Like many of you, I really enjoyed Al's offseason series "The Cubs Can Of Worms", in which he conjured up memories of failures past. In hindsight, it gave me a good chuckle and brought relief that the players or coaches profiled were no longer haunting us. In reality, though this season has been a disappointment, we are still a good team. There are, however, a number of candidates for Al's series, and I've narrowed it down to three nominees. Try to have fun with this!

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Yesterday, this fanpost was posted by BCB reader copingwiththecubs. I found the post very well written, and while my kneejerk reaction was to scream "Fairweather Fan!!!", I have read it a few times and thought about what the poster was trying to say. After having read and thought about the arguments presented, I still disagree, and wanted to share my opinion in the matter. Please note: I do not think of myself as any better nor any worse of a fan as the poster, I just happen to disagree strongly with a few of the points made.

I have been a Cubs fan since 1986 when I was just 6 years old. Growing up in North Carolina, it was the Cubs on WGN in the daytime and the Braves on TBS at night. I fell in love with Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, the aura of Wrigley Field, and listening to Harry Caray entertainingly call even the most lopsided of games (and believe me, there were many!). I was hooked, and have come to find out, 23 years later, that it was destined to be a lifelong passion of mine.

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I feel the need to write a post about this, as I have been very stubborn in my support of Lou Piniella. I have excused his seemlingly disinterested attitude as "trying to be a calming influence", I have forgiven questionable moves because I do not have the audacity to think I know more than he does, and I have defended him on this site many, many times. I like to think of myself as pretty respectable and mild-mannered, but in light of this fanshot, it is time for me to admit I was wrong. Please note this is *NOT* designed as a Lou bashing session.

Last night while watching the game on MLB.TV, I was absolutely dumbfounded when Lou sent Sam Fuld to pinch hit for Ted Lilly. At that point of the game, it was not feasible to take Jake Fox out of the game as he still had another at bat left, therefore ensuring Sam Fuld would not be able to enter the game defensively. Our best defensive outfield, which Lou has said many times he wants out there in late innings, was made unavailable for a 2 out, nobody on pinch hit attempt. Quite honestly, I'm very glad that Al, and many others in the recap, were outraged at this as well. This was a mistake, any way you slice it. Not only did he bat before Fukudome (which made it two lefties in a row, which is much easier for the opposing team to manage), but again, he was wasted defensively. Jeff Baker or Alfonso Soriano would have been a much better option in that situation.

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So while I was stuck at work today I was watching the game on Yahoo! since Gameday wasn't working for me. Notice Aaron Miles' season average as he strolled to the plate for his at bat in the 7th. Good job, Yahoo!, you're not too far off on this one. :) Forgive the quality, it was taken with my blackberry, and I wanted to share as it gave me a little reprieve from my Cubs-induced headache. To repeat the hundreds of fanposts before mine, and in my best Eric Hanna voice, GET RID OF THIS GUY ALREADY JIM!

In light of Randy Wells' stellar rookie campaign, I decided to do a little research to see if the Cubs ever had back to back ROY award winners, and as many of you can guess, I was stunned and saddened at what I found. I'm relatively young, and wanted to share this with other younger fans who may not know the story of Ken Hubbs. For the rest of you, please feel free to add your own stories and memories about this.

The Cubs did in fact have back to back ROY award winners on one occasion, as Billy Williams won the award in 1961 and Ken Hubbs did the same in 1962. From what i've read, Hubbs was primarily known for being a strong defensive player (he also won the gold glove at 2B in his rookie season). What's sad is that he was only able to play in two full seasons at the major league level, and his life was tragically cut short on February 13, 1964 at the age of 22.

Hubbs had a fear of flying, and decided to take flying lessons as a way of overcoming his fear. (side note: I'm assuming MLB teams chartered flights by that time, so Hubbs knew he was going to have to fly a lot) Hubbs' long time friend, Dennis Doyle, had recently become a new father, and his wife had traveled to Provo, Utah to visit her parents and allow them the opportunity to see their new grandchild. Doyle and Hubbs, who received his pilot's license a month earlier, decided to fly to Provo for the day to surprise Mrs. Doyle. The next morning, the pair departed for California in hopes of beating a storm, but never made it.

