Between the pitching implosion and Tom Ricketts’ bleacher interview yesterday, I’m having a hard time keeping the rage to a minimum this morning. Let’s get right to the fun:
CHICAGO — All the injuries that have hurt the Cubs’ record are starting to take a toll on their manager.
Mike Quade has given injury reports on a near daily basis this season, which is why he wouldn’t even entertain the possibility of an injury to catcher Geovany Soto after the Cubs’ 12-7 loss to the Astros on Monday. Soto, who returned Monday after being sidelined since May 10 with a strained groin, was hit by a pitch on his left hand in the eighth.
“I don’t even want to think about it,” Quade said.
Soto was hit on the fatty part of his hand and is expected to be OK. Alfonso Soriano could be the next player to land on the disabled list after leaving the game in the first inning with a strained left quadriceps. Results from an MRI are expected Tuesday.
Joy. Can’t wait to see who the Cubs call up instead of Tyler Colvin this time.
At least SOMEONE is close to returning, though not the pitcher we all hoped for:
CHICAGO — Matt Garza, who has been sidelined since May 17 with tightness in his right elbow, threw on flat ground and played long toss Monday and could return to the rotation Sunday in St. Louis.
“[I] heard it was good,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said of Garza’s throwing session. “I heard it was real good. Great piece of news today.”
The right-hander won’t throw Tuesday, but he will get back on the mound Wednesday for the first time since the injury.
Finally, if you’re looking for something, ANYTHING to feel good about in relation to the Cubs this morning, read this:
DJ LeMahieu knew Sunday he was getting a call-up.
Only he thought he was going from Class AA Tennessee to Class AAA Iowa.
Fortunately for LeMahieu, the Cubs had better news. They promoted him all the way to the big-league club Monday as infielder Jeff Baker went on the disabled list with a strained left groin.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to get that call,†said the 22-year-old LeMahieu, a second-round pick out of LSU in 2009.
“You dream about it as a kid, like everyone says. Once you play in Double-A, you kind of know that the call might be coming, but I don’t know if you can really prepare yourself for the actual call. It was a great call. I’m really excited to be here.
“Brian Harper (Tennessee manager) called me and said, ‘You’re going to Iowa.’ I was really excited. I was pumped. Two hours later, I was actually fishing with a couple buddies on a lake in Tennessee. Oneri Fleita (the farm director) called me and said, ‘Change of plans; you’re going to go to Chicago.’ I was like, ‘Did I get traded?’ He said, ‘You ever hear of Wrigley Field?’ It was pretty cool, a pretty cool moment.â€
I’m still hoping to put together some thoughts on all the stupid things Tom Ricketts said yesterday without incorporating a bunch of expletives. If I can get there, I’ll let you know.
“Can’t wait to see who the Cubs call up instead of Tyler Colvin this time.”
Corey Patt—Oh wait.
Felix Pi—-Damn, Strike two.
Matt Murt—Oh.
Well, *I*’m no help.
Eff it. Put Zambrano out there four days, then pitch his one. At least they’ll get his bat in the lineup.
My expectations were low going into this year but somehow I feel like they are doing worse then I even thought, which makes it more maddening.
This is so true. So many wasted opportunities. I didn’t expect them to contend, but I’d like them to get to a point where they don’t embarrass us at every turn.
I generally go into each year expecting an 0-162 finish, so they always exceed my expectations.
It’s a good thing the Cubs are terrible anyway, because all these injuries would be devastating if they were any good……
There are several ways to go about looking at this, actually?
Could this injury bug be due to the fact the roster had to be filled with players with questionable medical histories because they had no money to spend on better players?
If that’s the case, being a bad team and all these injuries go hand in hand. The lack of a payroll budget not only caused this team to have at talent poor roster but also players that are more prone to injuries.
