Cubnut's Archives
Marshall is the Man; Koskie Victimized by TCR Curse
Paul Sullivan reports in the Tribune that Sean Marshall has been officially anointed the Cubs' 5th starter.
Says Manager Lou:
"Marshall is going to be the fifth starter, and [Aaron] Heilman is going to pitch in that seventh-eighth inning role."
Less positive news on Corey Koskie, subject of our earlier post. Koskie came out of today's win over the Mariners in the third inning.
How Far Koskie Has Come
Haven't seen a lineup yet for this afternoon's Cubs-Mariners game, but Lou Piniella's stated plan with Corey Koskie is to "probably play him every couple days and see how he does..."
Koskie started Tuesday's game against the Dodgers and ripped a double off the centerfield wall in his first at-bat. He also walked and grounded out.
In looking for some information on Koskie, I came across an mlb.com article from April of last year, when the longtime Twin, still suffering from the after-effects of a concussion he suffered as a Brewer, dropped by the Metrodome.
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Cubs' Non-Baseball Business is Booming
"...Elton John's going to help us win some ballgames."
So says Crane Kenney in explaining how the extra revenue the Cubs will realize from three Wrigley Field concerts this summer, including the Elton John/Billy Joel event in late July, will translate into additional payroll flexibility.
More from Kenney:
"The CBOE [seat] auction last year paid for Rich Harden. The 'Road to Wrigley' game sponsored our Asian scouting operation. That's the way, from the business end, we look at these things. All these elements really help our business move forward. My view is if you're a Cub fan, you should enjoy the concerts whether you're an Elton John fan or not."
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Gameday Open Thread/Giants @ Cubs
The Giants visit the Cubs in Mesa Wednesday afternoon (3:05 Central). Ryan Dempster and A-Ram are expected to be in the starting lineup. The game can be heard via mlb.com Webcast.
Here's your Cactus League Attendance Trivia for Wednesday:
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King for a Day: the Cubs' One-Time Game #1 Starters
As noted here and everywhere else yesterday, Lou Piniella has decided to give Carlos Zambrano the Opening Day assignment at Houston. It will be the fifth time Zambrano has had the honor; the Cubs have gone 2-2 in Z's previous Opening Day outings.
Fergie Jenkins started seven openers for the Cubs, while Rick Sutcliffe started five, and Rick Reuschel, four. The real fun in looking over this list at Baseball-Reference.com is noting which Cub pitchers got to go in Game #1 once, but never again. Here are the last ten such Cub pitchers:
Geovany Soto: the Cubs' Bronx Bomber
Soto remembers it very clearly. It might have been just below the reservoir. Or maybe down near that ice rink. But it was definitely in Manhattan's Central Park.
"It was awesome," said Soto... "You go with your dad to the practice field, but never in my life I'd ever put a uniform on and played with other kids. I felt like, 'Wow, it's really happening—I'm going to play baseball.'"
Schwarz also writes about Soto's rapport with the Cubs pitching staff.
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25 Random Baseball Things About Me
With kudos to Craig Calcaterra ("ShysterBall") over at The Hardball Times, who suggested giving the Facebook game, "25 Random Things About Me," a baseball twist, I offer my list of 25:(updated: mine now added, below Cubnut's, below the fold. - Trans)
1.) I attended my first Cubs game in 1968--Cubs v. Giants, Fergie Jenkins v. Ray Sadecki. I still have the scorecard and thanks to the miracle of Retrosheet have been able to confirm that I did a pretty decent job of keeping score for a 7-year-old.
2.) The first Cub baseball card I ever turned up in a Topps package was a 1968 Rob Gardner and yes, it was eventually thrown in the trash by my mother, along with all of my other precious cards.
3.) About three years ago, I bought a replacement Rob Gardner card on eBay. Take that, Mom!
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I've Just Experienced a Sudden Increase in Affection for Aaron Miles
From Tracy Ringolsby...
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa began lobbying last fall for the release of second baseman Adam Kennedy, wanting to keep Aaron Miles instead. Now he winds up with neither, the front office letting Miles go back in December, and then this week giving in on Kennedy and his $4 million salary when it became apparent there was no trade market for Kennedy.
Garrett Olson Reflects on the Garrett Olson Era
Oriole-turned-Cub-turned-Mariner Garrett Olson talks about what it was like to hear he was Chicago-bound in the deal that sent Felix Pie to the O's.
From the Fresno Bee:
"Going to the Cubs, I had talked to the GM, talked to the pitching coach, a few other guys in the office. You definitely get excited for that. The thing is everybody knows the story about Chicago: haven't won a World Series in 100 years, and playing at Wrigley [Field], that's kind of like an icon in baseball. The opportunity developing in front of you is exciting."
Now Olson is with the Mariners, who have only gone 31 years without winning a World Series.
(Note: seems that we have reached the point in this country where it is physically impossible for someone from outside Chicago to say the word "Cubs" without saying the words "100 years" in the same sentence.)
