If you’re into historic/nostalgic Cubs footage, the Museum of Broadcast Communications is a must see.  The website is www.museum.tv – you must sign up for a user account, but it is free of charge.  I just watched the complete 8th and 9th innings of Don Cardwell’s no-hitter; it's 20 minutes of WGN’s coverage of the game, including at-bats by Stan Musial and Ernie Banks and the on-field, post game interview with Cardwell after the no-no. 

Once you sign-up, click on "Search the Archives" in the TV section, then search for "Cubs".  There’s a ton of Cubs related content on there, including a montage of classic Jack Brickhouse calls – there‘s the no hitters by Holtzman & Pappas, an eerie call where Brickhouse discusses the Cubs turning a triple-play right before Manny Sanguillen hits in to one, there’s a Harry Caray special and a 1984 end of the season/playoff preview special and more.

The only drawback is you can’t play the content in full screen mode.  The box that the videos play in is rather small.  Still, this content is worth seeing, especially if you enjoy watching old time footage of Cubs legends.

Al, I hope you don’t mind me directing your users to another website, but I think a lot of fans will enjoy the content.   

I can't remember when the Hawks and Bulls won playof games and the Cubs and White Sox both won, all on the same day.  Any stat heads out there have the answer?  It's probably been a while.  I've got to write more words to make this a qualifing post to amke it on to this web site, so here I am typing away, trying to fill this space.  Is this enough words?  i sure hope so.

Now, I realize that this scenario is VERY unlikely to occur, however it is possible.  The Florida Marlins hold the key to this scenario.  They must get hot and do some damage in the final two weeks.  Here's what whould have to happen to create a five-way, 87 win Wild Card tie in the NL:

Division Champs are the Cubs, Mets & Dodgers

Philadelphia (83-67) goes 4-8 the rest of the way, getting swept by the Marlins in a three game set and then goes 4-5 vs. Braves and Nationals.

Milwaukee (83-67) goes 4-8 the rest of the way, vs Cubs, Reds and Pirates.

Houston (80-69) goes 7-6 the rest of the way, gets swept by Florida in a three game set and then goes 7-3 vs. Pirates, Reds and Braves.

Florida (77-72) goes 10-3, sweeps Astros and Phillies and goes 4-3 vs. Reds (one rain-out make-up) Nationals and Mets

St. Louis (78-71)  Goes 9-4 vs. Cubs, Reds and D-Backs.

I know, it's far fetched, but anything can happen in baseball.  It'll be fun to watch.  How do you break a five-way tie?

According to this Crain's article, the new owner could be announced near the end of this year: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=30103

Mark Cuban is listed as one of the potential bidders.  I wouldn't mind seeing him get the winning bid, you know that he wants to win, if only to stroke his massive ego.  At any rate, lets all hope the new owner has deep pockets and hires good baseball people.

This is a really tough blow for that team:

"Carpenter, a 15-game winner last year and the NL Cy Young award winner in 2005, will be out at least three months, the team said Saturday. An exam on Friday with Dr. George Paletta, the team's medical supervisor, revealed recurrent swelling, stiffness and loss of motion."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cardinals-carpenter&prov=ap&type=lgns

Why are the Cubs this bad?  Why is this happening again?  Lets break it down.

First, we take a look at the shortstop position.

Here are Cesar Izturis'numbers:

Average: .184
HR: 0
RBI: 2
Runs: 3
Average with runners on base: .050 (1 for 20)

Here are Ronny Cedeno's numbers:

Average  .103
HR: 2
RBI: 4
Runs: 2
Average with runners on base: .067 (1 for 15)

Combined, Cub shortstops are hitting .153.

They are hitting .057 with runners on base.

Both of these men need to be terminated immediately.  Neither man has shown to be capable of putting up anything near league average numbers.  Cedeno is a career .246 hitter, with an obp of .276.  Izturis is a career .258 hitter with an obp of .294.  Both men's obp of under .300 makes them BAD BASEBALL PLAYERS, a negative influence that drags down run production on any team they play on.  Send them away.  There are 20 to 25 BACK-UP shortstops on other major league teams that could do a better job than either of these clowns.

Secondly, due to the almighty dollar, the superior Ryan Theriot finds himself on the bench while the inferior Mark DeRosa gets the bulk of the playing time at second base.

DeRosa, who is hitting .258 with a .324 obp, has whiffed a team leading 18 times -- 29% of his at-bats end in a strike-out.

