If I were Sean Marshal....

I would get a restraining order against Larry Rothschild and Mark O'Neal.
Lets just hope we don't see any articles about Roth "working on his mechanics" any time soon.
Honestly, if I were Andy McPhail, i'd probably Co-Sign that restraining order App.
Do you think the cubs ought to have a Manual that they give to all rookies upon enering their club house

1. Don't chat online with Z
2. Don't sit in Recliners
3. Don't take Mechanics advice from anyone but your AA coach
4. Don't go into training room without a Mask covering your mouth and bubble-wrap covering your body
4.5 Memorize the Chad Fox story and try to avoid repeating it. Especially the part about signing with the cubs.
5. Don't Pee at theUrinal next to Moises Alou
6. Don't accept any sort of Vitamins from Sammy.

(yes, I know the last two aren't Cubs anymore, but I think its just good sound advice nonetheless)

Question Marks Hurt My Brain

I'm a Cub fan, and always will be. Hence the constant bitching, moaning, and frequent ulcers. I've never followed another baseball team, ever. So here's my question, do all fans of all teams go through this feeling of hopelessness, despair and anxiety in the middle of march? or is this just a Hendry, Dusty, Rothschild, Mark O'Neal created problem.

Really, i'm dying to know. The question marks are too many to count, but here's just a few. and just for kicks, I'll put in parenthases who I think is to blame. (Unlike the Bush administration, I LOVE TO PLAY THE BLAME GAME)

Who will be the 5th starter? (Hendry, Dusty, Roth.)
Why didn't the cubs sign another starter over the offseason, or look for one quickly now? (Hendry)
Who will be the every day 2b? (Hendry, Dusty)
How long will it be until Wood and Prior are off the DL? (Roth./ O'neal)
Why is Larry Rothschild still the Pitching coach..... See Chad Fox, Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano's "Internet Elbow" etc? (Dusty, Hendry)
Why does it sound and feel like Murton and Cedeno will lose way too much playing time to Mabry and Neifi? (Dusty, Hendry)

The most glaring problem I'm beginning to see is Rothschiled as a pitching coach. Clearly his "programs" and "workouts" are doing way more harm than good. At some point, Hendry and Macphail have to realize that this guy is killing their investments. If I sucked as much at my job at Rothschild does at keeping pitchers healthy, I would have been fired ummm. maybe the 2nd or third time Prior visited the DL.

Mechanically Challenged

He Has Perfect Mechanics!!!! He'll NEVER BE injured because of his Perfect Mechanics!!! He's the best thing since sliced bread and sliced cheese combined!
This is what we heard throughout Mark Prior's first 1.5 years on the cubs. Video of him with all that fancy equipment at USC. Well, after the hubbub of his first year, and after many (cough) "tune-ups", Mechanic Boy is back in the shop once again. This time with a sore shoulder

I don't know who to blame, I don't know how this could have been avoided, but if I were a "pitching coach" , or "manager" trying to find a new job, I definitley wouldn't want Larry Rothschild's or Dusty's resume especially in regards to:

1. How to avoid pitching injuries
2. How to rehab injured pitchers. (hint Do Not Use Chad Fox as Reference)
3. How to avoid walks (as a pitching staff)
4. How to put a batting order together
5. How to put a bullpen together.
6. How to have good fielding pitchers.
7. How to have a fundementally sound team
8. When to take pitchers out of games
9. When to calm a pitcher down after an idiot fan simutaneously screws 25 baseball players and millions of other fans.

But Look on the bright side, when prior "comes back" in June, it will be like trading for an all- star, without giving anyone up.

I'm now going to vomit.

A pre-emptive strike

So I was wrong about yesterdays WBC classic. Turns out it was on ESPN2 and I'm an idiot. Or, it turns out that I'm just a very Clairevoyant. Tonight: USA vs Korea, Played at 10ET, tape delayed and shown on espn 2 at 1AM Et.

I rest my case. So, In case you missed it the first time around:


This was written on Sundayd During St. Patty's Day Training.
The WBC, much maligned, much criticized has actually won over a couple of synics, myself nearly included. Imagine if we could only actually watch the games!!

In a media culture where ripping NBC's Olympic Covereage is so easy, even Dubyah could do it, ESPN had the chance to offer a better alternative, but has dropped the ball.
Not that it's ESPN's fault that this thing is taking place during March Madness, blame Bud for that, but ESPN played into that criticizm by choosing to tape delay these games, even though most of them are being played in a US timezone.

