Put on your hard hat, ‘cuz prices are falling!

In case you had forgotten, the Cubs were horrible in 2012. In order to build some goodwill with the fans, the Cubs decided to lower ticket prices to Wrigley next season.

“The experience of coming to Wrigley is pretty special, it’s unique and hard to replicate,” said Theo Epstein, Cubs president of baseball operations. “I think that has something to do with the ticket prices. Do we want to give fans more value for the dollar? Do we want to make things easier for our fans’ families budgets going forward? Absolutely.”

On to some specifics:

Bleacher season ticket prices and individual game prices will decrease on average by 10 percent per ticket. The 2013 season marks the second straight year that bleacher tickets will experience a double-digit percentage price decrease. The top Marquee level bleacher individual ticket prices will be reduced from $78 to $69 (plus fees), and there are less than half as many Marquee games next year (six in 2013) than the just-completed season (13 in 2012).

The Cubs also said there will be seven fewer Marquee and Platinum level bleacher games in 2013, dropping from 22 in 2012 to 15 in 2013. There will be 66 Bronze/Silver/Gold bleacher games in 2013 instead of 59 in 2012.

(snip)

For the second straight year, there will be no increase in the 2013 invoice for daily season ticket holders compared to 2012, and some will see a decrease.

All Terrace Reserved Outfield seating for both season ticket holders and the average individual game price will be reduced by an average of 5 percent. The Cubs also said all Upper Deck Reserved seating for both season ticket invoices and average individual game price will be reduced by an average of 10 percent.

It’s not huge, but it’s a nice gesture. Did the addition of the seats behind home plate make this an easier thing to do?

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Ticket Prices Fall”

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”

Scott Maine, you got some ‘splainin’ to do.

A flu-like virus, apparently first contracted by pitcherScott Maine before his return to the minors, is making the rounds and the most notable victims areMatt Garza and Jeff Baker.

Garza will have his turn in the rotation skipped, withTravis Wood called up to start against the Dodgers on Sunday. Garza now is scheduled to face theBrewers on Friday in Milwaukee.

“He’s pretty down-and-out, pretty sick,” managerDale Sveum said.

With Travis Wood on the mound instead of Matt Garza, the chances of winning this series just went down significantly. One pitcher who won’t be blowing today’s game in the ninth inning is Carlos Marmol, who made it through his first appearance as a non-closer without allowing a run yesterday.

“He threw his fastball and threw it for strikes,” manager Dale Sveum said. “I think that was encouraging for him that he can throw his fastball a lot. He still got the strikeout on the last pitch, a slider, but sometimes that thing gets set up because of the fastballs he’s throwing. He threw, I think at one time, five fastballs in a row which he doesn’t do that very often.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Sunday Headlines/Game Thread: Flu Ravages Clubhouse”

Tony Campana

You cannot stop Tony Campana. It can’t be done. He’s terrible at getting on base, and I suspect that once this hot start wears off, he’ll continue to be so. But right now, he is a raging speed demon and there’s literally nothing you can do about it. He scored two of the Cubs’ runs in today’s 5-1 victory over Philadelphia.

Today was the second Stats Sunday broadcast, and Len and Bob were discussing BABIP. Which made it fascinating that the only hit the Cubs gave up over the first EIGHT WHOLE INNINGS was a lucky bloop single by the very first Phillies hitter, Jimmy Rollins.

Thereafter, Matt Garza was perfect, setting down 19 – not a typo – batters in a row, before walking Juan Pierre in the seventh. Rollins was even erased on a gorgeous throw to second by Welington Castillo, so Garza actually faced the minimum during that stretch, while striking out 10. After the walk, he finished out the inning cleanly and was lifted for Rafael Dolis, who was also perfect.

Notably not perfect was Carlos Marmol, who pitched the ninth and gave up one hit and 3 – also, unfortunately, not a typo – walks, one of which forced in a run. But after taking another couple of years off my life, he managed to finish out the game without any further damage. I’m pretty sure this roller coaster is just going to be our lives for the next couple of years, folks.

