Tag: Cubs

When I heard that the Cubs traded Barrett to the Padres, I immediately thought of the scene in A League of Their Own where poor misunderstood Kit finds out that she’s been traded. I can just see pretty Dottie Hinson say, after having the ball thrown at her, “You!? They were supposed to trade ME!” Though I somehow I doubt Zambrano entertained that idea.

Quite honestly, I don’t like trades like these. The Barrett-Bowen trade was made more for HR reasons (that’s Human Relations, not HomeRun) rather than team improvement. Additionally, it almost seems like it was a public relations move. A trade to make things right. Trades made under these situations are obviously made for reasons outside of realm of baseball talent.

Cub fans as are most baseball fans, are a picky bunch. It wasn’t just a year ago that hard core fans considered him a hero for landing a punch on cross-town rival backstop A.J. Pierzynski. On top of that, he was a solid hitter, solid enough to win the 2005 Silver Slugger award.

But things change and so do attitudes and apparently defensive skills. As an aside, it kinda surprised me that Barrett is only 30. It seems like he’s been around for a while. Anyway, with a overload of young catchers waiting in the wings, the Cubs have had their fill of Barrett. At least that’s what I hope. Even if they are using the Zambrano and Hill incidents as an excuse to bring in some new blood behind the plate, I wouldn’t mind. But please, I hope this isn’t any move to simply move Barrett without any long-range
plan.

By the way in addition to Rob Bowen, the Cubs did get OF Kyler Burke in the deal as well. You can see the breakdown of his minor league stats here. Nothing too special hitting .211 with one homer in 213 at-bats playing for the Fort Wayne Wizards (Low A ball). The good news is that he’s only 19.

Farewell, Mr Barrett.

Followup: Here’s an article from Chattanoogan.com about Burke’s trade to the Cubs. Burke is from the Chattanooga area.

Illini fans, wear your Orange and Blue if you’re going Saturday’s Cubs’ game. University of Illinois football coach Ron Zook will be singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch that day.

 

Michael Wuertz

Jose Reyes singled for the Mets with two outs in the bottom of the 9th of a 4-4 game. Everyone knew he was going to steal, so Wuertz threw to first a number of times, before delivering a pitchout to Endy Chavez, but Reyes was safe at 2nd anyway. Three more balls to Chavez put runners on 1st & 2nd. Carlos Beltran received three straight balls before being intentionally walked. The Shea crowd was going crazy as Carlos Delgado fought through a ten pitch at bat, before Michael walked him too, forcing in the winning run. 5-4 Mets over the Cubbies.

Later I was watching Greg Maddux on TV dispose of the Cincinnati Reds in a complete game, little over 90 pitch gem. The Reds announcers said that Maddux has only gotten to a 3-0 count on 18 batters, in his career, AMAZING!

On Mother’s Day, batters will be using the pink bats again to support research for breast cancer.

Last year, Andruw Jones not only did that but he embellished his image with harlequin shades.

Seriously, one player who will be looking at this from a personal perspective is Cubs outfielder Cliff Floyd. Last year, his sister, Shanta died of breast cancer at the very young age of 21. I can only imagine how important this will be to him.

I’m sorry, Jason. You know, for the joke that went around when you got signed. It went like this…

“Well, if he can’t pitch, at least we can use him as a pinch hitter.”

I think many baseball people are waiting for the real Jason Marquis to step to the mound. When Marquis was signed over the off-season, I don’t think too many expected an ace performance from a starter who just last year had a 6.00 plus ERA for the Cardinals despite winning 14 games.

Yet here he is, fresh off a complete game shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates today making his record 4-1 in six starts with a minuscule ERA of 2.09. Even more surprising is that Marquis, who previously has had a penchant for the long ball (35 allowed in 2006), has only allowed 2 so for in 2007.

It’s a question we ask ourselves of a lot of players (teams, too) this time of year. Are they that good or just lucky? The further we delve into the season, the harder the case it is to make that they are just lucky.

Who knows? Maybe, Marquis is due for a good year?

Oh, as far as his hitting? You know, it’s not bad but it’s down a little.

That’s ok, Jason, that’s not why we’re paying you.

Happy Birthday Ryan Dempster!

 

Can Rich Hill get any better? Not really.

MLB says Rich Hill “tossed a gem” and that about says it. They also called it an eight-inning shutout. Considering there have only been two shutouts by pitchers so far this year (Felix and that guy from the Sox), this is about as good as it gets.

I continue to believe that Hill is key to the Cubs’ success at least as far as their pitching goes. Every one of his starts/wins so far this year have come after a Cub loss, usually more than one.

Mark Redman took the hard luck loss for the Braves. Redman entered the game 0-3 with a 12.96 ERA yet allowed only 3 runs in 7 plus innings.

By the way, Ryan Dempster is three for three in saves. Is this the new Demp?