Top 10 things we don't want to hear out of Theo Epstein’s mouth tomorrow

10: “Don’t worry, Mike Quade won’t be managing this team next year…because I’ve hired Jim Riggleman to take his place.”

9: "Since I don't know much about this organization, I'm going to let Crane Kenney make most of the major baseball related decisions."

8: "I'll be appearing on "Undercover Boss" later this year."

7: "We're going to move the Cubs to the AL East."

6: “103 years? Really? Holy crap, you guys seriously suck. Get me outta here!"

5: "No more Old style. Sam Adams for everyone."

4: "I've altered the Wrigley Field renovation plans so that a large green wall can be erected out in left field."

3: “I hope you guys don’t have any curses around here…especially ones about billy goats because I’m deathly afraid of billy goats.”

2: “I’m glad to make this change. Since there isn’t really any big pressure to actually win here, I can finally relax a bit.”

1: “Looking at the situation as a whole, I don’t see any real need to change anything here except making Koyie Hill the everyday catcher.”

MLB Network thinks the Cubs lack talent.

Is it East coast bias?

Is it flat out disrespect?

Or is it just true?

MLB Network has spent the last few weeks naming their top 10 players “right now” at each position.

They have named them all...and here is the list as I've been able to track it: (click the link to continue)

Top 10 people who are currently ruining baseball for me

I’m sure some people will be scratching their head by this list…but I don’t care. Yesterday it was announced that Joe Morgan will not be back as the color commentator for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Much rejoicing around the baseball universe occurred on this news...and I was joining in as I just can’t stand this Hall-of-Famer who really doesn't understand today’s game and has a warped view of the game from his playing days. I always felt that Morgan’s contributions to the ESPN broadcasts ruined what typically is known now as the baseball game of the week on ESPN.

So today I thought I would list out the other people who do the same thing as Morgan, ruin baseball. These are the top 10 people who are ruining my enjoyment of game and I wish they would just go away.

10. Craig Sager

There are homes for people like this.

For those of you who don’t know who this dork is, he is the one of the on-field reporters for TBS. Sager is known for his horrible toupee and colorful polyester suits. The problem is that he appears to have no clue what baseball is or what’s going on in the games. TBS thankfully made the move to get rid of Chip Carey from the booth as their primary play-by-play guy for the playoffs, but they still need to throw this wanna-be, who doesn't really do basketball reporting well either, to the curb as well. He single handedly destroys TBS’s coverage of the MLB Playoffs.

**************

9. Tom Ricketts

Smile, you're $450 million in debt and have shitty team.

I really wanted to leave Tom off of this list. I really did. In the end, I just couldn’t. Last year’s 20% hike in ticket prices, delays in the Wrigley renovation, reduced payroll, with money wasted on polishing up the troughs in the men’s bathrooms, rock and rap music blasting from the Wrigley Field speakers, Jim Hendry still GM…I’m sorry but Year One makes me sick to my stomach. I hope Year Two is a little better. Maybe Tom doesn't need to go away entirely, but he probably needs to be a little less visible and spend more time fixing this mess of an organization.

**************

8. Tim McCarver

Oh, yeah...and he's a former Cardinal.

My hope and dream is that Fox follows the lead of ESPN and kicks their primary color commentator to the curb. Tim McCarver has been hurting my ears with his irrelevant commentary for practically my entire baseball fandom. He’s not funny. He’s not clever. He’s not knowledgeable about today’s game. I’m pretty sure he’s legally blind now too as he can't make a solid call on even a ball or strike. I always got the impression that he got hit in the head with a few too many balls from his playing days. McCarver brings down the talent of Joe Buck much like Joe Morgan did with Jon Miller. (That being said, Joe Buck is no Jon Miller.)

**************

7. Albert Pujols

Ah...I see his helmet doesn't fit his bloated head anymore.

Yes, maybe I’m a bit jealous of this guy because he’s on the Cardinals and not the Cubs, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot of convincing to move me from my belief that this guy isn’t a cheater. Looking at his rise in the minor leagues and his explosion onto the scene in the major leagues, (as well as his physical appearance), I just can’t help but to think that he’s been helped by some sort of chemical substance. Baseball has done a fantastic job cleaning itself up, but Pujols remains, in my opinion, a remnant of that era of the 90’s and early 00’s. And he just kills the Cubs.

