Save a Tree [and a Life]!

Maples are my favorite kind of tree. They are at their best this time of the year. I grew up in the shade of a huge one and one of our two pooches is even named Maple. But someday a maple baseball bat is going to be the cause of death. What a way to go.


I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that one of the games in the season-ending series between Iowa and Memphis included five shattered bats. I don’t know how many of those were maple, but there is a growing body of evidence that maple bats crack differently than ones made of ash. A game which has always featured balls as hard as stones being hurled around at high speeds and being swatted with wooden clubs is becoming even more dangerous with metallic mallets at amateur levels and maple ones in the major leagues...


   


What’s to be made of Mike Quade’s 17-7 record as the Cubs’ skipper? What a shame that the best series the team’s had in St. Louis in over 20 years and the best road trip it’s ever enjoyed benefit no one in the Cub legions with the possible exception of Mr. Clean. Will Jim Hendry attach any significance to this run? The games are barely facsimiles of meaningful ones when pennants and playoff berths are still at stake. Here’s a thought: maybe hiring Quade would so underwhelm the masses that attendance would stay down next year and keep the pressure relatively low on the youngsters. They’ve been thriving under more or less those conditions this month.


Phil Rogers mentioned Seattle as perhaps another logical spot for Ryne Sandberg in yesterday’s Tribune. It makes some sense. Sandberg hails from Washington. There are going to be a lot of jobs open this winter and Sandberg will get one of them, I’m betting. I hope it’s the one he’s best-suited for in the organization he’s most familiar with in all ways, especially organizational history and personnel.


Recent remarks by Mr. Ricketts can easily be interpreted as Sandberg stage-setters. The best combination of the new ownership’s business instincts and fondness for the Cubs would seem to be #23. The combination of a philosophical downshift to homegrown young talent and a no-name manager will cost the royal family a lot of money in the short-term. More, I hope they decide, than they can afford.


Pay no attention to the man behind the meaningless lineup cards!

Tags: 
September musings
Submitted by Mike Wellman on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 9:48am
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Comments

Submitted by tbone
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 10:13am

It seemed good to have a Cub fan as owner at first but now I realize that Cub fans do things like hire their favorite player from when they were younger instead of people more qualified for the job.

Might have been better if a fan of another team had bought the Cubs. Someone who laughed at and couldn't believe the endless boneheaded moves made by the team since WWII and just decided to put an end to it once and for all because it had moved from humorous to pathetic.

Submitted by artskoe
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 4:23pm

Maybe so, T, but a Cub fan bought the Diamondbacks and within a few years won a WS with Brenly at the helm. Now that team plays more like the Cubs than the Cubs do. Money wisely spent seems to be more the answer that transcends managerial traditions. LouPi couldn't handle a young team in Tampa and even made more bad vibe decisions with vets and a big payroll.

Baseball remains a thinking man's game, and ryno made HOF decisions at 2nd base - he can do it here and maybe, just maybe 15 years from now he will still be manager and have the Atlanta, Yankee and Dodger tradition of 1 man steering the ship.

Submitted by Mike Wellman
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 10:57am

very hard to say in advance who is right man for job; much harder than saying in retrospect who was the wrong one...i just think this team had stopped playing for piniella but it might be dangerous to read too much into the 17-7...many of these games are little more than exhibitions

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:11am

I didn't think this team was really a contender coming into the season. However I also don't/didn't think this was a 90 loss team either.

For whatever reason this team did seem to quit on Lou.

I do however think that a big bat, 3rd starter and an 8th inning guy could make this thing a fringe contender next year. Call me crazy?

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:17am

Could I hazard a guess that the team got tired of seeing our best hitter bat 8th and two of our worst 3 and 4?

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:29am

I think the beginning of the end was when Lou put Z in the pen.

It was basically Lou saying FU to Jim Hendry for not getting him the 8th inning vet he was asking for in the media. Seemed like the players tuned out once it became a Lou-Hendry urination contest.

