February 2007

The Week in Quotations

If Wishes Were Ponies, Part1
''They are guys that can throw around 200 innings -- they can save your bullpen -- and you can have people win 15 or 16 games no matter what their ERA. If they can win 16 each and I win another 20 or 22, that will be fun.'' -Carlos Zambrano, on new teammates Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis
If Wishes Were Ponies, Part 2
'Boy, we'd be awfully deep and awfully talented.'' -Lou Piniella, on an injury-free pitching staff
Guess Who Said....
"I was embarrassed by the way I threw the ball last year. I want to improve on that." - Answer, Jacques Jones
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By Transmission at Sun, 02/18/2007 - 8:23pm

As a Rule

For the first time since 1996, the MLB Playing Rules Committee has voted in several rules changes for 2007, including a couple of changes to MLB Rule 10 (official scoring).
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By Arizona Phil at Sat, 02/17/2007 - 9:50am

They’re Watching Us

On Friday, All The News That’s Fit To Print included an account of Lou Piniella’s first day as captain aboard the good ship Heartbreak. The piece, by Lee Jenkins, describes Piniella as most fans, myself included, have long seen him: “fiery” “known for his outbursts” “naturally animated and restless” “a manager who really knows how to vent” “as famous for his dirt kicking…as he is for any pep talks” “a man…who clearly hates to lose” “(reacting) to every booted ball…with a tortured expression or a fit of rage” But the story isn’t just a string of clichés.
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By Cubnut at Fri, 02/16/2007 - 7:52pm

Lotsa Lefties

The Cubs may be short these days on professional centerfielders and recent World Championship banners, but the Wrigley Boys are positively drowning in lefthanded pitching candidates. In fact, with five southpaws in line to make the big league roster (see Arizona Phil’s post from early Thursday), it’s difficult to even recognize them as the Cubs. Assuming Ted Lilly and Rich Hill each make 30 starts this season—a big stretch for young Hill; Lilly has hit 30 in three of the last four years—the duo would become the first pair of lefties to do so since Dick Ellsworth and Kenny Holtzman way back in 1966. For a little historical perspective, last season, led by Hill and Sean Marshall, lefthanders accounted for just over 31% of all Cubs IP. That’s the highest total since 1986, when the 70-90 Cubs relied on six lefties for 31.2% of their total IP. (For the record, the “Southpaw Six” were Steve Trout (161 IP), Jamie Moyer (87), Ray Fontenot (56), Guy Hoffman (84), Frank DiPino (40), and Drew Hall (23.7). I’m not sure, but I’m guessing that’s the first time Guy Hoffman’s name has ever been mentioned at The Cub Reporter. Congrats, Guy!)
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By Cubnut at Thu, 02/15/2007 - 9:31pm

TCR Writer Demands 5 Years

Today when asked by the Podunk Free Press about his current contract status, TCR writer Rob G. had this to say:
"Rob G. demands that a new deal be done by Opening Day, otherwise you give Rob G. no choice but to test the blogging free agent waters. That's what Rob G. thinks. I know Evan Brunell spent a lot of money this offseason on the new site. I hope he has more for Rob G's contract. I'm ready to sign and I'll do my job this year if a deal doesn't get done, but if there's no new deal by Opening Day, Rob G. must go."
In unrelated news, Zambrano backed off his comments from earlier this week and says they were misconstrued. He also said the Cubs made their first formal multi-year offer "a five-year proposal 'very close' to what the San Francisco Giants gave free agent pitcher Barry Zito this winter. That would mean an offer worth close to $90 million." If Z is willing to take the shorter deal so he can cash-in again in five years, it seems like the finalizing of a deal is a mere formality. He also leaves Cubs fans with this message of optimism:
‘‘This is the team that gave me the opportunity to play baseball since I was 16 years old. I want to stay here. ... I want to sign with the Cubs. But I just don’t want to talk about contracts during the season.’’
While disappointed that he stopped referring to himself in the third person, the (apparent) sense of loyalty to the franchise is an encouraging sign.
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By Rob G. at Thu, 02/15/2007 - 4:21pm

