Something seemed unusual when the Oakland Raiders conducted a reasoned, intelligent draft, selecting based on need rather than speed, even flipping the script and waiting to pick up a work out warrior after he had dropped a round or two. Most outlets gave the organization A’s and B’s for their effort. Many believed that Al Davis had finally ceded control of the draft room to others in the Oakland Raiders’ organization.

Where did Al Davis go? Might I suggest looking at the offices on Addison and Clark?

Yesterday, the Chicago Cubs selected Hayden Simpson of Southern Arkansas with the 16th pick in the first round of the 2010 MLB Draft. At a strapping 6’0″, 175 lbs, Simpson turned enough heads along the way to be ranked the 191st best pitcher in the Baseball America Preview.

I’ll repeat that. The Cubs spent the 16th pick to get the 191st pitcher. He must have run a wicked 40 yard dash, because everyone knows he only throws in the low 90′s and has no standout off-speed pitch. Reports are that other scouts had him pegged as a middle reliever.

Tim Wilken, the Cubs Scouting Director (and obviously an alias for Al Davis) had these glowing words about Simpson: “He’s very athletic and someone I thought could be a starter in the major leagues eventually.”

Well, for a guy whose size is compared to Tiny Tim Lincecum and Wee Roy Oswalt, he must be brimming with confidence and that attack dog mentality to compensate. Let’s hear what Simpson had to say: “It came as a complete shock. We were hearing second to fifth round.”

Best of luck with that Cubs fans.

C: Geovany Soto, Chicago Cubs

BA: .298 HR:: 4 RBI: 10 R: 18 OBP: .463 SLG: .468

I would give this to Cincinnati Reds’ catcher Ryan Hanigan, but he’s only played in 22 games so far. Sure, Soto doesn’t have the at bats to qualify either, but he has played 33 games and the closest qualified catcher is the Pirates Ryan Doumit.

1B: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals

BA: .324 HR:: 8 RBI: 29 R: 23 OBP: .429 SLG: .568

Is there really any other player you were expecting? Joey Votto or Derrek Lee? He is the three-time NL MVP for a reason.

2B: Mike Fontenot, Chicago Cubs

BA: .295 HR:: 1 RBI: 12 R: 7 OBP: .344 SLG: .386

Yup, that is right. There are two Cubs so far despite the fact they are in third place and are playing sub-.500 baseball. Although, this pick has much less to do with how amazing Fontenot has been and far more to do with how few decent second basemen there are to choose from. Let’s put it this way, the runner up is the Houston Astros’ Jeff Keppinger.

3B: Casey McGehee, Milwaukee Bucks

BA: .322 HR:: 8 RBI: 35 R: 20 OBP: .393 SLG: .559

McGehee is actually the best offensive third baseman in the National League while simultaneously being the worst defensive third baseman. Still, he is a an offensive force and that trumps his inability to throw the ball to across the diamond.

SS: Ryan Theriot, Chicago Cubs

BA: .319 HR:: 0 RBI: 14 R: 21 OBP: .349 SLG: .356

He may not be a power hitter, but he has the best batting average among NL Central shortstops and is a decent fielder. Really it is difficult to understand how the Cubs could be so bad with so many players on this list and more to come.

LF: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers

BA: .338 HR:: 7 RBI: 29 R: 33 OBP: .418 SLG: 561

Braun more than just edges out the Cubs Alfonso Soriano. He has a batting average 18 points higher, OBP 46 points higher, and six more stolen bases (8 to 2) than his Cubs counterpart.

CF: Marlon Byrd, Chicago Cubs

BA: .340 HR:: 7 RBI: 25 R: 25 OBP: .368 SLG: .582

Byrd has been amazing this season and he should be starting for the National League in the All Star Game on July 13th.

RF: Kosuke Fukudome, Chicago Cubs

BA: .313 HR:: 5 RBI: 20 R: 19 OBP: .410 SLG: .504

Great OBP for a leadoff hitter and is on track to have a career power hitter (he might hit 20!). Seriously, the Cubs have five of the best position players in the division. It is ridiculous that we are battling the Pirates to keep third place.

