Hello, friends and fellow Cub fans, I have not posted in a while but decided I must make time to share my thoughts on this issue with the world.  We will see if the world cares or merely ignores my thoughts in the Internet sea of white noise, but I hope a few people at least care to read this post.

My topic: the media treatment of Milton Bradley, and how unprofessional most of the so-called "journalists" have been in covering this matter.  In particular, this will focus on the blog post by Steve Rosenbloom, found here:

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/rosenblog/2009/04/i-thought-this-milton-bradley-experience-was-going-to-be-different.html

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As a kid, I never noticed that days like this were special.  That the feeling of excitement in my stomach was anything more than the way it felt to be alive at any given moment.  That there wouldn't always be so much to look forward to, and that my trivial worries, struggles, and even massively sad life-changing events would only multiply with the number of candles on the cake. 

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At this point in the season, people begin bandying about talk of the various Free Agents that will be available in the upcoming offseason.  While we all have hope that this season will be the one we've all been waiting for, that doesn't mean that we can stop planning for next year.  I'm sure Hendry and the FO have been doing just that, even with the uncertain ownership situation.  This post and related discussion to follow (I hope everyone chimes in for a while) is intended to recap the Cubs contract/payroll situation, and discuss the options available for 2009 and going forward. 

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Hello Athletics Nation,

Cubs fan here. As you may or may not know, Tuesday night the Peoria Chiefs (yes, you saw them on ESPN the other day...hopefully since the crazed pitcher Castillo is likely out of baseball we will not have any more incidents, as that was horrible) will be taking on the Kane County Cougars at Wrigley Field, in what is believed to be the first minor league game ever at Wrigley.  Over at the SBN counterpart Bleed Cubbie Blue, a few people were wondering what the Kane Co. team looks like prospect-wise; I read Paul Thomas's top 30 list and it looked to be by far the weakest stop in the A's organization.  Is this true?  Who should we be looking at as interesting players for Kane County?  I'd be happy to report back after the game if you guys are wondering about how anyone in particular looks, I'm guessing not too many readers of AN attend Midwest League games.  Any info would be appreciated, pretty much all I know is that Josh Vitters' brother is on the Kane Co. squad; we had heard Josh should be called up to Peoria in time for this game, but he has been out for about a week with a sprained ankle, so not sure if that is still the plan.  Anyhow, thanks and good to see Gallagher with a solid start overall for the A's, although Murton certainly has not done anything except make it look like the Cubs actually knew what they were doing by benching him for 2 years. 

Dear Rich,

I miss you.  I miss the sight of your pitch tumbling toward the earth, watching the helpless hitter so unlucky as to wear a non-Cub uniform flail away thinking "oh, I can't wait until Jason Marquis pitches tomorrow, then I won't look so stupid up here". But I still remember it, and I think I speak for many of us here when I say that we hope to see you again, and not only remember you as a name people reference when thinking back to what might have been.  I want you to wear a ring along with everyone else when it happens.  I miss when you would toss 110 pitches in 5 shutout innings.  As wonderful as that always was, of course, it was nothing compared to the feeling deep within my soul when all would be right with the world, and you would stride out to the mound for the 7th and even 8th innings, racking up K after picture-perfect K.  You gave us moments of beauty and transcendence, and I want nothing more than for you to capture that magic again.  As our life in this world is impermanent, it fundamental that all good things must end.  Your career, however, is not yet ready for this end.  I know you are not ready either.  In fact, I hope to find out that you are gearing up to show everyone how really, you were just getting started the first time.  And now, as from dust you came and shall someday return, let you harness the Earth's power, to rain forth curveballs of ungodly break, showering down upon hitters who whether they look or swing: are wrong. Curveballs, curveballs, let them be thrown.  For called strikes, for swinging strikes, for balls just to toy with the unlucky few who are in an opponent's lineup when you're on the mound.   And then maybe also you can throw those two changeups you have every once in a while too, that 91 mph fast-changeup and also the more traditional 80ish changeup.  I know you can.  I know you will.  Bring us all some more of those moments that feel so good you stop to think "wow, so this is what its like to really Live".  I love you Rich. 

