SB Nation User Blog: BLou

Marlon Byrd is an inevitability

BLou — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:58:08 -0000

Lets face it. The addition of Marlon Byrd is probably a foregone conclusion. Genius Jim will feed his extreme addiction to free agency under the delusion that Byrd can be the missing piece to a winning formula. And just like the free agent signings of Jeremy Burnitz, Jacque Jones, Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome and Milton Bradley the Cubs will look back in hindsight and regret the contract they doled out.

Byrd is not a good centerfielder. Byrd is also 32 years old. He'll come to Chicago and we shall watch him feebly get on his horse to chase fly balls they end up in the ivy. Next to Alfonso Soriano the outfield defense should at least be entertaining in a blooper sort of way. And Byrd at bat? Oh, how I can't wait for his offensive game to grace the National League (dripping with sarcasm). Which is another way of saying that like so many other Cub fans I will be sitting on my hands in 2010 and waiting for next offseason when, presumably, the Ricketts family will adopt wholesale changes. So lets piss away one year in the process because Tom Ricketts isn't yet ready to hire a qualified baseball man to lead the operation instead of Crane Kenney. I guess when you've waited 102 years it is no big deal to wait another.

I hate Marlon Byrd before he even steps on the field. And I know that I'm not alone. But alas, this post will devolve into BLou bashing and the forest shall be lost thru the trees. At least we have Al Yellon's retrospective series on old black and white photos to appease us through the wretched 2010 season to come.

"Jim Hendry, Idiot at Work" (on bookshelves in time for the holidays!)

BLou — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:55:57 -0000

Excerpts from the book !!!!

Rewind to the 2006-07 offseason...

Genius Jim gets into a bidding war with himself that nets the Guess Hitting Hack for the princely sum of $136 million spread over 8 years.

Rewind to the 2007-08 offseason...

Nearly the whole attention of the offseason -- with exception of extremely overpaying for Kosuke Fukudome (who produces in line with So Taguchi) -- was 24/7 pursuit of Brian Roberts.

Rewind to the 2008-09 offseason...

The offseason was devoted to Genius Jim's attempts to clear salary in a procession of domino moves that would enable him to swing a deal for Jake Peavy and have the financial flexibility to add a left-handed hitting outfielder. Except at the end of the day the game of musical chairs stopped and the Cubs were left with an incomplete set of moves that resulted in the loss of Mark DeRosa and netted Milton Bradley, Aaron Miles, Aaron Heilman and Kevin Gregg. I don't know about anybody else's grading curve, but all four of those additions get an F minus. Oh, and he dished out an insane $52 million contract for Ryan Dempster, a 4th starter type who actually had the audacity to suggest the Cubs weren't ready to play the LA Dodgers in the playoffs. Maybe that explains why Dempster pitched like a turd in Game One. Say Ryan, how is it that professional baseball players can't manage to have themselves "ready" for the playoffs?!?! What kind of an indictment is that, yet Hendry still feels it his deep obligation to dish out $52 million on this guy?!?!

Now in the 2009-10 offseason...

Genius Jim....he the benefactor of baseball's third highest payroll....is left finding dump stations for Heilman and Miles while spending the rest of his time in between donut breaks trying to sell Milton Bradley. Oh, and his wondrous payroll management resulted in having to let Rich Harden walk. .

Reversal of opinion...Bradley will not be moved

BLou — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:47:02 -0000

I have come to the conclusion that Milton Bradley isn't going anywhere. In fact, I'm starting to see signs of infamous Jim Hendry spin control (e.g., Rudy Jaramillo saying nice things about Milton, Ryan Theriot doing the same). I want Bradley gone as much as anybody, but I think Hendry is realizing he jumped the shark on this one. First, the market for Bradley is zilch despite the proclamations to the contrary by prognosticators like Ken Rosenthal. Second, the Cubs have screaming need for a left-handed bat to break up Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and presumably Geovany Soto in the heart of the order.

Hendry isn't going to eat $20 million. And finding no suitable alternative to Bradley that is economically viable he does an about face and keeps the man. The spin will culminate with a press conference where Milton issues a formal mea culpa standing side by side with Jim Hendry at the podium.

You watch. I'm wrong about a lot of things, but I don't think I'm going to be wrong on this one.

It's GOT TO BE much, much more than moving Bradley

BLou — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:03:56 -0000

I have to say that I am getting thoroughly depressed already over the prospects for 2010. My goodness, Jim Hendry was granted a stay of execution by the Ricketts family and then he is dumb and arrogant to say this week the Cubs only need a handful of minor tweaks?!?! And am I actually reading right that Cub fans are debating the wondrous virtues of signing Marlon Byrd versus Mike Cameron?!?! So we have Cub fans who actually wholeheartily endorse Hendry having yet another bad and expensive foray into free agency for a 30 something outfielder who we will deeply regret signing two weeks into the season?!?!

I've got news for Jim Hendry...the 2009 Chicago Cubs were a flawed and downright bad baseball team in many respects. Ah Jim, in case you haven't notice you have a current rotation of the enigmatic child Zambrano, the horrendously overpaid Dempster and Wells, a guy who came out of nowhere in 2009 and who could just as well revert back into nothingness ala Rich Hill.

