Some friend you are, Robin Yount.

There are all manner of rumors swirling about Nashville this week as the Winter Meetings take place. However, the most interesting thing we learned yesterday was that Robin Yount accidentally shot Dale Sveum while the two were hunting.

“The bird was in front of him and I was about 50 yards up on a hill,” Sveum said Tuesday at baseball’s winter meetings. “He got the bird up and lost track of where I was. He pulled the trigger and was like, ‘Uh, oh.’ ”

Sveum was hit in the back of the right ear by the spray pattern from a six-shot.

“I got drilled with pellets in the back and then one stuck in the ear,” he said.

Sveum said there was plenty of blood, but he wasn’t worried.

“We do it all the time,” Sveum said. “Not that close all the time, but we do get BB’s fall on us.”

Robin Yount is the new Dick Cheney.

Sveum spoke on a host of other topics as well, including the progression of Starlin Castro.

“But basically what I want to see out of him is just keep progressing mentally and understand the process of becoming a winning player and not a hit seeker, becoming more of a winning hitter situation, drive runs in, understanding the situations. Defensively, like I said, I think he came a long way but still has to even concentrate more. I think we got him probably, just throwing a number out there, probably really focused 80 to 85 percent of the time. We’ve got to get that to that 95 percent. I don’t think anybody ever really focuses 100 percent.”

I think Mike Quade wanted Starlin to focus 110% of the time. Seems like Sveum has more realistic expectations.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Dale Sveum Shot By Robin Yount”

The baseball playoffs are a wonderful time of year. Wonderful, unless you’re a blog contributor trying to find news about a team that is never in the playoffs. Luckily for us, there are still people asking stupid questions over at Cubs.com. Our first contestant today is Jeremy from Atlanta:

What is the Cubs’ plan for Bryan LaHair? I’ve never seen a team bench an All-Star like they did. I know he struggles against lefties but in a season that was about training new players, how come he didn’t get any at-bats against lefties for practice? He couldn’t have done any worse than Brett Jackson or Josh Vitters did. LaHair did carry the offense in the first half of the season and he can hit right-handed pitching with power. If he could bat .260 against lefties and over .300 against right-handers, he would be a valuable starter. Why aren’t the Cubs working more with him?
– Jeremy M., Atlanta

Do these people understand the wealth of information on the internet? If Bryan LaHair could hit .260 against lefties and .300 against right-handers, he’d be great. But, as Carrie Muskat pointed out in her reply, he hit .063 against lefties (3-48). He hit .291 against right-handed pitchers, but his overall OPS was .784. LaHair also turns 30 in November, while Jackson is 24 and Vitters 23. Any idea why the Cubs might want to use more playing time to develop the two of them over LaHair? Plus, Jackson is way hotter.

» Continue reading “Monday Fun: Cubs.com Mailbag Extravaganza”

The Cubs lost in Colorado 10-5 last night, but look at the bright side: rain stopped the game after six and a half innings, so it could have been worse.

“It’s always tough to win out west,” manager Dale Sveum said. “Here’s a different story. The bottom line is we haven’t been able to get anybody out either. In LA, we came back once and had a chance but couldn’t pull it off. Tonight, to scored (five) runs early and then just give it right back. … You’re not going to win that many road games when you’re giving up that many hard hit balls and balls hit out of the ballpark.”

That many hard hit balls was six runs in 3.2 innings for Chris Rusin and another four surrendered by Rafael Dolis and Manny Corpas. All told, the Cubs gave up 15 hits in 6 innings, including 6 extra base hits.

“We couldn’t get them to make any soft contact, that’s for sure,” Sveum said. “There were some balls hit pretty hard on their side. Evem the outs were got, we were lucky they were at people. Rusin was just up in the zone without a whole lot of life on anything.”

But Dave Sappelt hit a home run!

