How would you like to own a bloody baseball? Wait! Don’t answer yet! Did I mention the blood used to belong to none-other-than Chicago Cubs “ace” Jeff Samardzija? You think Tiger Blood was a big deal? Imagine what you could do with Shark Blood! Grow more hair? Develop a wicked fastball? Learn how to wear only a truckers hat to a party and still feel confident and sexy? The possibilities are endless!

I really wish I was kidding about this:

On Aug. 24, Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija cut his hand trying to stop a line drive up the middle. The right-hander stayed in the game for a few pitches before having his wound looked at.

The result? A couple of bloody baseballs, one of which the Reds auctioned off for $130.01.

So, to recap, there’s some sicko in Cincinnati running around with a baseball full of our pitcher’s blood. Not only is that not very cool, it’s also not very sanitary.

» Continue reading “Cubs Live Game Thread: You Stay Classy, Cincinnati Reds”

Over the last few years it’s dawned on me that I hate the Milwaukee Brewers at least as much, if not more, as I hate the St. Louis Cardinals. This is an odd feeling for me, as, growing up, the Brewers were my AL team, and I spent many a weekend cheering on the Beloit Brewers, Milwaukee’s A ball affiliate.

I’ve heard steroids affect your sense of balance.

But somewhere between Prince Fielder yanking his shirt out of his pants, Brewers fans constantly whining about Cubs fans taking over Miller Park, and Ryan Braun being Ryan Braun, I developed a deep and abiding distaste for the Milwaukee Brewers. Sure, I still curse the Cardinals every chance I get, but my hatred of the Cards is twinged with a grudging respect for their continued success. My hatred of the Brewers is twinged with disgust of their food, their music, and their hilarious devotion to known cheater Ryan Braun.

It doesn’t help that they’ve signed the best third baseman we’ve had in decades (grumble, grumble) or that Dale Sveum insists on bringing all his cheesehead buddies onto the Cubs’ coaching staff.

My point is that I’m hoping for a win and a fight tonight.

» Continue reading “Cubs – Brewers Live Game Thread: I Hate The Brewers More Than The Cardinals”

So While Julie is off having pregame drinks with Ryan, I am here to amuse you.

While this season has not been an easy road for the Cubs or the Brewers we have seen some improvements to our ball club.

The Cubs aren’t getting too down on their losses, and are beginning to build team chemistry through the rocky road of 2012.

Milwaukee is in the midst of a sub-.500 season after winning the National League Central in 2011, while the Cubs are left to again wait for “next year.”

When Jeff Samardzija broke a bat over his knee last week, do you have any idea how lucky we all were that he didn’t, you know, break his wrists? He has however proven that he can withstand a starting pitchers role and will most likely be in that position for years to come.

Darlin’ Starlin’ got the contract he deserved and Shark should be next in line to receive the same sort of treatment. I for one would like to see him stay a Cub and think that he will progress strongly as he gains more starting experience and has a team behind him that can produce runs.

After going 0-4 with 3 strikeouts Anthony Rizzo has been relieved of his duties and we will see our other struggling 1st baseman Brian LaHair next to the bag tonight.

Brett Jackson is starting to show much improvement at the plate and has transformed himself into somewhat of a walking machine and power hitter as of late.

Spellcheck tees off again tonight and the lineup is as follows:

Cubs
DeJesus, D, RF
Valbuena, L, 3B
Castro, S, SS
Soriano, A, LF
LaHair, B, 1B
Castillo, W, C
Jackson, B, CF
Barney, D, 2B
Samardzija, J, P

Wednesday 8/29, 7:05 PM CT at Wrigley Field

It’s a day/night doubleheader!!

If you’re not doing anything more interesting today, like going to the Air & Water Show, checking out the first weekend of English Premier League Soccer, enjoying the amazing weather, or clipping your toenails, you might be interested in watching a whole mess of Cubs baseball today.

Or not.

Jeff Samardzija will pitch the first game, which starts at 12:10 pm CT on CSN. That one will probably turn out okay.

