The Cubs played a game yesterday and lost. It doesn’t really matter because Theo Epstein spoke to the press yesterday. First we’ll look at his comments on the Dempster saga.

“I don’t think Ryan deserves any criticism,’’ Epstein said before Wednesday’s game against Pittsburgh. “It’s not fair for anyone to criticize Ryan unless they’ve been in that spot. It’s a right he’s earned.’’

But we want to criticize him! Is there any way you can make him look bad?

“Also, the day before the deal, I told Ryan, `OK, it looks like tomorrow morning, we’re going to have to [make a final decision] with the Braves,’’ Epstein said. “So [then] it was time to make a final decision. So we consummated a deal with Atlanta quietly, and I told Ryan, `We have a deal, so now, you don’t have to decide right away, but I know you’ve been thinking about it for a couple days, keep thinking about it.’

“And that was a good conversation. And then an hour later, the story leaked and with the nature of technology and social media these things obviously spread quickly like wildfire. So Ryan never got the opportunity for more than I’d say an hour to fully contemplate Atlanta with a deal actually in place.

“I feel for him, because then all of a sudden instead of having time to contemplate it privately, he had everyone telling him what to do, everyone asking questions about it, and it became a nuisance for him.

“I think it’s really hard to criticize Ryan. I think it’s unfortunate. But he clearly wasn’t blindsided because we’d been telling him for days that Atlanta was a very likely destination. …’’

Boooooooooo!

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines: Theo Speaks”

I know we’d hate for anyCubs players to talk to the media about how horrible this team is and how they expect the team to lose over 100 games. David DeJesus set the bar for unbridled optimism to a new high last night. 

“We still have work to do but you’ve seen things like this happen,” DeJesus said of the 31-50 Cubs, who started the day 14 games behind the Reds and Pirates in the National League Central. “The second half of the schedule for the Reds might be tough. And who knows about ours? But we just have to worry about every game, preparing ourselves and being mentally strong. I think that will get us to where we need to be.”

Yes, David, in 2014, by some stroke of great luck. Dale Sveum has more realistic expectations.

“We’re a much more stable team than we were a month ago as far as the lineup is concerned,” Sveum said. “The back end of the bullpen has been pretty solid. It’s that bottom end where those guys have to throw strikes. You can’t keep yourself in a ballgame to come back. We have to be better with men in scoring position and we need to throw strikes. You can’t lead the league in those two categories and think you’re going to win baseball games.”

Thanks for sounding like a normal person again after your weird Home Run Derby revelation yesterday.

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines: What Has David DeJesus Been Smoking?”

The Cubs earned a hard-fought victory last night in St. Louis. Ryan Dempster got some run support but then gave up a four run lead. The Cub offense had enough in the tank to pull out a win against the Cardinal bullpen. How does it feel to have won, but still be winless, Mr. Dempster?

‘‘That’s all right. Baby steps,’’ said Dempster, who pitched the first six innings of the Cubs’ 6-4 win over the first-place Cardinals in the opener of a two-game mini-series at Busch Stadium. ‘‘We got a win when I started a game. So that’s nice. You feel like you did your part.’’

You did your part in making sure that Shawn Camp was awarded a win. Alfonso Soriano came through in the eighth with the game-winning RBI. Has Dale Sveum considered moving him down in the order due to his lack of production?

‘‘One of the reasons is we don’t really have anybody else to put in that spot,’’ said Sveum. ‘‘You try to mix things up a little bit as far as left-right in that area. We talk about home runs, but it doesn’t have to be home runs. It’s just a matter of driving the runs in and doing a lot of things with the top of the order getting on base.’’

Said Soriano: ‘‘I don’t have the home runs, but when my team needs a big hit, I’m there. I know my power is coming sooner or later, so for right now, it’s big hits and help the team win. That’s more important than homers.’’

Yeah, but it would be nice to see some homers, too.

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines/Game Thread: Meet Me In St. Louis (12:45 Central)T”

The Marlins had not hit a home run at home yet this season, meaning the home run volcano had not yet been fired. Enter the Cubs. Rafael Dolis pitched one scoreless inning, then was left in the game for a second when Hanley Ramirez hit a three-run home run. Was he left out there longer because of the unavailability of Kerry Wood?

“I still needed two innings out of that spot,” Sveum said. “We’re in a tie game. We would have thought about it but still we would have probably waited one more inning because if we scored then it’s Wood and then it’s [Carlos] Marmol.”

If Wood can’t return by the weekend and finds himself on the disabled list, Dolis is probably looking at more high-pressure situations at the end of games.

“He threw the ball OK, but walked a few guys, obviously,” Sveum said. “It all started with an unfortunate error. He would have got four pretty quick outs and it would have been a different story too.”

The unfortunate turn of circumstances in the eighth marred another good start by Ryan Dempster. He pitched six innings and gave up only two unearned runs (because of his own error).

“That’s about as good as you’ll ever see him throw a baseball,” Dale Sveum said of Dempster, who struck out eight. “He probably made two mistakes the whole game, pitch-wise. His cutter was almost as hard as his fastball and his split finger was ridiculous. That was as good as you’re going to pitch.”

Well, I guess it’s all downhill from here for Dempster.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Monstrosity Erupts”