Meanwhile, Theriot who found himself on the bench while the Cubs were playing critical games against division leading Milwaukee, is hitting .333 with a .358 obp.  He's whiffed 7 times or in 13% of his at-bats.  Clearly, Theriot is a superior player, yet because DeRosa is making the big money he plays and Theriot sits.

Then we have the outfield, where we have five players but only three spots to play them in.  The guy with the obp skills (Murton) sits, while Floyd and Jones steal at-bats from him.

Oh, the bullpen is bad too, expect for Mike Wuertz and Ryan Dempster.

This is a poorly constructed roster.  An outfielder and a reliever need to be traded for an shortstop.  It's as plain as day.  

Action needs to be taken to overhaul the roster immediately, before it's too late.  Too late is creeping up quickly.

Going to the game today and will be coming from the western burbs.  I see that the DeVry lot is closed for weekday games.  Where can I park without being raked over the coals for $40.00?

I don't mind paking in a lot somewhere and being shuttled to Wrigley, but I can't seem to find a place that does that besides Devry...

I live in Wheaton, IL and the Extra Innings package was on my Comcast Digital Cable package last night.  A scroll across the bottom of my screen said I was enjoying a free preview of the service, or something to that effect.  I have digital cable, but haven't bought the Extra Innings package yet.  

I plan on buying Extra Innings once the free preview is over, but I have a question.  

I was able to watch the Yankees/D-Rays, Nationals/Diamondbacks and Angels/A's games last night.  However, for whatever reason, they didn't have the Giants/Padres game available to watch.  That's the one game I wanted to watch (I have players from S.F. on my fantasy team).

Why wasn't the Giants/Padres game available to watch?  How many games will I NOT be able to see if I do get Extra Innings? Anybody know?

Go Cubs.

It looks like the Baltimore Orioles are leaning towards keeping BOTH Freddy Bynum and Jason Dubois on their opening day roster.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/orioles/notes.htm?csp=34

Baltimore seems to be where Ex-Cubs go to die.   Steve Trachsel is Baltimore's 5th starter this year. Paul Bako is Baltimore's back-up catcher.  Scott Williamson is in the Orioles bullpen.  Corey Patterson is projected to be Baltimore's 9th place hitter for the opener.  That's six ex-Cubs on their opening day roster. Wow.

In other Ex-Cub news:

Neifi Perez survived the final cuts with Detroit and remains a Tiger -- for now.

Jose Macias is back in the States -- He came to camp with the Washington Nationals, got cut and was then picked up by the Brewers, who signed him to a minor league deal.

Jerome Williams has been named the third starter for the Washington Nationals.

Todd Walker was given his release by the Padres.  No takers as of yet.

Felix Heredia was released by the Tigers.

Looks like Tony is trying to drink his sorrows away with the pitching staff he has this year:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070322/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbn_cardinals_larussa_dui_2

"The 62-year-old LaRussa gave two breath samples and was determined to have a blood alcohol content of 0.093 percent, Jupiter police said in a statement. Florida's legal driving limit is 0.08 percent."

Lock him up and throw away the key.

and sign him to a one year deal.  I assume they met in the middle of arbitration figures.  Here is the link to the story in the Trib http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-070131cubsprior,1,2072156.story?track=rss

I gotta type some more stuff so I have enough charecters in this diary.  Testing, 1-2-3.  This is only a test.

St. Louis is bringing back Mark Mulder.  He probably won't be ready to pitch until after the all-star break -- he's coming off of rotator cuff surgery.  It's a two year, 13 million dollar deal.  There are some incentives in the contract that could make the deal worth up to $45,000,000.  

Also, the Cards signed pitcher Ryan Franklin.  He was used mostly in relief last year, going 6-7 with a 4.54 era with the Reds and Phillies.  The Cards could use him as a starter until Mulder returns.  I'm not too scared of him.

Also, the Cards refuse to give up on Rick Ankiel.  They are still going to try to convert him into an outfielder.  He missed much of last year with an injury.  He signs a contract as well.

They also signed Jolbert Cabrera, he's been in Japan for last two years.  He last played in the majors two years ago as a bench player for Seattle.

Jim Edmonds had surgery on his foot (toe), he is expeted to be fully recovered by opening day.