Just my hunch anyway.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:47am

That was a Lou/Hendry pissing match?

I thought it was a Lou/Z pissing match.

Moving Z to the pen had nothing to do with not having anyone to pitch in the 8th inning. They did have Marshall, and he was lights out all year, but especially in the first two months. Lou (and maybe Hendry) was trying to make a statement to Z.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:56am

If you remember back, Lou was pining in the press all spring about wanting a bullpen vet to pitch late innings.

Stories of Tyler Colvin for Frasor or Gregerson were being floated in the papers.

When Lou first put Z out there. His public excuse was "We need someone in that 8th inning role". Z kept his mouth shut, but made it be known he wasn't real happy. Can only imagine it probably soured the clubhouse a little bit?

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/i...

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:59am

Lou didn't move Z to the bullpen until after he sucked. And Marmol/Marshall had been good/very good in the 8th/9th at that point.

The move had little/nothing to do with lack of bullpen options. It was all about trying to make a point to Z. And the clubhouse wasn't thrilled with Z either.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 12:15pm

He moved him to the pen April 21st. You'd think a rational Lou would have given his highest paid, best track recorded Starter more than 4 starts?

Again, I think moving the highest paid SP to the pen in mid April was a middle finger from Lou to Hendry. All signs point to it. Especially reading between the lines in the Z and Lou quotes in the link I posted above.

Lou said it would be temporary. Just until we can trade for an 8th inning guy

It was Lou trying to force Hendry's hand into getting him a player. Just like icing Stevie Eyre was his way of forcing Hendry to make a trade.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 12:57pm

You'd think a rational Lou

A what?

Submitted by Dusty Baylor
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 12:39pm

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl....

Yeah, 1 awful start, 1 mediocre start, and 2 good ones from Big Z before getting demoted to the bullpen.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 12:08pm

And... there is almost no way that Lou makes that move (moving Z to the pen) without Hendry's permission, and possibly even ownership's permission.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 12:14pm

Hendry is the nut-less wonder. You really think Lou deferred to Hendry on anything?

That has kinda been the problem with Hendry from the beginning. He's had two forceful managers that he deferred to. He seems to cave in WHILE bending backwards in contract negotiations. And yet he STILL finds a way to spend more money on Xavier Nady NOW.

Kim Ng might have more testicular fortitude than Jim Hendry does?

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 2:10pm

the manager runs the show and it's lineup, but when you got a guy with that much $$ and years hendry was most likely involved in the okay-ing of Z to pen.

manager runs the show, but this is one of those * incidents.

Submitted by jacos
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 7:26pm

sort of along the lines of "Do you mind if we devalue your $ 90 million investment because I don't know how to handle personalities or manage?"

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 7:31pm

YOU ARE A PIECE OF SHIT!

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 7:34pm

Did MB stop by for a minute?

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 7:42pm

almost...he got 3/4 of his message typed in before he tore a tendon in one of his fingers.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 12:55pm

Vitters makes the all-disapointing prosepct team as the starter at third according to BP's Kevin Goldstein.

"It's hard to find a prettier swing in the minors, but the real problem is that the third overall pick in the 2007 draft displays it too often, swinging at any pitch within the same area code."

(sub reqired)
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php...

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 1:01pm

mlbtr is blocked as an attack site, suddenly, yet if you click on 'why is this site blocked?', the Google page that opens says they've never found any malicious code.

Submitted by Wes
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 1:57pm

He put on twitter a few moments ago that they're having problems with Firefox.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 3:42pm

Thanks Wes.

---

FBI arrests man trying to set off a bomb one block from Wrigley as the Dave Matthews Band concert ended Saturday night:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/09/fb...

On Saturday night, Hassoun met with the agent, who provided him with a backpack that Hassoun thought contained a high-powered explosive device, according to the FBI. He was showed how it works, the release stated, and although it was intended to look real, it was made of inert materials and unable to explode.

