Well, I thought once the Albert Pujols thing was figured out, the floodgates would open and there'd be a flurry of activity.
Maybe so for a bunch of other teams, but since then pretty much the only thing that happened with the Cubs was getting a new third baseman and the Ricketts' buying that McDonald's land.
Here's the depth chart I copied off Cubs.com:
See over there at first base?
Where there's a picture of Jeff Baker?
There's gonna be a new picture there before long.
Everybody's talking about Prince Fielder, and seriously - given how sorta un-inspiring the team looks...
Where's the power? Where's the (cough) speed?
Do you see an all-star here besides Starlin Castro?
You're aware of my nervous nellie attitude towards Prince.
He's giant!
And knowing he's gonna have to sort of... bend over and... jump around while fielding those throws from Castro?
Just gives me the goats, thinking about it.
But on the other hand, they gotta sell tickets next year.
Nobody's gonna come to Wrigley to watch Theo and Jed.
Nobody's gonna come to Wrigley to watch Jeff Baker at first, either.
And then there's this, from Prince's agent Scott Boras (out of the Trib):
“I’ve had people come out (and say) ‘Oh, you ought to do a three-year deal. Well, that doesn’t fit anybody’s purposes in doing these things. The length of a contract has a lot to do with an understanding from both sides about what franchise players are and what they mean, the branding part, the whole media rights part. ... All those things go into it.
That initial concept is ‘the shorter the better.’ But the reality of it is, in these types of player, it’s usually not the best dynamic for the franchise. … The great thing about young free agents is the probability of performance at optimal levels is so high for the majority of the year of the contract.”
Dude is slick, no?
You've already been reading the rumors - that Prince's contract will likely be long and large and Pujols-like.
This is why the drawing above looks like it does: the anxiety of it all.
But I kinda think the Cubs have to do something like sign Prince, just because.
Or maybe not.
I DON'T KNOW.
They're making other noise with the qualifying bid for Yu Darvish, an apparent interest in Jason Varitek and 45 year old Tim Wakefield. Kooky Phil Rogers thinks Varitek's in the running so the Cubs can trade Geovanny Soto and bring up Wellington Castillo later on, which actually doesn't sound kooky to me.
Something's gonna happen, and I'm both dying to see what it is and freaking out at the same time.
Lastly, I'm at a hotel and we've been working late and all that, so I just stayed in last night.
I looked at movies, and for instance "Real Steel" is $17.99.
So that's insane.
The HBO movie was that one with Zac Efron talking to his dead brother in the woods, so I ended up switching channels for a couple hours.
On one stop, it was a replay of some European soccer match, and the announcer's voice seemed calm. Like he might be saying, "Darling, the grass is getting a little high. Shall I get out the mower?"
But what he said was something like, "And if you're squeamish you might turn your head because the white thing sticking out of his sock is his shin bone."
To which I replied, "AaaaaaaachhhhhhhHURLBUICKRETCH!"
Of course I feel bad for the soccer guy, but GOOD GOD WHY DID I HAVE TO SEE THAT?
