Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

Cubs Trade Bradley!

Sorry, wishful thinking.  They haven't traded Milton Bradley yet.  But they will. 

In the meantime, let's take a look at the Cubs.  The last time we saw them, they were crushed under the weight of their high expectations and missed the 2009 playoffs by 8.5 games.  (That's it?  They seemed a lot worse than that.) 

So what went wrong?

1.  Key players slumped.  Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto were flat out horrible.  No excuses for either one of them.  They just plain sucked.  To a lesser extent, Mike Fontenot and Carlos Zambrano were significantly worse than everybody expected them to be last season as well.  Most thought Fontenot would give them at least 80% of what Mark DeRosa gave them, and from the left side to boot.  Dud.  Ryan Dempster had a bit of a dropoff from his career season as well, though overall he was still pretty solid (like Big Z, to be truthful).

2.  Every acquisition failed.  Every move Hendry made before the 2009 season failed.  Let's see, he traded DeRosa, Signed Milton Bradley, let Kerry Wood go, signed Kevin Gregg, let Blanco walk, didn't sign an adequate backup third basemen, signed Aaron Miles, gave the starting 2nd base job to Fontenot, and turned over the entire bullpen (save Marmol).  Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail.  Bradley, in particular, was a bust.  He had a solid June-July, and overall he got on base at a decent clip, but everything else about him was absolutely miserable.  I really don't want to talk about him much, because I can't stand the guy.  But suffice it to say, when your team gives the GM a standing ovation when you're suspended for the remainder of the season, it's not a good sign.

3.  Aramis got hurt.  The Cubs best hitter missed 80 games to injury last year.  He raked when he played, but third base was a black hole for over two months.

4.  Lou Piniella started losing it.  I think he might have early Alzheimer's setting in.  He's a good manager, in fact, probably the best Cubs manager of my lifetime.  But he had many brainfarts last season, and I'm hoping the subtraction of Bradley will help Lou focus next year.

Anything go right?

Derrek Lee and Randy Wells.  Derrek Lee got some MVP votes and had his second best season ever.  Randy Wells came from nowhere to get some rookie of the year consideration.  Fukudome proved to be adequate, and that was more than anyone had expected after his largely disastrous rookie year.  That's about it.

So what should Hendry do for 2010? 

I'm glad you asked.  I don't think the team needs a complete overhaul, and honestly with the contract situation I don't even think its possible.  The core of this team won 97 games in 2008.  A few tweaks here and there, and a few guys return (at least partially) to form and they should be in contention again in the Central.  To break it down:

1.  Cut the dead weight.  He already dumped Heilman and Miles, two major disappointments from last offseason.  Bradley, of course, is next.  Ideally, the Cubs would acquire some other team's problem that would unexpectedly blossom on the north side.  (Think Eric Karros and Mark Grudzielanek in return for Todd Hundley.  I did say I was being optimistic.)  So let's say the Cubs pick up a Pat Burrell or Luis Castillo.   Not unreasonable for either of those guys to be rejuvinated on the Cubs.  I think Vernon Wells might be a good fit but his contract is positively Soriano-esque, so the Cubs should take a pass on him.  Be creative, Jim. 

2.  Pray that Soriano and Soto have major rebounds.  While not close to the 40-40 the Cubs thought they were getting, I don't think its unreasonable for Soriano to put up 2008 numbers.  .280...29 HRs.  It might not be worth $18 million, but it'd certainly be acceptable.  Soto just needs to put down the doobies are start slugging again.  I think he could very easily put up a .270/.350/.480 line or so.  Big Z needs a bounce back season as well, while Lee can't fall too far back to earth.

3.  Look at CF and 2B for positions to upgrade.  Maybe SS.  I think Theriot's fine, but they could definitely use an upgrade at Short.  After CF and 2B are taken care of, of course.  I don't like the rumors I'm hearing about Rick Ankiel, I'll just say that right now.  I could live with Mike Cameron for a year, if you can get him cheap.  I think in-house option Jeff Baker might actually be a decent stopgap at 2nd, though you know who's available.  Yeah, DeRosa.  Want to kiss and make up?

4.  Arms.  Everybody needs arms.  Get as many as you can for the pen and may the best ones stick.  (Grabow is already in the fold)  Maybe pick up a more reliable 5th starter type, as I don't have a whole lot of confidence in Gorzelanny, Marshall, or Samardzija.  Harden just signed a one-year deal for $7.5 mil with the Rangers.  I'd have taken a flyer on him for that, though it seemed the Cubs were somewhat sick of his injury woes by the end of last season.

And really, that's about it.  Just some tweaks, and this team could win another 93-95 games. 

Good night!

Jack's First Cubs Game

Ok, so the season is for all practical purposes over, and I've got the mother of all rants brewing.  But I'm going to skip all that for now, and talk about my son's first Cubs game.

Talk about a breath of fresh air.  Jack is a crazy Cubs fan, and he legitimately likes every player on the team.  Even Milton Bradley.  His favorite player is Soriano.  And Derrek Lee.  And Big Z.  And Fukudome.  And Sam Fuld.  And...<he'll keep listing names until he names every Cubs player>.  He knows every player, their number, and their position.  If someone's playing in a different position or not in the lineup, he immediately recognizes the oddity (such as the DH during interleague play a few months ago).  He puts on his glove and pitches when the Cubs pitch.  He swings a bat when the Cubs bat.  They can do no wrong in his eyes. 

So anyways, I had 2 tickets to Friday's game against the Mets, and I figured it was the perfect opportunity to pull him out of kindergarten and take him to his first game.  (Don't tell Ed Rooney.)   Every day he asks if he can go today, even if a) they already played earlier in the day, and b) they're on a road trip.   When we told him he was going Friday morning, he shrieked with excitement.  He wants to go see Soriano, and he wants to get a finger.  That is, a giant foam "We're #1" finger. 

He really didn't know what he was in for.  On the way down, he's asking questions like, "Are Len Kasper and Bob Brenly going to be really loud?"  "Are we going to see the pre-game show?"  "Are we going to see the commercials?" and on and on.  I think he thought we were going to still be watching the game on TV.  We aren't going to the new Texas Stadium, son.

So we get down to the Wrigley at about the time the gates opened, showed him my brick and got the requisite pictures by the Harry Caray statue and under the front marquee.  We walk in, walk up the steps, and he's all smiles.  He soaks it all in.  He's seemingly shocked at how far the Cubs are hitting the ball.  We mosey down to the wall to watch batting practice.  He gets excited to see...everyone.  There's Fukudome!  There's Jake Fox!  Look, Dad, there's Koyie Hill!  People were turning and looking...who IS this kid?!

After the Cubs were done, they ran into the dug out.  Jack is standing next to an even younger kid, and Rich Harden turns and runs directly towards us.  Jack gets a little shy and turns away a second, as does the other kid.  Harden has his hand out to give either kid the ball, but both kids have their back to him.  He leaves the ball on the ledge, turns and heads to the dugout.  The other kid finally turns around and takes the ball.  So close...

