TCR Friday Notes

I just wanted to thank Sweet Lou and Aisle 424 once again for their guest posts last week. Be sure to visit their blogs on a regular basis as well. I had one more guest column lined up, but the server issues last week preempted it. The plan is for it to be up next week.

Speaking of the server issue, everything seems to be working smoothly once again. Or at least it has since Monday when I got back. Anyone still having issues connecting? We did have to upgrade to a higher server package at three times the cost, so I'm now forced to take on advertising on my body parts for $5 a pop.

- The Cubs made some roster moves today, Marcus Mateo, John Gaub, Jeff Gray adnd James Adduci were optioned to Triple A. Darwin Barney, Bobby Scales, Robinson Chirinos were assigned to minor league camp leaving 33 in camp. It appears James Russell will be added to the 40-man roster and make the team (a 0 ERA in spring will do that for you) and Tom Gorzelanny and Carlos Silva will be the starters, leaving the bench as the final puzzle to be solved.

Starters: Soto, Lee, Fontenot, Theriot, Ramirez, Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome

Starting Pitching: Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny, Silva (who has actually pitched decently since his first outing)

Bullpen: Marmol, Grabow, Berg, Caridad, Marshall, Samardzija, Russell

Bench: Hill, Nady, Baker with Hoffpauir, Blanco, Fuld, Colvin, Millar and Tracy fighting for those last 2 spots in theory.

If I'm keeping track correctly, that also leaves Mike Parisi, Chris Robinson, Ted Lilly and Angel Guzman to round out the 33 with Lilly and Guzman set to start the year on the disabled list. The Cubs are probably trying to work out a deal to keep Parisi is my guess(or move him to another club) and Robinson is just around to have an extra catcher.

- Say hello to new Cubs blogs, Cubs Locker and Cubbery: 100 Years and Counting. That makes 53 on the Cubs blogroll on the lower left sidebar. I don't know much about Cubs Locker, other than they've been around since 2006 so I guess they're not that new, but Cubbery is written by smalbrecht who many know from Parachat on game days. I'm not sure if he's paying residuals to Chad or not.

- Great quote discovered by Cubnut by Duke coach Mike Kryzewski on his seniors not living up to expectations:

“Just judge people for who they are right now. We are not the Yankees.
We’re not – thank goodness we’re not the Cubs, who are my favorite.

- I can't remember if I linked to this before, but here's Alex Eisenberg's look at the Cubs farm system from Baseball Intellect and his top 15 Cubs prospects.

  1. Starlin Castro
  2. Hak-Ju Lee
  3. Brett Jackson
  4. Josh Vitters
  5. Jay Jackson
  6. Andrew Cashner
  7. Chris Carpenter
  8. Kyler Burke
  9. Ryan Flaherty
  10. D.J. LeMahieu
  11. Dae-eun Rhee
  12. Logan Watkins
  13. Chris Huseby
  14. Chris Archer
  15. John Gaub

- 10 minutes with Bill James and 1200 words on heart and Nomar Garciaparra from Joe Posnanski.

- Morgan Ensberg has a blog and it's really well-done. He, like everyone else in baseball or who talks about baseball or has ever watched baseball, has an opinion on Milton Bradley.

- I want to get up our yearly Cubs prediction contest by Monday. What would be some good questions? Here was last year's questions if it helps.

Tags: 
Friday Notes
Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 12:30pm
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Comments

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 12:47pm

First player/coach ejected? I can't remember what all questions we had last year - or who won.

Is the FA contest done yet?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 12:54pm

I added the link to the post and below if that helps. I gave Jermaine Dye until Opening Day to sign for the FA contest.

I actually do have prizes lined up for both, just have to verify the results when I get a moment.

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2009/04/05/tcr-...

FA Frenzy '10 entries
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjMn...

TCR Prediction '09 entries
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjMn...

I do know that I'll make the total wins a tiebreaker question this year.

Submitted by Ryno
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:03pm

"Number of Chicago Cubs IP for Samardzija?"

"Number of Zambrano meltdowns?"

