Cubs for Breakfast

Cumann Daorchluiche Cubs na Chicago

Monday, March 21, 2005

New Cubs Closer: Chad Fox?

I had not seen this floated anywhere before now, but Bruce Miles in this morning’s Herald mentions--matter-of-factly--that non-roster invitee Chad Fox is a candidate for the closer job. Dusty has apparently not made up his mind yet, after telling the press last week that he had a pretty good idea of who would get the nod.

Despite this curious report, I still think Joe Borowski will get the job.

Friday, March 18, 2005

The World Turned Upside Down

Hey, I liked the picture of Greg Maddux in the green hat, posted on Bleed Cubbie Blue yesterday. I hope everyone had a good St. Patrick’s Day, if they were so inclined to observe or celebrate it.

What did I do on the day, seeing as I am posting from Ireland where March 17th is a national holiday. Why, I played baseball of course.

Here in my town we have one of the few baseball clubs in the country, I have been involved in the youth program for four years, and also sometimes hang out with our adult team (who are all quite a bit younger than me). So after our local parade, which enjoyed sunny, 65-degree weather, the senior team congregated at the rugby club, threw up the homemade backstop, and had their first intra-squad game of spring training (the amateur Irish Baseball League season begins in three weeks).

Your correspondent, although more than twice the age of some of the real players (mostly aged 16 to 25), didn’t acquit himself too badly. I made four plays at second base, one in left field, and blew a couple both at the keystone and in right. I had three at bats and only saw four pitches (I guess I’m like Corey that way, or maybe Nomar!), but never reached base on my infield outs.

So, while many of my fellow Irish residents were walking around with a sore head today on March 18, I’ve been limping around with sore legs, back and arms. The world has truly turned upside down.

(Back to Cubs content in next post)

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Dubois Deserves a Shot

Right now, I have my eyes closed and my hands over my ears, and I am muttering repeatedly “I can’t hear you!” “I can’t hear you!”

If you want to know what I think of the Wood and Prior situations, please see above.

Regarding the rest of the roster, I am sorry to hear that Dave Hansen has been rushed to hospital for an emergency appendectomy, and that he will be out for three weeks. I was looking forward to Hansen possibly performing the role that Todd Hollandsworth did so well during the first half of last year: crafty veteran lefty hitter off the bench. Now, he clearly will not be ready for Opening Day and his future with Cubs is decidedly murky.

Speaking of Hollandsworth, I wonder if he is feeling the pressure coming from below from both Jerry Hairston Jr. and Jason Dubois. Hairston demonstrated his value in the outfield on Saturday, making assists on two plays from center field. Dubois, meanwhile, is leading the Cubs in Spring home runs and is hitting .389, behind only Aramis Ramirez, Nomar Garciaparra, and Henry Blanco among 25-man roster players. I watched him last night muscle the ball to left on that RBI single and thought: that guy is a major leaguer. Dusty Baker will not start him in front of Hollandsworth, but I hope he and Jim Hendry will reward the MVP from Game 162 last year with more than a bench role on the big club. He deserves it.

From around the country:
Cubs fans stretching HoHoKam for record (Arizona Republic)
Nats reliever Beltran to have elbow surgery (Baltimore Sun)

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Barrett Should Catch Maddux

Just a short break from my (business) trip to poke my nose into the Cubs world this week:

I saw the televised Cubs-Rangers game on my laptop Monday night in Munich, and although I wound up falling asleep before it was over, I enjoyed seeing Joe Borowski yell at himself after that first walked batter and then get out of the jam quickly. Also savored the Greg Maddux appearance, but I have just one thing to say about the personal catcher thing that was brought up during the broadcast and in the papers the next day.

Dusty Baker says that Michael Barrett will be catching Maddux this year, at least during Spring Training, because Barrett can learn so much from the experience. Maddux says that he’s happy pitching to anyone, but with the same guy you can work together on days off, watching hitters and developing strategies for certain players.

That all makes sense, but it always seemed to me that all that work was sort of, well, wasted on the back-up catcher who only pitched on days when Maddux would start (as Paul Bako did last year).

Here’s a suggestion that takes into account the starting catcher’s need for regular rest and the back-up’s need to stay sharp, Maddux’s preference for working with his catcher on off days, and Dusty’s desire to have Barrett benefit from working with Maddux.

Why not have Barrett take the day off the day before every Maddux start? That way, Barrett plays 130 games with regular days off and Dusty’s rather understandable desire to have the two work together is achieved. The only downside is that Maddux would only have one day to prep with his catcher before starts rather than four, but at least it would be the day before.

Maddux said early this Spring that Michael Barrett is going to become one of the best catchers in the league. I think these two should be throwing to each other on a regular basis, even though I expect some to contend that Blanco was hired specifically to help Maddux hold runners at first. But if Barrett is going to become one of the best, he is going to have to start doing that too.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Spring is Here

Now is an appropriate time for me to suspend news updates indefinitely. I’ll be traveling all next week, and real life is cutting into my excess Cubs energy despite the mounting excitement about the upcoming season.

Next Monday’s spring training game against the Rangers is going to be available to watch here in Ireland on NASN, the special pay channel that shows American sports. I have access to NASN for the first time this year (got satellite finally) and would have ordered it in time for the game if I weren’t going to be in Germany next week.

I like all the noises coming out of Mesa, but I’m wary because of the way the Cubs dealt with springtime injuries last year. Most interesting to me will be finding out what the pitching staff will look like next month, with all those prospects and non-roster guys competing for just a few open slots, and the fifth starter position still wide open.

I see the radio broadcast of today’s Spring opener against Oakland will be available through MLB.com – I’ll have to think about subscribing again. It would be nice just to hear Pat and Ron – it would certainly help get this lingering winter feeling more like spring.