Practice game wrapup
The Cubs knocked the eminently hittable Bronson Arroyo around in the first inning, capped off by an approximately 900 ft Alfonso Soriano HR (HR distance estimated by the sound it made coming off the bat and Len's reaction). Paul Maholm performed about as expected in his Cubs debut, giving up a homer to Reds outfielder Todd Frazier but mostly generating a ton of grounders. Jeff Samardzija started the third inning with a hit batter and gave up two runs before settling down and going three largely positive innings. Aside from that hit batsman, he struck out three and didn't walk anyone. Despite Sveum's gushing he's probably still a longshot for the rotation but it's nice to see him finally pitching well. Carlos Marmol continued his struggles, walking two and giving up two hits on his way to three runs in his inning of work. The Cubs came back on a three run homer by Joe Mather to give Marmol the doubly meaningless win.
Junior Lake fouled a ball off his ankle (a bone-on-bone impact, per Zonk). It's been taped up, there should be some update on it today.
Former Cub Sean Marshall pitched a scoreless inning for the Reds, striking out two batters.
Is there a Cubs game today?
Indeed. The Cubs face Madison Bumgarner and the Giants at 3 CT. Len Kasper and Mick Gillespie have the call on gameday audio. Here's the Cubs lineup
RF DeJesus
2B Barney
SS Castro
LF Soriano
1B LaHair
3B Mather
C Clevenger
CF Sappelt
P Volstad
We don't have to worry about Sveum getting annoyed with what we write
Basically all I know how to do is get on the Internet and check scores or on my phone and email a little bit but I”m not searching articles. To me, that doesn’t make sense why you’d read good or bad. Obviously, we know there’s going to be more bad than good so it’s irrelevant to look at articles or seek any kind of media that way. I’ve got better things to do than seek out articles on myself or the team. I’m living the team, the nine innings, every single night. I know what goes on. I don’t have to look to find out what somebody else thinks. I know what’s going on.
Sveum has experience with a large, dagger-drawing media market from his time with Boston, so hopefully he'll be much more savvy than Cuey. So far it looks pretty good. Once the season begins and the Cubs inevitably start losing, Cubs fans and the media could quickly start losing their patience.
Payroll page updated
The OV Payroll page has been updated with the Gerardo Concepcion signing, as well as the Cubs settlements with its prearb players (most notably Jeff Samardzija) and Matt Garza's arb settlement. The Cubs are on the hook for about $114 million for 2012, which is surprisingly third in the division behind the Cardinals and Brewers.
Roster cleanup, roster battles
Casey Weathers was taken off the 40-man roster yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if this was to re-clear room for Blake DeWitt, who's having a nice spring and seems to be in good regard with the manager. Of course, I don't really get why the Cubs didn't just do this when they DFA'd DeWitt a few weeks ago. DeWitt isn't a star or anything, but I think he's a much better player than his performance reflected last season.
There are basically just two-and-a-half position player roster spots open at this point. Steve Clevenger and Welington Castillo are battling for the Koyie Hill Memorial backup catcher spot. I know MB thinks Clevenger will get it but I think it's Castillo's to lose. I think Tony Campana has a tenuous hold on the fifth outfielder spot, due to his speed and the fact that the other two CFs on the roster (Marlon Byrd, Reed Johnson) are right handed. Of course, Brett Jackson is a much better option than any of these guys but he shouldn't be up until May or June. Joe Mather has also played some CF in his time in the Cardinals organization, and could have a shot at a roster spot due to the fact that he can also play some 3B. His hitting numbers stink (Marcel has him at .291 wOBA), but platoon splits could still be enough to push him ahead of Ian Stewart against LHP.
Cubs come in 20th in BP Org rankings
The rebuild his begun, but there is still much work to be done. When your team's fans are obsessed with Matt Szczur and Junior Lake, doesn't speak well of the system.
In case you were wondering, the Texas Rangers came in as #6org in KG's rankings. The original #6org came in seventh.
More farm system discussion
Hardball Times also has a piece up going more in depth about the Cubs organization. Writer Jeff Moore would place the Cubs system in the middle of the pack, and has lots of nice things to say about Brett Jackson. He basically calls him a middle-class man's Matt Kemp/Jacoby Ellsbury.
GIF of the day
Paula Deen hit in the face with a frozen ham.
Comments
Carryover from last thread:
Many condolences, Mish. Cancer fucking sucks.
If I were on my home computer I’d offer a Yellon photoshop of your choice. Consider it an open offer.