Submitted by Mike Wellman
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:12pm

Which will we see first: ivy on the walls or the same old 'new' Zambrano?

Submitted by The E-Man
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:13pm

Just heard Bruuuuuuuce on ESPN Chicago.

Bench decisions will be made March 31st.

Berg indeed did not get the pen spot and Russell did - he confirmed via Lou.

Also, a Lou sound bite was played where he said, "All four guys pitched well this Spring (meaning Fat Boy, Wide-Out, Gorzy, and Marshall). I am just not impressed with Wide-Out, but who knows? Maybe Greg Maddux will teach him how to develop one more pitch and create more movement? Ha! We'll see in due time.

Should Silva and Gorzo both pitch equally - what happens when Lilly returns???

Submitted by Rob G.
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:14pm

Berg?

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:30pm

Justin Berg, he's a right handed relief pitcher. AZ Phil has him listed under the auto-renewal guys on the right hand side of the page.

Kidding aside, I have lost track. 5 starters, Marmol, Grabow, Russel, Marshall, Smardijia, Russel ... doesn't that leave room for Berg or Gaub?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:32pm

well Gaub got sent down today and Berg had already made the bullpen, hence my question mark.

I'm assuming E-man just got the name mixed up.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:51pm

Geez maybe I did. I was pretty caffinated.

It doesn't make sense to me that both Berg and Russel will make it.

What I gathered, unless I did get the names f'd up, is that Berg will be down, and Russel up.

Maybe AZ PHIL can straighten this out?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:54pm

as the post reads:

Starters: Soto, Lee, Fontenot, Theriot, Ramirez, Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome

Starting Pitching: Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny, Silva (who has actually pitched decently since his first outing)

Bullpen: Marmol, Grabow, Berg, Caridad, Marshall, Samardzija, Russell

What doesn't make sense?

Maybe he meant Parisi...

Submitted by The E-Man
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 2:00pm

Nope. That makes sense now. I guess I was not sure how many pitchers the team would be carrying to start the year. Also, I was thinking (always a source of trouble) that no way would Lou want two rookies in the pen.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:14pm

Lou likes rookies. Soto, Fontenot, Hoffpauir, Wells, Caridad. Koyie Hill was a rookie or near-rookie in 2007. It depends who they are. He didn't like Pie. He liked Fox but couldn't figure out a position for him.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:17pm

o_O

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:37pm

I like "Fat Boy and Wide-Out", remeniscent of Jay and Silent Bob. You may even want to go with "Wide-Out-Side" for Smardijszia.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:49pm

"Wide-Out Side"

I like it.

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 8:03pm

Submitted by The Real Neal on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 12:37pm.
I like "Fat Boy and Wide-Out", remeniscent of Jay and Silent Bob. You may even want to go with "Wide-Out-Side" for Smardijszia.

=================================

REAL NEAL: I believe "Fat Boy" and Wide Out" were the two A-bombs the U. S. dropped on Japan in '45.

Submitted by JoePepitone
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 8:56pm

AZ Phil made another funny!

Historical/pop cultural note for those who are unfamiliar (i.e., I'm going to explain the joke now):

From Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man_and_Litt...

Fat Man and Little Boy (a.k.a. Shadow Makers in the UK) is a 1989 film that reenacts the Manhattan Project, the secret Allied endeavor to develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II. The film is named after the nuclear weapons known by the code names "Fat Man" and "Little Boy", and also potentially as a reference to the portly Gen. Leslie R. Groves and the seemingly much younger Robert Oppenheimer, the respective military and scientific heads of the project, who dominate the film.

Also a Simpsons reference:

"Fat Man and Little Boy" is the fifth episode of sixteenth season of The Simpsons and the last new episode of 2004.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man_and_Litt...

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 12:39am

Weren't those atomic weapons?

