Cubby-Blue

Cub Fans. It's all gonna work out fine.

Hi.
We're at the beginning of paying the price for our favorite team to get to another level.
It's just...you know.
Angsty right now.
And when I'm spinning in a tornado of angst, I make a cartoon.

Everything's fine, really.
Nothing to worry about.
At all.
Just another baseball season coming with a new president and general manager who are... they're just figuring things out.
It's gotta be weird coming here and having a new team and having to toss some guys and then, you know, getting some new guys instead.
Players, I mean.
Guys who play baseball for a living.
Like Trever Miller or Matt Tolbert.
Or Adrian Gonzalez's older brother Edwin.
Oh it's Edgar?
Yeah, sorry.

Just a couple weeks ago I was at that Cubs Convention listening to Theo Epstein talk.
Everything he says makes perfect sense and trust me I am a disciple. 
I'm truly SO glad it's all getting blown up so, you know, couple years from now...
The BIG prize. 
Nirvana.
All the marbles.
Right?

So yeah, I'm good.
Just a regular Cub Fan keepin' his cool during this, the absolute dead center of the weirdest winter in the history of the Cubs.
Okay not "weird", but seriously who are those guys he picked up yesterday?
Nevermind I take it back.
Weird.
Here's what people say to me in a chastising tone: "Well, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?"
I guess I expected change.
I guess I expect it'll take time.
I just didn't think this middle part through, though.
Trever Miller?
Guy is 38.
Lefty reliever.
Theo got him in Boston before, he musta liked what he saw.
This part of the blow up must just be about getting serviceable guys who are absolutely disposable and cost nothing.

Maybe next year at this time I won't be chewing my arm off.

So what about you?
How you doin'?

Expanded Playoffs? Why so soon, Bud Selig?

I heard Bud Selig being interviewed by Pat and Keith on WGN last August during the '11 season.
Remember how all the divisions seemed like they were already figured out?
Almost like there wasn't any reason to play out the rest of the season.
(For us Cubs fans, I honestly can't think of a bigger waste of time than last season.)
So Bud, he decided to speak about this expanded playoff thing.
We should add a couple more playoff teams and have a one game playoff because the playoffs are boring, and also maybe that one third place team was actually the best one. 
How can you tell in only 162 games anyway?
Then of course came the end of '11, with the most breathtaking and exciting finish in forever.

Now it's now.
I didn't think the additional playoff teams idea would go away, I just thought old Bud would put it off for awhile.
Instead, National League MVP Ryan Braun got popped for using a performance enhancing substance and, while it isn't officially official yet, will probably miss the first 50 games of '12.
And now is just about the time to start talking real baseball and not just stovetop.
It's almost time for Bud to go do more interviews and chat it up, talk about the excitement of the new season.
But what he doesn't want to talk about is Braun, the guy from Bud's Milwaukee home base, being a potential lying cheater who maybe or maybe not should give back his MVP award.
So...QUICK!
Point over at this other thing that's sure to keep you and me flapping our gums!
I've heard enough people say how much they like the idea already, so it's a great thing for Bud to talk about RIGHT NOW!
My favorite quote of Selig's came from this story here: "Clubs really want it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an issue that the clubs want more than to have the extra wild card this year. We’re working on dates right now. That’ll all take place. It looks to me like we’ll have it because I’ve told everybody we have to have it."

Honestly, I don't know that I hate it as much as I think I do.
Maybe it will be more exciting.
But if it goes any further (and why not because... just imagine the money for MLB and it's owners), it'll make the season irrelevant.

Hah!
A semi-rant!
Haven't done one of those in awhile.

 

Remember when the Cubs clinched in 2003?

Ahhh.
Remember that day?
Feels like a million years ago.
My wife had to go out of town, left me with the kids.
The rainout on Friday, the resulting Saturday doubleheader.
Cubs win game 1 with Prior on the mound striking out 10, 2nd place Houston loses to the Brewers, all the Cubs gotta do is win game 2 and the division is theirs.
The kids and I leave Sutter there to watch them clinch.
...this is all in that story in the above painting.

Anyway, I've been kind of in a funk lately, and I just realized why.
It is contained in the above painting.
Yes, I have totally bought into the Theo Re-design of the Chicago Cubs.
It's never been more obvious that something this drastic absolutely must be done.
But I also reserve the right to be a big baby and cry about not having a chance to clinch in 2012.

