A Rough Start

Gold-numbered jerseys?  Check.  Gold-logo emblazoned hats?
Check.  Mandatory around-the-neck gold bling?  None (yet).

Inconsistent offense, shoddy bullpen work highlight first 10 games


It wasn't surprising that many assumed that the 2012 Cubs would struggle on the field.  It probably was surprising, however, that they got off to such an early start at that.  The first homestand, which saw the Cubs host the Nationals for three games and the Brewers for four, started 1-5 for the Cubs as they struggled to find a winning formula.

The Monday night game was not without its highlights, such as Bryan LaHair's monster home run onto Sheffield Avenue early on, but Chris Volstad's shaky start and Shawn Camp's atrocious relief appearance (three earned runs in one inning) spelled doom in a 7-5 loss.  It was a competitive ballgame, however, as Starlin Castro batted in the bottom of the ninth with the tying and winning runs on base.  A John Axford slider then ended all hopes of a comeback.

Tuesday night was a different story.  Paul Maholm, who has now been torched in both of his starts, had allowed six runs by the third inning.  Even the platoon catcher, Jonathan Lucroy, hit a home run. This game left little chance for the Cubs.

Yovani Gallardo and Ryan Dempster had a surprisingly intense pitcher's duel in the Wednesday game.  Gallardo allowed only a first-inning sacrifice fly to Castro, while Dempster held the 1-0 lead until a two-run homer by the other platoon catcher, George Kottaras, gave the Brewers the lead for good in the seventh.

And just like that, the Cubs had lost the first three games of a four-game series and started the season 1-5.  Pretty depressing stuff.  But this, my friends, is the wonder of rebuilding.  The team will be bad, but there are sure to be signs of life.  One such sign came Thursday as the Cubs shut out the Brewers 8-0, a real team effort as six different Cubs knocked in runs.  Matt Garza was even one pitch away from a shutout.  In fact, he got his pitch - an easily-fielded comebacker to the mound - and he promptly fired it into the stands instead of making the easy, 45-foot throw to first base.  Manager Dale Sveum yanked him unnecessarily, and Garza was robbed of the Cubs' first complete game of the season.

Bryan LaHair gets a round of high-fives after hitting the first
Cubs grand slam since October 2010.

The Cubs even broke out the bats for the second straight day in a row, and at a great time.  Those St. Louis Cardinals, decked out in gold-logo'd hats and gold-lettered jerseys just in case anybody forgot that they won the championship last season, were looking for an easy win over this weak Cubs team on their Opening Day.  They didn't get it.  First, rain rained on their parade.  Then, the Cubs rained on their parade.  After a lengthy rain delay of nearly two hours, any Cards fans that stayed looked foolish after a three-run homer by Ian Stewart and a grand slam by LaHair helped give the Cubs a 9-0 lead by the third inning.


Who gave up all these runs?  Why, it was Adam Wainwright.  That's the same Wainwright who, after nearly being the team's ace the last half-decade, missed the entire 2011 season due to injury.  This means he did nothing to contribute to their World Series run even though he is on the team.  So how ironic it was that he was the man to start the game in which they got their World Series rings, wore the glittery gear, and flaunted around pregame in celebratory fashion in front of the second-largest Busch Stadium II crowd ever.  But I digress.


Anyway, the point is that the Cubs did show the ability to score runs.  I like LaHair's power potential; he has two homers so far, one of which went opposite field and the other which left the stadium entirely.  I don't think strength will be an issue with this guy.

The Saturday and Sunday games were a mess.  Volstad imploded in the fourth inning of an otherwise sharp-looking start on Saturday, but the Cubs could never come back from the four allowed in the fourth.  The Cardinals did salvage one win in those odd-looking gold-numbered jerseys.  They had the wit to wear those things for a second game.  Who do they think they are, the New Orleans Saints?  While we're on the topic, is new manager Mike Matheny paying his pitchers to throw at opposing batters (in "kill the head" fashion)?  Probably not, but a concussion did end Matheny's playing career....  Also, in other weird-coincidence news, the Giants wore a similar gold-lettered jersey at their home opener last season as well to celebrate their 2010 World Series championship.  Which team did they host in their home opener?  The Cardinals.

Back to the Sunday game.  That second torching at the hands of Maholm took place on Sunday as Matt Carpenter, some kid who has made a lot of headlines so far, ended up five RBIs for the Cardinals.  The Cubs never really got to Cards starter Jake Westbrook, and the series ended with Friday being the lone Cubs win.  The series started off promisingly, but the end looked like the Cubs team we were expecting to see.

Through these first three series, the Cubs never really showed what their strengths are.  The last guy to make the rotation, Jeff Samardzija, is the only one with more than one win.  The offense scored 18 runs in the first six games then put up 17 runs in the next two.  Kerry Wood's bullpen failures from the first weekend were forgotten in place of a hodgepodge of dismal 'pen work from Camp, Lendy Castillo, and Carlos Marmol namely.  Not to mention Maholm's efforts, which have taken the Cubs out of games practically before they've started.  So far, not so good.  3-7 isn't the end of the world, however, and Sveum has the team playing hard.  The errors are down and the stolen bases are up.  The team certainly has a good swagger, too.

The Cubbies are down in Miami to check out the Marlins' new digs tomorrow night.  Ozzie Guillen will return from his five-game suspension to manage the game.  Just in case the game turns into a Marlins blowout, go online and count as many articles as you can find that mention both Guillen and Fidel Castro written within the last seven days.  Hopefully, though, we can just watch some winning baseball.        

Two Chances, Two Chokes

The game-tying runs allowed in the 8th inning
of the first two games of the season
were allowed by a frustrated Kerry Wood.

Is this the new "Cubs Way" of playing baseball?!  Let's hope not.

You've heard about it all winter.  'Sustained success', 'the right way', 'development', and 'building from within' are just a few phrases that have highlighted a winter of change for the Chicago Cubs.  It may all just be empty talk, but the new Cubs brass even put it in writing with their fundamentals manual, The Cubs Way, which is being distributed throughout the Cubs minor league system.  The effort looks to standardize the way in which prospects are being taught the game throughout all levels of the Cubs system to maximize potential of all prospects and maintaining disciplinary consistency.  However, if the young prospects want to see for their own eyes how the game is played correctly, they ought to stay away from Wrigley Field.  If the first two days are any indication, the major league Cubs will struggle to avoid lines of hypocrisy in 2012.  

Hopefully this will not be the case.  Clearly Dale Sveum was more equipped with the leadership and motivation tools to start his full-time managerial career than Mike Quade was a year ago, and these qualities showed in Spring Training.  So far he has gotten the team much more involved in working on simple yet overlooked fundamentals, including baserunning drills which declared exactly which part of the base the Cubs are supposed to hit when rounding them.  He also got some competition going on to get players more involved. 

Casey Coleman and David DeJesus may not win an award of any type during the rest of either of their careers, but the two gained immediate team respect as they faced off in the final round of the 64-participant bunting tournament in camp.  Coleman swept his way through the pitchers' bracket, while DeJesus did the same in the position players' bracket.  DeJesus ended up winning, but the major reward from this exercise was a sense of accomplishment coming from a fundamental the Cubs needed work on.  

"You're already making me look bad out here.
Vamonos ahora."

After all, these are athletes; they appreciate any added competition to spice things up.  Before it all got started, Tony Campana proclaimed himself as a favorite to win the entire tournament.  He was eliminated in the first round.

The added concentration paid off, as the Cubs brought a winning Spring Training record home with them.  However, the results did not show at all in the first two games of the regular season.  