Hubbs finished his career hitting .247 with 14 HR's. He led all rookies in 1962 in games, hits, doubles, triples, and batting average. He also went 78 games (418) chances without an error, and started a triple play.

Hubbs wore number 16 for the Cubs, and that number was not again issued until 1967.

Following last year's success at Wrigley Field, the NHL has decided to hold the 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park in Boston, where the Bruins will host the Philadelphia Flyers. After holding an outdoor game in Edmonton in 2003, the NHL decided to build on that success and on January 1, 2008, held its first annual Winter Classic in Buffalo, NY.

Last year's Winter Classic was very special to me, as I'm sure it was to many of you, as I am a big fan of the NHL and loved seeing Wrigley Field showcased like it was. I'm sure the fans in Boston feel the same way, and I'm excited for MLB to be able to integrate another of it's cathedrals into the NHL and its fans and players.

Shall we start an over/under now as to how much a Green Monster seat will be for this game?

3.5 games back with 76 games to go. When you really think about it, it's a very small deficit that can be overcome with solid play and a second half more consistent with how this team is expected to perform. I really don't enjoy off-days, so I decided to break down the second half; what's ahead of us, and what it's going to take to win this division.

First point: 76 games left, 44 of which are against teams at or below .500. If form holds true (obviously we will lose some of those and win some of the other 32, but just speaking in terms of averages) and we beat the teams we are supposed to beat, that would put us at 87-75.

Second point: 36 of the remaining 76 games are at Wrigley Field, which means 40 more road games. As it stands right now we have a .600 winning percentage at home. Assuming that stays true to form, and we can go 22-18 on the road, that will give us a record of 87-75.

The 10 days that will define the season (September 14-23): 10 games in 10 days. 4 at home vs. Milwaukee, 3 at St. Louis, and 3 at Milwaukee. Obviously it goes without saying, but those 10 games/days are going to be the most important stretch of games in recent memory.

Most importantly, the second half brings with it quite a bit of optimism. Milton Bradley ended the first half swinging the bat as good as he has all year. Lou Piniella looked like the Lou of old this weekend as he was REALLY into those games. Soriano, though still not back, did start to have much better at bats before the break...and I think the time off can only help him. Rich Harden can not possibly pitch as bad as he did the first half, Dempster and Geo will be back soon, and the hopefully impending signing of B.J. Ryan will bolster the bullpen. This division is right there for the taking. I'm not relying on the Cardinals or the Brewers to lose, I'm relying on my team to play up to its potential.

Please join me in giving your thoughts on the second half. I'm normally not one for over-analyzing, but the things I mentioned seem to speak volumes about what's ahead of us.

I am fully aware that Alfonso Soriano is an important part of this team, specifially the offense. Why he is penciled into the lineup every day, though, is beyond my understanding. Let's take a look at some numbers, and perhaps you will see why this slump doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon.

Since May 17th, he has hit 2 HR's, and his batting average has dropped from .280 to .226. 42 games is quite a long "slump", especially when there are other competent players sitting on the bench. All this being said, I do want Soriano as my everyday left fielder, so here's what I'd do:

Put Soriano on the DL effective Monday, when Reed, Aramis, and Guzman are all scheduled to be activated. That would allow the club the ability to option 1 less position player.  Send him down to extended Spring Training (or anywhere, really) where he can work on his swing next week and then he'd obviously have the all star break off as well. Once those 15 days are up (only 10 games by my calcuations, though feel free to double check that) we should have a better idea of who the other casualty will be, and Soriano could once again man left field, hopefully refreshed and rejuvenated.

In the meantime, I'd like to see this lineup:

Fuld
Theriot
Lee
Fox
Bradley
Fukudome
Soto
Fontenot
Pitcher

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. But I feel very strongly about not wanting to see Soriano in the lineup tomorrow. At this point, he's a liability both at the plate and in the field. Let's hope he gets straightened out really soon!

OK, so it's no secret that the team has been struggling for the better part of this year, and I've heard many of you share my sentiments that team seems to be lacking energy and fire. (and yes, Lou, you need to be a dragon right now in my opinion) That being said, I have my own opinions about what this team needs right now, and as a fan I'm not shy about sharing said opinions. So, as a shot in the arm to our favorite boys of summer, I offer the following suggestion.

