodgers to demand a trade.  "Screw you guys, I'm outta here.  You can have your Favre and stick him up your you know what."  Oh man, would that not be a perfect ending to this whole debacle.
• Everyone's happy in Bears camp.  Hester signed a big contract, and Bourbonnais is now completely free of "off-the-field" controversy for probably the first time since Lovie Smith took over.  No holdouts, no Tank Johnsons, no DUIs, no nothing.  All that's left is football, and that's all there should be.
• The Bears cut Nick Hill before the first preseason game, letting Perry know exactly what they think of his talent evaluation.  Could they be making room for another Quarterback?  Hmmm....
• Ricky Manning Jr's days are numbered.  I didn't think he was that bad, but he's like 80th string on Lovie's depth chart.  (I think Scott Eyre is even higher).  Expect a trade for a 6th rounder (Chris Harris style) before the season starts. 
• Is Luol Deng really worth $71 million dollars?  Not even close.  Really, after last season, he's just a tick better than Jud Buechler on the Bulls list of all-time great forwards.  All kidding aside, I just don't see Deng ever making an All-Star team, let alone being the best player on a championship team.  He's good, but not great.  A role player.  A second or even third banana.  But he's no star worthy of such a large bag o' cash.

And so ends the month of July.  What will August bring?

Cubs take Two from Brew Crew

Every time somebody asked me about the Cubs dwindling lead last week, I basically replied that I wasn't really worried.  Every team goes into slumps, and every Cub hitter not named "Mike Fontenot" had been struggling since the all-star break.  All it takes to start winning again is the big three to heat up, I was saying.  Since then, Soriano, Aramis, and D-Lee supplied the heat, and whaddya know the Cubs have started winning again.  And with the "as critical as a series in July can be" series with Milwaukee half-way over, it couldn't come at a better time. 

Tonight, behind Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez, the Cubs easily dispatched the Brewers by a score of 7-1 just one night after winning a nail-biter in what might have been "the most intense mid-season game of the year."  Beating Sabathia and Sheets on consecutive nights in Milwaukee cuts the Brewers deep.  They were so looking forward to this series, to have it start like this has got to be devastating for the Brewers fan base.  But there's a lot of baseball left to be played so there's no time for sucking each other's popsicles just yet.

I've got a lot more thoughts on the Cubs lately, so here goes.

• Soriano is at full speed, and I love it.  That broken hand didn't do much for the Cubs in the standings, but Soriano's legs are finally 100% healthy and he's no longer running like a man with a rock in his shoe. 
• Aramis had four hits tonight and his post-all-star break batting average is finally better than Ted Lilly's.  He was awful the last few weeks, but now he's starting to pound the ball.  Lee's looking a lot better lately, too, though that "botched double play ball" really saved him.  He's been hitting into mad DPs this season, and Reed Johnson's slide into second quite possibly saved the Cubs last night and Lee in particular.  All hail the scrappy Reed, who himself has been hitting the ball hard lately.
• How about Jeff Samardzija?  I was at his debut on Friday versus the Marlins and let me tell ya, the dude throws fire. Filthy fire.  A lot of people are throwing around K-Rod comparisons on how The Shark might be able to do what Francisco Rodriguez did for the Angels in 2002.  I'd love for it to happen, but please...let's not put all our eggs in that basket.  Let some tape of him get around the league and let the batters adjust before we start etching his likeness into the Cubs Walk of Fame.  Until he's got 20 innings under his belt, lets pretend his name is Kevin Hart and go on with our lives. 
• Just kidding about the Kevin Hart thing.  Samardzija is awesome, even if his name is impossible to spell.  It's also impossible to root against the guy.  I mean, he must really be a special talent to be considered first round material in two sports.  (I know he wasn't first round for the Cubs, but that was only because people thought he'd choose football.  On pure stuff, he was a first rounder.) 
• Harden's going Thursday, and you wanna talk about special talent, the line forms behind Rich Harden.   Three starts, 30 strikeouts, unfortunately no wins.  It'd be nice to see him go a little deeper in games but really, who in their right mind would complain.  They should keep Marshall fresh in the pen to close out Harden's starts on a weekly basis.  Collectively you're looking at a sub 3.00 ERA and theoretically a lot of wins.  Doesn't hurt to try.
• Bob Howry, you're officially on swiffer duty.  When he came in the tie game in the ninth on Friday, I just sat back and said, "go ahead: give up your run, get three outs and let us proceed to the bottom of the ninth so we have a chance to score."  Of course Hermida hit a 500 foot homer to ultimately win the game.  Then last night, Cubs scratch out a 4-3 lead and he near immediately gives up another 500 footer.  Howry was a good signing that for the first two years of his deal performed about as well as could be expected.  But this year he's turned into Mike Remlinger over night.  Disturbing. 
• Marmol looks better, but he's still shaky.  And who knows when Wood's blister will heal.  That injury is pretty infuriating.  I mean, can't they just pop the sonofabitch, put a band-aid on it, and have him pitch in two days?  I don't get it.  So with all that going on, Hendry would be best served in finding another arm for the pen.  I like Gaudin and The Shark, but can you really count on these guys?  Marmol's showed signs of snapping out of it, but they're still short one arm. 