The bats, for their part, did exactly what they were supposed to do today. It felt really good to see everything fall into place.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: Matt Garza Rules”

This thing got a workout tonight.

I’m not gonna lie to you guys. It was bad out there.

Matt Garza was mostly sharp for the first five innings, but two two-run mistakes early on meant the Cubs were never really in this thing. It only got messier after Garza left. The final tally was 9-1 Marlins.

Mark Buehrle absolutely shut down the Cubs today, giving up only six hits. Jeff Baker, resident lefty-masher, got the start and had a two-hit day, leading off the seventh inning with a double and then scoring the Cubs’ only run on a groundout.

Chicago had a couple of chances earlier in the game. Barney and Castro led off the fourth with back-to-back singles, but never advanced any further. Geovany Soto and Marlon Byrd actually reached base today; Soto reached on an error by Hanley Ramirez, and Byrd actually broke his slump with a single to center.

Garza tried to bunt them over, but good lord is he bad at everything that isn’t pitching. The throw went to third, retiring Soto, and nobody else went anywhere.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: More Miami Homers”

In case you missed the game yesterday (you probably had any number of better things to do), you can check out Megan’s recap of the game. In it you’ll read about the horrors of Paul Maholm’s second start as a Cub. What do you have to say for yourself, Paul?

“It’s the same thing as the first start: You give them base runners and they take advantage of it,” Maholm said. “It’s frustrating. But I’m going to bust it this week and make sure to get through it and get back to where I was.”

Paul also learned that fans on twitter aren’t afraid to share their minds with him after a bad outing. This was his reply to an array of tweets of the “you suck” variety:

Yes I had another bad outing. Thanks for reminding me everyone. It happens. We r about to go on a roll. #GoCubsGo

He may lose his sanity if he doesn’t turn his account over to a social media consultant. For his part, Dale Sveum knows how to fix Paul, he just needs Paul to understand how to fix Paul.

“He has to pitch with his sinker,” Sveum said. “I don’t think he was doing enough of that the other day. He was trying to do too many different things and he got out of what Paul Maholm has success doing and that is keeping the ball down and getting ground balls early.”

There’s always next time, right!?

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: At Least It Wasn’t A Sweep”

On yesterday’s episode of Wrigley Talk Friday, we discussed the  . .  uh . .  lack of stimulation we feel when watching this year’s Chicago Cubs. Which I suppose is a nice way of saying that we find this team really boring. It got even more boring yesterday, when the Cubs sent Brett Jackson and Anthony Rizzo, two of the only reasons to pay attention to Spring Training games, back to the minors.

Despite waiting months for Spring Training baseball, I find that I’m just not into the game so far this year. I’m zoned out by the bottom of the second, using the game more as background noise than anything else.

Is this because the games don’t count yet? Maybe, but I think it’s something more.

Cubs fans are more than on-board the rebuilding/renovation going on at Clark and Addison. God knows it needed to be done. And most fans understand that the Cubs probably aren’t going to be competitive this season. Maybe not even next season.

However, I think most Cubs fans were hoping that, in watching this team not compete, we’d at least get a glimpse of what was coming. In other words. .  . we want to see the kids. Instead, we’re getting a hefty dose of what I call the “placeholder” players: the guys who aren’t part of the future, aren’t all that good at present, and are on the roster mainly as a body until the Cubs find someone better to put there. Perhaps I’m being unrealistic, but I really can’t take another season of Blake DeWitt, Jeff Baker, Marlon Byrd, James Russell et al. Add one David DeJesus, a Bryan LaHair, and an Ian Stewart to the mix, and you have a recipe for not-very-exciting baseball.

