No real news to report - I just figured I should put something up to let people know I'm still alive.
I'm actually heading to Florida next week to see a few Red Sox spring training games and enjoy temps in the 70s in March. (One thing Chicago and New England have in common, anyway - February just sucks.) No, it's not the Cubs, but I'll take what I can get.
Oh - did you see the blip about Alfonso Soriano possibly moving out of the leadoff spot? Man, I got my hopes up for a bit. I think Soriano should absolutely NOT be leading off for this or any team. I ranted about this a while back on Facebook, but suffice it to say that I'm enough of a Sabermetric-head to believe OBP is actually important for a lead off man, more so than solo homers. Feel free to argue with me, but I think the coddling has got to stop with him. Move him down, Lou!
Until next time...can't wait until I have games to write about.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Thoughts on offseason moves
So here's the first 'serious' baseball post. The Cubs were rather busy this offseason, so I wanted to give my thoughts and grades for each of their moves. So here they are, in the order they happened. (Oh, and I got most of my information from the Cubs web site - just look in the press releases.)
Resigned P Ryan Dempster, 4 yrs, $52 million: In light of how the free agent market went, I kind of wish they had waited longer to make this deal. Dempster had a great 2008, and seems to have the make-up and stuff to keep it up, but he probably could have been had for cheaper. I can't downgrade Jim Hendry for failing to be a psychic, though, and this was a nice match of player and team who wanted to be together. B
Trade P Jose Ceda for Florida P Kevin Gregg: This trade basically said, "Thanks for the memories, Kerry." Gregg's an ok reliever, but reminds me of Joe Borowski before his elbow blew up - lots of heart, not a lot of stuff. I hate to give up guys like Ceda, though, especially for the Gregg's of the world. C
Resigned P Chad Gaudin, P Neil Cotts, OF Reed Johnson to 1 year deals: Mostly depth signings, though all will probably see significant playing time. Guadin could be a very important set-up guy this year. B+
Sign OF Joey Gathright to 1 year deal: Jim Edmonds 2.0? Here's hoping the KC reject can resurrect his career. I'm ok with a platoon of Gathright, Johnson and Fukudome in center this year, but it doesn't excite me long-term. C+
Trade IF/OF Mark DeRosa for Cleveland Ps Jeff Stevens, John Gaub, and Chris Archer: This one stung. I understand needing to clear out some position players, especially ones that bat righthanded, but did you have to give up DeRosa? Besides having a fine offensive year he could play almost anywhere. The lack of flexible player like DeRosa will come back to haunt the Cubs, mark my words. The pu-pu platter of Indian pitchers doesn't excite me, either. Right idea - wrong guy (I would've shopped Soriano, hard.) D
Sign IF Aaron Miles to 2 year deal: He's not Mark DeRosa. Period. He'll be an ok 2nd basemen and does hit left handed, but it's a definite downgrade. And why did you have to give him two years? (At least he pitches once in while...) C
Trade P Jason Marquis and $ for Colorado P Jose Vizcaino: This, I like. Marquis fancies himself a Cy Young candidate. Apparently his actual performances have failed to pop that delusion of grandeur. Good luck in the thin air of Colorado! I also like how Hendry is stockpiling bullpen arms. Apparently he realizes his rotation is fra-gi-le (must be Italian). A solid and deep bullpen can mitigate that risk, at least somewhat. Nice trade here. B+
Sign OF Milton Bradley for 3 yrs, $30 M: Here's Hendry swinging for the fences. Best case scenario: Bradley keeps his cool, plays in 140+ games, and hits .325 with 35-40 HRs and 100-120 RBIs. Worst case scenarios: Bradley loses his temper, starts pouting, and ends up on the bench. OR he pulls his hammy/groin/calf/bicep/gluteous maximus and lands on the DL for half the year. Which are you getting? No one really knows, and that's where my beef with this deal lies. Why go after such a high risk player, when Bobby Abreu is hanging around for about the same price, without the injury concerns, and solid production from the left side of the plate? A team this close to contending needs a sure thing, not a roll of the dice. I really hope Bradley works out for them, because he can be a force and could allow the Cubs to trade some other hitters at the trade deadline, if need be (cough, Soriano, cough). History suggests this won't end well, though. Like the DeRosa trade, right idea, wrong guy. C-