And that's about it.  Two more against the Brewers before "home sweet home" August kicks in for the Cubs.  Time to really build up that lead, because as everybody knows, September is almost sure to suck.  Till next time...

Busiest. Training Camp Opener. Ever.

Lots going on at Bears camp, and the players arrived just 24 hours ago.  Here's two cents worth of free analysis:

• Chris Williams signed just in time to participate in the first practice.  It's quite a relief to see all draft picks signed and ready to go, and Chris should be right on schedule to start the opener. 
• Brian Urlacher signed an extension.  One of my concerns about camp was how Urlacher would handle his contract situation, and how his back and neck are doing.  There should be nothing to worry about with the contract now, unless he pulls a Briggs and is unhappy about it a week later.  The Tribune said it best with their headline:  Time to Put Up.
• Devin Hester is holding out.  I'm surprised, but then again I'm not surprised.  The Bears have shown that they're willing to cave to a star player's contract demands, and Hester is only the best kick returner in NFL history.  And while he IS the best kick returner in NFL history, he's only played two years, he's making $445,000 and gas is $4 a gallon.  The fans don't want to hear it.  I understand where he's coming from, though.  Football is a demanding sport.  If he blows out his knee this year, he gets nothing.  The only thing he can do to gain leverage is to hold out, so he's doing it.  Still, the timing isn't the best.  The Bears have spent the last few days weeks negotiating with Urlacher and Williams, and Hester is under contract for two more years.  The Bears know he wants more money, they just didn't have time to negotiate.  He should have come into camp on good faith.  Oh well, I'm sure he'll sign a long term deal within the week and two years down the road when that bonus money is gone he'll sit out again.  Good times!
• Kreutz and Dvoracek are hurtin.  Kreutz is leader of the offense, and his presence is a necessity to fully integrate two new starters on the line.  I'm hoping his injury is nothing and they're simply being extra cautious.  And what's the deal with Dvoracek, man?  He's been an absolute beast the last two preseasons, but he's only played two single quarters in his career due to injury.  That's less than Mike Brown even!  I'm afraid he'll end up in the dustbin of "what could have been".
• Grossman won the coin flip.  Your opening day starter.

Let's see what happens on Day 2!

Questions to be answered in Bears Training Camp

The Bears are heading to Training Camp this week, and unlike last year there are LOTS of questions.  I, along with everyone else in the free world, (John Clayton, anyone?), was delusional heading into the 2007 season and described a team that had "no holes."  Uh, can I have a mulligan on that one?  A big, fat, disgusting 7 and 9 later, let's get to the questions for 2008:

Who's the starting Quarterback?  Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton?  Or is there a wild card out there we don't know about?  And I'm not talking about Nick Hill or Caleb Hanie.  (I'm not talking Brett Favre, either.)  I'm talking Chris Simms.  Simms is the odd man out in Tampa, and he's shown just enough moxie to make himself attractive to the Bears.  Will Jerry bite?  As for Grossman and Orton, without seeing a snap I'd give the ball to Orton.  But Grossman's amazing practice performance will probably win him the job.  Joy.

