New Cubs Alternate Uniform: Navy's (Still) Lookin' Fine

At long last, here's my proposed alternate uniform for the Cubbies.  It's similar to the road proposal, but this one is more drastic.  The idea is that the current alternate would be worn at home only and this would be the alternate for the road, seeing as it shares the same pants and cap that the new road uniform has.

Let's go over the changes.  The first obvious one is that the Cubs tone of blue is nowhere to be found in this uniform (except for the sleeve patch and pants logo).  The script came off the road uniform, and the script and name were changed to white.  The cap and pants are explained in the last proposal because they are the same.  Needless to say, I like it.  What do you think?  Send me an email if you have a comment.    

Down One Carlos (Silva)

But not to worry, because the Cubs still have three remaining.  Carlos Silva, owner of an ugly 10.90 ERA this spring, was cut off the 25 man roster by the Cubs late last week, which prompted him to blame the Cubs.  He directed his attack at pitching coach Mark Riggins.  "He was like, 'Man, you've been throwing the ball good, you can pitch, all of that, blah, blah, blah. If you go out there to Triple-A and throw some games to continue building, to continue getting better ... ' I was like, 'I don't need to go there. I'm ready to go. I feel good, and I'm ready to pitch," said Silva after hearing the news of his demotion.  Silva pitched absolutely awful in Spring Training, but he still thought he was good enough to pitch for the Cubs and he came into Spring Training thinking that he had already locked down a rotation spot.  Now he says he thinks the Cubs had planned it all along, and that Riggins wasn't telling him the truth.  "They already had their rotation done. It was very clear."

The Cubs fired right back, as they should.  But I was shocked to hear Mike Quade's aggressive response.  Why, you ask, considering that such responses are typical of many hardcore baseball managers.  Well here's why.  Lou Piniella didn't drop a single f-bomb during his time as Cubs manager.  There were the occasional angry rants, but these were more defensive old man ramblings than examples of baseball character like he used to show in the past.  Dusty Baker was not one for traditional skipper anger, either.  But Cubs fans probably got a taste of things to come when Quade unleashed on Silva through the media.  "First of all, he's dead f---ing wrong about my pitching coach. And I got no f---ing time for that,'' Quade said. "And second, respect is a two-way street, period. If you're not willing to give it, you're not getting it.  And the third thing that everybody needs to know, this was my call. If you want to be irritated with somebody, this is on me."  The Cubs made an attempt to trade the disgruntled Silva, but just ended up releasing him and will now have to eat much of that big salary. 


I say it all the time and will again in this post; the 2010 Cubs were simply a dead team.  There was no emotion from players with last names beginning with A-Y.  I love what I see with this because the players have extra motivation now.  Quade is a baseball lifer, and a respect guy.  Unlike Piniella, Quade won't just won't tolerate bad effort or negative comments.  Milton Bradley made many offensive statements during his only season with the Cubs and although none were directed at Cubs personnel like Silva's, Piniella just said the bare minimum in reaction.  It was as if he had a press secretary creating prewritten statements for him to just read off a sheet of paper.  Piniella was supposed to bring fire when he came to the Cubs in 2007, but by then he had already lost it all.  But this year's team has more young talent than any of the four Piniella teams, and you can bet that those young guys' ears perked up at this.  It's a battle everyday for playing time; Quade just raised the stakes.  


I feel like this relates to Jimmy Rollins' benching in 2008 as the reigning MVP after not hustling on a fly ball the day before.  Rollins said at the time about manager Charlie Manuel, "He has two rules -- be on time and hustle; and I broke one of them today."  Accepting the punishment, he also said, "It's my fault.  That's like breaking the law and getting mad when the police show up."  In this case, Silva broke a big law when he 'assaulted' an 'officer' in Riggins and then got furious when the police showed up.  As far as a manager comparison goes, Quade is now down in the records as a respect guy.  Play the game hard, and you'll gain his respect.      

