GirlieView (03/12/2010)

Happy Friday!

First things first, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (VFTB and/or GirlieView) and Facebook (VFTB and/or GirlieView)

Second things second, in the spirit of Funtastic Friday that Joe always starts off with a bang, let’s continue the fun by introducing a GirlieView Friday Quiz. Or maybe it’s a survey. Or maybe a contest. No prizes. Here’s the first installment.

Yes or no, will these players be on the Cubs Opening Day roster?

1. Carlos Silva
2. Mike Fontenot
3. Andres Blanco
4. Kevin Millar
5. Jeff Samardzija
6. Micah Hoffpauir

You vote, I’ll tally, and on Opening Day we’ll see who did the best!

Third things third, this week’s best!

Lizzies

• Yeah, Silva sucked the chrome off of the proverbial trailer hitch.
• It’s better to see bullpen competition amongst youngsters that see guys like Heilman taking up space.
• The Casey McGehee thing still kinda hurts.
• I do have a Dell Mini 9 that I want to hackintosh for shits.
• As with most things Cubs, I urge against panic.
• John “Ol’ Man River” Grabow, Mike “Rule 5″ Parisi, Andrew “Cash Money” Cashner, Thomas “Needs No Nickname ‘Cuz His Last Name Is So Cool” Diamond, John “LOOGY of the Future” Gaub and Justin “Case We Need Another Reliever” Berg
• The most telling thing about the Milty issue is that you can’t find a former Cub team mate who will defend him.
• It sucks getting old.
• I used to wonder why my grandparents had no issue with going to be at 9p and waking up at half past the butt crack of dawn to eat breakfast. Now I know.
• Let’s start making them the focus instead of a racially paranoid idiot in Seattle.
• Meredith has selected the wrong Stacy from the address book and sent her dirty admission to her boss instead of her boyfriend.
• 10 PM is late.
• Joe, I’m with you on all sorts of levels today. Sort of creepy.
• If you already have enough dough to do what ever you want for the rest of your life,you don’t need to profit from every business endeavor, some can be just for fun.

Lizard

• I’m happy with the low expectations of the Media.

Posted in Featured, General | 9 Comments »

Funtastic Friday: Mindless and Random Ramblings

For whatever reason, I’m up early this Friday morning. That always sucks because of the fact that it means I’ll be tired early this evening. It sucks getting old. I feel like going to bed just about every night around 10p. I used to wonder why my grandparents had no issue with going to be at 9p and waking up at half past the butt crack of dawn to eat breakfast. Now I know. It’s as if your mental wake up clock uses a permanent daylight savings time that shifts back a few minutes each year you’re alive. I don’t like it one bit.

All this off-season, all we’ve heard about is Milton Bradley. I’m sick of Milton Bradley. I propose a new rule. When you trade a player, with him goes the right to talk about him anymore. If all we’re going to do is let this garbage be the storyline of the off-season and spring, where are we heading? It’s certainly not the right direction.Why not talk about the fact that Tyler Colvin is off to a great start with the bat? Perhaps we could focus on the idea that Starlin Castro really may be a star, but he hasn’t outhit a ferocious start by the Riot. Maybe Randy Wells and his lights out first two outings. What I’m getting at here is that there is an awful lot of good, solid positive stories with some of the young kids in this organization. Let’s start making them the focus instead of a racially paranoid idiot in Seattle.

I’ve decided that I’m pissed off that the MLB Extra Innings package doesn’t include spring training games. When I pay to see the baseball games, it’s not asking much to have MLB shoot me a few extra baseball games for the Cubs. It doesn’t have to be a great feed of the game put on by WGN or things like that, but I’d like to see more games. I pay for it, and I should see it.

I made grilled cheese for the wife and toddler and I yesterday for dinner, along with some oranges and beef soup. Before you give me map props, the soup came out of a can. That said, I threw some jalapenos on my grilled cheese and I must say I’m hooked. I don’t know what made me think of it, but the result was like eating nachos in sandwich form. Outstanding. I highly recommend trying it, and be sure to let me know if you do.

Illinois plays Wisconsin today in a must win game if they’re going to make the tournament. Part of me doesn’t even want to watch the game, despite being a really big Illini fan. I don’t see much of a point. They’ve played so bad lately that it’s hard to not only see them winning, but having any chance of advancing past the first round if they make it. Thank God for the guys coming in next year.

Great Moments in Work Idiocy

This segment seemed to go really well a week or two ago, so I figured I’d bring it back a little bit. This moment happened to my co-workers on Wednesday of this week and made me laugh. It was around 5:30p. I had already gone home from the day, which left three ladies to close it up. All of them are in their mid to late 30’s. One of them, we’ll call her Meredith, is dating a guy who just so happens to have the exact same name (spelling included) as our office manager. We’ll call them both Stacy. So this particular evening, as they’re all leaving, Meredith decides that she’s going to text her boyfriend, Stacy. She pulls out her phone and composes a message that says “I’m so hot right now” and presses send. Moments later my office manager, who has the same name as the boyfriend, receives said text message on her phone but doesn’t recognize the number. Confused for a second she asks out loud what the heck message is this? She then recognizes the number and asks Meredith to confirm what her cell # is. Upon confirming, there is a mass embarrassment on both ends as both parties realize that in the process of sexting, Meredith has selected the wrong Stacy from the address book and sent her dirty admission to her boss instead of her boyfriend.