In the home opener Thursday against the Washington Nationals, Ryan Dempster was finishing up a gem of a performance when he was abruptly yanked with one out to get in the 8th and Ian Desmond on first base.  Enter fan favorite Kerry Wood to hold the 1-0 lead.  A host of problems followed.  Desmond stole second.  Wood walked the next batter, Ryan Zimmerman.  A wild pitch moved Desmond to third and Zimmerman to second.  Wood walks another batter, Adam LaRoche.  After a mound visit, Wood loses another batter in Jayson Werth, whose base on balls forced in the tying run.  

Three consecutive walks spelled doom in the form of lost momentum in this ball game.  Dempster had been living dangerously all day by using the homer-unfriendly winds in his favor, but at least he had controlled the base on balls.  Wood lost it.  Not surprisingly, Carlos Marmol didn't make things any better.  After getting two quick outs in a now-tied ball game in 9th, Marmol allowed a double to Chad Tracy and a go-ahead single to Desmond, scoring Tracy's pinch-runner.  The Nationals took the lead for good.

Don't let the hollering fool you.  The Cubs beat
themselves more than the Nationals beat the Cubs.

A day off on Friday gave the team an entire day to stew about blowing the Opening Day not only of 2012, but of the Theo era.  Apparently it got in their heads, because Saturday's game was hardly any better.  The Cubs again held the Nationals down for most of the game until the 8th in a 4-2 game, when Mr. Wood got the first two outs before allowing a solo homer to Danny Espinosa, bringing the deficit down to one.  Then Zimmerman singled, then LaRoche singled, and then Wood was yanked to avoid further damage.  Who was brought in to replace him?  Marmol.  Remember, this is still all with two outs.  Marmol walks Werth, loading the bases.  Finally, Tracy puts the Cubs out of their misery and sucks the life out of the stadium with a two-run go-ahead single.  

These three rallies - two of them when the Nationals were batting with two outs - are pretty much the trademark of the last year's team.  The bullpen was a strength last year, but the hovering frustration of a lack of focus was the most bothersome aspect of last year's team.  Wood immediately took the blame for blowing Opening Day and cited zero excuses, but then it happened again.  We love ya, Kerry, but that's not gonna get 'er done.  Whether it was keeping their eyes on the ball or throwing to the right base, the Cubs lacked in baseball mental fitness last year.  The new management regime made this their primary goal in the offseason, but the early results have disappointed.  Let's hope this doesn't become a trend.

    

2012 Cubs Preview: Bullpen

Kerry Wood

Young unit loses prime setup man but remains strong with hard-throwing core


The 2011 Cubs were simply not a good team at 71 wins, 91 losses.  The bullpen, however, was undoubtedly a team strength.  I believe that if the closer had been as good as he had for his entire career, this bullpen would have rivaled those of top contending teams.

That closer, of course, is the nasty Carlos Marmol, 29.  The side-arming right-hander pitched to a 2.86 ERA 61 saves, a 12.9 K/9 ratio, a ridiculous 4.8 H/9 ratio, but a 5.6 BB/9 ratio between 2008-10.  In 2011, however, he worsened to a 4.01 ERA with 10 blown saves, most in the National League.  In six of those blown saves, he also let up at least another run to lose the game.  He has the wildest delivery this side of Francisco Rodriguez but doesn't control it well as K-Rod does.

Carlos Marmol

Marmol throws far too many balls, especially to begin an at-bat.  It seems he always falls behind 2-0 before coming back with a slider over the middle of the plate for strike one.  The issues got so bad last season that he began throwing a cutter (or 'soft' slider) - without telling any coaches.  It didn't work, and manager Dale Sveum has already told him to knock it off.  No, Carlos, you're not Mariano Rivera.  Sorry, but the cutter just isn't that easy.  Marmol was given the ball with a lead to save 44 times last season, and he saved 34 of them.  Hypothetically, if given the same amount of chances this year, saving 40 should be a good goal for him.  It's certainly a challenge, but within his talent level.

Most of those leads handed over to Marmol had something to do with former setup man Sean Marshall.  Marshall, who, like Marmol, began his major league career as an unsuccessful starter, confirmed his status as one of the elite setup men in the game last year with a 2.26 ERA and 4.65 K/BB ratio.  Marshall was flipped to Cincinnati when his stock price was highest, meaning the primary setup man duties fall to Jeff Samardzija.

Jeff Samardzija

I talked briefly about Samardzija in the last post for the rotation, where he is being considered as the longest of longshots.  Truth be told, however, his loss would be a big blow to this 'pen.  His 2.97 ERA showed that he could be a good primary middle reliever, and now with Marshall's departure, he's ready for the next step.  He works lefties tough on the inside part of the plate.  Despite having the matchup advantage, they hit only .208 against the tall former Notre Dame wide receiver.  Righties didn't do any better, hitting .195 off him.  Too many batters got on base via the base on balls (50 of them, to be exact) but he still held hitters to a .220 average with men on base, which is hard to do considering the pressure on the pitcher at that point.  Some want to call his season a fluke, but I hope those factors of domination show that he's a changed pitcher and not just a lucky son-of-a-gun.

I haven't heard anyone call Kerry Wood's 2011 a fluke.  The 34-year-old pitched to a very respectable 3.35 ERA last season with 57 strikeouts in 51 innings.  As always, Wood brought the heat on a daily basis with that nasty curveball.  Wood is guaranteed a job with the Cubs for as long he likes, whether that means in the 'pen or front office.  For this season, however, he's a great option as a middle relief/setup man.

James Russell

Other primary names that will be in the mix include 26-year-old James Russell, 27-year-old Marcos Mateo, 26-year-old John Gaub, 24-year-old Rafael Dolis, 23-year-old Lendy Castillo and 27-year-old Scott Maine.  Clearly it's a very young group, but some have more potential than others.  Russell was tried in the rotation last year during the grand scramble for starting pitching, and he imploded.  Put back into middle relief though, he performed well.  I really like this kid's over-the-top delivery, it's very smooth and fundamentally correct; I hope to see him do well in this role this season.

Mateo is an less developed strikeout pitcher with a good fastball and slider.  He needs to work on his command to prove he can stay in the majors, but I like his raw stuff as it is right now.

John Gaub

Gaub throws some serious, serious heat.  In about 212 career minor league innings, he has struck out 298.  He made his major league debut last season and I believe will play a big role this year.  He's a lefty with a power slider, which already gives him value.  He walks about as many hitters as Marmol, however, so we'll see if his command has improved.

Maine was acquired before 2010 in the trade that sent former Cubs reliever Aaron Heilman to Arizona.  He has gotten tidbits of major league playing time over the past two years, but not enough to be judged upon.  In the minors he has a lifetime 3.34 ERA and recorded 12.6 K/9 last season at AAA Iowa.  He's ready for the major leagues, and I was hoping we'd see more of him last season.  I see him as a setup man as early as 2014 if not next year.

If nothing else, Dolis has a tremendous ability to keep the ball in the ballpark.  In 353.2 minor league innings, he's only allowed 14 homers.  This is good, but he's still going to allow runs if he continues to walk as many as he does in the minors.  If he makes the major league roster out of Spring Training, I'd call that a risky move.

Trever Miller

Speaking of risky moves, Castillo qualifies; he was a Rule 5 pick from the Phillies - meaning he must be on the major league roster all season or else he'll have to be returned the Phillies.  The Cubs' last Rule 5 pick was reliever David Patton in 2009, and that didn't turn out so well.  Patton hasn't pitched in the majors since.  Castillo has a 2.43 career ERA in the minors and exactly one strikeout for every inning pitched on average to go with an impressive 1.15 WHIP.  These are all nice, but they might mean more if Castillo had ever pitched above A ball.  Look for him to be used in blowout games only to begin with (which was also Patton's role).