Make Mine Piniella

The smell of freshly-cut grass, and temperatures in the 60's with nary a cloud in the sky. A smilin' Lou Piniella strolling from field to field, bantering with the fans and signing autographs. The sound of bat on ball, and pitchers practicing covering first on a ball hit to the first-baseman. Ah, yes. While it might not be absolutely as good as it gets, it's pretty close. Your pal AZ Phil and about 100 hopeful Cub fans attended the Cubs first Spring Training workout of 2007 this morning at Fitch Park in Mesa. It was a mandatory work-out for the Cubs' 30 pitchers and six catchers, but six position players (infielders and outfielders) who were not required to report showed up anyway.
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By Arizona Phil at Thu, 02/15/2007 - 1:13pm

Quick Plug

Just letting you guys know that you can read my NL Central prediction over at MVN's Pittsburgh Lumber Co. A little roundtable with some fellow NL Central bloggers. Also I've got a bit on the Cubs in The Hardball Times 2007 Season Preview. I don't know the particulars yet on when it ships or the cost, but I did want to give everyone a heads up so you can save your allowances.
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By Rob G. at Thu, 02/15/2007 - 11:24am

Cubs 2007 Spring Training Roster, Contracts, and Options

The rain has stopped, skies have cleared, Kerry Wood is a lean, mean, fighting machine, and with pitchers, catchers, and a few of the position players having reported to Fitch Park yesterday (minus Carlos Zambrano, whose arrival was delayed), and with the first offical Spring Training workout scheduled for this morning, here is the up-to-date Cubs 40-man roster and ST NRI list, the contract status and minor league option status for all players on the 40-man roster, the list of Cubs minor league players who will be eligible to be free-agents after the 2007 season and those who will be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft next December, and AZ Phil's pre-ST Cubs organizational depth chart:
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By Arizona Phil at Thu, 02/15/2007 - 7:25am

An Ess-say on Pee-ay (Felix Pie that is)

Reader "Virginia Phil" recently brought up an interesting comparision of some recent "5-tool" prospects in the comments last week on our "Prospect List-mania" article. He's expanded a bit on his original effort and we hope you enjoy....
"If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all." --Hamlet
Is Felix Pie ready? Here are Felix Pie's minor-league stats and those of three other fairly recent toolsy centerfield prospects, Carlos Beltran, Vernon Wells and Carl Crawford. (Actually, Crawford plays left in a crowded young outfield at TB.)
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By Guest Columnist at Tue, 02/13/2007 - 11:23pm

Cubs Deal Ryu to Devil Rays

Bruce Levine of ESPN1000 and Rotoworld are reporting the Cubs have sent Jae-kuk Ryu to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for prospects RHP Greg Reinhard and OF Andy Lopez (thanks to reader Bogey for the tip). That should clear off the 40-man roster spot needed to add Cliff Floyd.
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By Rob G. at Tue, 02/13/2007 - 12:45pm

An Eternal Cub, Forever Young

This time each year, I get stoked. It's automatic. It never fails. I'm in Arizona. The weather's great. It's time for Spring Training. But there's this one thing that gnaws at me, that keeps me from enjoying the experience quite as much as I would like to enjoy it. The start of Spring Training is fun, but there's this one memory from my youth--it's kind of a Long Sorrow--that I guess will be in the back of my mind for the rest of my life. For those of you who don't remember him or who aren't all that familar with his career, Ken Hubbs was born in Riverside, CA on December 23, 1941, and as a 12-year old, he led his Colton (California) Little League team to the Little League World Series championship game in Williamsport in August 1954. Colton lost the game to future Cub Billy Connors and his Schenectady (New York) team, but by the time he was a senior in high school (1959), Kenny Hubbs was nothing but a winner. President of his high school class and a star football, basketball, and baseball player, he could have followed his older brother Keith to BYU--where he probably would have been a two or three-sport star and BMOC. But Kenny instead chose to sign a professional baseball contract with the Chicago Cubs (yes, YOUR Chicago Cubs), all the more significant because this was before the amateur draft, and Hubbs had the option to sign with any of the then-16 MLB clubs.
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By Arizona Phil at Tue, 02/13/2007 - 8:05am