MLB's Latest on Franchise Relocation

With the potentially impending move of the Sacramento Kings to Anaheim to become the Anaheim Royals, I thought this would be a good time to look at franchise relocation in MLB.  Before we enter this topic, something to remember is that franchises are more locked down to their home cities more than NBA, NHL, or even NFL franchises.  Baseball franchises require time to build a devoted fan base, whereas NFL teams could fill a stadium nearly anywhere in the United States except for a few rarities (cough, Jacksonville).  NBA and NHL teams can also thrive in smaller communities (Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Columbus, Buffalo, etc).  But Major League Baseball is quite different.  With the sheer number of 81 home games, 20,000 fans per home game won't be adequate like it is for the NBA or NHL's 41 home games.  So there aren't many specifically small market teams in MLB, meaning there isn't a clear favorite for the next city to receive a team by expansion or relocation.  The map you see below is an unofficial fan territory map of the Major League teams.  But here are the top candidates to invade upon this map:

San Jose, CA: The only team that has the possibility of moving here is the Oakland A's, and an expansion franchise here is out of the question.  The A's have been looking at a move to Fremont, CA as well but neither project has gotten the required funding.  Ken Rosenthal wrote an article in January about why the A's should move to San Jose, and I couldn't agree more.  But the Giants have territorial rights to San Jose, which greatly complicates a possible move.  The Nationals moved into Orioles territory when they moved to Washington, D.C. but the A's situation in Oakland isn't as desperate as the Expos'.  The A's actually gave the Giants those rights in the '90s when the Giants where exploring a move of their own to San Jose.  But the Giants won't be as happy to give them back, so we'll see what the A's decide to do.  Proposed plans to move to Fremont, CA for the A's, which at one point had artist renderings and corporate name sponsor in Cisco Field, have been scrapped.

Portland, OR: The Padres AAA affiliate, formerly the Portland Beavers, will move to Tucson and become the Tucson Padres for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.  This leaves Portland without a baseball team.  Portland has never had a Major League baseball team before, but a dormant franchise in the Seattle Mariners might just have the Pacific Northwest hungry for a second team.

Las Vegas, NV: The idea of moving a team to Las Vegas has been thrown around many times, but I don't think this is such a good idea.  Las Vegas' main revenue producer is the entertainment and tourism business, something that isn't true about the home cities of any MLB franchise ever.  Without the casinos and hotels, the city wouldn't be much.  So while they might have a few decent crowds of tourists and the like, a team there would struggle to sell the necessary proportion of season tickets and struggle to maintain a consistent fan base.

Oklahoma City, OK: The Thunder have thrived in OKC, but like mentioned before, baseball is simply different.  The Royals probably wouldn't be too happy about a new team in their vicinity, but fans there would be slow to accept a new team considering most are onboard the Rangers bandwagon as of right now.

Brooklyn, New York, NY: Seeing as Brooklyn is already getting the Nets in 2012, a new baseball team wouldn't be the trendsetter in the area.  But the Brooklyn Dodgers were enormously popular there, but they were the last baseball team since and left over 50 years ago.  There are plenty of East Coast teams as it is, but it's about time somebody challenges the Yankees in a possible borough war with three of the five boroughs represented.

Charlotte, NC: North Carolina has plenty of baseball, with ten Minor League teams in the state.  But the Charlotte Knights don't do this city the respect it deserves.  Charlotte already has a basketball and football team and the Southeast is too great of a baseball region to only be served by one team in the Braves.

Honolulu, HI: Of course, there's always the drastic Hawaii idea that never seems realistic.  But perfect weather and a paradise-themed atmosphere could be very attractive for possible free agents.  That said, the long travel times to the East Coast would be hard to deal with and the schedule makers would have to go well out of their way to avoid 9 hour flights.

San Juan, Puerto Rico: The Expos played some home games in San Juan in 2003 and 2004, and the results weren't encouraging.  But the Expos were a bad and unpopular team then, and it's hard for a community to rally around a baseball team that plays 'at home' only around once a month.  The travel constraints mentioned above are a concern here too, but MLB could use this as the first step into expanding into the international Hispanic market (teams in Mexico?).