Posted in Featured, General | 15 Comments »

In the News: The X Factor (Updated)

What’s up, Cubs fans? Are you ready to rock?! Well, then move along because I have no rock ‘n roll for you. What I do have is a smattering of baseball news as a fairly interesting spring training continues to roll along. Naturally, unavoidably, tragically, the big story of the last day or so is Milton Bradley’s ESPN interview. And I’ll provide some follow-up on that, but conscience prevents me from making it the lead story. At this point, I’d recommend Cubs fans either enjoy the Milton spectacle as theater or simply avoid it entirely. Anyway, here are some other stories* to peruse:

Xavier Nady may not be full strength until June. X may be generally regarded as a bench player, but I think he’s a pretty important part of the 2010 team. By platooning in right field with Kosuke and perhaps giving Soriano some regular rest in left field, he could see a lot of playing time and his bat is one to be feared – especially at Wrigley Field, where he’s hit pretty well.

Problem is, it’s looking like he either may not be ready to play the field until a month or two into the season OR he could be a defensive liability (in the throwing department) if he is out there. Is his bat worth the risk of putting a guy in right field who can’t really throw to the plate (or maybe even third base)? I think so – assuming he doesn’t try to push his arm too early and blow it out again. Otherwise, Marlon Byrd could play right field against left-handed pitching and Lou could go with Sam Fuld in centerfield to shore up the defense. As with most things Cubs, I urge against panic.

Milton seems as surly about his interview as the rest of us. After reiterating and expanding somewhat on his charges of rampant racism at Wrigley Field, Milton was back to giving the media the ol’ stiff-arm after yesterday’s Mariners game (in which he was hit by a pitch, amusingly enough). And so goes Milton’s now-familiar love-hate/on-off/emote-shutdown approach to life. What more can be said about this? Milton Bradley is a talented baseball player who can’t seem to comfortably exist in any clubhouse outside of Texas. A few people in the Cubs blogosphere have suggested Jim Hendry shouldn’t have fired back, but I’m glad he did. Milton made incendiary remarks to a national media outlet, and those remarks demanded a response. As long as Hendry doesn’t spend the rest of the month or even week talking about Bradley, all is well.

I don’t know what, if any, truth exists in Milton’s remarks. If he was receiving hate letters, why didn’t he stop reading his mail? Or ask an intern or his agent or someone to vet his mail before it got to him? At the end of the day, the interview told me two things:

1. There really was a huge communication gap between Bradley and the Cubs. Some fault for that probably lies on both sides but, quite frankly, Milton doesn’t seem like an easy person to communicate with – even though he is very well-spoken and seems quite intelligent. (Unfortunately, intelligence often doesn’t equal behavioral stability.) In fact, his soft-spoken intensity is probably what seduced Hendry into signing him in the first place. (And his left-handed bat and +1 OPS in 2008, of course.)
2. The idea that Milton could ever return to the Cubs, which a few fans did champion, was utterly ridiculous. Hey, I love stats as much as the next guy, and I could see the cold logic in their arguments, but let me reiterate the position I settled on months ago: This was an employment dispute that could only be resolved by moving said employee to another organization. I have to admit, there were moments this off-season when it appeared Tampa Bay was the only taker for Milton Bradley, and the Rays cut-throat financial demands were going to make a deal highly untenable for the Cubs. Fortunately, Jim Hendry found a way around that problem (thank you, Seattle!). Carlos Silva may be a bitter – and big – pill to swallow, but at least he can be buried in the ‘pen.

OK, enough about Milton. Again, there’s no denying he makes for some great theater, but let’s move on.

The Cubs lost 5-1 to Giants yesterday. In case you missed the game, well, you didn’t miss much. Big Z got the start and was fine for the first two innings, but fell apart in the third – eventually giving up a granny to his ol’ friend Kung Fu Panda. And the two really are friends – check out this great story. They are kindred spirits, don’tcha think? Or don’tcha.

The good news from yesterday’s game is none of the SIX pitchers who took the mound after Carlos surrendered a run. That list includes John “Ol’ Man River” Grabow, Mike “Rule 5″ Parisi, Andrew “Cash Money” Cashner, Thomas “Needs No Nickname ‘Cuz His Last Name Is So Cool” Diamond, John “LOOGY of the Future” Gaub and Justin “Case We Need Another Reliever” Berg.

Want to read a 2010 Cubs preview that doesn’t leave you wanting to throw yourself in front of fast-moving vehicle? Then check out this pithy Sporting News piece. Unlike pretty much all of the pre-season stat projections, it will leave you feeling at least a little sunny inside. Naturally, the author doesn’t  pick the Cubs to win the division, but he has them solidly in second place and in the thick of the wild card hunt. I’ll take it.