Who's the starting Receivers?  I would think Marty Booker is about as close as there could be to a lock.  He didn't do a whole lot in Miami, but then again he did have 50 catches last year with dog feces throwing to him.  After that, I think Devin Hester, Brandon Lloyd, and Rashied Davis are the favorites, with Earl Bennett and Mark Bradley as dark horses.  If Hester has an amazing preseason, I don't see how they can keep him out of the lineup.  He's a playmaker, though third downs may still be best for him.  Despite his lack of production in Washington, Lloyd has a pretty solid resume.  Davis knows the plays and he was a solid enough #3 the last few years, so he might have the inside track for at least the first few games.  I'm curious to see how Bennett will do. 

Who are the two new starting offensive linemen?  I would like to think that Chris Williams will be one of them, provided he signs within the next two weeks.  Man, he better sign.  After last year's draft, they need massive production from this draft class - starting at the top.  (Really, it'll be interesting to watch all the rookies this Summer.)  I guess Terrance Metcalf and John St. Clair are the steady-but-underwhelming choices for the last spot on the line, though it'd be nice to see Josh Beekman come out of nowhere and grab the job. 

How's Urlacher look?  Coming off the neck surgery, the bad back, the mini-camp/OTA holdouts, and the massive amounts of bad press; he's got a lot to play for.  And if he doesn't look good, the pressure will only get worse.

How's Tommie Harris look?  When he's not 100%, the team struggles.  The Enforcer needs to be healthy, period.

How's Mike Brown recovering?  This question has been asked at every camp for the past five years.  I guess I should be asking, how's Mike Browns backups doing?  Kevin Payne looked good before his injury last year, and many people think Craig Stelz was a steal in this year's draft.  And I really can't crap on McGowan much, as he was pretty solid the last four or five games last year.  Danieal Manning needs to step up as well.  But back to Brown a minute.  Over the last two years, when Brown played (along with a healthy Tommie Harris), the Bears defense flat out dominated.  (Yes, in 2007 the dominance only lasted for three quarters of the opener against San Diego, but I'm thinking 2006 when they started 8-0 and were winning games by 40 points.  Remember those heady days?  Seems like eons ago.)

Will Mark Anderson return to 2006 form?  I think they need to make Alex Brown the starter (like they did towards the end of last year), and let Anderson as a third down specialist.  Nothing wrong with having another Simeon Rice around, is there?

Will Dan Bazuin make the team?  He looked OK in the preseason last year, I thought, but was PUP and the word on the street is he's out.  That's a 2nd round pick, my friends.  I really want to see him make it, if for no other reason than he went to a MAC school. 

Garrett Wolfe, same question.  Now that Kevin Jones has signed, and Peterson seemingly entrenched on Special Teams, I don't see a spot for Wolfe.  He showed a few flashes last year, but not nearly enough for a 3rd round pick.  As much as I loved him at Northern, a third-down back should not be drafted in the third round.  Period.

And that just scratches the surface.  Coming off a season like last year, everybody on the team should be looking over their shoulder.  And when they look over their shoulder this year, they'll be looking at me.  I'll be filing my report from Training Camp next week for the third year in a row, and I won't be as soft as I was last year.  Till then....

BEAR DOWN

Cubs First Half Grades

Easiest and most obvious post in the world, so lets get to it.  Here's how I grade:

• A - Greatly exceeding expectations
• B - Meeting the higher end of expectations
• C - Getting the job done, barely
• D - A disappointment
• F - A disaster

A

Dempster, Wood, Soto, Theriot

Dempster's the only guy truly exceeding my wildest expectations on the team.  And his performance in the All-Star Game was awesome.  Wood's been mostly great, except for a handful of games.  Of the eight guys that made the All-Star, Soto was by far the most deserving.  He's the only guy that I would really have complained about had he not made the team. 

