Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
A lot has been written already about A.J. Pierzynski’s childish (but justified in some sad quarters) reaction to not being named to the All-Star team, but I’m not sure the utter stupidity and wrongheadedness of A.J.’s oft-quoted statement about AL manager Ron Washington has really been made clear – especially here in Hawkeroo Homerville.
Let’s take a look.
Posted on July 10, 2012
By Jim Coffman
I usually wouldn’t support trading Ryan Dempster. But in this case an exception must be made. Don’t screw it up Theo!
In general, I am skeptical of trades in which the team I care about ships out a major leaguer who has proven himself – especially in pressure situations – for prospects who have only proven that they have potential.
Posted on July 9, 2012
By Marty Gangler
As we hit the All-Star break this week, it’s time to sit back and reflect. What do we have here?
We here at The Cub Factor think this season thus far can be summed up in the in the immortal words of Megadeth: So Far, So Good . . . So What!
Posted on July 9, 2012
By Roger Wallenstein
What seemed improbable at best just three months ago appears at the very least doable today. As Jake Peavy said after beating Toronto on Friday night, “This thing is just getting going. We got a big two-and-a-half months left and I think we are all in this clubhouse looking forward to that.”
If history is a guide, there is good reason to look ahead with optimism.
Consider the last five times – 1983, 1993, 2000, 2005, and 2008 – that the White Sox won the Central Division to reach the playoffs; all those teams proved that their success prior to the All-Star game was no fluke.
Posted on July 9, 2012
By Dan O’Shea
One thing I noticed when picking my own fantasy baseball All-Star team this year was that many of the players who are traditionally most highly regarded – the ones we called the top 10 position players and top 10 pitchers back on draft day – for the most part didn’t make the cut.
So many of those lead dogs have had disappointing seasons – or have been too waylaid by injuries to receive serious consideration. Rather than let those failures slip by without comment, I’ve included not only my All-Stars on this list, but also the big names who have flamed out:
Posted on July 3, 2012
By Jim Coffman
When the Cubs needed a big hit over the weekend, Anthony Rizzo came through. A two-run homer on Saturday put the squad up for good in an eventual 3-2 victory and his ground single through the right side on Sunday drove in the first run on the way to a 3-0 win.
But he also showed us a new way to loaf. Okay, so it wasn’t really loafing but it was definitely evidence of casual disease. What else to call that annoying little eighth-inning sequence on Sunday when Rizzo declined to stretch for a throw from Darwin Barney on a close play at first? It must also be mentioned that he had a partner in crime (theft of an out from pitcher Travis Wood).
Umpire Paul Schrieber called the Astros’ Brian Bixler safe (almost certainly in an instance of “I’ll show you, you overconfident little whipper-snapper”) despite the fact that he was a half-step short.
Posted on July 2, 2012
By Marty Gangler
Finally, a good week. Was it any coincidence that as soon as the Cubs announced The Riz was coming to town their season turned upward? I think not.
It was a sigh of relief for this team to finally get their guy here and slotted into the 3-hole. The rest of the lineup could breathe a little bit easier with the lineup-for-the-future suddenly taking shape.
And with Travis Wood recovering from an awful spring training to become a rotation mainstay just as Ryan Dempster and maybe Matt Garza are about to depart, well, it’s been a good week for Theo too. This thing just might work, except for one inescapable fact:
Posted on July 2, 2012
By Roger Wallenstein
There they were yesterday. On my TV screen sitting in a golf cart. Looking, I thought, straight at me. Unsmiling. Stoic.
Whitey and Yogi. The enemy. The smug champions of pinstripes who played in what Sox broadcaster Bob Elson labeled, “The Main Arena.” I didn’t think I’d be affected, lo, these many decades later, but seeing Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra present for yet another of the Yankee Old Timers’ Days, my psyche went into mourning. All those heart-breaking, late-innings defeats 55 years ago. They still hurt.
Posted on July 2, 2012
Boy Cub Trends Terribly On Twitter
Anthony Rizzo’s Cubs debut on Tuesday night sent fans into paroxysms on Twitter that were only rarely clever and mostly consisted of lame Hall of Fame predictions and dating come-ons. It may have been the #Rizzocalypse (though it wasn’t the #Rizzogeddon), but it wasn’t pretty. (Even Wrigley Field official scorer Bob Rosenberg gave in to the hype, changing an error to a hit to give Rizzo his first asterisk in a Cubs uniform and then scoring his single as a double when he advanced to second on a throw.)
Here’s our own narrative arc constructed of a few Beachwood tweets along with some of the best of the rest.
With Anthony Rizzo’s arrival, batting order will read 3. DeJesus, 4. Jesus. #cubs
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) June 26, 2012
Posted on June 27, 2012
By Dan O’Shea
Our White Sox picked up Kevin Youkilis for spare parts last week, though the enthusiasm for the deal was tempered in some quarters by the belief that Youkilis himself may be no more than a spare part.
When Youkilis came to Chicago, he had 4 HRs, 14 RBIs and a .233 average – the making of a career-worst year in which he already had seen himself benched in Boston in favor of a rookie. In fantasy terms, he has been a non-factor, still kept as a bench player in many leagues, but giving no one a reason to play him.
Does anything change with his arrival in Chicago?
Posted on June 27, 2012