Ok…we need to at least ask these questions as to why half of this roster is broken…
1. Should Tim Buss be fired for not having these players in better shape to help prevent these injuries?
2. Should Jim Hendry be fired for possibly signing too many oft-injured players?
3. Are the player facilities at Wrigley just inadequate for preparing today’s players to play baseball at a high level?
yes, yes and yes
Well, that settles it. A new strength and conditioning coach (or coaches…Hans and Franz anyone???)…a new GM (me?)…and a brand new stadium.
That’s pretty simple.
I’m a little disturb that three people have “liked” a comment where I proposed that I should be the GM. Either that is a statement about how questionable people’s sanity is on this site or it says volumes about how poor of a job Jim Hendry is doing.
A little bit of both, but probably more of the latter…depending on the day.
1) no
2) no (he should be fired for other, more structural reasons)
3) 1000% YES
Who are the oft-injured guys, anyway? Johnson for sure. Soriano was quite healthy when the Cubs signed hi – all of the injury issues have happened since then. How many major injuries have Garza, Wells, and Cashner had in their careers?
number 3 can be a huge root cause for the ineffectiveness of 1 and 2.
Sure, but it’s not like it’s a new problem. I think it can (mostly) be chalked up to bad luck. I’m writing a post at OV to catalog all the DL and near-DL moves this year. Link soon.
http://www.obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/articles/which-types-of-players-have-been-injured.html
Can we not have any more LSU brats running around, please?
If anything, they’re LSU boudin, not brats.
/Rimshot
/Terrible pun
Is there a transcript of the ricketts interview?
I don’t even know what this is about. What happened?
Len & Bob did their annual sit-in-the-bleachers game yesterday, and Tom Ricketts stopped by and they chatted for a while.
talked about how much “fun” the Boston series was, even though we lost half our team and get demolished in 2 games. But he got to sit on the Green Monster! So that was fun!! He talk about the park, about atmosphere. The usual. My head exploded.
You know why it’s so much fun at Fenway? Because their team is always competitive. If the Red Sox ownership put the crap on the field that the Cubs have over the last two years, I’m fairly sure Bostonians would burn Fenway to the ground. Luckily, Chicago fans aren’t so emotional.
I just wrote my Pitch Fest for tomorrow on this. I’ll never get a press pass, now.
God wants the Cubs to go into rebuilding mode.
And you expect Jim Hendry, Crane Kenney and Tom Ricketts to actually listen to God?
It’s definitely the silver lining with all these injuries. Who knows if it’s enough to convince the top brass that they’re out of contention. This team could really use a fire sale.
They had every reason to “fire sale” things last year and didn’t do it. Yeah, the dumped Theriot, Lee, Lilly and Fontenot, but what did they get in return for them, and what significant future payroll flexibility did they get from it?
I’m very fearful that management will be afraid to do that this season just because attendance has plummetted so much…they might make some bullshit, half hearted attempt at getting another starting pitcher in here at the trade deadline with hopes of trying to convince fans that they are still in contention and to come out to the ballpark.
I think the Cubs and I may be going into a trial separation. We tried to stay together for the kids, but it just wasn’t working. I’d say it’s not them, it’s me, but honestly, it’s them.
You’ll come crawling back to them. You always do. We all always do.
And you’ll think that you can change the Cubs. The next time will be different. Everyone else will see next time that they will have changed. You’ll all see!
There’s someone else, isn’t there! Let me guess: a team with a WINNING RECORD??? So, yeah, we “LOSE†games. And sometimes we lose games stupidly. But we LOVE you, dammit!! Winning’s not everything, you know!
Who is it?? You can tell me! Who — the Yankees?? “Oooo, we’re super-rich so we can BUY our championships!! Oh, and we just built a new bajillion dollar stadium!!” Well, try to get a decent seat there and a beer and dog for less than a couple hundred bucks!! (And they’ve never even HEARD of Vienna beef hotdogs! You’re stuck with Nathan’s, and you better get used to KETCHUP on your dog!) Hope you’re happy paying THAT kind of money! Or maybe the Giants?? Big WORLD SERIES champs?? They’re just a flash-in-the-pan anyhow, they’re not even in first place! And you know how many different cities they’ve been with the last half century?? Do you?? Just ask New York what THEY think of the SAN FRANCISCO Giants! Same with the Dodgers; how’d that work out for BROOKLYN, huh??