Early Sunday morning, Hassoun and the agent then went together in a rented vehicle towards Wrigleyville, where the bombing would take place. At about the same time, crowds were leaving Wrigley Field after a concert by the Dave Matthews Band.

Hassoun was then watched by agents as he placed the fake explosive into a trash container near Eddy and Clark Streets -- about a block south of Wrigley Field, the release stated. He was then arrested and the fake device was recovered.

Submitted by Doug Dascenzo
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 6:12pm

Fucking Sox fans.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 6:27pm

the lack of national coverage from almost every outlet is weird, btw.

everyone's busy worrying about some idiot in deleware and what she did as a teenager.

...then again the president had a town hall q/a meeting (it's nice to have a president again that actually takes people asking him questions, btw) and no one seems to care about that, either.

Submitted by Brick
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 9:03pm

That guy lived a few blocks from me.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 9:26pm

I used to eat falafels with that dude.

Submitted by The Joe
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 9:43pm

On the one hand, bombing is bad. On the other hand, it was Dave Matthews...

[edit] And taking Wrigley with him might just be icing on the cake.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 2:28pm

via roto wurld...

According to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, impending free agent Adam Dunn now expects to be in Washington next season.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...

----

there's plenty of talk about if he's a FA it's no big deal or etc...

Submitted by The E-Man
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 3:20pm

Don't worry crunch, we'll still have Nady. If Dunn signs w/the Nats, "book it".

Submitted by Rob G.
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 3:54pm

Cubs had an extra starter at that point(Lilly was coming off the DL) and the bullpen was awful. Lou hadn't quite warmed up to trusting Marshall in the 8th and and everyone was unhappy with Z's antics at that point. One of Lilly, Dempster, Silva, Gorz, Wells or Z had to move and the combo of Z having the worst ERA at that point and possibly having the highest impact back there led to the decision.

The F.U. to Hendry from Lou is just gossip.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 6:14pm

So Silva, Wells or Gorzy had earned the spots over Z? Doubtful

why would Lou tell Z and make statements to the press about "until we make a trade" unless he was calling Hendry out?

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 6:28pm

"until we make a trade" is probably what was told to Z since it was Z who repeated it so much after lou made the statement.

there's never been much noise about lou vs. hendry and static.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 8:58pm

Did Lou not harp from the beginning about needing:

lefthanded rightfielder who could bat 5th

late inning lefty reliever

left handed backup catcher

immediate removal of Eyre, Barrett, Murton and Cedeno?

You seriously don't think that Lou made his roster desires known? He aired Hendry out in thinly veiled comments to the media, almost from day one.

Although Hendry did botch his job epically. Especially since October 2008.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:03pm

well, yeah...but i don't think the Z move to the pen was something hendry didn't know about. i wouldn't doubt if it was lou that wanted the move, but it's just something rarely done by surprise with a guy that has his kind of years/$$ on the contract.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 12:13pm

So Silva, Wells or Gorzy had earned the spots over Z? Doubtful

not really, but none of them were better options for the 8th inning and they all pitched better than Z had so far at that point

Submitted by Dusty Baylor
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 2:56pm

Zambrano had 1 horrible start, 1 "meh" start, and 2 good ones. He has been part of the rotation for most of the decade. Silva was a shot in the dark, Wells is in his second year, and Gorzy his first full season here. Zambrano should have got the benefit of the doubt.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 3:34pm

sure, nonetheless someone had to go from the rotation and it was a reasonable decision given the circumstances of a) someone having to be dropped from the rotation and b)someone that would be a good fit for the 8th inning.

not the decision I would have made or many other fans, but not some nefarious plan by Lou to publicly shame Hendry into making a trade (which never happened anyway).

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 3:41pm

So you never noticed Lou using the media to prod Hendry? I noticed it almost immediately once Lou got here.

