Cubs | The Baseball Zealot

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…

Walking the 8th place hitter

Among Chicago Cubs in the modern era, can you name the players with the most intentional walks in a season they hit less than 5 homers?

 Cnt Player            IBB HR  H  Year Age
+----+-----------------+---+--+---+----+---+
    1 Don Kessinger      18  0 151 1973  30 
    2 Hobie Landrith     15  4  69 1956  26 
    3 Joe Girardi        11  1 113 1990  25 
    4 Daryle Ward         8  3  36 2007  32 
    5 Dave Rosello        8  1  55 1976  26

With the exception of pinch hitter Darlye Ward, these were normally 8th place hitters. Albeit, some of these hitters deserved the walk more than others.

MLB web sites: A look back

I got to playing around with the Internet Wayback Machine tonight and wondered what some of the MLB web sites I go to on a regular basis looked liked in the olden days. And by “olden days”, I mean at the beginning of this decade.

MLB teams at that point, were still responsible for maintaining their own websites; they weren’t under the MLB.com umbrella like they are now.

Let’s get started. All thumbnails of the web sites from 2000 click to a larger image:

cubs.com on May 20, 2000

I don’t know why I chose this particular date for the Cubs. They were dead last in the NL Central and they had just gotten beat by the Cardinals 4-2. But it’s a good sample nonetheless.

Vivid blues and reds. And hey, they have a Multimedia section complete with a “Cubs Cam”. Back then, folks could bid on a Ernie Banks flag or a VIP tour of Wrigley.

I noticed a link to the Trib’s sister organization (or were they back then?) ChicagoSports.com. Also in the sidebar a link for Yahoo Broadcast (??).

whitesox.com June 20, 2000

The Sox’ slogan was ‘The Kids can Play’. On this date, the Sox were holding on to first place in the AL Central. James Baldwin was off to a 5-0 start.

They had a pretty decent web site too, in my opinion. Of course, it’s easy when your colors are black and white.

To follow the Sox games live, you could listen to the Live Audio or choose DiamondCast whatever that was.

Hey! Wllie Wonka Kids’ Day is (was) May 14th.

But the kicker for me was…

majorleaguebaseball.com on June 20, 2000

Yes, I went to mlb.com. At the turn of millennium, that domain name belonged to the law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius L.L.P. Sometime in the month of October 2000, the domain changed hands and mlb.com began redirecting to Major League Baseball’s web site.

Most likely tired of fielding requests of “where’s the baseball?”, Morgan Lewis did offer the above image link at the bottom of their site.

For the time being though, majorleaguebaseball.com was where folks would go to get their baseball info.

Suggested bandwidth speeds for video downloads were in the modem range i.e. 56.6, 28.8, oh yeah ISDN too).

I noticed that Jonathan Mayo (who I think heads up mlb.com’s minor league coverage now) was doing the Fantasy Baseball bit back then.

One that should make Teddy Ballgame happy: their poll at the time was “How far will the White Sox go this year?”

The year 2000 was Summer Olympic time and the idea of ridding baseball and softball was probably just being discussed in the boardrooms. Meanwhile, majorleaguebaseball.com was covering that year’s manager Tommy Lasorda and his preparations.

Despite team’s having autonomy over their own web content, majorleaguebaseball.com did provide a drop down link to all team’s websites.

A quick snippet of the 2000 stats page…

… and the standings page.

Nine years doesn’t seem like a long time but in Internet time it’s forever. With the advent of the MLB Advanced Media, the web presence of professional baseball has come a long way… mostly in the right direction.

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.

HOF ’09: Lee Smith

leesmith

Lee Arthur Smith finished his career with more saves than anyone in the history of the game, 478, since bested by Trevor Hoffman. But still Smith led his league in saves four times, and had twenty-five or more saves in twelve straight seasons. Lee was an eight time All Star, 1983, 87, 91-95. He appeared in 1,022 games, with a 3.03 ERA, and nearly a strikeout per inning.

“[I flipped] a coin with Lee Smith to see who throws the eighth inning of the ’91 game. We were behind in Toronto, and we were both tired. I won the flip, so I pitched the eighth, and that means he had to stay out there for the ninth. He didn’t get to pitch anyway, because we lost. But what I remember most from that is him coming back into the clubhouse and being ticked off because someone stole his glove. I felt guilty because he loses this flip to me, and that glove probably had 300 saves in it, bound for the Hall of Fame.”

— Rob Dibble on his favorite All-Star memory

Here’s one for CLuke, he has all the numbers, this guy should be voted into the HOF, maybe not in 2009, but he deserves in, but he doesn’t get the votes, due to east coast bias.

	Hall of Fame
	Hall of Very Good
	Why is he even on the Ballot?

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Read the rest the of the profiles.