We grab a dog, a finger, and head to our seats.  Nothing beats a hot dog at the ballpark.  We were seated in the upperdeck, right under Len & Bob.  This is probably my favorite spot to sit in the stadium, by the way (outside of the 100 level, of course).  Just a great view of the game up there.  Total foul ball territory, too.

Cubs jump out to an early lead and Jack's ecstatic.  Jumping up and down, shaking his hat at triple deuces, and it doesn't even phase him when Soriano drops a popup in the 3rd (an inning after Bradley lets one drop off his shoe).  Did you see that, I ask?  "Yeah, he dropped it."  It doesn't slow down his fun, though, as he's still smiling ear to ear.  Lilly starts mowing 'em down.

Seventh inning, Bradley catches the most routine of popups and gets an enormous standing ovation.  I can only shake my head.  Have I got a rant about that guy.  Jack doesn't care, though.  I ask him if he likes Bradley, and he says, "yeah - he always gets on base!"  Jack doesn't listen to sports radio.

During the 7th inning stretch, Jack sings a little but spends most of the time working on his batting stroke.  Whatever, he's having fun.

Lilly gets into a jam in the 8th, and Kevin Gregg comes in.  "Mom says Gregg doesn't know how to pitch.  Did he forget?"  Mom's not just another pretty face, apparently.  Gregg gets one out but gives up one inherited run on a line drive to the wall, just off Soriano's glove.  (Nice effort, at least, but I bet Fuld would have snared it.)  Runner thrown out at the plate, bottom 8, Cubs down 2-1.

Bradley double, long Lee flyout to advance the runner, Aramis RBI single, tie game.  Really, I was watching the game through his eyes and I couldn't help get excited.  Two on, two out for Soriano.  This horrible season turning meaningless, and I wanted nothing more for Soriano to get the game-winning hit.  Jack loves Soriano.  Ever Cubs fan of age can't stand him, but he's my son's hero.  Why?  Best I can gather its his hot April.  He hit a fair number of leadoff HRs last year (when Jack first started paying attention), and he had a blistering hot April (like .340 with 12 or 14 HRs) this year when Jack started becoming obsessed with the team.  Does Jack care Sori's hitting about .160 in August with zero HRs?  Nope.  I ask him what's going to happen.  "He's going to hit a HR."  (To be far, he said that about Aramis and Jeff Baker, too, along with every other Cub I asked about.)

Sori goes down 0-2 with a weak swing and the catcher walks out to the mound.  I can only imagine the catcher saying, "if this next ball is within 3 feet of the plate, I'm going to kick you in the jimmy."  At that point, I put the odds of Sori getting a hit around one in a thousand.  Instead, meatball over the heart of the plate - gone.  I couldn't believe it.  Jack is jumping up and down like crazy.  His first Cubs game, his first home run.  Cubs lead, 5-2. 

Marmol walks one but otherwise zips through the ninth.  Strike 3 on Gary Sheffield (one of the few Major Leaguers to actually bat for the Mets that day - man, are they banged up) and Cubs win.  Go Cubs Go!  Dancing in the aisles.  Unbelievable. 

I still can't believe Soriano hit that homer.  Its like Jack's good karma made it happen.  Or the pitcher on the Mets had a complete brain fart.  One or the other.

On the way home, listening to sports radio, and yet another set of unflattering quotes from Bradley hit the airwaves.  Jack pays no mind.  He's just happy the Cubs won and his hero hit a homer.  He asked me what place they're in, and I say 2nd.  Who's in first?  The Cardinals.  Long pause.  "Is Rock Obama Albert Pujols' dad?  He gave him a high five that day."  That would be the All-Star game 6 weeks ago, if you're paying attention.  Kids remember the weirdest stuff.  He then fell asleep and slept hard for the next hour, while I navigated traffic.

Cubs Thoughts: Closing Time

Ok, Kevin Gregg isn't very good.  That 600-foot home run that Dan Uggla hit on Sunday, as part of back-to-back blown saves, is pretty much all the evidence you need.  But you know what?  I'm not worried about the Cubs at this point.  I've pretty much given up hope. 

I have absolutely zero confidence that this team can both a) outlast the Cardinals, and b) win 11 games in the postseason.  Well, I think they can outlast the Cardinals without relying on cosmic forces, but I'm still of the firm belief that the postseason is all luck.  And at this point I have no more or no less confidence in the team's potential October success than I had for the team that won 97 games last season.  Would I rather have a better, DOMINANT closer with grade-A nasty stuff?  Sure, who wouldn't?  But having that wouldn't improve their odds of winning in the postseason all that much.  It just matters who's hot.  And Gregg can get hot.  Is he as likely to be hot as, say, Mariano Rivera circa 1999?  No, probably not.  But he can surely string together a a dozen good appearances over the course of a month.  In fact, he had a seven-week stretch in June/July where he more or less dominated.  If that happens in October, along with another 5-7 Cubs playing about as well as they typically play in the regular season:  Cubs win.

So there's no sense fretting over the closer at this point.  They don't have a better option on the roster.  Marmol might be better, but he's allergic to throwing strikes.  Guzman's a better pitcher, but he's been pretty shaky during the few times he's been asked to finish up games.  And there's nobody out there in free agency or available via waiver-trade either that's any better.  The only guy that may have been available is Heath Bell, but as of last Friday its too late for that.  So no sense wasting energy on that.  It's Gregg or bust in 2009.  Worry about the closer for next season, if you must.

Speaking of acquiring players, let's talk about Jim Hendry a minute.  Yes, he had a pretty horrible offseason.  But I'm cutting him some slack.  Up until last November, a significant percentage of his moves for the Cubs have worked out well.  And it's really hard to argue with three division titles in six years, in addition to contending this year.  Yeah, the Bradley and Gregg deals haven't exactly worked out, and neither has the subtraction of DeRosa.  Miles blows, Gathright was an abomination, and even Hank White has been missed these last few weeks.  Would he like a few do-overs?  Sure, but who cares about hypotheticals.  Live in the now.   If he has any real weakness at all, it has been the in the draft.  The Cubs have probably the worst draft record of any team over the past 25 years.  But the farm system has come around a bit and produced a few keepers the last few years, so that's something.

I don't know, I guess I just want to stop worrying about it and enjoy the games for what they are.  Small victories.  So I'm going to do what the famous bleacher t-shirt suggests: shut up and drink my beer. 