But our old friend Brooks Raley/Boo Radley was called up to start the second game, which kicks off at 6:10 pm CT, also on CSN. If you can only watch one of the two games, I’d stick with the first one. I can’t guarantee that the second one won’t cause you to completely break down, curl into the fetal position, and remain there until morning.

At least we get to see Josh Vitters play!

Lineup (Game 1):

DeJesus RF
Vitters 3B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Castillo C
Jackson CF
Barney 2B
Samardzija P

“Fun” in theory, anyway.

Before we get to today’s game thread, here’s the latest on the Ryan-Dempster-Is-A-Big-Fat-Jerk Saga:

The Cubs and Dodgers have four days to complete a possible trade involving Ryan Dempster. The Dodgers turned down a proposal of Allen Webster for Dempster, but seem optimistic that a deal can be completed. The Cubs, on the other hand, have limited options, since Dempster wants to go to Los Angeles and must approve any trade. Here are today’s rumors, with the most recent updates up top…

• The Cubs and Dodgers are discussing a deal of Dempster for Josh Lindblom, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, who isn’t sure what other players could be involved in the swap (Twitter links).  Another source tells Crasnick that the Lindblom rumor is “completely unfounded.”
• The Dempster-to-the Dodgers trade isn’t “dead,” tweets ESPN’s Jayson Stark, though the Dodgers are interested in Josh Johnson and are “waiting to see if [the] price drops on” James Shields.
• Dempster will consider trades to a number of teams, including the Braves and Dodgers, if the Cubs approach him with a deal in place, Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.comreports. ”He has not said that he wouldn’t go to Atlanta or anywhere else for that matter,” a person familiar with the situation told Levine.
• There’s no current dialogue between the Cubs and Dodgers about Dempster, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports (Twitter links). Each club know what the other is looking for at this point.
• The teams discussed the possibility of expanding the trade to include Alfonso Sorianoor Bryan LaHair, Danny Knobler reported today.

You’ll notice that no where in all of this is name of anyone we’d be as excited about getting as we were about Randall Delgado. So that’s . . .  lots of fun. Thanks again, Ryan!

BTW, we spent most of Wrigley Talk Friday arguing about this yesterday. You can listen here or download the show from iTunes.

» Continue reading “Cubs Live Game Thread: Fun (?) With Non-Olympic Sports”

Number one on the trading block?

Cubs headlines these days area boring and depressing. So I’m skipping them. Instead, we’re having a community roundtable discussion. Kind of like the Algonquin Roundtable, but not as  . . .  intellectual. Or smart.

Twitter was all abuzz yesterday with a report from Bob Nightengale that Theo had made it known around baseball that Starlin Castro could be had for  a few “impact prospects.”  From another corner of the internet came this little gem: The Cubs will trade anyone but Jeff Samardzija.

Never thought I would hear those words.

So, I want to know what you think about each of the players below. Trade bait or not trade bait? And don’t give me that “every player has a price and if what’s offered exceeds the price, you trade” stuff. We all read Moneyball. I want to know if you, as GM of the Chicago Cubs, would actively shop the following players:

Starlin Castro

Darwin Barney

Jeff Samardzija

Carlos Marmol

Ryan Dempster

Matt Garza

» Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: Should he stay or should he go?”

We have reports of thunderboomers and rain down in the Lou, thanks to intrepid LOHO St. Louis weather correspondent dabirdguy. I don’t know about you, but I, for one, would not cry if this game was rained out. Sorry I’m not sorry.

Today hippie longhair Jeff Samardzija (1-0, 1.04 . .  yes, you read that right. One point oh-four) will take on wholesome boy-next-door Adam Wainwright (0-1, 4.76).

» Continue reading “Cubs Live Game Thread: So Much Potential For Trauma”

CubNation has barely had time to savor the first definitive victory of the year before heading into the mouth of the lion. Or the den of the lion. Or something. What I mean is that they’re going to St. Louis. And looky what St. Louis has in store for their Opening Day:

Saturday, April 14
Cubs vs. Cardinals at 12:05 p.m.

