SBNation.com User Blog: MIMuggles

2008 mourning period is officially over for me

MIMuggles — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:45:42 -0000

I've been a prolific poster today as part of a day of mourning. I'm done with that now. I've had my catharsis. Now it's to bed and tomorrow it's back to life as usual.

Hopefully for the rest of you, even the most bitter, angry, depressed, those who have sworn off our team forever, whatever, the same will also soon be true.

Thank you to all for the spirited discussion, and assisting in exorcising this year's demons. Now it's time to enjoy the Bears, Blackhawks, and Bulls and come Spring, be ready to once again support our Cubbies.

Good night to all, and may you have a Winter of joy, competely devoid of visions of Fukudome flails, Dempster walks, and Soriano hops!

I've been a prolific poster today as part of a day of mourning. I'm done with that now. I've had my catharsis. Now it's to bed and tomorrow it's back to life as usual.

Hopefully for the rest of you, even the most bitter, angry, depressed, those who have sworn off our team forever, whatever, the same will also soon be true.

Good night to all, and may you have a Winter of joy, competely devoid of visions of Fukudome flails, Dempster walks, and Soriano hops!

Merits of the free agency market

MIMuggles — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:22:27 -0000

I already posted this but I think it deserves its own thread.

Almost every post-mortem post features comments about how we need to sign Furcal, Dunn, Sabathia, etc. via expensive free agency. Let's look at this year's team makeup to see if this really makes sense.

In my estimation, there are four ways to abtain players:

1) Develop them
2) Trade for them
3) Free agency
4) Pick them off a scrap heap (Waivers, etc.)

Now, don’t hop on me if I’m inaccurate with a few of these as I’m not chasing down any references. But here’s the way players on this year’s team were acauited:

Developed

A Guzman
C Marmol
C McGehee
C Pignatiello
C Zambrano
E Patterson
F Pie
G Soto
J Samardzija
K Hart
K Hill
K Wood
M Hoffpauir
M Murton
M Wuertz
R Cedeno
R Hill
R Theriot
R Wells
S Gallagher
S Marshall

Trade

A Ramirez
C Gaudin
D Lee
J Ascanio
M Fontenot
N Cotts
R Harden

Free Agency

A Soriano
B Howry
D Ward
H Blanco
J Lieber
J Marquis
K Fukudome
M DeRosa
S Eyre
T Lilly

Scrap Heap

C Fox
J Edmonds
R Dempster
R Johnson

Call me crazy, but to me it looks like free agency has been the least efficient and most costly method of acquisition. Why push for more of it?

I already posted this but I think it deserves its own thread.

In my estimation, there are four ways to abtain players:

1) Develop them
2) Trade for them
3) Free agency
4) Pick them off a scrap heap (Waivers, etc.)

Now, don’t hop on me if I’m inaccurate with a few of these as I’m not chasing down any references. But here’s the way players on this year’s team were acauited:

Developed

A Guzman
C Marmol
C McGehee
C Pignatiello
C Zambrano
E Patterson
F Pie
G Soto
J Samardzija
K Hart
K Hill
K Wood
M Hoffpauir
M Murton
M Wuertz
R Cedeno
R Hill
R Theriot
R Wells
S Gallagher
S Marshall

Trade

A Ramirez
C Gaudin
D Lee
J Ascanio
M Fontenot
N Cotts
R Harden

Free Agency

A Soriano
B Howry
D Ward
H Blanco
J Lieber
J Marquis
K Fukudome
M DeRosa
S Eyre
T Lilly

Scrap Heap

C Fox
J Edmonds
R Dempster
R Johnson

Call me crazy, but to me it looks like free agency has been the least efficient and most costly method of acquisition. Why push for more of it?

The real problem with moving Soriano

MIMuggles — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:43:36 -0000

Lots of talk about Soriano's contract making him unmovable. I'm not so sure about that. After all, the Rangers were able to move ARod. Creative things can be done to manage the contractual issues.

The real problem is that this guy has totally lost his identity. Suppose you are the Yankees and considering Soriano as part of a an overhaul - not a totally far out scenario. Where does Soriano fit in your lineup? Is he a lead off man? No, not really. He still has some speed but he simply doesn't get on enough. And, as fun as leadoff homers are, they don't really fulfill the role of a leadoff man, which is to set the table, not clear it. Is he a power guy? No, not really - he doesn't hit for enough power.

What about defensively? An outfielder? Well, he's got a great arm, but he's terrible at playing the angles and that hop - well to me it's a crutch for a lack of confidence/ Do you move him to second again? Not really a fit there either. DH? Makes too much money for that.

