Cubby-Blue

Tom Brady vs. Jay Cutler

You know, I was getting all proud to be a Bears Fan again. Wearing my hat around. A Bears t-shirt. USA TODAY had Tom Brady and Jay Cutler on the cover...

Just kinda proud, right?

Then, that AWESOME snow falls, and I'm going: "Oh YEAH Ladies and Gentlemen - we got the BEAR WEATHER TO BOOT!"

I'm at a little eating spot at O'Hare called O'Brien's, snowed into a flight delay that allows me to watch the first half.

And then THAT happens.

My brother texted me the "The Bears are who we thought they are" message, and I got on a plane.

Just awful.

I know - nobody's gonna beat the Pats.

I just... fell for that Bears thing.

Still think they're playoff-bound, but last night was like watching big kids beat up the punks.

 

Kerry Wood Come Home!

 

Well, I finally made it back.

Got back from Los Angeles about a million hours after I was supposed to.
Went straight to bed.
Got up this morning, went outside to get the paper and saw this poster on a tree out front:

Think about Kerry Wood.
He went to Cleveland, pretty sure had a not-so-fun time.
Went to New York where they supposedly straightened something out in his delivery and became the go-to set-up guy for Joe Girardi and Mariano Rivera.

And now, here's what it says on his ESPN stats page:

We know he's got a great relationship with Jim Hendry... would he come home and be a set-up guy?
I keep reading the rumors that the Cubs are interested in shoulder re-habbing Brandon Webb, so if they're gonna invest in a chancy thing like that, why wouldn't they invest in a chancy thing like Kerry?

He's 33, and maybe he does find a team that wants him as a closer... but if not, then KERRY COME HOME!

It's been a heart-wrenching week with the passing of Ron Santo.

I read that pastor Daniel Mayall said, "If you think we miss him now, wait until we turn on the radio for the first pitch from Mesa in March."
Pretty spot-on thought, and I guess we'll all be able to think about Ron every time we turn on the radio from now on. 
But that first day we'll all well up all over again.

Have you seen it outside?
It's snowing like cray-zee.
I gotta get on a plane in that crap today.
Right in the middle of a Bears/Patriots game that promises to be a fabulous, old school, snow-blowin-sideways punch-out.
When the Bears get all giddy about a passing game, it's days like today that make you remember why the Bears have such a rich history of running backs. 
Of course there'll be some passing today, but it would be awesome if Matt Forte gutted out about a hundo of the hard yards and the Bears win by 2.

Tongue in cheek, I've been saying all week that this is the Superbowl Preview.
But every time I've said it, people act like I'm serious so... HELL MAN I CAN'T FIGURE FOOTBALL OUT.

I can predict, however, that I'll be by a television this afternoon at O'Hare with a Bud and another Dreaded Day of the Delayed Flight. 

 

 

 

Mark DeRosa: Square Peg

Hi guys.

I'm back on another travel-heavy production trip, and so sorry but I don't have time to make new posts.
It'll probably be awhile. 

I am right now sitting at LAX, my first flight was cancelled, my second flight delayed twice. I guess there's a big storm there and I'm now thinking probably I'll get stuck here or have to go to NY with only tennis shoes and a Patagonia fleece.

I am SO MAD right now...

Anyway, this post is from December of last year. 
We all know DeRo is now a Giant, that he was injured and got a WS ring without ever swinging his awesome bat once.
Pretty sure that's a hollow feeling.

Here's what we said last year: 

There is no "square peg in a round hole" problem for Mark DeRosa - the guy fits anywhere.

Consequently, he shows up in more rumors than most guys.

The other day I was reading about Pat Burrell in MLB Trade Rumors, and there he was: "Mark DeRosa may be coming in as San Francisco's new left fielder, but Burrell could be an interesting alternative should DeRosa not accept the Giants' offer. Or, the power-starved Giants could acquire Burrell to lay in left, and then sign DeRosa to play third base..."

Their latest entry on DeRo says he's leaning towards taking the Giants' offer, but they also hint that he's hoping the Yanks, Mets, or Braves may "enter the mix more aggressively".