Trade OF Felix Pie for Baltimore Ps Garrett Olson and Henry Williamson: Another center fielder of the future bites the dust. Honestly, this has been going on since Jerome Freakin' Walton! Olson and Williamson? Eh, depth for the system, I guess. Good luck in Baltimore, Felix. C
Trade P Michael Weurtz Oakland OF Richie Robnett and IF Justin Sellers: Guess there is such a thing as too many bullpen arms. Give Hendry credit - he is trying to stock/restock his farm system, but all he's got so far are a bunch of midling prospects. Better than nothing, I suppose. C
Trade P Garrett Olson and IN Ronny Cedeno for Seattle P Aaron Heilman: Garrett, we hardly knew ye! Did he even get a Cubs uni? I liked Cedeno, too, but he's never going to hit for much, and happens to be righthanded, making him expendable. I don't know what to think of Heilman, honestly. His change is nasty, but he's a two-pitch pitcher who wants to start. That usually doesn't go well, but if he can develop a servicable third pitch, he could be a steal. Low risk, high potential here - a nice trade, I think. B
Trade P Rich Hill for Baltimore player to be named: I feel for Rich, especially as he's a New Englander. He's got a bunch of talent but either hurt his back or his head's not on straight. I'm not sure the AL East is the place to try and straighten oneself out, especially if you're a pitcher, but best of luck to him. Classic change of scenery trade for Chicago. I like tying the player to be named to Hill's performance, by the way. C
Overall I'm skeptical. The outfield makes me nervous, and the starters are mostly injuries waiting to happen. The bullpen looks solid, except I'm not sure how Marmol will fare as a closer and I don't trust Gregg to pick up the slack if need be. I really think DeRosa will be missed badly - you just don't find utility guys who can hit like him terribly often. All in all, I give the offseason a C+. I don't think this team is better than last year's version, at least not right now. (Now, go get Jake Peavy and my opinion changes dramatically...)
What do you think?
Resigned P Ryan Dempster, 4 yrs, $52 million: In light of how the free agent market went, I kind of wish they had waited longer to make this deal. Dempster had a great 2008, and seems to have the make-up and stuff to keep it up, but he probably could have been had for cheaper. I can't downgrade Jim Hendry for failing to be a psychic, though, and this was a nice match of player and team who wanted to be together. B
Trade P Jose Ceda for Florida P Kevin Gregg: This trade basically said, "Thanks for the memories, Kerry." Gregg's an ok reliever, but reminds me of Joe Borowski before his elbow blew up - lots of heart, not a lot of stuff. I hate to give up guys like Ceda, though, especially for the Gregg's of the world. C
Resigned P Chad Gaudin, P Neil Cotts, OF Reed Johnson to 1 year deals: Mostly depth signings, though all will probably see significant playing time. Guadin could be a very important set-up guy this year. B+
Sign OF Joey Gathright to 1 year deal: Jim Edmonds 2.0? Here's hoping the KC reject can resurrect his career. I'm ok with a platoon of Gathright, Johnson and Fukudome in center this year, but it doesn't excite me long-term. C+
Trade IF/OF Mark DeRosa for Cleveland Ps Jeff Stevens, John Gaub, and Chris Archer: This one stung. I understand needing to clear out some position players, especially ones that bat righthanded, but did you have to give up DeRosa? Besides having a fine offensive year he could play almost anywhere. The lack of flexible player like DeRosa will come back to haunt the Cubs, mark my words. The pu-pu platter of Indian pitchers doesn't excite me, either. Right idea - wrong guy (I would've shopped Soriano, hard.) D