 **************

6. Mark Prior

Many of us dream of the day when we can see Mark in a Cubs uniform again being escorted off the mound by a trainer.

So many Cubs fans wish Mark Prior would come back to the Cubs and be that same pitcher he was in 2003…they want the Cubs to take another flyer on him and his towel. It sits in our heads that possibility of him making it back and becoming successful and that he does it for some other team, it would just remind us of what could have been. He needs to go away so we don't have to live with the idea that we let him get away. And having his name in the news just reminds us of 2003.

 **************

5. Jeffery Loria

Not many people can screw over two organizations.

You all must think I have some vendetta against this guy. The former owner of the Montreal Expos and the current owner of the Florida Marlins is easily the worst owner in Major League Baseball. Loria took a good baseball town in Montreal (really...it actually was) and turned off the entire fan base to the product he had. (The strike in 1994 didn’t help either…but still). After Montreal spent over $1 billion dollars in Olympic Stadium, with much of that money to cater to the needs of the Expos, Loria demanded a new stadium to be paid for by the city. Loria didn’t get his way and cried to the commissioner’s office to help him out. In a pretty shady deal, Major League Baseball bought the Expos from Loria, sold the Boston Red Sox to the owners of the Florida Marlins, and then gave the Marlins to Loria under some rather questionable financing. Loria unfortunately won the 2003 World Series in his first year of ownership in Miami, but has since run his team in a very similar fashion to the Expos, with good young talent being continuously pumped out, but that talent gets moved off the roster to control costs. Then he stomped his feet again and demanded a new stadium from Miami. Unlike Montreal, Miami complied and is now building a new retractable roof stadium for the Marlins with very little money being contributed by Loria. Then a report a few months ago saying that the Marlins (along with the Pirates) have been extremely profitable over the last number of seasons even while demanding they didn’t have money for a new stadium or to spend on players while taking revenue sharing money. This guy is a bum.

**************

4. Ryne Sandberg

Ryno, and many Cubs fans, aren't smiling much right now.

You're saying, "Ryno? Really Doc?" Yes. I love Sandberg, as you all know. But he shouldn’t be the Cubs manager. People are sad that he left the Cubs. I’m not because his presence will be constant distraction. This isn’t Ryno’s fault…he feels like he has something substantial to contribute. He probably does. He could probably be a good manager. The problem is that even if he gets a job with another team, his presence in baseball will be a distraction for the Cubs and their fans. The discussion every time he is in town with that other team will turn to whether or not he should have been named the Cubs manager and how poorly the Cubs treated him. As much as I tell people to just get over it…Cubs fans won’t get over it. And the only solution is for Ryno to just go away. It's sad, but true.

**************

3. Angel Hernandez

Not sure who he's throwing out of the game, but I bet this was a blown call.

Angel Hernandez is, in my opinion, easily the worst umpire in baseball. Cubs fans remember Hernandez most for being the guy who threw Steve McMichael out of the ballpark in 2001 for criticizing him over the PA system during the seventh inning stretch. Hernandez has been involved in a number of other incidents over his career and is known for a quick trigger throwing players and coaches out of games. Just the fact that Hernandez has been involve in so many “incidents” should confirm that he has issues as an umpire. Good umpires should be virtually invisible during a game…Hernandez often times stands out. Shockingly, Hernandez was one of the umpires for this year’s ALCS, and actually appeared to do a pretty good job. But Hernandez’s often erratic strike zone and poor judgment of close calls makes me wonder if there aren’t at least about 50 minor league umpires out there that couldn’t do his job better than he does.

**************

2. Scott Boras

The Yankees are his sugar daddy.

Agent extraordinaire. If the owners just has some balls to stand up to this man and not let him take advantage of them over and over and over and over and over again, then this man’s power and influence over so many aspects of the game would just go away. I like blaming Boras for the fact that my ticket prices have increased so much. Is he Alfonso Soriano’s agent? Zambrano? Fukudome? No. But because of his ability to overprice his clients and still dup some stupid owner into paying that price, he has raised the salary level for players all over the game. He has hurt the ability of a lower income family to pay to go see a game. I guess, with that being said, I wouldn’t mind having him as my agent next time I go in to ask my boss for a raise.