Today’s game: Cubs vs. Padres, 2:05 CST. It appears mlb.com will offer the Padres audio feed – so you’ve got that to look forward to. And here’s what else I know so far via my Twitter sources: Innings-eater Jon Garland  will start for the Padres, with closer Heath Bell, set-up guy (and potential Cubs trade target) Luke Gregerson following. A couple dudes named Perdomo and Stauffer, respectively, will follow. And here’s the Pad’s lineup:

Cabrera

Eckstein (← ooh, scrappy!)

Headley

Hairston (← which one?)

Venable

Stairs (← pound his ass!)

Torrealba

Durango

Garland

As far as the Cubs go, Carlos Silva will be getting another start. So you’ve got that to look forward to as well. The press notes tell me that Caridad, Marmol, Mathes, Perkins and Stevens will also pitch. Here’s the lineup:

Fuld CF

Castro SS

Colvin RF

Millar 1B

LaHair LF

Fontenot 2B

Tracy 3B

Chirinos C

Silva RHP

An interesting mish-mash of mostly youngsters with a few oldsters sprinkled in.

*Reddish phrases are hyperlinks. Check back for updates. Go Cubs!

####

Update: Carrie Muskat gives us a handy-dandy injury update here. She chimes in a bit more on Nady and tells us Blanco is coming along fine.

Update: Muskat continues her hot hitting, giving us this summary of today’s “State of the Union” address by Cubs President Crane Kenney. Check it out for some great info on the prospective spring training site, the all-important Triangle Building and team payroll.

Posted in Featured, General | 9 Comments »

Wordless Wednesday: Evolution of Apple

I got a new phone yesterday. Let me say that Droid rocks. That said, here is a funny thing I found for wordless Wednesday.

Posted in Featured, General | 15 Comments »

In the News: Arm Wars

Greetings, Cubs fans. Is everyone settling into his or her respective spring training groove yet? I hope so. Saturday’s redonkulous beatdown by the White Sox aside (thank you, Mr. Silva, may we have another?), the Cubs have looked pretty solid so far. The starting pitchers have been getting in their early work with good results, and we’ve seen some fine play from some of the youngsters. Outfielder Tyler Colvin, in particular, has shot out to an early lead as “buzz player,”  while another slugging outfielder, Brad Snyder, has taken some steps to, um, notifying Cubs fans of his existence.

But the big story in Cubs camps right now is undoubtedly: ARM WARS. An undoubtedly protracted battle for rotation and bullpen spots is under way. It seems I can’t get three tweets deep in my Twitterstream without seeing an article by some Cubs beat reporter proclaiming “___________ Is Battling for Rotation Spot.” (Insert a Marshall, Samardzija, Parisi as you see fit.) And now that Angel Guzman’s latest setback is well-known (more on this in a sec), the bullpen is more up in the air than ever. So let’s get to the stories* we’re following today:

The latest on Angel Guzman.  When the news came down this weekend that Angel Guzman had been shut down with shoulder pain, which was later diagnosed as a tear, all I could think to say was, “Very sad.” I’ve reported here about Angel suffering through the murder of his brother in Venezuela. And his long injury history is well-documented. Right now, it appears Angel is leaning toward surgery because rest and rehab doesn’t seem to have done much for him so far. Problem is, such surgery could sap his arm strength entirely and end his baseball career. He’ll be visiting the legendary Dr. James Andrew, whose name I never enjoy reading in association with a Cubs pitcher, for a second opinion.

And with Guzman’s injury, the bullpen rumors re-ignite.  It seemed like, for a week or so there, the rumors of the Cubs wanting to trade for a right-handed set-up guy kind of died down. As I’m wont to point out, the team has a metric ton of young power arms in camp, any one of whom could rise to the occasion and pitch some late innings. Nonetheless, rumors crackled over the Twitterwire yesterday of the Cubs again inquiring about Blue Jays reliever Jason Frasor. (And Bruce Levine is still mentioning Padres’ reliever Luke Gregerson.) Not to be outdone, Ken Robo-thal even chimes in that the ancient-yet-intriguing John Smoltz could be an option “down the line.”

Turning to the starting rotation, Ted Lilly pitches off the mound.  Still no date named for Ted’s spring training debut; he needs to throw off the mound again in a couple of days. I’m still sticking to May 1st as his return date. As mentioned above, Gorzelanny, Marshall, Samardzija, Silva (ha!), Rule 5 dude Parisi, and even an on-the-fringe name such as Thomas Diamond are vying to lock down a rotation spot. My fave is still Sean Marshall, who’s got “Cubs tenure” in his favor and some decent spring training results so far. (But who will ultimately win is anyone’s guess at this point.) If the Cubs are serious about making Samardzija a starter, they should probably use this last option year to get him regular work in Iowa.

Update:  Carrie Muskat reports Ted is feelin’ God-like and will hurl 35 thunderbolts from the mound tomorrow. Or something like that.