Cubs trade Hart and Ascanio to Pirates

The Cubs traded Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio today to the Pirates for John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny. I don't know about this trade. If you ask me, Hart has been awfully good for this team. Three wins in three starts since the break while Dempster/Lilly were on the shelf.  And Ascanio has pretty decent stuff and seemed overall pretty competant as well. Gorzelanny, who the Cubs obtained, is a little older and has been a solid starter for the Bucs. One of those league average types that looks OK but really he only looks good because he's been on the Pirates. If he's on the Cubs he's a six or seven, only starting if multiple guys are on the DL. Basically, an older version of Hart.  Grabow is a solid lefty reliever, maybe a tick better than Marshall. That''s useful, but is that a good enough haul for the potential of Hart and Ascanio? We'll see.

In the grand scheme of things, I guess you can say it's a push if not an outright win for the Cubs, because the team is slightly better right now and none of the arms given up will ever be the next Maddux or even the next Marmol.  But really, I can't say with absolute confidence that the Pirate duo will ever contribute more than Hart has in the last two weeks. He's been that good. 

Oh, and I didn't even mention that the Cubs also threw in a (marginal) prospect. If Ascanio, Hart or the prospect turns out to be even league average for two seasons, this trade will be regarded as a loss for the team. But even if its not, it's not like this trade is a home run and my biggest fear is that the cubs are likely done making moves. They simply don't have the prospects to land anyone other than a fringe reliever or two.  Mission accomplished?  We'll see in October.

All-Star Thoughts and some Cubs Grades

Well, the AL won again.  Ho-hum.  Unless you happened to be in St. Louis, these last two days of MLB events were pretty dull.  To witness:

• The HR Derby was a complete and utter bore.  Three hours is about two hours too many, and unless a) you've actually heard of the guy (I'm looking at you, Nelson Cruz), and b), he can get into double-digits (I'm looking at you, Pujols); its just completely void of excitement.  What happened to the good old days?  Where's the McGwires and Sosas and Giambis?  Oh yeah.  For the good of the game, they should let the players juice up for the contest.  I'm begging.
• Then there's the All-Star game.  I love watching the opening lineups, and honestly I don't mind that every team gets at least one representative.  Sure, you end up with a few guys that don't belong and a few guys get snubbed (though not all that many snubs now with a roster size of 33), but its pretty cool to see all the players lined up and see the different uniforms. 
• I also enjoy the first few innings.  Here you generally see the best players in the game, certainly the best pitchers.  But then the managers go a bit haywire and try to cram as many players into the game as they can.  Ultimately, the game is decided by Adam Jones hitting a sac fly off Heath Bell in the 8th inning.  Not exactly a dream matchup there.  I'd like to see a rule tweak so that one starting position player can re-enter the game per inning from the 8th inning on.  Then you might get to see Pujols or Hanley Ramirez batting in the 9th against Mariano Rivera instead of the likes of Jayson Werth and Christian Guzman.  Who would be against this?
• I'm not entirely against the winner of the game determining Home Field advantage in the World Series.  Back in the old days, home field was determined not by best record but by, wait for it, the year.  NL had home field in even years, AL had home field in odd years.  And that's the way it was for about 70 years.  How in the world is that fair?  At least now the game has a little bit of meaning, and I have a compelling reason to stay up and watch Heath Bell blow the game.  What I'd really like to see, however, is Rob Neyer's idea happen.  Home field should be decided by which team wins 2 of 3 categories:
• Better Record.  This one's easy.  Team with the better record wins.  So a team like the Dodgers would have at least one category in their favor.
• Better Overall Interleague Standings.  AL has dominated the last 5-7 years or so. 
• All-Star Game.  AL has won 13 in a row.  The combination of items 2 & 3 would cancel out the Dodgers record, and really, it probably should.  Winning 100 games is much harder in the AL than the NL, and the AL should be rewarded for that.  Just maybe not reward them for the outcome of one exhibition game. 
• The President stayed true to his team and wore his grubby Sox jacket to throw out the first pitch.  I'm no Sox fan, but I gotta admit that was pretty cool.
• Ted Lilly, the Cubs lone representative, didn't pitch.  Bummer for Cubs fans everywhere, including my 4-year-old who has not stopped talking about Lilly the Cubs All-Star for about a week.  Oh well.

Speaking of the Cubs, lets quickly hand out some grades for the first half to the key players:

A:  Randy Wells.  This guy is far exceeding expectations, and he should get serious ROY consideration if he keeps up his current pace.  Of course, I expected absolutely nothing and I've gotten a quality 3rd or 4th starter.  That should tell you a lot about this team.

B:  Derrek Lee, Ted Lilly, Angel Guzman, Micah Hoffpauir, Jake Fox - These are the only other guys who are really exceeding expectations at all, and the latter three weren't expected to be much more than a minor contributor at best. 

C:  Ryan Theriot, Kosuke Fukudome, Reed Johnson, Koyie Hill, Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Kevin Gregg, Sean Marshall, Aaron Heilman.  These guys are pretty much all doing about as expected.  Theriot would get a B if it weren't for all the stupid baserunning plays, and Fukudome might rate higher if he showed anything after June 1st.  Demp and Z's expectations might have been a bit higher than what they've actually accomplished in terms of record, but they're not losing because they're pitching poorly.  They're losing because they've gotten virtually zero run support.  I didn't expect all that much from Gregg, or Heilman, sadly, and that's what I've gotten.  Marshall's been solid.

D:  Milton Bradley, Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto, Rich Harden, Mike Fontenot - Soriano would get an F- if it weren't for the blistering hot April.  Soto would get a C if it weren't for the ice-cold April (he's actually been pretty close to his old self since May 13, though now he's hurt.)  I still think Bradley might come around, but 21 RBIs is just plain pitiful for a guy who mostly hit cleanup and was brought in to add serious left-handed pop.  I expected a lot more out of Harden and Fontenot.

F:  Carlos Marmol.  He's been mostly awful.  A shell of his former self.  A walk per inning, with practically no signs that he could snap out of it.  This is not good.

Inc:  Aramis Ramirez

Lou:  C.  Eh, I still think he's the best Cubs manager of my lifetime, but that's not saying much.  He seems to be slipping this year.  Occasionally he has a brain fart, but in general he makes the right moves.  The players have just mostly sucked and done it at the worst possible times.  Lou didn't hit 1-for-27 with RISP on that 10-game road trip.  Could he motivate more?  Perhaps.  But really its the players.  Oh, and I have to say that I really dug the Marshall-to-left move the other day.  You can't say you see that every day.

Hendry:  D.  His moves this past offseason have pretty much all bombed.  Sorry, but them's the facts.

I don't advocate in any way firing Lou or Hendry.  Hendry's not perfect, but he's made some stellar deals through the years, and rare is he made to look like the fool.  Back to back division titles reflects well on his tenure.  And Lou mostly gets it right.  My main problem with firing either of these guys is, "who are you going to bring in?"  They've had so many managers and GMs through the years that I have no confidence in them hiring one better than what they've already got.  They might not be great, but they're far better than 95% of the guys that might replace them.  And I have no confidence in the guys doing the hiring.

And so goes the first half of the 2009 season.