The Cardinals starting rotation now possibly projects to be:

Carpenter
K. Wells
Reyes
Looper
Franklin

They wait for Mulder to return and possibly be their # 2 guy.  They could also turn Adam Wainwright into a starter as well.  We'll see.  This staff doesn't scare me, but you never know how guys pan out.
   

Now, this is only a rumor, but this Associated Press report says, in regards to offers for Mr. Bonds services: " (the) St. Louis Cardinals apparently have made their interest known."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061207/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbn_giants_bonds_4

The Cards do have some money to spend.  Imagine Pujols hitting behind Bonds.  Shiver me timbers.

Now that the managerial decision has been made, the next item on the Cubs agenda is to sign free agents or make trades to improve the ballclub.

Who do you think the first guy is that the Cubs will acquire?  This may not be who you WANT them to sign or trade for, but who you think they WILL sign or trade for.  Take your pick:

ESPN's Mike & Mike in the morning had Tim Kurkjian on, apparntly, he has been told by his sources that Piniella is going to get the Cubs job.

Obviously we are talking about "sources" here. This by no means is official, but Kurkjian was pretty adament about it on the radio this morning.  Take it for what it's worth.

of candidates for the Cubs job.

"Braves third-base coach Fredi Gonzalez, who interviewed for the Marlins job last year, is expected to be named Girardi's replacement during a 2 p.m. ET press conference."

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061003&content_id=1696581&vkey news_mlb&fext.jsp&c_id=mlb

Well, Florida certainly didn't waste anytime.  They must have had this lined up for at least a month.

Tonight, Wade Miller made another rehab start for the the Cubs class A minor league team, The Peoria Chiefs.  The Chiefs played the Kane County Cougars at Kane County, so me and my fiance made the 20 minute drive from the  Naperville/Aurora area to go see him pitch.  

Some observations:  Miller is not throwing very hard. The "pitch speed" display was not working at Elfstrom Stadium, so I can't tell you exactly how hard Miller was throwing, but he clearly wasn't getting much over 87 or maybe 88 mph.  He retired the first two Cougars he faced in the first inning on a ground out and then a strikeout (looking).  Miller then proceeded to walk the next three hitters to load the bases.  Not good.  He got out of the inning by inducing a short fly ball.

Miller then labored through the 2nd inning, allowing a single, going to a 3-2 count on a couple of hitters, and allowing a long flyball that was maybe 2 feet from going out of the park for a home run.  He got out of that inning unscored upon.  Miller was much better in the 3rd and 4th innings, walking one more batter in those two innings and not allowing another hit.  Miller was removed after the 4th inning, I'm sure due to pitch count.  His line was four innings, allowing no runs on one hit, but the four walks (three in succession) and lack of control overall are of concern to me.  I don't think Miller will be ready to come up to the big club this year.  I hope he proves me wrong, but to me, it appears he has more rehab work to do before he is ready.

As for the other Cubs, rightfielder Jesus Valdez impressed me, despite the fact he went 0 for 4.  He showed good speed and had quality at-bats, fouling off pitches and making Cougars pitchers work.  The Cougars ended up beating the Chiefs by a final score of 4-2.

A few words about the Kane County Cougars should be said as well.  The Cougars do an excellent job of providing family entertainment at a reasonable price.  Parking was free.  Tickets were only $8.00 each for lawn seats.  The lawn seats are actually down the foul lines, so you aren't stuck behind the outfield fence.  The Cougars mascot "Ozzie" liberally dispences frisbees, mush balls and other giveaway type items inbetween innings while riding around the warning track on his ATV.  It's a very family oriented expirience.  They had a fireworks show after the game as well; a good display at that.

Then after the game, every fan received one of the strangest give away items I've seen at a sporting event - loaves of Sara Lee brand bread.  You had a choice of wheat or white as well!  For what ever reason, Sara Lee was sponsoring "bread night" so me and the fiance went home with a loaf of wheat and a loaf of white.  They aren't the small loaves either, they were the regular sized loaves of bread.  Funny stuff.  That's all for now, I'm going to make myself a sandwich.      

The White Sox are clearly going for it THIS YEAR.  They get the flame throwing MacDougal from the Royals, but give up a very good AA pitcher and a single a pitcher as well.  The Sox gave up Tyler Lumsden who was 9-4 with a 2.69 ERA and 72 strikeouts with AA Birmingham.  He's a lefty.

