You have to hand it to them, they kinda hung in there. For a while. Sort of:
Aramis Ramirez looked right at home at Wrigley Field, hitting a pair of home runs and a RBI double, and Ryan Braun drove in five runs, including three on his 35th home run, to power Milwaukee.
Rookie Brett Jackson hit his fourth home run of the season, and third in the last four games, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Cubs fell to 3-11 against the Brewers this year.
“Obviously in the ninth, it got out of hand,” Braun said, “but it was a really close game and a tightly-contested game up until that point.”
Oh, shut up, Braun.
But never fear, Cubs fans! Help is on the way in the form of some guy you’ve never heard of! Oh, and also he’s 29:
CHICAGO — The Cubs acquired Minor League catcher Anthony Recker on Monday from the Athletics in exchange for catcher/infielder Blake Lalli, but as of now, the team is still trying to figure out who the regular backstop will be.
Recker, who turns 29 on Wednesday, was batting .265 with nine home runs at Triple-A Sacramento and had been designated for assignment on Aug. 20. He hit .289 against left-handed pitching. In 18 games over two seasons with the A’s, Recker hit .146. An 18th-round pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Recker will join Triple-A Iowa’s roster.
And the new guy gets a ringing endorsement from Coach Dale:
”He’s another catcher with raw power who receives and throws really well,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of Recker. “It’s another guy to have in the organization and we’ll see what happens.”
Snort.
So . . yeah. Cubs get another shot at Braun and the stinky Brewers tonight at 7 pm CT.
I love how Julie and Braun argue like an old married couple now.
I hear wedding bells.
Does that mean they are going to start dressing alike/looking alike?
I’d have loved to hear their conversation at lunch yesterday.
In case you missed it, Ken Rosenthal has outlined the Castro contract for everyone…
Via MLBTR & Twitter:
“Castro will receive a $6MM signing bonus before earning $5MM in 2013 and 2014, $6MM in 2015, $7MM in 2016, $9MM in 2017, $10MM in 2018 and $11MM in 2019. If Castro finishes in the Top 5 of the MVP voting twice over the life of his contract, his 2019 salary and the value of his $16MM option will each increase by $2MM. All told, the maximum value of his contract including escalators would be $79MM over eight years (Twitter links).”
Even if Castro doesn’t quite live up to expectations, this isn’t that horrible of a contract. The Cubs have pay a lot of shittier players a lot more money. The only thing I hate about this contract is the number of years.
I just read that Soriano has been advising Castro on this contract. God help us.
I’m not sure what advice he could give Castro. Soriano was all set to take a 6 year contract with the Cubs. John McDonough said, “What the hell, give him a couple more years.” And the rest is history.
Soriano just smiled and signed the paper from what can tell.
The only advice I can think of Soriano giving him is to go talk to John McDonough and then sign with the Blackhawks or something.
“Don’t take it. If you wait long enough, they’ll tack on two more years.”
“And if you wait, they’ll add a full no trade clause…because you definitely don’t want to end up in San Francisco.”
Response #2:
So Soriano is working on his new career as a sports agent? Look out Scott Boras!
Really,Soriano’s advice was basically very solid.
“The government will take half, so it isn’t as much as you think. Watch out for who comes along to be your friend. Don’t live out of control”. That kind of stuff.
I was actually a little impressed.
The Pirates just released struggling pitcher Erik Bedard. Any bets that the Cubs take a good look at him? He fits the Cubs brass standards. He’s a loser.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8309567/pittsburgh-pirates-release-erik-bedard
Gross.
I remember when he was supposed to be the savior of the Mariners.
Wow.
Yep.I remember being so jealous when he was a free agent.
Didn’t we get Ted Lilly instead? Or was that in response to Barry Zito.
Things like this make me wish the Cubs had landed the Super Maddux Bros. instead of Sveum. Bedard was one of the better lefties a few years back, lost his form after a huge payday, and has kinda just been sputtering along ever since. Seems like a great reclaimation project for a team with a pitching coach who can spot the mechanical flaws in the thrower while nuturing the pitcher.
Who do the Cubs have? A guy that looks like a washed up roadie from Metallica’s 1994 world tour.
Bedard is 33 years old, thus on the down side of his career. His issues might be mechanical, which possibly could be corrected (with emphasis on possibly), but he’s going to have to deal with a deteriorating skill set where ever he ends up. That’s a bad combination. A reclamation project is fine if you have a team that can absorb it, but the Cubs are rebuilding their roster, not rebuilding individuals right now. If the Cubs were good, they could afford to take a chance (via money and pitching coach resources)…but they are not. Let the pitching coach focus on helping the young players right now.
Pass.
My stupid ethics are making me sick to my stomach right now.
Go on.
Confession is good for the soul…
You’ve all heard me say how much I don’t particularly care for my job and that I’d probably jump at an opportunity to go somewhere else, especially if something emerged in the Chicago area.
My boss, who, for some stupid reason, thinks I’m the greatest software engineer ever (which I’m not even close) asked me today if it was ok to see if he could go out and start talking to the corporate HR types about trying to get a significant raise to my salary (of which there is no guarantee he’d succeed, but still). Maybe he’s afraid I’m going to leave, maybe he thinks I’m just really under paid…but I feel like he should probably focus his effort on doing this for someone else that isn’t as likely to leave.
I don’t know, I just don’t feel like I’ve done anything to justify a significant raise…or a raise of any sort outside of the couple percent the corporation as a hold gives to everyone.
There isn’t much I can do about it, I just feel like crap that he’s doing this, that’s all.
It’s all stupid and it makes me feel even crappier because there is still 9% unemployment and a number of people would literally kill me for this job.
Well, if you do a good job, and are helping your company meet its goals, and providing value for your services, you do deserve the raise. Maybe the boss knows that his company is not the type that people jump to, and is trying to retain you as long as he can. You should not feel guilty if you are doing your best there, and another oppertunity comes up in the future….
So… are they really going to play out the remainder of this season? I feel like they should just pack it in.
They should just DL Castro and Barney and maybe even Rizzo for the rest of the season just so they don’t get hurt.
The ads on this site are for half off of Nationals tickets. Sweet.
It’s the cookies. My banner ads are for Gilt Groupe…
Man, whoever used to follow doc around thumbs-downing his comments has apparently made me their new target.
Only when you talk about the Nationals.
I don’t think that’s true.
Casey Coleman’s mother has changed her target.
Maybe it’s just some random thumb downer person,attracted to your name and avatar…
I’m just a bill.
…and Ramirez starts hitting away when his team is basically out of the playoff picture.Hm…sounds familiar.
so if he had come back to the Cubs, he would have been in the running for the Triple Crown all season?