Abbreviated Cubs Rants

Lots going on with the Cubs these days. It seems every day inspires another rant.  I could probably go on for 10 pages on each of these topics, but in the interest of time I'll try to be brief.

• DeRosa Traded to St. Louis - Jim Hendry had a chance for a do-over but for whatever reason he couldn't get it done.  Instead, DeRosa lands in hated St. Louis and the Cubs are stuck with tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum for the foreseeable future.  (Who's tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum?  Pick a name out of a hat.)  This one cut deep, but it's not because DeRosa was all that great.  I mean, he was pretty good but the Cubs had nine All-Stars last year and he wasn't one of them.  He was just a solid, likable player who always gave 100% and could play anywhere without a hint of lip.  And now he's in St. Louis.  Yuck.
• Zambrano Blows Up - Big Z had a bit of a meltdown and Phil Rogers suggested that the Cubs should place him on waivers and trade him.  This was such an asinine comment that I don't even know where to begin.  Aside from two games, he's been their best pitcher this year.  And its not like he wilts in high profile situations anymore.  His last two playoff starts were losses but neither were his fault.  Then, a "scientific" web poll on the site suggested that 57% of fans agreed with him.  I call bullshit.  Of their 5,000 "yes" votes, I bet a good two or three thousand were Sox fans just startin shit.  Real Cubs fans don't want him gone.
• All-Stars - All-Star voting ends Thursday, and cubs.com is pushing for Cubs fans to vote in Soriano.  Laughable, to say the least.  One year after sending nine, the Cubs don't deserve any All-Stars this year.  I suppose Lee, Lilly, or maybe even Theriot will get the Cubs lone, default nod; but really nobody should be within 200 miles of St. Louis this year.
• Sam Fuld - Fuld did more tonight than Soriano has done in the last 6 weeks.  Seriously.  And what does that tell you, that some scrappy, fringe major leaguer, fifth outfielder type from AAA shows more spark/heart/hustle than our $136 million dollar supposed superstar.  Pathetic.  I seriously think the Cubs would be better off with a Fox/Johnson/Fuld/Hoffpauir mega-platoon than the Soriano/Bradley combo for the rest of this season. 
• Lou's Eruption - Lou had a rant of his own tonight after a questionable call and got tossed.  It just seemed so tired and rehearsed.  Time to make the donuts...time to yell at an umpire and fire up my team.  Yawn.

Big four game series versus the Brewers starts Thursday.  Sure, it was nice to win 2 of 3 against the Pirates, but it was just the Pirates.  Time to take 3 of 4 against real competition if you want us fans to even think about the postseason.

A Little Mike & Mike on the Cubs

With apologies to the real Mike & Mike, my friend Mike and I engaged in a little email exchange on the Cubs the last few days that sum up the feelings of typical Cubs fans.  It started Monday (after the Cubs swept the Indians) with an email from MikeB:

MB: Boy, I thought we had problems until they came to town and redefined the term “struggling.”  Have you ever seen a bullpen that made you half as eager to pick up a bat and join the fun?  That was a feel-good three days, but I’m not buying it. 

You hit on some good points in your blog, but one thing I haven’t seen mentioned enough, in my opinion, is how much the Cubs have flailed against staggeringly mediocre, and even poor, pitching.  As soon as I see a guy waltz to the mound looking for his first win of the season or sporting a 5+ ERA, I head straight for the booze cabinet.  A few of my most favoritest, very special examples: 

May 23 – The immortal Josh Greer, who now owns a 5.98 ERA for the season, has only one win in 10 starts this season, which he earned by holding the Cubs to one run over 6 2/3.

June 13 – The magnificent Anthony Swarzak stymies the Cubs, blanking them for seven innings.  The Twins immediately ship him to the minors, demonstrating just how impressive the feat is.

June 20 – Rafael Perez strides to the mound sporting an 11.36 ERA, having given up 32 hits in 18 innings.  Result?  A 1-2-3 inning of course – two of them on K’s.

It is truly remarkable that they are still in the hunt for anything given how utterly unwatchable they’ve been for the past month.  If the games I’ve seen are an accurate representation, they’re hitting about .060 with runners in scoring position.  I bet the following joke is making it around National League bullpens right now: 

Q: What the best way to keep the Cubs from scoring?
A: Load the bases with nobody out.

You really can’t say enough about the starting pitching, but even with a healthy Ramirez back in the lineup, Bradley returning to form, and Soto shaking off his sophomore slump, it looks to me like the upside for this team is a first-round sweep at the hands of…whoever.

Before I responded, the Cubs were shut out by the Braves on Monday.

MJ:  Yeah, the team really isn't good at all.  I think they have problems with all pitching, though, not just the crappy guys.  They simply have a problem in the clutch, as seen tonight by 10 hits and 0 runs.  I mean, who does that?  Well, the Cubs do.  All the time it seems.
 
I'm not completely down on their prospects for the season, however.  The division really does suck, and all you have to do is get in.  The rest, as Billy Beane says, is fucking luck.  Ever since the Cardinals won in '06, I can't help but think the regular season is meaningless.  All you have to do is get in.  That's why I wasn't overly excited last fall.  I mean, even with the best record in the NL, I thought they had maybe a 20% chance of winning it all.  They sneak in this year with a 85-77 record, and I'd give them a 10% chance.  It just doesn't matter until October.  And then its simply a matter of how the ball bounces. 
 
Then again, it IS possible to freaking choke.  4 errors in one inning?  7 walks? 

After this email, Gregg served up the walkoff to Detroit on Tuesday.

MB:  Well, that was kind of my point – if they can’t hit the crappy guys…
 
Oh, and we forgot to mention they have a tier 3 closer.

The regular season is still meaningful in that only 25% of the teams get in, unlike some sports.  But I don’t see how this team can do anything beyond maybe win our crappy division, unless they start showing something that’s been conspicuously absent to date.

Another day, another loss.  This time via a Bradley 2-run error and a Marmol bases loaded walk.

MJ:  Man, I wish we had a tier 3 closer.  Yesterday was absolutely brutal.
 
Then tonight, more of the same.  The good news is they're getting hits.  The bad news is they can't bring them home.  At this point, I think I might start advocating some small ball.  Typically, I'm not in favor of wasting outs on sac bunts.  But you watch the leadoff man get on board and end up stranded 20 times in a span of four games makes you rethink your strategy quick.  Get at least one run on the board.

MB:  First off, the Bradley signing was a disaster.  That guy is a loser.  Yes, it was a tough catch, but that ball hit the heel of his glove.  A major league outfielder should catch that ball.  Cost them two runs = ballgame.  How many bonehead plays does he need to make?  I can’t for the life of me figure out why we wouldn’t be better off with DeRosa and an extra $8M to spend.  They should release him to send a message.