They also threw in single A pitcher Daniel Cortes who is 3-9 with a 4.01 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 20 games with Class A Kannapolis. He's a righty.

I hope Jim Hendry can get some quality young arms in trades this year.  Kenny Williams was willing to deal a pitching prospect to get help for this year.

Not to mention, this opens the door for the Sox to trade McCarthy to the Nats to get Soriano if they desire.

Kenny Williams is going for it.

Just saw this on the channel 5 news Sunday morning at 9:00 AM - apparently, Mike North of WSCR had Trump on as a guest - Channel 5 played an actuality of North asking Trump if he'd be interested in buying the Cubs - The Donald replied that he would be.

Now, I know that probably doesn't mean anything, however, it sure is nice to think about the possiblity of having an owner that wouldn't put up with the incompetence of the current management at every level.  That and seeing Dusty in that board room with the Donald telling him "Dusty Baker, you're fired!" would be a dream come true for Cub fans all over the world.

Please Mr. Trump, if you can find a way to buy this team, you will be welcomed with open arms.

Mike Kiley of the Sun-Times speculates in his column today:

"Center fielder Juan Pierre has proved what guts and determination will do in changing perception. Berated by fans during his slow start, he didn't sulk and vowed to improve -- and then did. Pierre has reached base in 26 of his last 28 games with 44 hits in 120 at-bats.

Speculation weeks ago that he could be traded by the deadline has vanished. The Cubs now seem likely to try and sign Pierre, a free agent, back after the season."

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sports/cst-spt-cub14.html

I disagree with this.  Juan Pierre has regressed in the last few years and now that he's hot, NOW is the time to deal him, IMO.  

New info from the Sun-Times Mike Kiley: http://www.suntimes.com/output/sports/baker12.html

Looks like Dusty will stay.  Hendry ended the speculation today.  I'm sure the door is still open to dismiss Baker at someother time, however the time is not now anyway.

Great news on Z, maybe it's a blessing he didn't have to throw in the All-Star game and save his arm a bit.

for Dusty Baker, then this club will be up the creek for the next two years.  We've seen Aramis Ramirez on more than one occasion lolly-gag on the base paths.  It's Dusty Baker's responsibility to let Aramis know that not hustling is NOT ACCEPTABLE.  

Apparently, IF Baker is telling Aramis to hustle, it's going in one ear and out the other.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, last night, down 2-0 and leading off the top of the 7th, Aramis hit a ball to deep right center.  Aramis started to jog to first base while admiring his shot, but the ball didn't make it out, bouncing off the wall instead.  Aramis then decided it might be a good idea to actually run and decided to go for a triple. Brewers right-fielder Geoff Jenkins then gunned down Ramirez at third, killing what could have been the start of a rally.

I've got lots of problems with this and you should too.  First of all, if Baker is telling him to hustle, Aramis isn't listening.  Baker is failing to hold players accountable for this type of lackadaisical play. Secondly, every good ball player knows to NEVER MAKE THE FIRST OR LAST OUT OF AN INNING AT 3RD BASE.  

Dusty Baker is running this team like a poorly coached Little League team.  He just lets the players do whatever they want, he fails to teach anyone anything, his team is undisciplined and lacks anything that resembles heart.

Dusty's got to go.  This team needs discipline and a youth movement, neither of which Dusty Baker is capable understanding.  

To top it all off, we've got Neifi in the line-up AGAIN, hitting 2nd in the order, AGAIN.  You've got to be kidding me.  The team gets Derrek Lee back. A manager with a functioning brain would think to put guys with a high on-base percentage in front of Derrek to get him more RBI opportunities. Instead, we get another 0 for 4 night from Neifi.  

It's time to stop the madness.  Please Jim Hendry, realize this isn't working and terminate Mr. Baker from his position.  Immediately.  Amen.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-penguins-cuban&prov=ap&type=lgns

Not sure what this means for those of us that wouldn't mind seeing Cuban buy the Cubs.  On the one hand, this news would indicate that Cuban is serious about owning other sports franchises besides the Mavericks. On the other hand, would he really consider ownership of teams in three different sports, in three different cities?

I know Mike Illitch owns both the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings; two different sports there, but same city...

Mike Kiley from the Sun-Times is reporting that Wood won't be ready to pitch on Sunday and that he is "distraught" that he can't get through a simulated game of more than 70 pitches.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-csep21.html

What's next with this team?