B

Zambrano, Marmol, Cotts, Lee, Ramirez, Fukudome, Soriano, DeRosa, Edmonds, Johnson, Fontenot

No complaints about any of these guys, as they're all basically doing what about as well as we could have possibly expected.  Marmol's been shaky, but hopefully his good appearance in the all-star game will right the ship.  I guess Cotts is a pretty big surprise amongst this group.  I never thought we'd see him again after last year.  Edmonds deserves props, too, for the same reason.  And what a nice pickup Reed Johnson was.  None of these last three guys were expected to be on the team, let alone contribute as much as they have.  Fukudome needs to start hitting again.

C

Lilly, Marquis, Marshall, Lieber, Howry, Eyre, Ward, Blanco, Cedeno

All of these are getting the job done, though none have exactly dominated at any point.  I expected a little more from Lilly.  Him and Howry are the only real guys they were really counting on among these "barely adequate" guys.  Can't really complain, though.  Even about Marquis.  I mean, he still sucks, but he's been his usual occasionally great but mostly shaky self.  Cedeno has been mostly worthless since his blistering hot start. 

D

Wuertz, Pie

Both guys are now in AAA, if that tells you anything.  I think Wuertz simply needs to pitch more.  Once a week generally doesn't cut it for relievers.  When he's on, though, he's pretty great.  But he deserves this D.  And Pie...well, there's always next year.  Hopefully he'll have a ring on his finger.

F

Hill

The one true disaster in the group.  Can you imagine if he had his head screwed on right and did what we expected him to do?  I expected somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 wins, and all I got was 15 walks in 15 innings.  Horrible.  And there's virtually no way he comes back this year.  He's done. 

Incomplete

Harden, Gaudin

Harden's here for one reason only:  the postseason.  All the experts analyze the trade and say that he'll make a 3 or 4 game difference in the standings this year.  That might not sound like much, but it's pretty good.  But really, I think they could have won the division without him.  The Cubs made the trade simply to increase their chances of winning it all.  The postseason is a different animal than the regular season, if Harden's healthy then the Cubs have two aces.  Two aces, along with Dempster (if he can keep it up), and this team will be really, really tough to beat in October.  I think Gaudin's going to pay huge dividends as well.  In fact, it wouldn't shock me if he was the 2nd best reliever down the stretch, even better than Howry and Marmol.

Lou

Lou gets an A.  He's already the best manager the Cubs have had in my lifetime.  That's with just one playoff appearance under his belt (and he got swept to boot.)  There's so much I can add here that it probably deserves its own post.  So be on the lookout for that in the coming months. 

And now, we wait.  Till next time.

Would I want Favre on the Bears?

Brett Favre is up to his annual "me, me, me" shenanigans, though instead of the world asking, "are you going to retire?!", the world is asking, "are you coming back?!"  He just retired a few months back, and the media bent over backwards to basically kiss his ass as he walked out the door.  Now he supposedly wants to play, and supposedly the Packers don't want him. I don't know what to make of all this, but I gotta say that you must be pretty big shit if the fact that you sent a text message makes "the crawl" on ESPN. 

The Packers are ready to begin the Aaron Rodgers era.  It's obvious that they don't want Favre back.  What a bunch of stooges.  This reminds me of Jerry Krause being so anxious to rebuild the Bulls after MJ's (second) retirement.  Krause had been waiting for years to build his own team from scratch.   (MJ was there when Krause got there, and justly got all the credit.)  Krause was so eager to build his own team, that he and Reinsdorf more or less pushed Phil Jackson out the door after the last championship in '98 and the dynasty disintegrated over night.  Can't blame Krause, though, as his master plan worked out well.  (Next time you're at the United Center, make sure you check out the Tim Floyd and Marcus Fizer banners up in the rafters.)

Anyways, back to Favre.  It's all the rage these days to speculate on what's next for Favre.  Most people figure that he'll be on the open market, provided the Packers "release" him.  A lot of people think the Bears are a legitimate destination for Favre.  A lot of people are wrong. 