Submitted by JoePepitone
on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 1:27am

Yes. You are correct.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 2:07pm

1 hour til CHC/OAK on WGN...replay at 9pm (Eastern) on MLB Network.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 2:24pm

Just what I needed - another reason to go to Hooters after work instead of the gym.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 2:34pm

"Unless we make a deal," manager Lou Piniella said. "Remember, (general manager Jim Hendry) and Randy (Bush), are both working hard to get us an experienced right-hander. So, if we do anything, that would be the final spot. If not, yeah, Russell is in line."

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/03/...

mentions Berg is in as well

Submitted by Rob G.
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 2:53pm

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2010/03/...

Cubs projected for 2nd on 4 of the 6 systems, 4th on 2 of them. All in the 80-win range.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 3:34pm

I really need to take a good luck at this - we talk here a lot about the 2008 Cubs - but the 2008 Cardinals were a 4th place (an 86 win 4th place) team. I just am not seeing a talent gap between them and the Cubs. Essentially these systems are saying that the Cards without Pujols are as good as anyone else in the NL Central. Does anyone really believe that?

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 2:55pm

why the hell is Soriano starting over Colvin?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 2:56pm

racism.

Submitted by JoePepitone
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 9:03pm

Yay! Good answer! Good answer!

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 3:10pm

heh...jake fox and epat are out of options for the As.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 3:45pm

well...WGN has their "bad music" CDs to play on tap. they're ready for the regular season.

btw, this 80s revival is played out, but given the kids i run into, work with, and teach on campus there's a hell of a selfish "me me me" streak going on to match the 80s media revival. no one wants to get involved with anything, either...it's a very "spectator" lifestyle.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:05pm

I am probably just getting my young whipper-snapper phase on, but man it seems like kids today are more self centered than I ever remember... any they have the attention span of chihuahuas on meth.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:09pm

i'm seeing less kids smoking, less overall bitching, kids more focused on their education, but they seem to lack even a shred of imagination or adventure unless the adventure is some "package" they can buy into.

even without the bitching many seem to be on a real "take it!" streak and are willing to walk over people to do it. too many aren't good at it and either don't follow it through fully or just end up causing drama because of it.

Submitted by jacos
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:14pm

When we were kids we played with sticks and dead racoons.

Then Atari 2600 came out.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:19pm

my family was too poor to have sticks and dead raccoons...we just sat on the floor and breathed oxygen. we made a game of it, seeing how many imaginary balloons (too poor for balloons) we could blow up.

then we found an atari 2600 that someone threw away shortly after buying it because it was a flaming piece of crap. we broke it apart to use as sticks to kill raccoons with. good times.

Submitted by Sweet Lou
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:45pm

Oxygen? Rich bastard...

Submitted by JoePepitone
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 9:07pm

No kidding. We had to 'water down' our oxygen with nitrogen and other bits of junk. Couldn't afford the pure stuff...

Submitted by Cubster
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:20pm

When we were kids we played with sticks and dead racoons.
---
when I was a kid I had to walk 2 miles to school in sub-zero weather without earmuffs only to find school was closed. as expected, my ears fell off.

Then they invented the radio, so they could announce school closings.

Later on, I went to a Hot Tuna concert and stood next to the speakers and couldn't hear for weeks, of course without ears, nobody knew.

Submitted by Jackstraw
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:11pm

Then you must have been ecstatic when they invented contact lenses.

Taping/stapling your glasses to your head had to get old after a while.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:37pm

Rob: Len just mentioned that Tracy and Hoff are battling for the last "spot." I don't know if he misspoke or if you missed something. But your projection looks right to me.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:39pm

if millar already has a slot locked up before tracy...wtf

we already got a not-ready-for-D nady on the bench.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:46pm

My personal opinion is that any combination of Rob's candidates other than Fuld and Tracy is a mistake.

Submitted by Jace
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:41pm

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/362701-vid...

Most of you have probably read about this guy in one of my previous posts, but here is about 8 minutes of video from the first time in the minors when he (a switch pitcher) faced a switch hitter. The confusion that ensues is very funny, but we also get to see how he switches from one hand to the other... Am I the only one that is fascinated by this???