Andres Blanco’s injury ramps up bench battle.  Somewhere on the outskirts of Arm Wars is a, shall we say, skirmish for the bench. I happened to actually witness (on TV) Andres Blanco’s unfortunate injury this weekend, and it does liven up this conflict. Logic would dictate to me that, if Blanco (who I believe was a virtual lock for the 25-man as a great defensive backup middle infielder) isn’t ready to start the season, he should be replaced by youngster Darwin Barney — NOT Starlin Castro (more on him below). Not sure who this Darwin Barney character is? Read this. I’ve seen reports that he could actually match Blanco defensively while offer more upside in his bat.

Quoth Lou: Starlin Castro will start the season in Triple A Iowa.  I still think Castro would be better served starting the season in Double A, where he’d face more hot prospect pitchers. Triple A is largely populated by roster filler and rehab projects. But, hey, at least Darlin’ Starlin will get regular ABs – as he should. No sense making a player that young and talented a backup.

Don’t forget about Chad Tracy.  He’s trying to make the bench, too. It’s still hard to see how he’ll fit with Fontenot and Blanco/Barney almost certainly in the picture. One, perhaps risky proposition, is to leave Blanco and Barney off the 25-man entirely and go with Fontenot as a middle-infield backup. That would enable the Cubs to carry both Tracy and Xavier Nady, which, offensively speaking, would be pretty cool. Tracy can hit with some pop from the left side and backup the corner infield spots while Nady can hit with much pop from the right side and back up the corner outfield spots. I just love that balance. What I don’t necessarily love is the idea of Mike Fontenot playing shortstop. I do consider Mike a good defensive second baseman, however, so maybe he can pull it off.

The new USA Today team report is in! The new USA Today team report is in!  Tie up your loose ends here.

Box score of yesterday’s game.  In case you didn’t hear, the Cubs gave the Oakland A’s another sound thrashing yesterday – winning 10-3. Ryan Theriot had a great game, going 2 for 2 with a walk. Demp, Marshall and Samardzija all had outings ranging from great to decent. Gorzelanny got roughed up a little bit. And Caridad, whom Lou is favoring for a bullpen spot, closed things down cleanly.

Today’s game vs. the Brewers is at 2:05 central. (No link here, just tellin’ ya.) WGN Radio will be covering the game – the pregame starts at 1:30. Here’s the starting lineup per Carrie Muskat:

Theriot SS

Kosuke RF

DLee 1B

Aramis 3B

Byrd CF

Soriano LF

Fontenot 2B

Soto C

Wells RHP

*Reddish sentences leading off each paragraph are hyperlinks. Check back for updates!

####

Posted in Featured, General | 26 Comments »

Projecting the Roster: Week 1

Every Monday until the opening day roster is finalized, I’ll take some time to make a few observations about the week that’s past and look forward with that information in a futile attempt to project what I think should be the roster that takes the field on opening day. I say futile because of the fact that it’s ultimately not up to me and we all know that teams always make at least one curious move.

* Projected Members of the opening day roster are in bold and players still in in the hunt are ranked in order of depth chart.

Catchers
Geo Soto
Koyie Hill
Wellington Castillo
Chris Robinson
Robinson Chirinos
Steve Clevenger

There really isn’t a competition at this position, with Soto and Hill figuring to get the call, but there is an outside chance for a guy like Castillo to show enough defense to potentially push on Hill a little bit. We saw Castillo show his arm on Saturday on a throw to second. If he can hit a little in the minors, he could push forward and put some pressure of a role player like Hill for the backup spot.

Infielders
Derrek Lee
Aramis Ramirez
Ryan Theriot
Mike Fontenot
Jeff Baker
Micah Hoffpauir
Chad Tracy
Bobby Scales
Andres Blanco
Starlin Castro
Kevin Millar

My guess is that there really aren’t many openings for a roster spot in the infield. Jeff Baker and Mike Fontenot both figure to make the roster, primarily due to a lack of option years. Fontenot still has one, but he’d have to clear waivers for it to work. Essentially, both are out of options. Lee, Ramirez, and Theriot are roster locks, so that leaves just the last infield spot. Right now, Hoffpauir comes in as a favorite due to the fact that he’s been there before, but he could easily lose that job to someone due to versatility or overall production. My guess is that Chad Tracy will push Micah for that spot and may just completely take it from him. Tracy has a higher ceiling in the fact that he’s done it before. He’s been very successful at the Major League level in the past. Perhaps the hitting guru can sprinkle his magic dust on Tracy’s bat and get him back to 27 HR form.

Guys like Scales and Blanco would probably need to see an injury happen before they get a shot on the roster out of spring. Scales is probably higher on the depth at this point due to the fact that Blanco hurt his ankle on Saturday against the White Sox.

Outfielders
Alfonso Soriano
Marlon Byrd
Kosuke Fukudome
Xavier Nady
Sam Fuld
Tyler Colvin
Brad Snyder

There appears to be a 5th outfielder role available here, with the assumption that whoever takes it will need to be able to play CF. Fukudome showed he could do it, but you’d really want someone who is more comfortable in the event that Byrd needs to come out. Both Fuld and Colvin can do that. Right now, I’d like to guess that Fuld is the favorite. At the same time, the way Colvin has started at the plate combined with the increased weight and conditioning this off-season, it appears that Colvin is out to win this job. I’m a Colvin guy, so I’d love to see him on the roster. At the same time, I don’t know that I’d want him in that 5th OF / pinch hitter type role. If that’s the spot that’s available, I’d rather see Fuld get that spot and let Colvin get the regular AB’s down in Iowa.