I've heard many of you, including Al in his nice game recap, call for a DL or benching of Soriano. While I would also like to see Fox and Hoffpauir get more playing time (and PLEASE Lou, play Blanco tomorrow instead of Miles), I think this is the perfect time for Sam Fuld to be recalled. Don't get me wrong, I understand he's not Aramis Ramirez or Albert Pujols, but the guy has hit .270 at AAA this year and there hasn't been any mention of him. Keep in mind that if he were hitting .270 at the big league level this would be the third highest BA on the active roster (behind Theriot and DLee). Fuld has also stolen 16 bases so far this year, but more importantly I think he'd bring a certain amount of passion and energy which has sadly disappeared from Wrigley this summer.

Anybody else remember 2007 when he was called up? One game against the Pirates he made an unbelievable catch and he was diving into the ivy, then appeared out of the vines and threw a strike to first to get the double play.
Had this play happened last week, or even tomorrow, I think it would wake a lot of people up. I know it's not going to happen, and I know many of you will disagree, but I'm rooting for you Sam, and I hope to see you in the OF at Wrigley soon.

Today on ESPN's Outside The Lines, a blogger from MidwestSportsFans.com was in the studio to discuss this article he had written 2 days prior. The article, while filled with statistics and very well written, brought up the MLB's recent problems over performance enahcing drugs, and therefore argued that Ibanez's great start was going to be subject to speculation that he was using.

The article was brought into the public eye by a journalist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, who wrote this article in today's edition. Apparently, Ibanez was made aware of the blogger's post by a team representative and was quite angry. In addition to the blogger and the journalist, esteemed baseball writer Ken Rosenthal, who I deeply respect, was on the panel. Rosenthal, however, strongly sided against the blogger, and repeatedly called his article "irresponsible" and "unprofessional".

I wanted to get everybody's thoughts on this, as we all write posts on our beloved Cubs each and every day. I'm sure that every member of this year's team (save Ted Lilly, of course) wouldn't be 100% pleased to hear our thoughts about their play at any given time, but did this blogger cross the line? Part of the beauty of this country is our freedom of speech, and I personally didn't find anything wrong with his writings. He argued today that as sports fans we are entitled to be suspicious, considering all of the wrongdoings that have come to light in recent years.

Also, as a side note Al, what would you do in your position as site administrator/founder? Is there an "unwritten rule" about certain subjects that shouldn't be brought up, or are we encouraged to discuss whatever is on our minds as long as we do it in a way that this blogger did, complete with statistical analysis and lengthy research?

Randy Johnson, one start after this 300th career win, has made a bit of personal history yet again. In tonight's game against the Marlins, he went 5 innings, giving up 7 hits and 3 earned runs. 3 of those hits were given up to Brett Carroll, who became the first player to ever triple and homer off of Randy Johnson in the same game. Not only is this impressive considering it was Randy Johnson's 598th career start and 608th career appearance, but also considering the fact that it was Brett Carroll's first career home run and only his second career triple.

Since I joined BCB last year, I've enjoyed very much meeting fellow Cubs fanatics and sharing insights, ideas, and concerns. Recently, I wanted to try enhancing my BCB experience by joining in-game discussions in the game threads. It didn't take me long to realize this was the "dark side" of BCB, and what a difference it is.

Presumabely, we are all here because we share passion for our team. While I realize that everybody handles wins and losses differently, we should all be on the same team, seeing as how we are in fact all here in support of one team, and one ultimate goal.

I, for one, will be staying out of the game threads and stick with just the fanposts/fanshots for a while. While there are *MANY* nice people that I see in there (Sue, Allie, Drew, Dan, Jessica, just to name a few), I see far too much insulting, name-calling, and downright rudeness towards others that detracts from not only my BCB experience but ultimately by game experience. Hopefully we can all realize that we were brought together by this fine site because we share a common bond, time for us all to be friends not enemies!

After our current 7 game losing streak, we sit at 21-21 with 120 games left, and only 4.5 games behind the Brewers pending tonight's game. While I am not one of the many "ledge jumpers" here, I do think some changes need to be made, and here's what I'd do to try and help improve this team.

1) David Patton.  I was really rooting for this guy, but he really doesn't have a spot on this roster. He hasn't pitched in nearly two weeks, and therefore he is just taking up a roster spot. Considering our offensive woes, I think this would be a good time to call up Jake Fox, who is tearing the cover off the ball in AAA.

