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Chicago Cubs Trade Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot To Los Angeles Dodgers

July 31, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

The Chicago Cubs made an unsurprising move at today's trade deadline shipping starting pitcher Ted Lilly and infielder Ryan Theriot to the Los Angeles Dodgers for infielder Blake DeWitt and minor league pitchers Brett Wallach and Kyle Smit. In Lilly, the Dodgers add a veteran arm that will fit nicely into the middle of their rotation behind Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley. This has been Lilly's worst year record-wise in his four seasons with the Cubs, posting a 3-8 record but boasts an ERA of 3.69 and 1.14 WHIP. Lilly's numbers have not been as great as they have been in previous ...

Bits and Pieces

July 31, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Haven’t done one of these in a long time, but a glance at my Google alerts shows more than 500 notices, so here goes. Bruce Markusen at Hardball Times, conducted this interview with Dan Epstein , author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass . HT also ran this review of The Eastern Stars (upshot: “The Eastern Stars leaves the reader with a much clearer impression of where these players come from, and the lives led by their parents and grandparents. But it doesn’t do much to explain why San Pedro has been responsible for so much baseball greatness, and it ...

Cubs Allow 12 Runs in the Eighth For a 17-2 Loss to Rockies

July 31, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

A defeat is bad — a blowout loss is even worse.  The Chicago Cubs know exactly how it feels tonight in Coors Field with an inexplicable 17-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies. They had no hitting and plenty of bad pitching.  The 17-run loss is their worst this season after a 16-5 defeat by the Atlanta Braves on Opening Day. Giving up 12 runs and 13 hits in the eighth inning is the last thing any Cubs fan would like to see.  The Cubs seem like a team made up of amateurs facing a major league team for the ...

Carlos Zambrano Can Apologize but a Tiger Can’t Change Its Stripes

July 30, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Sometime prior to tonight's game against the Colorado Rockies, the formerly angry Carlos Zambrano, recently reinstated and recently healed, is expected to address his Cubs teammates to apologize for his June 25 outburst. Of course, Big Z has already publicly apologized on ESPN. You can expect the next one to be as meaningless as this one. Most fans and the entire organization, in fact, would rather see Zambrano just go away and not bother leaving a forwarding address. But since they won't eat his contract, and the MLB Player's Union demands it, Carlos will return to pitch in the bullpen. Look, the Cubs have nobody but themselves to blame for all this. ...

A-Rod Is Pressing for 600

July 29, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

There is no denying the fact that Alex Rodriguez is having a bit of an off-year. Entering July, his batting average and slugging percentage have dropped and he hasn’t been quite as patient at the plate. In July, he started turning things around, at least power-wise, by cracking five homers in the first 17 games of the month. His average and patience hadn’t totally returned, but it was a start. Then he hit home run No. 599. Since that time, just six games, A-Rod has gone cold. In that span, he has a decent batting average of .280. However, with just one ...

Derrek Lee Is Hurting the Cubs by Refusing Trade to Dodgers

July 28, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Sure, it's Lee's right to decline any trade, something the man has earned through his  "10 & 5" rights, not to mention his no-trade clause. However, if Lee was thinking about anyone other than himself, he would acquiesce and go to the Dodgers for another chance at the playoffs, while giving the Cubs an opportunity to land a prospect and secure some salary relief. But no, it seems that D-Lee either doesn't want the pressure of being in a pennant race as the new face on a winning team, or he just wants to stick it to the Cubs. Either way, it's a selfish move that greatly ...

Lou Piniella Retires: Joe Torre and Seven Other Potential Replacements

July 28, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

With the announcement coming last week that Lou Piniella would be retiring from baseball at the end of the season, the line of suitors for the opening will likely be a long one. The rumors will continue to fly until a replacement is named. This decision is made especially interesting by the fact that a handful of high profile managers have expiring contracts at the end of this season. This group, coupled with Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg and a few others, makes for an interesting pool from which to select the next Cubs skipper. So here are eight potential managerial replacements for ...

Is Alfonso Soriano a Future Hall of Famer?

July 27, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

History will look back at Alfonso Soriano in many ways. Some will view him as having one of the most dominating combinations of power and speed to ever play the game. Others, mostly Cubs fans, will view him as one of the biggest overpaid players in baseball history. So, I raise the question, is Soriano a Hall of Famer? Of course, right now, it’s too early to tell. He still has four years left in his contract, and he will be 38 years old at contract's end. Soriano's  current numbers are not Hall of Fame worthy. He has a career batting average of .278, ...

Chicago Cubs Should Just Say ‘No’ To Joe Girardi

July 27, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Joe Girardi has been a name thrown around the Chicago Cubs organization like a visiting team's home run at Wrigley Field.  And with the Cubs always looking for the big name rather than the right choice, it wouldn't surprise anyone if they were to get him as the skipper for 2011. There is just one problem. Girardi is one of the most overrated managers in all of baseball. He will not only cost the Cubs a pretty penny, but wins as well.   But he won manager of the year four years ago He finished fourth in the division with a 78-84 overall record. Not ...

Why Ryne Sandberg Should Manage The Cubs For The Rest Of The Season

July 27, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

All in all, Lou Piniella had a pretty decent run for the Cubs in his Chicago tenure. He brought the team to the playoffs his first two years. Maybe without some major season-crippling injuries (and a couple questionable moves by Jim Hendry), the Cubs could have seen the playoffs all four of those years.  With that said, the 2010 season has become one to forget. A surprising four-game series win against the Phillies at the beginning of the second half provided a little hope inside for the Cubbie faithful. After losing the next series to the Astros, that tingly feeling quickly switched to a kick in the groin. The ...

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