Starting Pitchers
Carlos Zambrano
Ryan Dempster
Randy Wells
Tom Gorzelanny
Sean Marshall
Jeff Samardzija
Carlos Silva

Let’s keep this one simple. Carlos Silva = BAD. There is no way I want him on this roster. Let’s just pay him not to pitch. I don’t think we’ll see two lefties, so it’s my guess that either Marshall or Gorzelanny will be relegated to bullpen work. That leaves Samardzija making the rotation out of spring. Lord help us all.

Bullpen
Carlos Marmol
John Grabow
Anyone’s Guess on the Rest

Goodness. I have no idea where to even start with this aspect of the team. When you get right down to it, there are typically seven spots reserved for bullpen arms under Lou. With Angel Guzman being shelved for what looks to be his career, there’s really only two guys that are locks. From there it’s going to be an over the top battle royal for the other five spots, with at least one of them going to a name that is currently competing for a starting spot. Right now, I really see it being anyone’s guess as to who makes this opening day roster out of the pen and I couldn’t like it any more. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I don’t believe in paying for bullpen help. I think it’s an area of your roster that can easily supplied from the farm with guys who can’t seem to develop enough secondary pitches to make it as a starter or guys with electric stuff that either don’t have the endurance to start or simply need to see Major League action and can’t find a spot in the rotation.

All that said, there are a few names I’d like to see make the opening day roster. Andrew Cashner is a guy that I’ve been clear in the past on. He projects to either be a starter with great stuff that can’t consistently get past the 6th inning or as a back of the bullpen, late innings type of pitcher. It almost reminds me a little of the Joba Chamberlain situation in New York. They’re struggling to decide what to do with Joba and I think the Cubs have done the same. If Cashner doesn’t make the team out of spring, I have no issue with him down on the farm developing as a starter. It allows him to continue to develop his secondary stuff and get the innings needed to continue to develop.

Another name I really like is John Gaub. For some reason, Gaub didn’t get a shot last year despite really good numbers over the course of both AA & AAA. He throws from the left side, which was something we craved all last season before Grabow came along. If he pitches well this spring, I think he deserves a spot in the pen.

Overall, it’s going to be a fun spring training watching these guys battle for their spot. Right now, it’s just too early to pick a favorite when the highest innings pitched by anyone on the staff is two. We’ll know a little more after this week.

Posted in Featured, General | 19 Comments »

Putting lipstick on a pig

Sometimes you have to look at Spring Training games in a different light. Rotoworld described Carlos Silva’s 6 earned run shellacking by saying that it was nice that “some things never change.” Carrie Muskat tried to put a positive spin on the situation by entitling her post “Silva, Soriano take first spring steps” (if that was a “step” somebody please call an orthopaedic specialist and get him a new prosthetic leg.) Silva himself said: “I feel good but the results weren’t too good.” Perhaps next time Silva pitches I’ll really care how he “feels” as opposed to how well he pitches.

That notwithstanding 10 of the 15 earned runs given up by the Cubs came from pitchers that have next to no chance of making the 25 man roster (Silva and Kennard.) Unless Carlos has a miracle turnaround he’ll be optioned to Iowa and it’s doubtful any team will claim him; he then will have a choice between going home, going to Iowa or going FA and giving up his salary. So let’s let him dig his own professional grave and concentrate instead on guys that that are more relevant to the 2010 Cubs. First of all it turns out that Angel Guzman’s shoulder injury is a worst case scenario; in fact it could be career-ending. So onwards and upwards Cubs fans, somebody is going to have to rise and take that 8th inning spot or the Cubs will be in the market. Theriot went 2 for 3 and Soto got hits in both of his at bats – we need both of those guys to have good years if the Cubs are to have a shot at re-taking the division. Marmol had a good inning of work striking out two of the three batters he faced. Tyler Colvin leads my list of surprises so far having hit safely 5 out of 8 at bats (has he learned how to hit curveballs?)

Tomorrow the Cubs will play their first split squad games as well as their first WGN televised game of 2010; hopefully it will be a little prettier than today’s 15-3 loss. Spring training or not I’m sure Uncle Lou wasn’t a very happy camper.

Posted in Featured, General | 16 Comments »

GirlieView (03/05/2010)

Happy Friday!