SP: Jaime Garcia, St. Louis Cardinals

4-2, 1.42 ERA 1.06 WHIP 7.3 K/BB

Garcia is having one hell of a rookie season. I am sure he will come back down to Earth once he sees teams multiple times, but this is a nice start to his career.

CL: Francisco Cordero, Cincinnati Reds

13 Saves, 3.15 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 7.2 K./BB

His ERA, WHIP, and strikeout ratio are not remotely close to amazing, but his 13 saves are too impressive to pass up at this point in the season.

Arbitration is a word that gets thrown around a lot in baseball.  Every off-season you hear about some of your favorite players “going to arbitration” with their respective teams.  But have you ever really thought about what that means?  As far as I know, its a way for owners to disparage their players in closed door meetings without any repercussions for the purpose of paying them less.  Oops.  Not only was I wrong, but reader of NQTC and a personal friend of mine Jeff, along with one of my law school professors, have written a piece that was published in the Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law recently showing exactly what arbitration is and why its terrible in its current incarnation.  Here’s a small excerpt from the introduction to whet your appetite:

When the 2008 Major League Baseball (“MLB”) season ended, New York Yankees star outfielder Bobby Abreu became a free agent.1 Although Abreu was an established star able to negotiate with all of the baseball clubs in MLB, his salary did not go up; it went down dramatically, symbolizing the full circle that baseball economics had traveled since free agency began in 1976. How could this have happened?

Over the course of the 2008 season, Abreu’s cumulative batting average was .296, and he totaled twenty home runs, one hundred runs scored, and one hundred runs batted in.2 That season marked his sixth consecutive year with at least one hundred runs batted in.3 The Yankees paid Abreu $16 million in 2008, and at the close of the season he was seeking a new three-year contract for $48 million.4 It seemed all but certain that the Yankees would offer him salary arbitration.5 Yet, in mid-February 2009, Abreu signed a one-year deal with the Anaheim Angels for $5 million, a 68.8% reduction from his 2008 salary.6 The Yankees’ replacement for Abreu had batted .219 with only twenty-four home runs and sixty-nine runs batted in for the 2008 season.

Salary negotiations in 2008 with another star outfielder, Adam Dunn, ended with similar results.8 Dunn, who had just tallied five consecutive seasons with forty home runs for the Arizona Diamondbacks,9 signed a new deal at a 38.5% salary reduction with the Washington Nationals.10 Meanwhile the Diamondbacks’ replacement for Dunn only hit twelve home runs with seventy-five runs batted in for the 2008 season.11 Both Dunn and Abreu were forced to explore the free-agent market for one simple reason: they were not offered salary arbitration by their former teams. In each situation, both the player and his former team were left in a far worse position—the player with less money and the team with an inferior athlete. A closer examination into the salary arbitration process reveals numerous flaws that likely contributed to the Yankees’ and the Diamondbacks’ decisions not to offer salary arbitration to Abreu and Dunn.

The Cubs showed up in full force to support the Blackhawks tonight for Game 1 of their playoff series with the Predators.  No comment on what kind of luck they brought the Hawks, but you can judge for yourself by the 4-1 loss they took.  Is that Kosuke hiding in the back?

Here’s our old friend Milton Bradley, waving to some of his former Rangers fans.  Oh, that’s not waving?  Well at least he’s acknowledging them I guess.

Does he or has he ever taken steroids? Probably. Is he kind of a douche but tries to act polished? Definitely.  However you feel about him, there’s one thing that’s certain, the pronunciation of his name is hilarious.

h/t: TPS

Last season was a huge disappointment for a Cubs team that had won two straight divisions the two previous years.  What was most disturbing was that the 2009 Cubs had pretty much the same personnel as the 2008 Cubs, with most feeling like Hendry had improved the team prior to the start of the season.  Were many key Cubs players just aging?  Was it a fluke year?  Did Milton Bradley poison everyone’s sandwiches?  This season will help to answer a lot of the questions.

