EMERGENCY UPDATE: Brent Lillibridge waived, Takhashi DFA’d, and Kevin Gregg (aka Groggles) is in the bullpen. Holy hell.

Before we get to the big return of Darwin Barney, I have an issue with Lance Berkman:

After 83 career games played at Wrigley Field, former Astro Lance Berkman is not fond of the Chicago Cubs’ home.

“If they’re looking for a guy to push the button when they blow the place up, I’ll do it,” Berkman said Monday to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Chicago’s one of the worst places in baseball … really for anything,” he said.

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”

Not only does Darwin Barney win Gold Glove awards, he speaks for Starlin Castro. Of course, the words he attributes to Starlin are only laudatory.

“As happy as he is about the work he has done, we have spoken about who he wants to be in the future,” Barney said “One of the best things he did say to me that made me feel really good is he said, ‘Hey man, you’re the best defensive player I have ever seen and I want to be like you.’ Coming from a guy who has every tool in the bag means a lot. We are good friends and I hope our relationship keeps getting better and better.”

He’s totally my best friend and like, he said that I’m the best defensive player in the WORLD. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn from Darwin that Starlin said he has the best fashion sense and singing voice of any player he’s ever seen. But they’re working together to become the greatest double play tandem the world has ever known.

“We decided early on in spring training that we were going to work hard together to be the best that we can up the middle,” Barney said. “Our goal is to be the best around, and that is what we are working towards. In the future, we will have to get better together and hopefully that is what we can do.

I hope so, too. And I hope Starlin can show you a thing or two about hitting.

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines: Barney Speaks For Castro”

How you like them apples? ~ JW333

If you haven’t heard by now, the Cubs have a Gold Glove winner on their roster:

CHICAGO — Darwin Barney’s glove is now solid gold.

On Tuesday, Barney was named the National League’s top defensive second baseman, winning his first Rawlings Gold Glove Award. The Cubs infielder won the honor over the Reds’ Brandon Phillips and the Diamondbacks’ Aaron Hill.

“I’m extremely thrilled,” Barney said late Tuesday. “It’s something you came into the season working towards, but it’s not something where I thought the results would be there as quickly as they were. I’m extremely happy about it. There’s a lot of good competition. I’m really surprised it ended up happening for me. It’s an exciting night for me.”

Not bad for someone who was primarily a shortstop and didn’t become the Cubs’ full-time second baseman until 2011.

“I felt the transition would happen eventually,” Barney said. “I didn’t think it would be as smooth as it was.”

Nice try, Baseball Gods, but this still doesn’t make up for that stunt you pulled with Theriot last week.

» Continue reading “Darwin Barney’s Gold Glove: Baseball Gods Throw Cubs Fans A Bone”

In light of the last few days, I felt I would be remiss if I didn’t use this photo this morning. Enjoy.

Bad news out of the Arizona Fall League: Javy (we’re calling him “Javy” now that we know he can hit) is broken:

Cubs prospect Javier Baez had his 2012 season end with a possible fracture of the tip of his left thumb.

Baez, who was playing third and shortstop for Mesa in the Arizona Fall League, incurred the injury off the field on Saturday, apparently while celebrating, a team source said. After sitting out Sunday’s game, Baez was sent to see a specialist on Monday.

The Cubs believe it’s a broken tip of his thumb and will shut him down.

The injury isn’t expected to affect Baez’s readiness to go to spring training in February.

You hear that, kids? The tip of Javy’s thumb is going to be okay!

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Darwin Barney is a finalist for a Gold Glove. I don’t recall ever before celebrating someone being a “finalist” for a Gold Glove. Actually, I’m not sure I ever even knew there were “finalists.” I just assumed they voted out of all the position players for each Gold Glove.

At any rate, we’ll take what we can get this season:

CHICAGO — Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney will find out Tuesday whether all his hard work paid off.

Barney is a finalist for the 2012 Rawlings Gold Glove Award, to be announced Tuesday night. Hall of Famers Andre Dawson and Ozzie Smith will take part in the presentation, to air on ESPN2, starting at 8:30 p.m. CT. Each Major League manager and up to six coaches on his staff voted from a pool of qualified players in their league and could not vote for players on their own team.

You hear that, kids? Darwin Barney might win a Gold Glove!

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines: Arizona Breaks Baez, Gag-Worthy Theriot Things”

Don’t look now, but I have not one, not two, but THREE news items to report today! Are you ready? You’d better get ready, because here we go:

First up, Darwin Barney has won the Fielding Bible Award for extreme excellence at second base. Or something.

CHICAGO – The regular season ended less than a month ago and already Darwin Barney has one defensive award to his credit.