**************

1. Bud Selig

"Did I hear that right, Doc doesn't like me?"

Oh Bud…how I hate thee. Let me count the ways:
1. Steroids.
2. 1994 strike
3. Expansion
4. The wild card
5. Interleague play
6. World Baseball Classic
7. All-Star Game tie
8. The Expos/Nationals thing
9. TV contracts with Fox and TBS
10. Collusion
I’d continue, but that would be piling it on. In theory, we have only 2 more years of Selig’s reign of terror. The concern is that he will have his successor already in place by the time he leaves, giving baseball little opportunity to actually put in place a person with the best interests of the entire game as a priority over the interests of just the owners. It is the sheer power of the game itself that has allowed it to overcome the destructive activities of Bud Selig.

**************

There you have it. Flame away!

10 things that I think

Things have been rather quiet over the last week...

So I have just decided to ramble off 10 short things that have been on my mind lately.

1. I am way too optimistic about this season. And it goes against my nature.

2. I am totally stoked about Wrigley Field being renovated. I'm really curious as to what the end result will be.

3. I haven't been to a Cubs regular season night game in quite a while...what's the best thing to do as far as parking?

4. Do you think the Cubs would be willing to hire me as Chief Hospitality Officer? I think I could do that job really well.

5. Is Jim Hendry looking past this season? Long term plans are good, and I'm happy that the Cubs seem to be planning for the long term...but this last statement by Jim Hendry this morning in an interview on the WSCR perplexed me: "We'll try to get the job done in the next couple years."

6. The other teams of the Cactus League can just go to hell. Seriously, guys, don't piss off the Cubs because I'm still fairly sure that the Ricketts family would love to move to Florida.

7. I seriously need to move to a warmer climate in the winter. Some place with no snow...like Vancouver.

8. Willie Mays must never die. Period.

9. I hope and pray that Google Buzz ends up being better than Facebook.

10. The New York Mets are a complete mess. And I really hope it stays that way.

Happy Friday everyone! Five more days until we start counting the days until the season opener!!!  Hehe!

10 Lessons the Ricketts family can learn from the Wirtz and McCaskey families

Football season is winding down...

I was thinking, Chicago has a wonderful history of family ownership of its major sports teams, with the Wrigley's and the Cubs, the Halas's and the Bears and the Wirtz's and the Blackhawks.

Now we welcome in a new family to handle our beloved Cubs, the Ricketts's. 

Things are going fairly well with the Blackhawks since Bill Wirtz died a few years ago and Rocky took over the team. The Bears, on the other hand, have been stuck in the same stale ownership of Virginia McCaskey since George Halas died almost 30 years ago.  Both of these families and franchises provide many examples of good and bad ways of running a sports franchise. 

I fully expect this first year of ownership for the Ricketts's to be a feeling out time as the try to figure out how to handle their big new toy. 

So here are 10 lessons for the Ricketts family to learn from the McCaskeys and Wirtz's as they begin their first year of ownership with the Cubs.

10. Hire John McDonough
Yes...I know the Cubs have already done this...and he has since moved on. McDonough is the primary reason the Cubs are the special organization that they are today. He has transformed a financially struggling team into arguably the most popular baseball team in the country without that team achieving any success on the field. What this has done is turned the team into a revenue machine allowing for a higher payroll and a chance at getting into the playoffs on a yearly basis. McDonough has started to do similar things with the Blackhawks. The Bears? Not so much. I'm not really saying the Cubs need to go out and rehire McDonough, but it is important for them to find a customer relations person and media wizard to continue the good work that McDonough did during his time with the Cubs (except for that seventh inning stretch thing.) so the Cubs continue to be a revenue generating power house.

9. Don't hire any of your kids to run the team
Two words: Mike McCaskey! Simple as that.

8. Honor the past
Don't alienate the past heroes of your team. In fact, if the time comes for the Cubs to move on from some loved and admired player, do it in a fair and good way without burning bridges and having the player hate the team. The Blackhawks, for a number of years, had a knack for pissing off all of their former stars. The great response the Hawks got when they started bringing back some of those players over the last couple years should be a real eye opener. Make sure that former stars are visible to the fans...make them part of the organization in some way. The Cubs have been fairly good about this, but not great in recent years. (The Greg Maddux thing was a great first step!)