Let’s Play the Game of Baseball

milton_bradley Old Faithful hasn’t erupted as regularly as Bradley, which explains why Chicago is his seventh organization in nine seasons, following stays with Montreal (where he was suspended for spitting gum at an umpire); Cleveland (where he battled with Manager Eric Wedge); the Dodgers (where he threw a water bottle at fans, was investigated for domestic violence three times and was arrested for disorderly conduct); Oakland; San Diego (where he tore a knee while being restrained from charging an umpire); and Texas he tried to confront a TV announcer who had some unflattering things to say about him. In fairness to Bradley, though, it hasn’t always been his fault. In Los Angeles, for example, a fan threw the water bottle first, and no charges were filed in any of the domestic violence calls. And in the incident when he was with the Padres, it was umpire Mike Winters who was suspended for baiting Bradley.

The Cubs got him for his bat, not to win a Miss Congeniality award. Bradley achieved career high in batting average .321, homers 22, RBIs 77, runs scored 78, and walks 80, in only 126 games with the Rangers last year. Chicago felt their lineup needed better representation from the leftside of the plate, hence the Bradley signing. I’m wondering how he’ll react when the rightfield bleacher bums come down on him for his bonehead defense, he only played 20 games in the outfield last year in Texas, making 3 errors & picking up 3 assists, he played in 126 games, 97 as a designated hitter, something not featured in the National League.

I don’t really see where the Cubs picked up that much in Bradley & Miles over DeRosa & Fukudome. I know it might’ve cost a little more, but they would have been much better off picking up Bobby Abreu to play rightfield, a better all around player than Bradley, without all the baggage, who shows up to play everyday. Abreu has driven in 100 runs, seven different times, and has scored 100 runs, eight times, and two other seasons he just missed the century mark with 99 & 98. But, it’s not my money, and who knows? Look what happened when the White Sox brought in malcontent Carl Everett, but just because a guy’s a goofball, doesn’t make him a clubhouse leader.

HOF ’09: Dan Plesac

PHILLLIES BLUE JAYS

Dan Plesac was a three time All Star, 87, 88, & 89. Plesac recorded his most saves (33) and his lowest ERA (2.35) in 1989. Most of Dan’s success came in his early years with the Milwaukee Brewers, 124 of his 158 saves were recorded in first five years. The highest number of saves after that was 11 in 1996 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 6’5″ lefthanded relief pitcher pitched 18 years in the major leagues, 1,064 games, with a 3.64 ERA. Upon his retirement Dan Plesac became a Chicago Cubs broadcaster, now he’s working for the MLB Network. I have to ask the obvious question, “Why is he even on the ballot?”

	Hall of Fame
	Hall of Very Good
	Why is he even on the Ballot?

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Read the rest the of the profiles.

DeRosa Shipped to Tribe

mark-derosa The Chicago Cubs sent popular secondbaseman plus, Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for three minor league pitchers. DeRosa played 149 games each of the last two years on the Northside of Chicago, 90+ games at 2B, also filling in the OF & 3B, and hitting .293 & .285, with OBPs of .371 & .376, last year he hit 21 homers, and scored 103 times. While Mark was dealt to the Indians, Aaron Miles was signed to take his place at 2B. Six homers was Miles’ alltime high in Colorado in 2004 when he scored his career high of 75 in runs, his highest average was last year .317 with the Cardinals, but even then his OBP was only .355. It’s hard to believe little, 5’8″, Aaron Miles will help Cub fans forget Mark DeRosa.

So what did Chicago get for the versatile DeRosa? Jeff Stevens is a 6’2″ righthanded reliever out of Loyola Marymount, who struckout 111 batters in just under 60 innings pitched, and this 25 year old looks ready for the bigs. Chris Archer is a 6’2″ 20 year old righty out of North Carolina, who pitched in Class A, posting a 4.29 ERA, with 106 Ks in 115′ innings pitched. John Gaub is out of the University of Minnesota (2004-06), the 6’2″ (the Cubs must like 6’2″ pitchers) 23 year old lefty struckout 100 batters in 64 innings in Class A in 2008. Retooling the Cubbies bullpen may payoff big time down the line, maybe even next year with Stevens.

It’s interesting this deal doesn’t seem to be about money. What do you think about this trade? Did the Cubs get enough? Will Miles be a quality replacement for DeRosa?

Hockey at Wrigley: but where were the Blackhawks?

A rather exciting day at Wrigley Field, no doubt… if you ignore the final score.

Over 40,000 fans showed up in the freezing weather today to watch the Detroit Red Wings take on the Chicago Blackhawks at the Cubs home field. The fans were mostly of the Blackhawk nature but otherwise it was you could say it was neutral territory.

I watched the second and third periods on TV. By that time, the Blackhawks had already done their damage and the Red Wings were just getting warmed up. Detroit scored five unanswered goals to win the game 6-4.

But from NHL’s and MLB’s point of view, it doesn’t matter who won. They are really promoting this as some sort of historical event. A “Winter Classic” it is. And it looks like it won’t be the last New Year’s event at a baseball park. They are already talking about where to hold next year’s New Year’s event.

PS Al Yellon from Bleed Cubbie Blue has some nice photos of the event.

cubs.com on May 20, 2000

whitesox.com June 20, 2000

majorleaguebaseball.com on June 20, 2000

Hall of Fame

Why is he even on the Ballot?