Vancouver, Canada: Just like Portland, a team could be put in Vancouver to make a second, possibly winning unlike the first, team in the Pacific Northwest.  Vancouver is a great city by most accounts and supports its NHL team fantastically.

Indianapolis, IN: This one is a long shot because Indianapolis is surrounded by MLB teams already (Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Reds, Indians, Tigers).  But Indianapolis is a very large city that does well in supporting the Colts (and occasionally the Pacers).  But this is not a great bet.


Teams That Could Move to These Cities:

Tampa Bay Rays: With two playoff appearances in the last three years including a trip to the World Series, the Rays don't have the recent history typical of a relocation team.  But after a destructive offseason, the Rays won't make the playoffs again this year or the next.  Now could be the time to move.  The fans of Tampa/St. Petersburg seem disinterested in a team whose stars have spoken out against the fan base for not showing up when the team needed them.

Pittsburgh Pirates: History or not, the last 18 years of Pirates baseball has been horrific.  The Pirates probably won't move for at least five or ten years because of PNC Park's relative youth, but something needs to be done about this team.

Cleveland Indians: The Tribe has gone quiet in the last three seasons, and the fans have turned their back on the team.  The window of opportunity of these Indians came and went after only two good seasons in 2005 and 2007, and the Indians are a franchise lacking direction.  A wealthy investor could take the few Indians fans left out of their misery.

Oakland A's: If not to San Jose, then somewhere else.  But the Oakland Coliseum is the worst stadium in the Major Leagues, and I don't know if I can even blame the fans for not wanting to come.  It's a shame though, because the A's are a young and interesting team.

Toronto Blue Jays: Do chicks really dig the long ball?  No, or not in Toronto at least.  Those Canadian chicks, and the guys too, missed out on MLB's best homer-hitting team by a wide, wide margin in 2010 that finished with MLB's home run leader but MLB's lowest attendance.  The Rogers Centre is not a good park for baseball, and the Blue Jays fans haven't shown the club any love since their back-to-back World Series victories in the early '90s.    

 

Chicago Quiz Giveaway

I'm a serious Chicagoan (and Cubs fan, of course), and most of you all are too.  Which is why a quiz about our city is always fun because we know most to all of the answers.  But this isn't just any quiz.  The readers who correctly answer to the most of its questions will win a free city walk iPhone application (normal price is $4.99) to the Chicago tour. (more specific information is available here).  These apps are self-guided walking tours of major cities in the United States and beyond.  You could even just get the Chicago tour and learn something you didn't know.  Well anyways, here's the quiz.  Send your answers here and wait to see if you've won.  Remember, the sooner you complete the quiz, the higher chance you have of winning.

1) Chicago is known under several names. How isn't it called?
a) the Windy City
b) the City of Big Shoulders
c) the City of Lights

2) Chicago’s downtown area is known as ... .The nickname refers to the area encircled by the elevated train tracks.
a) the Loop
b) the Hook
c) the Ellipse

3) Chicago is the birthplace among others of McDonalds, the chewing gum giant Wrigley’s and the cell phone giant Motorola. What sport has been invented here:
a) 16-inch softball
b) baseball
c) squash

4) At the time of its completion in 1974 the Willis Tower was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York, and it held this rank for nearly 25 years, How many states are visible from its roof?
a) 3
b) 4
c) 5

5) Chicago is the third largest city in United States, its metropolitan area, commonly named "Chicagoland,"being the 27th most populous metropolitan area in the world. What American cities are more populous than Chicago?
a) New York and Houston
b) Los Angeles and New York
c) Philadelphia and New York

6) Chicago is home to the largest population of ... in the world, except Warsaw:
a) Poles
b) Czechs
c) Serbs

7) In 1900, Chicago successfully completed a massive and highly innovative engineering project. Since then the Chicago River is the only river in the world that:
a) flows North in the Northern Hemisphere
b) flows backward
c) the only river in the world that flows both northwards and southwards across the line of the Equator

8) Each year, the Chicago River is dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick is the patron saint of what country?
a) Ireland
b) Scotland
c) Poland

9) The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the largest and most extensive collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world. Which of these painters was not an impressionist:
a) Monet
b) Cezanne
c) Dali

10) The University of Chicago is the site of the world's first:

a) atomic reaction
b) unmanned flight
c) extraterrestrial encounter

Thanks for your participation.  