Hardball Times on Zambrano

Since I didn't get around to a TCR Friday Notes, I'll post a few interesting articles from the most wonderful Hardball Times. The first is a look at the best hitting pitchers in baseball and to no one's suprise, Z and Marquis were among the best in the bunch in 2006. But other than just ranking the current and the past pitchers and their hitting prowess, it's one of the first articles I've seen that actually tries to answer how much of an effect a pitcher's hitting abilities has on the days they start. I'll let you guys do the reading but here's the cliff notes version.
  • Top 5 hitting pitchers last year were Willis, Mulder, Z, Marquis, Suppan. The Cards will not only be hurting on the mound from Marquis and Suppan's departures and Mulder's early season absence, but it might end up hurting their offense as well.
  • The best hitting pitchers can shave a quarter run off their ERA over the course of a season.
  • The career leader in home runs by a pitcher is Ned Williamson at 51. Watch out Ned, Z's coming for you (he's at 10).
The conclusion was also worth noting:
Let’s promise to no longer ignore a pitcher’s accomplishments at the plate. Sure, they might seem inconsequential compared to what he does on the mound, but every little bit of performance is important. Good hitting pitchers can provide themselves with a small advantage worth maybe half-a-win a season. Nevertheless, in today’s world, half-a-win is worth well over $2 million, so it’s nothing to scoff at either. Maybe that might start to explain Jason Marquis’ contract.
The second article is a look at ten pitchers in baseball and their projected stats from PECOTA, CHONE and Marcel. Z gets a mention and I imagine his projections seem a bit high to us Cub fans (here's the abbreviated table): 
           IP    ERA    BABIP   K/9    BB/9    HR/9   K/BB
PECOTA     215   3.79   0.278   8.8    3.9     0.92   2.3
CHONE 2.1  205   3.45   0.285   8.7    4.0     0.83   2.2

Marcel     189   3.48           8.4    4.0     0.86   2.1

AVERAGE    203   3.57   0.282   8.6    3.9     0.87   2.2
If Z is in the 3.50 range in ERA, 2007 will not be a good season for the Cubs, no matter how well he hits. And while everyone is counting down until pitchers and catchers report (4 days by the way), I've got my eye on 8 days, which is when Z's arbitration hearing is scheduled for and what could be a big day for the future of the franchise. If Z and his entourage have to sit through an arbitration hearing listening to the Cubs take shots at his game, his future as a Cub beyond 2007 grows ever more unlikely.
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By Rob G. at Mon, 02/12/2007 - 1:14pm

Cubs Trivia

What Hall of Famer, the first catcher to don shin guards, ended his 17-year Major League career with a pair of seasons with the Cubs?
As always, try to answer without a web search.
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By Rob G. at Mon, 02/12/2007 - 11:09am

Bend It Like Selig

Ahhh, spring training. A time for doubt, self-pity, hopelessness, and the bitter, burning anger that comes from realizing your heydays are now so far behind you, they’re barely specks in your rear view mirror. At least, that’s what I imagine spring training means to fans of the Royals and the Pirates, and, if you take away the heydays part, to loyalists of the Rockies and Devil Rays. (A Cubs fan feeling sorry for other teams’ fans—pretty funny, huh?) Ever since I first became acquainted with it, I’ve been fascinated by the tiered structure of professional soccer in places like England and Italy, where clubs compete for championships only within their tiers, the top finishing teams at the end of each season are promoted to the next level for the subsequent season, and the bottom finishers are demoted or “relegated” to the next lower rung on the ladder. Such a system would be completely unacceptable in Major League Baseball for a thousand reasons. One of the most obvious is the travel burden it would impose on a team from the West Coast, say, if it was in a division with nine teams from the east. But logic aside…
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By Cubnut at Sun, 02/11/2007 - 8:58pm

Around the Cubs Blogosphere in 8 minutes

Some quick reviews of what's going on elsewhere: Gonfalon Cubs looks at the possibility of a 98+ win season, and the connection between declining Cubs attendance and the off-season spending spree Cub Town uses the cool Sparklines to play guess the hitter and pitcher Bleed Cubbie Blue is down to number 9 on its All-time Great Cubs list, with Fergie Jenkins Cub Fan Nation has several funny Cubs-related photoshops CubsHub previews the 2007 Cardinals Goat Riders of the Apocalypse has a very good, funny look at the career arc of Bobby Hill. The View from the Bleachers asks Who Should the Cubs Draft? come June Allcubs.com prefers baseball without Sosa Our own Cubnut mourns the retirement of Jeff Fassero at A Hundred Next Years Regarding the role of bloggers and baseball, Bleed Cubbie Blue and Temporary Bleachers both have good commentaries. Pittsburgh Lumber Company, one of our fellow MVN blogs, previews the 2007 Cubs Also: I just saw the King of the Hill episode about The Jack and his Aces, little did I know that it was about legendary Softball pitcher Eddie Feigner, who has passed away John Smoltz, great advocate for Traditional Values, is getting a divorce Bernie Williams looks like he's going to lose out in the Yankees' roster crunch ESPN has been subpoenaed in the Harold Reynolds wrongful termination lawsuit. Regarding the termination of most of the Baseball Tonight crew: I'm in favor of it. The Hardball Times matches song titles with the state of Baseball entering 2007 Project Prospect compares Hughes and Bailey to once-prospects Prior and Beckett And Baseball Musings live-blogs from the Sports Business Conference at MIT
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By Transmission at Sun, 02/11/2007 - 8:59am