With Spring Training wrapping up and the 2010 opening day roster set, it seems appropriate to take a look at what kind of a team the Cubs will be fielding.  After putting the 3rd oldest lineup in the National League on the field last year, its unlikely they are going to get that much younger this season, but hopefully some of the older players can find their strokes at the plate.  While the pitching was solid, the Cubs scored 707 runs last season as opposed to 855 in 2008.  Ouch.   Obviously that trend is going to have to change.

Key Additions/Departures

Additions: Carlos Silva – SP, Marlon Byrd – OF, Xavier Nady – OF, Chad Tracy- 3B

Departures: Kevin Gregg – RP, Milton Bradley – OF, Rich Harden – SP

Starting Lineup

1. SS – Ryan Theriot: In 2009, Theriot’s numbers across the board slid from his great 2008 season.  He was still effective with a .284 average, and his .343 OBP was solid.  I know Theriot will never walk a ton, and lord knows when he does get on base there’s as good a chance he’ll commit a Tootblan as score a run, but if he can just return to his 2008 numbers that would be enough.  Theriot has hit the ball very well in spring training and there is no reason to think he cannot have a good/great season.

2. RF – Kosuke Fukudome: There’s something consistent about Kosuke’s inconsistency, no? In both 2008 and 2009, he hit in the high .250s with 79 runs, 129 hits, and about 10 home runs.  We all know the drill at this point, right?  Hot April, lukewarm May, so-so June, post All-Star break tailspin.  While he is clearly overpaid, his on-base percentage keeps him relevant at the top of the order, and his above average defense is a nice bonus.  Too bad the power never came on though.

3. 1B – Derrek Lee: In 2009, Lee had one of the best seasons of his career, hitting .306/.393/.579 (avg/obp/slg) with 35 home runs.  What did him and most of the Cubs in was his abysmal April where he only hit .179/.253/.284 with only 1 home run.  His slow start was a big reason why the Cubs were playing catch-up all season.  As long as he finishes the season with good numbers, I’m happy, but it’d be nice to see him get going a little earlier.  Don’t count on it though, as his spring numbers were not exactly stellar (.189 BA).

4. 3B – Aramis Ramirez: There’s always been this sense that Rammy is made of glass and prone to injury.  Up until 2009, he hadn’t really missed all that many games as a Cub.  2009 had a way of bringing out the worst in people though.  He only played in 82 games with a shoulder injury.  This was one of  the most glaring holes in the 2009 lineup, and Aramis will need to have a healthy year for the Cubs to contend.  Unfortunately he has been battling a sore triceps this spring, but it looks like he’s mostly recovered.

5. LF – Alfonso Soriano: 2009 was a season to forget for Fonzy.  He played in only 117 games and hit a career worst .241/.303/.423 with only 20 home runs, his lowest total since his rookie year as a Yankee.  His spring has been average at best, although he did have a nice little 3 for 3 with a home run in Thursday’s final Cactus League game.  Obviously keeping him focused in the field and a bit more disciplined at the plate will be key this year.  On the other hand, what’s that saying about old dogs and new tricks?  I mean, sure his official age is 34, but does anyone really believe he’s younger than 40?

6. C – Geovany Soto: Talk about bad 2009s, this guy had just about the worst.  While most feel it was a sophomore slump for the young catcher, it may just be that all those innings kneeling down combined with NL pitchers figuring him out some brought the kid’s numbers back to earth.  He was a bit banged up and hopefully a return to health will be a return to form for Geo.  That being said, I believe he is somewhere in between his .285 23 home run rookie year and his .219 11 home run 2009 season.  If he can be a .260s and 15 home run a year guy behind the plate, that would be a great asset to the Cubs.

7. CF – Marlon Byrd: He isn’t Milton Bradley, that’s for sure.  In terms of temperament as well as skill.  Byrd actually had some really good years in Texas, hitting .283 with 20 home runs last year.  Unfortunately it doesn’t appear he likes to walk that much, but if he can hit in the .280s and create a clubhouse meltdown like his predecessor, that would be fine.  If he doesn’t work out Colvin will be happy to step in.  Colvin swung one of the hottest bats in all the Cactus League and will likely get some at-bats in center field as well.