Just have to agree to disagree on this one Rob.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 3:53pm

unfortunately I never got my masters in debunking Cubs conspiracy theories...

nonetheless, saying stuff to the press isn't the same as making a move just to fuck with the GM that has done nothing but try to give him whatever he wanted when he asked.

or a move that if done just to piss off the GM would just turn the club on him

and a move Hendry supported and was the one that talked to Z to get him to agree

Submitted by MikeC
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 3:59pm

I just object to the fact people saying Z sucked is the reason he was moved to the pen. If your one of those people *cough* Real Neal *cough* it's a lame ass axe to grind.

4 starts doesn't make a season, especially with a guy who has never had a season ERA over 4.00. And wow do those same people eat any crow with Z sporting a tidy 3.75 ERA at the moment? Many of who thought it would be impossible given what he went through this season.

Zambrano is the teams most reliable and best pitcher. Hands down. Again when he turns in 1 season of a 5.00 ERA, sound the alarm bells if he puts 2 of them back to back, maybe its time to stick a fork in him as a reliable starter. But people bitching after 4 starts or 1 or 2 months about the demise of him, is just pure comedy.

It's like people are in a god damn hurry for him to suck so we can hurry up and watch Coleman and Samj put up some 5.00 and 6.00 ERA seasons. I don't know if you think they grow on trees or something but they don't. On the other hand its really easy to find a starter to put up a 5.00 ERA.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 5:02pm

Zambrano gets paid to win 16+ games. Last year he won nine. This year he was 3-6 in mid August, with an ERA of 5.46 when he took the mound on August 14th and started the winning streak. It's not surprising that his employers felt cheated, and gave him the ball so he could make himself tradeable.

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 5:25pm

How did he have more opportunity to make himself tradeable in the pen than in the rotation?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 6:22pm

I believe he's saying they let him back in the rotation to make himself more tradeable.

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 7:29pm

Oh. That was what we were talking about?

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 9:59am

Lou has said that players were going to be held accountable. Z had been the worst of the starters, so he was the one sent to the pen - why is that so hard to grasp? It was actually Lou living up to his word.

Lilly and Dempster have been much more reliable than Z from 2008 to 2009, not sure what you were huffing to come up with Z is the most reliable starer idea. He's second on the team in walks, despite pitching 116 innings, let's not cast him for that statue outside of Wrigley just yet, OK?

Talk about Strawmen - who said that Z's career was done?

Submitted by The Joe
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:41am

"...who said that Z's career was done?"

Z?

Submitted by MikeC
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 6:36pm

You must of missed Zambrano's entire career. To totally disregard it after 4 starts like you are Neal is foolish.

I don't even know why you mention walks. What does that prove? Zambrano has had a fairly high walk rate his entire career, yet he still pitches with an ERA below 4. What you should look at is his strikeout rate to determine a decline and thats just fine. But that doesn't really fit your argument.

Your better off just quoting Wins, despite all the flack you will take. Zambrano has 9 to Dempsters 14 in 84 less innings. Ohh wait that doesn't really help you either.

Hey lets just look at Dempster since his break out year. Hovering around a 3.50 ERA, isnt winning alot of games but the rest of his numbers are fine and he is the greek god of awesome in your mind and many others. You stack them up against Zambrano and they look awfully identical only with Zambrano getting less innings.

The only difference is Zambrano has been doing it since 2002, Dempster just figured out how to pitch in the last 3 years and is now 33 to Zambrano's 29.

Who you going to bet on over the next 5 years? Your boy Dempster or Zambrano? I guess people forget Zambrano is only 29.

Dempster and Lilly aren't/weren't the gold standard. They weren't Roy Halladay or Tim Lincecum better, all 3 of them were about the same. About as even of a 3 headed monster at the top of the rotation as you could get.

Those 3 you could plug in atleast 10 wins, an ERA between 3.50 and 4 and about 180 strikouts. Barring injury and a stupid move to the bullpen.

He isn't Kerry Wood hurt every year and he isn't washed up physically. He is still a damn fine pitcher, just like your heroes Dempster and Lilly.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 6:54pm

Mike if you are incapable of remembering way back to 2009, please at least use this internet thing and look things up.