How MLB Network Does It Right

Ironically, it was during the 2008 NLDS slaughtering that the advertisements were first put up at Wrigley Field.  MLB Network was to be launched on January 1, 2009, making it the last official network of the four top professional sports leagues to launch after NBA TV, NFL Network, and NHL Network.  MLB Network lives up to its name - all of its programming directly has to do with Major League Baseball.  And there's certainly a demand for it; I was just one among many who were dissatisfied with how ESPN's Baseball Tonight would often disappear and air at seemingly random times during the offseason.  ESPN is a successful network in many ways, but is not a great option for die hard fans of any sport.  That fact is exactly the reason how and why success has been had in the television industry from the four league-specific networks.  But MLB Network does it better than any of the other three or ESPN, and here's why:


-An expertly scouted and experienced on-air staff.  MLB Network crowds its studio with former players and executives.  But they don't accept just any former players that want to be on; these players have to bring something to the table.  If the player isn't interesting or thoughtful enough to be a valuable analyst on the show, then they'll just have to face working at a car wash/carpeting store post-retirement.  It is my belief that Harold Reynolds is the best studio analyst on any network covering MLB, and he's surrounded by other such colorful analysts like Sean Casey, Al Leiter, Mitch Williams, and Dan Plesac.  All of these guys had meaningful careers and are talkative, interesting guys.  Even baseball philosophers, I might add.

-Year round live programming.  Every weeknight and some weekend nights on MLB Network during the winter, one will find an hour long episode of Hot Stove on their TV.  Even when there's seemingly nothing to talk about in baseball, the program is sure to find something interesting to discuss.  Also, the network comes out with new entertainment shows, such as their Baseball's Seasons episodes or MLB Network Countdown episodes that air new during the winter.  Like honestly, what baseball fan doesn't want to watch a countdown of 2010's 50 longest home runs?

-Unbiased news and broadcasting.  Although ESPN is the major criminal in bias, it should be known that you're more likely to find the NFL Network talking about the Heat, Celtics, or Lakers than not.  The same can be said about the other two as well.  It's understandable that networks should broadcast the news people care about, but there's definitely a problem when the latest Yankee drama is being advertised every day for SportsCenter and the Athletics magically disappear off the channel for months at a time.  MLB Network broadcasts live games during the regular season of all teams, not just the most popular ones.

-Spring coverage.  After a long, cold (for those of us living up here) winter, sometimes all fans want to hear is baseball and a lot of it.  MLB Network broadcasts dozens of live Spring Training games, and reruns later in the evening.  Also, their program 30 Clubs in 30 Days devotes an entire 43 minutes (an hour with commercials) to each individual team complete with player interviews and a farm system breakdown.  There's not much more the baseball fan could ask of such a network.


The channel certainly isn't perfect.  Occasionally, a mistake comes along in the form of Tony Clark, Barry Larkin, or Larry Bowa, none of whom have been good studio analysts.  But this channel overall is great for the game and puts out a highly entertaining product.  For the serious baseball fan, MLB Network is the place to go.        

Scouting Report on 2011 Cubs

The following is a report on the 2011 Cubs by an anonymous baseball expert contacted by Sporting News.

"First baseman's Carlos Pena's lefthanded bat adds to the offensive balance, but this team still has enough holes to prevent it from winning.  I expect the Cubs to be far more competitive than last season, but they don't have a particularly strong rotation and they have a big offensive hole at second base.  This team may go as afar as Carlos Zambrano takes it.  That's a little unsettling base on Big Z's injury problems early last season.  He's also capable of becoming a distraction.
"(Marlon) Byrd, (Alfonso) Soriano, (Tyler) Colvin and (Kosuke) Fukudome offer depth in the outfield.  Starlin Castro is going to be an outstanding player, I believe.  Is Blake DeWitt the answer at second?  I don't know.  And the Cubs probably don't, either.
"The Cubs used to roll out a dominant rotation.  They can't say that anymore.  You don't know what you're going to get out of many of these guys. ... To me, the Cubs are missing another anchor for the rotation."