“Since he’s been here, he’s shown us some realy good at-bats and shown the ability to hit a fastball and get his walks as well,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Tuesday. “I thought I’d stick him in that leadoff spot and see what happens.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Rain Merciful To Cubs”

Jeff Samardzija makes his last start of the season today, meaning that all we have to look forward to for the rest of the season is a rotation that features Chris Volstad, Travis Wood, and God know’s who else.  Why couldn’t Brooks Raley run into a chain link fence?

First pitch is at 6:05 pm CT on CSN.

Lineup:

DeJesus RF
Valbuena 3B
Riz 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Castillo C
Barney 2B
Samardzija P
Campana CF

How’s that a Tony LaRussa lineup? Campana is so bad, he hits 9th.

The Cubs managed to win one more against the Astros yesterday, giving them the 2-1 series win. David DeJesus hit two home runs, Brett Jackson had two extra base hits (and two strikeouts) and so on. But there are other more important things to report today, such as Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Marmol clearing waivers.

Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano has cleared waivers and is eligible to be traded anywhere (provided he gives his approval), sources tell CBSSports.com.

And with Melky Cabrera now subject to a 50-game suspension for using PEDs, San Francisco seems like the perfect fit for a team that could use the Fonz. Except that he already turned down a trade to the Giants at the non-waiver trade deadline.

‘‘San Francisco is not good weather to play in,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve never played on the West Coast, but we’ll see what happens. I want to talk to my family and see.’’

Soriano said he hasn’t been approached again by the Cubs about a deal.

‘‘Now there’s six weeks left to the season,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ll try to enjoy it with these young guys and see what happens in the offseason. I’ll just try to do the best I can and not think about trade deadlines.’’

Can anyone put together a series of film clips showing spectacular weather in San Francisco?

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines: Thank God For The Astros”

Chris Volstad’s season of wonder for the Chicago Cubs continued Tuesday night. He’s now 0-9 with a 6.96 ERA after allowing four runs on nine hits in five innings to the Astros. And the Astros are worse than the Cubs. So Chris, what happened?

‘‘I pretty much hung a curveball to Wallace. Take away one pitch, and it’s 1-0 instead of 4-0, and the team is still in it. I executed pitches after that, and I feel that’s one of the big strides I made.”

But Dale Sveum begged to differ.

‘‘There was nothing real sharp,’’ Sveum said. ‘‘His off-speed stuff was getting hit pretty hard.’’

Then Rule 5 exile Lendy Castillo came in and gave up five runs in the seventh. But Brett Jackson got a hit!

‘‘There’s a long line of great players, including Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, who were 1-for-55 their first years in the big leagues,’’ team president Theo Epstein said. ‘‘We almost expect young guys to come up and struggle. It’s part of the growth process. It doesn’t make it any easier for them to go through, but it’s a natural step in a player’s development.

‘‘They come up and get humbled a little bit and make their adjustments, and maybe you have a chance to humble someone else down the line.’’

Thanks for making us feel better, Theo.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Volstad Refuses To Beat Even Astros”

Chris Volstad is now 0-22 as a Cubs starter. That’s like, really bad, even for the Cubs.

Alas, the hapless Northsiders managed to pull of a win against (*snicker*) Dusty Baker last night, depsite Volstad’s best efforts.

(By the way, I made a comment that I was calling Volstad “He Who Shall Not Be Named” last night, and Brett from Bleacher Nation Christened him “Voldemortstad,” which I think fits him swimmingly).

Anyway:

CHICAGO — Through all of the injuries, losing seasons and fans wishing he would better live up to his large contract, Alfonso Soriano has continued to do one thing: hit home runs.

And while he isn’t a prototypical power hitter in the truest sense, he has proven throughout his career to not only be one, but one of the best.

Soriano once again flashed his strength Thursday night at Wrigley Field, lifting a two-run homer into the center-field bushes in the bottom of the eighth to give the Cubs a 5-3 win over the first-place Reds and snap the team’s eight-game losing streak.

