Cubby-Blue

Aramis Ramirez illustrations from over the years.

Aramis Ramirez is a Brewer.

Weird, right?
Of all the teams to go to.
But I guess it makes sense for Milwaukee since they're going to be in bat trouble.

Anyway, some illustrations...

 

This was from the night we all found out he was coming to the Cubs from Pittsburgh.

He's a pretty damn good hitter.

Remember when that pop up hit him in the head?

Definitely gonna miss this side of Aramis...

...but the nagging injuries?
I'm not gonna miss those at all.

 

Ryan Braun: NL's Most Valuable PED user?

I was firing up the grill and freezing my back end off last night when I heard Ryan Braun tested positive for a "banned substance".
Here's what it says on MLB Traderumors: "Braun, 28, was tested during the playoffs and notified of the positive result in late-October. Elevated levels of testosterone in Braun's system triggered the positive test, which promptedMLB to ask the testing agency to perform a second test. The second test determined that the testosterone was exogenous, meaning it was produced outside of Braun's body." 

I'm traveling again so I don't have alot of time, but man - if this is true?
What happens to the MVP award?
What happens to the Brewers' first 50 games without Braun and probably without Prince Fielder? 
Delicious questions.
Lastly, you've heard me rail about legal issues, and certainly I'm not an expert.
But if I'm an owner and I have an employee that I just gave a $141 million dollar contract, and said employee gained this contract by cheating, well...
Probably an internal issue, right?
Whatever, man what a bombshell.

He's going to appeal of course.
We'll see what happens with the best player on Bud Selig's favorite team. 

ps: I believe that gif was my first.
I kinda like it. 

The revolving door at 3rd base might be spinning again, Cub Fans.

 

I guess it's possible, since Theo Epstein didn't actually start Gee-Emming til 2002, that maybe he doesn't know about Wrigley Field's revolving door at 3rd base.
It stopped revolving the year after Theo started, in 2003 with the arrival of Aramis Ramirez.
Ron Santo left the bag in 1973, and that door spun like a top for 30 years.
That little attempt at spinning names at the top of this post was far and away the most repetitively complex gif I've ever done - there were so many names that I gave up on the technique about halfway through. Sorry.
Anyway, that revolving door mighta started up again a couple days ago when the Cubs traded young Tyler Colvin and younger DJ LeMahieu to Colorado for their 3rd baseman Ian Stewart and pitcher Casey Weathers (who I SO hope makes the team one day simply because of that awesome baseball name).

You've all read about his declining stats and the wrist and all that.
You can read Jed Hoyer's quotes about potential and how a change of pace can help a guy - in fact Jed went out of his way to say that about both Stewart and Colvin.
We know Aramis wasn't coming back and you look around at all the available 3rd basemen around the league, you figure no Cub minor leaguer is ready to come up and start, and you think about Jeff Baker and Blake DeWitt at third for a whole season and you know what?
Maybe it's not such a bad thing, this Stewart guy.
Or maybe it's the best of a buncha ??? choices - they had to get somebody, right?
So I'm pulling for the guy.
I bet he hustles his butt off too.
If not, I'll have to re-open that gif up top and edit Ian's name in there.

Lastly, Albert Pujols is no longer a Cardinal.
Now St. Louis has to look to Matt Holliday as their stud.
With no Albert for opposing pitchers to worry about, he's gonna have a tougher time with the bat.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim gave Albert Pujols two hundred and fifty million dollars to play for them for the next 10 years, when he'll be 41.

Mother of Alfonso, that is one loooong, expensive contract.

Counting down to Spring Training with Q-Tips.

There are lots of blogs that have little counters that tell you how many days there are til Spring Training.
I use q-tips.
2 a day, in fact.
I do this thing where I take how many days until Spring Training, multiply it by two q-tips, and put them in this metal q-tip holder thingy we got at Target, and then use two a day.
Amazingly, this handy device does the count-down automatically as you use the q-tips!
If you wanted to start this today in fact... it's about 68 days til pitchers and catchers report.
(I went to the "important dates" on MLB.com, and they don't have it listed but usually it's about Feb 14.)
So you'd take the 68 days until, times two is 136 q-tips, put em in a holder thing and start using 2 a day.
You can modify it to your own bathroom habits, like if you use four a day or two a week or whatever.
It's simple, but you must be diligent.
Now I admit, once the q-tip counter-downer is started, you won't get an exact daily count as much as a "feel" for how many days are left until it's pretty close.
Unless you actually counted them.
But I like the lo-techiness of it, and it's got an added bonus: if you've got a Cub Buddy with ears that are...not so clean, it's a pretty awesome Holiday gift.

It's a travel day for me.
This post is actually from 2007, but since I updated the dates it's amazingly relevant even today! 

What is Theo Epstein doing with Albert Pujols anyway?

 

Now, I really have no idea what's going on with Theo Epstein and Albert Pujols, but I keep reading that the Cubs are still in the conversation even though the Marlins and Cardinals are all in with the 10 year/$200MM contracts.
But maybe it's a diversion and our guy is doing some sleight of hand cool stuff and we'll all be amazed when he steals all the fries.

Like I said, I don't know.
But it sure is interesting.