I <3 every Cub I see/From Jose A to Carlos Z: your 2009 Chicago Cubs

PINIELLA TO CUBS: NO PREDICTIONS IN 2009

The past two seasons, pitcher Carlos Zambrano (2007) and Ryan Dempster (2008) both predicted championships for the Cubs. Manager Lou Piniella already cautioned his team not to repeat the mistake in 2009.

"I told the players: 'No predictions,' " Piniella said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "Let's just go play on the field. What we need is good performance. You don't have to be great. You have to be really good consistently at what you do, and that's going to be one of the themes of our camp this year.

"Last year we won 97 baseball games, so we don't have to get better from that standpoint. We just need to stay longer."

^^^a surefire strategy

maybe soriano will play a full season this year? maybe milton bradley will as well? maybe carlos z will reverse his downward-trending k rate?

They just need to stay longer.

i kind of hate soriano, wish they had gotten rid of him instead of derosa

Soriano is overrated but DeRosa is unlikely to have a year that good again.

Great thread title.

Hooray for Hoffpower.

Fred (Houston): Do you see anybody poised to challenge the Cubs in the NL Central this season?

Joe Sheehan: Oh, sure. I'm pretty down on the Cubs, who have no center fielder on the roster, invested $30 million in a guy who can't stay on the field, and are relying on Rich Harden to make 30 starts. This could all fall apart in a hurry. I'd take the field at -110 right now. The Reds are my sleeper, but the Cardinals are the safer bet to pass the Cubs.

really, if homer bailey ever got his shit together, the reds could have a hell of a rotation. volquez, cueto, harang, arroyo?

...and i do NOT believe in dempster!

greg maddux and ferguson jenkins will be having their #31 retired by the cubs. as good a time as any to remember why maddux went to atlanta:

After Maddux filed for free agency, he fielded offers from the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves. After he received his offer from the Braves, he contacted Himes to see if Himes would match the offer. Himes declined, stating that he spent Maddux's money on Randy Myers, Jose Guzman, Dan Plesac and Candy Maldonado.

So Kevin Gregg will be the closer and Marmol will be in the setup role again.

If Milton Bradley can stay healthy for 120 games, his offense will be great.

Joey Gathright was fun to watch in Mesa. Hope he gets the job. I am also excited about Koyie Hill.

Ted Lilly didn't even bother pitching to Mark DeRosa yesterday. Lilly just threw his old friend a couple of cookies which DeRosa smacked out of HoHoKam for first-pitch home runs. :)

So Kevin Gregg will be the closer and Marmol will be in the setup role again.

lmao wow

fyi kevin gregg lost his job w/ the marlins last year when he gave up a 3 run hr to darryl ward in the top of the 9th w/ a 2 run lead

naturally kerry wood had to strike out alfred amezega w/ the bases loaded to close the door - pretty great game iirc

alfredo

Lord Zegasyn.

Unless I'm mistaken, the rationale behind having Gregg close is that he has held the position before.

that's like if we re-elected bush in 2012

he's not that bad im just saying, he broke down last year and the marlins have an awful bullpen and ditched him, i can't imagine that there isn't anyone better out there but i guess i could be wrong, probly am tbh

first batter of the season = home run

The Cubs lineup is still looking strong. Big Z looked pretty sharp tonight.

Imagine how much better Big Z would be if the Cubs built him a new stadium like he wants!

Cubs are going all the way this year, fyi.

yeah i only got to see a few innings (no cable LOL) but carlos was pumped up

Soriano showing his DH skills in the 9th there.

b/w kevin gregg and aaron heilman it's like their off season strategy was to sign everyone who lead the NL east in blown saves last year

Heilman blew holds, I'd say

Adding SV% as a fantasy stat category this year -- NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Ugh, Gregg is that bad. He also looks the same as Sean Marshall, except his middle name is Marschalll. Probably to throw us off the scent.

I was only able to follow the 9th inning last night but blimey, that was a close one. I don't think I've ever seen a pitcher withdrawn after recording no outs at all. Doesn't that screw up stats? Jason Grilli was an absolute star, coming in in such an unpleasant situation. Totally deserved the unexpected save.

screw up? no, 1 G, 0 IP, add in everything else.

i swear on my mom's life that after the called strike on 3-0 i turned to my roommate and said "he's gonna strike out and get ejected"

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/.a/6a00d83451583769e201156f480e3d970c-pi

“More than hitting, winning is the most important thing,” Fukudome said through a translator. “I’m too old for a cake and I don’t want to get fat.”

ha i really want a gif of zambrano stroking soto's batting helmet as soto was waiting to go up into the batting circle in yesterday's game, petting him like a cat. one day on the dl and dude is already going crazy. love the big dude.

are you sure it's only one day he's been on the "dl" ; )

i see what you did there

Zambrano 2 Eckstein

Neyer:

Really, Chicago Cubs? You're really not ready to give up on Derrek Lee, while Micah Hoffpauir (mostly) rides the bench and young Jake Fox rots away in Iowa? Have you really not looked at Lee's lousy numbers since April of last year?