2) Neal Cotts. Yes, he did throw a 1-2-3 inning today, but it was a blowout game. In pressure situations, and against lefties specifically, he has not come through this year. I don't trust him to get that big out that a LOOGY is called upon to get, and I'd like to see Jason Wadell called up to be given a chance.

3) Aramis Ramirez. While Rammy is out, I don't like our lineup's chances with Miles/Fontenot/Scales. As a matter of fact, Bobby Scales has shown the best at bats of the three, and he would seemingly be the first one out. Aaron Miles has to go, period. He provides essentially no value to this team right now. I have read, and it was poster here last week, that Cleveland might be shopping DeRo. Let's work some magic to get him back. As Al posted earlier, his 30 RBI's would be leading the team right now. Plugging him in at 3B and allowing Scales and Fontenot to platoon at 2B would improve this roster dramatically.

4) Carlos Marmol. Marmol should be this team's closer. Kevin Gregg has been hit hard consistently this year, and while Marmol has shown control issues in the past, his stuff is untouchable when he finds it. He's the ideal closer type, and his time is due.

5) Koyie Hill. Hill, when given the chance to play, has done nothing but hit. I love Geo (he's my favorite Cub, in fact), and he plays great defense and calls a hell of a game behind the plate. Hill, however, is more than sufficient behind the plate, and I think if he were to be given more playing time it would be nothing but helpful to him, Geo, and the rest of the team. Geo, as great as he is, is a second year player, and I fear that he feels his position is safe after his ROY campaign. Healthy competition is sometimes the best motivational tool you can give a player, and I'd just like to see this explored a bit more.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. 120 games left, 5 (at most) to make up. It's not time to panic, but it is time to analyze what has happened and make the necessary adjustments!

This was discussed briefly today in Al's postgame recap, and he seemed to have the same thoughts as I did about Scales possibly staying on the roster and Gathright being optioned (or released, or bought out, or whatever the correct term is) on Friday to Iowa when Randy Wells is called up (or selected, or...well, you get the idea) to replace Big Z while he is on the DL. The more I got to thinking about it, however, I get the concerned feeling that Gathright is safe on the roster for now.

With a normal starting infield of DLee, Fontenot, Theriot, and Ramirez, you have backups of Aaron Miles at SS and 2B and Hoffpauir at 1B. As we have seen, LBR can play 3B when Rammy is out. I do believe that Bobby Scales is listed as an IF/OF, but his IF skills probably won't be needed. In addition, Gathright has speed which Lou covets.

That being said, "the kid" really impressed me today. Not to mention the guys in the dugout seemed to really like him, and he is a great story. I'd really like to see him stay, and Gathright I'd just assume never see in a Cub uniform again, but sadly I don't think that the club will share my opinion on this.

While tonight's game was relatively stress free, it was not ideal to have to use Marmol with a fairly comfortable 5 run lead. Marmol was brought in, of course, because our L(n)OOGY put 2 of little Dusty's soldiers on base. Since Neal seems to be catching Lou's evil eye lately, I thought it would be fun to start a pool or hear your thoughts as to when you think he will be on a bus to Iowa. Anybody else think that we'll hear the news tomorrow morning?

Watching the USA convincingly move into the second round of the WBC last night, I couldn't help but feel bittersweet watching Mark DeRosa come up with a bases loaded triple, and become part of another big rally. Watching him smile with the guys and pump his fist reminded me of why I love the guy so much, and I still can't understand why JH made the move with Cleveland. Not only can the guy play pretty much every position on the diamond, but he is well liked and respected by both his teammates and the fans.

There was a post the other day of the greatest Cub trades. This one certainly will not make that list, let's just hope that it's not one of the all time clunkers.

My annual fantasy league consisting of friends and coworkers has its live draft this weekend. I feel like I have a strategy in mind in trying to repeat as champion, but I respect a lot of you in here as having great baseball minds and am curious to see how others' think about this. Besides, a little input never hurt anyone!

So, to all of you who partake in fantasy baseball, who is or who will be your #1 pick this year?