The “Reporter” in The Cub Reporter

A couple of events this week have left me thinking about just where TCR and other sports blogs fit in the world of sports journalism. On the Thursday episode of ESPN’s “Around the Horn,” an execrable show in which sports “journalists” with faces made for radio “compete” at offering ten-second bits of “analysis” that are scored by some point system that is as arbitrary as it is absurd, Jay Mariotti concluded the program with a brief commentary about bloggers. No one has yet gone broke betting on Mariotti’s ability to explore new depths of idiocy, but this was new territory even for him.
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By Transmission at Sat, 02/10/2007 - 12:07pm

Cubs Trivia

I'm not sure if I'll have time to put up another edition of TCR Friday Notes, but I do have a double dose of Cubs trivia for you. Reader Jacos sent this one:
Who are (hopefully) the only three players ever to play for the Cubs, White Sox, Yankees and Mets?
And today's calendar questions was:
The Cubs first used a designated hitter on June 16, 1997, as Interleague Play was introduced that season. Who was the Cubs DH in that game?
As always, please attempt to answer without a web search.
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By Rob G. at Fri, 02/09/2007 - 12:22pm

Fantasy Nightmares

My first exposure to fantasy baseball was through a guy who I was sort of friends with in middle school. There were maybe eight of us in the league, maybe five of whom were regulars, maybe three of whom sort of knew what we were doing, sort of. One guy, for instance, used his first eight draft picks to pick the Detroit Tigers' lineup. The guy who ran the league would “publish” a little newsletter at random intervals, updating the point standings (which he calculated on his own) and with funny little faux baseball articles. That must have been the 1990 or 1991 baseball season, but I still remember some of the players I picked for that team. God, they sucked. Sadly, it wouldn’t be the last team I owned that I then proceeded to populate with Has-beens, Never-would-be’s, The Suspended and The Dead. Here’s a fun romp through some of the low-lights of my fantasy career. (In a topic as bountiful as this, it will be tough to limit myself.) Hensley "Bam-Bam" Meulens, 1991 I’ve always been a sucker for players with cool names or nicknames....
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By Transmission at Thu, 02/08/2007 - 1:59pm

A TCR Cubs Spring Training Preview for the Casual Fan

The Super Bowl is over, March Madness isn't until next month, and the NBA and NHL regular seasons (AKA the playoffs) haven't started yet. So what time IS it? Well, it's time again for Spring Training, which is when professional baseball teams gather in Florida and Arizona to prepare for the coming season.
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By Arizona Phil at Thu, 02/08/2007 - 8:09am

Zell And Satan Talk About Buying Tribune Company

Chicago real estate bigshot Sam Zell and international despot Rupert Murdoch were mentioned today in separate stories about the possible sale of Tribune Company. The piece in the Trib says Zell has not made a bid on the company but has entered into "preliminary" talks to see if a deal could be put in place, probably involving some sort of partnership between himself and the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which is run by current and former Tribune Company execs, including former Chairman John Madigan and current Chairman/CEO Dennis FitzSimons. The possible involvement of Murdoch, meanwhile, was reported at chicagobusiness.com. Like a feral cat who’s sniffed out the alley behind restaurant row, Murdoch has been prowling around the edges of this affair. His name has come up in connection to the Chandler family, former owners of the Los Angeles Times, who sold out to Tribune Company a few years ago, becoming Tribune’s largest shareholder. Murdoch is interested in "working with" the Chandlers on their bid to buy. So sayeth the devil:
"We are interested quite openly; and frankly, if we could do something — not too expensive — that will lead to a joint operating agreement between the New York Post and Newsday."
(Newsday is a Tribune property.) Nowhere in either of these stories are the Cubs mentioned specifically, and given how little I really understand of the five or six paragraphs I’ve just written, I would have to guess the future of Cub ownership will remain mostly cloudy until a deal for Tribune Company is actually struck.
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By Cubnut at Wed, 02/07/2007 - 12:13pm

