Last night was unarguably a great night for Chicago Sports. Bulls season? Mercifully over, but not until one of the biggest comebacks in playoff history was achieved. Blackhawks? Killed the Red Wings made it look easy. Chicago Cubs? Took the second series in a row AND leapfrogged the hated Brewers in the process. No, I’m not kidding. The Cubs are in 4th place.

I’ve often spoken of my complete and total disdain for the Milwaukee Brewers. I realize that, as a Cubs fan, I’m supposed to reserve most of my hate for the St. Louis Cardinals, with a small amount left over for the White Sox. And, after all, I grew up halfway in-between Chicago and Milwukee, and the Brewers were my AL team.

However, all that has changed since the Brewers moved to the NL Central. And while my hatred for the Cardinals is tinged with a begrudging respect that they always seem to be in the running when the post-season rolls around, I can’t say the same for the Brewers. For them, my hatred is only tinged with disgust. Accordingly, the above standings have brought me great joy.

» Continue reading “Chicago Cubs Thursday Headlines: Suck on that, Cheeseheads”

Sometimes, in life, things happen that make you question everything you’ve ever believed. Things like Travis Wood having an ERA of just over 2.00 on May 14. Things like wondering if Nate Schierholtz or Luis Valbuena is the happiest suprise this season.  Things like the Chicago Cubs taking 2-3 from the Nationals (against Stephen Strasburg, no less), and then going on to beat the Rockies 9-0. Oh, didn’t you hear? The Cubs beat the Rockies 9-0:

The Cubs may be lacking in overall talent, but they aren’t lacking in confidence.

The stabilization of the closer’s role since Kevin Gregg took over, the continued dominance of the starters and the recent improvement of the offense has the players believing they’re not as far away as most observers believe.

These rooftop owners are a lot easier to get along with, as is LEGO Tom Tunney

“The only thing I think about is that — winning it here,” Starlin Castro said. “It’s going to be unbelievable. That’s why those people (President Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer) are signing people here for multiyear (deals), to be here when the team is competing every season.

“I think it’s going to happen pretty soon.”

Travis Wood turned in his eighth straight quality start in a 9-1 victory over the Rockies, improving to 4-2 with seven shutout innings.

Kyuji Fujikawa and Carlos Marmol finished it against a Rockies team that has fallen back to earth after a 13-5 start.

Personally, I think Carlos Marmol’s biggest contribution to the game was making fans wonder if a 9-0 lead in the top of the 9th was enough, but maybe that’s just me. You can check out the box score here. Just look at all those runs!

» Continue reading “Chicago Cubs Morning Headlines: When Bad Cubs Go Good”

It’s always a terrifying thing for me when I agree with Steve Rosenbloom.  And yet, here we are. Not that we’ve heard the news that the Chicago Cubs are planning to refine the 7th-inning stretch (presumably, by having less-stupid people ruin the song and then stick around and promote their movies/shows/charities for three outs), it appears that the reasonable, coherent Steve Rosenbloom has reared his ugly head again.

Now the Cubs say that not every singer will be invited for the interview, like the Cubs are Johnny Carson and the stand-up comic is hoping to get waved over to the couch.

Duckface AND a peace sign. Perfect.

This is monumentally stupid, even for the Cubs. Mean and insipid columnists — I’m just guessing here — are already planning the piece for the first so-called celeb who gets dissed. Sorry, Julianne Hough and Kenny Wormald, we don’t think there should be another “Footloose,’’ so get out and take the guy from “Storage Wars’’ with you.

Here’s the rule: If you don’t think your seventh-inning singer should be invited to do the interview, then don’t invite that person to sing in the first place. Duh.

Don’t invite stupid people to sing the stretch. Such a simple concept, really. Yet one that seems entirely lost on the Cubs’ marketing department. Rather than having fans, sportswriters, bloggers, and other notable Cubs fans from the community have their moment in the sun (and GOD KNOWS we deserve it for dealing with this crappy team day in and day out), the Cubs will continue to invite the Kim Kardashians and One Directions of the world to sing the stretch . . they just won’t get the pleasure of talking to Len and Jim afterwards. Boom.