Zambrano hasn't pitched 200 innings since 2007. He hasn't had an ERA below 3.50 since 2006. Oh heaven forbid we put a #3 starter into the bullpen instead of a #4 starter, the whole season's fucked!

Dempster is demonstrably a better pitcher than Zambrano. Unless you are using a standard other than ERA, Innings, Starts, Wins or K's... which you obviously are.

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 8:25pm

Yeah it was great when Lou moved Dlee and Aram out of the 3-4 spots in July.

Submitted by Ryno
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 6:46pm

Mike Quade will win approximately 10-20 world series titles for the cubs in the next couple years. He's that fucking good.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 6:49pm

I didn't realize ESPN ran that many poker tournaments, but it surely will be some good publicity to have him there with his Cubs hat on.

Submitted by Ryno
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 6:49pm

So that answers the question what would happen if a splintered bat flew into a guy. My bet was that it would go all the way through him. I was wrong.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 6:54pm

better than this happening...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iz8mXBX0RY

Submitted by Mornington Crescent
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 8:16pm

or this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1-NpyaOWV0

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 8:35pm

classic...

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 10:37pm

Turns out MLB has been testing a solution to the broken bats for over a year but for whatever reason has refused to approve it. Here's a video of Mark Grace interviewing the inventors of BatGlove and a clip of bats with and without BatGlove being hit by 138mph balls as the MLB testing center:

http://batglove.com/Video/Entries/2009/9/2_FO...

BatGlove is a clear plastic tape that covers the lower 18" of the bat. When the bat cracks it doesn't break in half or fall apart, it stays in one piece in the sleeve.

Phil Rogers just wrote about it in tomorrow's Tribune (and Al Yellon wrote about it on his blog).

Rogers piece: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball...

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 2:28am

Shouldn't they be testing it at the speed at which a MLB batter impacts an MLB pitch which is about 190 MPH?

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 12:07pm

The Arizona Diamondbacks were the first team to start using the BatGlove, at a low minor league affiliate. In real game action it works as advertised. The bats still crack but they do not break apart, the BatGlove keeps them intact.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 2:05pm

Sounds interesting. I be surprised if there's no performance effect, though.

I thought kilning the bats was supposed to be the big problem, why don't they just outlaw that?

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 2:11pm

though there's only a handful left, i'd like to know how the people who don't use batting gloves feel about it.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 4:10pm

I agree, it's a clear plastic tape, it has to feel different. Maybe with pine tar and gloves it doesn't. In one of the videos on the BatGlove website one of the D'backs people talks about introducing it in the minors and let guys get used to it, whether they like it or not, then implement it in the majors too. But who knows what MLB is thinking.

Submitted by Brick
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 6:57pm

Somebody please hurry up and make a dirty joke about this. It's killing me.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 3:36pm

I suggested last week that giving Nady at-bats was a plan for some reason to keep Nady's agent happy.

I present circumstantial evidence that something is going on...

http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/4683

There’s little doubt Nady could have used some minor-league at-bats in the beginning of the season, but I’m not sure what kind of deal GM Jim Hendry cut with agent Scott Boras. That was still one of the more odd conference calls when they signed Nady. Boras also took part. None of us could remember an agent taking part in a conference call to announce the signing of a player.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 3:43pm

I'm so ready to have a GM with backbone.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 3:37pm

3 vs. Giants and 4 next week vs. Padres

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 4:18pm

http://deadspin.com/5644162/you-wanted-the-be...

FJM reunion

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 4:41pm

f.lopez cut from the cards with less than 2 weeks to play...wonder who he pissed off

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 4:47pm

The mlb.com article that mlbtr links to doesn't say he was released, it says he was sent home. Similar but not the same thing. Poor reporting by mlbtr.
--
UPDATE: mlb.com has updated their report to say he was released. For the first 30 minutes it was out there it said he was sent home.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 6:38pm

Heads up for the out of towners: A decent storm is hitting the Chicago area tonight, could have a rain delay. Lots of high winds (some have hit over 60mph in the suburbs already) and even some hail, along with regular thunderstorms.