MJ:  At first, I wanted no part of Bradley, mostly because of his injury history.  Dude only played even 100 games twice in his career.  And of course, I wasn't looking forward to his lovely personality either, but that was a distant second to his fragility.  But then the more and more I looked at his stats from last year, I talked myself into the signing.  "The Cubs need someone to add an edge, to disrupt the clubhouse."  What a joke.  At least the 3rd year is not guaranteed.  But you're right - thus far its a major bust.
 
I don't know if keeping DeRosa would have prevented all this.  But I do know he would have played every day at Second, Right, or Third, and the team wouldn't have been overexposed with Fontenot and Miles playing every day.  I assumed Fontenot wouldn't be able to keep up last year's pace, but I didn't think he'd fall this far either.  And Miles for $4M?  Are you kidding?

MB:  No doubt!  Miles is a poor man’s Augie Ojeda.

During Thursday's loss...

MJ:  And Who the hell is Ray Raburn?  I saw his stats the other day and knew he was going deep on Gregg.  .225 BA, 4 HRs, 14 RBI.  He's killing them today, too.

MB:  That’s Ryan Raburn.  He’s a journeyman’s journeyman, but the 2009 Cubs are making stars all around the league.

A few parting shots:

Both Sean Marshall and Rich Harden currently have better batting averages than not one, not two, but THREE everyday players.  And that’s not because they’re capturing lightning in a bottle – they’re hitting .235 and .231 respectively. 

In eight starts Randy Wells has compiled a sterling 2.57 ERA…and has been rewarded with one win.

Perhaps worst of all, Neal Cotts has been trotted out to the mound 19 times this season despite his complete inability to retire major league hitters.  How many times do you have to smack your head on the same doorway before you start ducking?

MJ:  At least Cotts is gone.  We still have to deal with Miles every other day.  I'm probably wasting too much energy talking about Miles, though, as he's just a part-time player.  But I can't help it.  He sucks.

I kinda liked Marshall in the rotation, but it seems he can't get the job done in the bullpen.  He always struggles in his first inning, and that won't work for a reliever.  And that said, Wells has looked far better than I could have possibly imagined.  I still don't know if he's for real or not but who cares?  He's doing the job right now just fine.

Anyways, swept by the Tigers.  White Sox are next.  How long till Training Camp?

Random Cubs Notes and what I think of Sammy

Ok, it's been far too long and there's a lot on my mind.  Man, do the 2009 Cubs suck.  Yeah, they won today...yippee!  But frankly, I'm more surprised that they scored 6 runs in a single game than I am that they beat the equally execrable White Sox.  This offense is bad.  Based on their offseason moves, I figured the Cubs might shave three or four wins off last season's 97-win mark.  I didn't think they'd fall this far, though.  Amazingly, they're not even close to being out of the race.  Thank God for crappy divisions.  If they can simply get healthy and have Sori/Soto/Bradley start hitting close to what we expected, they'd be in solid shape to still take the crown.  Lousy bullpen or no.  Now, for the particulars of this bad, bad team:

• Soriano.  I'm to the point where I can't fathom the Cubs winning a world series with Sori hitting leadoff.  Yeah, he looks like a MVP at times, but his cold spells just suck the life out of the whole team, and I firmly believe the back-to-back playoff sweeps can be largely attributed to him alone.  I'm almost to the point where I think a Fox-Hoffpauir platoon would be more productive (and consistent) in Left than Sori. 
• Fukudome.  He's back to his old corkscrew self.  What is it about the first six weeks that make him so awesome?  What is it about the rest of the season that makes him so terrible?  He looks like he couldn't even hit single-A pitching at this point.  Forty million wasted.
• Lee.  Now, for a change of pace, something positive.  Lee's been tearing the cover off the ball for a month now.  Not at his 2005 MVP-caliber pace, but more than solid enough.  If he only had people on base in front of him, then maybe we'd get somewhere.  Oh, and sorry about all that "Hoffpauir should start" talk. 
• Bradley.  He's been a massive bust, but I'm not counting him out just yet.  Seems every free agent the Cubs sign struggles with the day games for a while.  He's showed some signs of snapping out of it a few times, but every time he does he tweaks a groin or something.  If he could.  just. stay. healthy.
• Miles.  Ugh, this guy needs to be DFA'd ASAP.  He's less than worthless.  He can't hit, he can barely field.  I'd just start Andres Blanco every day until Aramis gets back and be done with it.  At least he plays stellar defense. 
• Rotation.  Awesome.  I shudder to think where we'd be without the stellar starting pitching.  And I like the Randy Wells story, but something tells me he'll be coming back to earth and heading back to Iowa before he gets his first win.
• Perry out; Joshua in.  Pure BS-PR move to placate the fan base.  Gotta show the fans that we're doing something.  Number one offense in the league last year.  The veterans should get fingered for this one.  Can't fire them, though.

And now, some thoughts on Sammy Sosa.  Wow.  Shocker.  Ok, so we were only 95%-99% sure he was guilty of using roids, and now we're 100% sure.  Its a shame, really.  But I don't blame Sosa.  It was par-for-the-course in all of MLB and I'm now convinced that at least 60% or 70% of all players were on something.  Baseball not only looked the other way, but they flat-out encouraged it.  You'd be stupid not to do roids.  Seriously.  Millions at stake, everyone else is doing it.  Why wouldn't you?

Now, as for the Hall of Fame.  Sosa is now very, very questionable.  I will say that he shouldn't get in before Bonds or Clemens, two other massive cheaters.  But those guys were undoubtedly the very best of their generation, possibly even without performance enhancers.  Still, 600 homers is an awful lot of homers, and its not like hitting 60 homers three times was exactly commonplace.  If it was, you'd have seen dozens of cheaters doing it.  There was definitely a certain amount of talent that had to be harnessed, plus he had to stay in the lineup (while some cheaters couldn't).  Did steroids teach Sosa how to be patient and take a pitch?  That was really the eye-opener at the time of his ascent.  He always had the massive power, he just couldn't harness it.  Really, though, I don't know if any of these guys belongs in the Hall, but I do think that if you let in known cheats then Sammy should at the very least be considered.  Too many cheaters haven't been caught to leave out the red-handed ones.

And that's that.  Woodie and DeRosa come to town with the Indians next.  Ah, what could have been. j/k.

You'd think I would have learned by now

Randy Wells pitched BRILLIANTLY tonight.  No hitter through 6 2/3, supremely efficient in getting outs, and he left in the 8th leading 5-1.  A Marmol/Gregg meltdown later, it's 5-5 going into extras.  I swear, I called the Gregg Meltdown before he even came into the game.  Alfon-frickin-seca the second.  El Pulpo Dos.  In fact, I like that. I think I'll call him Papadeux from here on out.  Son of a bitch.

This Cubs team gives frustrating a new name.   I think they'd be OK if everyone just pulled their heads out of their asses and played the way they're "supposed" to play.  I'm thinking Bradley, Soto, Lee, Soriano and even Fontenot.  I'm not sure if I like the new Theriot, the one that hits for power.  I like the old one that hit .310 with a .380 OBP and no pop better.  At least at the top of the lineup.  The new one pops up or hits into DPs before you can say boo. 
 