Bye-bye, Blanco
Addendum: If the Cubs do, in fact, replace Henry Blanco with Paul Bako (per all the rumors) and the explanation is tied to the team wanting to "become more left-handed," these numbers might be of interest:
Paul Bako's lifetime batting line against RHP: 2015 PA's, .240 / .317 / .321 / 638 OPS
Henry Blanco's lifetime batting line against RHP: 1708 PA's, .222 / .281 / .352 / 633 OPS
Not much of a gain, especially considering all of those intangibles that Blanco was said to have contributed to the team--the same intangibles that are cited by the Padres upon their signing him.
The Padres signed 37-year-old Henry Blanco to a one-year, $750K deal on Wednesday. Blanco will back-up and mentor young Nick Hundley (no relation to Randy or Todd).
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Rice, Andre, and My Retroactive Hall of Fame Predictions
Rob invited us to pitch in with our Hall of Fame predictions on Sunday night, but I didn't have a chance to reply until now. Here goes:
I predict Ricky Henderson will receive somewhere around 511 votes, Jim Rice will finally get in the Hall with, oh, I'll say 76.4% of the vote, and two clowns will even cast ballots for Jay Bell.
One More Look at Hawks/Wings
TCR reader Jacos survived the cold and wind and a close encounter with Ronnie Woo-Woo to return with some nice shots from the Blackhawks/Red Wings game (including a shocking image of Red Wing players having to pass through a cloud of poison gas on their way to the rink--an allowable "home ice advantage" under NHL rules). Enjoy.
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McDonough Looks for Another Marketing Hit
The last hockey player had barely stepped off the temporary ice rink at Wrigley Field Thursday afternoon following the 2009 NHL Winter Classic before Blackhawks team president John McDonough was in front of the reporters' microphones with another big idea.
In a reversal of sorts of the Blackhawks/Red Wings game at Wrigley Field, McDonough is proposing that the Cubs and Cardinals move their July 11th game from Wrigley to the United Center.
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A Cub Fans Guide to Blackhawks Hockey
A funny thing happened on the way to the NHL Winter Classic:
The Blackhawks got good. Very good.
As a result, the spectacle that John McDonough begged his league to bring to Wrigley to help him reanimate a recently dead franchise has turned into something else:
A signficant matchup between the Detroit Red Wings, the defending Stanley Cup champions, and the Blackhawks, the Wings' closest divisional pursuers, one of the league's youngest, highest scoring, and most dynamic clubs.
In case you have been too busy following the Cubs' off-season exploits to pay attention to the Blackhawks--or, more likely, if you have never paid attention to the Hawks--here is a Cubs baseball/Blackhawks hockey translator just for you.
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Gone to the Eternal Confines: 2008 Cub Obits
Update: Loyal TCR reader Jacos points out my glaring omission of Bobby Murcer from the obit list. I think I scooted right past his name on the list of 2008 baseball deaths because I will always think of him as a New York Yankee despite his time with the Cubs and Giants, just like I will always think of Billy Williams as a Cub, despite his time with the Athletics. For the record, Murcer was acquired in trade from San Francisco for Bill Madlock in 1977 then traded back to the Yankees in June of 1979. In his two and a half years with the Cubs, Murcer had a couple of okay seasons--including 27 HR and 89 RBI in '77.
In the year just past, eight more men with various ties to our beloved Cubs left this world without seeing a World Series championship find its way to the North Side.
R.I.P. to you all, gentlemen...
John Buzhardt (Died 6/15/08 at age 71 in Prosperity, South Carolina)
A right-hander signed by the Cubs as an amateur in 1954, Buzhardt pitched for the team in September of 1958 and all of 1959. In his two seasons in Cubbie blue, Buzhardt went 7-5, bouncing between starting and relief roles. The highlight of his Cub career was in June of '59, when Buzhardt threw a complete game, one-hit shutout at the Phillies. In addition to pitching for the Cubs, Buzhardt played for the Phillies, White Sox, Orioles, and Astros, ending his career in 1968 with a record of 71-96.
Don Cardwell (Died 1/14/08 at age 72 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
Two days after being traded to the Cubs by the Phillies in 1960, Cardwell no-hit the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. If you haven't seen the grainy black & white footage from the WGN broadcast that day, you should.
Recent comments
crunch (view)
masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around. i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
I THINK I agree with that decision. They committed to Wicks as a starter and, while he hasn’t been stellar I don’t think he’s been bad enough to undo that commitment.
That said, Wesneski’s performance last night dictates he be the next righty up.
Quite the dilemma. They have many good options, particularly in relief, but not many great ones. And complicating the situation is that the pitchers being paid the most are by and large performing the worst - or in Taillon’s case, at least to this point, not at all.
Childersb3 (view)
Wesneski and Mastrobuoni to Iowa
Taillon and Wisdom up
Wesneski can't pitch for a couple of days after the 4 IP from last night. But Jed picked Wicks over Wesneski.
crunch (view)
booooooooooo
also, wisdom and taillon are both in chicago.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Tonight’s game postponed. Split games on Saturday.
crunch (view)
cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.
taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight. who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.
p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury. good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.
Bill (view)
A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return. Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.
Sonicwind75 (view)
Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention". Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."
Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost. But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.
Sonicwind75 (view)
I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions. Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022. I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.
Childersb3 (view)
I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
We'll find out soon enough!!!