And then you always have the playoff choking in the back of your mind.

So my point is that anybody who takes this guy on faces the same dilemma that we do. Overall, he's a pretty decent ballplayer. But how exactly do you use him?

It should be far easier to move Lee, but not merely for contractual reasons...

Lots of talk about Soriano's contract making him unmovable. I'm not so sure about that. After all, the Rangers were able to move ARod. Creative things can be done to manage the contractual issues.

And then you always have the playoff choking in the back of your mind.

So my point is that anybody who takes this guy on faces the same dilemma that we do. Overall, he's a pretty decent ballplayer. But how exactly do you use him?

It should be far easier to move Lee, but not merely for contractual reasons...

Maybe someone can remind me...

MIMuggles — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:37:13 -0000

...of why I even bothered to tune in tonight. I promised myself I wouldn't...

Once again, they got a runner in scoring postion early in the game and did nothing, and the Dodgers capitalized the very next half inning.

No sense in bashing DaBard style, but I wonder if another support group thread is on its way again tonight once again composed of people who still haven't realized that this series was over awhile ago. Of course the irony of that very popular post is that if people really thought the Cubs would come back they wouldn't have needed that post and the support of the group at all.

Anyway, as per usual, it's wait 'til next year time. Tomorrow morning I'll open up my browser to see how it ended and ask myself once again why I even bothered...

...of why I even bothered to tune in tonight. I promised myself I wouldn't...

Once again, they got a runner in scoring postion early in the game and did nothing, and the Dodgers capitalized the very next half inning.

Anyway, as per usual, it's wait 'til next year time. Tomorrow morning I'll open up my browser to see how it ended and ask myself once again why I even bothered...

Going to Bed

MIMuggles — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:13:53 -0000

Not even worth the watching the rest of this game or even the series. As was the case last year, I'm afraid this team has proven itself to be a laughingstock, leaving a national audience to wonder how they got there in the first place. I'm normally pretty optimistic but at some point one must face reality - This team looks entirely unprepared and unable to perform, hitting, pitching, or fielding. There will be no remarkable comeback. Why bother watching?

Two night s ago I wrote a post about how it might be bittersweet to win it all. Tonight it's just bitter. Another fun season, another amazingly wretched post season.

Good night to all and see you next spring!

Two night s ago I wrote a post about how it might be bittersweet to win it all. Tonight it's just bitter. Another fun season, another amazingly wretched post season.

Good night to all and see you next spring!

What If?

MIMuggles — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:09:29 -0000

As near as I can tell, I've been a Cub fan for 37 of my 44 years. My first clear memory of the Cubs was Ernie Bank's 500th homer, and by Burt Hooton's no hitter, I was addicted (Interesting side note: I have witnessed three Cub's no-hitters and during two of them, I was bailing out a flooded basement!). Despite living in three states since growing up on the north side, I have remained as true blue to the Cubs as a fan can be.

I was twelve years old during the 1977 season and the first half of the year I was as elated as could be. The Cubs were my heroes, larger than life, and I remember in that era how I would wish not for the Cubs to go to the playoffs, but merely to finish .500. No Internet then, of course, but I would pick up the Tribune and gaze at the stats and standings everyday for at least a couple of hours, just marveling as the Cubs went to 25 games over! It didn't matter that they didn't win that year, or even finish .500 - it was magical!

I was in college in downstate Illinois when they went to the playoffs in 1984. It had been 39 years since the Cubs had won anything and everyone was just going crazy. Students running everywhere in the middle of the night, "Jump" playing from every dorm window, drunken celebration and destruction everywhere. Even the campus police didn't seem to mind and just let it go - "It was a joyous kind of thing" said the police chief.

They almost made it past San Diego but that was the year of the Tiger. Noone was going to beat the Tigers. As special as the season was, they weren't going to win the series that year.

Then came 1989 - Considerably little less special.

1998 - Less special still.

2003 - An interesting year, but still, not the same level of enthusiam.

2007 - Downright anticlimatic - I somehow knew they weren't going anywhere in the playoffs.

And now 2008, somehow made even more exciting with the White Sox, whom I've always kind of ignored, in it too. The unmistakable feeling that this Cub team is the team that could really do it!

Thirty-seven years of being a Cub fan, and beyond that, a full ninety-nine years for fellow Cub fans who have never seen this team win. Imagine, three full generations of fans not experiencing the joy af victory. And now I'm left to wonder...