» Continue reading “Chicago Cubs Thursday Headlines: How Wrigley Field is like crescent rolls”

It was no surprise to most of us (especially Doc, who called this one a mile away), to find out that the Ricketts have already sauntered pretty far down the road to getting renovations to Wrigley Field approved. Now that the Ricketts have given up the idea that the State of Illinois and City of Chicago (which can’t pay people’s pensions or keep heat in their public schools, respectively) should pay hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate property that they purchased, own, and make money from, everyone seems a lot more willing to negotiate. Funny how that works:

Wrigleyville’s alderman says a recent proposal by Chicago Cubs owners to pay for renovations at Wrigley Field by relaxing advertising restrictions and other rules at the landmark ballpark is just one of many ideas being floated to pay for the work.

But Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, did not rule out easing city landmark rules that make it difficult for the team to erect lucrative billboards, a key component in the proposal by team CEO Tom Ricketts to foot the bill for the entire $300 million rehab without going to taxpayers. The previous plan to tap public amusement tax revenue was greeted coolly by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“I think a lot of balloons are being floated,” Tunney said Monday. “A lot of what they said has not been presented to the community.”

He said Cubs officials would need to negotiate with the owners of rooftop clubs overlooking Wrigley, who gave an icy reception Monday to the idea of new signs that could block their views.

» Continue reading “Chicago Cubs Headlines: The selling of the Wrigley renovation has begun”

There was some intriguing news that came out of this weekend’s Cubs Convention, most notably the proposed $300 million renovation the Cubs have planned for Wrigley Field. If you’d like to see some images of the proposal, click here. The team changed course and announced that they’ll no longer be seeking any public funding of the renovations.

On these conditions: The city lift restrictions on game-day use of Sheffield Avenue, game times for certain days and large-scale signage behind the outfield.

 (snip)

But the shift away from an attempted money grab from a financially strapped city has given Cubs officials renewed optimism that they might get cooperation from City Hall in time to start work on the five-year project this fall.

That requires getting permit and zoning approval for some of those projects this spring, explaining the full-court press the team applied Saturday.

‘‘One of the ways we look at it is treat us as a private institution,’’ chairman Tom Ricketts said. ‘‘Let us go about doing our business, and then we’ll take care of ourselves.

There’s been lot of angst and teeth-gnashing around these parts about the future of the Cubs. But I’m here to let you all know that you don’t have to worry! Tom Ricketts foresees, nay, he PROMISES that things will get better:

In a lengthy letter sent to season-ticket holders, the Cubs’ top executive gave an update on the team’s entire system, including projects in both the Dominican Republic (building a team complex) and Mesa, Ariz. (a new spring training facility).

Ricketts ended the letter with this promise to the season-ticket holders: “In the end, we (Ricketts and his family) are fans and our goal is to win. We’re committed to building a champion the right way. The franchise has imparted on a path that will present challenges along the way but the destination is promising.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Friday Headlines: It’s Okay Everyone, Tom Ricketts Has It Under Control”

I had to get your attention somehow

In Friday’s post we saw some quotes from Theo Epstein about the current state of the Cubs and the plan for the future. He talked for 40 minutes on Thursday, so today I’ll bring you some more of what he said. It’s hard to find any positives from the 2012 season, but it could be that we’re just focusing too much on the 101 losses.

“Maybe we’ll look back on it as the year in which Anthony Rizzo and Jorge Soler and Albert Almora joined the Cubs,” Epstein said. “Or the year in which Javier Baez took a huge step forward, or the year in which Darwin Barney proved himself as an elite second baseman, the year in which Dale sets the tone.

“There were a lot of positives that don’t resonate right now quite as much, because I think we’re all swimming in what it feels like to lose 101 games.”

We probably won’t look back at 2012 as the year that Chris Volstad, Chris Rusin, Brooks “Boo Radley” Raley or Jason Berken started their dominating Cubs careers. Jed Hoyer said the team would be active in free agency this winter and Theo echoed that sentiment.

‘‘There are going to be a lot of teams looking at a pretty limited field,’’ Epstein said. ‘‘I don’t think there’s going to be great value to be had out there. But I think there’s some quality, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see us sign a free agent or two for our rotation.’’

(snip)

‘‘If there’s the right player at the right contract, even at a significant length, if we believe in that player and we believe it’s a good investment, we won’t shy away from it,’’ he said.

That being said, without much hope of being contenders the next couple years, it’s hard to see any contracts for more than two or three years being given out this winter.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Theo, AAA Free Agents And More!”