7. Don't live in the past
While you can honor the past, don't live in it. The Bears live in the past. And you know what? It makes them look old fashioned in a league that is constantly changing from year to year.  Just because you won the 1963 title playing a certain style of football doesn't mean that you should continue to use that style in 2010! That doesn't mean change for the sake of change, but when things are out date or no longer work, be willing to try something else.  Or, better yet, be a trend setter! 

6. Don't, in any way, restrict the visibility of the team
Old Man Wirtz kept the Blackhawks home games off of TV for years. And for years Hawks attendance dropped. It only hurts your team if people are not able to see the team play. For the Hawks, most people could only see the team on the road...and most fans wouldn't ever see what excitement there was at a home Hawks game. You should have all games available to be seen or heard in every possible form of media...TV, radio, online...etc. I bring up this point also because the Ricketts's could help baseball modify or eliminate the archaic blackout policy that they currently have.

5. Make sure to own the stadium you play in
The Ricketts's already own Wrigley Field...but if they have any notion to sell the ballpark to the city, state or some other management organization in order to help raise money to renovate it, don't do it!!! The Bears have never owned the stadium they have played in, whether is was Wrigley Field or Soldier Field. When it came time for the Bears to have a new facility to be built for them, they left it into the hands of the city because they were stupid and didn't want to pony out the cash for a new stadium. (This is partially economics as the McCaskey family is not independently wealthy like most sports franchise owners.)  And while the new Soldier Field is a nice and fan friendly place on the inside, the outside looks like crap. Soldier Field has become a joke to most people. And they also play in what is now one of the smallest stadiums in football which also hurts revenue.  Besides that, wouldn't it be nice if the Bears could be in control of things like, oh say, the turf in their stadium? (The Bears should have switched over to field turf or some sort of hybrid, like the Packers did, many years ago.)

4. Put good, experienced baseball people in positions to help mold the team
I think this goes without saying, but that isn't how the Bears have operated. This used to also be the case with the Hawks. The Cubs have made drastic steps in this direction over the last few years. And they should continue to do this. It's ok if you bring in one or two new, inexperienced people to help bring in new ideas to the franchise. But for the most part the team should be surrounded with people who understand the game, and have a history of success. It's been a long time since we've seen the Cubs hire consecutive managers who have been as successful as Dusty Baker or Lou Pineilla. The lesson to be learn here is from the Bears. When was the last time they hired a head coach that actually had some professional head coaching experience? (well, besides George Halas hiring himself on 12 different occasions.) Never in my life time. The Bears are one of the founding teams of the NFL, yet their front office makes them look like they are an expansion team. The Cubs have done better putting good baseball people in place to manage on the field.  Now it is time to do the same in front office.  (Why is Crane Kenney still president of the team?)

3. Listen to the fans
Especially me (see #1). It is important to listen and understand what the fans are saying about the team. The Bears never listen to their fans. The fan base for the Bears is probably more frustrated than the Cubs. The Bears get less bang for their buck than probably any other team in football.  But back to the point...the ownership and management of the Bears seem to almost do the exact opposite of anything Bears fans want. If the Bears continue to struggle, you will see a lot more visiting fans and no shows at Soldier Field. Luckily for the Bears, they have a long season ticket waiting list, so they will always sell out no matter what. But with only 10 home games a year tickets aren't going to generate huge amounts of renenue, you can't piss off the fans too long before other channels of revenue begin to dry up. Look how things have turned around for the Hawks when they started listening to their fans, adjusted ticket prices, and put the games on TV.  The owners of the team should never assume they know what is best for the fans. 

2. Never let money get in the way of doing what is best for the team
Give me one reason...just one reason...besides the money left on his contract, that Lovie Smith was retained as head coach for 2010?  If a player or coach isn't working out on the team, get rid of them. Period.

