SB Nation User Blog: HIGGY

MLB Contract Info

HIGGY — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:01:21 -0000

Got this link sent to me today and i thought it was pretty interesting. Obviously it states that:

"Contract information is unofficial & collected from various published reports."

But it is pretty intersting to see some little details to players contracts.

http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/

The word TEAM is missing

HIGGY — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:13:34 -0000

In my opinion two things need to start happening for the Cubs to win:

The word TEAM needs to be stressed. To me it just seems that we have 25 individuals playing every day and no team in sight. When we are batting, everyone is trying to be a hero, they are trying to win every game themselves with every swing or they are swinging like it is their last swing ever. It just seems that there is no trust in the guy that is on deck. And lets face it you cannot win with that attitude.
Rothchild needs to go. It is extremely frustrating to watch our pitchers nit pick at every corner or trying to do this or trying to do that. Throw the ball and get ahead. This is not a difficult concept to achieve for a guy making millions. Pitching ahead changes every aspect of an at bat. Baseball is a game of failure. A batter is going to fail 70% of the time according to numbers, so bascially we need to have the confidence that our pitch is going to be better than their swing. To me it seems that our pitchers are not trusting their stuff. They dont have the confidence that they can beat the batter, and that is a recipe for disaster. Yesterday watchin Eyre warm up in the bullpen was horrifying. Erye was short arming and aiming every change up he threw (in turn might be tipping his pitches in game situations). He is pitching in fear right now and that is why he cannot seem to get anyone out. And when mental things happen like this you need your coach to step in and say something, help him out.

I know i am a minority on this site for saying this but right now, I have to point the finger at Lou. He needs to get this group of individuals working together as a TEAM. And he needs to get Rothchild to start getting our pitchers to throw strikes or get rid of him.

Jacque Jones the Person and Player

HIGGY — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:22:27 -0000

I sent this to Al earlier today...

Al,

I have tossed the idea of emailing you for about a week now but after attending yesterday's game I decided I was going to email you today. In case you are wondering who I am, I was the Left Handed BP pitcher last year for the Cubs. I have been on your site for about a year or so and I really enjoy it, I think it is a pretty cool thing you do for something you are so passionate about. Anyway I was enjoying the game yesterday for a few innings and I had a few fans behind me (typical 20 something guys) screaming the usual idiotic comments (proving they know nothing about baseball), and then came the inning where we had a great opportunity to score. I knew as soon as I saw Jacque Jones step up to the plate it was not going to be good news for him. Sure enough he struck out on some horrible pitches and the fans went crazy and Booed him and all that stuff. And the 20 something guys behind me went crazy with the obscenities...typical situation - even though they said nothing when D-Lee LOOKED at 3 straight.

Last year when I was brought on to throw BP, my main reason was to aid Juan Pierre and Jacque Jones against lefties as well assist some other players in tune ups against Lefties. We all know the start JJ got off to last year and how the fans treated him, well I came into the picture right about when that crap started happening. All I can say is JJ felt as bad about how he was playing as the fans did, he really felt he was letting the team down. He would have a good game and the fans would still be all over him, and he would come in the next day and be in absolute disarray because he did not know what more he could do to get the fans to like him. JJ, Juan, and Matt Murton were by far the hardest workers on that team last year. Everyday, off day or not, playing day or not, they were always the first ones to the ball park, and the first ones in the cage. They lived in that cage up until BP on the field. As the numbers showed JJ started to play better ball and obviously the fans still did not care (when I speak of fans I mean the loud mouth idiots who know very little about the Cubs nor Baseball).

Jones is a good asset in the clubhouse as well. He is always keeping the players loose and having a good time with them. (this also applies to Dempster as well - who also takes a lot of stupid criticism for his poor outings last year).

I just wanted to let you/the fans know that Jacque cares and he is a very hard worker, he does not deserve what he gets from the fans and all the Booing. I know this has been discussed on the message boards and all that stuff but I wanted you to know from an insider's point of view. Jacque is a good player and a very hard worker ( I know you know this), but I just wanted to send you a little note about him.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about some of the things I witnessed, do as you please - and definitely keep up the great work on the site!!!

Thanks again!

I sent this to him to possibly clear up some negative criticism Jacque takes from the fans. He is our RF if we like it or not (i personally thought he was a great pickup, and if you look at other RFs in the league, pickens were slim when we acquired JJ) That is his job and he takes it very seriously and passionately, like all the players on the team. Booing him or saying we should trade him is all a bunch of hoopla and nonsense because none of us have the power to actually trade him, so until it happens we need to be supportive of his efforts. He is not going out there to strikeout or see how much he can get the fans to boo him. He cares about the team and winning, that is who he is, and that is why he is here. I believe he still cares for the City as well, but that will obviously fade if we continue to boo and not support him.