I feel bad for Woody, his heart is there, his arm just won't cooperate.

Here's the latest report on how the ex-Cubbies throughout the league are doing.

Sergio Mitre - He went on the D.L. after coming out of a game on May 12th with shoulder inflammation.  In late May, the Marlins moved him to the 60 day DL, and Mitre is not eligible to pitch until after the All-Star Break.  The Marlins say they're going to be conservative with him and get him back healthy after the break.  For the season, Mitre is 1-4 with a 4.89 ERA and a WHIP of 1.49.

Todd Wellemeyer - The Marlins designated Wellemeyer for assignment on June 4th, as he was out of options.  If nobody picks him up in 10 days, he can sign a minor league deal with the Fish if they want to keep him in their organization.  So far, no other team has shown an interest in his services. Wellemeyer was 0-2 with a 5.48 ERA and a WHIP of 1.55 before being D.F.A.

Ricky Nolasco - Oh boy.  Everyone here is probably aware of the game he pitched against the Cubs on May 22nd, in which Nolasco pitched seven innings of four hit ball in an embarrassing 9-1 Marlins victory over the Cubs.  He's had two starts since then.  In his next start after the Cubs game, the Mets crushed Nolasco for seven runs (five earned) and ten hits in four innings in a 7-3 Mets victory. However, in his next start against the Rockies, Nolasco tossed eight shutout innings, scattering eight hits and striking out seven in a 13-0 Marlins victory.  Nolasco is now 4-2 with a 3.15 ERA and a WHIP of 1.45.  He's struck out 30 and walked 15 this season.  Of course, Nolasco, Mitre and Renyel Pinto were traded by the Cubs to Florida for Juan Pierre during the off season.  Would you trade Pierre for Nolasco straight up right now?  I would.

Renyel Pinto - Speaking of Pinto, the Marlins called him up at the end of May - injuries took their toll on the Marlin bullpen.  He's been sent back to the minors for now, but while Pinto was up, he appeared in four games, pitching one full inning in each appearance.  Pinto did not give up a run in any of his appearances. He gave up two hits, walked three and struck out three.  His ERA is 0.00 and his WHIP is 1.25.  In the Pacific Coast League, Pinto is pitching for AAA Albuquerque.  He's a starter down there.  He's 3-1 with a 2.71 ERA and a WHIP of 1.28.  He's struck out 40 and walked 26.  If you answered "no" to the question about trading Pierre for Nolasco straight up, how about if the Marlins included Pinto in the deal?  This trade is looking worse and worse.

Mike Remlinger - The Braves keep on sending him out there - he seemingly pitches one inning every other day.  He's been a model of consistency.  On April 10th, Remlinger's ERA was 3.38.  Here we are on June 7th and his ERA is 3.38.  Same ole same ole. Remlinger has made 30 appearances this year.  He's 2-3 with two saves and two blown saves.  Hitters are batting .280 off of Remlinger this year.  His WHIP is 1.39.  Remlinger's career WHIP is 1.38.  It would seem that Remlinger is performing exactly the way that you would expect him too, if all you had to go by were his career numbers.  I've said it before, I really thought this guy was D-O-N-E after pitching horribly for the Cubs and Boston last year.  Apparently, Remlinger still has a bit of gas left in the tank.

Joe Borowski - Joe remains the Marlins closer.  He's picked up a save in each of his last two appearances.  He's 0-1 with a 4.22 ERA. He's struck out 20 and walked 13 this season. His WHIP is 1.55 and hitters are batting .241 against him.  Joe has recorded seven saves this season with one blown save.  

John Koronka - After getting wins in his first three starts of the year, Koronka has a record of 1-2 with four no decisions since his three wins to open the season.  Koronka was lit-up last time out against Seattle; he gave up seven runs (all earned) on eleven hits in only 2.2 innings pitched in the game, his worst outing of the season.  He was pretty good in the start before that one, pitching seven innings of two run ball, earning a no decision against Oakland in an eventual 5-3 Ranger win. Koronka is now 4-3 with a 4.87 ERA and a WHIP of 1.41.  The league average WHIP is 1.41 in the American League.  It would seem we are looking at a league average pitcher.  The league average ERA in the A.L. is 4.56.  Koronka's ERA is a bit above that, but he has an opportunity to get that ERA down tonight, as Koronka gets the start tonight against the lowly Royals.

