I know it is a little early for this (the games don't start for another 11 days, on December 19th), but with the holidays and inevitable quirkiness with work schedules and the like, i wanted everybody to get the chance to participate.

I've set up a "College Bowl Mania" private group on ESPN.com for BCBers. The group name is "Bleed Cubbie Blue" and the password is "soto". You can access the group here:

http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/en/group?groupID=14982

I've elected to make this group's picks confidence based, meaning you must not only choose a winner for each game, but rank them 1 - 34 based on how sure you are of that particular outcome. If anybody wishes to participate but needs help registering for the group (or ESPN) or with making their picks in ESPN's system, just let me know and i'd be happy to help.

This originally began as yet another comment in in the recap of last night's 7-4 loss to the Brewers, a thread that predictably turned ugly the second Bradley was brought up.  Really, I suppose it was inevitable. With such high expectations after last year, any letdown was bound to result less in disappointment but rather in anger, mockery, finger pointing, fans turning on themselves...  the internet is full of tough guys, unsubstantiated opinions, and ready-made "FAIL" images for the pitchfork bearing masses to break out. Moving on...

I'm going to attack the Bradly issue in two parts; last night, and the season as a whole. This is admittedly going to get a little long, and my overall point - that this team's leadership both on and off the field isn't equipped to handle Milton (instead of the widely held perception that Milton isn't equipped to handle Chicago) - can be found underneath the jump.

So here we go...

First, last nights game.

Bradley got on base twice, got plunked the first, and after the second time, had to come out due to an injury. It is important to note here:

Bradley told the trainer before his sixth-inning at-bat that his knee was sore, and after the ensuing single, Piniella signaled to him that he could come out if needed. Scales already was getting loose in the tunnel to replace him.

This was not a sudden desire to leave the game... he'd made his manager and trainer aware that he wasn't right, and he was sent out to the plate anyways. If it was a matter of effort (and really, one thing nobody can question is his effort, his passion, his desire to win and help the our team), if it was a dispute with Pinella, he wouldn't have even stepped up to the plate. Any "well, he shouldn't have been out there if he couldn't run the bases" critisizm should be leveled squarely at Lou, not Bradley. If anything, the Soriano situation has proven this teams willingness to play guys who are hurting, even if it may be to the clubs short and long term detriment.

Anways, back to MB and last night. He'd committed no errors, fought with no teammates, abused no umpires, engaged no fans...he simply was a dude with a hurting knee doing his part to help his team win by going up to the plate, getting on base, and then getting out of there to allow somebody better equipped to run the bases get in. This is what i believe... its backed up by what the team, the manager, and the reporters say. I'm sure there will be those, both here and in the media, that choose to ignore all of that and put on their tin foil hats. That's fine. I'll address those folks later.

So, after another Cubs loss (likely the one that finally puts a nail in the coffin of the "there is still the chance for a miracle" line of thinking), he's the one to blame, he's the one everyone is talking about. The reasons run the standard gauntlet: He was lying about the injury, his attitude has single handedly ruined team chemistry, caused this season to suck, on and on and on. And that takes me to:

The season as a whole.

In that recap, i wrote this:

But i suppose defending him at this point is a lost cause. Everyone has been comfortable making him (and the loss of DeRo) the scapegoat for this disappointing season since day one, so… so be it. I guess we’d rather ship off a guy (while likely getting little in return and being forced to pay him anyways once he’s gone) who has, for the most part, been on the field, not causing troubles, and getting on base. Why everyone would like to focus their energy on this rather than address this teams real issues, who knows.

Lets be honest here. MB aside, the fans need a scapegoat, and the media needs a story about a news selling team that'll miss the playoffs. And that's fine... really. As the new guy, a guy who had a rocky history, that was the risk MB took when he signed with this franchise. He's a grown man who should be able to handle all of this, unfair as it appears to be to me, with a little more grace than he has. But it seems to me his baggage followed him here, he got off one a bad foot, and no amount of incident free good play would dig him out of that hole with some fans looking to place blame somewhere. I keenly remember listening to boos rain down on the guy when he came to the plate as the scoreboard displayed the stat "Milton Bradly: Batting .500 for the Homestand" a few weeks back. There is no winning for him here.

And it is easy to pick on the new kid. No amount of attempting to post on how management has failed him, how he's been held to a different standard in the media or abused by fans, even how he's been productive (albeit as Worf has quite intelligently pointed out, not in the way management hoped - as a 5th hitter racking up RBI - and really, who's fault is that, Bradley's or the Cubs front office?) will change anybodies mind. The standard haters will still come out in force lamenting his RBI, the standard apologists will rally around the "other RF candidates last season wouldn't play well at Wrigley" or "he's got a great OBP" arguments... on and on and on. Accusations of racism will ensue (probably not totally off base in a city that is ranked the most segregated in the nation), the defenders will throw up their hands and link to fangraphs, the haters will cite examples of poor chemistry, everybody will call everybody else names. Lots of fun for all.

Whats really sad is the fact that his presence has derailed the ability of many here to rationally debate what is actually going on with this disappointing team. I don't think it'd be unfair to say that one sixth of the conversation on BCB this season is related to the guy. He's a lightning rod, and you can blame him for some of that, but anybody pretending like the media (and all of us who buy in to their shenanigans) doesn't start to circle like the sharks that they are when they smell his blood in the water is wrong.

Continue reading this post »

Found this via twitter, incredibly interesting. Compares a team's salary to its W/L record, updated daily. Because its a flash program, i could only take a screenshot of what is showing for 5th of July, so i would recommend clicking through to check out the day to day changes, as well as years past final results back to '05.