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 6:54pm

http://weather.yahoo.com/images/central_sat_4...

yow.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 8:27pm

GAME ON!

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 4:47pm

THIS JUST IN: The Cubs placed RHP Mitch Atkins on the Designated List (Designated for Assignment) this past Saturday to make room on the 40-man roster for RHP Esmailin Caridad, who completed his 30-day minor league rehab on Friday and then was activated from the 60-day DL and optioned to Tennessee on Saturday so that he was available for Saturday night's game at Jacksonville (Caridad had been pitching for the Smokies since his rehab was moved from the AZL Cubs to AA Tennessee in August).

Because both Geovany Soto and Tyler Colvin were active (and playing) Saturday, the Cubs had to make a roster move involving another player (Atkins) to make room on the 40-man roster for Caridad. Saturday is only a business day during Spring Training, so the Cubs would have had to wait until Monday (yesterday) to place Atkins on Outright Waivers, and thus they won't find out until tomorrow if any MLB club put in a claim on Atkins.

Atkins can be outrighted to Iowa tomorrow if he gets through waivers, but he is eligible to be a Rule 55 Minor League FA (6YFA) post-2010 if he is not on a 40-man roster by the end of the World Series, so unless he likes Des Moines and wants to remain with the I-Cubs in 2011 (where he will be behind at least a half-dozen other more highly-regarded pitching prospects), I would think Atkins will (if he is not claimed off waivers) take the opportunity to ply his trade elsewhere, probably with the Baltimore Orioles (he was a John Stockstill draft pick before Stockstill left the Cubs and took a similar job with the Orioles).

Atkins was the Cubs 7th round draft pick in 2004 out of Northeast Guilford HS in McLeansville, NC, and was named Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2008 when he went a combined 17-7 (combined) between Tennessee and Iowa. He was added to the Cubs 40-man roster on 11-19-2008. After having a nightmare 2009 season at Iowa (8-12 with a 6.58 ERA, with 164 hits & 26 HR allowed in just 146.1 IP), he bounced-back and put up an 8-3 mark at Iowa in 2010, with a 3.63 ERA and 1.31 WHIP, allowing 88 hits (14 HR) in 106.2 IP and 28 G (15 GS), with a 42/76 BB/K.

Atkins had four short stints (seven games, all in relief) with the Cubs at the big league level over the past two seasons, and went a combined 0-0 with a 5.25 ERA and 1.58 WHIP, allowing 13 hits (2 HR) in 12.0 IP, with a 6/10 BB/K. He was not one of the Cubs September call-ups.

Atkins is 24 years old and has one minor league option left, should he be claimed off waivers.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 7:03pm

And yet Koyie Hill and X Nady take up roster space?

Why dump a kid with any upside, when you can drop guys leaving in 2 weeks anyways?

Submitted by John Beasley
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 7:16am

So we can sign more nonproductive undroppable players! Cubbish!

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:03am

uhhhhh???????????

My question is why drop a 24 year old quasi prospect instead of Hill or Nady? Both of those guys will be off the 40 man roster in 2 weeks anyway?

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 7:08pm

mike quade holding a fungo giving his pre-game interview (taped) in the media room...

he's looking baseball as all hell.

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 8:26pm

delay is over, fwiw...

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 9:10pm

Z with 8 Ks through 4ip...ha

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 9:53pm

Z struggling his way through another "good" outing...phew.

5ip 3h 4bb 8k 0r...but he's loaded the bases twice and has gone to a 3-2 count on 7 batters. not a good night for control...great night for results...

-edit-

6ip 3h 5bb 8k 0r...should be done

Submitted by Mike Wellman
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 8:18am

hendry formally interviews sandberg in arizona...things starting to point to an announcement soon after end of season? [in other words, not waiting for yankees to finish?]