We've all given up hope he'll ever be a Cub again so I'm way over that, but at least it'll be a little nicer when he isn't a Cardinal. 

And looking at these other teams, well I'd never wish "Met" on anybody, and the Braves would be weird with Bobby Cox' retirement coming at the end of next season. The Giants have pitching and he could be a real asset there. Or he could go be a Yankee, become an idol in the Big Apple and maybe get a WS ring next year.

I guess I'd wish him that last one.

Next comes this from Phil Rogers at the Trib: "Worth watching: If the Red Sox wind up with Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, the Cubs immediately would make a major effort to land Jacoby Ellsbury to fill their center field/leadoff hole, according to sources.That scenario helps explain why the Cubs have been so patient in studying their options. The best way to do such a trade might be for GM Jim Hendry to facilitate a three-team deal that sends first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres to the Red Sox by packaging a group of prospects, possibly including one or two of their top ones, such as third baseman Josh Vitters, shortstop Hak-Ju Lee and pitchers Andrew Cashner andJay Jackson."

I guess that means the Cubs send Vitters, Lee, Cashner and Jackson to the Pads for Gonzalez. Then send Gonzalez to Boston for Ellsbury?  Because Boston probably trades Lowell leaving a hole at third to be filled by Youkilis moving over and Gonzalez takes Youk's place?

You know, when I start to try and figure out where everything's going in these kinds of scenarios, I begin googling and pretty soon I have about 14 different windows on my desktop, I get dizzy and finally wonder what the hell I'm looking for? 

Then I remember I'm the art guy.

I'll stick to that.

 

A moment of silence for Ron Santo.

The Cubs didn't get Carlos Pena for his bat.

Feel free to disagree with me here.

What is the Cubs most valuable and marketable asset?
That would be youth, right?
Promise.
The future.
Tyler Colvin and Andrew Cashner and probably mostly Starlin Castro.

Deep down in your Cub Heart, do you believe the Cubs are going to seriously contend in 2011?
I mean, it would be AWESOME if something unexpectedly great happened next year, but... I sure don't expect it.

It's the same with Carlos Pena's bat - it would be AWESOME if something unexpectedly great happened, but it's a bonus if it does. We've all read about the one-year contract and how Carlos' motivation for a giant contract with any team in 2012 will be based on what he does with his bat with the Cubs in 2011.
So really, who knows - he's a placeholder at first and maybe the allure of a mega-Boras contract'll get him waay back.

But what I like about getting Carlos is his glove, or his gold glove I should say. 

Last year Starlin Castro had an eye-popping 27 errors in 123 games, a significant amount of them with Derek Lee at first (he left the Cubs in mid-late August).
Now, I don't know how many of the 27 were throwing errors, but from watching the games I think we can all agree that there might have been more errors had D Lee's excellent glove not been at first.

A good glove can help a kid while he's learning. Keep the confidence up there so the young Sundance Kid can keep going with all of his acrobatic dives and tosses, keep the good reviews coming, and that in turn helps Castro at the plate because it's confidence that makes the mojo world go round.

And in 2011, while I'm hoping for a bunch of Ws, I'll be watching the kids and thinking about their promise. The worst thing that could happen is Castro going backwards, and it seems that with Pena at first the chances of that happening go waaaay down compared to if the Cubs had signed, say, Adam Dunn.

So, a nice pick-up with Pena I think.

For a year.

What else?
Oh yeah, you know I'm sort of out of the loop, out of town and all. The Cubs got a new pitching coach. It seems like I saw the news maybe 4 times, but it was never a headline. It was always "in other news, the Cubs hired a pitching coach..."
So whoever that guy is all I gotta say is Good Luck, Buddy! 

Lastly, here's a picture of Guess the Manager Contest -  Bud - proudly displaying his first place prize, which would be that Wrigley painting from a couple posts ago. 
The painting that's probably worth a couple mil.

Thanks again to all who participated, and congrats Bud!

So Bud, is that some kind of prop behind you?