Chicago Cubs right fielder Milton Bradley lashed out at Major League Baseball's umpires Sunday, saying they are forcing him to swing at bad pitches by widening his strike zone.

Bradley

Bradley, suspended one game last month after an argument with umpire Larry Vanover, said he thought other umps were getting back at him for the incident.

"Unfortunately, I just think it's a lot of 'Oh, you did this to my colleague,' or 'We're going to get him any time we can," Bradley said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "As soon as he gets two strikes, we're going to call whatever and see what he does. Let's try to ruin Milton Bradley.'

"It's just unfortunate. But I'm going to come out on top. I always do."

Uh Hoffpauir played the entire San Diego series, got one hit, and struck out six times btw.

Pretty sure Lee could have matched those stats.

3 games is a S---- S----- Size.

Neyer was a bit off on the Tiger segment of his SNL post (playing through various injuries and having one poor month because of it does not equal forgetting how to hit, for one).

Aren't you talking small sample size any time you're discussing a dude who's been playing irregularly in the major leagues for just over a year, especially when you're comparing him to a veteran like Lee?

Also not sure why he's picking on Lee in particular when exactly zero Cubs have been getting any hits.

I dunno, I wouldn't give up on Lee yet is all I'm saying.

sabermetric types identify the clinging to vets over youngsters who are ready -- if you play them regularly -- as the #1 playing-time-related bad habit of managers.

(I don't follow the Cubs closely enough to have a strong view)

jake fox is supposedly the kind of hitter who would be like jack cust minus the walks, from what i understand. i have no idea what's going on with this team anymore, except i guess that when your most potent power hitter is hitting leadoff and your #2 is on the DL and your #3 and #4 power guys can't hit at all, you're just not gonna score any runs whatsoever.

lol zambrano vs gatorade machine

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090527/capt.5375a8d00e0742c0864cdb642c18eb1f.pirates_cubs_zambrano_ejected_baseball_cxc109.jpg

a week he'd probably like to have back. or just have skipped completely.

ok i know this is more :( pirates than :) cubs but:

K Hill tripled to deep left.
R Wells walked.
R Theriot singled to left, K Hill scored, R Wells to second.
S Fuld singled to left, R Wells to third, R Theriot to second.
D Lee walked, R Wells scored, R Theriot to third, S Fuld to second.
J Fox doubled to deep left, R Theriot and S Fuld scored, D Lee to third.
C Bootcheck relieved C Morton.
K Fukudome walked.
A Soriano singled to right center, D Lee scored, J Fox to third, K Fukudome to second.
J Baker singled to center, J Fox and K Fukudome scored, A Soriano to second.
K Hill struck out looking.
R Wells singled to left, A Soriano scored, J Baker to second.
R Theriot popped out to first.
S Fuld hit by pitch, J Baker to third, R Wells to second.
D Lee doubled to deep left, J Baker and R Wells scored, S Fuld to third.
J Fox struck out swinging.

10 runs in the bottom of the second

including a walk, a single, and two runs for the pitcher randy wells

god so many singles

10 RBI for Lee (bottom of fourth) -- is that correct?

No.

let's go bucs

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_t6rV3U9ZEHM/SCu5-28KVrI/AAAAAAAAGSw/3HxNw7k5l6w/s400/Dumbfounded.jpg

http://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/15gsaja.jpg

- C. Headley doubled to left center, D. Eckstein scored
http://i44.tinypic.com/ac7kwk.jpg
- K. Blanks homered to deep left center, C. Headley and K. Kouzmanoff scored
http://i44.tinypic.com/ac7kwk.jpghttp://i44.tinypic.com/ac7kwk.jpg

lol, live rally on MLBN

can i just

HE THREW KYLE BLANKS AN INSIDE BELT HIGH FASTBALL! KYLE BLANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carlos Marmol named Cubs closer

Sam Fuld is a stats geek, awesome:
http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?id=4391911

sounds like a bro

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5488/33vm8lh.gif

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2009-08/48864245.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/sports/baseball/30santo.html

Rich Harden still has the best ass in baseball.

holy shit, never saw that pic johnny crunch posted

filed under "silver lining" is the massive season derrek lee is having

Cubs suspend Bradley for rest of 2009

"And you understand why they haven't won in 100 years here."