» Continue reading “Cubs Saturday Musings: On Rebuilding and Placeholders”

After the humiliation of being placed on waivers, not being claimed by anyone, and having to slink back into camp with his tail between his legs (even though everyone said he wasn’t slinking and he doesn’t have a tail and that he totally understood and that he was totally welcome in camp, blah, blah blah) things may finally be going Blake DeWitt’s way.

According to ESPN Chicago’s Doug Padilla, there are several teams (!!) interested in Blake’s services:

DeWitt’s name has come up in recent trade rumors, and if he was dealt it could open a spot for a player such as Adrian Cardenas or Alfredo Amezaga to become a backup middle infielder.

See? You thought I was making that up, didn’t you? I was so not making it up. Teams (!!!) rumored to be interested in DeWitt include the Phillies, Athletics, and Twins.  I know. You can’t believe the teams interested weren’t the Royals, the White Sox, and the Nippon Ham Fighters, can you?

I couldn’t believe it, either. Until I looked at his stats. It turns out  Blake is OPSing  a whopping .842 this Spring Training. If someone else doesn’t take him off our hands, he’s bound to end up on the Cubs’ roster. And when he does, he’ll go back to OPSing .718 like he did last year. Better the Phillies, As, or Twins then us.

So, way to fool teams into thinking you can hit a baseball, Blake! God Speed. Do you need a ride to the airport?

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines: Everything’s Coming Up Blake!”

Mike Quade had so little confidence in his team against Zack Greinke and the Brewers that he decided to get thrown out early in the game and enjoy a nap during the afternoon (note: the nap is purely speculation by me).

“(Quade) didn’t do anything wrong,” Ramirez said after the Cubs’ 3-2 loss. “He went out there and tried to defend his player and for some reason he was thrown out.”

The ejection was Quade’s sixth of the season. Ironically, the Cubs manager promised in spring training that getting tossed out of games was something that he was careful not to get involved in. He said no four-letter, off-color words were involved on Sunday.

“Bill didn’t like what I said,” Quade said. “So I sat and watched the game. There’s no reason to talk about what I said, but there was no ‘magic word.’ ”

Quade would not get into a discussion as to whether there was any history between him and Miller.

Quade’s six ejections tie him for the most in baseball with Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.

“(Gardenhire) has had a tough year as well,” Quade said.

Indeed. And the Twins suck, too. Despite the Cubs’ suckitude, they’re all super excited about having so much team speed this year. Tony Campana and Starlin Castro both have 17 steals! And Darwin Barney has 8! Would you like to see a quote where Mike Quade rambles on about these three? Bruce Miles has come through for us.

“From Castro’s standpoint, developing as a hitter has been the primary thing, and it’s been pretty darn good,” Quade said. “Can that (speed) become a weapon for him? Sure.

“Barney, we’ve played some hit-and-run. We’ve bunted a few times. I think that somewhat appeals.

“Neither one of those guys is going to get the speed respect that Campy gets. You’re going to see half-distance infields. You’re going to see very shallow outfields.

“The good news is, as Campy gets stronger and he can drive the ball a little bit and he beats those defenses in the outfield, he’s going to beat them for three bases.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Even Quade Can’t Bear to Watch”

I never quite know where to start on headlines these days, because it seems like the same story again and again. Ramon Ortiz wasn’t horrible, and the office wasn’t good enough. Oh, and Jeff Baker got hurt.

“Ortiz gave us a chance, he did a good job,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said. “It was an unfortunate first inning. After that we just couldn’t find a way to score.”

Losing players to injury has become a daily situation for Quade and the Cubs.

“He slipped on the Nix ground ball,” Quade said of Baker. “He may miss a couple of days. Day to day. It’s become my middle name.”

Despite Jeff Baker’s injury, he’s still trying to remain positive.

“I think under the circumstances everybody is upbeat and as positive as they can be,” Baker said. “It stinks. Guys are frustrated. You want to get better, you want to win. Like I said, it’s not a lack of effort or preparation. We are just not executing, and we’re getting out-executed.”

It’s a lack of good players.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Still Sucky”