The Cubs bullpen is a very young group now.  The only free agent acquisition, left-hander Trever Miller, is also the only man over 30 heading into the season.  Out of the pool of middle relief candidates, I believe Gaub, Maine, and Russell will become the primary three by midseason especially because of their strong command.  Dolis, Castillo, and Mateo are slightly risky for different reasons and won't all be on the major league roster all year.  Wood, Samardzija, and Marmol are strong pieces at the back.  Despite losing the big prize in Marshall, the bullpen remains a strength for the Cubs despite the uncertainty of the younger pieces.

  

2012 Cubs Preview: Starting Rotation

Ace Matt Garza

The name of the game is depth as revamped rotation is stockpiled with veterans, and determination of final two starters is a toss-up

The top of the rotation remains the same from 2011, as Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster will lead the group.  They appear to have switched places on the depth chart, however, as manager Dale Sveum says Garza will start on Opening Day in just his second year with the Cubs.  Dempster started Opening Day last year and enters his seventh season with the team. 

Sveum is correct in tabbing Garza as the team's ace.  His 10-10 record from last season doesn't show it, but he was definitely the best starter on this team as evidenced by his near 200-inning, 200-strikeout performance with a 3.32 ERA.  He received some of the worst run support on the entire league which explains his mediocre record. 

If Garza performs well in the ace role, it will only increase his trade value stock as the season goes on, which is exactly what the Cubs want.  He will be put in prime position to suceed on this season and, hopefully, flipped for high-level prospects at the trade deadline in July.  Garza, 28, is an emotional and vocal team leader in the prime of his career.  It shouldn't be a surprise if GM Jed Hoyer's phone bill balloons due to other GMs inquiring on his availability.  Oh right, most cell providers don't charge for incoming calls anymore.  So much for that, but you get my point.

Ryan Dempster

Then again, a great guy like Garza could be a valuable character to have around on this rebuilding team.  He is definitely the type of veteran around which a team is built.  In 2008, he took his young Rays team on his shoulders to the World Series, winning the ALCS MVP along the way.  When I chatted with Hoyer earlier this month, he told me that, ideally, he'd like to give Garza an extension if the time is right and he's not more valuable as trade bait, which remains to be seen.  I think both plans are viable options, although if he's traded I'll be sad to see him go.

Dempster, 34, is not the standout talent he once was.  After a shocking 200-inning, 200-strikeout season in 2010, he really came crashing back to Earth with a 4.80 ERA in 2011, again eating over 200 innings but also allowing over 200 hits and holding a 1.49 WHIP.  Dempster appeared to lose confidence in his soft changeup and cement-mixer slider.  Perhaps it would help if he didn't throw these pitches to break right down the middle of the plate.  Seriously, though, he struggled to keep these breaking pitches out of the dirt when he took them out of the strike zone and walked 82 batters on the season.

Paul Maholm

The #3 spot right now could be Paul Maholm's to lose.  Maholm has pitched in the Pittsburgh rotation his entire seven-year major league career, posting a respectable 4.36 ERA during that time amid a group that was anything but.  The 30-year-old is coming off the best season of his career with a 3.66 ERA in about 162 innings.  The southpaw is not a strikeout pitcher but he'll force plenty of groundballs with his frequently-used changeup.  Cubs fans have gotten a good look at Maholm since he has always been in the same division.  Alfonso Soriano has four career homers off him, which is more to any single batter besides Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips.  Maholm has only given up 13 career homers to lefty batters, however.

Two other pitchers who will surely get at least some starts this season are new arrivals, Chris Volstad and Travis Wood.  Volstad, who came from Florida in the Carlos Zambrano trade, is a very tall righty who still hasn't found success in the major leagues.  He uses all of his pitches low and inside on righties and lefties; hopefully he'll learn to use the entire plate with skill and confidence.  Hitters hit .310 off his fastball last year; that'll need to improve.  Perhaps he could switch it up with his changeup more often, as he threw his changeup only 5% of the time to righties.  If nothing else, Volstad, 25, adds young depth.

Travis Wood

Wood, also 25, probably has more potential.  In over 100 innings in 2010, he pitched to a 3.51 and but probably deserved even better, posting an impressive K/BB ratio with 86 strikeouts and only 26 walks.  In about the same amount of playing time in 2011, Wood regressed with a 4.84 ERA and a WHIP that ballooned from 1.08 the year before to 1.49.  This lefty should bring more of the strikeout stuff to the majors soon judging from his 8.4 K/9 career ratio in the minors.  He throws his fastball too much (76% of the time last year) but apparently he commands it well, meaning he's very advanced in his development process.  I would take Wood over Volstad any day.

The last legit option, in my opinion, is righty Randy Wells, 29.  Since his impressive rookie debut in 2009, Wells has scuffled through two disappointing seasons.  This is probably his last chance to prove himself.  With the wide range of candidates this year, a 4.99 ERA won't cut it this time.  Something in his mechanics has been lost along the way, as his career 6.0 K/9 ratio is a far cry from the high strikeout totals he used to rack up in the minor leagues.  So far his fastball has been too hittable.

Randy Wells

Casey Coleman, 24, had a strong debut in 2010 as he showed how he can win with minimal strikeouts but a lot of groundballs.  In 2011 he was really, really bad with a 6.40 ERA although his strikeouts were up.  If he wants to win, he'll have to do it the way he did in 2010, using Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann as a model.  Coleman is definitely a longshot.

Speaking of longshots, there's another one in 27-year-old Jeff Samardzija.  He isn't a longshot because he's not up to the task; rather, he's such a dominant setup man that he's probably better served in the bullpen.  After an unbelievable rookie season in 2008, he was looking like a bust after horrible seasons in 2009 and 2010 switching between the rotation and bullpen.  I was sick of him and wanted him gone.  Instead, he came back in 2011 firmly staying in the bullpen and became one of the strongest setup men in the league, forming the best setup duo in baseball between him and Sean Marshall.  The Cubs will stretch him out in Spring Training to see what he's got as a starter just in case, but it's highly unlikely that he'll move.

The starting rotation in 2011 was the worst in baseball in terms of ERA.  This was definitely because of early injuries to #4 and #5 starters Wells and Andrew Cashner in the first week of the season, which exposed the team's lack of depth and sent then-GM Jim Hendry scrambling to fill a rotation.  Soon enough, Coleman, Doug Davis, Ramon Ortiz, and Rodrigo Lopez were getting far more time than they had earned in the major leagues.  The injuries blew up in the team's face, and it hampered the team's efforts to put together any kind of win streak.  This season, with new additions in Wood, Volstad, Maholm, Andy Sonnanstine, and Ryan Rowland-Smith, there will always be major league worthy arms available.

 

2012 Cubs Rotation: The Odds Game

Keep an eye on make-or-break rotation candidate Randy Wells.

As we head into February of this new year, the Cubs, like most teams, still have much to be decided in their starting rotation.  Thanks to the front office's dealings, there are a host of candidates for a rotation spot.  But which candidates are locks, which are maybes and which are long shots?  Staring at a list of candidates doesn't provide the reader with much information besides their own personal speculation.  I don't have any extra info to release or anything, but I do have a method to make the speculation more fun.  Here I place odds on each starter and his chances (in my opinion) of making the rotation.  The total adds up to 500%, each 100% representing one starter.

Matt Garza: 99% (LOCK)
Barring any trade or a steroid bust or whatever ridiculous idea you can come up with, Garza will be in the rotation from the beginning.  He should start Opening Day, but I have a feeling Dale Sveum will give the ball to his trusty veteran Ryan Dempster.  Still, though, Garza is the ace of the team.