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:02am

Despite having hired two minority managers, he still has to interview one, right? The wonderful world of political correctness we live in.

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:14am

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 9:02am.
Despite having hired two minority managers, he still has to interview one, right? The wonderful world of political correctness we live in

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

REAL NEAL: Ex-Iowa manager (and current Nationals 3rd base coach) Pat Listach will be interviewed by Hendry before a Cubs manager is named. He was also the minority interview post-2006 before Piniella was hired.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 11:28am

You keep saying that, but Piniela is a minority.

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 11:35am

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:28am.
You keep saying that, but Piniela is a minority.

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

REAL NEAL: I keep saying that because Piniella is not considered a minority (African American or Latin American). He is of Euro-Spanish descent.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 11:44am

I'm confused. Growing up in America speaking a Romance language surely should make you a Latin-American, right?

Do you know if the policy actually name continents of origin and percentages of "minority"?

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 11:58am

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:44am.
I'm confused. Growing up in America speaking a Romance language surely should make you a Latin-American, right?

Do you know if the policy actually name continents of origin and percentages of "minority"?

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

REAL NEAL: Piniella was born in Florida and he is not of African descent. The only native U. S. born Americans who are considered "minority" by MLB are African Americans. This all goes back to the Al Campanis furor on "Nightline" when he said blacks don't have the "necessities" to manage.

MLB expands its awkward definition of "minority" to include foreign-born Latin Americans from Mexico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. I can't keep argung this with you. Piniella is NOT considered a minority as far as MLB is concerned because he was born in Florida and he is not of African descent. He is of Euro-Spanish descent, just like Mike Piazza is of Euro-Italian descent (Italian is also a "romance" language).

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 12:18pm

Thanks. That really is bizarre. Interesting that they didn't bother using the Civil Rights Act's defintion of protected class when developing their policy.

As fewer and fewer of the premium black athletes choose baseball, the candidate pool you'd think will shrink over the next 20 years or so.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 12:20pm

...and the dodgers are skipping (for a 2nd time in a row) the "interview a minority" thing and skipping straight to mattingly.

their hiring record is one of the best in baseball for minorities (ever), fwiw.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:35am

http://deadspin.com/5644408/extra-extra-jeter...

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 11:31am

SHIT FUCK FUCK SHIT SHIT FUCKING SHIT WHAT THE FUCK SHIT FUCK FUCKING SHIT! WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK? WHO THE FUCK WHAT SHIT FUCK?

FUCKING SHIT WHAT THE FUCK?!?

0.09% VS. 2.82% SHIT. WHAT THE FUCK?!??! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 11:48am

Yeah the swearing did seem a little forced. Still some funny bits in it.

I've always been a fan of the runs stat, probably because Sandberg was so good at it.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 12:38pm

Sandberg had the runs?

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 12:43pm

Didn't you read "Second to Home"?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 12:06pm

I guess i can't link to every article, but more awesomeness...

http://deadspin.com/5644419/titties-vs-vorp

in the article they're making fun of, the writer actually chastizes "stat geeks" because he found titties at a young age. I kid you not.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 12:15pm

wish i would have saved my reply above for this one. it kicks the formula from paragraph one. patience really does have it's place.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 1:54pm

I wouldn't have gotten it then, nor the first time.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 2:06pm

they have a tradition of writing with outrage, obscenities, "why am i the only person who sees this obvious fact" and littering it in between with broad references to other writers, history, pop culture, etc., and tieing the whole thing together with a few numbers.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 12:32pm

It sort of makes me wonder if these "writers" intentionally write one or two things a year just in the hopes of getting the FJM treatment.

I can sort of understand how better understanding the cause-effect relationship in observing anything could take away from the beauty and wonder of it. I don't get how that would possibly keep someone from getting laid, though.