GBTSQuote Reply
If Brett Jackson even sniffs what Kemp or Ellsbury did in 2011 I’ll be quite happy.
GBTSQuote Reply
Rice CubeQuote Reply
So baseballs are made of bone now. How morbid.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Based on playing time so far I’d say that’s true. I don’t expect Castillo to last long as the back-up catcher. What the Cubs need to do is trade one of those two. Or Soto. I don’t really care, but there’s no reason to have this many capable catchers on the roster. Especially when every team in baseball is looking for catching. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
Yeah, in my experience of living abroad for several+ years, international baseball fans can be split in the following way:
Yankees 93%
Red Sox 2%
City they visited once or lived in for awhile 5%
New York itself is an international brand, not just the Yankees (although the Mets don’t seem to benefit).
The Red Sox have an edge due to winning the WS twice in the last 10 years. For some reason, the Cardinals do not seem to have leveraged their recent winning the same way overseas – probably because they are in the midwest and not on a coast.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
WaLi wrote:
Yes, I’ve always been rife feed for the Hope Monster. Even having acknowledged the futility, I still will go through a hope/disappointment cycle.
joshQuote Reply
For berselius…you can actually sort of track the home run ball here. I think it’s definitely over 400 feet, but it could have been 900 if that crowd weren’t in the way and the ball had found its way to the back of a pickup truck as it drove off into the sunset.
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/8345/cubs-8-reds-6
Rice CubeQuote Reply
How much leeway does Marmol get this season before he’s pulled as closer?
joshQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
Hahha thanks buddy. If I think of a request I’ll holler.
MishQuote Reply
Levine’s chat:
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Isn’t South Park’s Captain Obvius the only acceptable Captian Obvious these days? (dying laughing)
MishQuote Reply
@ Mish:
I’ve only seen sporadic episodes between about 2002 and now so that’s one I probably missed. Was he in one of the episodes where Cartman is the “Coon”?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
This is obviously a typo but still funny:
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Has MB posted a DFP yet? I don’t think so. Lazy bastard.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
He’s right, it becomes fairly difficult to predict wins and loses 18,000 years into the future. I mean, who knows if they’ll even still be using bone baseballs by then?
joshQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
False x 2 or 288
http://obstructedview.net/news-and-rumors/daily-facepalm-2-18-12.html
(waiting for stuff to grow in lab and to be processed by core facilities is boring)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Saints resigned Colston. Bears have no choice now, they have to go all out for VJax.
MuckerQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
That was a Grateful Dead laced FP I recently enjoyed.
WaLiQuote Reply
I’m the only one too lazy to do a Facepalm. I’m in a weakened state from not having eaten dinner since this place opened.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Listening to this now – http://www.archive.org/details/plf2012-02-18.dpa4ch.flac16
Phil & Friends show from 2/18 with:
Phil Lesh: Bass, Vocals (Obviously from Grateful Dead)
John Scofield: Guitar (Great Jazz Guitarist, Medeski Martin Scofield & Wood)
Warren Haynes: Guitar, Vocals (Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule, The Dead)
Jackie Greene: Guitar, Keys and Vocals (Great up and coming guitarist, plays with Phil & Friends)
Jeff Chimenti: Keys, Vocals (Ratdog, The Dead, Furthur, Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade)
Joe Russo: Drums (Benevento/Russo Duo, Furthur)
WaLiQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
If you do ever get around to eating dinner again, don’t eat red meat. Apparently they figured out it is unhealthy for you (again).
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/12/health/red-meat-shorten-lifespan/index.html?hpt=hp_bn10
WaLiQuote Reply
Mucker wrote:
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
Me neither, I just took inspiration from Ron Swanson and Leslie Knope and only eat breakfast food.
BerseliusQuote Reply
For a few sophomoric laughs:
https://twitter.com/#!/Y_U_NOOO
Rodrigo RamirezQuote Reply
@ Rodrigo Ramirez:
Man those whole troll face things really go over my head.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
I think the content is funny- but yea, I don’t get the face thing either.
Rodrigo RamirezQuote Reply
BN has a guess the opening day lineup/rotation contest on facebook. Prize is $75 in Cubs swag
https://www.facebook.com/BleacherNation/posts/203875653046141
BerseliusQuote Reply
Berselius wrote:
Thanks for sharing that, man. In case folks want any of the nitty-gritty details, there’s more here:
http://www.bleachernation.com/2012/03/13/the-bleacher-nation-2012-opening-day-contest-want-to-win-75/
BrettQuote Reply
@ Rodrigo Ramirez:
Yeah, I meant the faces themselves not the content.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ Mish:
I believe that was Captain Hindsight.