Lucky For Me, I’m A Pig

(Quick aside: I want to thank Rob and the other TCRers for inviting me to play with them. Going back to the days when Ruz was the one and only Cub Reporter, I have marveled at both the quality and quantity of information available here. I hope to measure up.) I have a throwing-things-out problem, as in, I can’t make myself do it. WIFE: What are those? ME: Hockey cards…from 1973. WIFE: Are you saving them? ME: Of course. WIFE: Why? ME: What if one of the kids asks what Henry Boucha looked like when he played for the Detroit Red Wings? Wouldn’t it be nice to have an answer? And so on. As a result of this disorder, a few years ago when I was helping my dad clean out the attic of the house I grew up in, I found a number of Cub treasures I was never able to part with, but had long ago forgotten. The prize of prizes was a 1968 program from the first game I ever attended in Wrigley Field. July 30th. Cubs vs. Giants. Ernie Banks. Ron Santo. Willie Mays. Willie McCovey. Hal Lanier! Jim Davenport!! ADOLPHO PHILLIPS!!! For nearly 40 years, I have had a memory of that day and here was proof I was really there. Today, I pride myself on keeping a neat, comprehensive scorecard. On that first magical afternoon, I marked the outs with an O, the singles with a 1, the homers with an HR, and I was in business. Earlier tonight, I went to Retrosheet and pulled up the box score and play-by-play summary of that game, and the site dutifully provides every detail of the Cubs’ 10-4 victory on 7/30/68: Santo’s homer in the first; Banks’ homer in the third; Bobby Bonds entering the game to replace Mays in center field in the fifth; Hands fanning Lanier on a called third strike in the ninth to end the game. Retrosheet is really a glorious resource. But all in all, I like my old scorecard better.
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By Cubnut at Tue, 02/06/2007 - 8:31pm

19 Questions with Steve Holley

Once upon a time, Baseball America was the only game in town when it came to covering the minor leagues and prospectdom in general. As one can tell from yesterday's post, there are quite a few new kids on the block and the one making the most noise these days is Scout.com. Their team-specific approach has been a rather rousing success, and MVN can only hope they're bought out by Rupert Murdoch one day as well. And TCR is lucky to have the one-man show that runs Inside the Ivy, Steve Holley, answer a few questions about Scout.com and the Cubs minor league system. 1. Give us a little background on yourself and how you got into baseball writing and what eventually lead you to “Inside the Ivy”?

I ventured into sports journalism in the spring of 2000. Around that time, I met David Marran, the Sports Editor for the Kenosha Daily News in Wisconsin. Dave has had several books published on the subject of Cubs Trivia, and he ran a popular Cubs news site through Rivals.com so that’s how we me met. At the time, Rivals.com covered not only college sports, but the NFL and of course, Major League Baseball. I joined Scout.com a few years later when they managed to head up a group of former Rivals’ baseball editors to publish several of their team sites.

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By Rob G. at Tue, 02/06/2007 - 1:38am

Cubs Trivia

I told you I'd break these out if something interesting came along. My calendar trivia question today was: "Which Cubs pitcher surrendered Lou Brock's 3,000th career hit, August 13th, 1979?" Please try to answer without a web search.
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By Rob G. at Mon, 02/05/2007 - 4:13pm

Needs More Cowbell

Here at TCR, we're just like you, we put our pants on one leg at a time. The only difference is once we put our pants on, we read, write and talk about the Cubs 24/7 (okay, I guess that's just like a lot of you actually). But what we do know is a good writer when we read one, so we're happy to add "Cubnut" (you'll have to ask him if the name is inspired by Michael Barrett or not) to our ever expanding author's list. You can find his previous work at "A Hundred Next Years" and we're certain you'll come to enjoy his take on all things Cubs as much as we have. I'm sure he'll be along soon enough to introduce himself, but rest assured we've been putting him through the ringer to make sure he's got the chops for TCR. The other "big news" is that yours truly is being published. Stu Shea, author of Wrigley Field: An Unauthorized Biography" approached me a few months back to contribute a few articles for a 2007 Cubs Annual that Maple Street Press is publishing. Even if I wasn't involved, I'd probably want a copy for myself. Other than my two articles (a very in-depth roster review along with a look at the NL Central), it's got minor league coverage, a Q&A with Jeremy Papelbon, everything you need to know about Lou Piniella, a celebration of Ernie Banks, an evaluation of Jim Hendry's tenure, a discussion on our ever-present OBP problem as well as insight on the media and ticket practices of Tribco and I'm sure much, much more. Now I haven't had the chance to read the Cubs version yet, but I did read last year's Red Sox annual that they published and trust me, it's chock full of stats and info that you'll want at your fingertips. I believe it's shipping sometime this month and for the low cost of $14.95 plus S+H. Now unfortunately, neither TCR or myself get revenue from the sales, but it's still a great way to support the site and I really do think you guys will enjoy this.
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By Rob G. at Mon, 02/05/2007 - 4:12pm