1. Do everything I say.
I'm fairly sure that if the Cubs did everything I thought they should do over the last 10 years, we would be talking about the how the Cubs are the best team that ever played after they won their 5th World Series title during that stretch. So, Ricketts folk, if you want to achieve your number one goal of winning the World Series, you had better listen to everything I say. In the last 10 years, the Hawks haven't listened to me...result? No Stanley Cup. The Bears haven't listened to me. Result? No Super Bowl title. The Bulls haven't listened to me...result? No NBA championship. I think that pretty much makes my point.

My top 5 most memorable Cubs games of the decade.

Here is the list of my most memorable games that I have attended in the last 10 years. (you'll notice a lot of these revolve around the 2003 and 2008 seasons. I wonder why?)

5. Mark Prior! Wednesday, April 9, 2003
The best pitched game I have ever seen in person. Period. I don't know if people realize how absolutely dominating Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were at the beginning of the 2003 season. It would be the last season that the two of them were fully healthy for the Cubs.

In this game against the Expos, not only was Mark Prior pitching lights out, but Javier Vazquez was pitching for Montreal...and pitched damn well. Vazquez gave up a homer to Damien Miller in the 2nd inning...and that was about it! Vazquez struck out 14 Cubs in 7 innings of work.

Prior pitched a complete game shutout, striking out 12. He threw 112 pitches in this gem. This was Prior at the top of his game. I really miss him. What could have been....oh well.

Another awesome fact about this game...no walks and no errors.

For Miller, it was probably his best game of the season going 3 for 3...and a triple shy of the cycle.

At that point of the 2003 season, only about 15,000 people were showing up at the ballpark. After 2003, almost every game (with some exceptions in 2006 and 2007) was a packed house. But only a small number of people actually witnessed this gem from Mark Prior and Javier Vazquez.

4. The Brewers collapse. Thursday September 18, 2008
One of a number of comebacks I witnessed in 2008...including #2 on this list and the first game versus the White Sox. But this one was great as it came near the end of the season as the Cubs were marching on to the playoffs to ultimately end the 100 year drought. (But we all know how that ended!)

This game kinda sucked until the 9th inning. Then the Brewers, who were up 6-2 and they decided to bring in Sosa killer, Salomon Torres. The Cubs tied the game up with 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth topped with a 3 run homer by Geovany Soto.

The game went into extra innings and Derrek Lee won the game in the bottom of the 12th with an RBI single off of Carlos Villanueva. The Cubs looked almost unstoppable as the season neared its end. Yet the year ended far too quickly.

3. Game 3 of the NLDS. Friday, October 3rd, 2003
Mark Prior vs. Greg Maddux. I doesn't get much better than that! I took my father to this game for his birthday and it was my very first playoff game. The 5 game series was tied 1-1 at this point, and a strange thing happened around the 5th inning. Cub fans actually started to believe that they could win the series!

With the Cubs just squeezing into the playoffs at the end of the season, many people thought that they may be a 3 and out victim to Atlanta just like in 1998. But they won game 2, and with Greg Maddux on the mound the Cubs scored two runs early in the game. And with Mark Prior pitching great on the mound, a buzz started to build around the crowd.

By the end of the game, which ended with a Cubs 3-1 victory, the atmosphere around Wrigley was like nothing I had ever seen before. A giant party with 60,000 people broke out on the streets of Wrigleyville with people singing, fans cheering, women flashing. It was quite the scene. I haven't been at the stadium when the Cubs have clinched anything...but I imagine the scene would almost be the same except the players would be running around the field.

What a great birthday present for my father.

2. Greatest comeback of the decade. Friday, May 30, 2008
My fiance was trying to get me to think positive thoughts as the Cubs were replacing a number of their regulars in the line-up being down by 8 runs. Little did I know, as I moped in my seat, that I was going to witness a comeback of historic proportions.

The Rockies scored early and often. After 1 inning it was 4-0. After 3, 7-0. By the end of the 5th inning, it was 9-1.

Carlos Zambrano was used as a pinch hitter in the 3rd inning. Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto were taken out of the game in the 6th inning and replaced by Henry Blanco and Micah Hoffpauir.

Well...it sounds like a good time for a comeback, eh? Back to back homers by Jim Kosuke and Jim Edmonds woke up the crowd a little bit. 9-4

Then the next inning after Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito sang the seventh inning stretch, the comeback becomes complete.