LaTroy Hawkins - When you search Yahoo! for "LaTroy Hawkins" you get a message just below the search results that reads "Also try: latroy hawkins sucks".  I would imagine many a Cub fan felt that way while he was here.  But quietly, Hawkins has been fairly decent this year.   He is now 1-1 with a respectable 3.67 ERA.  In each of his last three appearances, he's pitched two innings and did not give up a run, giving up only two hits and one walk in those six innings of work.  The Orioles are using him late in games. He's pitched the 7th and 8th inning, the 8th and 9th inning and the 8th and 9th inning again in his last three appearances.    He still has zero saves for the season, pitching in mostly set-up situations.  Hawkins' ERA was 5.28 on May 9th, so he's shaved a run and a half off of his ERA in the last month.

On to the hitters:

Corey Patterson - Well, here is the most debated ex-Cub on this board.  You may feel that Corey's recent success is an aberration and that he will falter later this year.  Or you may feel that Corey did poorly here because he was poorly coached.  Or you may feel that Corey flat out refused to be coached.  Sometimes, all it takes to turn someone around is a change of scenery.  That appears to be the case with Mr. Patterson.  Patterson had a stolen base in nine successive games, that streak was broken on June 6th.  It was the longest such streak in the majors in 20 years, last done by the all-time stolen base leader Rickey Henderson.  Corey now leads the majors in stolen bases with 26. He's hitting .286 with an obp of .335.  He also has seven home runs and twenty-two RBI.   He has whiffed 32 times against only 11 walks though, so the ball does elude his bat quite a bit.   Would Corey have performed this way for the Cubs?  Not likely, but we'll never know.

Nomar Garciaparra - Ever since Nomar got off of the D.L. in late April, he's been on fire and is showing no signs of cooling off.  Nomaa went yaad last night and now has seven home runs for the season.  His numbers are absolutely eye-popping. Nomar is hitting .363 with an obp of .423.  He's slugging .624.  He has 40 RBI.  While those numbers are crazy good, here's his most incredible stat - in 173 plate appearances, he's only struck out SEVEN times.  How do you go up there 173 times and only whiff 7 times?  It's insanity. Nomar has drawn 16 walks while he's at it.   His batting average was .333 on May 11th and it has not been below that since.  He has at least one hit in 22 of his last 24 games.  In the two games during that stretch that he did not get a hit, he drew 3 walks.  He's reached base in 25 straight games.  He's playing first base for the Dodgers and has committed one error this year.  One.  That's about the only mistake this guy has made all year.

Jeromy Burnitz - On May 13th, Burnitz went 0 for 3 and hit rock bottom with a .183 batting average. He kept striking out and striking out. I speculated that perhaps Burnitz was done.  But, I have to give credit where credit is due.  Burnitz has raised his average 57 points since hitting rock bottom and is now hitting .240 with 8 home runs and 28 RBI.  While hitting .240 isn't what you want out of your right fielder, it is an improvement from his early season woes.  In order to raise his average however, Burnitz seems to have cut down on his swing - he's only hit 3 home runs in his last 30 games.  In the early going, Burnitz was leading the Bucs in home runs and strike outs. Now, Burnitz ranks 3rd on the team in home runs behind Jason Bay and Jose Castillo.  Burnitz has whiffed 45 times this year, but incredibly is now 3rd on the team in this category - Jason Bay has whiffed 48 times and Craig Wilson has whiffed 55 times.  Burnitz' obp of .291 is last on the Pirates among players with over 100 at bats.

Todd Hollandsworth - Todd is going to need a surgical procedure soon, in order to remove the splinters from his arse that he got from sitting on the bench all season.  In the month of May, Hollandsworth appeared in nine games.  He got more than one at-bat in only 4 of those games.  He's hitting .213 with zero home runs and 4 RBI in 47 at-bats for the season.  His last hit was on May 20th. I can't imagine Holly will be on the Indians by season's end.  They simply aren't using him.

