Archive for the ‘roster’ Category

Important dates for Cubs fans

Monday February 15:  MasterCard Presale Ticket Promotion details
Thursday Feb 18: Pitchers and catchers report to Mesa for Spring Training
Friday Feb 19: Regular single game tickets on sale details
Feb 23: Position player report to Spring Training
March 2: MLB Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for all players
March 4:  Cubs beginning Spring Training game schedule vs Oakland A’s
March [...]

February 13, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Wrigley Field, biz of baseball, game day, roster, schedule, spring training  No Comments

Note to Hendry – Make no little plans

Cubs GM Jim Hendry said at the Cubs Convention that last year’s off season player market moved slower than previous years, with many deals coming in the final days before spring training. He expected this year to be similar to last and so far this has proven to be so. So we Cub fans have [...]

January 26, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Hot Stove, Jim Hendry, biz of baseball, lineup, roster, spring training  No Comments

Dawson the big draw at Cubs Convention

With the 25th annual Cubs Convention next week, I am struck by who the most exciting, most anticipated player in attendance will be. No, it won’t be a big star from last season or a high profile acquisition for this coming season. No, the biggest player appearance will be from a guy who hasn’t played for [...]

January 10, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Team Ownership, awards, observations, players, roster  No Comments

Why Byrd over Reed?

Jim Hendry went to the free agent market to get his center fielder for 2010. Marlon Byrd was signed this week to a 3-year contract worth $15 million. I took a look at his stats and was astonished by how close his numbers are to that of now former Cub Reed Johnson.

Nearly every category is [...]

January 2, 2010  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Hot Stove, Jim Hendry, biz of baseball, players, roster, stats  6 Comments

Granderson Price Likely Too Steep for Cubs

Well meaning Cubs fans are loudly advocating the team to dump Milton Bradley and move to acquire Curtis Granderson to play center field and lead off for the 2010 Chicago Cubs.  At first blush, perhaps that would be a fine swap. But realistically I just don’t see how it can happen without an extrordinary alignment [...]

November 17, 2009  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Hot Stove, Jim Hendry, biz of baseball, players, roster  No Comments

Cardinals making statement in NL Central

I am certainly not a fan of the Cardinals team – never have been. But it’s hard to argue with their methods.  Cardinals GM John Mozeliak has acquired Mark DeRosa, Julio Lugo, and now Matt Holliday to bolster his offense in pursuit of the NL Central Division Championship. The Cards are doing what they believe it [...]

July 25, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Hot Stove, Jim Hendry, observations, players, rivalries, roster, stats  One Comment

Jim Hendry has trade deadline work to do

With the Cardinals stocking up on some potential offensive firepower in Matt Holliday, it brings me around to wonder what options might be available for Jim Hendry between now and the non-waiver trade deadline of July 31st.
The Cubs will get Ryan Dempster back next week and Geovany Soto still maybe a couple weeks away. But [...]

July 24, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Hot Stove, Jim Hendry, players, roster  One Comment

Cubs need to re-think the bullpen

If 2009 is going to be a year focused on winning the World Series, then the Cubs brass has to re-evaluate their bullpen now. What they have is a mess. I feared when they acquired Kevin Gregg that he would be relied on as the everyday closer. What I had hoped for is that his [...]

June 6, 2009  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Fantasy Baseball, lineup, players, roster  No Comments

The resurgence of Kosuke Fukudome

Cubs center fielder Kosuke Fukudome is quietly putting together a very solid year. As May is closing out tomorrow, his .311 batting average and .441 on-base percentage illustrate the rebound he is making from a horrible second half of 2008. Kosuke is hanging in better on pitches, getting plenty of walks, but most importantly he [...]

May 30, 2009  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: biz of baseball, lineup, observations, players, roster, stats  No Comments

Bobby Scales is living a Kevin Costner movie

Is there a better story out there than the Bobby Scales story?  I mean, this guy is a living Kevin Costner movie.  Ten year minor leaguer without so much as a sniff of the big leagues. Not even a September call-up along the way. The Cubs pull him to Wrigley just in case they need [...]

May 15, 2009  Tags: , ,   Posted in: observations, players, roster  2 Comments