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mrschroeder08 partyvancaptain pee_callus25 Tags 2010 Preview 5 Million Dollar Black Hole AAAA Aaron Heilman Aaron Miles Alfonso Soriano Andres Blanco Angel Guzman Aramis Ramirez Arizona Diamondbacks Atlanta Braves B.J. 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My friends, it looks like this team is making a strong push for the "Worst Team Money Can Buy" Championship. But hey, at least the stuff off the field is fun to watch. Quickly the awards: Carlos Zambrano gets today's Glendon Rusch Player of the Game award as he held his own for six innings. That and there is not much else to be happy about here. There was a three way tie for the "Hang Your Head" award. Three 0-4, 2 strikeout performances out there. In the event of a tie, the win goes to the worst cumulative effort so far on the year. Therefore (and this is long overdue) Aramis Ramirez gets it. Any day now he will come around, but right now he just looks horrible. Today's real story centers around Bob Brenly's candid comments about your favorite $19 million salaried player and mine, Alfonso Soriano. Brenly made comments many comments. One in which he compared Soriano's hustle (unfavorably) to Ted Lilly. Another where he pretty much flat out said Soriano's contract was the only thing keeping him on the field. The final blow came when Brenly said he would have yanked Soriano "long ago" for his lack of hustle. All in all, it brought back memories of the 2004 season. The first thing to mention about Bob's points is that point 2 (Soriano's salary) would handcuff him from exercising point 3 (pulling his Cadillacing butt) even if he were the manager. There is too much invested in Sori, and he still has some potential to be that offensive force. The second thing to mention is that Soriano has been in the big leagues for about a decade now. He is what he is. The Cubs knew (or should have known) what he was before baseball-marrying the man. I admit I get angry too when he does that crap, but it isn't worth this distraction yet. The Cubs have much bigger fish to fry. (Off the top of my head: 1) bullpen, 2) bullpen, 3) relief pitching, 4) the entire offense, 5) a proposal to shorten games to six innings thus eliminating the bullpen.) For the record, I think Brenly is right (and is a good commentator to boot). It is pathetic that the man is given the moon by the Cubs and he can't sprint for up to 270 feet. My worry is that there is already a ton of problems here, and distractions from the organization can't be good. Soriano is not going to change. This is the same man who said he would stop hopping in left, and the next day he was hopping all over again. The Cubs have shown they are a very unstable team two weeks into this season, and this little issue could be a spark. Now the question going forward is will that spark ignite a run, or will it send this season down in flames?* * That is probably a tad bit dramatic. Only a group of weak-minded, pathetic excuses for grown adults would let something like this adversely affect their play that much. Oh, much like the 2004 team. Posted in: Carlos Zambrano, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Bob Brenly Back when I was young, my grandpa sat me down on his lap. He looked at me with his weathered eyes, full of wisdom. I remember what he said like it was yesterday. He said, "Boy, if you can only score 5 runs in 2 games against the 2010 Houston Astros, then you deserve to lose." Those words never rang true more than they did this weekend. First, let's talk about the first game. After scoring only one run in six innings, the Cubs had a conversation in the dug out. Blue Ivy has the exclusive transcript. Lee: Guys, you'll never guess what I just found out. Byrd: What's up, Derek? Lee: That man on the mound is in fact NOT Roy Halladay. Theriot and Fontenot: WHAT?!?! Soriano: No way. That guy can throw OFFSPEED pitches. It's got to be Halladay. Lee: No, guys. I'm dead serious. It's not Halladay. His name is Felipe Paulino. Theriot and Fontenot: WHO?!?!?! Lee: Exactly. Ramirez: So... we can hit this guy? Lee: Yea, man. We can. All Cubs: OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. The Cubs would score 6, and fin. And sadly, it would be one of only two innings where the offense would show up. Carlos Silva gets the Steve Trachsel Player of the Game award for not only an RBI hit, but also 7 innings with only 2 unearned runs given up. Two starts in, and he has been very impressive. I am going to call the "Hang Your Head" award a no contest for that game. Every offensive starter got on base at least once, and no pitcher gave up an earned run. That is about as impressive of a game as you will see. Too bad it is downhill from there. Roy Oswalt turned back the clock Saturday, and if Michael Barrett were there screaming at him, I would have thought it was 2004. As dominant as he was, the Astros almost pulled one from the Cubs playbook and blew it late. Alfonso Soriano's error did not hurt the Cubs in the end, and his two hits included a key double in the 8th inning comeback. For those he gets the Luis Gonzalez (He was a Cub. Remember?) Player of the Game award. For being an 0-fer in the middle of the lineup, including a key strikeout in the 8th inning comeback, Marlon Byrd gets the "Hang Your Head" award. Though Marlon has been pretty darn decent in the first two weeks this year. You cannot get too upset with him. The real aggravation came Sunday, when the Cubs could only scratch across two runs against