This year, so far:

The two obvious "slackers" here are our Cubs and the Yankees. Doing well, the Marlins, Rays and Rangers.

From the site:

This sketch looks at all 30 Major League Baseball Teams and ranks them on the left according to their day-to-day standings. The lines connect each team to their 2009 salary, listed on the right.

A steep blue line means that the team is doing well for its money, which reflects well on the team's General Manager. A steep red line implies that the team is throwing away money. The thickness of the line is proportional to the team's salary relative to the others.

Drag the date at the top to move through the season. The first few days of the season are omitted because the rankings to (at least) that point are statistically silly. You can also use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move forward or backward one day.

Salary lists are taken from the USA Today Salaries Database. Win/loss scores are calculated from MLB.com.

Obviously we can all hope that with the recent success and ARam's return, we'll start trending up.

Well, bummer.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/06/cardinals-acquire-mark-derosa.html

According to the MLB.com Twitter, the Cardinals have acquired Mark DeRosa from the Indians for RP Chris Perez and a player to be named later.

And from Twitter:

Wow. Mark DeRosa is back in the NL Central! #cardinals just acquired him from CLE for RHP Chris Perez and player to be named later.

This isn't what anybody here wanted, thats for sure.

Here we go....

Talks to sell the storied Chicago Cubs baseball team have reopened with a rival bidding group, and are continuing alongside negotiations with the original Ricketts family buyers, sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

Tribune Co, which has been trying to sell the Cubs for more than two years, is talking to a group that includes private equity investors Marc Utay and Leo Hindery, three sources familiar with the situation said.

Spokesmen for Tribune Co and Ricketts said their talks are ongoing and Ricketts spokesman Dennis Culloton described them as positive. Utay and Hindery declined to comment.

And...

However, the deal was not finalized before an exclusivity period ended. Several sources said that Tribune is now able to negotiate with other buyers.

While the Ricketts group has lined up its financing, sources previously told Reuters that the sides cannot agree on the value of Cubs' broadcast contracts.

At this point, i'm beyond caring WHO owns this team... i just want the deal done so the team can begin moving on.There is work to be done on the field AND off the field, to Wrigley, with the farm system...

I was a Mark Cuban fan. Hopefully this will mean he can get back in to the mix as well. His last public reference to the whole thing i believe was this:

I knew that if they got the money they wanted for the team, well my bid was not going to be high enough anyway. If they didnt, or the other bidders couldnt come up with their money, they would come back to me.

I’m still waiting.

I normally don't get too deep in to this stuff unless it is imminent and feasible, but these long off periods make me stir crazy at work and this one is just interesting enough to be worth a read. Check this article from Deadspin, which is actually a fairly well written and thought out article by Will Leitch (based on this article from Bernie Miklasz of the StL Post-Dispatch) on how the Cards are likely to lose LaRussa if the they don't turn it around this season, and that Pujols would follow at the end of his contract in 2011.

So if La Russa decides these new front office folks don't have The Right Stuff, that they're not as brutally committed to winning as he is, he will leave. (Until this contract, he always worked under a one-year deal, the Don Draper of managers.) I'm not sure where he'd go next — maybe he'd just co-manage the Tigers with Jim Leyland; awesome idea for a bromantic comedy! — but he would, without question, leave. Every game the Cardinals lose 3-0, every solo homer Pujols hits, every heralded Cardinals prospect that disappoints (the "Faberge Eggs," they're called), brings him a little closer.

And then...

And have no doubt: If La Russa leaves, Pujols probably isn't far behind, because the only reason La Russa would leave is the same reason Pujols would leave: This Franchise Does Not Have What It Takes To Win. The Cardinals simply cannot afford to pay what Pujols is worth on the open market, something Pujols is aware of; he's always said as long as the Cardinals remain "committed to winning," he'll stay.

And later...

If you want Albert Pujols to be your first baseman — and, of course, you are a fan of the Red Sox, Mets, Cubs (gasp!) or, if Mark Teixeira dies, the Yankees — you need to start rooting against the Cardinals, right now, this second. We'll know very soon.

As if we needed any more reason to root against them this season, with the division so tight.

Honestly, Hendry has shown a history of bringing ex Cards to the team, and some have done well (Edmonds) and others haven't (you know). I think Pujols is pretty much guaranteed to perform no matter where he is, and while i don't envision the Cards going truly small market on us, if there was one Cardinal i'd love to see here, it'd be a professional both on and off the field like him. The timing would line up right, as even with D Lee's resurgence of late (and yes, i was one of the few hating on the idea of benching / DFA'ing / sending him to AAA during his early season struggles, and i have the utmost respect for the man) you can't deny he is getting a bit long in the tooth.

I realize this is all very abstract 'pie in the sky' stuff, but hey... we don't have baseball for another 6 hours!

Have a great afternoon everyone.

We all have mental hiccups at work, at home, in life. We all make the occasional brain fart. We just don't go to work in front of a million people every afternoon.

Yes, it was bad. Yes, it altered the game (although no runs scored that wouldn't have anyways). And yes, Milton needs to focus. Its probably Lou's job to inspire that focus, but who knows where he's been of late.

That being said, Bradley also showed some good focus today on his 2 RBI double in the 6th. Not only at the plate, but on the bases. And the Cubs finally put up multiple runs today (four of them).

So lets give Bradley a break. He's on our team, key to our success, and a struggling at his job. None of us would want to be under the microscope he is right now.

Go Cubs!