I wasn’t lucky enough to be able to listen to the game yesterday … doesn’t it suck when you’re real job gets in the way of your favorite pastime?? But it almost didn’t matter … when I finally got around to checking my Twitter I had almost a play-by-play from the wonderful Cubs folks I follow! Thanks everybody! You’d be amazed how much I learned about the game never hearing a minute of it! If you’re looking to enter into the wonderful world of Twitter, here’s some of my favorites:

@vftb (of course!)
@dat_cubfan_dave
@wpbc
@thecubreporter
@aleagueofherown
@Aisle424
@GirlieView (like how I snuck that in here?)
@cst_cubs
@cubs_roc887
@anothercubsblog
@ClarkAddison
@CubsMagicNumber

GirlieView also now has a Facebook page. It’s different from my personal page so you won’t have to read about my daily comings and goings or look at pictures of my pets and landscaping, so don’t worry. This fan page will send out announcements of new GirlieView articles, other VFTB articles when conversations start getting interesting, and some of my better Wrigley pictures. Click here to join in if you’d like.

Now, on to this week’s recap! Slim pickins this week but I have a feeling things will pick up very quickly this month!

Lizzies

• I actually wonder if Fontenot may not even make the team
• You mean they want a veteran bullpen guy like Antonio Alfonseca, Latroy Hawkins, Bobby Howrie, Scott Eyre or Kevin Gregg?
• Wearing a pitch on the ass is relatively painless…I’d hope he would get his somewhere else.

Lizard

• Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air!

Posted in Featured, General | Comments Off

The Grand Vizier speaks

Today Milton Bradley violated his own gag rule and blamed his mediocre 2009 season on Chicago. Said Bradley: “…it was something with Chicago, not me…just no communication…I never hit more than 22 homers in my career, and all of a sudden I get to Chicago and they expect me to hit 30. It doesn’t make sense. History tells you I’m not going to hit that many. Just a lot of things that try to make me a player I’m not.”

Now pretty much everybody in baseball knows that Uncle Milty is missing a few cups in his cupboard; his statements are not worthy of response. That notwithstanding, the Cubs play the Mariners in an exhibition game on March 28th. Will the Mariners play him in that game? I seriously doubt it but one thing’s for sure – if he did play and I was a Cubs pitcher I’d make absolutely sure that he sat down gingerly after that game.

Posted in General | 9 Comments »

In the News: Y’know there’s a game today, right?

Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air!

OK, not as I’m writing this. But assuming you care enough about the team to follow them in March, and didn’t lose too many IQ points watching Olympic curling, you should know that today is the day that gen-u-ine Cubs beisbol returns. Well, at least, in its meaningless-but-good-practice spring training form.

The good news from a dramatic standpoint is this Cubs team isn’t like, say, the New York Yankees (who I watched play yesterday via mlb.tv). The Yanks have pretty much every position sewn up and not much to sort through besides ARod’s most recent legal woes and what the deal is with Derek Jeter. (What is his deal, anyway?) What I’m tryin’ to say here is there are a number of interesting subplots going on with the Cubs right now – second base, Starlin Castro, the bench, the bullpen, STARLIN CASTRO – that should make this one of the more involving spring trainings to date. That established, let’s get to the news*:

Cubs! Athletics! 2:05 CT today! Our lead story can be no other. Looks like I’ll be able to catch the first hour or so before a work meeting and my arduous commute cut off my ability to access. Some key details via Carrie Muskat’s Twitter page: Theriot will start at SS but Castro will replace him at some point. DLee, Aramis, Byrd and Geo will also see action. Oh, and Randy Wells gets the start, of course. The game will be available on WGN Radio 720 as well as on gameday audio via cubs.com or MLB.com.

Update:  Today’s starting lineups, courtesy of A’s great beat reporter Jane Lee:

Cubs:

Theriot SS

Kosuke RF

DLee 1B

Aramis 3B

Byrd CF

Colvin LF

Fontenot 2B

Soto C

Wells RHP

A’s:

Davis LF

Barton 1B

Sweeney RF

Fox 3B (← That would be Jake Fox.)

Gross CF

Rosales 2B

Powell C

Pennington SS

Cahill RHP

Soriano will make Saturday special. That’s when he’ll appear in his first game. I’ve read several quotes indicating Alfonso basically feels fine physically and that it’s more the mental adjustment to putting stress on his knee that he’s working through. And Lou seems to be sticking with his plan to use Soriano has a 6-hole hitter, which is fine with me. Just hit for power, my man. Forget the stolen bases. Hit the ball hard, hit the ball often – the rest will work itself out. We got five long years to go.

Cubs probably have tentative deal with young Cuban pitcher. His name is Juan Yasser Serrano and, though this deal is far from finished, all signs point to the 21-year-old right-hander starting the season in Single A ball. What with all the excitement over the Reds signing Cuban lefty fireballer Aroldis Chapman, this may seem like a savvy follow-up move by the Cubs. But this post by the ACB guys indicates this may turn out to be more of a WTF? move.

Several MLB teams boycott breakfast. Are you crazy?! That’s the most important meal of the day! Oh, wait – they’re upset about the Cubs’ plan to fund their new spring training facility with a Cactus League-wide ticket surcharge. You guys do know we had an omelet bar, right?

In other financial news, the Ricketts continue to say good things. This article in the Business Times, one of my favorite reads over a morning espresso at the highly exclusive country club in my head, quotes Tom as saying ”it’s possible” the ownership group could kick in some cash for a difference-maker at the trade deadline – assuming the Cubs are in contention, of course. Let’s hope.