Sign IF Aaron Miles to 2 year deal: He's not Mark DeRosa. Period. He'll be an ok 2nd basemen and does hit left handed, but it's a definite downgrade. And why did you have to give him two years? (At least he pitches once in while...) C
Trade P Jason Marquis and $ for Colorado P Jose Vizcaino: This, I like. Marquis fancies himself a Cy Young candidate. Apparently his actual performances have failed to pop that delusion of grandeur. Good luck in the thin air of Colorado! I also like how Hendry is stockpiling bullpen arms. Apparently he realizes his rotation is fra-gi-le (must be Italian). A solid and deep bullpen can mitigate that risk, at least somewhat. Nice trade here. B+
Sign OF Milton Bradley for 3 yrs, $30 M: Here's Hendry swinging for the fences. Best case scenario: Bradley keeps his cool, plays in 140+ games, and hits .325 with 35-40 HRs and 100-120 RBIs. Worst case scenarios: Bradley loses his temper, starts pouting, and ends up on the bench. OR he pulls his hammy/groin/calf/bicep/gluteous maximus and lands on the DL for half the year. Which are you getting? No one really knows, and that's where my beef with this deal lies. Why go after such a high risk player, when Bobby Abreu is hanging around for about the same price, without the injury concerns, and solid production from the left side of the plate? A team this close to contending needs a sure thing, not a roll of the dice. I really hope Bradley works out for them, because he can be a force and could allow the Cubs to trade some other hitters at the trade deadline, if need be (cough, Soriano, cough). History suggests this won't end well, though. Like the DeRosa trade, right idea, wrong guy. C-
Trade OF Felix Pie for Baltimore Ps Garrett Olson and Henry Williamson: Another center fielder of the future bites the dust. Honestly, this has been going on since Jerome Freakin' Walton! Olson and Williamson? Eh, depth for the system, I guess. Good luck in Baltimore, Felix. C
Trade P Michael Weurtz Oakland OF Richie Robnett and IF Justin Sellers: Guess there is such a thing as too many bullpen arms. Give Hendry credit - he is trying to stock/restock his farm system, but all he's got so far are a bunch of midling prospects. Better than nothing, I suppose. C
Trade P Garrett Olson and IN Ronny Cedeno for Seattle P Aaron Heilman: Garrett, we hardly knew ye! Did he even get a Cubs uni? I liked Cedeno, too, but he's never going to hit for much, and happens to be righthanded, making him expendable. I don't know what to think of Heilman, honestly. His change is nasty, but he's a two-pitch pitcher who wants to start. That usually doesn't go well, but if he can develop a servicable third pitch, he could be a steal. Low risk, high potential here - a nice trade, I think. B
Trade P Rich Hill for Baltimore player to be named: I feel for Rich, especially as he's a New Englander. He's got a bunch of talent but either hurt his back or his head's not on straight. I'm not sure the AL East is the place to try and straighten oneself out, especially if you're a pitcher, but best of luck to him. Classic change of scenery trade for Chicago. I like tying the player to be named to Hill's performance, by the way. C
Overall I'm skeptical. The outfield makes me nervous, and the starters are mostly injuries waiting to happen. The bullpen looks solid, except I'm not sure how Marmol will fare as a closer and I don't trust Gregg to pick up the slack if need be. I really think DeRosa will be missed badly - you just don't find utility guys who can hit like him terribly often. All in all, I give the offseason a C+. I don't think this team is better than last year's version, at least not right now. (Now, go get Jake Peavy and my opinion changes dramatically...)
What do you think?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Intro and Explanation
Hi everyone (whoever that might be). I'm Chris, I live on the North Shore of Massachusetts (just north of Boston), am about to turn 31, and since as long as I can remember I've been a die-hard, bleed-royal-blue fan of the Chicago Cubs.
To answer some of the common questions I get when I tell people this:
-No, I did not grow up in Chicago, or anywhere in the Midwest. I actually grew up in northern Maine.
-Yes, I do realize I'm in the heart of Red Sox Nation, and do follow the Sox.