Love and Curveballs,

Canseco's Roid Party

Written and Posted appx 8 AM today, in the Year of the Cub July 10, as a pre-work breakfast for the soul type ordeal, prior to heading to the California L, Logan Square, Chicago, IL

I was checking out some current stats on BP and found myself surprised by some of them, so I thought when I got a chance I would post some thoughts and open up some discussion, hopefully at least a little bit of it will be on different topics than the usual suspects. 

Hitters:

Ramirez .300/.412/.502  You have to like seeing A-ram with 40 BB: 41 K as of this writing(doesn't include tonight's rays game).  He's doing exactly what we want and need here, and is the most valuable Cub hitter by VORP, although this is basically because he has more PA's than Soto, it looks as if Soto is slightly more valuable (due to the obvious scarcity of hitting at C) on a per-PA basis.  Purely looking at hitting and not positional scarcity though, A-Ram is definitely the top hitter to date- that ridiculous .412 OBP is so awesome to see, I in fact wet myself seven times while typing this paragraph.

Soto .288/374/.527  Maybe we should trade for Jason Kendall? Yeah, Soto strikes out a lot, but as anyone who probably cares to read this post knows, strikeouts don't matter.   At least not when you kill the ball otherwise and take walks at a solid rate.  Geo, I love you.  That is really all that can be said.

DeRosa .299/.384/.464  I'm a little unclear as to if VORP includes DeRosa's at-bats as carrying the value of the defensive position he is playing while he takes them...but anyhow he is putting together a great season so far- note that he does seem to be outplaying the projections in regards to AVG which is probably due to slightly higher than usual luck, but even a slight dip in average has him as one of the more valued players on the team.  Yeah, he has sucked at 2B so far this year, but I feel like his statistically awful fielding numbers are due to a few terrible games in the first few weeks of the season....cwyers can maybe weigh in on if this is true or not,.  Anyway his versatility is nice as we all know, and as he is generally at least a decent 2B, he won't worry me too much there when Soriano is presumably back for good.  

Lee .289/.349/.511 Where are the walks Derrek?  Love to see the power back in full effect, but the OBP isn't what we expect from you...I know it is unlikely but if these numbers hold up, a lineup shuffle would actually be pretty helpful, something like Sori/Dome/A-Ram/Soto/Lee/(edmonds or dero) etc., rearrange as desired or if you're BlueMike trade Soriano for Barry Zito and call it a day with Theriot batting in all nine lineup slots.  But seriously, Lee is hitting more like an RBI guy than a true OBP+power star, so hopefully he can start walking more soon!

Soriano .283/.332/.547 Honestly, these stats are pretty much exactly what you would expect from him. 

Theriot .310/.388/.373 Surprisingly he is sitting at 14.3 runs over replacement, which of course now is time for the massive DISCLAIMER that this does not include defense....which the point has been hashed and rehashed to a sufficiently thorough level by now that, even though he grits and grinds and is white, his defense is absolutely ass-suckingly bad.  Probably significantly better than Derek Jeter, but it is still a big old turd.  All things considered though, he still is solidly over a replacement level player, probably right about at average or slightly below, and for his tiny salary.....you can't complain.  Also he brings a lot of humor to the team by diving towards balls he has no chance at getting and also getting thrown out on the basepaths a lot and having good interviews with Mark DeRosa.  All in all, I rate him a 4, which if you drink enough is plenty pretty to satisfy one's short-term sexual appetite.   I wouldn't want to marry a 4, though.

Dome .293/.401/.423 Surprised to find he translates currently as the 7th most valuable hitter by VORP!  I guess decent corner guys are really pretty easy to find.  However, adding in his D it's pretty clear he is WAY more valuable than the aforementioned SS wonderboy from LSU.  I expect a few more 2Bs to fall for him and he should be looking at a more reasonable SLG while hopefully keeping up the same walks.  right now i am thinking DAMN OUR TEAM IS DEEP.