This guy is absolutely right on a few things, and a little out of date on some others.  But I couldn't agree more with his point about the offensive hole at second base, which will be manned by a platoon between Blake DeWitt, Jeff Baker, and even a bit of Darwin Barney.  The future of second base for the Cubs is Barney.  He's a career .286 hitter in the minors and a terrific contact hitter.  And although he isn't ready for the starting job to break camp this season, I think he will steal the job by the end of summer or Spring Training next year.  Not only is that a compliment to his talents, it speaks towards the Cubs' lack of quality players there.  DeWitt is a career .259 hitter with no speed and little power, although he too is a decent contact hitter.  Baker can only hit lefties, and even then he isn't anything special.  How a guy with his talent level plays in the Majors I don't understand.  So while Barney might hit for a good average, the Cubs will have to go through a season of DeWitt and Baker.

Just a note about this report is that it was written before the Cubs acquired Matt Garza.  That acquisition probably would have drastically changed this report.  The part where the scout says, "the Cubs used to roll out a dominant rotation.  They can't say that anymore," is no longer valid.  First of all, the Cubs haven't rolled out a dominant rotation since 2008.  Second of all, the current rotation isn't quite dominant, but is the second best in the division behind on Milwaukee's.  When he says, "[about Zambrano] he's also capable of being a distraction," he's making a serious understatement.  For the last few years, Zambrano has been a ticking time bomb that goes off at some point in summer.  But the powers of anger management will be put to the test this summer, and we could see a sane Carlos for once.

Overall, the scout pegs them somewhat accurately.  He thinks "this team still has enough holes to prevent it from winning," but that's probably a pessimistic look at this team.  With bad defense, no speed, a decent bullpen, average offense and an above average rotation, I see the Cubs finishing no worse than .500 and giving Milwaukee and Cincinnati a run for their money in this weak division.

2011 Profiles: Carlos Zambrano

Which Carlos Zambrano shows up to play?


Writer's Take: This is probably the fourth consecutive Spring Training in which this has been the main question with Zambrano.  In past years, it's been the exact same situation every year.  In 2007, 2008, and 2009, Zambrano would go on hot streaks where he could be as dominating as any pitcher in the league with his mix of a great fastball and decent offspeed pitches (July 2007: 5-1, 1.38 ERA in 39 innings).  But he would also suffer months in which he struggled every start (August 2007: 0-4, 7.02 ERA in 29.1 innings), leading to him getting angry and taking it out on umpires, teammates, and/or assorted dugout equipment (just ask the poor Gatorade dispensers at Dodger Stadium and Wrigley Field).  His inconsistency and temper flares have frustrated Cubs management again and again.

In 2010, something was finally done about it.  Zambrano had already been relegated to the bullpen due to ineffectiveness out of the rotation after just four starts when the Cubs took action.  After his annual blow up of the year, a one-sided shouting match in late June with Derrek Lee in dugout of US Cellular Field after Lee didn't dive for a base hit that ended up contributing to a three-run homer, Zambrano was placed on the restricted list.  He wouldn't pitch again until over a month later in Colorado.  But he made it back in to the rotation on August 9th, and turned many heads with his play.  He went 8-0 in 11 starts after he returned with a 1.41 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 70.1 innings.  He did walk 40, but his control was much better than it had been in quite some time.

Scouts picked up on his control improvements, and labeled it in a way that hadn't been thought possible with Zambrano.  For probably the first time since 2006, Zambrano was actually locating pitches and putting his gameplan around that.  From 2007 to the first half of 2010, he had been living on his power fastball and dropping in offspeed pitches, doing just enough to fool batters.  He was the kind of pitcher who made the catcher's glove move considerably on every pitch, but it was okay because he had enough pure stuff to make up for it.  At 29 years old in 2010, his fastball stopped hitting 94 and 95 mph and would top out around 91 or 92 most days.  So he improvised.  He transformed from "a thrower into a pitcher" in one scout's words.  He's less of a strikeout pitcher than he once was, but getting ground balls leaves less risk for hits than high challenging fastballs.  So while Carlos Zambrano has been more of a perennial question mark than any player not named Mark Prior, Zambrano's mix of newfound anger management expertise and newfound control-focused pitching skills should make him a strong #2 starter for the Cubs.

