November 2008

Everthing Arizona Phil writes in the comment section is worthy of a Best of TCR article. But this Best of TCR writeup is to show that I can find a post when news is particularly thin (beyond those gimme's from our TCR guru in the desert). Thanksgiving weekend is usually a desert of baseball news unto itself. Thus to brighten our tumbleweed desolate weekend, my long time friend, The E-Man steps up with a summary of Bruce Levine's ESPN AM-1000 saturday morning "Talking Baseball" weekly radio show. Enjoy (except for the part where he says that my season tickets will be more expensive). Take it away E-Man:

Just heard Hendry on WMVP this AM with Bruce Levine.

Jimbo came on the show...

- no slam dunk with Marmol as closer. He is not "set to close", but it is Lou's decision. They (Marmol/Gregg) may share duties. One may close more in the beginning of the year than the other.

MLB clubs have until Monday (December 1st) to decide whether to offer salary arbitration to their Type "A" and Type"B" free-agents. 

In a special, Thanksgiving edition of his Stat of the Week, John Dewan chronicles the Cubs' aversion to taking walks from 2003 through '07.

Here is how the Cubs hitters ranked among NL clubs in BB:

2003 14th of 16 teams
2004 14th of 16 teams
2005 16th of 16 teams
2006 16th of 16 teams
2007 15th of 16 teams

Last year  was a different story.

I read the Sun-Times writeup on an interview with Lou Piniella in yesterday's paper and thought it was worthy of TCR discussion.

''The two things that I take from the postseason are that I didn't get a chance to pitch [Ted] Lilly, and he was such an integral part of us getting there.."

Here's my translation of Lou's comment #1:

1) The Ted Lilly Fan Club Super Computer predicted this.

2) Lou prefers Jason Marquis to Jake Peavy or Rich Harden because the latter two makes it tougher to pitch Ted Lilly in the playoffs.

3) You should have seen Z's reaction when (Lou) told him Dempster was pitching game one and Ted Lilly was pitching game two vs LA.

 

And Lou's comment #2: "And, two, we've just got to figure out a way to score more runs in the postseason."

...then Lou says: Raul Ibanez is the type of professional hitter "that we are alluding to".

Translation:

1) I'm batting Raul 4th.

2) Defense? We don't need no stinkin' defense.

3) Is there a Raul Ibanez Fan Club Computer I can check with?

Back in April, I put up some polls for our readers to rank the position players and number one pitchers in the division. I originally intended to get them up before the season started so any hot starts wouldn't influence the results. I failed miserably at that and the poll results showed that (Derrek Lee second?). Nonetheless, let's revisit the fun.

Kansas City is focused on Sean Marshall and Mike Fontenot in talks with the Cubs about Mark Teahen. …

That is according to a Phil Rogers article.

That's great, I'm focused on solving world peace after I cure cancer, which will all happen after I retire at age 35 because the charming widow across the street is really the heir to the Buffett family fortune and appreciates when I roll her garbage can up her driveway on Tuesdays.

Let's just say I don't see either one happening.

Recent comments

The first 600 characters of the last 16 comments, click "View" to see rest of comment.
  • m.garza debuts tuesday vs pitt

    vanillawafers (with recently shaved mustache) to the pen

    3 hours 20 min ago
    crunch
  • Ugh

    3 hours 43 min ago
    jacos
  • they have an entire section of the bleachers today...kinda creepy.

    3 hours 50 min ago
    crunch
  • Mets fans are louder than Cubs fans. A new low point.

    5 hours 50 min ago
    John Beasley
  • Brett Jackson...

    "Some of the best advice I've gotten is, I was sitting with Ian Stewart, talking about hitting and I was feeling for my swing as you do early in the season," Jackson recalled. "He asked if I was comfortable at the plate and I said I'm not very comfortable right now. He's like, 'You need to be yourself at the plate and be comfortable and be the type of hitter [you] want to be.'"

    http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130518&...

    6 hours 40 min ago
    QuietMan
  • Geiger-Soler put on a fireworks show in yesterday's Daytona Cubs doubleheader...

    http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130518&...

    Over his past three games, Geiger is 10-for-13 with eight extra-base hits.

    Soler...

    8 hours 46 min ago
    Cubster
  • Interesting tweet in the tweet box: z'Remember when Rizzo was striking out a lot? No K's in last 31 AB's..tied for 2nd longest active streak in majors"

    Don't know if that includes last night, but it sure goes a long way to explaining his improved hitting. It's a curious thing, though, the difference between the way his season started and now. How does that happen?

    10 hours 16 min ago
    Old and Blue
  • A short doc on a long ago MLB legend

    Semi NSFW

    http://www.roopstigo.com/reel/morganna-a-kissing-b...

    20 hours 14 min ago
    jacos
  • 21 hours 44 min ago
    jacos
  • Baseball America Hot Sheet:
    Christian Villaneuva, 3b, Cubs
    Team: Double-A Tennessee (Southern)
    Age: 21
    Why He’s Here: .435/.500/.739 (10-for-23), 3 R, 4 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 6 SO, 1-for-2 SB

    1 day 2 hours ago
    QuietMan
  • wow...Arizona Phil's universe intersects with Wrong-way Phil Rogers!

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/Pete...

    1 day 4 hours ago
    Cubster
  • per Roto...

    The Cubs will wait to see how Matt Garza (lat) feels and how his bullpen session goes Saturday before they make a decision about activating him.
    Garza declared himself ready to rejoin the Cubs' rotation after six scoreless innings during Thursday's rehab start. It's probably just a formality at this point before the team announces that he'll rejoin the rotation next week. Carlos Villanueva is the likeliest candidate to be demoted to the bullpen.

    1 day 4 hours ago
    Cubster
  • Remember Albert Almora? The Cubs’ first-round pick last June is almost all the way back after breaking his hamate bone in mid-March. He’s been playing center field and hitting in extended spring games in Arizona and should soon be assigned to the low-A Kane County Cougars. There’s no sign yet of Junior Lake, who suffered a stress fracture to the top rib on his right side in mid-March. Outfielder Reggie Golden, a second-round pick in 2010 recovering from two torn ligaments in his left knee, appears close to completing his recovery.

    1 day 4 hours ago
    QuietMan
  • 1 day 7 hours ago
    Rob Richardson
  • #2 Mark Appel

    "Analysis: This is Appel or Gray, assuming one of them goes first, with Appel the preference. The Cubs are in the catbird seat in this draft -- they don't have to pay the premium that comes with picking first overall but are guaranteed to get one of the two huge arms in the class."

    http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9277478/...

    1 day 7 hours ago
    Rob Richardson
  • Why would you want the threading on the balls to be different?

    1 day 8 hours ago
    Rob Richardson

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