GBTSQuote Reply
So is everybody finally coming around to my POV that Zonk is terrible? I’ve been annoyed with him since Day 1, but caught a lot of flak for it last season.
joshQuote Reply
@ Mucker:
I read yesterday that they’re the front runners for Mario Williams.
Also, Brandon Marshall —–> Bears
GBTSQuote Reply
GBTS wrote:
I’m so happy right now.
MuckerQuote Reply
@ Mucker:
When the reigning Pro Bowl MVP is available, you just have to go out and get him. (dying laughing)
GBTSQuote Reply
@ josh:
I liked him okay last year, but have not so far this year.
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube: Funny, was just going to post this here myself. (Dying laughing) It’s like Hendry’s little goodbye to us, isn’t it? Another first-round bust. Move over, Drew Hall! Make room, Bobby Brownlie!
Steve SwisherQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
Awesome! I got to see him play in college.
WaLiQuote Reply
I forgot that Theriot signed with the Giants. An even better park for him to work on his power (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
Sullivan reporting that he’s heading to Vegas later this week. Hopefully the casinos are prepared to change out pots of gold
BerseliusQuote Reply
Brandon Marshall: “False”
Snyds01Quote Reply
(dying laughing), Paul Sullivan is bitching about twitter anonymnity
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Do you have some pix of Sully? I feel (if nobody’s done it before) it’s ripe for a Photoshop onto a Leprechaun.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
SK had one a while ago that didn’t need much photoshopping to make him look like one
BerseliusQuote Reply
Ricketts in the booth now
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I’m listening to the Giants’ feed for some reason. I suppose I should switch that but they’re talking to Shawn Estes right now.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Tons of groundouts for Volstad.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Well he should just wear the ring and conceal his identity too.
GBTSQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
That’s a good point. I think you’re right regarding the Cardinals lack of international support having to do with them being in the midwest. If the Cubs were really good for a decade I don’t think that would stand in the way because Chicago a such a large city. It will be hard for them to attract international fans though because so many are already Yankees fans and they’re not going to switch teams.
mb21Quote Reply
Soriano HUSTLED?!?!?!?!?!?!
/ded
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Bryan LaHair is 1 K away from the golden sombrero.
ACTQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
SFGiants.com doesn’t actually have commercial breaks so you can actually hear all the lineup changes during the dead time. BJax and Rizzo in.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
I love this because he’s picking on Kap for being a Soriano hater, like he isn’t the one lighting everyone’s torches for them. Then he has to throw in the dig about how he would have been out if the throw was better.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Hey, Jay Jackson still exists!
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
You have it wrong, Aisley. Orange Guy is lighting the torches, Sullivan is sharpening the knives.
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
Is that a real picture?
I’m scared.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
The Giants guys had no idea who the fuck Tony Campana was.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Yep. Someone tagged him on Facebook and I snagged it.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Jay Jackson had a nice second inning. If he recovers any of his previous prospect value that would sure be nice.
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Hopefully they thought he was a little leaguer that wandered into the clubhouse
BerseliusQuote Reply
Rizzo > Sergio Romo
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rizzo just hit a monster HR
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Even the Giants guys were impressed. Sounds like Romo left the ball too far up in the zone.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Per Len, Breaking news —-> mlb’s expanded replay is not happening this year
BerseliusQuote Reply
Shawn Estes says Campana has a noodle arm. Fontenot was gimpy and still scored standing up.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Jacob Turner shut down with dead arm.
(dying laughing)…the Giants’ scouting report on Tony Campana must be to run on him no matter what.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
For those who haven’t entered the bracket challenge yet, you can do so here: http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/group?groupID=91223
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
Don’t tell us what to do.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ mb21:
I need to try to remember to put that in tomorrow’s facepalm.
BerseliusQuote Reply
Aisle424 wrote:
Al is a cunt.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I was surprised it wasn’t there today.
mb21Quote Reply
I hope that works. I guess I can’t embed MLB.com videos in comments.
So check it out here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/ichiro-impression-sean-connery-james-bond-rules-mariners-192718869.html
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I think we could enable embedding content like that in the same way we have images, but the problem with that is someone could insert something malicious. I’ve seen 424 embed things so it’s something the admins can do, but it wouldn’t be a wise idea to allow everyone to be able to do that.
mb21Quote Reply
mb21Quote Reply
new shit: http://obstructedview.net/projections/projecting-the-2012-cubs-center-field.html
mb21Quote Reply