Nice Guys Finish Last

ìNice guys finish lastî ñ Leo "The Lip" Durocher The 1965 season closed with the Cubs mired in 8th place in the National League, with a 72-90 record, 25 games behind the N. L. pennant-winning Dodgers. 1965 was the fifth year for the College of Coaches, and the experiment wasnít working. After the season, Cubs Athletic Director Col. Robert Whitlow (USAF ñ RET.) resigned, and there was some question about who P. K. Wrigley would hire to replace him. Two Ton Baker? Bozo the Clown? The Doublemint Twins? Garfield Goose, perhaps?
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By Arizona Phil at Thu, 01/05/2006 - 10:00am

Half-Hearted Victory

Well thanks to everyone who responded to my call for action last week. Not only did you make us the top Cubs blog, but you voted us the top MLB blog out there. I'm not going to put a lot of merit into the award, considering the list of entrants didn't include some of the better MLB blogs out there, the most glaring admission being Athletics Nation. But a win is a win and apparently this victory earned us a year subscription to baseball prospectus.com so we can fill your heads with an array of abbreviations that Einstein would have trouble comprehending. Thanks for the support and congratulations to you guys as well. The victory says as much about our readers as it does us writers. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the comments section and those who contribute, is as much a part of TCR's success (if not more) then the daily ravings of a few crazed Cubs fans scattered around the globe. Congrats once again and looking forward to another fun year in 2006!!! And feel free to use this as open thread to discuss whatever is on your mind regarding our boys in blue.
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By Arizona Phil at Wed, 01/04/2006 - 10:51am

Minor League Signings

The Cubs made a few minor league signings official today. Marquis Grissom, Augie Ojeda and Mike Restovich will all get a chance to show off their veteran savvy and catch the eye of the Cubs coaching staff come March. Grissom's old, once upon a time could hit lefites and has a good chance to become next year's Neifi Perez, a vet that Baker has an unhealthy affection towards. Ojeda comes back to the Cubs organization after a brief stop in Minnesota where he actually managed a .339/.429/.458 line in 59 AB's. If you're looking for an example of the dangers of "small sample size", you needn't look any further. He did once make an amazing diving stop to help preserve a Mark Prior complete game that I had the pleasure of attending. A game in which Sammy Sosa launced 2 homers off of Kevin Brown that I still don't believe have landed. Restovich is a corner outfielder that hits a lot like a middle infielder. He was a second round pick of the Twins in 1997 and once upon a time was pretty well touted. At 6-4, 250 you'd expect some power, which he did show at times in the minors, but his offensive game has been seriously lacking at the major league level. He played with the Pirates and Rockies last year. [Ruz:] Rob is too modest to point out that he mentioned the possibility of signing Grissom back in August. I see a glimmer of hope in the Grissom signing. When the Cubs signed Jacque Jones, one of the things I heard (and said) most often was that Jones is a player who should platoon but, because of the size of his contract and Dusty's proclivities, probably won't. With the Grissom signing (and the fact that it's a minor-league deal is merely a formality -- I'd say Grissom is just about a lock to make the team), what the Cubs now have is a suitable platoon partner for Jones that Dusty might actually play. Jones' splits over the last three seasons: Vs. RHP: 280/333/474 Vs. LHP: 238/295/363 And Grissom's: Vs. RHP: 267/299/396 Vs. LHP: 322/359/567 That's some decent pop against lefties. Grip is old, spent much of '05 injured, and will swing at just about anything, but given what we know (or think we know) about Dusty's managerial and lineup construction styles, this is about the best little deal Jim Hendry could have come up with.
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By Arizona Phil at Tue, 01/03/2006 - 2:54pm

The Road through Holland

I grew up as a Cubs fan in the 1960ís. My first memories of the Cubs were from 1960, but I didnít go to my first game at Wrigley Field until 1961. I learned to read in the Fall of 1960, so 1961 was my first year for sports sections (and there were FOUR newspapers in Chicago back then), box scores, baseball cards, and batting averages. The 1961 Cubs will always be near and dear to my heart. The College of Coaches! Brilliant! A ìrotatingî Head Coach! Ingenuius! An Athletic Director? OK. Whatever you say, P. K. Unfortunately, the College of Coaches didnít help make the Cubs a better team. If anything, it made them worse. There were too many cooks in the kitchen, no strong leader, and if there was ever a team that was defined by its wallow, it was the Cubs of 1961-65. But then in 1967, the Cubs suddenly got good. This Grand Improvement all seemed to coincide with the arrival of Leo ìThe Lipî Durocher as the Cubs manager in 1966. Leo was a complete jag-off, but was also a man who would not tolerate failure or accept excuses for losing. You got a losing team? Leoís answer was simple. ìBack Up the Truck.î Leo also grasped the basic premise that the most important element of a winning team is spelled ìP-I-T-C-H-I-N-G,î and for Leo, that meant four stud horses in the starting rotation. As important as Leo Durocherís presence and personality might have been in turning around ìthe program,î the foundation for the success of the Cubs after Leo arrived was actually laid over the previous ten years or so, going back to when John Holland was appointed General Manager of the Cubs, on October 11, 1956...
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By Arizona Phil at Sun, 01/01/2006 - 2:00pm

