Category: Cubs

Cubs News Bits

-Curt Schilling says he’s not sure he’s coming back but if does, the Cubs are on his short list.

-“I’m going to strike him out.  I’m going to try. He’ll be the enemy out there.”   Marmol said this with a smile about Geovany Soto.  The two of them may face each other in the World Baseball Classic.

-Carlos Zambrano pitched a near perfect two innings Monday in his first appearance in 2009.  Big Z only sin was giving up a walk and he struck out three.  Lou Piniella is still debating the Opening Day starter issue, though.  It’s ok, Lou.  You still have about a month.

-Finally, Lou Piniella supports Carlos Marmol’s decision to attend the WBC.

“It’s an honor to represent your country.  He’s here competing for a job, and he was a little concerned. I said, ‘Lay your fears to rest. We’ll let you compete for that job when you get back and we’ll make a decision then.’ No decision will be made without Marmol being here.”  

Now, just stay healthy, Carlos.

Perfect Baseball day..

It was pretty much a perfect baseball day for me.  The University of Illinois beat the University of Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks 4-2 behind the phenomal pitching of Aaron Martin (read my recap of the game over at illinoisbaseballreport.com <– shameless plug). 

Then to cap it off, the Cubs beat the pants off the White Sox.  With a score like, 13-0, it didn’t even seem like the Sox had a chance. HoHoKam was filled to a record 13,010 fans to see that drubbing. 

More importantly, Aaron Heilman gave a good showing allowing one hit in two innings and striking out four.  I wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect of the Heilman trade but I know others who think differently.  I know two innings a season does not make but first impressions can go a long a way. 

Corey Koskie

In other Cub news, I see they signed veteran Corey Koskie to a minor league contract.  The contract stipulated he will get a chance in Spring Training but if he doesn’t make it in the bigs, he’ll get shipped to the Triple-A team.

To me, it seems that Koskie’s been around forever but checking out his stats, he’s only been in the majors for nine years (really eight, he was up for a small cup of coffee in 1998).  And he’s only 35.  His career derailed when he suffered a concussion after falling when chasing a pop fly.  Post concussion syndrome put any thought of baseball out of mind for a while. 

Now he’s back.  A hard nosed thirdbaseman with a little bit of pop and who knows how to take a walk.  Let’s see how far he can go.

Looking back: Cubs at Catalina Island

Apparently, this was a Jeopardy question a couple days back.  I missed it, it was brought to my attention by a colleague and I just had to look it up.  I’m glad I did because it’s a great story and probably something I should have known.

A piece of Cubs history I was not familiar with as it was before my time, I learned the Cubs for more than 30 years (1921-1951) spent their spring training at Catalina Island. 

Springtrainingmagazine.com has an excellent article on the subject of Cubs’ history of spring training at Catalina Island.  It was actually first published in 1997 with contributions from those who actually live on Catalina Island. 

When the Cubs first stepped off the steamer onto the Avalon wharf in 1921, they were struck by the rugged beauty of the place. Over the years they got to know it intimately, because Cubs managers liked to use the rough terrain and mountain trails for conditioning. The island is home to mountain goats, and winter-softened Cubbies often suffered long workouts hiking along goat paths. Third baseman Randy Jackson complained of shin splints, and Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett anguished, “I hope they’ve got banked turns in the National League infields, because one of my legs is shorter than the other from trying to navigate those damn hills.”

 

catalinais

The Cubs left Catalina Island in 1952 after several years of bad weather including snow in 1951.  Philip K Wrigley had contacts in Arizona and moved to Mesa where they are today.

Bradley being Mr Nice Guy

Not only did Milton Bradley show up to camp two days early (something I always like to see) but he had some good things to say about us Cub fans:

He called the Cubs Convention a “nice fest,” and added: “It helps the transition for me when you’re dealing with people that are nice and appreciative and always in your corner. It hasn’t always been that way for me.”

Is this a turn for the mean ol’ Milton Bradley?  He went on about why he was so happy joining the Chicago Cubs:

“It’s the Cubs,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to play for the Cubs? Wrigley Field, already have a great team in place. … I’ll come in and just try to add something to that mix.

Who IS this guy?  Give me the old MB back.  I want the Milton Bradley with an edge to him.  The aggressive one.  The MEAN one.  Ok, maybe take that last one back.  Maybe.

I’m sure the Milton Bradley we all know and love will return.  Give him time.

By the way, it wasn’t so much that I was against the Cubs getting Milton Bradley this off-season but that I felt the media was portraying Bradley as this savior that was going to lead our Cubbies to the promised land ala the World Series.  There’s no doubt Bradley is talented but there’s no excuse for exaggerating reality. 

Hill finding a home with the Orioles?

Looks like Rich Hill’s career may have another lease on life.  The Orioles may announce tomorrow that they may acquire him from the Cubs for a PTBNL. 