TCR Chat

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Prospect List-mania

Baseball America released their top 10 prospects from the Chicago Cubs farm system which sort of culminates the prospect ranking season. Most lists exclude players who played enough to qualify for Rookie of the Year honors, thus the Cubs system becomes a bit difficult to analyze since players like Angel Guzman, Sean Marshall, Carlos Marmol and Juan Mateo would all probably get top 10 mentions (or close to it) but are disregarded although they'll most certainly start their seasons in the minors. Each list has their way own of weighing the players and if known, I'll give it a brief mention. To the lists:

Baseball America Top 30 (The Top 30 are published in their prospect handbook)

Criteria: Stress tools and ceiling over stats, speak to a lot of scouts, can be guilty of relying on reputation over substance on occassion.

1. Felix Pie
2. Donald Veal
3. Tyler Colvin
4. Jeff Samardzija
5. Sean Gallagher
6. Eric Patterson
7. Scott Moore
8. Ryan Harvey
9. Chris Huseby
10. Mark Pawelek
11. Juan Mateo
12. Brian Dopirak
13. Jae-kuk Ryu
14. Mark Reed
15. Drew Rundle
16. Rocky Cherry
17. Geovany Soto
18. Billy Petrick
19. Dylan Johnston
20. Josh Lansford
21. Sammy Baez
22. Chris Robinson
23. Mark Holliman
24. Jake Fox
25. Larry Suarez
26. Rocky Roquet
27. Sam Fuld
28. Scott Taylor
29. Mitch Atkins
30. Mike Fontentot What They Say: Not much, I guess you have to pay to join the chat to get analysis. What I Say: Mark Reed, Geovany Soto and Mike Fontentot make appearances which are all very odd. I want Fontenot to succeed as much as the next guy but his own team won't even put him on their 40-man roster, he wasn't selected in the Rule V draft by any other team and he didn't even get a spring training invite. They also seem rather low on Pawelek.

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Tags: 
Cubs Prospects
Cubs Prospect Rankings
Prospect Listmania
By Rob G. at Mon, 02/05/2007 - 11:12am

Superstitious I Am

Bear down, Chicago Bears, make every play clear the way to victory; Bear down, Chicago Bears, put up a fight with a might so fearlessly. We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation with your T-formation. Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why you're wearing the crown. You're the pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears, bear down.
Classical Version | Ska Version | City of Chicago Version Join the mayhem at Chad's Bears Chat.....
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By Rob G. at Sun, 02/04/2007 - 9:53am

TCR Friday Notes

Tick-tock, tick-tock, pitchers and catchers reporting grows ever closer.... - "Dying Cub Fan" of Ron Santo fame, sent along a few links gauging some of the Veterans Committee members' takes on Santo's candidacy. Bob Feller believes Riggs Stephenson is more deserving than Ron Santo (although Riggs isn't even on the ballot, makes you wonder what trouble Riggs got Feller out of back in the day). Feller has this little gem:
"We're going to find out in a few days who makes it, and I think we're going to lower the standards, and when we lower the standards, I think [Ron] will have a better chance."
Really Bob, you have to lower the standards to get Ron in, but your old pal Riggs (I can only assume they were pals because otherwise Feller is just dumb or delusional or both) has a much better chance. Meh! On the last ballot, Mike Schmidt made it pretty clear he'll never vote for anyone so forget him. The ever-fortunate Brooks Robinson backs Santo and Lou Brock is in Santo's corner as well. UPDATE: It appears Mike Schmidt has changed his mind since the last vote, thanks to Cubster for the tip. - The Brewers site here had a nice comparison of their pitchers using PECOTA 2007 forecasts versus what the World Champion Cardinals actually did do last year (which is not very well). So I thought I'd at least post the Cubs numbers and see how they stack up:
Name GS VORP
Zambrano 32 40.6
Hill 26 24.2
Lilly 27 24.6
Marquis 21 9.1
Prior 15 12.8
Miller 12 7.3
Guzman 16 11.6
Total 149 130.2
What does this tell us? First, forecasting systems are kind of a joke. It predicts Sean Gallagher with the 4th highest VORP on the team and it doesn't even have Marquis as a Cub yet (this is the first round of predictions, more will be coming). Second, the Brewers came out at 130.5 in 161 starts using their top 6 pitchers and I'd say we stack up just fine. - In other news....well there isn't any other news, go watch the Bears this weekend! I've got some serious Chicago Cubs prospect talk for Monday and Tuesday ready to go though.
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By Rob G. at Fri, 02/02/2007 - 2:15pm