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:54pm

ha...nice

Submitted by Ryno
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 6:02pm

That's a sweet gimmick and likely to get him noticed, but my guess is the lefty-on-lefty, righty-on-righty advantage is probably outweighed by him actually learning to pitch well from one side.

Submitted by Charlie
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:54pm

Sitting around 88-89 MPH in this relief appearance. I was present at his debut in 2008, and he ran it up to 98 that day. His delivery looks to slow to me right now; I'd like to see him amp up the windup, especially out of the pen, but maybe that exacerbates his control problems. An uneventful two outs so far.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:57pm

he was hitting low/mid-90s earlier in ST games, fwiw.

Submitted by Ryno
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 6:03pm

You can't really judge based on the TV gun. It could be reading really slow. Or in 2008 it might have been reading really high.

Submitted by Sweet Lou
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 4:57pm

Rob --

Thanks for the shout out and the opportunity to write a guest post. I appreciate the opportunity.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:04pm

DOUBLE PLAY CUBBERY!

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:07pm

nice one marmol...at least you didn't walk him.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:08pm

nice follow up by giving up a HBP...at least you didn't walk him.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:09pm

nice follow up by giving up a hit...at least you didn't walk him.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:17pm

ENJOY YOUR F'N SHOWER.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:18pm

More reasons why Hendry is looking around to see if he can get another closer/set-up dude.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:09pm

God damn! I saw that too. What a pile of shit as Fuky tries to score on a shit pop-up off the bat of Millar. 1-out and 2nd/3rd. Terrible.

I really do not want Millar on this team.

Can't they ,just hire a part-time comedian if they need a "clubhouse lightener" so bad? Or, just have Seinfeld on?

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:10pm

in a tie game, too. i don't care how many of these guys got tee-times.

Submitted by Sweet Lou
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:18pm

I know it's just Spring Training, but that was a shit play. It's also the type of play where someone gets hurt. That was a really awkward slide by Fukudome.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 5:29pm

yeah, it took him a while to get up...like theriot getting up late on an awkward play earlier it wasn't too nice until they got up and walked off.

Submitted by Ryno
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 6:03pm

In my brain, everytime I see Millar I'm going to hear the Seinfeld music now.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 7:05pm

Can't you see him in an episode as Kramer's brother?

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 7:07pm

great...so that's the real reason we had to get rid of milton?

pathetic.

Submitted by Ryno
on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 12:12am

Bow-be-be--be--bowwwww...

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 12:44am

Baseball prospectus taught me earlier in the off-season that the third base coach should have been fired if he didn't send Fukudome in that instance:

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove09/ins...

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php...

Submitted by John Beasley
on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 8:51am

I'm not a subscriber, but if I get the idea of where they're going, is BP actually suggesting there's a 50/50 chance of a runner scoring on a sac fly? Do they present any data?

Even if the data says the runner scores 50 percent of the time, sending the runner more often will only lower that percentage.

I might not be understanding that article fragment, but from what I see, it doesn't make mad sense.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 9:50am

The guy essentially said that you should always send the runner from third regardless of how deep the ball was hit or who it was hit to, because the marginal value you get from the run scoring (having one run with 1 out is a little better than having no runs and a guy on third with 1 out) always justifies the chance of him getting thrown out.

Fukudome getting throw out yesterday was a classic example of why the writer is a moron - because he said "only 10% of runners get thrown out, therefore the runner should always go, no matter what", not realizing that the 10% that get thrown out are on balls that are hit shallow like the one yesterday.

The real reason that it was a stupid call, though, is because you risk hurting Fukudome and the catcher in a fucking spring training game.

Submitted by Sweet Lou
on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 9:42am

The sac fly should at least make it into the outfield. IIRC, the ball Fukudome was sent home on barely made it out of the infield.

Submitted by crunch
on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 6:15pm

"Ken Griffey Jr. hit a walkoff grand slam off Kip Wells as the Mariners edged the Reds 6-5 on Friday."

awwwwww...man...why couldn't that one have been on tv.

Submitted by Cubster
on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 9:02am

I'm guessing Waivin' Wendell Kim had a two headed coin.

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