Ryan Dempster: 99% (LOCK)
The Cubs picked up his $14 million option for 2012 even when, according to the new CBA, I don't think they would've lost a draft pick if he had left.  Dempster begins his fifth season in the rotation as a major bounceback candidate after losing his slider last year.  He's a good guy to have around, so he'll be worth it in probably his last year in Cubs blue.

Paul Maholm: 99% (LOCK)
Maholm has started every game of his big league career and won't stop now.  He'll be a solid rotation member, and his groundball strategy makes him a good fit for Wrigley.  No suspense here.

Travis Wood: 70%
Wood has proven himself to some extent in the big leagues with much room to improve.  He'll be the youngest member of this revamped rotation unless Trey McNutt makes some miraculous surge to the rotation.


Chris Volstad: 40%
I'll say the newcomer Volstad gets a fair chance in his first year with the Cubs.  He may not last the whole season considering his skill level, but a decent asset to have.  If not for Chicago, I think he'll be starting games in Iowa.

Randy Wells: 40%
It's been hard to read how the new management will deal with the Wells situation.  Wells is hard-working and a good teammate coming off two mediocre seasons which followed a breakout rookie campaign.  I'm a fan of Wells, but this season could be his last chance in the rotation.

Andy Sonnanstine: 20%
I'm sure Sonnanstine will do just fine with the coaching staff and such, but his signing does nothing to change the fact that he simply isn't a great pitcher at a 5.26 career ERA, and his repertoire doesn't leave much room for improvement at age 29.  He could be a nice flex/spot starter option out of the bullpen, but it'll take an overhaul for him to start all season.

Rodrigo Lopez: 20%
I was against the resigning of Lopez because he doesn't provide the ballclub much of anything besides his on-field display which wasn't very impressive.  I worry that the new regime will take Lopez as a veteran sign of stability.  The right move, however, is to leave him in Iowa.

Casey Coleman: 8%
After a solid trial period in 2010, Coleman got 17 starts last year in an injury-fill in role.  It, umm, didn't go so well.  He finished with a 6.40 ERA, giving up almost 11 hits per nine innings.  Back to Iowa, young one.

Trey McNutt: 5%
The wildest of wild cards!  McNutt is the organization's top pitching prospect despite taking a few steps back last year.  He hasn't even proved himself at Double-A ball yet, but apparently he'll head to big league camp.  Sending him to the majors this early would be a complete train wreck.  Don't even try it.

Kid K Returns

Hopefully Kerry Wood will be a Cub for life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kerry Wood will return this season for his 12th season as a Chicago Cub.  With the Cubs he has 80 wins, 35 saves and a 10.4 K/9 ratio, among the best in the majors over that time.  This 35-year-old hardthrower has long been a favorite of Cubs fans and has been guaranteed a job for life within some role in the Cubs organization.  A team figure such as Wood could be the manager someday.  For now, however, he's still a setup man. 

Wood provides immediate closer insurance.  With Sean Marshall traded, Wood will be the primary setup man in 2012 until further notice.  He'll make $3 million on this one-year deal.  Even though he had said he would rather retire than play for anyone besides the Cubs, he showed interest in the Phillies' offer of $4 million over one year.  Wood actually agreed to a deal with a team, which may or may not have been the Phillies, and was pending a physical to make the deal official when the Cubs swooped in with a better offer.  He voided his deal and signed with the Cubs.

The $3 million marks a significant pay raise for a reliever.  Wood accepted $1.5 million over one year last winter from the Cubs despite receiving a two-year, $10 million offer from the White Sox and a similarly better offer from the Red Sox.  This winter, however, Wood was less willing to take a hometown discount.  The size of player salaries today makes me cringe at times, but Wood was absolutely right to want more money in this situation. 

The Cubs needed to pay up because this guy represents way, way more than a veteran setup man trying to finish his career full circle.  If the Cubs have serious hope of keeping him in the organization, they need him to finish his career as a player.  Andre Dawson and Mark Grace are prime examples of Cubs greats who escaped at their end of their careers and began post-playing careers in Florida and Arizona, respectively.  Wood wants to stay in Chicago and the fans want him.  I'm glad the front office made the right call here. 

Why Reed Johnson Should Have Gone Out On Top

I'm probably not on the same page as most other Cubs fans on this issue, but I think there's something to be said against the resigning of Reed Johnson, which took place a couple weeks ago.  So far I've been complementing the Cubs on pretty much all of their offseason moves, including the signings of Manny Corpas and Andy Sonnanstine and the trades of Sean Marshall and Tyler Colvin.  I did have reservations on the David DeJesus deal, but there are some things I like there, like his versatility and consistent approach.  The Johnson deal, however, simply doesn't make sense to me.  I'll explain why.

Johnson will be 35 in 2012, entering his fourth out of five seasons with the Cubs (he played with the Dodgers in 2010).  An unquestioned fan favorite who has a knack for clutch offensive skills and all-out, aggressive defense, he is a fundamentally strong baseball player.  Of the five tools, only his contact hitting and defense stand out.

I was formally introduced to Johnson in June 2005 as he hit a three-run homer at Wrigley Field with the Toronto Blue Jays.  He made a much bigger name for himself, however, once he came to a market that would truly appreciate his talent in the North Side of Chicago.

I have always been a Reed fan myself; it's hard not to be when he's the only one who operates at 110% of his ability on defense.  However, the Cubs just recently had a logjam in the outfield in 2010 as Kosuke Fukudome and Tyler Colvin battled for at-bats in right field.  Seems like the Cubs are asking for another one.  Sure, Johnson doesn't need many at-bats or hardly any starts, but he also shouldn't warm the bench for a week straight.

Personally I'd rather see Tony Campana, who was projected as the fourth outfielder, to fill the role that Johnson will in 2012.  Campana, although raw and unknown in potential, is young and has something to prove, unlike Johnson.  Campana's speed factor, which produced 24 steals in very limited playing time last year, is very valuable to a roster that seriously lacks it.  While Johnson plays hard on defense to the naked eye, his defense stats tell that he doesn't field it like he used to.  Johnson's range factor and fielding percentage were both below league average, not to mention a -.1 defensive wins above replacement compared to Campana's .9, even though Johnson got more playing time.

I don't need any statistics, however, to tell you that Theo and Jed are exercising a youth movement.  New Cubs regulars will include Ian Stewart, Travis Wood, and Bryan LaHair/Anthony Rizzo, all of whom are younger than those that they replaced in Aramis Ramirez, Rodrigo Lopez, and Carlos Pena, respectively.  Even though Johnson is a role player, his role is a misfit to me.      

Cubs Sign Andy Sonnanstine, Manny Corpas

Manny Corpas

Before the new year the Cubs quietly completed a deal to sign starter-turned-reliever Andy Sonnanstine.  Allow me to provide a little insight on the move.

In the grand scheme of things, he provides little to the Cubs.  A 13th round pick of the Devil Rays in 2004, Sonnanstine had an impressive minor league track record with a high strikeout rate and low walk rate.  His ERAs were consistently in the 2.00s and 3.00s all the way up to his breakout season as an innings-eater for the 2008 Rays.  Lately, however, his career hasn't gone so well.  By 2010 he had lost his rotation spot and struggled out of the bullpen facing increasing walk rates and ballooning ERAs.  In 2011 he spent most of his time with the Durham Bulls in AAA, but even there he couldn't recreate his previous success in the minors.  His modest 15 games with the major league Rays was a forgettable stint for sure.

A fresh start could be just what this owner of a 5.26 ERA needs.  Chris Bosio will be tasked with finding a way for him to improve his flat fastball, which he goes to 64% of the time.  Manny Corpas' story is somewhat similar.  Corpas emerged as Colorado's best in the bullpen in 2007 with a 2.08 ERA in 78 innings and a WHIP of just 1.06.  From 2008-10, however, he started giving up too many hits and couldn't keep runners off base.  A 4.62 ERA in 2010 didn't recognize the potential he showed earlier in his career.  Then he missed all of 2011 to injury, and now he winds up here with the Cubs.