PTBNL Named in Van Buren Deal

The Cubs apparently acquired OF Matt Ciaramella from the Boston Red Sox to complete the Jermain Van Buren deal from a few weeks back. He was a 13th round pick in 2004 who went to the University of Utah, 23 years old, throws lefty, hits from both sides of the plate, can play both corner outfield positions. Put up a line of .302/.360/.422 in A ball last year in 222 at-bats. A scouting report that was posted over at nortshsidebaseball.com says:
Hits for both average and power. Good Speed. Very Intelligent with great baseball instincts. Athletic and strong.

Here's some more links if you care to read up on the kid. Sounds like a quality guy: Interview in Sept, 2004 with his alma mater His old Sox Prospect page A bit on him from Sons of Sam Horn

Thanks to ShawndGoldman for the scoop...

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Tags: 
Cubs Roster Moves
Jermaine Van Buren
Matt Ciaramella
By Rob G. at Sat, 12/31/2005 - 10:29am

Open Thread

Just going to roll the discussion over here for you guys. Not much to report other than a Paul Sullivan article in the Trib today. The highlights: - The O's now want Carlos Zambrano instead of Mark Prior. - The A's and Cubs haven't talked since early December and the A's apparently want a major-league pitcher and at least one top prospect for Barry Zito. - The Marquis Grissom deal will probably be announced next week, but it will be a non-guaranteed contract, as it should be. And in case you were wondering, the Cubs never offered Prior to the O's. The same story is repeated in the Paul Sullivan article. It was the O's asking for Prior in a one-for-one swap for Tejada and Hendry insisted on a "quality" pitcher coming back to the Cubs in the deal. Whether that's the spin doctors coming out and doing damage control or the god-honest truth, I suppose we'll never know.
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By Arizona Phil at Sat, 12/31/2005 - 10:12am

TCR Friday Notes

Well, it's nice to see you guys get in the spirit and put us ton top of the voting going on at Red Reporter for best baseball blog of 2005. We appreciate the support and it's as much a vote for you guys as it is for us writers. Voting goes through the end of the year I believe. - So we've heard some inklings of the Cubs pursuing Preston Wilson and/or Marquis Grissom. I suppose this is Hendry's plan to fill that righty bat on the bench or potential platoon-mate for Jones. I'd prefer a good player like Craig Wilson, but there is another FA out there who could fill the bill for both Dusty and Hendry. He's a vet (37 next season), can mash lefties, 3 year splits versus lefties: .293/.403/.497 2005 versus lefties: .288/.370/.471 and he's very familiar with Wrigley Field and day games.
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By Arizona Phil at Fri, 12/30/2005 - 10:55am

A little help….

We don't ask for much around here, but they're running this little contest for the best sports blog of 2005 at Red Reporter. We're currently in 4th place with a paltry 175 votes from a readership of 4000+ and growing. You folks can do better. I think it's a small price to pay, 300+ days of great baseball content versus 30 seconds of your time to go and vote for us. Seems fair!! Plus Al at Bleed Cubbie Blue just called us out and is determined to beat us, you're not going to let that happen are you? Seriously though, we don't get paid for this stuff so random acts of acknowledgement are kind of nice, your votes would be very much appreciated.
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By Arizona Phil at Wed, 12/28/2005 - 11:57am

He Blinded Me With Science

Compare
If your body pH is alkaline, you can not get cancer. ... If itís acid, you can get cancer. In ourómy personal observations, every single person who has cancer has an acidic body, acid pH.

-Kevin Trudeau, from the infomercial designed to sell the book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About

with
There was only one guy in the history of baseball who could pitch every day without discomfort, and that was me. People said I was a freak, but it was how I threw. Give me Kerry Wood and Mark Prior and, after I train them, they will be unhittable forever. Nobody will worry how many pitches they throw. ... [Larry Rothschild and Tom House]sure as heck don't know how to apply Newton's first, second and third laws to the pitching motion. They don't know Isaac Newton from the Fig Newton.