• Favre wouldn't sign with Chicago.  Too much respect for the Packers fans.  We're not talking MJ coming back with the Washington Wizards, this is the best rivalry in football here.  It'd be like Edmonds signing with the Cubs or Chelios signing with Detroit or Johnny Damon signing with the Yankees.  Wait a minute...
• The Bears wouldn't sign him.  They don't need a Quarterback.  If they needed one, they would have drafted one, right?  They don't need a runningback, either.  If Angelo thought they needed a runningback, they would have scouted a veteran like Kevin Jones, right?  What a bunch of fucking idiots.  Scouts, Inc ranked all the teams by position, and the Bears have the least amount of talent on offense in football.  Every position (other than Tight End) is bottom of the barrel.  5-11 this year.  You watch. 

Anyhoo, the title question of this post is, "Would I want Favre on the Bears?," even though we already know that the Bears don't.  I wouldn't be against signing Favre because he wore Green and Gold and terrorized the Bears since I was playing Tecmo Bowl in High School.  I don't give a crap about that.  In fact, I'd be more inclined to sign him because of that.  Just to stick it to Wisconsin.  No, I'd give second thoughts to signing Favre purely for football reasons.  Prior to last year, he had back-to-back seasons of pure crap.  By the end of last season, he was crap.  All that talk of him "playing within his limits" this year was crap.  Same old Brett, he was just luckier with his dumb plays for a stretch at the beginning of the year.  The Bears already have a QB on the roster that's reckless with the football.  No, Grossman probably won't outperform Favre this year, (though its not completely out of the question).  I'm just saying the team isn't close enough to win a championship to roll the dice on Favre.   You saw what I just said about the offense, right?  Is Favre going to turn Brandon Lloyd into Donald Driver?  Is Garrett Wolfe going to turn out to be a diamond in the rough like Brian Grant? 

Back in the day, Favre alone was worth 8 wins per season.  Any talent around him at all, and they strolled into the postseason.  Now what's he worth, 2 wins?  Great, you're 7-9, the QB position is set back yet again and you're drafting a QB next April.  Oh, and as an added bonus you have to deal with all the "will he or won't he" bullshit next spring.  (Let me stick my head in the microwave now.)  Might as well give Orton and Grossman one more shot, and save that 3rd roster spot for one of the undrafted rookies.  I'll take the 1-in-20 chance that one of the rookies is worth something over the 1-in-100 chance that Favre can lead the Bears to the Super Bowl.  The Bears aren't going anywhere this year anyways.  See if Orton can stay sober or Rex can pull his head of of his ass. 

UPDATE (7/15/2008):  The Bears signed Kevin Jones today.  Sweet.  This post was exactly the kick in the pants that Angelo needed.  Yeah.

Further thoughts on "The Trade" and a look at the rotation

The more I think about the Rich Harden deal, the more I like it.  What really settled it for me was the Oakland reaction.  I surveyed some A's blogs and the San Fran papers and I'd say the reaction is almost universal.  Probably 85% of A's fans hated the move.  Oddly enough, most of them hated the move because Gaudin was included.  Plus there's a high level of dissatisfaction for the prospects they got in return along with the fact that Billy Beane is more or less giving up on the season.  I can't help but agree with them.  Gallagher looks good.  Possibly a #2 starter but more likely a #3 or #4.  Certainly not an ace.   

There's not much short term risk for the Cubs.  The worst case scenario for the Cubs is Harden getting hurt and making only two starts this year.  Gaudin in 2008 is the equivalent of Gallagher in 2008, so there's no immediate loss there.  I suppose it would hurt, too, if Soriano and Fukudome land on the DL at the same time (and thus Murton's loss would be felt).  But really, in the short term, that's the only potential negative.  If the Cubs miss the playoffs and Gallagher eventually becomes the next Dan Haren, then this trade will be considered a loss.  But the reward is just so massive, and it's gotta be considered a win for the Cubs unless Harden's already hurt.  (And to tell you the truth, that's in the back of my mind.  Why else would the Cubs be able to get him for so little?  What's the catch?)

Now it's time to think about the rotation.  If I had to guess, I'd say Marshall will go to AAA and Marquis will stay in the rotation.  However, I heard Hendry was on the radio yesterday talking about the rotation, and he mentioned Marshall but not Marquis.  Interesting.  That, of course, is what I would prefer to see but I would have guessed that Marquis' contract would have prevented that.
 