The advantage for Hill is that he’d be back together with old friends.  He’s worked with both pitching coach Rich Kranitz and bullpen coach Alan Dunn while in the Cubs organization.

I personally liked Hill when he came into the Cubs organization but last year’s debacle can be described as nothing else but the yips.  He simply couldn’t get the ball over the plate at the AAA, A or Rookie level.  My concern from the Cubs standpoint, is if Rich Hill gets his head screwed back on straight, Mr PTBNL better fill the bill.

Update:  The deal has been finalized tonight.  Hill is an Oriole now. Also tonight, the Cubs traded Michael Wuertz to Oakland for minor leaguers Richie Robnett and Justin Sellers. 

I don’t anything about these guys yet and Wuertz was certainly no great shakes but don’t these deals recently (the Hill deal notwithstanding) seem to be made by a rebuilding team?

just saying…

Links to 2009 Cubs Convention photos

By now, fans have left the 2009 Cubs Convention.  If you’re interested, Al Yellon from Bleed Cubbie Blue did a writeup on the event including some his photos.  Thanks Al!  I wish I had gone. 

The Chicago Tribune has a nice photo gallery of the Cubs Convention, too. 

If anyone else has a link to their photos/blog posts about the Cubs Convention, please let me know and I’ll post them.

PS Here is the 2009 Wrigley Field Schedule of Promotional Events also courtesy of Al.

Cubs give up on Pie… it was only a matter of time

Felix Pie has been traded to the Baltimore Orioles.  The fact that he’s been traded shouldn’t come as too much as a surprise to Cub fans.  The acquisition of Joey Gathright was pretty much the final nail in Pie’s coffin as a Cub.

In return for Pie, the Cubs got back LHP Garret Olson and RHP Henry Williamson. 

Looking at USA Today’s fantasy profile on Olson, it’s hard to find any positives.  That page is filled with words like, “mess”, pathetic performance” and “ugly numbers”.  I can say that up until he got to the majors 2007, his K/9 hovered around 9.0.  But his 6.00+ ERA last year doesn’t inspire confidence. 

Henry Williamson is more of an unknown having pitched professionally for 2 years with only 90 innings under his belt.  Last year in A ball, he struck out 42 in only 29 innings if a small sample size is any indication.

Will Felix Pie flourish or at least survive in the Orioles organization.  If he follows Corey Patterson’s pattern, he might have some share of success.  A change of venue has always helped Pie.  Unfortunately for him, the successes he’s had have been in the minors and winter ball.  Once placed in the bigs, all the talents that Felix was supposed to possess seem to vanish.

2009 Cubs Convention Attendees list

Here’s the updated schedule for the 2009 Cubs Convention this weekend.  This time it’s complete with an attendees list.

And it comes with one glaring addition… Milton Bradley.  Since his signing he’s been added to the list.

Be gentle with him, Cub fans.  He’s a tad delicate.

Here’s the full list of attendees:

  • Ernie Banks
  • Darwin Barney
  • Glenn Beckert
  • Milton Bradley
  • Bob Brenly
  • Bill Buckner
  • Randy Bush
  • Jose Cardenal
  • Neal Cotts
  • Doug Dascenzo
  • Jody Davis
  • Ryan Dempster
  • Bob Dernier
  • Ivan DeJesus
  • Leon Durham
  • Oneri Fleita
  • Mike Fontenot
  • Joey Gathright
  • Doug Glanville
  • Kevin Gregg
  • Brandon Guyer
  • Rich Harden
  • Kevin Hart
  • Jim Hendry
  • Koyie Hill
  • Micah Hoffpauir
  • Pat Hughes
  • Randy Hundley
  • Ferguson Jenkins
  • Len Kasper
  • Crane Kenney
  • Derrek Lee
  • Reed Johnson
  • Ted Lilly
  • Carlos Marmol
  • Sean Marshall
  • Aaron Miles
  • Keith Moreland
  • Gerald Perry
  • Lou Piniella
  • Larry Rothschild
  • Rick Reuschel
  • Mike Quade
  • Jeff Samardzija
  • Ryne Sandberg
  • Scott Sanderson
  • Ron Santo
  • Matt Sinatro
  • Lee Smith
  • Alfonso Soriano
  • Geovany Soto
  • Tim Stoddard
  • Lester Strode
  • Rick Sutcliffe
  • Ryan Theriot
  • Alan Trammell
  • Steve Trout
  • Tim Wilken
  • Billy Williams
  • Carlos Zambrano

2009 Cubs Convention schedule out

Bleed Cubbie Blue has the schedule for the 2009 Cubs Convention which is January 16-18.  The list of attendees isn’t out yet but my guess is that the usual suspects will be there.

I won’t be going this year for a variety of reasons, mostly financial.  But if you want to get a sense of what it’s like you can check out my articles and photos from the 2007 and 2008 conventions.  They were a lot of fun. 

I’d love to hear from anyone who is going and especially hear reports back about how it went this year.  Leave a comment and let us know what you did and who you saw.