Jim, you need to find a quality starting pitcher. And you need to find a couple of decent arms for a bullpen that you vastly overrate. A middle infielder who isn't graduate of the Smurf Aging Journeyman Former Non-Prospect Society" would be great too. And do you HONESTLY have faith in Geovany Soto being your number one catcher in 2010? Center field is a black hole too.

The Ricketts family delayed dumping your regime for one more season. At least do them a favor and at least try this offseason. I know you can do it, even without Sam Zell and Kenny Crane handing over a stack of blank checks.

P.S. Before Josh Vitters joins the long list of prospect flops during your tenure, how about you get him some intensive offseason development help with his hitting approach and fielding.

Earl Bennett absolutely blows

BLou — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:20:55 -0000

There. I had to get that off my chest. I've already seen enough of Earl Friggin Bennett to last a lifetime. And to think some Bear fans scratched their head when Bennett couldn't beat out the useless Marty Booker and Brandon LLoyd for playing time in 2008.

It's going to be a long season. The NFC is uniquely strong, and the Bears might be fortunate to get to 6 wins. Cutler has awful receiver options and Urlacher is done for the season. To go on top of a wretched defensive secondary situation. Maybe it IS time to root for a player lockout (joking...er...maybe half joking).

Sour grapes thou it be the Cubs still don't do well against good NL teams

BLou — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:14:54 -0000

Hence why I unfortunately still feel comfortable with my rotten prediction on how this season will ultimately shake out. I'm sorry, but the Cubs remain a deeply flawed and mess of a team. Donuts Hendry pulled off a nice move in getting Grabow and Gorzy, but I'm still not at all sold on this lineup or this defense or this bullpen getting it's act together to pull of making the playoffs in 2009. Even in the wretched NL Central. But kindly prove how I am wrong about this team's ability to perform well against the good competition of the NL. Yes, even the Florida Marlins fall into that category in the extremely watered down National League. Cubs can't beat the friggin Marlins for crying out loud. This weekend was illustrative of the root problems with this team.

You are now invited to crap on the messenger as always. Let the feeding frenzy begin.

Phillies land Cliff Lee

BLou — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:39:47 -0000

Phillies land Cliff Lee

And they didn't give up Kyle Drabek to do it. Phillies are a very, very good team. They have a solid chance of repeating in 2009 if somehow Brad Lidge can get his act back together.

Cubs have not been the same since the Dodger playoff series

BLou — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:35:06 -0000

Last season the Cubs entered the playoffs bursting with positivity. 97 wins, great pitching, great lineup, mojo... Then it all came crashing horribly down in three games against the Dodgers. The pitching meltdowns, the awful defense, the ineptitude of the lineup. We all sat there in horror as the Cub played not one...not two...but three of their absolute most awful games of the entire season. In fact, the Cubs could not have played more poorly than they did in that Dodger series.

Well, this season has been an extension of the 2008 playoffs. The offense hass been awful and the bullpen a nightmare. The only good thing has been the remarkable consistency of the starting pitching. But teams that waste good starting pitching are doomed to failure. An old edict of baseball is thou shalt not waste good starting pitching. And that is precisely what the Cubs have done all season long.

A lot of you have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this team to go on a 15-5 kind of a run. The presumption remains that we are head and shoulders above the rest of the deeply flawed NL Central and it's only a matter of time before it all comes together. Well, I disagree.

The 2009 season is over. Call me Debbie Downer all you want. But I've been following the Cubs since 1977 and I have never disliked a Cub team or been more disappointed in a Cub team than this one. It is very, very hard to like this current team.

It's over. It's been over. This team will finish the season in the range of 79-83 wins which will translate in 3rd, 4th or 5th place. St. Louis will win this division barring the Reds pulling off a trade for a major bat or the Brewers pulling off a deal for a Roy Halladay type.

7th Inning Stretch Song

BLou — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:26:55 -0000

When ERIK FRIGGIN ESTRADA has been invited TWICE in three years to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame then you KNOW it is way past due time to pull the friggin plug on the tribute to Harry. Is there any "celebrity" / "actor" more obscure and irrelevant on planet Earth?!? My friggin goodness. What's next? Sam the butcher from the Brady Bunch invited in the booth with Len and Bob?

Memo to Tom Ricketts. Pull the friggin plug. Yesterday.

Please stop the "Hendry's hands are tied" argument

BLou — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:32:54 -0000

Jim Hendry has been permitted to explode the payroll up to $136 million, or third highest in baseball and first highest in the National League. What we have gotten for his wondrous spending spree is a .500 style ballclub that is playing more or less to that expectation level. But for the love of God nobody sit there and pour out the excuse that the dilemma right now is that Hendry's hands are tied. His hands weren't tied en route to spending $136 million !!! You say a GM's hands are tied if you live in Milwaukee, Cincinnati or a whole host of baseball cities where there are legitimate restrictive financial limitations. You DON'T pour out that sorry-ass excuse when explaining what has gone wrong with this ill-constructed roster. It's like a long-addicted crack addict saying that they need to be allowed a couple more crack hits and then they will have the addiction thing conquered.