Neither move is a big move, but both add experience to a bullpen that will be lacking it in 2012.  I don't think Sonnanstine will last long with the major league club if he even gets on after Spring Training, but Iowa Cubs fans might get a good look at him.  Corpas is simply the better pitcher in my opinion, and I think he will earn a bullpen spot in middle relief.  The athletic 29-year-old Panamanian will be healthy to begin the season so he should take advantage of this fresh start.  Believe it or not, he will be the second-oldest in the 'pen behind Carlos Marmol who is only a month older.  That is unless Kerry Wood signs.

No matter what both pitchers will need some work to return to form.  An early test for Bosio, perhaps.

Cubs Dump Sean Marshall; Acquire Travis Wood, 2 prospects from Reds

Sean Marshall, traded to Cincinnati, was the Cubs' best reliever

Cincinnati overpays for bullpen depth in the first Cubs rebuilding package

Vacation Note: I just got a look at the Miami Marlins’ new ballpark; pretty sweet.  If you’re in Miami and looking for it, I think it would be more helpful if I told you to look for an alien spaceship though.  The huge retractable roof stadium, named New Marlins (insert corporate sponsor here) Ballpark, is extremely tall and a sleek silver color all the way around with an oval-like curvature.  You can peek inside from behind the outfield (where the walls are open) and see the jumbotron and some of the upper deck seats.  I hope to return to see a game in the near future. 

      

Although it’s old news by now, the trade of Sean Marshall to Cincinnati was probably the most important of the offseason so far.  Its importance should not be overlooked.  Even though it was a trade of a setup man for a back-end, somewhat unproven starter and two prospects unheard of to the everyday fan, it represents the first rebuilding deal the Cubs have completed in, well, a while.  ‘Rebuilding’ has not exactly been the Cubs’ cup of tea over the last decade.  Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, however, are believers. 

In this faith, the Cubs will surely execute more rebuilding deals at some point, if not in the next month or so.  MLBTradeRumors.com is reporting interest from the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Marlins in Matt Garza, although Detroit and Miami are the front runners at this point.  It may seem like a trade of Garza, especially following Marshall’s, would be the official raising of the white flag on the 2012 Cubs season.  However, the trade with the Rays that brought Garza to the Cubs must have looked the same way to their fans.  They basically dealt their ace for a handful of minor leaguers but made the playoffs anyway.  I’m not saying the Cubs will make the playoffs by any stretch if they make a Garza trade, but it wouldn’t transform them into a 100-loss team either. 

Travis Wood

The trade of Marshall overall certainly makes the current Cubs a worse team, seeing as the bullpen was the team’s lone major strength on the roster.  Marshall was the center piece as one of the best setup men in the game.  A very pressing need, though, in rotation depth was aided by this trade, as 25-year-old Travis Wood joins the roster.  Wood has played in two major league seasons with decent yet inconsistent success.  

Looking at the Cubs rotation right now, though, this includes Ryan Dempster, Matt Garza pending any possibly trade, Andrew Cashner, and Randy Wells, and you can see the Cubs need this depth.  I’d much prefer Wood over any of Rodrigo Lopez, Ramon Ortiz, or Doug Davis.  Wood wasn’t born with blow-away stuff but is almost a solid rotation candidate, and that’s good enough for me.

Now on to the smaller pieces of the deal.  The Cubs only had to give up Marshall to for the deal, but the Reds gave up Wood, the great-hitting outfielder Dave Sappelt and undersized but agile and speedy shortstop Ronald Torreyes.  Sappelt has limited major league experience; Torreyes has none.  But both players have hit well throughout the minor leagues and Torreyes brings major speed.  Sappelt could see some action on the 2012 Cubs as a sixth outfielder/injury replacement.  Torreyes has no chance of appearing at Wrigley next season; he ought to try Double-A first.  He is recorded at 5’9” but in reality is around 5’8” or 5’7” (very similar to Dustin Pedroia).  I like both players and think they both have a decent shot at being major league regulars.  Neither stars, but solid players.  ESPN’s Keith Law agrees, and I concur with Law that the Cubs have won this trade. 

Dave Sappelt

Marshall provides the Reds with bullpen insurance.  I guess he’s the logical closer or back-up closer (which they will need, considering Francisco Cordero’s recent occasional closing issues and that he's unlikely to resign) although he has never been actually been tested as closer before.  When Carlos Marmol lost the job last summer, Marshall got a few chances in the ‘closer-by-committee’ role but that wasn’t enough of a trial to serve judgment.  He’s a loss because he has been the most consistent reliever on the Cubs since 2009 and only he and Marmol have even been a part of the unit since then.

If only counting for the trade’s effect on 2012, I still like the trade.  When early injuries to Wells and Andrew Cashner last season exposed a blatant lack of depth, Jim Hendry was forced to sign Ortiz, Davis, and Lopez in bad veteran signings who had to be signed just to fill the lineup card on a daily basis.  With this move and move forthcoming, the Cubs won’t have to do that.  Wood is young and here to stay while he develops.  It’s safe to say he will improve over the next few years.  Marshall is at his peak right at this moment and at age 29, it's hard to see him getting better over time.  He's elite at the moment but will only go downhill from here.  So in both the long-term and short-term, this deal really does makes sense for the Cubs.

         

A Tale of (More Than) Two Closers

Carlos Marmol and Matt Thornton have
been major disappointments in 2011.

Entering 2011, both the Cubs and Sox appeared to have their setup men and closers all figured out.  On the South Side, the plan was for Chris Sale and Sergio Santos to set up for closer Matt Thornton, and on the North Side Kerry Wood and Sean Marshall would do the same for closer Carlos Marmol.  Unfortunately neither scheme worked out.

Marmol and Thornton themselves are equivalent to polar opposites in most categories.  Thornton is an big man at 6'6", born in Three Rivers, Michigan in 1976.  Despite his intimidating presence, he's somewhat reserved on the mound.  Thornton began his career in Seattle in 2004 as a 27 year old, designating him as a late bloomer.  He came to the Sox in 2006 and has been an elite setup man since with great control, relying on a good fastball and curveball.

Marmol was born in Bonao, Monsenor Nouel, Domincan Republic in 1982.  He's 6'2", so his intimidating factors come from his pitching, not size.  Making his MLB debut in 2006 with the Cubs, he actually was a starter in his first season.  Unbelievably, he both walked and struck out 59 in his rookie campaign.  From 2007 to 2009, however, he was one of the most dominating setup up guys in the National League with a 2.54 ERA combined including 11.8 K/9.  Upon becoming closer in 2010 and saving 38 games, he posted a 3.0 WAR, an incredible mark for a relief pitcher.  Only San Francisco's Brian Wilson had a higher WAR for NL relief pitchers.  And Marmol did all this throwing his devastating slider about 75% of the time, followed by a rapidfire fastball and rarely-used changeup.

Marmol was an All-Star in 2008 and pitched the 13th inning, striking out Michael Young and Carlos Quentin.  Thornton was an All-Star in 2010 and he got in the game in the 7th inning.  With the bases loaded and two outs holding a one-run lead, he gave up a three-run double to Brian McCann, who would be named MVP for that game-winning hit.  So although both have made it to the Midsummer Classic, they've had mixed results despite having excellent careers overall.  But the blown save in the All-Star Game was only the beginning for Thornton.