Today could be the day. Or maybe tomorrow. But definitely probably this week. Reports seem to be swirling from all corners that Anthony Rizzo will make his Chicago Cubs debut either today or tomorrow. Alfonso Soriano is eager to get some help in the lineup, so it doesn’t matter when the Rizz shows up.

‘‘People say lefties hit better against Johan Santana, so let’s see,’’ Soriano said. ‘‘I hope they bring him soon and he does the same job that he’s doing in the minor leagues. He’s got the talent.’’

Dale Sveum seems eager to have someone that can hit in the lineup, too.

‘‘It’d be nice to have somebody [who’s a threat] hitting behind him, too,’’ Sveum said. ‘‘Whenever you have somebody with that much hype and that much ability, I think it always helps to at least have somebody hitting behind him.’’

As one Cub’s career looks to be taking off, another one’s seems to be winding down. Ryan Dempster is currently on the DL, but knows that his time as a Cub is probably drawing to a close.

“I’m not an idiot. I know what’s going on. I just try and enjoy it. … I think I’ve done enough (to appreciate Wrigley) over the years to enjoy where I’m playing and really love where I’m playing, and to not need that moment to reflect.

“And I don’t think I’m done playing anytime soon, so I have a feeling I’ll be pitching a lot of times at Wrigley Field.”

Dempster is feeling better than he did and will throw off a mound today. If all goes well, he’s eligible to return from the DL on Sunday.

“You can feel as good as you can just walking around, but until you actually throw and see how it feels …” he said. “But it feels a whole lot better than it did.”

(snip)

“I pride myself on being able to pitch every fifth day, but I always want to make sure I’m healthy when I go out there.”

I want you to be healthy enough to yield a decent prospect. And thanks for all you’ve done as a Cub.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: RizZOMG Eve?”

I kind of don’t even want to talk about “real ” baseball today. I’m having way too much fun soaking up the rays of having landed our man and imaging what the future could be like. I really don’t want to ruin that by talking about reality.

In that vein, here’s what ESPN has to say:

The Chicago Cubs won the bidding for Jorge Soler and agreed to terms with the 20-year-old Cuban outfielder, a source familiar with the situation told ESPNChicago.com’s Bruce Levine.

Soler will come to the U.S. and take a physical before signing a nine-year, $30 million contract, according to the source.

Soler has the option of opting out of the contract altogether during his arbitration-eligible years, which means that he could make far more than the $30 million guaranteed.

Year by year, through his arbitration years, he can weigh the dollar value in his agreed-upon salary versus what he might make in arbitration.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Soler is a projected right fielder with five-tool potential, according to scouting sources.

So . .  there’s that. To see REAL LIVE FOOTAGE of Soler running and moving and doing things, go here.

Note: I’d really love to read what Keith Law has to say about this signing. Alas, I’m not renewing my Insider subscription just to do that. Sorry.

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines: Basking In The Glow Of Soler-o-Rama”

And so is the losing streak.

Honestly, I was to the point where I didn’t really mind the streak. The last thing we need this season is a bunch of yahoos (read: Tom and Todd Ricketts) getting the idea that this team could compete and trying to hold on to the likes of Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster at the trade deadline.

And frankly, after the (fake) twitter storm that suggested Anthony Rizzo was being called up Sunday night ended in disappointment, seeing how long the streak would go was really the only thing I had left to hold on to. That and the prospect of the #1 pick. Alas, the Cubs can’t even lose properly, which they proved by out-slugging the Padres yesterday.

Left fielder Alfonso Soriano hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth inning as the Cubs put on their most impressive offensive performance of the season, snapping their 12-game losing streak in an 11-7 win over the Padres.

Cubs manager Dale Sveum admitted the victory wasn’t just one in a 162-game season.

“Let’s not kid yourself. You lose 12 in a row and you finally win … it’s a big relief for all them guys,” Sveum said. “It’s tough. It shows you sometimes how tough it is to win a Major League Baseball game. To lose 12 in a row — hopefully something like that gets everything going.”

Soriano finished with three hits and drove in three of the Cubs’ season-high 11 runs, while Bryan LaHair also had three hits in his first multihit game since May 14.

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines/Game Thread: Our Long National Nightmare Is Over”