At least I can take my fifth straight year of VWR agony with a sense of reality, and with a smile to boot. I, like many of you, was disappointed yesterday to not get tickets for either opening day or the 6/19 game vs Cleveland (welcome back, DeRo and Kid K). I've decided to share my reasons for being optimistic, and hopefully help at least some people shed some bitterness that I know days like yesterday can cause.

Every year I venture to Wrigley, and every year I have a good time win or lose. I realize that some games are always going to be in high demand, but who wouldn't have wanted to be in attendance for this game last year when the Cubs overcame an 8 run deficit to win? I highly doubt this game sold out on the first day of ticket sales. And who would've been happy to be there forAramis Ramirez's heroics against the Philllies?

There are surely many great moments to be had at Wrigley for 2009, so even if you didn't get the game you wanted, try to realize that the game you end up going to might be, and should be, one you'll remember for a lifetime.

Check out this interesting pitching analysis of the 2008 season. Whether you're a fantasy geek like me or just a sucker for stats, I really think this graph tells you all you need to know about the kind of pitchers we have.

I was not at all surprised to see Carlos Zambrano in the northwest quadrant, as his K's were down last year but as always threw a lot of ground ball outs. Kudos to Ryan Dempster for landing in the Northeast quadrant, next to perennial Cy Young candidates. Theodore Roosevelt Lilly, and Rich Harden (as you can see, who by the way had the highest K/Batters Faced ration in the league) were in the Southeast quadrant. The weakest quadrant, the Southwest, showed no Cub pitcher from our starting rotation.  This makes me feel even better about our pitching, and about our prospects for a successful 2009.

Here is a link for the same graph for relief pitchers, if anyone is interested. Of particular note, Carlos Marmol and newly acquired Aaron Heilman both landed in the Southeast quadrant. I have had the pleasure of watching Carlos Marmol pitch for the last season and a half, and while I always appreciated how dominant he is, I never realized that over 2/3 of the batters he faces are retired by either strikeout or ground ball. That's dominant, folks.

As pitchers and catchers reports tomorrow, I can't help but to be excited about the 2009 season. All week i've been thinking about baseball, and specifally some of my favorite moments from the 2008 season (and there were so many!, here's hoping to many more coming in '09), so I thought i'd have a little fun with it. I know you guys will have no problem getting this one which is one of my personal favorites, but hopefully it'll get everybody in the winning mood. Good luck, and Name This Moment!

via cache.daylife.com

I've read a lot of posts and comments this season regarding Kosuke Fukudome's second half struggles. While some think it was a product of culture shock, others thought it was due to the longer season and extra travel that the Central Leauge in Japan lacks.

That being said, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Kosuke participating in this year's WBC. Seeing as how his season is essentially going to start a month earlier because of this, are we to believe that his second half struggles this year will start sooner and be more pronounced?

I'm not at all surprised that the Cubs are allowing him to participate, but i'd be shocked if a contingency plan is not already in the back of Jim Hendry's mind. Thoughts?

I don't know how many of you are aware that Al has put a permanent "BCB Dictionary" on the site, but in looking through it I noticed that it hasn't been updated or added to in quite some time. I also see a lot of readers asking "what does that mean?". Admittedly, I too have to look up acronyms from time to time, so I thought it might be useful to create an addendum to our dictionary. Perhaps Al will even be nice enough to add to what's already there so that readers can decipher some of our crazy talk.

I'll start out with a couple in the comments below, but please keep them coming!

Per Gordo's twitter, Rich Hill (out of options) was just sent to the O's for a player to be named later "once McPhail sorts out his roster". What a sad fall from grace for this once promising lefty. Don't forget, Lou had him penciled in last year for 15 wins. By the way, is it just me or are the Orioles involved every time we make a transaction?? They will look pretty familiar next year with Pie and Hill on their roster.

here's the link. Prior, once the golden child and the hope of our franchise's future, has not pitched in the bigs since 2006 with the Cubs. Prior will earn a modest $1M if he pitches in the majors this year.

I really did like Mark Prior a lot, but for once I am happy that this yearly charade of "will he pitch?" doesn't affect our team. That being said, how many of you would have taken the relatively small financial risk and signed him?

Also, I know somebody will think this has some foreshadowing of the Padres being more likely to move Mr. Peavy, but let me be the first to say that these two are not even close to being related.