Over the second week of the the 2011 season, Thornton blew four saves in four consecutive appearances in the worst string of performances I've ever seen a pitcher have.  After the fourth game, he was 0-for-4 in save opportunities.  Marmol was 38-for-43 the season before.  It vaguely made me imagine an independent league pitcher who was forced into MLB action for who knows what reason.  Thornton had absolutely nothing.

Marmol, on the other hand, hasn't had a single series of implosions.  His came over this entire season which probably explains how he was still the closer at the season's end.  All of Marmol's saves start the same way; he puts two baserunners on via hits or, more likely, walks.  The defining moment for Marmol's day on the mound is usually decided by the third batter.  If the batter strikes out, Marmol gets the next two outs quickly, too.  If not, there's some big trouble.  He finished the season just 34-for-44, including ten blown saves, easily the worst in the league.  To make a (6-month) long story short, the crazy Marmol's season has been pretty bad.

What's in store for the future of these two disappointments?  The veteran Thornton has one year left on his two-year, $12 million contract he signed before this season.  I highly doubt he will be given another chance at closer, especially with a new manager who will want to look a different direction.  For Thornton, this was probably the only chance he'll ever get at being closer.  It's back to being a late setup man for the 35 year old.

Marmol and his antics are here to stay for at least one more season.  He's signed through 2013 but I don't see them trading him until, at the earliest, next season's trading deadline.  Honestly I was skeptical of him being a closer when he was named it in late 2009 and miss the shutdown days of Marmol in the 8th and Kerry Wood closing it out in the 9th back in 2008.  Going back to that formula (if Wood doesn't retire) would be an effective and smart reunion, methinks.

Marmol can be the most dominating reliever in baseball in addition to surely the most intimidating.  Hitters can reasonably watch for the same pitch, the slider, on every pitch Marmol throws.  Most of the time, they guess it right but still can't hit it.  I have never seen, and will never again see how many batters take the 2-0 pitch when he's pitching.  Not only is it because Marmol is more likely than the average pitcher to go to a 3-0 count, but because, when dominant, it's nearly impossible to square up a famous slider of his.  He was dominant all of 2010, and gave up one home run all season.  Although frustrating, the spectacle of Carlos Marmol is worth the drama and antics that take place on the field.  He's an A+ in the clubhouse and here to stay.

If Thornton has a mediocre season in 2012, I see the Sox letting him walk.  There's a time to move on for everything, and I'm sensing the end is near between the two.  Besides, the Sox brag enough about the rest of their bullpen; why don't they show us and try to prove?  

Road Trip Analysis: Atlanta, Houston

Record: 3-3
Final Record: 54-70

This road trip began like many other for the Cubs, as they were mauled on Friday night in Atlanta.  Dan Uggla extended his hitting streak with two homers, both off Carlos Zambrano.  Chipper Jones, Jose Constanza, and Freddie Freeman also homered off Zambrano, who took out his frustration on Jones by throwing at him twice, hitting him the second time.  The Braves won 10-4.

Zambrano was thrown out and walked out on his team, earning him a 30-day suspension on the rarely-used disqualified list which could mark the end of his Cubs career.  Apparently anger management classes last year didn't hold up, and Zambrano started telling everyone in the clubhouse he was going to retire immediately before he cleaned out his locker and beat it.  Later, calling in on Chicago Tribune Live on CSN, he said he was upset that word of his potential retirement escaped the clubhouse and got to the media.  Either way it was a stupid thing to say so he doesn't have much of a right to be mad.

The Cubs won on Saturday thanks to an array of RBI singles and doubles, but Uggla extended his hitting streak to 33 with a home run.  I was impressed at how the Cubs attacked Derek Lowe, knocking him out of the game after six, allowing ten hits.  Final score was 8-4.

They also won on Sunday 6-5, ending Uggla's hitting streak at 33.  The Braves rocked Matt Garza for four runs in the first four innings, but the Cubs fought back and eventually tied the game on a wild pitch. Although Alex Gonzalez got the Braves the lead back on an error in the next half-inning, Carlos Pena blasted a long two-run homer to take the lead.  With the tying run on second base in the ninth, Carlos Marmol got Martin Prado out to take the series 2-1 from the NL's second-best team.

As shocking as that series win was, I was even more excited for the Cubs to head to Houston to play MLB's worst team and hopefully go for the sweep.  The Cubs should've swept too, but the Astros took two one-run games to sneak out the series win.

Two two-run doubles were enough, barely, to beat the Astros 4-3 on Monday night thanks to a save from Kerry Wood, his first as a Cub since 2008.  The loss for the Astros dropped them to 19-41 at home.  On Tuesday night, the Cubs played a solid game and took a 5-2 lead into the ninth.  Tyler Colvin and Aramis Ramirez both hit homers in the game, but Ramirez's shot will be on highlight reels all season long as it landed on the train tracks above the wall in left field, an estimated distance of over 450 feet.  But what will most be remembered from this game will obviously be Brian Bogusevic's walk-off grand slam off Marmol to win the game 6-5.  I bet the Cubs wish they had used Wood again.  Marmol has this remarkable ability to somehow find a way to lose a game, and showed right here.  Brian Bogusevic?  Really??  And did I mention that this was his second career Major League homer, and his first ever at home?

Casey Coleman gave the Astros the lead in the 4th of Wednesday afternoon's game, and they would never give it back.  The Cubs offense was shut out for four innings by the Astros bullpen, which featured David Carpenter, Sergio Escalona, Fernando Rodriguez, and Mark Melancon, only one of whom has thrown more than 40 innings in the Major Leagues.  I might as well just have named four construction contractors.  Added with Bogusevic, and the Cubs lost a series to a team to a team that will be 50 games under .500 by the end of the year because of five nobodies.  Nice going, guys.

Cub fans should be pleased with their effort in Atlanta because they're not an easy team to face at all.  The important thing was that they scored early to avoid having to battle against the bullpen which is, in my opinion, the most dominant in baseball.  Hardthrowers Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel are two of the most toughest pitchers in the league because everything they throw is hard, hard, and harder.  Kimbrel hasn't allowed a run since June.  The results of the Houston series, however, is pretty much unacceptable.  Marmol found a way to lose then so did the offense the next day.  Although these two events probably didn't directly have anything to do with Jim Hendry's dismissal, it definitely didn't cheer up the franchise's outlook at all.

Homestand Analysis: Florida, Philadelphia, Houston

Record: 5-5
Final Record: 42-60

Fresh off a trip to the All-Star Game, Starlin Castro returned to Chicago to rejoin his team for a four-game set against the Florida Marlins, who were making their last trip to Chicago under that name before they become the Miami Marlins next year.  The Marlins went out with a bang too, taking three of four games and outscoring the Cubs 27-13.

Two of the three losses should have been wins for the Cubs, and only one of those two was actually the Cubs' fault.  A typical Carlos Marmol ninth inning implosion blew the lead and the game in both teams' first game after the break on Thursday night.  After a win on Friday and a blowout loss Saturday, the Cubs were robbed of at least extra innings by second base umpire Lance Barrett, who blew the call on a pickoff play that would have gotten Kerry Wood out of a serious jam in the 8th.  Wood and the Cubs were livid, but there is no instant replay on those calls and they just had to deal with it.  Wood went on to walk in the go-ahead run and the Cubs would never get the lead back.

While losing three of four to Florida might have seemed bad, the Cubs had an even taller task ahead of them when the Phillies came to town on Monday.  But for the second year in a row, the Cubs beat Phillies ace Roy Halladay and opened off the series with a surprising win.  Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena added home runs in the game.

