There is precious little to get excited about with the 2012 Cubs, so finding things to talk about on an off day are painful. Enter Jeff Samardzija’s work load:
‘‘We’ve got a plan laid out for him, something we’ve talked about with Jed [Hoyer] and Theo [Epstein],’’ pitching coach Chris Bosio said. ‘‘We’ll follow our guidelines and try to take advantage of some off days and pitch-count days. But he’s a big, strong guy. He wants the ball.’’
What does the Shark see for himself this season?
‘‘Obviously, as a starting pitcher, you’re looking at that 200 number,’’ he said.
Dale Sveum , what say you (please say he swung the bat good that one day)?
‘‘You’re going to keep an eye on everything he does, the innings, the pitch counts,’’ said manager Dale Sveum, who also made it clear he wants to make no excuses for what he called the ‘‘uncharted waters’’ Samardzija is in this season.
‘‘He’s a max-effort guy, and he’s doing things he hasn’t done for a few years now: starting and maxing out. And not only that, but maxing out in the big leagues, where the intensity is a lot more than starting in the minor leagues.’’
So basically, we have no idea just what Samardzija’s limits will be this year, and neither do the Cubs.
Marlon Byrd was back in Chicago last night, playing on the South Side. He’s going to miss being a Cub, but not the losing part, I suspect.
“I knew I was going to be traded,” said Byrd, whose $6.5 million contract will be paid almost entirely by the Cubs, according to a major league source. “Brett Jackson is the future there, but I didn’t know when. I didn’t think it would be in April, but there was a need for me over here. I almost had to apologize to them for starting so slow. They should have been able to get more for me.”
Jim Hendry should’ve traded you last year when he could have gotten more for you. But where’s the part about you missing everyone?
“My family loved it here. They made great friends as did I on and off the field,” Byrd said. “I loved the organization and the Ricketts. We are close to them. I love the Ricketts. This is a business, and it was time to move on.”
Marlon’s crystal ball foresees great things in the Cubs future.
“The leadership right now has to come from the veterans like Kerry Wood and Ryan Dempster,” Byrd said. “I‘m assuming that Theo [Epstein] is going to get his base off young guys and then bring in some older veterans like he did here in Boston. You do have to have veterans because they are the only players who know about leadership.”
The timetable for winning under the new regime is anyone’s guess at this point, but Byrd believes the Cubs have the right people in place.
“ It’s going to be a couple of years,” Byrd said. “When Theo came over my guess was 2014 or 2015. They are going to be ready to contend every year, not just be good that year, but from that point on start a dynasty.”
I loved Dynasty.
Oh Carl. What would I do without you?
agree.
the photo sends tingles all through her body
My wife packed “low fat” chicken noodle soup in my lunch.
I’m not too happy about this for several reasons.
Not necessarily related, but I was in a coworker’s office earlier and he took a quick phone call with someone, and it appeared to be fairly irritating to him. When he hung up he said “god she’s dumb.” I asked, “coworker?” and he said “no, wife.”
That was awkward.
Is it just me, or does Dale Svuem sound really, really stupid when you read his quotes?
everything is made to be too justified and rosy,when he speaks.But that’s just my opinion,man
He sounds really really stupid when you compare what he says to what Theo or Jed say.
WTF is starting now!!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wrigley-talk-friday
I like your confidence
how about my incessant giggling?
There was one Friday I had off of work, and I knew you were doing WTF so I started drinking late/mid-morning so that I’d have the confidence to call in, and when I did you didnt take the call I decided I’d never listen again.
I heard Ryan Theriot called in to but nobody answered either….
That was the best episode of WTF EVER!!!
(confidence)
Bryce Harper has just been called up by the Nationals.
AWESOME!!! I have him in all my fantasy leagues!! So now I have a totally NEW player to drag down my BA/OBP numbers.
I see you have him in our league. Do you want to trade him to me for Alfonso Soriano?
AAAAAAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Over/under on how many PAs before he gets HBP?
I haven’t heard if he’s cooled down his antics at all.
I put it at 2.
O.K.-All week MLB has been advertising tonight’s Cubs game. ALL WEEK!!! I come home-put on MLB, and the game @ 4:00 p.m. is now the Yankees game!!! I demand the right to see the Cubs suck!! But no, I live in hellhole CA, where the temperature went from 50 degrees to 80 degrees overnight!! So on my day off, I boiled going to the doctor/taking mom to appointments. Now no Cubs game, because they feel CA wants to watch the Yankees!!!AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!