Cubs | The Baseball Zealot

Lou Piniella, lame duck

Some quick thoughts on Lou Piniella’s retirement and a few questions.

To start, Rob Neyer examines Lou’s HOF potential and thinks he comes out pretty well. More on that later.

Piniella came to the Cubs with the rep as hot-tempered, base-throwing skipper. What we got was a grandfather-type who usually didn’t sweat the details. Usually.

Many have lauded Piniella for what he’s done as a Cub manager. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked him just fine but much of his success came from a team that he inherited and he rode that wagon as long as he could. It seemed evident when he took over that this would be his “sunset” team considering his age and stage in his career.

My take on Piniella for the first part of his reign of the Cubs is this: His managing ability to get the Cubs to the postseason was fine. Once they got there, they stalled. Does Piniella share some of the responsibility of not inspiring his team when the going got tough? Maybe.

My questions…

Was his retirement a surprise?

Not to me. This is Lou’s last year of his contract. With grumblings already about his performance, I just didn’t see him re-upping.

Is Piniella really retiring?

Yeah probably. Piniella deserves some retirement and I mean that in a nice way. I just don’t see another team picking him in the future. Look to see him as an analyst behind an ESPN desk soon.

What’s next for the Cubs?

Fortunately, the Cubs have time to think about this. I’m not as pro-Sandberg as some might think. If I had my druthers, I’d like to see them pry Joe Giardi away from the Yankees (yeah, dream on) or give Alan Trammell a shot.

While we’re changing leadership, is Jim Hendry’s job safe?

Yes. There are a lot of fans calling for Hendry’s head at any given time. That said, for any bad move he’s made (and there have been some), he’s made some quiet deals that have kept the team afloat.

Piniella in the Hall of Fame? Really?

I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. Between his above average performance as a player plus his seven postseason appearances as a manager, he has a shot. He ranks 14th all-time in wins which isn’t too shabby. I wouldn’t count it out.

Interesting addendum: Gene Mauch is the only non-active manager with more wins than Piniella who is not in the Hall of Fame. He has 1902 wins.

Perhaps the fact that Mauch has only two playoff appearances (and no World Series ring) in 26 years has something to with it. That and his losing record (.483).

Mark looking for a Prior commitment

After four years (has it really been that long?), Mark Prior wants to prove to MLB teams that he can pitch in the bigs again. He’s pitching at USC this week where plenty of teams will be scouting him.

Wouldn’t it be hysterical if the Cubs took a flyer on him?

Answer: Most certainly, but not in a funny way. I got off the Prior bandwagon pretty early in his career and never regretted it.

Zambrano placed on restricted list… NOW?

So the Cubs will place Carlos Zambrano on the restricted list so he can receive “treatment”? Pardon me for seeming a little cynical but why now?

Why not all those years before when it seems like he could have used it (read: the Barrett incident etc)? Maybe his 3-6 record and 5.66 ERA has something to do with it.

I don’t know why but it reminds me of the Crash Davis quote from Bull Durham:

Your shower shoes have fungus on them. You’ll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. Think classy, you’ll be classy. If you win 20 in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press’ll think you’re colorful. Until you win 20 in the show, however, it means you are a slob.

…only sort of in reverse and this has to do with attitude.

The Cubs and let’s face it, MLB in general, were willing to put up with Zambrano’s antics and eccentrics as long as he was the #1 starter and winning 10+ games. Once he stopped doing that, I guess the oddity lost it’s allure.

Have a nice break, Carlos.

Skip the first inning, Randy Wells

Can we just have a “reverse reliever” in those games that Cubs’ starter Randy Wells pitches? A pitcher to start the game and get through that first inning? Seems that Wells is having trouble with that recently. Today, he got rocked for five runs by the Chicago White Sox with two of them coming in the first frame.

For the season, Wells has a 10.64 ERA in he first inning. After the third inning, it dips below 4.50.

Split	G	IP	ERA
1st inning	12	11.0	10.64
Innings 1-3	12	32.0	5.34
Innings 4-6	10	28.1	4.45
Innings 7-9	6	6.1	4.26

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/11/2010.

Soriano did get his tenth homer of the year and his 300th of his career. He passes Tim Salmon on the all-time list and joins Chuck Klein and teammate Derrek Lee (who hit his 300th on Wednesday) for #125 on the list.

The Sox won 10-5.

He’s back

This should teach me to write an article pointing out the weaknesses of Albert Pujols.

Phat Albert seems to be back.

Carlos Silva: 7-0 record coming out of nowhere

Is Carlos Silva really this good? I hope so. He just pitched seven shutout innings against the Cardinals to up his record to 7-0 for the year. His season ERA is a decent 3.52.

Not that I’m complaining as a Cub fan, mind you but it does rather surprise me. In his past two years, Silva was 5-18 with a 6.81 ERA. Don’t get me wrong but I just don’t think the Cubs coaching staff can work miracles like this.