While Ramirez and Pena and known sluggers, it would still be a surprise to see one of them homer of Phillies southpaw Cliff Lee, widely regarded as one of the best pitchers in baseball known for his impeccable control.  But it was a kid with five career homers heading into the game who would homer off the veteran Lee on this night.  Castro's two-run first inning blast gave the Cubs a lead that would hold up until the 8th, when Sean Marshall blew it on a double by Chase Utley.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, Mike Quade has taken a lot of blame for leaving in pitchers too long.  Perhaps preparing for potential extra innings, Quade left in the demoralized Marshall to pitch the 9th, and a two-run double by Michael Martinez gave the Phillies a lead they wouldn't give back.  The mistake by Quade was inexcusable, and I was highly disappointed that this problem still plagues Quade.

After the Phillies finished their series win with a blowout in nothing-to-see-here fashion, the stumbling Houston Astros came to Wrigley Field.  The Astros had gone 9-3 in their last 12 games at Wrigley Field before this series, but that was certainly bound to change.  This year's version of the Astros is unprecedentedly bad and on pace for around 110 losses, which would be a franchise worst.  In fact, the Astros have never lost 100 games in the franchise's 50 year history, but that will change at this rate.  And a sweep from a fifth-place Cubs team definitely won't help them avoid it.

The Cubs took the Friday matinee by power, as Alfonso Soriano and Ramirez had key homers to take it 4-2.  Randy Wells, pitching for his life in the rotation, came through with just one run allowed Saturday and was allowed to stay in the rotation.  Marlon Byrd and Geovany Soto joined the homer party in support.  Speaking of homer party, Carlos Lee gave the Astros the lead 4-3 on Sunday with a shocking two-run homer in the 8th.  Lee, a notorious Cub killer, has 36 career homers against the Cubs, which is 17 more than he has against any other opponent!  But my immediate reaction to Lee's homer on Sunday was, 'Isn't this guy too old for this now?!'  Lee's homer, just his eighth of the season, was quickly forgotten by Cubs fans, however, as a Soriano single tied the game just a half-inning later.  In the 10th, Jeff Baker singled to left to win the game and begin the walk-off celebration.

And just like that, the Cubs took their first three-game sweep of the season.  Oh, and that was also their first three-game winning streak in nearly four months of baseball.  See, it wasn't that hard guys.  Does it really count against a team like the Astros?  For our purposes, yes.

For how ugly the homestand started, you have to give the team credit for rebounding and sweeping the Astros.  But the Cubs should have taken three of four from the Marlins and two of three from the Phillies, counting the game that Marshall and Quade unintentionally colluded to blow.  Counting the sweep of the Astros, that would've been an 8-2 homestand.  But the past is the past, and as the all-mighty Da Coach says, the past is for cowards.  Point being the Cubs have to take the positives and work forwards to have any chance of a late-season rebound like last year's.  

Road Trip Analysis: Cincinnati, Florida, Boston

Record: 3-4
Final Record: 20-25

The Cubs made their first trip to Cincinnati this season when they headed there last week for the first of the two scheduled two-game series on the Cubs schedule this season.  I'm not going to sugar coat it; the results of the trip to Cincinnati were catastrophic.  Two winnable games, which had we had won we would now be mere percentage points below .500, were thrown away by lack of effort and the worst defense you will see in the Major Leagues.

The first game was winnable by all means.  The Cubs had a 4-0 lead until the 6th, when Carlos Zambrano began his regularly scheduled blowup inning.  But he remained out there, and the Reds continued to hammer him while the bullpen struggled to get warm.  Zambrano had been carrying a three-hit shutout through five innings.  A walk, five hits, four earned runs with more to come on the bases with just one out later, Zambrano was relieved by Marcos Mateo.  But the damage was already done, as threw a wild pitch to score the go-ahead run and then a two-run homer to Jonny Gomes.  It wasn't just the ill-timed decision making that cost the Cubs this game; it was the lack of effort and the sense that they had given up.  Too many times I see this team sulking and just going down without a fight.  This is exactly what happened here, as if the Reds coming back was inevitable.

Just when it looked like it couldn't get any worse, of course, it did.  The Cubs came out the next night and the pitching staff, led by the starter that night Matt Garza, shut out the Reds.  In earned runs, at least.  The futile Cubs defense allowed the Reds to literally tie and win the game with seven runs, all of which were preventable by not throwing the ball away!  An error in the 4th by Carlos Pena was magnified after Garza hurriedly whipped the ball into the dugout throwing it home to get a runner.  That scored all three runs to tie the game.  Then in the 8th, the Cubs held a 5-3 lead, which Kerry Wood blew when he threw Ryan Hanigan's sacrifice bunt down the left field line trying to aggressively get the force at third.

I've only seen one other play like this one before, and it was in Game 5 of the 2006 World Series when Justin Verlander threw David Eckstein's bunt into left field trying to do the same thing.  But unlike that play, the ball this time got all the way down the line and to the wall.  Two more runs scored and the game was tied again.  Watching this play live, it's hard to describe the frustration that a Cubs fan feels when watching this stuff.  Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks was known as 'The Human Highlight Reel' for his stunning ability to light up a highlight reel.  The Cubs as a team basically create the Human Incompetence Reel.

These two games should have been won.  They were key division games early in the season and the weather nullified much of the home field advantage.  This is a series the Cubs needed to win if they are going to get back into the NL Central mix.  They put together wins here and there this season, but they aren't going to win anything if they ever have another game like this (photo, left) or allow seven unearned runs.

After all of this, the Cubs headed to South Beach for their last series ever at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens.  Surprisingly, the Cubs won both games there in efficient fashion.  Not so surprisingly, it was their first sweep of the season, albeit a two-game series.  The Cubs did not commit an error in either game.

This led to the Cubs' first trip to Fenway Park in Boston since the 1918 World Series.  News of this World Series came up recently, when a report stemming from a document released by the Chicago History Museum suggested that the Cubs blew the Series for money, much like the White Sox did a year later.  I don't know the truth to this document, and it very well could just be the Sox player hassling the Cubs indirectly about something else.
 
Marlon Byrd was interviewed by Comcast SportsNet on Thursday night after the win against Florida and, when asked on his outlook for the Boston series, he replied, "Sweep Caroline."  I agree that the whole Sweet Caroline tradition at Fenway is really annoying, but hearing this stuff out of him gets tiring to be honest.  Last season, Byrd guaranteed the playoffs in May when the team was falling out of contention.  Well, you saw how that turned out.

The Cubs seemed overwhelmed by an American League offense in the first round on Friday night.  All three games were on national television, with WGN, FOX, and ESPN handling the games, respectively. After an uneventful 15-5 loss Friday, the Cubs bats woke up in the 8th inning of the game Saturday night, and the Red Sox collapsed which was reminiscent of the Cubs' defense collapses.  In a stunning change of momentum, the Cubs put up eight in the 8th and won 9-3.  As the Cubs closed out the bottom of the 9th, the huge contingent of Cubs fans that had traveled to Boston were chanting 'Let's Go Cubbies' at Fenway Park, an action pretty much unprecedented.  Every game at Fenway Park since April 2003 has been a sellout, so it's always full of Red Sox fans.  But Cubs fans took over Fenway late on Saturday.  Although that was nice, it was the only win in the series loss.

The Cubs were quietly shut down by knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on Sunday night.  Such a loss can be expected from the Cubs, as this is one of those games I notice where they just give up at a certain point.  The indifference of the group makes them less interesting to watch for sure, and this is the primary factor in the Cubs attendance struggles of this season.  But either way, this road trip was very up and down.  Mostly down, though, and the Red Sox-Cubs series generated nothing more than publicity for historical content, not a key turning point like it could have been.