I'm a consummate Chicago sports fan, with only the White Sox on the outs. I even cheered for the Sting and the Fire! I experienced six Bulls championships and toward the end they seemed to become downright uninteresting. The Bears Superbowl in 1985 was great but somehow unfulfilling. The height of joy would be the Cubs winnning the World Series - nothing else would do.

So, what if the Cubs actually win? Will it still be as meaningful to be a Cub fan? How will it feel if that itch actually gets scratched? Would it be like getting that first kiss from that first amazing girl you ever had a crush on - exciting but maybe a little anticlimatic? How will it feel when the Johnny-Come-Lately's hop on the the bandwagon and become fans? How will it feel to no longer be "The Lovable Losers" and "Long suffering"?

After four short weeks, it may never feel the same to be a Cub fan again. And there is definitely a part of me that fears losing that tradition - the same innocence that was somehow shattered with that first kiss and the knowledge that no kiss after it would ever feel quite the same. The feeling of that itch before it got scratched would forever be gone.

Yeah, this is a year to savor for sure, and I do think they have a legitimate chance at taking it all. I sure hope they do - I wouldn't be any kind of a fan if I didn't. But maybe amid all of it this also a time of reflection upon the past - the possible end of a tradition that has bonded all of us as part of a fraternity of generations of Cub fans in loyalty, faith, and unfulfilled hope.

The younger fans here, I'm sure will not understand this post. But I'm interested to know, especially for the old timers - the ones who once saw .500 as an unimaginably successful season - if, as special as a World Series victory would be, it might be tinged - if just a tad - with a bit of the bittersweet...

They almost made it past San Diego but that was the year of the Tiger. Noone was going to beat the Tigers. As special as the season was, they weren't going to win the series that year.

Then came 1989 - Considerably little less special.

1998 - Less special still.

2003 - An interesting year, but still, not the same level of enthusiam.

2007 - Downright anticlimatic - I somehow knew they weren't going anywhere in the playoffs.

And now 2008, somehow made even more exciting with the White Sox, whom I've always kind of ignored, in it too. The unmistakable feeling that this Cub team is the team that could really do it!

American League Domination Continues in Interleague Play

MIMuggles — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:07:44 -0000

Going into the day today the NL was down to the AL by 10 games in interleague play. As I write this, the leagues are 5-5 but the AL leads all four games in progress.

I'm a big fan of the NL, having grown up with it as a Cub fan. I think the DH takes a lot of strategy out of the game. Logic dictates that the NL should have a distinct advantage in interleague play because AL pitchers who normally don't bat are forced to during road games. And yet the AL always seeems to dominate.

I suppose as a Cub fan I should be happy to see Cub rivals largely losing. And yet as a fan of NL baseball in all the revelry of a great Cubs season I find mself yet again somewhat disheartened at the overall performance of the NL.

What exactly is going on here?

Going into the day today the NL was down to the AL by 10 games in interleague play. As I write this, the leagues are 5-5 but the AL leads all four games in progress.

What exactly is going on here?

This just in - Prior to have season ending surgery

MIMuggles — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:03:32 -0000

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080601&content_id=2813827&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Thirteen months removed from arthroscopic surgery on the same right shoulder, Prior opted to have the problem taken care of this week, even if it meant having season-ending surgery to repair the tear in the anterior part of the shoulder capsule.

"After speaking with the doctors, Mark wanted to definitively fix it and begin the rehab process," said Prior's agent, John Boggs. "I think that's the best way to go about it."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080601&content_id=2813827&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

"After speaking with the doctors, Mark wanted to definitively fix it and begin the rehab process," said Prior's agent, John Boggs. "I think that's the best way to go about it."

Byung-Hyun Kim

MIMuggles — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:25:26 -0000

This guy is currently not playing professional ball as far as I can tell. As late as last year the guy won nine games for the Florida Marlins, striking out 102 while walking only 62. It seems like he's been around forever, but he's only 29 years old. He pitched in one spring training game for the Pirates this year before being released.

Call me crazy, but why wouldn't any team want to give him a minor league stint? Why not the Cubs? It seems to me there's less downside and potentially far more upside here than with Edmonds...

The Ex-Cub Factor

MIMuggles — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:54:40 -0000

I was pretty surprised to note that, while several National League teams are devoid of ex-Cubs, there is only one team in the American league who does not have a single player who was never affiliated with the Cubs system on their active roster. Before I post the answer, does anyone want to take a guess?

I will provide one hint - there is an additional American League team whose only player ever affiliated with the Cubs was associated with the organization for less than one day!