Cubby-Blue

Thanks Theo and Jed, and here's a Free "Thank You" Gif for everyone.

You guys know this is a full-service blog, right?
Drag that flashy "thank you" gif off that full-service blog and onto your desktop.
Now it's an icon.
You can put it in a "thank you" email with the instructions to "drag the icon to your browser".
When whoever you sent it to does that, a blank web page will come up with just the gif on it, and it'll play just like it does here.
It's the gif that keeps on giving, not unlike our fearless Cubs' brass with the signing of all the relatively inexpensive pitching gambles and not-so gambles.
Do I expect some of these new guys to be Paul Maholms and scram for other teams around July?
Yep.
But now, they'll go into '13 fielding a team that should be waaaaaay more watchable than the team we had to watch last August.
Jeff Samardzija, Matt Garza, Travis Wood, Edwin Jackson, Carlos Villanueva, Scott Baker and Scott Feldman.
And don't forget about Kyugi Fukijawa.
They didn't break the bank, and while we may get tired of hearing "low cost/high upside" after awhile, it's way better than"Justin Germano" or "Koyie Hill".
They also signed Nate Shierholtz to sort of take over for Bryan LaHair and play some right field so David DeJesus can go play some center.
So, none of this makes you screech with excitement, but they're creating a team and keeping their eyes on the prize and that's exactly what we should be expecting.

Go Cubs.

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Cubs, Jackson agree to $52M deal

Cubs, Edwin Jackson, Carlos Villanueva all in rumor headlines.

It's screwball rumor time for our favorite team who appear to be hot in pursuit of Edwin Jackson and Carlos Villanueva.
Mr. Jackson is 29 with the career 4.04 ERA since 2003, and if you go to his stats page on ESPN you'll see 7 different logos in front of his name.
A well travelled guy, Edwin.
Mr. Villanueva is 29 and comes by way of Milwuakee and Toronto and has a 4.26 ERA starting in '06.
(With the Cubs having signed Scott Baker and Scott Feldman along with the pursuit of 3 starting pitchers recently, there's some chatter that maybe Matt Garza isn't exactly on schedule.)
Olney says the Cubs have floated out 4 yrs for $52 mil (MLTR).
Not sure what the deal is for Villanueva.

What I do know is I have to clean the art room area, and there are kind of alot of sketchbooks down there from over the years.
There are 3 from 2003, and the watercolor below is from the middle book.
So I'm pretty sure it came on June 21 after the Sox and Mark Buerhle beat the Cubs and Matt Clement 7-6 at Wrigley (box score here).
I was doing stuff in the back yard when my daughter came out with a poem.
That part is absolutely true.
I did not, however, actually say, "So what?"
I just think that way.

 

Okay lets see what happens with the rumors today.

Wake of news. Anibal Sanchez didn't accept the invite.

Man, I've read around a little about this attempt by Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer to get Anibel Sanchez to come pitch for the Cubs.
Some people are really mad.
The attempt was "botched" or whatever their interperetation of it was.
But hell, I thought it was a nice try.
I was shocked (in a really good way) at the news that they made the offer at all.
It was kept all super close to the vest, his agent obviously used the Cubs' offer to get more money from the Tigers and the Cubs wisely didn't get into a bidding war.
We all know by now that Theo and Jed are looking for very specific players - the right skills, the right age, all that.
So I thought it encouraging that they made the offer, especially since my expectations were and still are that 2013 will be another year where we're not supposed to pay real attention to wins and losses.
And the idea that Theo and Jed have been "botching" things is, well the things they were trying to do would have made the team better, but twit happens. Players talk to the press. Agents are going to try and get more money for their clients.

Okay, last thing.
I got a bottle of wine as a gift, and I googled it.
Here was the "review":

At first an overwhelming note of minerality that followed the wine on the palate like a clingy toddler, also prevalant bell pepper, at this point the fruit was secondary. But after about 20-30 minutes she gained her composure and the flavors meshed very nicely and the bright fruit came to the top. A solid effort, nothing to have a religious conversion over, but as my colleague put it,"I wouldn't say no to a glass...or 4."

One day, I'm gonna write a whole post like that.

 

How many texts did you get that said, "Bye Lovie"?

Once again, the Green Bay Packers prove to be better than the Chicago Bears.
And there isn't anything unique to yesterday's 13-21 loss except the better team won.
Injuries and iffy refereeing don't really count in a Packers/Bears game, to me anyway.
You win or you lose.

The Bears got swept by the Packers this year, and they look like a team without... well, they can win these last couple games and I'm so gonna be pulling for them, but do you think they stand a chance should they get in the playoffs?

Which brings me to Lovie Smith.
The reaction, and there's nothing knee-jerk about it because we've all had years and years to think about it, is to get rid of him.
He has one more year on his contract, so just...lose the guy.

But I continue to think the bigger problem went away when they FINALLY tossed Jerry Angelo.
And I kind of agree with Mike Mulligan in this article.
He's flawed when he simply points out how many potential vacancies will be out there because some of the head coaches who get canned will simply go to another organization.
But overall...who are the Bears going to get?
(And you're not allowed to say "I don't care, ANYONE will be better.")
It's definitely coming to the end of the Lovie Smith era, whether it's now or a couple years from now.
My hope would be that Phil Emery is planning on that and identifying potential candidates for the job, and then the candidates after that, and then after that so if one plan fails there's another ready to go.

Don't run from a bad situation, but rather go to a good one.
Somewhere out there is a talented guy who's dying to coach the Chicago Bears because of the city, the history, and what could be.
Unless he's right there right now, I wouldn't toss Lovie just yet.

ps: gif idea obviously stolen from Robert Indiana. 

 

EVERYTHING says the Packers will beat the Bears. So... Bears win, right?

The Bears lost Robbie Gould, the defense lost Brian Urlacher, Jay Cutler has a neck and a knee, Lovie Smith is a lame duck, the turf sucks at Soldiar Field and half the starters are out with injuries.
Everything I've read.
Everything I've heard.
Everything I've watched on tv.
It all says the Chicago Bears are gonna lose to the Green Bay Packers.

Even my own football instinct says the Bears are gonna lose to the Packers.
By about 22 points.

That's why the Bears are gonna win.

Trust me - that makes perfect sense.

Go Bears.