8. 2B – Mike Fontenot: In a battle of two titans, Fontenot appears to have beaten out Jeff Baker for the 2nd base job.  It also looks like Fontenot will be backing up Theriot at shortstop, as Lou gave him some time there this spring.  Little Babe Ruth had an awful 2009, eventually losing his starting job to Jeff Baker (don’t worry, the Cubs had at-bats for him at 3rd base with Rammy on and off the field all season).  This spring, while essentially playing for the opening day starting 2nd baseman position against Baker, Fontenot hit a .350/.394/.517.  The job is his for now, but don’t be surprised to see him split time with Baker, especially if his hitting numbers go south.

Starting Rotation

Carlos Zambrano: Zambrano had a year pretty much like any other year for Zambrano in 2009.  He pitched decently well with a 3.91 ERA on the season.  He didn’t walk too many people on the whole, and although he gave up slightly more hits than usual, it wasn’t that bad.  But if his year wasn’t so bad, why do I feel like he shit the bed?  Oh right, his 10.13 August ERA may have done it for me.  On August 1st the Cubs were tied for first place, but partially because of Z’s trademark meltdown, the Cubs slipped and slipped until they were too far behind to catch up.  To beat a dead horse, Z needs to control his emotions and stay consistent this season.  He has million dollar stuff with a 5 cent head.

Ted Lilly: Lilly was shut down for the entire offseason due to shoulder surgery.  While initial reports had his return no earlier than mid-late May, it appears his rehab is going amazingly well.  He has been cleared to play and will likely join the big-league club sometime in mid to late April.  The Cubs need him bad.  Although he usually slips under the radar, he had another phenomenal season last year and may be the best pitcher on the staff.

Ryan Dempster: Although 2009 was not quite as good as 2008 for Ryan, the red-headed Canadian jokester still pitched pretty well with a 3.65 ERA and 172 strikeouts.  He has pitched 25 innings this spring and looks very strong, with just a 2.13 ERA and 25 strikeouts.  The Cubs need that rebuilt elbow of his to hold up for another full season, especially with Lilly coming back from injury and the bottom half of the rotation looking shaky at best to start the year.

Randy Wells: This is about to sound real negative about one of the 2009 Cubs only bright spots, but just hear me out.  I love the guy, and his 12-10, 3.05 ERA rookie season were fantastic.  Here’s my problem.  Why did he not come up until he was 26/27?  I always get concerned when guys who have been also-ran minor leaguers for years all of a sudden have a great season.  I’m not implying steroids by any means, but what I am implying is that perhaps it was a fluke season.  Maybe the rest of the NL just hadn’t seen him before.  His post all-star numbers were significantly worse than his early season numbers, which supports my theory somewhat.  He has had an okay spring, but only time will tell if my theory is right.  I hope its not.

Tom Gorzelanny: This lefty who looks eerily like Sloth from The Goonies had one good season in Pittsburgh.  Since then things have been shaky at best.  He managed to go 4-2 in 7 starts with the Cubs late in the season, despite a 5.63 ERA.  While he pitched decently this spring, anything positive that this guy can do will be a bonus.

Carlos Silva: Fat, lazy, and unmotivated.  That’s what they say about him.  It’s a good thing we traded our resident “clubhouse cancer” for this bum.  He has pitched pretty well this spring and earned the spot in the rotation opened up by the injury to Lilly, but his laziness and undisciplined lifestyle have made Silva’s career go in the tank.  There is no reason to think this year will be any different.  Let’s just say the sooner Lilly is back and the sooner this fat bum is out of the rotation, the better.

Bullpen

Carlos Marmol (CL), John Grabow, Esmailin Caridad, Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija, Justin Berg: Obviously there is one main question entering this season in the bullpen.  Can Carlos Marmol translate his electric stuff into some consistency in the 9th inning of games.  Why won’t this kid throw a goddamn strike?  His slider is unhittable, even when its over the plate, and his fastball is pretty damn good too.  It’s frustrating to watch, and if he is unable to do the job, I’m not exactly sure who the Cubs could turn too.  The rest of the bullpen actually looks decent, with Caridad tossing a scoreless 13 innings in spring ball and Grabow coming off some great seasons in Pittsburgh and even some good innings with the Cubs late last year.  Samardzija had a great shot at the 5th starter spot but had a spring to forget, which lands him in the bullpen again.

