The downgrading of one's hopes
I read the papers so you don't have to. The Sun-Times pretty much confirms Kyle's scoopage about the Pursuit of Pitching. Without the sale of the team, the Tribune is still in charge, and they still believe that 8th in payroll is a great place to be. In otherwords, forget about getting Jake Peavy, which we need, and count on another 4th to 5th starter being brought in, which we don't need. We already have four middle-of-the-rotation guys, plus Marshall and tha Shark.
I was somewhat gratified to read that Hendry does see the need to move Pie, Cedeno, and possibly Rich Hill. I don't imagine we'd get more than a thimbleful of snot for THAT wackypack anymore, but if we could somehow get a 25th man who knows which base to throw to (the UnCedeno), can hit a ball more often than weekly (the UnPie) and maybe won't shat his pants when called upon (the UnHill), then we as a club will be better. I've heard Rich Aurillia. Really? Why not Brady Anderson?
The Tribune, on the other hand, seems to think that our chances rely on a return to form by Senor Holy Sh*t himself, Tha Bigg Z. They still adhere to the school of thought that Carlos Zambrano is a Staff Ace, and I suppose it is because they are paying him as if he is One. I understand their misconception. There hasn't been a lot of talk out here this winter about Z, probably because we're all scared of him. And that's wise, on our part. You never know when he just might show up. During the middle of the night, as we sleep. Or perhaps he will just step in front of your car, while moving.
All mas macho joking aside (Ricardo Montalban, R.I.P), while Carlos will never be a staff Ace due to his inability to harness his emotions, the Trib does make an awesome point that we have largely overlooked. If he doesn't return to form, we are in big trouble. A large amount of our success does ride on Big Z, and in our efforts to seem the most knowledgeable about piddly-ass shortstops and left-handed right fielders, we have slept on Z. He is huge, and it can't be repeated enough.
All in all, The Kubs Konvention is this weekend, and management has always tried to have something nice and splashy to spring on the faithful masses on opening night. Since that is less than 36 hours from now, I can't wait to see what Ringmaster Hendry has up his sleeve. Maybe Aurillia wearing clown makeup.
NOTICE: Daddy's headin' south until the 26th. I flee from the 19-below I woke up to this morning. That's a bulb reading, kids, not a wind-chill. It's damn cold. Maybe-fingerless-gloves-aren’t-cool cold. Snot-freezingly cold. Those-aren’t-beet-slices-they’re-my-ears cold. Sarah-Palin-thinks-it’s-cold cold. Nutts-shrivelingly cold. Honey-let-the-homeless-man-in cold. Measuring-temperature-in-Kelvin cold. Where-the-hell-is-the-global-warming-Al-Gore? cold. South-American-soccer-team-cannibalization cold. Cate-Blanchett cold. It’s-not-arson-it’s-self-defense cold. Slice-open-and-crawl-inside-your-Tauntaun cold. Snowmen-ask-for-sweaters cold. Old-Cubs-who-now-live-in-Arizona-are-here-drinking-themselves-into-a-ginrummy-because-its-so-cold cold. It's DAMN cold.
Don't miss me too much.
Salary dump then?
And it's up on Cubs.com. I am going to try and keep myself from rantage, we'll see how well that works.
Barebones:
I still fail to see how trading an experienced, capable, versatile, team leader (on and off field) in DeRosa is outweighed by this "ZOMG NEED LEFTY" balance thing. Until Bradley can prove he stays healthy (let alone sane), we could have used the insurance DeRosa afforded us with his versatility. Facts are: Bradley hasn't played a complete season in a while. Neither has Miles. We didn't upgrade at all in Miles. If we're lucky, it will be a neutral move. I call salary dump. What B.S.
Look, if we were going to get Peavy (since the "need" for another pitcher was also reportedly so great), I might be able to reconcile this trade since Peavy isn't cheap. I never got on the Peavy bandwagon, but I could still deal with it. But now? Suddenly looking to promote within?
Is it too much to ask that if you're going to trade DeRosa, you at least make it for something BIG, Hendry?
agree
I call B.S. too. The term "salary dump" should only apply to us when we get someone good because of someone ELSE's salary dump, ie. Aramis Ramirez
DeRosa
I have to agree about dealing DeRosa for three unproven pitchers, none of which was even among the Indians top 20 prospects. I thought DeRosa might go in order to add another LH bat to the lineup (seeing as how Hendry would never part with Lee), but had hoped that he might be a nice component of a trade for Brian Roberts.
Aurilia
Aurilia might not be a bad pickup actually, since they need someone who can actually back up Ramirez, but also because Aurilia posted a .903 OPS versus LHP in 2008 and a .899 OPS versus LHP over the last three seasons combined.
Why on earth do we have such
Why on earth do we have such a need for Jake Peavy? Our starting pitching was the best in the majors last year, and there's no reason to expect any sort of huge drop off in that department. The bullpen worries me since we'll likely be losing Marmol's hyper-electric stuff in the seventh and eighth to the closer spot, but even that's not a real concern. I'd be pleased if opening day was tomorrow.
Harden and Z are injury
Harden and Z are injury risks, and Demp won't likely reproduce his 2008 season. Peavy would put us over the top. But you're right, we kinda don't really need him that badly.
What we DO need, though, is to move our young players that can't help us in 2009 for someone that can.
Reports are that
Hendry says Bradley could bat 4th between Lee and A-Ram. WTF, Lee is still going to hit 3rd?
If Hendry had signed a lefty for the pen, we wouldn't be having this Marshall is to valuable as a swingman to put him into the rotation debate. With Marshall in the rotation the Cubs add another LHSP and Harden could be used as a 5th starter to give Piniella the latitude to skip his spot at least early in the season to give him more rest between starts.
Do we really think signing a veteran pitcher for the 5th starter really makes sense? I don't ever remember the Braves, who had a formidable rotation signing a veteran instead of plugging in a young guy from their organization to compete for the 5th starter spot. Who does Marshall have to blow to get into the rotation?
Is there another Cub player who shares Rich Aurelia's native tongue that doesn't speak the english language? If not, Hendry's explanation that we don't have any RHB's on the bench is absurd. Sit D Lee once and awhile for goodness sake as he seemed to respond pretty well last year when he had some time off and presto, you have a RHB coming off the bench. If Hoff can't be counted on to get a start at least every other week at 1B, then trade his ass. It not to mention you get another LHB with Hoff in the lineup. It's not like he hits like J. Gathright.