You got apps, I got apps. Heck, we all got apps. If you’re a smartphone user, MLB has got you covered with At Bat 2010.  The go-to software for monitoring games via your mobile device lets you, and I quote, “…listen live to every regular-season and postseason game, watch live out-of-market streaming games and get MLB.com Gameday, up-to-the-minute box scores and player stats, in-game highlights and Condensed Games, as well as push notifications.” Best of all, the app is now available for BlackBerry (w00t!) and Android users as well as you ubiquitous iPhone folks. I desperately tried to download At Bat yesterday for my Storm 2, but my lack of a PayPal account pretty much screwed me. Now I’m stuck waiting for said account to activate before I can partake of the digital goodness.

*Click on reddish text for hyperlinks. Check back for updates!

####

Milton blames Chicago.  I feel like I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this because it’s becoming a pretty big story of the day. To sum up, in a couple relatively brief quotes to the New York Times today, Milton Bradley blamed Chicago (the city? the local government? the band?) for his poor performance last season. He apparently feels the team pressured him to produce home runs beyond his career norm. Gordon Wittenmyer reports via his Twitter page that Lou has denied that the team wanted anything out of Milton other than good production of any kind out of the No. 5 spot in the lineup.

Posted in Featured, General | 10 Comments »

Wordless Wednesday

Posted in General | 2 Comments »

In the News: Is Cashner our set-up guy?

Hello, Cubs fans. Maybe it’s the calm before the storm, but there really aren’t too many earth-shattering Cubs news stories at the moment. Everyone is in camp. A few guys (Guzman, Lilly, Gray, Soriano) are already struggling with various injuries or maladies of one sort or the other. But “Da Gooz” and Gray are still, reportedly, on track for Opening Day. We all pretty much knew that Ted was probably going to be out of action until May. And Soriano – well, he’s honest to a fault, so I see no reason to panic about his arguably slow-to-recuperate knee.

So where does that leave us? Right where we’ve been for the last couple/few weeks. Waiting for spring training games to begin (two more days! two more days!) and wondering how the bullpen and bench will work themselves out. To that end, here are a few stories* to consider:

Lou says Cubs may invest in Cashner. While the Bruce Levines of the world float otherworldly names such as Gregerson and Frasor, I ask again: Should the Cubs really spend valuable assets trading for a set-up guy with so many live young arms in camp? I know, I know…they want a “veteran.” A guy who’s been there and shows he can take the pressure. (Not sure if the Padres’ Luke Gregerson fits the bill: He has one season (75 IP) of big league experience.)

But, aside from the aged John Smoltz (who may not want to be anything other than a starter or closer), there really aren’t any worthy veterans out there. Kiko Calero is another wacky name that’s been floating around. But Carrie Muskat mentions off-handedly in her latest “Inbox” column that his shoulder issues are too risky and the Cubs have moved on.

So who will save us? Well, click on that Sun-Times link above and you’ll find Lou has made a tantalizing mention of the Cubs’ 2008 1st round pick Andrew Cashner. The Money Man was named the team’s fifth highest prospect by minor league guru John Sickels, and Cashner even made Baseball America’s prestigious Top 100 prospects list – slipping in at No. 95. Cashner throws a mid- to upper-90s fastball with a devastating power slider. He’s also reportedly been working on a change-up. Hard to say how the bullpen will configure itself, but this is something to keep an eye on. I’m rooting for Cashner big time.

Cubs to face Derek Lowe in season opener. Oh, it’s on. I’d guess that Braves series will go Lowe vs. Z, Jurrjens (assuming he’s healthy; he’s been ailing) vs. Demp, Hanson vs. Wells.

Today’s live BP, per Carrie Muskat. Seems a fairly safe bet that no one will get plunked – unless Z is in a bad mood.

Baseball is back! No, really. If you’re absolutely dying to see some games today (Tuesday), and you have MLB.TV Premium (a rather pricey proposition for new subscribers this year), you can apparently see some games. MLB Network (which I have sadly lost since switching to AT&T U-Verse) will also be airing the Mets-Braves game at 1 PM ET. More games will, obviously, be occuring throughout with the week with the Cubs, again, kicking things off on Thursday. (I’ll have more about that game in my Thursday morning post.)

Looking for something good to read that’s, y’know, tangible? Check out this year’s Maple Street Press Cubs 2010 Annual. Shameless plug: It includes my article “A Fresh Start: A Fan’s Hopes for the Ricketts Family.”

*Click on orange-reddish text for links. Check back for updates!

Posted in Featured, General | 20 Comments »

I Take Issue With the ESPN Depth Chart

I was perusing ESPN today in preps for spring games starting this week and wanted to see where they felt players fit on the depth chart. What I found there horrified me.