Maybe it’s one of the new teams, the “expansion†teams, huh?? You into that sort of thing now? Where it’s nice and sunny and warm, like in Arizona or Florida? You know the Marlins play in a football stadium, right?? A stinkin’ football stadium! Is that how you want to watch your baseball games?? So by the 4th inning you have a crick in your neck from looking to the left for an hour straight! Plus, you get to do the wave non-stop for 9 innings with a two-thirds-empty football stadium full of yahoos, sound like fun?? You think THEY have buffalo dogs?? I don’t think so!!
Y’know what?? You do WHATEVER YOU WANT TO. I have plenty of great fans WHO LOVE ME who’ll still come watch Cubs games not matter HOW crappy the team plays!! Don’t worry about me, I won’t sit here alone feeling sorry for myself, no sir! I won’t be hurting for companionship!! They call it “the friendly confines†for a reason, y’know!
You sound like one of my ex’s…
The Cubs are like the hot chick from high school that everyone wanted to date. Then after a while, word gets out about how high maintenance she is, but a lot of people still wanted to date her because she is so hot. But a few years later when she hits 30 years old, and her looks have started to go, she’s no long very hot, but she’s still high maintenance…and now almost no one wants to date her any more, and the few that do (that would be sad pathetic saps like us) just do it because we can’t find anyone better and from always resort back to the memory of her hotness from years ago, even though she really wasn’t much of a catch in the first place.
I think they’re more like a shitty baseball team, which has been shitty basically without pause (except for a fleeting moment here and there) since the end of the dead-ball era.
Hey — maybe there’s a connection??
*Ahem* I’ve been sleeping with the ’69 Cubs for 40 years.
I watch the Cubs, every year, until such a point as I am entirely convinced they have no chance of making the playoffs. I am maybe 99% convinced at this point, but not entirely (that usually takes until August or so). At that point, my usual move is to start following the Twins, but they seem to be doing worse than the Cubs this year. My godfather’s a Red Sox fan; when I finally lose hope in the Cubs for this year, do I jump on their bandwagon (again)?
PS. My ranking of favorite teams is something along the lines of 1. Cubs 2. Twins 3. Everyone else 29. Cardinals 30. Yankees.
PS. Julie, I saw your complaints about your fantasy team getting injured. I have similar luck in every fantasy league I’ve been in. Next year, I’ll try to make sure I’m in whatever league you’re in, and we can team up to draft all the Cardinals’ best players.
(Admittedly, I didn’t get Pujols injured by having him on my team… but that *was* 2007, the only year in which he had fewer than 100 runs scored. And put it this way: Sammy Sosa was my best outfielder that year, in his short-lived Rangers comeback.)
that would be awesome. If you look at my team, the whole page is red with little “!!!” by every player. UGH
Tyler Colvin is at Wrigley.
I’m sure he’ll sit on the bench while Blake DeWitt gets a majority of the starts in left.
Oh…wait…is DeWitt hurt? I can’t keep track of who’s injured and who’s not.
Seriously, I’m gonna need a daily list of the players that are NOT on the DL. I can’t keep up. Math is hard.
VERY excited Colvin is back. Now, Mr. Quade, please let him play, or I will punch you in your eyelash-less eye.
They left a ticket at will-call.
I’ll be on Jarrett Payton’s radio show tomorrow at 10:50 am. Please tune/call in and make it look like I have followers. LOL
What’s in it for us?
Jake Fox is complaining about his role with the Orioles.
I just find this amusing.
That’s all.
who’s hurting more?
the cubs or you guys?
wow! julie(LYH) go CUBS!