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)
wow, counsell coming with the early lineup. rarity.
canario/tauchman/happ RF/CF/LF
crunch (view)
PCA called up.
crunch (view)
welp...
bellinger...fractured rib.
a not-very-ready PCA will probably be called up when it would be much better for him to be in AAA getting regular ABs.
crunch (view)
i have no hard data, but i'm seeing the same thing.
there used to be some parks where that was rampant (colorado during the todd helton days comes to mind), but i'm seeing it all over the place the past couple seasons.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
I’ll spare the details which I’ve stated before but, in short, the Cardinals have lost their sight of their successful identity and strategy over last several dominant decades. From the beginning of the season I saw the Cardinals being in last place or near it again this year, and my prediction is that Mozeliak will be gone after the end of the season.
Bill (view)
I would have kept Cooper rather than Wisdom, but at least I can understand why they did it. In a team that lacks dominant power hitters, Wisdom can be a dominant power hitter, at least in streaks. I suppose that there is always the possibility that the streaks longer in both duration and frequency. I will be content if they essentially make a 100 % DH commitment to Mervis against righties and Wisdom against lefties. When a regular needs rest, give them total rest, rather than a DH rest. Do this for at least 2 months, and then re-evaluate at that point.
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
This is Cubs adjacent but…
Jordan Walker just was optioned by the deadbirds. For all the talk of the Cardinals development machine, they’ve really missed on a lot of can’t miss superstars lately. Walker has struggled. Gorman has been okay. They’re already trying to push Carlson out the door. Their pitching system has been so bad they had to go out and sign basically a full rotation over the last two offseasons.
They’ve still developed a few of those pesky solid players, like Donovan, Edman, and Nootbaar. Their two best prospect to MLB players have been Adolis and Arozarena, neither of which is a cardinal.
I hope they never figure it out again. Cardinal failure brings me such joy.
Raisin101 (view)
Thank you so much! I really appreciate not only all your posts but how eager you are to respond to our questions.
Sonicwind75 (view)
Is it just me or does it seem that official scorers are becoming less likely to call a misplay an error?
Guess I've hit my cranky old-man phase in life. "I remember back in the day when an error was an error. Official scorers have gone soft. Now where did I put my readers?!!??"
Sidenote, maybe Bellinger should be a little more careful against the Astros. That was the series last year that a play at wall put him on the IL.
crunch (view)
i hated the almonte pickup, but he's 9-10 out of 12 for good outings, following a great spring. hope he can keep it up.
i already miss cooper, but yeah...the thin OF roster backup the team seems to want to carry probably got wisdom preference over cooper. i could live without seeing wisdom at 3rd unless it's a blowout, though.