-Mike Marshall, Ph.D. (first quotation from 6/24/05 Tribune, second from article linked below)

The Daily Southtown's Paul Ladewski wrote a doe-eyed piece about Mike Marshall and his criticisms of Mark Prior's pitching mechanics. With all the hemming and hawing about Prior's health, it's irresponsible articles like this one where we need to keep our sense of perspective and skepticism.
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By Arizona Phil at Wed, 12/28/2005 - 11:37am

Projected Cubs Free-Agents through 2009

There was some surprise expressed yesterday on another thread that Mark Prior won't be a free-agent until after 2008, so here is the list of projected Cubs free-agents through 2009 that I posted a while back: FREE-AGENTS AFTER 2006 SEASON: Henry Blanco Jerry Hairston, Jr Derrek Lee John Mabry Greg Maddux (ìno tradeî through 2006 season) Juan Pierre Aramis Ramirez (player option for 2007) Todd Walker Scott Williamson Kerry Wood (club option to pay $13m salary in 2007 or $3m buy-out - also ìno tradeî through 2006 season) FREE-AGENTS AFTER 2007: Michael Barrett Scott Eyre (player option for 2008) Corey Patterson Neifi Perez Glendon Rusch Carlos Zambrano Kerry Wood (if Cubs decline buy-out after 2006) FREE-AGENTS AFTER 2008: Ryan Dempster Scott Eyre (if player option is not exercised after 2007) Bob Howry Jacque Jones Will Ohman Mark Prior Aramis Ramirez (mutual option for 2009, or vesting option for 2009 if 270 GAMES PLAYED 2007-08) FREE-AGENT AFTER 2009: Jerome Williams
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By Arizona Phil at Wed, 12/28/2005 - 5:41am

Competitive Balance

It's a shame that franchise (KC Royals) can't be competitive. In the 70s and 80s, they had one of the best fan bases in baseball relative to population. The economics of the game have made thriving in KC/Pittsburgh nearly impossible. It's things like that that make me back off of my Republican economic beliefs and start to think the Communists or at least the socialists had a decent idea. KC and Pittsburgh are great small cities with great sports fans. They deserve better than the snot with bats that they are forced to root for. The Cubs bring most of their problems on themselves, as they have the resources to do better. But the Royals and Pirates in particular are truly handicapped. - "X" in TCR, Friday 12-23-05. X is spot-on correct, folks. It will likely be a long, long time before we see the Pittsburgh Pirates or Kansas City Royals in the World Series again, and that is a shame. Which is why from time to time there have been discussions about improving "competietive balance" in MLB. The MLBPA will never accept a NBA or NFL-style salary cap, and the mechanism of free-agency and free-agency "compensation" (draft choice) aren't going to change anytime soon, but there are other ways to equal the playing field a bit. Everyone who's thought about it probably has their own ideas about how best to do it, and I have mine, and I invite all of you to offer your suggestions as well. While you are thinking about it, here are some of the ideas I have for immediately improving MLB "competitive balance," especially as it relates to giving losing clubs and smal market teams a chance at acquiring some pretty decent talent for a reasonable price, and it's a a process which does not involve token compensation for losing free-agents by getting a pick in the "crap shoot" known as the June Draft. Rather, I'm talkng about genuine coin-of-the-realm major leagure players, and good ones, too. Let's start at the end of the regular season, and take it from there...
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By Arizona Phil at Sat, 12/24/2005 - 9:00am

TCR Friday Notes

I'll make this brief and please continute to use the "Blue Christmas?" thread for the Prior/Tejada trade talks.
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Tags: 
Friday Notes
By Rob G. at Fri, 12/23/2005 - 6:05pm

Blue Christmas?

The #1 topic of conversation these last few days has been the possibility of trading Mark Prior. Speculation, thanks to Ken Rosenthal's column, has centered on Prior going to Baltimore in a trade that brings Migeul Tejada to the Cubs, though there has been talk of a trade to the Phillies, and there may be a West Coast team (like the A's?) involved as well. The Cubs are supposedly holding out for Erik Bedard in return, while the O's may want one of the Cubs' minor leaguers along with Prior. Rob, Trans, John and I had a little discussion about this in email last night (and John even managed to drop a Dr. Who reference like the cheeky Brit he is), and since no matter what we post today the comments are going to be about this trade, we thought we'd just post our exchange here:
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By Arizona Phil at Fri, 12/23/2005 - 9:37am

Today in Cubs History: 12-23

Not too much happens, generally, the closer we get to Christmas. But here's one gem: 12-23-1997 - Traded Doug Glanville to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Mickey Morandini. I believe there will be at least one detailed article, perhaps more, posted today and tomorrow. So feel free to use this as an open-thread, while the articles stay more on-topic.
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Tags: 
Cubs history
Today in Cubs History
By Transmission at Fri, 12/23/2005 - 1:17am

Thursday Night Open Thread

Gee, I dunno. What do you wanna talk about?
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By Arizona Phil at Thu, 12/22/2005 - 6:44pm

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