I'm probably most upset with Soto and Bradley, who of course came up lame tonight.  Lee's decline we saw coming for a while, and Soriano's mind-numbing slumps are to be expected.  Not too shocking that Fontenot hasn't kept up his excellent pace as a starter, either.  What is shocking is Soto turning into Rick Wilkins overnight.  I mean, what the hell?  Could he really be a one-year flameout like Wilkins?  His arm is garbage, too. And I figured Bradley would miss a bunch of games to injury or suspension, but I also figured he'd rake when he was in the lineup to a tune of .300/.400/.500, at a minimum (which, even that, is worse than what he did in all three categories in the AL last year).  And don't give me the "it's early" crap.  It's freaking June.
 
What to do to "fix" them?  Well, first off, I'd say get Aramis healthy. Not much they can do about that now, though, as I guess that won't happen until July.  Then I'd say give Soriano a day or two off to clear his head.  Throw Hoff or Fox out there and maybe Sori can shake the stink off and come back hot.  He's less than useless right now.  Lee has showed some signs, so keep trotting him out there.  If he reverts to April form, though, give Hoff some starts at first. 
 
There's also the option of trying Sori at second and going with Fox/Hoff in left to boost the lineup.  No doubt the lineup would be much stronger, but the Sori's D and Fox's D would be so horrible as to probably offset any gain with the bat.  Worth a look, though.
 
Is there anything out there that they can trade for?  I'm not so sure.  I will say this, though.  I wish they signed Orlando Hudson in the offseason, who I was interested in.  Or kept DeRosa, of course.  He would have made the Aramis loss sting a lot less.

Again, why do I bother?

Cubs Staying Above Water

Well, this regular season ain't going exactly as expected, is it?  I never thought they'd run away with it, of course, but its still a bit frustrating watching the team that won 97 games last year just tread water and look so...ordinary.  Lets do a little Three up, Three down.  (apologies to wherever I stole this concept from.)

Three Up

• Soriano - playing about as well as he can play.  Near MVP level.  I shudder to think where they'd be without him.
• Fukudome - playing as well as he did last April, which is All-Star.  He started out a bit shaky in the field, but he's really turned it on of late and he's more than competent in Center now.
• Hoffpauir - he's done a nice job filling in, and with every passing day he makes Cubs fans wonder if they really need Derrek Lee.  Too bad he can't play third.

Three Down

• Bullpen - Pretty much the whole thing sucks. 
• Gregg - he's OK but he's no Kerry Wood, who was no Mariano Rivera.  Average at best.
• Marmol - any time he wants to pull his head out of his ass would be fine with me.  Dominant in spurts.  Horrendous in others.
• Heilman - a couple of horrific appearances hides a few very nice performances.  I think he can be pretty solid, but I still don't like the trade.  The only worthwhile prospect they got from the Pie deal was sent, with Cedeno, for Heilman.  Not good.
• Guzman - He's actually been pretty decent most of the time, and for two innings at a time even.  Give the man a promotion!
• Cotts - blows.  We need a real lefty.
• Patton - Ugh.  Send this Rule 5 guy back to Cincy, or work out a deal and send blondy to the minors.  He's not ready.  Neither is Samardzija.
• Fox - I saw a headline on ESPN, "Fox done?"  Are they serious?  He was done in 2005.  Why he's here now, I'll never know. 
• Ascanio was called up today.  He has OK stuff, I remember.  Let's see if he's figured out how to pitch.
• Injuries:
• Zambrano - I don't mind that he got hurt beating out a bunt.  That's what Carlos does.  Hustle all the time. 
• Aramis - got injured the exact same way as my dad back in 1987.  Sinking liner.  Dive.  Dislocated shoulder.  He probably didn't have to walk home from the park, though.  Hopefully he recovers faster, too.  My dad was out all summer.
• Lee - Honestly, it hurts to say this but we're doing just fine with Hoffpauir at first.  No need to rush back, Derrek.  Take your time.  We need another true corner infielder on the roster, though.
• Bradley - he's back and starting to hit a little, finally.  But he missed some time and the Cubs suffered for it.  Not that him missing time was unexpected.  His middle name is 15-day DL.
• Baserunning - Ryan Theriot has got some Jacque Jones in him.  Ryan Freel, too, it seems.  What is it about the Cubs that makes you forget how to run the bases as soon as you put on Cubbie blue?  Incidentally, I like the Gathright-for-Freel trade.  Freel's not an everyday player, but was pretty versatile and exciting on the Reds a few years ago.  He can play anywhere, too.  I bet he starts getting the majority of starts at third while Aramis is out.  And really, I just can't believe anyone wanted Gathright!

The way I see it, I don't think there's anything wrong with the Cubs that can't be fixed.  They just need to get healthy and find a solid reliever or two.  Oh, and Geovanny Soto needs to really step up.  He's been terrible.  No sense belaboring the point.  Till next time...

Great Time to be a Chicago Sports Fan

The Bulls and Hawks are looking good in the playoffs, the Cubs and Sox are both coming off playoff appearances and off to a decent start.  Oh, and the Bears just traded for a franchise Quarterback, only two seasons removed from a Super Bowl appearance.  Has there been a better time to be a Chicago Sports fan?  I vote no.

• The Bulls are one shot away from being 2-0 on the mighty Celtics in a series almost nobody gave them a chance at winning.  Derrick Rose was an absolute stud in his playoff debut, and he willed the team to victory in game one.  The Jordan comparisons are about five years and two championships premature, but it sure does look like we got a winner in town.  Some more things I like:
• Ben Gordon's 42 point outburst in game 2.  Sure, he only had one rebound and zero assists...but this is exactly why you keep Ben Gordon.  He can just go off and score at will.  He hit five nearly impossible shots down the stretch.  He was NBA Jam "on fire."  Just throw him money and try to move Deng.
• Ty Thomas and Joakim Noah.  Both young big men stepped up in the second half of this season, and I never would have thought that possible back in December.  I absolutely hated this franchise back then.  Now I think the team has a legitmately bright future, even brighter than I thought they had back in 2005, when they were seemingly on the cusp of a breakthrough.
• Brad Miller and John Salmons.  Salmons hasn't been all that great in the playoffs, but what a great trade for John Paxson.  Does he lose points for robbing a nearly bankrupt franchise?  Hell no.  He still had to beat out 20 other teams in that fire sale.
• Vinny Del Negro.  No, he's still not a good coach.  But he's done a decent job lately, and that's far more praise than I ever thought I'd be giving back in December.  He's still making rookie mistakes, like running out of timeouts in game 2 and not figuring out a way to take advantage of Rondo's injury with Rose.  But he's gone from laughingstock to respectable, and he's earned another year, at least. 
• Each of the first two games of this series was a classic.  Just great, great basketball.  Can the rest of the series possibly live up to the greatness of the first two games?  It doesn't seem possible, but I'd like to think so.  Can the Bulls win the series?  Yes, but I'd still pick the Celts if you put a gun to my head.  Yeah, Boston hasn't looked very good on their home court, KG and now Powe are lost, and they just flat out look old.  But Pierce has been an absolute non-factor for them.  Can that possibly continue?  I expect him to step up like Ray Allen did in the second half of game 2.  He does that, and Boston wins the game by a clean dozen.  And the series. 
• I'm not going to pretend to be a huge Blackhawks fan, but I have to admit that playoff hockey is pretty cool.  Maybe next year I will commit to the indian.
• The Cubs are rolling.  I was at Saturday's game, a great win for the Cubs.  Saw Cutler throw a strike to start the game.  Put him in the bullpen!  At least there he has a chance of running into Jeff Samardzija, the best receiver in Chicago.  And hey, hey!  Aramis!!
• Sox?  Quentin keeps hitting like this and it will be hard to keep them out of the postseason.  The more Chicago the merrier.