They can't put Marquis in the pen because they already have a long reliever.  They can't demote him, and he's paid too much to sit around and do nothing as insurance.  (Don't need it anyways with Gaudin and Lieber around)
 
He's going to be awfully hard to trade because he's owed 13 million dollars.  He only made 5 mil last year, and 6 mil this year, but next year he's scheduled to make 10 million.  Who the hell is going to pay Marquis 10 million?  (incidentally, a lot of Cubs contracts are severely backloaded like that.  It's Hendry's price to pay for turning around the team quickly.)  I guess they can cut him, but he's gotta be serviceable enough for somebody to roll the dice in a trade.  The Cubs will just have to pick up a bad contract in return and/or send a lot of money with Marquis.  I bet they'd have to eat 6 or 7 million to dump Jason.  If anyone can do it, Hendry can.  He found takers for Todd Hundley, Sammy Sosa, and Michael Barrett, and I never thought he'd be able to move any of those guys.
 
I anxiously await Hendry's next move.

Cubs acquire Harden, and that makes me very happy

This one's gonna be fast because I just got home from tonight's pasting of the Reds.  (Welcome home, Dusty.  Good times!)  The Cubs got pitchers Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the A's for Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, and some A-ball catcher named Donaldson.  Hallelujah! 

After losing out on CC, I was pretty disappointed.  At this point, my sights turned to Harden.  In fact, here's the money quote from what I sent in an email to my cousin, Jim:

I'd love for the Cubs to get Harden.  Sure, he's extremely injury prone.  In fact, he's the A's version of Prior & Wood.  That said, when he plays, he's awesome.  I think the Cubs need to aim high.  Harden could be like Josh Beckett was for the Marlins & Red Sox.  Injured most of the regular season, awesome in October.  The Cubs really need to aim high and the reward with Harden would be massive.  They don't need the likes of Randy Wolf.  They've already got enough .500 caliber pitchers.

Exactly.  Great pickup for the Cubs.  And Gaudin's no slouch himself, probably better than Marquis - though that's not saying much.   Gallagher's the only guy I will miss in this deal, but if the Cubs win the pennant, let alone the Series, I won't care one bit.  Murton's solid and could start for a number of teams, but really he's just average at best.  Patterson looks like he has Kansas City or Baltimore in his future.  In other words, he's nothing worth crying over.  I know nothing of the A-baller other than he hit .216 in A ball.  Some guy called him a "bullpen catcher" today, and I don't know if that's true but its certainly funny.  But we got Harden.

Your move, Melvin.

More to come, tomorrow.

Harden!

Busy Weekend for Cubs: St. Louis, All-Stars, and C.C.

Not a lot going on for the Cubs lately, huh?  First and foremost, they won the St. Louis series.  They were one strike away from sweeping them, but Kerry Wood's implosion Saturday shot that idea to hell.  Still, I'll take the 2 of 3, thank you very much.  I can't even get too upset about Wood either, because he's been so dominant lately.  So dominant, in fact, that he's earned his second All-Star nod. 

Speaking of, seven All-Stars, huh?  It's kind of weird.  All seven are really good and pretty much deserving to go (except maybe the often injured Soriano), but none were so dominant that I could have complained too much had they been snubbed (except Soto).  Still, I'll take it.  Soriano, Fukudome, Soto, Zambrano, Dempster, Wood, and Ramirez.  What's funny is the Cubs had a few more that deserved some consideration (Lee, Theriot, DeRosa), but I can't dare complain when there's already seven guys going.  It's just a really good team, top to bottom, and the All-Star selections support that.  This is even better than the legendary 1988 squad that had six representatives.  (That's Dawson, Sandberg, Maddux, Dunston, Palmeiro, and Vance Law if you're scoring at home.)  You want to talk snubs, how about the South Side?  And Varitek made it?  Are you kidding me?