Probably I'm gonna be all split personality for the next year.

Remember in "Moneyball" when Brad Pitt went all in with the new system, and there's that horrible first part of the season where the Giants just can't win?
I feel like we're gonna be in that part of the movie for awhile.
Maybe not - I mean good GOD!
... pitchers and catchers haven't even reported yet and who knows what the kids can do or what Theo and Jed's moves will be.
So what am I talking about?
I guess...
I promise to be patient and I'll even try to calm you down too.
But once in awhile I probably won't be able to help but be a giant, whiny baby.
Sorry.

 

 

The Theo Epstein compensation "package" is in Bud Selig's lap.

My job is just to bring the idea to life, guys, even if it means nothing.
Which is exactly what's going on right now: nothing.
Just to prove, however, that I did not make this up, here's something I copied off MLB TRADE RUMORS:

I wonder what that compensation would be.
The Marlins took Ozzie Guillen and gave the White Sox a double A reliever named Jhan Marinez and a triple A SS named Ozzie Martinez. 
Is that a fair comparison?
Baseball America called this Ozzie thing an "exchange", which sounds like the same terminology you'd use for the Theo thing.
Well, who knows what it'll be, but I'm preparing to be shocked.
The Cubs have been stocking up on 5th starters, and the Red Sox are looking for pitchers...
But I have no idea - probably they're talking prospects, which in the case of our Cubs might be worse.
Either way, it should happen soon. 

You saw that Ryan Theriot has been reunited with his Louisiana buddy Mikey Fontenot in San Francisco.
Yep. You'd like to be an All-Star, but what an awesome gig these guys have just hanging around the Bigs even as back-ups.
Of course, if you're a Giants fan you might disagree.

Last thing.
Superbowl is coming up, and that means commercials, which is one of the things they do at my agency.
Some guys in the Cars.com group came up with a hilarious and different spot called "Confident You".
They're previewing it on You Tube, so I'm sure they don't mind me putting it up here.
Enjoy.

  

 

 

Dale Sveum, Bob Scarpelli, and leadership.

We haven't heard that much from new Cubs manager Dale Sveum since he got hired last November, have we?
(That's because the actual game part of baseball hasn't really started yet - give it a couple weeks!)
Yes, I'm picking on Soriano here, but when Sveum said those 7 little words I have up in the drawing, didn't that sound cool?
"Not running a ball out isn't okay."
Lotta weight in that sentence.
Of course every new manager says he's gonna come in and whip the team into shape, but I don't know...Sveum feels genuine.
He's got that naturally deep man-voice you used to hear in beer advertising.
His expression and demeanor convey a real sense of maturity and leadership.
I can't wait to see him once people are smacking baseballs around.

Complete change of subject.
Well, actually not since I'm talking about leadership.
I was lucky enough to be invited to Bob Scarpelli's intimate and super cool retirement party last night.
You can google him and find out all he's accomplished in advertising over his career, but simply put Bob has been the creative heart of DDB for a very long time.
In any business, there are certain guys who become giants and still never lose their sense of self.
Bob's one of those guys.
He's also a giant Cub fan, and he reads here.

Bob, I hope you set a personal record for Cub game attendance this season and who the hell knows - after a hundred some odd years maybe Cubs Time is just beginning.

Is Prince Fielder getting too big for his britches?

You may remember this drawing from a couple years back.
Not really sure why, but once in awhile I do a drawing and I make myself laugh and apparently it's not funny to anybody else.
This would be one of those.
But I put it back up just in case somebody didn't see it and uh, you know... laughs or something.

Anyway, Prince Fielder's going to DeTroit Citay with a Scott Boras mega-mondo contract.
But it's the American League, where they have designated hitters who can be fat and no longer nimble and still make more money than Wyoming.
Honestly, he's an amazing athlete, but nobody in their right National League mind would have given him 9 years. 
And I gotta say one last thing.
What a couple cowards Prince and Pujols turned out to be.
Just when the Cubs load up with Maholm and Volstad and Wood, they turn tail.
You notice that?

Oh well, it's sickeningly busy.
Gotta run.