• Cardinals Official Ring Celebration Day Pep Rally: The pep rally, located in the Ballpark Village Lot at Clark Street and Broadway, begins at 9 a.m. and runs until 11 a.m. Local rock cover-band Trixie Delight will take the stage and both Fredbird and Team Fredbird will be on hand with tickets, autographed items and other Cardinals prizes.
• Replica Championship Ring Day: ALL fans with a ticket will receive a wearable replica of the 2011 World Championship ring. Gates open at 9:45 a.m.
• Player Ring Presentation: The Championship celebration continues as members of the 2011 World Championship team and Cardinals Hall of Famers are presented their World Series rings in a ceremony prior to the game at 11:30 a.m.
• Pre-game Ceremonies: The Air Force will provide an F16 flyover and Color Guard.
• Gold Jerseys and Caps: The team will again wear specially-designed jerseys from Majestic and caps from New Era embossed in gold to commemorate their 2011 World Series championship.
• MLBPAA Auctions: The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association will conduct a baseball-themed silent auction inside Gate 3 from the time gates open through the seventh inning. All proceeds will benefit Cardinals Care and the Players Alumni Association, a non-profit group that strives to preserve the game of baseball and support a variety of charities.

Things have been pretty up-in-the-air around the Chicago Cubs organization lately. New (first?) President of Baseball Operations, new General Manager, new Vice President of Scouting and Player Development, assorted other new vice presidents of things. While the front office shake up has been fun, let’s take a second to check out the state of the actual TEAM.

For those that missed all the news yesterday, the Cubs exercised their option onAramis Ramirez, who promptly voided the team option (forfeiting his $2 million buyout) and decided to take his chances in free agency. Given the current (really crappy) state of the team around him, it was highly unlikely the Cubs would have given Ramirez the multi-year deal he was looking for. And while I’ve really, REALLY enjoyed having a real big boy third baseman for the last 8 years, it appears that the time to say “Vaya Con Dios” to Aramis has arrived. And with it, the death of my dream to have an entire infield named after the Three Musketeers.

If the Cubs offer Ramirez arbitration (which I don’t think they should) and he declines it, the Cubs will get a supplemental draft pick.

Then there’s the fact that the Cubs declined the $3 million team option on Jeff Samardzija (which I LOVED). Okay, so it was a real no-brainer, given the fact that Samardzija hasn’t even come close to living up to the ridiculous contract he got out of Jim Hendy, but are you 100% positive that the guy who gave Koyie Hill $800k wouldn’t give Samardzija $3 million?  I’m not.

» Continue reading “Chicago Cubs Tuesday Headlines: The State of Your Team”

Those of you who’ve known me for a while know all too well that I’m not all that interested in the farm system. It seems too often it’s name after forgettable name, 99 percent of whom we’ll never hear from again. And every season there’s some minor-leaguer who’s should be called up to fix all our problems (see, e.g. Veal, Donnie; Gallagher, Sean; Cedeno, Ronny; Pie, Felix, etc.), almost all of whom fizzle out and incur my wrath before they’re sent packing back to Iowa. Lo, over the years, my attitude has become “call me when they make the club and I”ll start caring.”

Luckily for those of you who yearn for news from the minors, BP’s Kevin Goldstein has undertaken an in-depth review of the Cubs’ farm system. Well, kind of luckily. The news isn’t good. Even *I* knew that.

At first glance, the Chicago Cubs should be an obvious pursuer of Roy Halladay. Selected by most to run away with the National League Central this season, they instead have been treading water with a record consistently around the .500 mark (the overall weakness of the division has kept them a mere two games back of the St. Louis Cardinals). Halladay could be the difference for any team in that division, but the dark cloud hanging over the Cubs’ ownership situation and a current owner spending significant time in bankruptcy court likely prevent them from taking on the Toronto Blue Jays ace’s contract. 

Even if everything were hunky-dory when it came to ownership, the failure of the organization in the middle years of this decade would keep the team out of contention in trade talks anyway, as the Cubs have done little to help themselves through scouting and player development.

Yikes. As bad as all that, is it?

» Continue reading “Down On The Farm”