Rudy Jaramillo

The one huge difference on this team, and the guy everyone is talking about, is the Cubs new hitting coach.  Jaramillo was the hitting coach in Texas for years.  He is well-respected around the league as something of a genius and almost every player he works with improves their hitting significantly.  The entire lineup stands to gain from Rudy’s wisdom and expertise, and hopefully it will be the difference between 2008s 855 runs and 2009s 707 runs.

Tyler Colvin

Yeah, some kid you’ve never heard of gets his own section in this preview.  Here’s why: After being bounced around between single A and AA in the Cubs minor league system for years, this kid tore the cover off the ball last season at AA Tennessee.  In just 84 games, he hit .300/.334/.524 with 14 home runs.  He did get a few major league at-bats in September last year, but this year he will hopefully get even more.  Entering spring training he was not on anyone’s radar to actually make the squad, even after his scorching hot year at AA.  He refused to let Lou cut him, however, hitting .468/.468/.753 with 8 doubles, 4 triples, and 2 home runs this spring.  Yeah, he didn’t walk even once, but if he can hit the ball like that, who cares.

To those of you out there that are Jewish and haven’t had a good poop in days because of Passover, I’m definitely feeling your pain.  To those are not, let’s just say that eating nothing but matza for 8 days creates quite the brick in your stomach.  These ladies are also feeling that, but at least they seem ready for their strange Jewish-only fantasy draft.  Enjoy and Happy Holidays to everyone, Jews and Christians alike!

So I’m skimming through the sports headlines on the Chicago Sun-Times website last night, trying to catch up on a little spring training news.  The first thing I see when I get to the sports page of the site?  The top headline which reads:

White Sox Jake Peavy; ‘I Don’t Like The Cubs’

Wow, that really gets me upset.  Peavy doesn’t like the Cubs?  I mean that seems pretty inconsistent with everything we heard last season.  What a jackass this guy is, right?  Well before you Cubs fans turn on him (and Sox fans choose to worship him for this nonsense), take a second look.  Here is Peavy’s ACTUAL quote from the article:

”I hate every team we play, that’s all there is to it,” Peavy said. ”From 2 o’clock until 10 or 11 o’clock at night, I don’t want to be friends with the other side. You’re not going to see me have relationships with anybody. Off the field, that’s fine. I’m a firm believer in taking care of that off the field or in the tunnel.

”No, I don’t like the Cubs. I don’t like the Minnesota Twins. Great guys, but I don’t like anybody we’re going to play. I’m a member of the White Sox, and I want to go to battle with the 25 guys we have in here. I don’t care about being friends with anybody else. … Inside the lines, it’s a dog-eat-dog world. I want to win all six games against the Cubs [this season], and it’s as easy as that.”

Gee, that headline was awfully misleading, don’t you think?  In fact you could probably get that quote from most baseball players about every other team but their own.  If my team’s players didn’t have that attitude I would be upset.  Must have been a slow news day.

Baseball in Chicago is back.  Get ready to be mislead and riled up for no reason all summer by “newsmen” looking for a story.

Mark Grace has always been my favorite player of all time.  Most hits in the 90′s, always seemed to come through in the clutch, funny as hell, party guy and of course, the slumpbuster legend.  Well my boy weighed in on the steroid issue and offered this reason for why he never took PEDs:

“I like my sex life,” Grace said. “I want to be able to perform. It’s kind of funny, but it’s not. That stuff will tear you up as far as your manhood is concerned.”

Grace also offered up his thoughts about the BS that McGwire spewed and thoughts on Sosa’s corked bat incident:

Grace didn’t buy McGwire’s line that steroids didn’t help him hit home runs. “That’s a baloney cop-out,” Grace said.

Grace also talked about Sammy Sosa’s corked bat: “You know what bat you’re taking up to the plate. Pitchers know what bat they’re taking up to the plate. That’s a little more baloney.”

