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Cubs News
Evening Wrap-up
Some of this has already been reported in the previous thread, but rumor has it that there are a few jerks out there who don't read every comment of every thread. I can't imagine who would be such a loser, it's just something I heard...
For those ignorant non-message board reading unwashed masses, I sadly report that Henry Blanco's brother has been murdured in Venezuela. Carlos Blanco had been kidnapped two weeks earlier and held for ransom. For several years now, Venezuelan players in MLB have had cause to worry about their families' safety back home. Before making news for his attempt to use a machette to, uh, creatively beat out the fire he had started by dousing five employees with gasoline, Ugueth Urbina had to cope with his mother's kidnapping. The personal security measures that Venezuelan players have felt compelled to take since then are eye-opening. Our sympathies are with the Blanco family.
Our sympathies are also with Dusty Baker, if he thinks Kerry Wood will sign with Cincinatti in order to serve as set-up guy to Francisco Cordero.
The latest rah-rah piece from Muskat informs us that the Cubs like their current roster as they enter the winter meetings. As well they should.
Finally, there's some phony-baloney corporate-sponsored baseball awards that the fans can vote on, and that carry about as much weight and meaning as your vote on ratemypoo.com (I didn't link to it, on the grounds that no good could possibly come of it.)
My votes:
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It's Just a Jump to The Left
The Cubs finished up their organizational meetings in Arizona and as expected, they'll attempt to find some left-handed bats.
''We're going to try to add some different wrinkles, offensively especially,'' Piniella told the Sun-Times. ''We are going to add left-handed hitting to this mix. From an offensive standpoint, that is definitely the No. 1 priority. And if we can get a little more athletic in the process, we're going to do that, too.''
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News & Notes
- Crane Kenney says the Cubs will increase payroll next year regardless of an ownership change.
''And when it all works, this is what it looks like,'' he said, referring to back-to-back postseasons and a 97-win season. ''It's like the Braves. That's the model -- the Braves and the Red Sox and the Yankees. Play like a big market, flex your muscle like a big market and hopefully perform like one on the field.''
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Quick Cubs Hits
- Sean Marshall will start Tuesday and Rich Harden will start Thursday. Letting Marshall start Tuesday means he'll likely get the start for the likely season finale on Sunday as well. Lou also said he won't be lightening any workloads for Harden or Zambrano this series. Pushing Harden to Thursday also means Lilly will get moved to a Saturday start.
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Samardzija May Get First Start
UPDATE: Looks like Lou made up his mind after the first game and it will be Sean Marshall getting the start on Sunday versus the Marlins.
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Cubs Headlines
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Cub Notes On A Snowy Tuesday
– Gordon Wittenmyer writes in today's Sun-Times that Mark DeRosa's cardiac issues are not a major concern to DeRo or Cub doctors, nor will they be the impetus for any personnel moves by Jim Hendry.
Wittenmyer also thinks the Cubs are more likely to add that proverbial, right-handed hitting, three-position outfielder before Opening Day than they are He Who Must Not Be Named.
– Baseball Musings sizes up a potential Cubs rotation of Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Dempster, and Marquis (Where is your Lieber?) based on the Marcel the Monkey projections and foresees a cumulative 4.28 ERA for the fivesome. That's a few ticks above the 4.19 ERA Cub starters pitched to last season, when their ERA was second best in the NL, but still pretty solid.
One highly questionable element in the projection: Ryan Dempster's projected 4.50 ERA. Only once in his career as a starting pitcher--Dempster's All-Star season in 2000 down in pitcher-friendly Florida--has Dempster ever had an ERA at or below 4.50.
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Recent comments
crunch (view)
welcome back happ! double off the wall 1st PA back.
crunch (view)
oh yeah, totally, i was just chiming about why i fan like i fan.
i would like nothing more than hendricks to keep on hendricks'ing. guys with his stuff can throw for a long, long time as long as it works.
he velocity is actually up a minor amount this year. it's really "damn" when a guy like him not only has gas in the tank, but it's looking like it was years ago. he added a curve a few years ago and it helped a little bit, but he's throwing it less and less while the fb/change combo are less effective.
Alexander Dimm (view)
CRUNCH—There is no one person in this community I’m talking about. My remarks were not directed at you or anyone, but at a tone I’ve noticed lately.
You have a great, dry sense of humor and there is thought behind your comments. You and I don’t always agree but I always understand your position.
Lastly, and I’ll be quiet, I agree with you on Hendricks. We can dislike the recent performance but still love the guy. Lots of questions about his future.
crunch (view)
myself, i make a good amount of outrageously unrealistic comments that are sometimes "violent"...like my recent suggestion of "pulling the bandaid off" by having hendricks throw every inning of every game until he's on the IL.
i would hope any athlete that cares about what is written on the internet realizes how casual fans can be about treating their lives like scripted TV characters that don't have real lives. it's not an excuse to do it, but there's a lot of it out there.
but yeah, in real life i'm rooting for guys to have long and healthy careers even if i'm not happy with current performances...except for some guys...and i'm pretty sure i don't leave grey area for those comments...and almost all of them are not good humans whether they're playing baseball or not...
hendricks was getting a good amount of boos in his last game. i would bet a million that he will get a standing O every time he visits wrigley in his post-playing days, or a return with a new team should his career continue...or if he comes back and puts in an oldschool good performance.
Alexander Dimm (view)
What are the chances we can back off on gloating over other people’s misfortune? One of the things I appreciate about the TCR community is that the remarks are more productive and add to how I like to follow the game.
Lately, however, I’m reading comments that are just mean. If I were an MLB player, I would hate to get a back or finger injury and have someone write ‘hurrah! I hope we never see him again!’ Especially when it is someone we were praising not long ago. I’m not saying ‘don’t express how you feel’ but some comments lately seem downright mean spirited. Stuff I expect from other communities but don’t often see here. The TCR community has always spoken the truth but never with such a dark tone.
Just my two cents. I hope Hendricks comes back and is the professor we all know. He can pitch for the Cubs as long as he wants in my book.
crunch (view)
happ is back (and starting), mervis DH, tauchman gets RF.
morel 5th in the lineup. hoerner continues to lead off, even vs a righty.
George Altman (view)
I don't care to see Hendricks or Smyly on the 26-man Roster the rest of the season. Both, stupid signings and option pick up by Jed.
crunch (view)
i know the cubs are paying the guys, but for the sake of the win/loss column this is some great news.
woo! people getting injured! kick ass!
sportsball is cruel.
would have liked to keep cooper, but it looks like they're gonna go with wisdom if they have to pick a righty who's gonna K 1/3rd of his PA's.
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
Edwards would be my guess, or maybe they’re hoping Sanders or R Thompson can finally figure it out
Cubster (view)
So it’s Mervis, Wesn and Little for Cooper, Hendricks and Smyly. Count me in. Starting rotation for now: Taillon, Imanaga, Wicks, Assad and Brown-Wesn. Eventually Steele.
Lineup
Hoerner, Happ, Bellinger, Busch, Morel, Swanson, Tauchman, Mervis, Amaya.