The Clock is Ticking on Z

Hidden deep within the bowels of this story about the Chicago Cubs and Prior agreeing to a deal yesterday, Bruce Miles gives us this sobering thought:
Prior’s settlement leaves the Cubs with one arbitration case pending, and all indications are that it will go to a hearing. Star pitcher Carlos Zambrano is looking to up his salary from $6.5 million last year to $15.5 million. The Cubs are holding firm at $11.025 million. Zambrano, who went 16-7 with a 3.41 ERA in 33 starts in 2006, won’t be a free agent until next fall, but Cubs insiders apparently believe Zambrano and his agents are approaching this year as if he already is on the open market. For that reason, the Cubs likely will not want to settle at the midpoint between the two figures. An arbitration hearing is set for Feb. 20, and things could get interesting if it gets that far because teams generally put forth negative statistics in their argument for the arbitrator, who must pick one figure or the other.
Ugh, first we get the revelation that Zambrano doesn't seem to inclined to go along with the Hendry plan of we'll sign you long-term the year before you hit the open market. Hey Z, it's a good plan, it works, no reason to mess it up now. Second, if they do make it to arbitration, the chances of Z sticking around go down dramatically. Those cases can get ugly as the team basically has to berate its own player and Z seems like a proud hombre that won't take kindly to that sort of talk. Of course, I think the Cubs have a solid case, I don't know of any pitchers going into their sixth year of service time who got anywhere near $15 million. Hendry still has a few weeks to fix this one and he's got a good track record on signing his own players, but we're getting dangerously close to panic time.
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By Rob G. at Thu, 02/01/2007 - 1:25pm

Prior VERBOTTEN, Hendry’s Downfall or Glenallen and the Spiders from Mars

TCR's guest correspondent Joseph Hecht, M.D. is back with a look at the wild and wacky side of baseball injuries. ---- Now that Mark Prior may be the only player in the arbitration process to receive a slight pay cut, he should be embarrassed but definitely motivated to make more money from here on out. No more excuses as to some wacky injury this year, correct? After all, he’s covered every possible thing that can go wrong, right? (Image courtesty of Jeff Roberson/AP) To paraphrase Johnny Carson’s line to Ed McMahon, “Wrong, oh traumatized Cub one”. Take a look at a few of the baseball injuries he’s yet to suffer. Our pitching prodigy is explicitly forbidden to see this stuff (just in case his ailments are psychosomatic). I “stumbled” onto the True Baseball Injuries website that has some beauties. Lets start by preventing him from talking to ‘70’s Cub outfielder Jose Cardenal at the next Cub convention. As a kid, Jose Cardenal must have had some great excuses to get out of school. He wouldn’t dare come up with a lame excuse like, my dog at my homework. He missed a game in 1972 because he was kept up all night by chirping crickets outside his hotel room. Two years later he missed a game because he couldn’t blink, reporting that his eyes were stuck, “open”.

Next I “bumped” into a website called The Baseball Injury Hall of Fame. Their list includes over 30 of the weirdest injuries that have happened to baseball players and of course our Cubs and their maladies have been able-bodied in their representation.

Some of these injury reports are the party line as to what happened. If the truth came out, some of these players just might have violated something in their contract or even worse been the laughing stock of the clubhouse and the whole baseball world. I’m sure they were the latter from those in the know.

Here are few of my favorites, but I’d love to see more from our readers:

Read the rest of this entry >>> about Prior VERBOTTEN, Hendry’s Downfall or Glenallen and the Spiders from Mars
By Guest Columnist at Wed, 01/31/2007 - 11:43pm
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