I wish that Gracie would come back and join the Cubs organization in some capacity, hopefully this will happen down the road.  I also want #17 retired – Grace is a true Cub hero and deserves the honor.

This was one of the greatest baseball commercials of all-time.  I remember when it came out I couldn’t stop laughing at it.  Maddux and Glavine are flat out funny.  If only they knew that all that working out was useless and they could have just injected some HGH.  I bet they’re feeling pretty stupid now, huh?

I know its January and you are probably still trying to forget about the awful 2009 Cubs season.  I have tried to avoid following the trade rumors and other nonsense surrounding the Cubs for a few months just to recover from that disaster.  While all the rumors have really only culminated in 2 additions — Marlon Byrd in the outfield and Greg Maddux as assistant GM — this latest rumor about Ben Sheets is the most intriguing thing I’ve heard:

General manager Jim Hendry declined to comment, but he spoke to Sheets’ agent at the winter meetings in Indianapolis and major-league sources say the Cubs are one of Sheet’s preferred destinations.

Sheets reportedly has been asking for a two-year deal averaging around $10 million to $12 million per year, but the Cubs believe they have a good shot at landing him with an incentive-laden deal.

The 31-year-old right-hander, who spent his entire career with the Brewers, has a history of injuries, including arm and back problems, an inner-ear infection and blisters. He missed the 2009 season following elbow surgery.

Let’s table the injury history for just a moment.  Besides the fact that he is a high risk, high reward type guy (I’m getting a little fed up with those, right?), why in the hell do the Cubs need a starting pitcher?  The Cubs have had one of the best rotations in all of baseball the last 3 years running.  All we have heard about is all the other needs the Cubs have: a power-hitting outfielder, a 2nd basemen, a lead-off man, a shortstop (kind of), middle relief, and a closer.  Those are a lot of needs for a team with a payroll already approaching $140 million.  So we need more starting pitching now too?

Unfortunately the answer is yes.  With Harden walking and Lilly undergoing surgery that will keep him out of the first month or more of the season, the Cubs rotation drops off considerably after Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, and Randy Wells.  Assuming Wells doesn’t have some kind of sophomore slump, that leaves Carlos Silva, Jeff Samardzija, Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Marshall to compete for the last two spots.

That brings us to Ben Sheets.  An injury risk like Sheets who can be outstanding but is always missing games is really no different than Rich Harden, who we let walk.  The Cubs wouldn’t give Harden the $9 million a year he was asking, so why would they give $10-$12 million to Sheets?  That would cripple the Cubs ability to buy band-aids for our other problems (Marlon Byrd?  Really?).  If he can come down to about 2 years at $15 million that’s a different story, but for now the price tag is bit too high.

Michael Barrett: animated cubs catcher.  Fought A.J. Pierzynski.  Fought Carlos Zambrano.  Now, pleads guilty to shadily videotaping Erin Andrews nude?  Yikes, glad the Cubs shipped this guy out of town!  Ok, so the guy who videotaped the hot broadcaster isn’t the same Michael Barrett who played in Chicago, but I don’t think either guy is happy to share his name with the other Michael Barrett. 

PhillyBurbs.com is reporting that Pat Burrell has been traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Cubs, who then dealt him to the Mets:

Former Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell has reportedly been swapped twice this morning, eventually landing with Phils division rival the New York Mets.

The Tampa Bay Rays traded the slugging left fielder to the Chicago Cubs then the Cubs dealt Burrell to the Mets. Names of other players involved in the deals were not immediately available.

Rumors have circulated for a while that a Milton Bradley for Burrell three-way-deal with the Mets and Rays could be in the works.  This might just be what Hendry, Ricketts and the Cubs have been waiting for to get this offseason going.

H/T: Glen

***UPDATE: Two Mets officials are already denying that this happened.  People are desperate not to be linked to anything Milton Bradley-related (or maybe it’s just that random web pages out of Philly are completely unreliable).

My dad sent this to me this morning, obviously perturbed about the Twins great lack of respect for the mighty White Sox (sarcasm).  Anyways, enjoy the goofy commercial:

h/t: TPS