Christian Ruzich's Archives
Not So Minor Matters, Week One
All's well in the world again. The first Sunday of April has come and gone, and baseball is back. Every day is a good day. And when the Cubs win, it's just that little bit better. A sweep of the Cardinals is six months of winter well rewarded.
Matt Murton, Ronny Cedeno and Sean Marshall have graduated to the game's biggest stage this year, and all played their part over the weekend.
Today in Cub History: Catch-all Edition
4-3-2006 Transmission (me) successfully defends his dissertation at UW. While technically he still has to deposit his dissertation in a dank basement office somewhere, this functionally makes him Dr. Trans.
4-3-1987 Traded Dennis Eckersley and Dan Rohn to the Oakland Athletics. Received Brian Guinn, Dave Wilder and Mark Leonette
4-3-1888 Sold John Clarkson to the Boston Beaneaters
4-4-1988 Sammy Sosa hits the first of his 66 home runs. It's off Marc Valdes of the Expos
4-4-1989 Mitch Williams pitches 1 and 2/3 innings, gives up three hits, two walks, and a balk. He also strikes out three, gives up no runs and earns his first save as a Cub. Cubs 5, Phillies 4
4-5-2004 Signed Glendon Rusch as a free agent
Lee Gets Extension
ESPN.com and Buster Olney are now reporting that the Derrek Lee extension is signed, sealed and delivered. The Cubs have a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning to announce it officially. He'll get a little more than Paul Konerko did this off-season, 5 years for $65 million and a full no-trade clause. His old deal will be voided($9 million plus this year) and the first year of his new deal will go into effect immediately, meaning he's signed through 2010.
The Week Ahead: Week Two
So this is a little strange. From Carrie Muskat's column about Michael Barrett's pinch-hitting heroics over the weekend:
John Mabry hit the Cubs' other pinch-hit homer in the second game of the season, and he was Barrett's inspiration on Saturday. What did Mabry do? "He was down here [in the clubhouse] in the third inning, getting ready for the game," Barrett said. "He starts his routine a lot earlier than most guys I've ever seen. I walked in here to get warm for a split second in the third, and I saw him getting ready, so I thought maybe I need to get ready, too.
Game 5: Marshall Plan Should Not Aid St. Louis
Fun with game notes:
* A win tonight would give the Cubs their first home sweep against the Cardinals since June, 2001.
* Sean Marshall is the 1,800th Chicago Cub in the franchise's 131-year history.
GAME 5 IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT]
ST.
Game 4: Take The Series
A win today puts the Cubs two games over .500 for the first time since last August 2nd.
GAME 4 IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT]
ST.
Cubs Org Chart
Thanks to a lot of hard work previously done by Arizona Phil and the guys at USS Mariner, I am proud to present the Cubs Org Chart! I will continue to add features to the page as the season goes on, including links to the players, contract info, etc. Let me know what other information you'd like to see on the org chart page.
Opening Day At Wrigley!
HOME OPENER IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT]
ST.
2006 Cardinals - N. L. Central Preview
In the second in a series of team previews of N. L. Central clubs, we present the Cubs Home Opening Day opponents (some of you may have heard of them), the St. Louis Cardinals.
Organizational Pipeline - Opening Day 2006
In addition to the Chicago Cubs playing the Reds on Opening Day in Cincinnati on Monday and the Home Opener at Wrigley Field on Friday versus the St. Louis Cardinals, four of the Cubs minor league affiliates start their regular season schedules Thursday and Friday.
Here is the current state of the Cubs organizational pipeline, with the Opening Day rosters for all affiliates now in place:
2006 MLB Payrolls
The Associated Press has obtained the 2006 MLB player payrolls. The Cubs' 2006 player payroll ranks third in the N. L., behind the Mets and the Dodgers, and just ahead of the Astros, Braves, and Giants.
NATIONAL LEAGUE:
1. NYM - 100.9
2. LAD - 99.1
3. CUBS - 94.8
4. HOU - 92.5
5. ATL - 92.4
6. SF - 90.8
7. STL - 88.4
8. PHI - 88.2
MID-POINT
9. SD - 69.7
10.
Cubs Looking to Go 2-0
GAME IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT]
CHICAGO CUBS (1-0) AT CINCINNATI REDS (0-1)
GREAT AMERICAN BALLPARK, 11:35 CDT, TV: ESPN & CSN Chicago
Temperature in the 50's with the wind blowing out.
Recent comments
crunch (view)
i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things. the default is delay. i would choose brown.
like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.
anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.
Childersb3 (view)
Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.
I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.
If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.
Give him a chance.
But Wesneski probably gets it
crunch (view)
alzolay...bro...
crunch (view)
wow. what a blown call. go cubs, i guess.
crunch (view)
neris is good for 70-ish appearances and having him throw 89-91mph fastballs was something i was not looking forward to for 70-ish games.
his splitter today was ranging 82-83mph...also a bit faster than spring performances.
Eric S (view)
Holy shit this umpire sucks
However, all is forgiven when his suckiness works in favor of the Cubs.
Childersb3 (view)
Neris must have been sand-baging spring training. He's a veteran, so he knew what he was doing. Had me fooled to be honest. Glad I was wrong.
hellfrozeover (view)
Looks like he might the cliche veteran pitcher in spring not really ramping it up and just “forking on stuff” in spring. If he gets to 94 on the regular he’ll do just fine.
crunch (view)
topped out a 94mph, threw 4 of those. feeling a lot better about neris.
crunch (view)
neris has thrown 2 pitches at 93mph out of his first 5 pitches. that's a positive turn.