The "white guys" joke had me BWAHAHAing into the ear of some poor lady on the phone.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 1:52pm

it has it's place...i just never got the crew of readers who wanted a daily dose of frat boys screaming obscenities and outrage while clinking plastic cups of self-celebration at each other.

they have plenty of imitators out there. most don't have a shred of pseudo-intellectual/intellectual filler to drop in between all the screaming, though, and come off as drunk bleacher bums.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 1:56pm

it has it's place...i just never got the crew of readers who wanted a daily dose of frat boys screaming obscenities and outrage while clinking plastic cups of self-celebration at each other.

I admit it, I don't get the frat boy reference in regards to the FJM writers or the drinking one.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 2:12pm

they just remind me of the drunks in the bleachers who talk amongst themselves...from what they say and especially from how they say it.

it's comedy, but some people consider what Tim and Eric or Howard Stern do comedy.

not everyone is gonna chuckle at every type of comedy.

...this kind of stuff...from the BEWBS vs. stats article...it's a common theme/formula for a huge chunk of their writing...

----

Um, "this time of year?" "Spring training?" Check your calendar, genius. It's September! How dumb is this guy?

Oh, right. Our fault. We only do this once a year now.

Incidentally, that alcohol/boat fumes mixture has a name: It's called Revere Beach! Ka-boom, Boston style!

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 2:25pm

clearly, you are unchuckled.

I'm going to guess you're the first and only person to compare them to frat boy/drinking humor though.

if only they repeated FREE BOBBY SCALES every third paragraph.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 2:35pm

yeah, first and only. i'm obviously a freak of nature for being the only person ever to make this link or observation.

it's all coming straight out of no where and it'd be nice if i actually had a shred of explaination for myself.

as a similar site once said...obviously i don't understand sarcasm. yes, i don't find it funny, obviously i'm an ignorant idiot that's not capable of criticism.

ps- everything i say is a daily battle to force my humor on the world. if you don't like it you obviously are a commie nazi mexican terrorist. gtfo my country.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 3:45pm

I blame Barack Obama.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 4:00pm

FREE BOBBY SCALES!

Submitted by chuck
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 1:11pm

I have always questioned how team offensive statistics are listed---highest batting average first. The team scoring the most runs, obviously, is the best offensive team. Most of us have questioned batting our best OBP hitter 8th. How productive was our batting order? Could it be measured by seeing how how many runs were produced per hit? The Cubs currently rank 17th in MLB in runs scored, 651 runs on 1327 hits making each hit producing .4905 runs. (We rank 19th in this resspect.) On the other hand, the best run producer per hit is Tampa Bay who has scored 756 runs on only 1256 hits, producing .601 runs per hit. What does this prove? Nothing. But it is interesting to note that Tampa Bay leads all of MLB in BB and stolen bases.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 1:20pm

I'd bet your main driver for runs/hit is HR's or mabye BA with RISP. But in terms of scoring runs, "hits" is going to be secondary to runners on base.

Submitted by chuck
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 1:47pm

Don't know the availability for team stats on BA with RISP but my guess the closest correlation would be between runs and total bases, probably much closer than runs/hits. But the Bucs leading MLB in both BB and SB makes me think a little.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 2:24pm

NL Teams, 2010, sorted by BA with RISP:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batt...

Submitted by Charlie
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 6:53pm

I don't see why you guys are debating humor and Zambrano. Can we talk about the real issue most closely related to this post? Who has a favorite kind of tree anymore? I mean, come on. Who can be bothered?

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 7:23pm

well, i can talk about ash tree decline via ash borers, sawflies, and ash yellows until your head explodes if you'd like.

actually, whatever...things are killing some stands of trees, but the whole idea of pros not using maple causing some ecological disaster is a bunch of crap.

a few hundred players worth of 1-2 dozen bats a season really isn't that much of a hit on the supply, even aggregated over decades.

btw, my favorite tree is the desert willow (chilopsis linearis).

http://www.finegardening.com/plantguide/chilo...

Submitted by Cubster
on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 4:09pm

Root rot?

Sounds like some of the 7th inning stretch guest singers.

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