Barney was a first-time winner of a Fielding Bible Award, an honor that goes to one player at each position, regardless of league. The award is voted on by a panel of 10 baseball insiders that include Peter Gammons, Bill James, Joe Posnanski and Doug Glanville.

According to John Dewan, author of “The Fielding Bible, Volume III,” Barney led all second baseman in baseball with 28 runs saved, 17 more than his closest pursuer at second base, Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox. Pedroia won last year’s Fielding Bible Award winner at second.

Other Fielding Bible Award winners included, Mark Teixeira of the Yankees at first base, Adrian Beltre of the Rangers at third, Brendan Ryan of the Mariners at shortstop, Alex Gordon of the Royals in left field, Mike Trout of the Angels in center, Jason Heyward of the Braves in right, Yadier Molina of the Cardinals at catcher and Mark Buehrle of the Marlins at pitcher.

Apropos of nothing, I wish we had a Molina.

Does this mean a Gold Glove is in Barney’s future? We’d all like to think so, but my money is on Brandon Phillips to win AGAIN, because that’s the way Golden Gloves work. By the way, our buddy Doug Glanville was on the panel that voted for the Fielding Bible winners.

» Continue reading “Cubs Friday Headlines: Darwin Barney Wins a Bible. Or Something”

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”

Up to 97 losses.

The Cubs lost again in Colorado yesterday, earning them their fifth sweep at the hands of a National League West opponent this year. Chris Volstad looked like the same Chris Volstad we’ve seen all year and gave up seven runs in 3.1 innings. I don’t expect to see Volstad back with the Cubs after Dale Sveum’s post-game comments.

‘‘There was really no life or anything,’’ Sveum said. ‘‘No breaking balls or sticking to the game plan. He pitched a pretty good game [62/3 scoreless innings] against these guys last time, pitching glove side down and away. I don’t really know what was going on today.’’

Volstad, who said he and catcher Steve Clevenger were on the same page and game plan, said the game ‘‘kind of sums up the year.’’

When your manager calls you out publicly after the game for not following the game plan, I think he’s had enough. The Cubs did battle back to make it 7-5, including a home run from Anthony Rizzo. He now has 15 home runs and 47 RBI in 82 games. Dale Sveum broke out his calculator and liked what he saw.

‘‘Double that, and it basically averages out to 30 and 100 [RBI] for a season. Pretty impressive for 22 years old,’’ Sveum said of Rizzo. ‘‘You have some stuff to hang your hat on next year for a full season. So that’s nice to know. You’ve got some guys that gained a lot of experience and hopefully keep gaining and get better and better.’’

But Rizzo hasn’t bothered to look back at his first season with the Cubs, yet.

“Ask me that in a couple days when the season is done and I’ll sit back and reflect,” Rizzo said. “I just have to keep working hard and keep going.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Friday Headlines: Sveum Is Done With Volstad”

As the 2012 season nears its end, we’ve been reduced to reading about the Gold Glove. Will Alfonso Soriano win one? Will Darwin Barney’s magical errorless streak unseat Brandon Phillips from the top of the NL second base heap? All this for a popularity contest. That’s what we’ve been reduced to. But Brandon Phillips is still a jerk.

“Really? That’s cool, that’s nice,” Phillips said of Barney’s stretch, which long ago passed Ryne Sandberg’s NL record of 123 games.

“I’ve been too busy winning,” Phillips said. “I worry about myself and this team. If you don’t play for the Reds, I don’t worry about you.”

(snip)

“The majority of my errors have been on plays that normally second basemen don’t get to,” Phillips said. “I don’t worry about that type of stuff. All I can do is go out and catch the ball and try to be the best second baseman I can be.

“Everybody knows I’m the best defensive second baseman,” he said. “I say errors don’t mean you’re a good defensive second baseman, it just means you get to the balls you get to. If I didn’t have any range, I wouldn’t make any errors the whole year.”

We get it, Brandon, you’re number one. And super humble.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Gold Glove Intrigue”

The Cubs lost again to the Brewers last night. This time they did manage not to give up 9 runs in the 9th inning, so that’s something. The highlights of the night were Travis Wood’s home run and Darwin Barney tying the National League record with his 113th consecutive game played without an error.

“It was one of those things where when I was younger I always thouht that defense was my weakness so I put a lot of effort into working on it and getting it as solid as I could,” Barney said.

(snip)

“I don’t think it about it as much as last year,” he said. “Last year, making that transition there were a lot of plays that I felt were not as comfortable, primarily turning double plays. But we came in with a plan to fix those things and to work on the plays I had trouble with and secured that up.”

Barney’s mark ties the record for games played in a single season. He still has 10 to go to match Ryne Sandberg’s 123 over the course of two seasons and 29 to go to match Placido Polanco’s 142 for the MLB record.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Darwin Barney Greatest Defensive 2B Of All Time”