Jason DuBois - Earlier this year, Jason's batting average was around .300 or so for the AAA Buffalo Bison in the Cleveland organization.  Dubois has been slumping and his average is down to .264.  His obp is .324.  He is leading the Bison with 8 home runs, 38 RBI and 89 total bases.  Having said that, it can't be too hard to lead your team in those categories, when your teammates are the likes of Lou Merloni, Einar Diaz and Tim Laker.  DuBois doesn't seem to be giving the Tribe a reason to call him up to the bigs.  Here's an interesting story that happened recently in a Bison's game.  On Sunday, a seagull flew into an oncoming pitch during a game between the Bisons and the Durham Bulls. The Bisons were batting in the bottom of the 11th inning when the bird was struck by the pitched ball. The batter attempted to hit the ball, but swung and missed for strike three.  The ball then hit the umpire in the ankle and rolled to the screen. The batter then tried to take first on a dropped third strike but was thrown out to end the inning.  The umpires then pow-wowed and determined that when the bird was struck by the pitch, play should have stopped.  Durham was sent back on to the field, and the Bisons batter returned to the plate to finish his at-bat. The bird was carried off the field by the Bisons' backup catcher and later flew away.  Thank goodness the bird appears to be fine.

Jose Macias - I can't find any information on how well (or not so well) Macias is playing these days for Japan's Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, but I can tell you that the Fighters are one game over .500, 4 1/2 games behind the league leading Marines.

Randall Simon - He's playing for Potros de Tijuana in the Mexican League.  He's hitting .364 with 16 home runs and 58 RBI.  His obp is .438 and his slugging percentage is .677.  What are we waiting for?  Bring him back!

Other ex-Cubs of note:  Moises Alou has been activated from the DL.  His first game back was yesterday.  Alou went 1 for 3 with a double and a walk.  He's hitting .376 for the year with 7 home runs and 26 RBI in 85 at-bats this year.  Matt Clement is struggling this year with a 6.68 ERA, but he did get a win last time out, pitching six innings while giving up three runs on six hits against Detroit on June 4th.  

That is all.  See ya next time.

Next year, more than likely, the Cubs will be on the market for a leadoff hitter, a corner outfielder and POSSIBLY a second baseman.  For the time being I'm not going to address the pitching -- there are too many questions that need to be answered to analyze the situation yet.

First off, the Cubs need a lead off hitter.  I'm going to assume that Juan Pierre will not be resigned. The guy I want leading off for the 2007 Cubs is Craig Counsell.  His numbers this year: 306/359/382.  Counsell's obp of .359 is 87 POINTS HIGHER than Juan Pierre's.  Of course, Counsell plays shortstop. Ronny Cedeno, welcome to your new role as a utility player.  

For the time being (and this may change) I'm penciling in Todd Walker as the 2007 second baseman, hitting second in the order.

Derrek Lee playing first base and hitting third.

Batting 4th and your new left fielder -- Carlos Lee.  El Caballo is 269/353/575 this year with 17 taters and 43 RBI.  His RBI totals from the last three years: 114, 99, 113.  Get this guy.  Don't gimme any crap about not being able to afford him.  Get him.  Just do it.  Don't over analyze.  He drives in runs. Period.

Batting 5th and playing 3rd base, Aramis Ramirez.

Batting 6th and catching, Michael Barrett

Batting 7th, it's the right field PLATOON of Jacque Jones and Matt Murton.  And don't give me the "we didn't pay Jacque Jones 8 zillion dollars to be a platoon player" story either.  It's not like Murton is making a ton of money. He could even hit 2nd in some scenarios, depending on how the 2nd base situation turns out. Look at how Jones hits righties vs lefties and look at the same splits for Murton. nbsp;It's the Dwight Smith/Lloyd McClendon situation reincarnated.  Just do it.

Now, we've reached the center fielder position.  There's lots of free agent guys out there, including Torri Hunter, Steve Finley and Mike Cameron just to name a few. I'm going to save the Trib a bit of money and pass on them and hand the job to Felix Pie.  But, I'm going to spend a some of the Trib's money and sign a good back-up in Dave Roberts.  He's got some speed, by all accounts is a team guy and is fundamentally sound.

The bench must be rebuilt as well.  Good-bye Neifi, Mabry, Hairston and Bynum.  Say hello to your new bench of Murton/Jones, Cedeno, Roberts, Tony Graffanino for fun, and a back-up catcher.

Counsell SS
Walker 2B
D. Lee 1B
C. Lee LF
Ramirez 3B
Barrett C
Jones/Murton RF
Pie CF
Pitcher

Five position players on the bench, giving Dusty his 12 man pitching staff, which I'll discuss revamping when the picture gets clearer.