Anyways, the real news this weekend came with the Brewers trade for Sabathia.  I'm not exactly sure of all the pieces that the Brewers are giving up, but one of the pieces is far better than anything the Cubs could offer.  The Cubs simply don't have any young hitting that's worth anything on the open market.  They've got a few pitchers, and a few "maybes" among the hitters, but nothing so special to land yourself an ace.  (So you're saying you don't want Rich Hill?  Really?!)  Very disappointing for this Cubs fan.  I don't think the Cubs need him to win the division, because even with Sabathia the Brewers are going to have to play extremely well to keep up.  I just wanted him for the postseason.  Oh well, now I guess we can turn our attention to All-Star Cliff Lee.  If the Tribe is giving up the season, they may as go all the way and trade Lee while he's at absolute peak value.  At least that's what I'm hoping, anyways.

Go Cubs!

Playoffs!? How the Chicago teams stack up

As much as I enjoy interleague play, and the Cubs-Sox series in particular, I'm happy its over.  After the uber-intense crosstown classic, it's kind of nice to get back to the "normal grind" of the regular season.   Where you don't live and die with every single pitch, and the ramifications of a single loss don't seem nearly as high.  But before the Cubs-Sox series is too far in our rear view mirror, I want to look at how the Chicago teams stack up with the postseason in mind.  I'm going to look at two categories in particular:  "Prospects for the Playoffs", and "Prospects for Winning it All." 

Prospects for the Playoffs
The Cubs have only a 2.5 game lead as of this writing, but the difference in talent between the Cubs and Cards seems much wider than that.  The Cardinals have simply been winning with smoke and mirrors, that's all there is to it.  I mean, who the hell is in their rotation?  And who the hell is Ryan Ludwick?  This team is littered with nobodies playing way over their head.  The Cubs, on the other hand, have the best run differential in baseball -- despite dealing with numerous injuries themselves.  You can't even really say that anyone on the Cubs is playing over their heads, either, except Dempster and maybe Theriot to a degree.  But really Dempster just makes up for the massive head case and black hole that is Rich Hill.  Cubs get healthy and stay healthy, they should be able to easily take the division.  I'm honestly more worried about the underachieving Brewers and who they might acquire more than the Cardinals.

The South Sider's lead is roughly the same as the Cubs, but the teams breathing down their neck are better than the Cardinals and Brewers.  Many people predicted the Tigers to win 100 games this year, and despite the rough start they're still only 6.5 out.  Their pitching has been mostly sub par, but they can outslug anybody - and that asset can be ridden into October.  The Twins, much like the Cardinals, are simply winning with smart baseball.  Since Gardenhire took over, they've never really been out of any race.  They just find ways to win.  The Sox have a good team.  Good hitting, good starting pitching, good bullpen.  Solid, top to bottom.  Not a lot of depth, though.  Who would step in if a starting pitcher or two went down?  They've been very lucky with injuries.  (luckiest team in the league, according to Baseball Prospectus.)  The only guy they were counting on that's missed any time is Konerko.  So all in all I'd say the Sox have a tougher road to the postseason than the Cubs.  Tougher competition, plus a general lack of depth should anyone go down.

Prospects for Winning it All
Here's where the teams really differ.  The Cubs have a balanced, deep team and a great offense, but they simply don't have a championship caliber rotation.  Good enough to win the division, for sure.  But good enough to be the favorites in a short series against teams like Arizona and Philly?  (let alone any contender in the AL)  No.  Zambrano can hang with anybody, but Dempster, Lilly, etc are simply too streaky for me to have anything more than a passing level of confidence in them.  The bullpen isn't all that deep either, beyond the fragile Wood and the slightly-off Marmol.  Sure, anything could happen in the playoffs - see St. Louis in 2006.  But the Cubs would not be the favorites by any stretch of the imagination - that is unless they acquire Sabathia.  (They get CC, and I reserve my Series tickets now.)

The Sox, on the other hand, are built for October.  Strong rotation (with old man Contreras likely the odd man out), very good looking bullpen.  Pitching always prevails in October.  The Sox have a hard time scoring runs when they aren't homering, but all in all you can't complain too much about the offense.  Its good enough to win it all with.  So yeah, if the Sox make the postseason, I think their odds of winning it all would be better than a CC-less Cubs.

But it's all a crapshoot anyways, right?  Right?