Historically, Carlos Silva has had his strengths and his weaknesses. He’s had a penchant for giving up the longball even leading the AL in homers allowed in 2006 with 38. That said, he helps himself by his extremely low walk count. For his career, he has allowed only 1.7 walks per nine innings (again, he led the AL in that category with a miniscule 0.4 figure). This year, he’s right on track with that stat… he’s giving the free pass at a 1.8/9 IP pace.

But the wins.. seven wins.. Run support has been key, I suppose. The Cubs have scored 45 runs in the seven wins for an average of 6.42 runs per game. No pitcher has gotten off to such a good start for the Cubs since Illini graduate Ken Holtzman in 1967. Silva will have a couple more wins to go to match Holtzman… he started out 9-0.

The Cubs have done all right in those games that Silva had started but didn’t get the decision too. They are 2-1 in those games. Their only loss in a game which he started was his very first in April 9th in Cincinnati when they lost 5-4.

Let’s look at it from one more angle. How would the Cubs be doing without Silva and his 7-0 record? Even if we assume that his replacement won roughly half his games (I’m being generous), the Cubs would be at 21-29 instead of 24-26. That’s a wide difference this early in the season considering how much ground they would have to make up.

Whatever it is… whatever they’re doing.. let’s keep it up. It’s keeping the Cubs in it as much as they are.

Go Cubs!

Cubs’ owner interviewed

Chicago Breaking Sports (an oddly chosen, yet perhaps appropriate name for WGN/Chicago Tribune’s Sports site) has posted an interview of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts where he “discusses life as Cubs’ owner”.

On Lou Piniella’s future

Ricketts said general manager Jim Hendry ultimately will make that decision. "If you insert yourself into that discussion, you’re not adding value, for one thing, and you want accountability," he said. "It’s Jim’s responsibility, and he knows it."

Passing the buck..

Seriously, good to hear that one fat cat owner isn’t going to micromanage his team.

Beginner’s Guide to Following Chicago Baseball on Twitter

If you use Twitter, I assume you are on for on two reasons. To glean information and perhaps to give your own analysis/info on what you know.

If you are a Chicago Cubs or Chicago White Sox fan and on you are Twitter, there are some must-follow feeds to get the most out of the social networking tool. This is a general guide that will help you get started.

Let’s start with the basics.

The Teams

Here are the official twitter accounts for the two major league teams. Follow these if you want the latest news from the Cubs and Sox. Keep in mind that anything from here will most likely be links you will see on mlb.com or press releases. Certainly nothing too juicy.

Chicago Cubs @cubs

White Sox @whitesox

Search Hashtags

Since you all can can read the articles on mlb.com on your own, perhaps of more interest to Chicago baseball fans is search hashtags. This will allow you to follow all tweets from baseball fans having to do with say, the Cubs. Without going into a whole tutorial on Twitter (you can find a good one on hashtags here), suffice to say that any tweet with the “#” sign before the search term before it will be included in the search query and folks will see it when they follow that query.

So the ones that we’re interested in are:

Chicago Cubs #cubs

Chicago White Sox #whitesox

Keep in mind that Twitter programs (like Tweetdeck, Tweetie or Twitterific) take advantage of hashtags much better than the web version of Twitter.

MLB on Twitter

Let me throw out the general Major League Baseball Twitter links out there while I’m on the topic.

MLB on Twitter @mlb.

To follow the Major League Baseball hashtag, it’s #mlb

Other Chicago Baseball people to follow

Cubs fans will want to follow MLB Cubs beat writer Carrie Muskat (@carriemuskat). Similarly, Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) who covers the Sox for mlb.com is must for White Sox fans.

For the Cubs fans, here a few more.

Iowa Cubs @Iowa Cubs

Official Cubs Vine Line @vinelinetwitter (not too active yet)

Len Kasper and Bob Brenly’s Official Twitter @lenandbob

For the White Sox:

Charlotte Knights @KnightsBaseball

Sun Times Sox blog @CST_sox

I was thinking of throwing up some baseball blog twitter links for both teams but so there are so many I wouldn’t be doing justice to some good ones out there. Just know that most all of them out there have a twitter presence and it’s easy to follow them. Not only is it an easy way to get notified when they update their website but more importantly, you get some good insights from the bloggers in 140 characters or less.

Also, there aren’t too many active Chicago players on Twitter right now (no, the Carlos Zambrano you see is a fake). Former White Sox OF/1B Nick Swisher (@NickSwisher) has an account is quite active (and interesting). Fantasy Baseball Dugout blog has a list of current MLB players on Twitter. Keep in mind not all players with accounts are active or even post themselves.

I’ll throw one more in here for kicks just because it’s been in the news lately. Ozzie Guillen is on the Twitter thing now. And so far, he been having fun with it. So has the Twitter community because his Tweets have been quite nonsensical at times. I’ve said it before… I’m not a Sox fan but I kind of like Ozzie Guillen because I think he makes MLB a little uncomfortable. This Twitter venture on his part is just one more example. You can find Ozzie on Twitter @ozzieguillen.

I hope this help those of you baseball fans who are just starting to use Twitter. If you have other relevant Chicago baseball people to follow on Twitter, please let me know.