Ideal Production: 13-15 wins, sub-4.00 ERA, sub-4 BB/9 and 7 K/9.

Expert Opinion: Bruce Levine of espnchicago.com wrote an article on Zambrano's tutoring of fellow Venezuelan Carlos Silva.  Zambrano's tutoring is probably gaining him respect in the Cubs clubhouse.  Plus, he's probably learning a bit himself from his teammate.

 

2011 Profiles: Marlon Byrd

Can Marlon Byrd find his role in the Cubs offense?


Writer's Take: Yes and no.  It's hard to talk bad about a guy who's third in the Cactus League with 15 hits and a .500 average.  But good average hitting was something we saw with Byrd in the first half of 2010, and it made him the Cubs' most All-Star worthy player before an ugly drop off in the second half.  At 9 homers, 40 RBIs and a .317 average in the 2010 first half, I didn't think he was actually All-Star worthy neither then nor now.  But he was the most consistent offensive player on that team and the Cubs' one automatic All-Star selection went to him.

Don't expect him to be an All-Star again this year, but he still will probably have a better year overall.  At the end of 2010, his average sat at .293 which isn't bad by hardly any stretch, but he only managed three homers in the second half.  To be fair, this wasn't a guy the Cubs signed for his power.  But it's hard to make yourself relevant in a lineup when you aren't stealing bases, aren't hitting homers, aren't drawing many walks, or hitting for a great average.

On each of his 12 home runs, his home run 'trots' were actually sprints.  He should use some of this hustle to steal a few bases.  Mike Quade has already indicated that he wants his team running more this season, and Byrd looks to be a candidate.  Stealing won't effect his batting average, but would definitely affect the production of the hitters behind him in the lineup.  Byrd hits near the bottom of the lineup most of the time, and getting production out of those 7-8-9 hitters is a sign of a really strong offense.  Production from that part of the lineup may have been the single most important factor in how the Cubs led the NL in runs in 2008.  With a consistent Byrd who gets on base and gets aggressive on those basepaths, this Cubs offense has the tools to put up big numbers.

Ideal Production: .300, 15 steals, 18-20 homers, 70 RBIs, 45 walks    

Expert Opinion: Byrd has a different mindset in 2011, writes Bruce Levine of espnchicago.com.  A more prominent leadership role is something we could see from him this season with many of last year's veterans gone.

New Cubs Road Uniform: Navy's Lookin' Fine

Well the downloadable demo mode of Photoshop has sure proved itself useful.  Here you see my edited version of the Cubs' current road uniform, simple but better.

I'm a fan of the home pinstripes and blue alternate jerseys, although it doesn't really make sense that the Cubs only wear the blue one on the road now.  Anyway, the road gray uniform is, let's just say, less than exciting.  So I decided to take it upon myself to do something about it.  Everywhere where 'Cubbie Blue' was on this uniform has been replaced with navy.  Navy is an idea the Cubs tried to implement on batting practice caps and jerseys from 2004-2006 but they didn't do a good job of incorporating it into the scheme.  But the navy here (and on the new navy alternate I will be finished with soon) looks more appropriate.

First, check out the cap.  The Cubs eliminated the red-billed road cap in 2009 because it supposedly was too much of a hassle to use two different caps and helmets.  I think that was a big mistake and the hassle doesn't seem to bother a team like the Astros, who have two different caps, not to mention five different uniform combinations.  So the red-billed cap has returned.  Nothing on the jersey -- the script, numbers, MLB logo, and Cub shoulder patch -- was changed except for that fact that where 'Cubbie Blue' used to be, there is now navy.  The pants are boring too, so I added a red and blue stripe, outlined in black, to the sides.  As you can see, the socks and belt are navy as well.