Mark Prior is slated to start an A-ball game either on Monday or Tuesday and Kerry Wood seems to be feeling better, his start has been pushed up to Monday instead of Sunday.  No word on the progress of Wade Miller yet. You can check out the details here:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060526/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbn_cubs_prior_1

Here's a partial transcription, looks like for better or worse, Baker is here to stay for a while...

David Kaplan:  Welcome back on SportsCentral on 720 WGN, I'm David Kaplan, I'm joined by the President of the Chicago Cubs, Andy MacPhail and Andy these are the interviews I don't like to have to conduct because I'm a Cub fan, I'm a guy who...I look forward to the season, it's your job, and I broadcast for a living, but I'm also passionate about this team, from the time I was a little kid I was a Cub fan, and boy I think that losing three to the Florida Marlins with the expectations and the dollars involved, this is the lowest I've ever seen the franchise.

Andy MacPhail: Well it was a bad week that's for sure, uh, just based on the way we played.  Definitely could have won two of the three games, uh, I think it..one of the aspects of it...it shows it's been a failure that we've had for most of the season, which would be driving runners in from scoring position, we are last in baseball...uh in that position and that really, in large manner, in my view, accounts for how badly we've struggled.

David Kaplan: At what point, fans want to know, at what point if they don't do their job they know they may get fired.  At what point is there some responsibility placed on someone - whether that's you, that's Jim, or Dusty Baker, when you see since 19...or excuse me 2003, since that season ended, the Chicago Cubs are 49 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals, it's hard to believe that it can be that way, but those are the facts.

Andy MacPhail: Well I think everybody is responsible, all of us, uh, in addition to, uh, the ones you've mentioned in addition to the players. I mean we all have to take  accountability for it, responsibility for it and try to get the thing turned around. You're not in a circumstance where you know, you, uh, have a team that came out of the box and just started to play poorly right away, we started the first month of the season, you know we were...playing, I think we were five or six games over .500 at one point, uh, we've had a little bit of a swoon and it's our hope and our expectation as an organization that when we get back to full strength we can at least start playing at a level that we were playing at prior to the month of May.

David Kaplan: There are at lot of people, media outlets all over town that are saying they're on Dusty watch, and that he's gonna get fired and I know you've always maintained Jim Hendry is the General Manager, he hires who he wants to be the field manager, uh, so I know that's not your decision, but if Jim came to you today and said "I'm going to extend him and just quiet all of the speculation", would you say that's your call, or would you use your presidential veto and say lets wait and see how the season plays out?  

Andy MacPhail: Well, I think that one thing I learned from Fay, and I don't mean to take a powder on this, but I learned from Fay Vincent not to answer those type of speculative questions, they really don't do anybody any good, really other than the media to speculate about a hypothetical nature of a question.  Uh, I do know this from being a general manager for ten years that the most important relationship in an organization is between the Manager and a General Manager, they have to have each other's trust and confidence and respect for the different jobs that they have to do, within a baseball organization. The manager is dependant upon the GM to get him the best players and the GM is dependant upon the manager to get the most out of his players. Uh, so they have to have a close relationship, so the GM has gotta be the, the uh, you know the person that is most comfortable in that relationship going forward. Uh, well you know what I would do at that time would be something that I would decide Kap, probably when and if that day ever came to be, so then I would have to make a judgment, but when until that day comes, then you know it's, it's really a function of doing what we can to try to make the performance on the field better.

David Kaplan:  So then this wild speculation again, this is Jim's call - but the wild speculation that, you know there there's stations in town that think he's getting fired this afternoon, as far as you know Dusty Baker is your manager for the foreseeable future?

Andy MacPhail: Yeah, there are no, I can tell you this for my conversations with Jim, that's just not where his mind is at the present time, not remotely close . He's trying to focus on what he can do as a General Manager to try to add a little pop to the line-up and get us back, uh playing the way we were in the month of April.

WCSR is reporting that Kerry Wood's shoulder felt "cranky" this morning and he MAY not start on Sunday.  Ryu was mentioned by Dusty Baker as a possible replacement.

What is next?  Murphy's Law is in full force on the northside.  I say shut him down for a another month or so.  No reason to hurt him further in this lost season.

The Score 670 AM is reporting that the Cubs are targeting June 13th as Lee's return date.  The Score also reported that Lee will have his cast removed on 05/31.  June 13th is a Tuesday -- the Cubs open a three game series against the Astros at Wrigley on that day.  Here's to hoping that Lee will return at full strength.