Test Lakers Post
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009Good day, Cubs fans. As visions of Jacoby Ellsbury swirl in your head (see Joe’s post below), take a gander at some of the other news waddling across the frozen virtual tundra of the Interwebs:
1. Andre Dawson is in ‘87 form in the Hall of Fame voting. Per this link, and as of yesterday, he had over 85% of the voting. (Thanks to Colin Wyers for passing along that blog post on Twitter.) It’s still too soon to call it a win, but things are looking good for The Hawk. And if you can’t get enough of Andre, here’s a nice article on him published this week in a Lawrence, Kansas newspaper.
2. Contreras? Spilborghs? What? Once again, Bruce Levine has us all chasing our tails with his strange rumors. Why would the Cubs be looking at the aged Jose Contreras? What, Carlos Silva won’t be stressful enough to watch take the mound? One interesting theory is that Hendry may sign Contreras to befriend hotshot (and expensive) Cuban free agent Arnoldis Chapman, in whom the Cubs have shown some interest. But that’s…well…kind of a stretch. (Something Contreras ends up pitching out of quite often.) Levine also mentions the Cubs may have an interest in Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs. But this article by Rockies beat reporter Troy Renck clarifies that the interest is minimal at best.
3. Wrigley Field shall remain named thusly.This recent New York Times piece allows new owner Tom Ricketts to reiterate his ownership group’s commitment to upgrading and preserving Wrigley Field. And he has no plans to offer naming rights to anyone. Sorry, Viagra.
4. Ex-Cub news, Part 1: DeRo is a Giant. Naturally, we all knew Mark DeRosa was a giant among men. But now he’ll wear a Giants uniform as well. He just signed a two-year, $12 million deal. I wonder whether AT&T’s spacious dimensions will curtail Mark’s late-blooming home run stroke, but if he hits a lot of gap line drives, he should do just fine. A Giants blogger I follow on Twitter says the team likely hasn’t decided exactly where DeRo will play. The Giants may still pick up a Dan Uggla or a Jermaine Dye.
5. Ex-Cub news, Part 2: Howry is no longer a Giant but, rather, a Diamondback. Yes, a guy who went from being a prime set-up guy for the Cubs to being many fans favorite bullpen punching bag will be in Arizona next season. I always liked Howry’s cool, steadfast persona; it was just his straight, flat fastballs that bothered me – at least in 2008. He was pretty good in the two preceding years.
~ Author Source
6. Ex-Cub news, Part 3: Ed Lynch is finally gone. Yes, one of the worser (?) GMs in Cubs history is FINALLY off the payroll. (He’d been quietly employed as a scout for the last several years.) He’ll now be working for a shadowy Canadian baseball organization based in a place called “Toronto.” Your guess is as good as mine.
7. Len and Bob’s Bash is back! Every year, Cubs TV broadcasters Len Kasper and Bob Brenly hold a charity event at the House of Blues in downtown Chicago. Well, here’s the scoop on this next year’s bash. Sounds pretty cool.