I can go on all day but there's still work to be done.  And I didn't even mention the draft. 

BEAR DOWN

Cubs-Brewers Never Disappoints

The Cubs wrapped up a 3-game series against the Brewers tonight, and all three games lived up to the hype.  Some thoughts:

• Freaking Kevin Gregg.  He's yet another in the long line of on-and-on-and-on crappy closer acquisitions for the Cubs.  Antonio Alfonseca, Mel Rojas, Dave Smith, Latroy Hawkins, Rick Aguilera.  Name your loser.  He's now given up a run in every appearance, and I put the over-under on him being replaced by Marmol at 1.5 weeks (which means he has about a half a week left).  What can I say about Marmol that hasn't already been said.  He was awesome on Saturday.  He was awesome today.  I love him in the 7th and 8th in high leverage situations, but I also love not having to hide under a blanket and pray for every 9th inning out.  We were spoiled last year with Wood. 
• Is it me, or does it seem like Prince Fielder always strikes out to make the final out in Cubs victories?  Marmol got him Saturday, Gregg got him today.  I recall an epic dual with Wood last September.  I like it.  Although he still scares the crap out of me every time he swings.
• Alfonso Soriano!!  Mr. All-or-Nothing is Mr. Everything right now.  His bomb Saturday had me jumping out of my seat.  His leadoff homer tonight almost seemed pre-ordained.  I swear, I've never flip-flopped as much as I have with my opinion of Soriano.  This week, I'm thinking he's the smartest $136 million that Hendry ever spent.  Next week I'll probably calling for his benching again.  Unreal.
• Milton Bradley had to leave tonight's game.  Every time I watch him run the bases or run down a fly ball, I hold my breath.  Its kind of like watching Rich Harden pitch last year.  Every time he whips his arm back, I feared it was going to break off like Dave Dravecky.  Bradley has got to play 120 games this year for the Cubs to have a chance.
• How about his replacement tonight, Reed Johnson?  Play of the year.  And unlike last year's amazing catch, the Cubs actually held on to win the game.
• Kosuke Fukudome has been raking all week, shutting me and my DFA-calling mouth right up.  Speaking of my stupid judge-a-season-by-watching-five-games analysis, I smell another wild conclusion jump in 3...2...1...
• It's official:  Derrek Lee has warning track power.  Does it even seem possible for him to hit 15 homers this year?  I know its possible, it just doesn't seem like it.

So the Cubs are 4-2 with Jason Marquis and the Rockies coming to town for the home opener.   And imagine if they had Soto healthy or a decent bullpen?  Or more than one hit from Milton Bradley.  Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen. 

Go, Cubs!

Cubs 2009 Preview

I'm not exactly going out on a limb by picking the Cubs to three-peat as Central Division Champions.  Everyone's picking the Cubs this year.  In fact, I have yet to find a single forecast of Cubs doom.  You know what that means, right?  Fifth place, baby!

No, not really.  But tell me you'd be genuinely surprised if the Cubs choke this year.  A hundred years of heartache doesn't go away with two good regular seasons in a row.  So let's continue my spring tradition and go through the roster, comparing it to last year, and see who expects to be better, the same, and worse.

What positions should be significantly better?
Right Field - Milton Bradley, even in 120 games, should be a significant upgrade over Kosuke Fukudome and Mark DeRosa.  He's a switch hitter, he hits for average, he gets on base, he's got pop.  Seriously, if he didn't get hurt all the time he'd be a MVP candidate.  Wouldn't it be something if he stays healthy for a full season?  I'm not counting on it, but a guy can dream, right?  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he's not exactly beloved by fans.  He's a major league a-hole.  But the a-hole can hit.

What positions should stay basically the same?
Third Base, First Base, Left Field - The Cubs big three of Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, and Alfonso Soriano figure to put up the same numbers they always do.  And those numbers are good.

Catcher - Soto was great last year, and I expect him to more or less repeat those numbers.  Any sophomore slump would probably be offset by being fully healthy after bruising his hand in the second half last year.  There will probably be a slight dropoff with the backup catcher, in moving from Blanco to Koyie Hill.  Probably not enough to make a difference, though.

Shortstop - Theriot more or less had a career year, so I wouldn't be shocked if he dropped some.  That said, he hit .412 this spring and he's always been patient so I think he's capable of repeating his 2008 numbers. 

Starting Rotation - Dempster will probably be a little worse, but Zambrano will probably be a little better.  Lilly will be fine and Marshall should at least accomplish what Marquis did.  Harden will be in and out of the rotation and he's a huge question mark, but that's just the territory that is Rich Harden.  Since they released Gaudin today and sent Samardzija to the minors, I'm not sure who's next in line to start.  Heilman, maybe?  If anyone's lost for a significant amount of time, Hendry would probably have to pursue a trade.  I've got some concerns, but if they stay healthy they should be fine.

What positions will probably be worse?
Second Base - If Fontenot hits as a full-timer like he did as a part-timer, then there will be no problem in losing DeRosa.  Can the little man keep it up, though?  I'd be happy with .285 and a dozen bombs, even though on paper he looks like he might actually be able to repeat DeRosa's numbers.  But I'm expecting a significant downgrade.

Center Field - Reed Johnson and Jim Edmonds were stalwarts last year.  Completely out of nowhere, they combined for awesome numbers that would have led NL Centerfielders in a number of categories.  Johnson should remain solid, but can Fukudome come even remotely close to picking up the slack left by Edmonds?  I seriously doubt it.  Nothing I've seen this spring suggests that he can play major league baseball.  I hope I'm wrong.  If he hits half as well as he did the first six weeks of last season, he'll be fine.  But if I were a betting man, I'd put money on DFA (or a buyout) by June 1st.  At that point Joey Gathright will get the starts, and I'll start hitting the bottle.