Let’s just pack it up now, cuz it won’t get any better for the Cubs

The Cubs won today. And you know winning the first game of spring training means everything in the world, right?

But the Cubs did get the right hits from the right people. Fuld, (homerun), newly acquired Marlon Byrd (2 for 2, homerun), Tyler Colvin (2 doubles, homerun), Derrek Lee (homerun, yawn), and Starlin Castro, who seems to be everyone’s freakin’ darlin’, (triple).

I kid, I love the guy. Castro came in relief for Ryan Theriot and his triple seemed to say, “Find a another position, Cajun dude!” Which just might happen. The baseball pundit hordes are calling for Theriot to move to second base and it’s probably on Cubs management’s mind, too.

But first and foremost on Cubs manager Lou Piniella’s mind, is how to spell Kosuke Fukudome’s nickname. From Cubs beat writer Carrie Muskat, Lou says it’s “Fuke”. I guess that “e” keep us Cub fans morally clean. Perhaps they should issue a press release.

The press (mlb.com and the Cubs in particular) have been making a big deal about Alfonso Soriano and how gosh darn healthy he is.

I don’t know about you but that kind of talk scares the beejeezus out of me. One, you don’t talk about it unless there is something to be worry about and two, why are they tempting fate? Almost like talking during a pitcher’s no-hitter. “Well, Ron, Soriano’s gone through the season so far a not a hint of a hamstring pull.” “We’ve been pretty lucky. He’s sure to go through the whole season without a visit to the DL.”

Then BAM!

Let’s just keep it quiet and count our blessings. And win another… even if it is just spring training.

Has Theriot broken string of failed Cub shortstop experiments?

With the news that Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot will sign with the team for $2.6 million that might mean something. Assuming he doesn’t get hurt or he doesn’t get moved to second base, this will be the first time the Cubs will have the same player starting at the shortstop position for three years in a row since 1997 when the Cubs started Shawon Dunston there.

‘Thunderpup’ was a mainstay at short for over ten years for the Cubs. Since he left for the Pirates in 1997, there hasn’t been a solid starter for the Cubs for more than two years straight. If Theriot continues playing short in 2010, his third straight year. Maybe the Cubs can break that streak.

Here are the string of shortstops the Chicago Cubs have used since Shawon Dunston and up until Ryan Theriot.

Let’s start with the most current and move backwards.

2006: Ronny Cedeno
	I know a few Cub fans who were really hot on this guy when he came up. Ronny started out hot in 2005 by hitting .300 in 89 at-bats. Reality set in during 2006 when he started playing full time. He batted .245 with 109 strikeouts. The Cubs unloaded Cedeno after 2008 and he proceeded to hit .209 with Seattle and Pittsburgh.

2006: Ronny Cedeno

I know a few Cub fans who were really hot on this guy when he came up. Ronny started out hot in 2005 by hitting .300 in 89 at-bats. Reality set in during 2006 when he started playing full time. He batted .245 with 109 strikeouts.

The Cubs unloaded Cedeno after 2008 and he proceeded to hit .209 with Seattle and Pittsburgh.

2005: Neifi Perez
	Neifi played a full year in 2005 (609 ab) and got some big numbers but he really represented the Dusty Baker era of the Cubs by not being able to take walk (.298 OBP)

2004: Ramon Martinez
	Who? Martinez is now probably best known for being Geovany Soto’s cousin. Admittedly, Ramon didn’t put in a whole lot of time at short (he played 73 games there), splitting time with Nomar Garciaparra and Neifi Perez. Hey look! There’s Theriot in the photo.

2004: Ramon Martinez

Who? Martinez is now probably best known for being Geovany Soto’s cousin. Admittedly, Ramon didn’t put in a whole lot of time at short (he played 73 games there), splitting time with Nomar Garciaparra and Neifi Perez.

Hey look! There’s Theriot in the photo.

2002-2003: Alex Gonzalez
	This particular Alex Gonzalez, actually managed to start at shortstop for two full years for the Cubs. His numbers were a bit sub-par (.312 and .295 OBP respectively). After his error in the fateful playoff game against the Marlins, his days were numbered though.

2000-2001: Ricky Gutierrez
	A 1998 first round pick, Gutierrez gave the Cubs two full years at short and didn’t do half bad (.276 and .290 with 11 and 10 homers). He probably had his best years with the Cubs.

1999: Jose Hernandez
	I like this photo of Jose. He looks like he’s hitting one out. Or most likely, doing what he does best, striking out (he later led the league twice in Ks),

1998: Jeff Blauser
	One of the players that you forget played for the Cubs. He ended his career for Chicago in 1998-1999. We somehow put up with his .219 batting average in 119 games in 1998.

Honorable mention goes to Rey Sanchez who gave Dunston a break at short in 1996. Others worth mentioning during the period of 1997-2006 are Jose Nieves and Nomar Garciaparra,

Is positional consistency a thing of the past in an MLB team now? I guess we’ll see when/if the Cubs decide to move Theriot to second base. It does make for an interesting trivia question, though.