It was Soriano’s 20th home run of the season — the 11th consecutive year he has reached the mark, putting him in rare company. Boston’s David Ortiz, Angels first baseman Albert Pujols and Soriano are the only active sluggers to reach the 20-homer mark for 11 straight seasons.

And yet, the team can’t unload him on ANYONE, despite several close division races, because of his horrible, terrible, not-very-good contract. Thanks a bunch, Jim Hendry.

» Continue reading “Cubs Friday Headlines/Game Thread: Cubs Win Despite Volstad’s Best Efforts”

If one were making one’s MLB debut as a pitcher, I don’t think there are many friendlier ballparks than PETCO in San Diego. So when the Cubs sent Brooks “Boo Radley” Raley to the mound against the Padres, they were setting him up for success. Too bad he gave up 7 runs in 4 innings.

“That was an experience for sure,” Raley said. “Obviously you go from here to here. Obviously it was a great opportunity. I didn’t take advantage of it.”

Sveum said before the game that Raley would get a few more starts at least.

“I’m glad they gave me the opportunity,” he said. “I think I belong here. So I’m going to try and get better.”

Raley will get more starts because the other options are Casey Coleman and Rodrigo Lopez. What of the other rookies? Josh Vitters got his first MLB hit and two RBI. Brett Jackson has struck out in 8 of his last 9 plate appearances. But Jeff Beliveau threw 2 scoreless innings!

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines/Game Thread: Better Luck Next Time, Boo”

No, I’m not worried. Or at least, not surprised. We all knew the entire reason Jackson wasn’t brought up before now was his high strikeout rate. Still, watching a prospect strike out 4 times in a game is rough.

“Basically it came down to swinging at strikes,” manager Dale Sveum said. “I don’t care who you are. if you don’t swing at strikes, you’re going to have a tough time. When he got two strikes on him, he just couldn’t lay off pitches that were quite a bit out of the zone.”

Jackson, who has five strikeouts in eight at-bats, concurred.

“I chased some pitches I shouldn’t have chased,” he said. “When it comes to striking out, I think a lot of it has to do with me chasing pitches I didn’t need to swing at… That’s something I’m going to figure out. It’s baseball. I’m going to keep improving as a player until I can’t improve anymore.”

A reporter told Jackson it was a “humbling” game.

“Yes sir,” he replied. “Humble pie.”

Eh. Growing pains and time to adjust and all that. I’m not panicking . . . yet. But he shall be watched.

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines: Brett Jackkkkson Strikes Out a Lot”

Latest team photo

After I’d posted yesterday’s thread and gone to work, the Cubs got busy and traded Jeff Baker. They also managed to call up Josh Vitters and Brett Jackson. Jackson got the start in center field and got his first two Major League hits along with a walk and a run scored.

“I’ve just been soaking it in,” said Jackson, the Cubs’ newest center fielder. “I was thrown into the game and was in game mode all day. I’m sure it will sink in more tonight. I caught myself laughing a couple times — ‘You’ve got to be kidding me right now.’ It’s a pretty indescribable feeling, inspiring. I look forward to the days and hopefully years to come.”

Was Josh Vitters nervous when he flew out pinch-hitting in the seventh?

“It made it a little bit easier because we were so tired and out of it because we didn’t get any sleep,” Vitters said. “We were like zombies on the plane, we couldn’t really think. It was hard to be nervous. We tried to sleep so we could perform well when we got here.”

So, Mr. Jed Hoyer, why call them up now?

‘‘If they have success, wonderful,’’ general manager Jed Hoyer said. ‘‘If they struggle a little bit, hopefully they’ll learn from those struggles, and they can spend the whole offseason working on those things.

‘‘I don’t really see a downside for either one of those guys as far as development goes.’’

I guess we’ll trust you. And thank you for something interesting happening during this five-game losing streak.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Rookie Mania”