Wandy Wodwiguez and the Astros bullpen. When you do that, you are asking to lose. Ryan Dempster won the Joe Borowski Player of the Game award for another quality outing. He has emerged as the top starter in this rotation for sure. Carlos Marmol's first blown save wins him the "Hang Your Head" award. He can't save them all, but you darn sure need to save them against bad teams. Don't give me that "Geoff Blum is clutch" crap. If he can raise his level that much in the 9th inning and beyond, then he is an idiot who cost himself millions of dollars by playing at an inferior level from innings 1-8 for his whole career. If he is capable of hitting like that at will, then he should have been a perennial all-star. Therefore I think it is more a case of him getting pitches from the Cubs bullpen that he can handle. Still, you can't help but be frustrated by the man. Pitch around him next time. And now it is on to New York to face a team a couple of days removed from a 20-inning marathon in St. Louis. I expect more maddening play from the Cubs, especially with three lefties on the mound for the Mets. Also, interesting to note that Theriot will be dropped to eighth in the new and "improved" lineup. Ignore those footsteps, Ryan. It's just Starlin Castro coming. Posted in: Carlos Silva, Alfonso Soriano, Marlon Byrd, Ryan Dempster, Carlos Marmol The home opener yesterday was a joy to hear. For the first time this season the offense broke out, and for at least a game, the Cubs made it look like it was 2008 all over again. Expecting that performance to be sustained is unrealistic, but it is nice to take the pressure off the pitching once in a while. The offense had a bunch of good performances, but the Jeff Blauser Player of the Game award goes to Xavier Nady. His three run home run started up the offensive outburst, and he would add another hit later. This is an encouraging sign after some reports had him not being a productive member of this team until June. He and Jeff Baker are making me like our lineup against left-handed pitching, albeit through one week. Plus with Derrek Lee out for a couple of days (possibly) and with Chad Tracy making me wish for the days of Kevin Millar (sarcasm), Nady may have positioned himself to get at least one start at first base. Let's see if he can sustain his early success. The "Hang Your Head" award was a bit harder to give out. All the position players got on base at least once, and none had any egregious defensive miscues. I will hang this one on Ryan Dempster with the caveat that he doesn't have to hang his head too much. Still out of all the choices, he is probably the player who performed the worst. His control was a bit spotty and he did give up a monstrous home run to Ryan Braun. While giving up a home run to Braun is not in and of itself shameful, I don't like Ryan Braun. Therefore if you give up a home run to him, it saddens me. Anyways, sorry Ryan. It's not like you were that bad. On the other hand, it's not like this matters much. Tomorrow could be another good one for the offense with Dave Bush on the mound. He has proven to be a pretty pedestrian pitcher. Now would be a good time for some players (*cough*SOTO*cough*) to get going. The rumor is Soriano has been threatened with a benching already as well, which is a bit eyebrow-raising. It has been pretty clear that the Cubs success is closely tied to how those two perform. I hope tomorrow is the day they finally start showing signs, and I think there is a good chance they will. Posted in: Xavier Nady, Ryan Dempster, Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto The eighth inning is evil. It stings the Cubs. I feel like I am writing the same post over and over again. Blah, blah, blah. Here are the awards. The Dave Veres Player of the Game award goes to Tom Gorzelanny. Five games, five starters and each win the award. You cannot ask for better starting pitching than what the Cubs have gotten (forgetting opening day) and the fact that they are 2-3 in those games is a huge indictment on the rest of this team. Now it's just a race to see if the hitting can wake up before the starting pitching comes back down to earth. The "Hang Your Head" award could go any number of places. Caridad and Grabow failed again and the 4-5-6 hitters in this lineup killed what was otherwise a potentially productive offensive day. But the $19 million man opened the gates for the Reds with his defense in addition to shutting the gates for the Cubs with his offense. Alfonso Soriano made $117,283 today (before taxes- don't forget April 15th is around the corner). That is more than many will make in a year or even two years. But with that, he gets today's HYH award, and that is priceless. Most days when you get 13 baserunners you will score much more than 1 run. Today 9 of those baserunners came from Theriot, Fukudome and Lee. They were 5-10 with 4 walks, and right behind them were Ramirez, Byrd and Soriano: 0-12 with 1 walk. It will get better for those three, and it will get worse from the top three. So what is my point in all of this? I think the offense is on the cusp of breaking out. It all comes down to when the heart of the order comes around. I will make a bold prediction that it is coming in the next series. Mark it down. Now, if only the Cubs can solve that 8th inning problem. Posted in: Tom Gorzelanny, Alfonso Soriano The last two days can be described as ironic. Examples:
Mark Bellhorn, Bobby Hill, Alex Gonzalez, Delino Deshields, Augie Ojeda, Mark Grudzielanek, Ramon Martinez, Jose Hernandez, Tony Womack (twice), Todd Walker, Jose Macias, Nomar Garciaparra, Neifi Perez, Rey Ordonez (ugh), Damian Jackson, Jerry Hairston, Ronny Cedeno, Enrique Wilson, Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot, Freddy Bynum, Cesar Izturis, Mark DeRosa, Eric Patterson, Aaron Miles, Ryan Freel, Bobby Scales and Andres Blanco. Alright, I'm going to go drink away that awful taste that list just left in my mouth. Maybe someday, we will get the middle infield situation right. Posted in: Kerry Wood, Kevin Gregg, Alfonso Soriano, Mark DeRosa, Middle Infield And for the Cubs, that is not a good thing. Apparently Randy Wells stole money from everyone's mother, because any pitcher who is 0-2 with a 1.80 (YES ONE POINT EIGHT ZERO) ERA in 4 starts has to have pissed off the other 24 guys. That is the only explanation. Either that, or the Cubs had flashbacks to October, and promptly let it run down their leg again. The Cubs are so easy to beat right now if you can throw a breaking ball. Soriano has proven he can't lay off it and he can't hit it. And we are paying him $17 million this year for that. And also to jog to a base hit and throw to the wrong bag, allowing runners to move up. Two days, two gifts to the opponents from our left fielder. Anyways, back to the breaking ball point. Fontenot can't hit it. Soto can't hit it, and a lot of times won't even try. We are relying heavily on those three, and they are such easy hitters to retire right now. That's not good. I watched the MLB network broadcast of tonight's game, and they had an 'MLB 2K9 simulation' of tonight's game and showed the highlights. First of all, MLB 09 is a much better game: better graphics, better sound, more features, and based on the simulated game, much more realistic. Let's compare the simulation to reality tonight. Simulation: Alfonso Soriano makes an awesome diving catch in the left field gap to save extra bases for Randy Wells. Reality: Soriano jogs to a base hit allowing a runner to go to third. He decides to throw to third WAY too late, allowing the trailing runner to take second base. The runner on third promptly scores. Thanks Fonzi! Simulation: Geovanny Soto hits a big home run into the left field bleachers. Reality: Soto continues to struggle. Striking out looking at a breaking ball right there ad also hitting into one of the four double plays the Cubs offense garnered. Very productive. Simulation: Cubs enter the bottom of the ninth tied 2-2. Theriot singles, is bunted over (twice for some reason) to third where Milton Bradley singles him home for the 3-2 win. Reality: Cubs enter the bottom of the ninth trailing 2-1. After a bunt single by Bradley (for some reason), Lee singles and Soto is walked. Instead of a big game winning, or even game tying, hit, Scales and Babe Fox are made to look silly by Randy Toronto (I know that's not his real name) and his heavy sinker that they could not identify if it was their own father. So much for MLB 2K9. I am never buying that game. Posted in: Alfonso Soriano, MLB 2K9, October This may admittedly be a Captain Kneejerk type thread, and I hope by the end of the year I am eating these words. But to be honest, I sang this refrain for a while now, and so far it always ends up true. This isn't a problem that is exclusive to the Cubs (see: New York Yankees) but man, Jim Hendry seems to fall for this a lot. And in the end, I say the same thing: BEWARE THE CONTRACT YEAR. Let's look at the evidence.
I don't believe in curses. I believe in bad management. Jim Hendry has made good trades, don't get me wrong. But I think he is below average when it comes to free agents and contracts. Anyone can throw a bunch of money at the guy who just had a good year, and tie up the organization in a bad contract. It takes a good scouting staff and a keen GM to find guys like Ryan Ludwick, Carlos Quentin (who I do believe was traded for admittedly) and Jason Werth. Heck, David Ortiz was initially signed as a Twins castoff for 1 year and $1.25 million. I have a few other bones to pick with the way the Cubs are run. (Hint: one of the issues rhymes with the word Blinors.) I will talk about those later. Posted in: Free Agency, Contracts, Ryan Dempster, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Jim Hendry, Captain Kneejerk Lou did what no one thought he would do. He moved Soriano out of the leadoff spot. What's this? He also moved Derrek Lee out of the three hole? Funny how it takes a slump to do something that should have been done long, long ago (more referring to the Lee thing, but the Soriano thing also fits that bill). Well so far, through 3 innings, the new, improved lineup has 1 hit through 3 innings. Make that 2 in 3+. A slump is a slump no matter how you shuffle it. The nice thing about a potent lineup like the Cubs have is they, much like Milton Bradley, can erupt at any time. Speaking of Milton Bradley, that'll be a fun post upcoming on that debacle. Posted in: Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Lineup What an intense first couple of games against the Cardinals. I have to tell say, I think the Cardinals are going to do pretty well this year, and it will be great seeing this rivalry at its peak when both teams are relevant. When is the last time that happened? Probably 2004, and even then, the Cardinals ran away and hid with the division pretty early. Here are some thoughts on the game.
Posted in: Cubs, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Marmol, Kevin Gregg, Geovanny Soto, Neal Cotts, Captain Kneejerk, ESPN Sucks | ||