I'm sure many Cubbie traditionalists would be against these changes, but I'm not touching the pinstripes.  Also, the fact is that while the pinstriped home uniform is one of the most classic in baseball and has stayed relatively the same for many, many years but the road uniform has been changed relatively frequently.  Even just in 1996, this thing that looked to many like a uniform for the Cuban national baseball team was the Cubs' road jersey.  Speaking of change, the navy brings this uniform up to date plenty.

I submitted the photo you see here to a blog website can Uni Watch that analyzes professional sports uniforms; as far as I know, it's probably the largest uniform-themed sports community website in the country.  In a frequent segment called Uni Tweaks, people from all over the country submit their edited 'uni tweaks' and a few are selected to be featured in a blog post.  This uniform edit of mine was selected on Sunday and can be seen on the page here (scroll down to the Uni Tweaks portion of the post).  I didn't think this had a real chance of getting on there, considering the changes I made are much more minor than the changes most people make on this segment.  But soon, the new navy alternate I'm working on will be finished and released and I have higher hopes for that uniform than this one.  Stay tuned for the release of the new one, and Eamus Catuli.    

2011 Profiles: Carlos Pena

The Profile posts, which begin with this one on Carlos Pena, will continue for the rest of March as the Cubs' 2011 season approaches.  Each one focuses on an individual player with a key question pertaining to the player at the beginning, right below this paragraph in this case.

Can Carlos Pena prove that his glove and power will outweigh the unsightly number of strikeouts and the low batting average he produces?

Writer's Take: Simply, I think he will.  Pena has never homered at Wrigley Field, but he and those bleachers should become acquainted in no time.  I think it says a lot about somebody, either him or the Rays or both, that he was able to hit .196 on the season and still hit 28 homers and 84 RBIs.  If it says anything about him, it should be that he is basically an all-or-nothing type hitter who isn't going to go on any extended hitting streaks.  His walk total (373 since 2007) is nice, but his strikeout total (628) and batting average (.238) are not.  If it says anything about the Rays, it's that they felt significantly safer with Pena than Dan Johnson, the next in line for the job last season.  Pena's fielding is one of the top reasons why the Cubs even acquired him in the first place, and his skills will definitely be an improvement over those of Xavier Nady or Tyler Colvin.  Derrek Lee's strong fielding at first base probably made the Cubs front office realize that great fielding at that position is an asset valuable to the team, especially considering how Starlin Castro struggled fielding last year.  Pena provides stability defensively as a guy who has been at first base for a long time and not someone converted to the position like Nady or Colvin.  The acquisition of Pena meant the Cubs no longer needed Nady, and he signed with Arizona.

Right field at Tropicana Field is friendlier to lefties than Wrigley Field's right field is, but those howling winds which are obviously not a factor in the dome should make things interesting.  Pena also was not a good hitter within his own division; you can't blame him considering the talent the Red Sox, Yankees, and even Blue Jays have rolled out in recent years.  A move to the friendlier NL Central will do him some good.  Pena has to be a consistent power hitter for this experiment to work; a slump-buster who can wake the offense out of its tri-weekly mid-game nap.  Pena has something that the Cubs front office was surely looking for in patience and plate discipline for a team that lacked it on the 2010 version.  Basically, strikeout or no strikeout, Pena is a guy who goes up to the plate with a plan and makes adjustments to it on the fly.  Starlin Castro, whose lack of plate discipline was notable in his rookie season, could use some of that adjustments stuff.  In a lineup where three of the starters are unproved and raw offensively in Castro, Colvin, and Blake DeWitt, Pena's arrival should show results through other players, too.

Ideal Production (what the Cubs need from him to win): .250+ batting average, 30+ homers, 80+ RBIs, 90+ walks, .375+ on-base percentage.

Expert Opinion: While I may think Pena will be effective in what will probably be his one and only year on the North Side, ESPN.com's A.J. Mass doesn't agree.  Pena could be a bust like Mass suggests, or Pena could be one of the best bargains of the offseason.