How cool would it have been if this afternoon, I could have flipped between the ACC Champ Game, and USA vs. Japan. I, like a growing number of americans have gladly embraced my TiVO or DVR. If I wanted to watch the damn thing at 8PM tonite, I could have chosen to do that. (and my way, I don't have to watch the commercials)

Just as with the Olympics, in this internet, cell phone crazed world, it is far too easy to know the score of these games as they're happening. and believe me, Baseball is one of the WORST games to watch when you already know the outcome. Sports Center is going to show you the best parts anyway, might as well watch Family Guy. So, to the sports divisions of all the Major Networks and ESPN, I join the people in saying: PUT AN END TO TAPE DELAYING GAMES!!!

Umm, My Bad??

Please disregard the last post, though I thought it had some good moments, I clearly
1. Was a little "altered" when I wrote that last post.
2. need to know how to work my TV better
3. Wish I had ESPN2HD

WBC= Olympic Sized Poor Planning

The WBC, much maligned, much criticized has actually won over a couple of synics, myself nearly included. Imagine if we could only actually watch the games!!

In a media culture where ripping NBC's Olympic Covereage is so easy, even Dubyah could do it, ESPN had the chance to offer a better alternative, but has dropped the ball.
Not that it's ESPN's fault that this thing is taking place during March Madness, blame Bud for that, but ESPN played into that criticizm by choosing to tape delay these games, even though most of them are being played in a US timezone.

How cool would it have been if this afternoon, I could have flipped between the ACC Champ Game, and USA vs. Japan. I, like a growing number of americans have gladly embraced my TiVO or DVR. If I wanted to watch the damn thing at 8PM tonite, I could have chosen to do that. (and my way, I don't have to watch the commercials)

Just as with the Olympics, in this internet, cell phone crazed world, it is far too easy to know the score of these games as they're happening. and believe me, Baseball is one of the WORST games to watch when you already know the outcome. Sports Center is going to show you the best parts anyway, might as well watch Family Guy. So, to the sports divisions of all the Major Networks and ESPN, I join the people in saying: PUT AN END TO TAPE DELAYING GAMES!!!

Viva Viva La Mexico

I thought the WBC thing was kinda cool, seeing all of those stars on the same field. blah blah blah
But hey, if the US has the chance of being eliminated and thus Barrett and Lee can return home un harmed, well then, I'm painting myself Green Red and White and heading to the local Taqueria. Now we just need to hope that Venezuela doesn't get too far.


On second thought, maybe keeping these players away from the dusty, larry, o'neal and the rest of the M*A*S*H*-North Side Unit, is what's best for these guys.

Anyone else wondering why Neifi didn't get invited to play in this thing?

Too Soon For Cedeno

For the purpose of me playing devil's advocate, and the fact that we are talking about the Cubs, I'm wondering if I'm the only cub fan out there who's just a bit worried about ronny cedeno being handed the starting SS job?

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not one of the crazy Neifi fans who are on Dusty Baker's cool-aid mailing list. I want Cedeno to succeed, and the cubs need him to succeed, or at least not flop. But given their recent track record in regards to grooming young position players to be successful Major Leagurs, I'm not sure I trust the Cubs enough to think that they actually know what they're doing.

Let's look at the most recent example: K Man K Pat - need I say more. But before him, and again, my mind is a bit "spotty", I go back to Dwight Smith, Jerome Walton and then Mark Grace before I can think of young cubs position player, brought up through the organization, that has had any success at the Big League level. Now again, as it states at the top of my blog, I'm hardly ever right. I could be forgetting some huge name, and I don't keep a track record of all the A Ball players that got traded as players to be named later and then turned out to be superstars. (Cough... Dontrelle Willis) So someone PLEASE set me straight, send me a comment with a name that proves I'm not a complete burnout...

Okay, so back to Cedeno. The cubs have now had two off-seasons since the first nomar half-season ended with a thud. Since then, at least 4 quality, big name, short stops have switched teams, and been difference makers, (Cabrera, Eckstein, Renteria-who's been moved twice, and Furcal) and even more recently, Tejada was complaining about his situation, sort of, i guess, or whatever. I'm not really sure what was going on there, but it was fun to dream.
Side note- anyone remember that the cubs could have just as easily gotten Cabrera instead of Nomar in that '04 deal, and paid less for him- How DID the Red SOx do that year?

And I like Cedeno's bat, but I'm not a fan of his defense. (threw the ball into the dirt costing a run on wed.)And I dont' mind Murton as much because the outfield is a little less defense-crucial, and because of the Dusty/ Neifi Brokeback-esque love fest, Cedeno got about half as much playing time as Murton, (or Rex Grossman, or Tim Thomas, pick your sport)

So I pose just this one question: Which would you rather have. An untested rookie starting with Neifi as his backup.
Or Cedeno as the Back-up infield guy, learning from one of the best in the league in Tejada, and Neifi Reuniting with Kkorey and Sammy in Baltimore.

But Like I said, its February, what the hell else am I gonna do but think of this crap?
Here's to hoping I'm wrong, and the Cubs "brain-trust" knows exactly what its doing.