Z Big Z is our 8th best hitter by VORP.  this is not a typo.  He also currently has better triple-slash stats than DLee.  He also apparently has one of the longest streaks ever without taking a walk.  This is only cool because he is a pitcher, so don't any positional Cubs get any ideas.  Unfortunately, the lame warning of "small sample size" makes me tell you that he probably won't finish the year with an ops of almost 900.  But hey, how about a 750-800, Z? Keep killing it.  And throwing strikes...

The next five in order of VORP are Edmonds, Cedeno, Hoffpauir, Reed, and Little Mikey Fontenot. Small sample sizes make these numbers pretty meaningless, but I will maybe go into some of what this means at a later (or just earlier tomorrow...cause its late) time.

Pitchers:

Z 5.96 K/9, 2.89 BB/9, 0.63 HR9- the home run rate is pretty low, which if he can keep it up(tough, but it shouldn't go up by too much if it does, he's been around 0.9 recent years), the dip in K's from previous years doesn't cause warning at all...Z pitching like this is one of the best no doubt, he is currently the 4th ranked P by VORP. 

Demp 7.53 K/9 3.51 BB/9 0.80 HR9- Little high on the walks, but that's what you'd expect.  It looks like he is legitimately pitching better this year than any Cub starter has in the past few years....who'd have guessed that not only would Z step up from where he has been the past couple years, but RYAN DEMPSTER would top that level as well?  I like him (not just for the jokes) and think he would look great pitching a Game 3 in the playoffs...Game 2 I'd be less excited about but depending on how the trade market looks I could be convinced it is right. 

Lilly 8.79 K/9 3.28 BB/9 1.48 HR9 The HR rate is ridiculous.  Hopefully it will drop a bit, cause we should keep seeing him improve his results if it does....that 8.79 K/9 is great!  If he can keep that but drop his HRs to a more normal 1.3 per 9 innings, he is definitely a TOUGH #3 as well....just compare him to who other teams would have in such a spot.  I think he's going to keep his year going upward and end it with solid stats. 

Marquis 4.48 K/9 3.38 BB/9 0.73 HR9 Yeah, he can't K anyone and has fair control.  But he has yet to have a barrage of HRs unleashed against him, and until that occurs (it is inevitable, isn't it?), he should continue to post an ERA around where it sits right now at 4.24.  I don't hate him.  I wouldn't cuddle with him on a stormy night, but we could probably hang out without incident.

Gallagher 7.78 K/9 3.24 BB/9 0.86 HR9 No idea if he can keep up these raw numbers, but the minors seem to indicate he should at least be close to them.  If he keeps these numbers up....well let's just say please don't trade him, please don't trade him...well unless we get A-Rod or Hanley or something.  I also like how he is much less fat, it makes me feel better about his cholesterol AND chances with the ladies, which are two of the most important "deep sabermetric" stats only kept by those extremely into the field. 

That's all I have for now, if there is continued interest I plan on following this up with some discussion of our options for the trade market, which i am guessing no one here cares about judging by the history.....ha.  Also some talk about relievers, why a 12-man bullpen is unnecessary, why Mike Fontenot is unnecessary , and if things go well a detailed discussion of the ins and outs of arm-tats, featuring Hank White and Ronny Cedeno.  All this and more, on the next cycle of old-fashioned anabolic goodness, courtesy of Canseco's Roid Party.

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but for anyone who is interested ESPN Classic is showing Kerry Wood's 20 strikeout game right now.  Channel 403 on Comcast in Chicago.  Hopefully the Astros will have nearly as much trouble hitting Teddy later....

Anyway I just thought I'd post this now as I am sitting at home and thought I would share for anyone else who is doing likewise.  Just showed the first pitch hitting the ump in the face as has been discussed by Al a few weeks ago; also there is hardly anyone at this game- the crowd was just showed on the foul ball. 

Don't know the word limit on these, but i will add that the curve Kerry just threw was disgusting, 12-6 and then he follows it up with that ridiculous slurve.   And no one has a chance at the 98mph fastball.  Not even Jeff bagwell who is a funny name to remember.