Believe it or not, I have faith in the Cubs coming up in the next few weeks.  A nice, long homestand against three bad teams in the Mets, Pirates, and Astros is the perfect time to get into a groove, especially as the ivy will be grown, the weather will be nice, and the fans will be there.  And they'll need to get into a groove, because they then play 20 straight games against teams who had winning records last year.  But I have faith they will, because this team has hung in there despite slow starts from Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena, who are both hitting very well now.  Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner will be huge to this team, as the Cubs will no longer have to deal with immediate five-run deficits by way of James Russell every fifth day.  Hopefully, the Cubs will get lucky for once.
 
  

Cubs Sign Kerry Wood

As unlikely as this headline seemed at the beginning of this offseason, the Cubs have actually gotten Kerry Wood to come back and play with the team he spent 11 years of his career with.  After one and a half less than mediocre seasons in Cleveland and a dominant stretch run with the Yankees, Wood signed a one year, $1.5 million contract to play for the Cubs whom he last played for in 2008.  It may seem like Wood has been in the league for a very long time and this deal is to finish his career where it all started, going 'full circle', but he's only going to be 34 next year and he could stick around for a while.  His famous 20 strikeout game was 12 years ago, the same year he won Rookie of the Year, but he was only 21 that year.  This signing gives the Cubs a piece they needed badly this offseason in a veteran righty reliever.  There probably wasn't any better in that department than Wood, but his price tag was expected to shoo off the Cubs.  Having made $10 million last season (thanks, Indians), it seemed unlikely that he would accept the deep pay cut the Cubs but he did anyway and I personally could not be happier.  In 2008, Wood was huge in the success of that team recording 34 saves and an ERA of just 3.40.  His value even then was underrated because for a guy whose career average SO/BB ratio is 2.40 but in 2008 he held a ridiculous 4.67 SO/BB.  Kerry Wood should not have been let go after 2008, which would have prevented the acquisition of Kevin Gregg, who had plenty of forgettable moments with the Cubs.  From Kid K, Cub fans should expect a lot of strikeouts and plenty of walks, but an effective pitcher.  Wood is very stable as a pitcher and should fit in a perfect role with young and very inexperienced.  Wood is a great guy to have around, a role model for all the young kids on the Cubs these days and in the near future.  So far, the Cubs have picked up two solid gains: Carlos Pena and Kerry Wood.  The Cubs are going straight to their needs this season and aren't trying to do that thing where they pick up little pieces (cough, Joey Gathright and Luiz Vizcaino) in a futile attempt to balance the roster with the different five tool talents.

Cubs Hot Stove Buzz

The Cubs have plenty of needs on their wishlist for this offseason.  One of the biggest is the left handed first baseman, preferably with power.  Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano said earlier in the season that the Cubs should focus on pitching needs this offseason and that they can handle the offense, but they haven't proved that at all over the last two seasons.  In 2009, Derrek Lee led the offense by far.  In 2010, the offense sucked for the most part.  In the first baseman market for the Cubs so far is, above all, Adam Dunn, then Victor Martinez or Aubrey Huff, then Lance Berkman.  I really do see Dunn coming to Chicago the only question is if the Cubs are willing to pay that much for a guy probably looking for $10 million.

Before the Cubs can get too excited about spending money, they need to trade Kosuke Fukudome.  Fukudome is owed $13.5 million in 2011, so it will be tough considering Fukudome's awful value relative to salary.  Jim Hendry has a lot of critics, but everyone can agree that the one thing he has done best is dump bad contracts (see: Milton Bradley).  He only has one year left on his contract and has been a huge bust offensively but great defensively.  He will never sniff that kind of money for the rest of his baseball career.  On the pitching side, the Cubs are interested in Jon Garland who expressed interest in the Cubs last offseason.  Other mid-level starters are what the Cubs are looking for, and could find that in a guy like Carl Pavano or Javier Vazquez.  Cliff Lee is out of the Cubs price range.  Kerry Wood, who would like to return to Chicago, will have to take a pay cut if he is to do so because there is no way the Cubs will pay him $10 million that he was making last year.  I don't see the Cubs wanting to pay him more than $2 million.  The hunt for a veteran middle reliever continues.

Atlanta Starts New Era

Cub fans watching the Cubs' futile attempt at a season opener saw something that hasn't been seen for a long time: Atlanta as a baseball city.  Although the Atlanta Braves hat and the city abbreviation 'ATL' have become extremely popular in the rap and hip hop industry, the Braves and their fan base have been not so cool in recent years.  Turner Field can seat 54,357, behind only Yankee Stadium, but their attendance in 2009 was 15th at 29,304 a game.  Attendance has stayed below 34,000 a game every year since 2002.  Why did this happen?  I think it became fairly obvious.  Bobby Cox and the Braves marched to the playoffs 14 times in a row.  14 times!  However, they only got to five World Series, including none the last six years from 2000-2005.  They lost in the LDS the last four years, which grew frustrating for fans realizing their time as a winning team wouldn't last forever.  The last three of those LDS all included losing the win or go home Game 5 at home.

So what does this have to do with Opening Day 2010?  Here's my theory.  The Braves, rocketing into the 2003 playoffs with a 101-61 record and a lineup filled with all stars, met the Cubs in the first round.  The Braves were heavily, heavily favored against a Cubs team which still had issues the whole season and were a team that didn't seem like it was supposed to be there.  However, the Braves were surprised when the Cubs put up a good fight.  The Cubs even took a 2-1 lead in the series and the chance to move on at home, but the pitching of Russ Ortiz and a homer by Andruw Jones in Game 4 at Wrigley sent the series back to Turner Field.  Now, everything was favoring the Braves again to go play the upstart Marlins in the NLCS, but the shocked sellout crowd watched as Kerry Wood and Joe Borowski shut down the hitters to one run and five hits while Aramis Ramirez and Alex Gonzalez hit home runs.  Unbelievably, the Cubs would head back to Wrigley in the NLCS.  The Braves went home.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is the moment Atlanta went into a baseball slumber.  The only cities I know that could go into such a slumber while still fielding playoff teams are Atlanta and New York, specifically the Yankees.  And yet it happened, so even though the Braves would win 96 and then 90 games the next two years, the damage was done.  Any excitement still around was taken when Andruw Jones, Atlanta's baseball son, packed his bags after 2007.

The Braves would go on to lose for most of 2006, 2007, 2008 and some of 2009, but the transformation is happening again.  There were some glimpses last season of the future of Atlanta's baseball.  The new radius of guys revolves around some new stars, like Brian McCann, Derek Lowe, and of course super prospect Jason Heyward.  And as I watched the Braves destroy the Cubs for 16 runs in front of a sellout crowd on Opening Day, I saw the vision of another era of winning baseball.  I don't know if it starts this year or 2011 or ever, but I definitely saw the group of guys capable of the job.  Yunel Escobar, Martin Prado, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, and Jason Heyward look like the same style homegrown group that started the last era of Andruw Jones, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine, and Mike Hampton.  One problem with the Braves right now is that there doesn't appear to be one face of the franchise-yet.  For me, it's only a matter of time before Hanson becomes the staff ace, Heyward picks up where Andruw Jones left off, and Escobar and Prado become a premier double play duo.  What Atlanta does at the end of an era can't be called rebuilding.  I call it retooling, because there is never no talent somewhere in the system.  Even through all of the struggles the last half-decade, Brian McCann was there as the new young talent.  Then came Escobar in 2007, Prado and Jurrjens in 2008 (although not technically homegrown, Jurrjens was traded from Detroit as a young prospect), and Hanson in 2009.  It's fair to say Atlanta has woken up.

This kind of transformation is really great for the game.  It's the way the game should be won.  Not the Cubs have ever played it this way or anything, but I guess anything is possible with the Ricketts now.  The Braves, in Boston, Milwaukee, and now Atlanta, is one of baseball's longest tenured and proudest franchises.  A return to winning form is spectacular for the future of baseball and the city of Atlanta.