2 run homer by Hank White (Henry Blanco for those of you who might not know the lingo.)
2 run double by Jim Edmonds
2 run homer by Mark DeRosa

And we all went crazy!!!!

Carlos Marmol came in and threw 10 pitches...9 strikes and struck out the side...all 3 looking!

Kerry Wood closed the game in the ninth. Cubs win 10-9. It was this game that I first remember Cub fans staying in the stands singing "Go Cubs Go" after the game. No one would leave.

Even though the playoffs were a bust, 2008 was a magical season.


1. Game 1 of the NLCS. 7th, 2003
Yes, the Cubs lost that game. But, my goodness, was that a great time. I have never heard the ballpark as loud as it was when Sosa tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was a back and forth all game. The Cubs took a 4 run led by Moises Alou's first inning homer. The Marlins took the lead in the 3 scoring 5 times off of Carlos Zambrano. The Marlins added to their lead making it 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth when future goat, Alex Gonzalez hit a two run homer to tie it up. And the crowd went crazy! The Marlins once again took the lead in the top of the ninth off of Joe Borowski with a two run single by Ivan Rodriguez.

Then Sammy Sosa batted in the bottom of the ninth with a man on, two outs down 8-6. Sosa jacked a shot. I have no clue where it landed. My ears didn't recover for a long time from the thunderous noise that erupted when Sosa hit that homer.

The Cubs later lost the game in the 11th inning after pinch hitter Mike Lowell (yes, that Mike Lowell) hit a solo shot off of Mark Guthry.

*************************************

Honorable mention: The Red Sox come to town! Friday, June 10, 2005
The Red Sox and their fans came to town...and they were great fun to hang around with. (not sure if that's the case anymore)

Monday Evening fun! Milton Bradley's greatest Cub moments (up to this day)

Ok...this worked last week with Aaron Miles.

I compiled a list of people that I wanted to play 2nd base for the Cubs in 2010 instead of Aaron Miles...and the next day he was traded!

Today I'm going to list the top 5 moments during Milton Bradley's stint as a Chicago Cub.  So hopefully he'll be traded tomorrow.

Boo!

Thanksgiving...what do we have to be thankful for as Cub fans this year?

We have a lot to be thankful for this year, Cub fans.

Yes, we didn't make the playoffs, and the season itself was really disappointing...but let's look at the positive things here.

The top ten things to be thankful for as Cub fans:

10.  Milton Bradley will likely be traded before the end of the year.

Right?  He will be traded?  He had better be traded.

9.  We aren't the Pirates

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Pirates who have set a record with their 17th straight losing season. 

8.  We are another year closer to the Cubs ridding themselves of these horrible, back-weighted contracts.

Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano, Kosake Fukudome....the list goes on...anyway, they all have hugely back-weighted contracts, meaning that a big part of the money that they earn will come in the latter years of their contracts.  The Cubs will be paying Soriano $18 million plus when he is in his late thirties and his skills become quite diminished.  So we are one year closer to these financial handcuffs to go away.  Yea!

7.  We didn't get swept out of the playoffs.
The playoffs were much more enjoyable to watch this year.

6.  Koyie Hill

Enough said there!

5.  Derrek Lee has been resurrected!

Yes I want to trade him still, but at least this year he is worth something.  If it wasn't for Derrek Lee, this team would have probably been fighting with Cincinnati and Houston in the bottom half of the division. (They would have still been better than Pittsburgh, though.)

4.  Soriano can't possible be any worse next season

Yes, Soriano had a bad year this year, but be thankful that he had it during a season in which everyone else (except D-Lee) played not quite up to specs either.  So, expect big things out of him next year!

3.  Didn't have to pay for playoff tickets

The Cubs didn't even send out applications for playoff tickets this year...which meant I was able to keep some extra money in my savings account for a few extra months. 

2.  Three straight winning seasons.

Sure we didn't make the playoffs this year, and the season was rather disappointing for the most part, but for the first time since the early 1970's the Cubs have had 3 straight winning seasons.  If anything, that should tell us that this franchise has definitely moved in a positive direction over during this decade.

1.  We have new insect overlords
The Cubs have new owners.  The Ricketts family.  Only good can come from this...right?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!