Aaron Heilman!?!?!?! What the heck? I thought we dumped him. Then I thought to myself “Self, maybe they just haven’t updated this all off-season”. Sigh of relief is breathed until I notice Xavier Nady in the mix. Seeing that Nady was just signed, it’s obvious that they’ve taken the time to update the chart this off-season. Apparently Heilman has a real good chance to make this club out of spring training despite the fact that he will be in camp with the Diamondbacks. What makes me laugh is that, oddly enough, he’s also projected to make the D-Backs out of spring training as well according to their depth chart.

Looking further, we see David Patton’s name on the list. Patton’s really ahead of Esmailin Caridad, John Gaub, Jeff Samardzija, and Justin Berg? Sometimes I think they just throw things out there and bank on people not questioning their choices. That’s the only logical explanation for this garbage.

Any thoughts on the chart? Do you agree with everything else?

Posted in Featured, General | 19 Comments »

Back To The Cradle

The complete title of this book is: “Crazy ‘08 – How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History”. That’s kind of a long title. The author is Cait Murphy. It was published in 2007.

I would first like to share with you how this book moved to the head of the line, bypassing all others on my bookshelf. It was all because of the back cover.

The testimonial at the top of the back cover is from George Will:

• “A rollicking tour of that season that will entertain readers interested in social history, will fascinate students of baseball and will cause today’s Cub fans to experience an unaccustomed feeling – pride.”

The next testimonial, from the Washington Times, states:

• “If you’re any kind of fan, you ought to relish and revel in this wonderful book.”

And, at the bottom of the back cover, accompanying a photo of the author, her mini-bio includes the following:

• “Cait Murphy….A former Little League infielder, Murphy played softball at Amherst College, where she received her degree in American Studies. She does not throw like a girl.”

Based upon those three indicators, I decided to read this one next.

Ms. Murphy dedicates the book:

• “To my two biggest fans: my father and mother.”

Among the acknowledgments, the author states:

• “My father, John Cullen Murphy, did not live to see publication, but it is to him I owe the idea behind ‘Crazy ‘08’.”

In the Foreword, Robert W. Creamer observes about the author’s work:

• “She gives you the boisterous City of Chicago…as it was almost a hundred years ago, before the proliferation of radio, television, airplanes, automobiles, computers, cell phones, ATMs, BlackBerrys, and the like.”

Mr. Creamer adds:

• “Her spring training, for example, isn’t the antiseptic, analytical baseball laboratory of today….It’s a rowdy, ramshackle, often badly organized, sometimes dangerous, sometimes hilarious adventure.”

I should point out that, although Ms. Murphy’s dad grew up near Wrigley Field, he moved with his family to New York in 1930 and switched his allegiance to the Giants. Cait herself was born and raised in New York City as a Mets fan. Her bias in this story of the 1908 season (if she has one) might be somewhat New York centric. I mean that in a good way.

I must say that Cait Murphy is fluent in the idioms of baseball and is able to coin an insider’s turn of phrase, for example: “Score it a run-off home run.”

In addition to describing the action on the field, the author includes in the discussion: racism in MLB, suicides associated with MLB, “The Irishness” of MLB, anarchists, coal mining, gambling, hoo-doo, and other related story lines.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

• “Baseball never sleeps; instead, it huddles around the metaphorical hot stove to rehash the past and dicker about the future.”

• “The rule of thumb seemed to be that when bosses joined together, that was red-blooded capitalism; when workers tried to do so, that was anti-American socialism.”

• “A young ballplayer looks on his first spring training as a theaterstruck young woman regards the stage,” wrote Christy Mathewson. Veterans see it for what it is: “the hardest five weeks’ grind in the world.”

• “The fans of 1908 would have boggled at that description. Their Cubs are not lovable and they are not losers; the players would have kicked in the teeth of anyone who dared call them the ‘Cubbies’.”

• “They were grizzlies, these Cubs,” a Washington sportswriter would write. “Ursine Colossi who towered high and frowningly and refused to reckon on anything but victory.”

• “Baseball is a sport whose moral boundaries are, to put it diplomatically, ill defined.”

• “The area has one great advantage, being at an intersection for numerous trolley lines, which is how the Brooklyn “Trolley Dodgers” got their name.”

• “I have never been much of an AL fan – the designated hitter and the Yankees being the two main reasons.”

• “There ain’t much to being a ballplayer,” Wagner says, “if you’re a ballplayer.”

Ms. Murphy includes a comprehensive twenty one page bibliography or list of sources which will be referred to in the future.

The edition which I have also includes a ten page Q & A with the author at the back.

So, what can I tell you about “Crazy ‘08”? Well, both of my grandfathers were 13 years old in 1908. One of them was living on the north side of Chicago at that time, and was probably a Cubs fan.

The language of 1908, which Ms. Murphy recalls so well in “Crazy ‘08”, is the language which those grandparents spoke in my lifetime.

I enjoyed reading “Crazy ‘08” for the baseball stories, and for the collateral related topics as well.

I would like to thank the publisher, HarperCollins/Smithsonian Books for providing me with a copy of the book to read and review.

I recommend Cait Murphy’s “Crazy ‘08” very highly, particularly to those with an interest in putting on their history goggles and going for an adventure.

Posted in Book Reviews, Featured | 8 Comments »