-If the Cubs and Sox play each other (as they did in 2004), I wholeheartedly root for the Cubs. No reservations.
-Yes, I'm a sick human being. :-)
So how did this happen? It's pretty simple - growing up in northern Maine in the 80s, my parents actually sprung for cable TV, but only the 'basic' package. So we got ESPN, MTV, TBS, and most importantly for this exercise, WGN from Chicago. What we didn't get was NESN, the New England station that carried most Red Sox games. Hence, I didn't grow up watching the Red Sox of Jim Rice, Rich Gedman and Calvin Schiraldi (though he did actually pitch for the Cubs in 1988 and part of 89.)
I was the only real sports fan in my house at that time, and also had a 9:00pm bedtime. So late games were basically out, as my siblings and parents wanted to watch TV after 7:00 and I had to go to bed in the 6th inning anyway. But during the afternoons, WGN carried every Cubs game. So I spent summer after summer listening to Harry Carey and Steve Stone talk about the mostly horrific teams of the late 80s and 90s. I got to see Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace, the Shawon-O-Meter, and Greg Maddux when he could actually throw 90 mph.
I became a rarity - a big baseball fan in New England who didn't really root for the Sawx. I cared about them to some extent, but not like the die-hards. (I can watch this clip and laugh, for example - scroll down, you'll see it. This one, however? It still turns my stomach...) And though I know I'm not completely alone, or at least I think I'm not, I think I've got a little different prespective on the whole Cub fandom thing. And as I've mentioned doing something like this for a while now, and spring training is soon to be here, I figured I'd just go for it and keep a blog of a year in the life of Cub fandom in Red Sox Nation.
I'll update the layout and all that as time goes on, but that's it for now. Feel free to post comments and recommendations for things you think are interesting and relavant. I make no promises about how often I'll update this, but hopefully it'll be pretty regular.
GO CUBS!
To answer some of the common questions I get when I tell people this:
-No, I did not grow up in Chicago, or anywhere in the Midwest. I actually grew up in northern Maine.
-Yes, I do realize I'm in the heart of Red Sox Nation, and do follow the Sox.
-If the Cubs and Sox play each other (as they did in 2004), I wholeheartedly root for the Cubs. No reservations.
-Yes, I'm a sick human being. :-)
So how did this happen? It's pretty simple - growing up in northern Maine in the 80s, my parents actually sprung for cable TV, but only the 'basic' package. So we got ESPN, MTV, TBS, and most importantly for this exercise, WGN from Chicago. What we didn't get was NESN, the New England station that carried most Red Sox games. Hence, I didn't grow up watching the Red Sox of Jim Rice, Rich Gedman and Calvin Schiraldi (though he did actually pitch for the Cubs in 1988 and part of 89.)
I was the only real sports fan in my house at that time, and also had a 9:00pm bedtime. So late games were basically out, as my siblings and parents wanted to watch TV after 7:00 and I had to go to bed in the 6th inning anyway. But during the afternoons, WGN carried every Cubs game. So I spent summer after summer listening to Harry Carey and Steve Stone talk about the mostly horrific teams of the late 80s and 90s. I got to see Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace, the Shawon-O-Meter, and Greg Maddux when he could actually throw 90 mph.
I became a rarity - a big baseball fan in New England who didn't really root for the Sawx. I cared about them to some extent, but not like the die-hards. (I can watch this clip and laugh, for example - scroll down, you'll see it. This one, however? It still turns my stomach...) And though I know I'm not completely alone, or at least I think I'm not, I think I've got a little different prespective on the whole Cub fandom thing. And as I've mentioned doing something like this for a while now, and spring training is soon to be here, I figured I'd just go for it and keep a blog of a year in the life of Cub fandom in Red Sox Nation.
I'll update the layout and all that as time goes on, but that's it for now. Feel free to post comments and recommendations for things you think are interesting and relavant. I make no promises about how often I'll update this, but hopefully it'll be pretty regular.
GO CUBS!
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