Bullpen - The bullpen was solid last year, and I would think that they should be solid this year.  But you can't ignore that Gregg is a defnite downgrade from Wood.  And Vizcaino is a total stroke that's only here because of his salary.  Guzman and Patten are only here because they can't be sent down.  And Cotts will have "nothing special" on his tombstone.  Really, it's Marmol and Gregg and a bunch of mediocre or worse guys.  This could very well be a disaster.  My fingers will never be un-crossed.

Bench - Instead of Ward, Fontenot, Cedeno, Blanco, and Johnson/Edmonds; you've got Hoffpauir, Miles, Hill, Gathright, and Johnson/Fukudome.  They have no true third base backup, and a true DH as your only real lumber.  I like Micah's bat, but he's brutal with the leather.  Really, the entire bench is worse than last year, although I wouldn't exactly call the loss huge.  Still, a downgrade is a downgrade.

So despite all the downgrades, they've got one massive upgrade and the core of the team is in tact.  They stay healthy, they win the division by five or more games.  I just don't think 97 wins will happen again.  Let's give them 92 and pray that none of the also-rans get hot. 

Go, Cubs!

Shock and Awe: Bears Trade for Cutler

It's official, the Bears got Jay Cutler from Denver for Kyle Orton, two first rounders, and a third rounder.  Denver's also sending a 5th rounder back.  They certainly gave up a lot, but I love this deal for the Bears.  A franchise QB is coming to a team that has never had one.  That's the bottom line.  I like Kyle, and you can win with Kyle.  But he's maybe the 15th best QB in football.  He *might* some day be as good as 10th or 12th best in the league.  Cutler's already top seven.  He might be top three.  That's just unfathomable to this Bears fan.  (See this post for more reasons why I prefer Cutler to Orton.)

Angelo has got to be doubly excited today.  Not only has he thrown it in all the naysayer's faces, (it will NEVER happen!), but now he doesn't have to pay a number one draft pick for two whole years!!!  Jerry hates throwing big money at unproven players.  Now he just has to pay Jay.  And he's got an extra fifth rounder, where he thrives!  And really, the Bears also have that extra 3rd round compensatory pick (for losing Berrian to free agency) so the Bears will still have a full slate draft picks this season.  They've got enough picks to find a starting caliber WR and Safety.

Oh, and the Bears picked up the Pace today in signing Orlando.  As far as I'm concerned, the line is now set.  They've got Pace, Chris Williams (aka Baby Huey), Kevn Shaffer (a solid former Brown that started 50 games), and Omiyale.  The line should be at least as good as last year, when they were "solid against everybody not named Jared Allen." 

They really should look into signing Torry Holt.  Boldin is pretty much out of the question now because the Bears have nothing left to trade.  Boldin's not going unless they get a first rounder in return, in addition to players.  Holt isn't elite anymore, but he should be able to bridge the gap while the young guys get up to speed.  And really, he's only 32 and still figures to be better than anyone the Bears have got now.

This has got to be the most exciting day in Bears offseason history.  Without really doing any research, I'd say the most exciting Bears pickups in the free agency era were:

• Bryan Cox
• Muhsin Muhammad (via trade)
• Adewale Ogunleye (via trade)

None of these guys really lived up to our hopes, but you have to admit that you were awfully excited when they showed up in Lake Forest.  The Bears have picked up some other solid guys in that timeframe, like John Tait and Ruben Brown.  But nobody gets excited over linemen.  Really, I'd say that list is about it for exciting moves.  (And no, I was NOT excited when they picked up Rick Mirer.) 

In fact, Cutler might be the most exciting pickup in Chicago Sports history.  This could be a franchise changer.  Does anything else come close?  Again, no research.  This is off the top of my head, and really only covers the last 25 years or so.  But I remember these moves making a stir.

Cubs
Alfonso Soriano
Derrek Lee
(The Nomar Garciaparra, Rich Harden, and Aramis Ramirez & Kenny Lofton trades created quite a stir, but they were in-season and I'm going to ignore those for the moment or else I'll be here all day. )

Sox
Albert Belle
David Wells
Jim Thome

Bulls
Dennis Rodman
Ben Wallace

Oh yeah, the Cutler move blows all these other moves away. It just doesn't compare.  Even if he ends up not being the second coming, today the Bears are winners.  I still can't believe it.

BEAR DOWN.

Cubs Making Roster Decisions

The Cubs made a few announcements in the last two days worth commenting on. 

• Kevin Gregg has won the closer job.  I like this move.  Gregg has experience closing and hasn't given up a single run this spring.  Carlos Marmol, while a much better pitcher than Gregg, can better serve the team in the 7th and 8th innings, getting out of jams and being the bridge to the 9th.  If you can't get out of the 7th, there's nothing to save in the 9th.  Smart move by Lou, although I must say it does kind of suck for Marmol personally.  Closers get the big bucks.
• The Cubs released Paul Bako.  It was a curious move to replace the dependable backup backstop Henry Blanco for the aging and less dependable Bako.  Especially since signing Bako was going to save only a half a mil in payroll.  For that piddly scratch, you might as well have kept Hank White, the ultimate backup.  Now the job falls to the dangly-fingererd Koyie Hill.  He hasn't come within spitting distance the Mendoza line in the majors, but since getting his appendages restored, he's found his stroke in the minors.  So who knows, maybe he can hit his weight this year and I won't have to pine for Blanco on Soto's off days. 
• Finally, the Cubs are retiring number 31 in honor of both Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux.  300 Cubs wins on the nose, between the two.  Classy move by the organization. 

One other thing.  I was listening to The Afternoon Saloon the other day, and Harry opined that should Derrek Lee get off to a terrible start, maybe Micah Hoffpauir should get increased playing time at first base.  Bruce Levine nearly laughed his way back from Mesa.  (Harry pointed to a recent Trib article where 20 anonymous Cubs suggested Hoffpauir is one of the best hitters on the team -- better than Lee even).  I happen to think its not a completely far-fetched idea.   I mean, I'd give Lee a full six or eight weeks before I'd even consider benching him for even a day -- but I've got to admit that I'm intrigued.  Lee was pretty horrible last season.  Only 12 home runs after May 1st; just three homers after the break.  He led the league in double plays.  With all the RBI opportunities he had with Theriot setting the table, to muster only 90 knocked in is pretty weak.  Hoffpauir, on the other hand, won the PCL MVP by mashing his way to Barry Bonds numbers, and all he's done is hit for the last 15 months.  No, at 29 he's not exactly the next Pujols or anything, but its not inconceivable that he'd hit ten more HRs this year with 25 more RBI than Lee, given 500 at-bats.  I guess the real question is does that offensive gain outweigh the tremendous loss on defense.  Hoffpauir is a frickin statue with a glove. 

I guess its stupid to even speculate.  Hoffpauir ain't taking over for Lee any more than I am.  Our best bet to see Micah is during Bradley and Soriano's inevitable trips to the DL.