LOL

I'm guessing he's with the Mets next year.

i'm pretty tired of this whole "why didn't we bring back mark derosa?" crap, as if there weren't half a dozen bigger problems than milton bradley and a dozen better solutions than derosa.

you don't understand the intangibles!

Signing Bradley was still buying somebody's problems. No one should be surprised this ended up this way. The only place Bradley hasn't had a freak out was last year in Texas and maybe he did have small freak outs that I don't know about. Beyond the issues that seem to follow the dude, Bradley has a history of injuries. They could have gone for Dunn or Abreu for less money and players with proven consistent production.

Oh well, it is right on Hendry, he also gave Soriano an insane contract that is going to be on the books for a gazillion dollars for years.

Didn't he try to attack the announcer last year in Texas? I'd say that's a bit of a freak out.

yeah considering the market and what dudes like dunn and abreu got, the fact that milton got 3/30 million was insane.

His OPS this year is roughly the same as Felix Pie's.

^^^ hilarious

Thing is that Bradley is now about radioactive. I think the only place left is pretty much pay him about everything and just give him to the Nationals or Marlins.

Considering the Cubs bullpen problems, inability to score runs without Ramirez, Bradley's flake out, Soriano turning into a turd and injuries to their top two starters and all star catcher -- they really have done all right. You might think with all of that happen they would have ended up a 90 loss club, but they didn't. They are not going to make the playoffs, but considering all that went down, it could have ended up a total train wreck. They have found a couple of decent young players in Baker and Fox that seem like they could be OK.

I think there are still teams who would take him, but it would have to be basically for free.

yea someone on espn was speculating cubs pick up say 90% of his salary and he goes back to tejas

How many teams screwed themselves by passing up Adam Dunn?

"Let me ask you something. What do you know about Adam Dunn?" Ricciardi said to the caller. "He's a lifetime .230, .240 hitter that strikes out a ton and hits home runs.

"Do you know that the guy really doesn't like baseball all that much?" Ricciardi continued. "Do you know the guy doesn't have a passion to play the game that much? How much do you know about the player? There's a reason why you're attracted to some players and there's a reason why you're not attracted to some players. I don't think you'd be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn here."

Look, I don't like Jay Mariotti either, but this made me laugh out loud:

If Milton Bradley, the old board game company, had a game for Milton Bradley, the baseball malcontent, it surely would be Trouble.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4496640

According to his mother, Bradley's unhappiness in Chicago stems in part from racism that his 3-year-old son has faced at school.

"When racism hit his 3-year-old baby in school, he couldn't take that," Rector said in a radio interview earlier this week, according to the Sun-Times. "Parents, teachers and their kids called him the n-word. He didn't even know it was a bad word until his mom told him."

When asked why her son shared the information only with her this season, Rector said, "Milton is a quiet person. Stuff like that, he keeps to himself. He doesn't want to talk about that because he doesn't think anybody cares. It is a heartbreaking situation."

She believes it affected his play. Bradley struggled at the plate, batting .257 with 12 homers and 40 RBIs this season, and was booed vigorously by home fans at Wrigley Field.

"I watched his swing, and I could tell what was wrong," Rector told the Sun-Times. "His mind wasn't on baseball. He was thinking about all of these other things."

Koyaanis Kosuke

anyone read this elsewhere? Perrotto in BP:

"Some around the Chicago baseball scene would not be shocked to see a major cross-town trade of right-handers in the offseason, in which the Cubs would deal Carlos Zambrano to the White Sox for Jake Peavy."

That makes a ton of sense to me, actually.

why? zambrano's one of the best-hitting pitchers in baseball

not arguing, just curious. it would make backing the sox easier for me.

Because I think the Sox aren't that close to being very good, and Peavy's contract is pretty rough. Plus, Zambrano + Guillen seems like a match made in heaven.

cubs file ch11

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jHZ0P8LZdyV7Emqu-BOsTH7NseDgD9B9N0TO0

What is going on with Sammy Sosa's face?

http://www.americansuperstarmag.com/sites/default/files/images/sammy-sosa-2_0.jpg

that may be the best anti-roid ad ever.

http://www.tauntr.com/sites/default/files/Bradley_letter_master.jpg

zmfg

"Comedy"