Here is a sucka free breakdown of the cubs.....
The cubs have great potential next year and to really make some strides within a VERY tough divison.
Here is a great link to a recent article by peter Gammons (I think Gammons is easily the best baseball analyst around). http://espn.go.com/gammons/s/2003/0110/1490443.html
As a cubs fan, you have to love the young starting pitching. Wood, prior, clement, and zambrano. Damn thats not bad. Prior and wood can really dominate (281 innings last year combined/445 KO combined....that's ridiculous). If those two cats can stay healthy, they both could win twenty. Hell, I can't even name the last cubs pitcher to win 20 games.
Gammons brought up an interesting stat. The cubs blew more games (25) than they saved (23). Holy shit thats bad. How the hell were you guys able to watch games last year? That must have been frustrating. 25 blown save, good lord! If alfranseca can keep the weight off they might have a solid pen with him, remlinger, cruz, and farnsworth.
I think this team won't melt down like last year. First off, they brought in two really great catchers. Bako is GREAT with pitchers, and miller knows how to call games. Also, Dusty Baker is a pretty good manager. He may get critizied for this or that, but the fact is that everyone knows that the giants weren't even close to the best national league team last year and they made it to the show.
Question to the forum...who in the bleep is this Hee Seop Choi charater. I need a break down.
I think Remlinger will make a world of difference for the Cubs pen.
To answer the Choi question: he is the reason that the Cubs pretty well benched Fred McGriff near the end of the 2002 season. They let Crime Dog get his homer, so he'd get 30, and he was done. I don't know a lot about Choi, but he didn't do a great deal last year.
Whiffed 15 times if 50 at bats (WOW!) Hit a couple of homers. His final average in 24 games was 9 for 50 (.180)
Here is a link to his stats if you want a better view. You'd probably get a better breakdown of what the Cubs see in him from the team site though
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=choihe01
How come nobody ever compares the Cubs to the Bengals. They're never good. In fack, they almost always suck. I feel bad for all you Cubs fans. Maybe the problem is you guys keep going to the games. If the team sucks, don't go. Maybe management will realize they need to sign a free agent or two. Who was the last big free agent they signed?
felipe alou
In the Bengals defense, they did make it to the Super Bowl a couple of times in the 80's. The Cubs haven't been in the World Series for a LOOOOOOOONG time (1948 or so I think)
Wrigley Field is the best place to watch a baseball game. World's best outdoor bar...
The Cubs staff is very solid. Prior is the real deal and the next Pedro of MLB. He will come very close to 20 wins this year. As for Wood, no way will he get 20. 16 if he is lucky. The most wins he has in any year is 13. He walks too many batters to get 20 wins, so therefore he doesn't go deep into games. He averaged just 6.4 innings per start last year and when you play on a bad offensive team you must last longer into games to get that many wins. He can be rolling along through 4 or 5 innings and completely fall apart the next. Once he learns how to pitch out of jams, he'll be much better and he'll only do that if he brings down his BB's. The Cubs are also leaning on Clement too much. While he had an outstanding year last year, I think he caught lightening-in-a-bottle. Remember Jeff Fassero in '01? Clement is decent but I think he true numbers are somewhere in the middle of what he did last year and what he did in SD/FLA (which wasn't very much). And SUCKA, you left off Juan Cruz from your list. This guy has amazing stuff. He lost 11 games last year with an ERA of under 4.00. He was a rookie and has a blazing fastball and a slider which is phenomenal. He is easily that 3rd best pitcher on the staff behind Prior and Wood, although he'll start the season as #4.
ED brings up a good point about McGriff and ANOTHER reason why the Cubs brass are boneheads. McGriff needed 1 HR to get 30, so he would be the first player to hit 'X' amount of HR's for some BS record. Well they kept playing McGriff, who has a worse glove than my dog, and kept Hee Seop Choi on the bench. The Cubs should have no loyalty towards McGriff, shit, he didn't even want to come here from TB and they fucked up Choi's development in the process. It took McGriff like a month to hit that HR and finally Choi started the last 1 week of the season. DUMB.
Choi, obviously, is a minor leaguers with amazing power. He won't hit for average (around .275 or so when he gets himself situated) but he can hit the ball out of the park. He is also a very solid defender. The Cubs have been starved for a power hitting 1B since Grace has manned that position 'forever' and now they found him. He will be an all-star calibur player in '04. Another rookie to watch is Bobby Hill, whom will be there leadoff man and 2B of the future. This guy has speed beyond recognition although he is no Ryne Sandberg. He'll be good for .300 average with 40-50 steals.
As if you couldn't already tell....TALKING BASEBALL FUCKING RULES AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE THE CUBS!!!!!!
Oh yes one more thing. Wrigley Field is the best place to watch a baseball game. I've been to Fenway, Yankee stadium and Shea. Hands down Wrigley blows them away. Unfortuneatly, for true Cub fans, they ell out every game. There enlies the problem. Why blow moeny on good players when people already come to the stadium to see Sammy hit a HR, look at the chicks with their bikini's in the bleachers and just get drunk. People will always go to the games and therefore their 'bottom line', no matter how bad their team is, will always be positive. The tribune company is more involved on their 'bottom line' then on actually winning the pennant. Too bad that is the case for the majority of sports teams around the country, except for the yankees and the Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban if fucking awesome!
yes, i have been to some ballparks myself, and i must say that wrigley is the best. too bad for harrey caray. he was cool as hell. good thing for the cubs (and bears) is that no matter how old, wrigley and soldier field will be here, and will probably never be renamed either. the bears turned down a HUGE lump sum on a new name and kept it soldier field. i thought the old detroit stadium was cool, but its gone. once fenway is gone, wrigley is the oldest by far and that will probably attract even more fans. if the cubs are good this year, it will be just as hard to get a ticket as when MJ was in town for the bulls. they are expanding wrigley a little and trying to deal with rooftop spectators. plus i hear something about a hall of fame across the street, but i dont think that will happen unless the tribune dishes out 500 mil or some crazy number.
The Cubs 'tried' to expand the stadium in time for '04, but it got shot down by the community (Wrigleyville). They want to move the fences back like 15-20 feet. That wasn't a popular idea amongst the community nor Sosa, I'm assuming. The Cubs took out a lawsuit against the roof top owners for like 10 million dollars. I guess they (Cubs organization) said that the rooftop owners were bringing in 10 million dollars in revenue during the course of the year. And they wanted to make them pay a percentage to the ballclub, since their revenue is generated on another business (The Cubs). The rooftop owners refused and a lawsuit was submitted. I guess the Cubs really want EVERYONE's money.
they are so cheap, but theres nothing we can do about it
Vit,
I did mention cruz in my breakdown but I didn't make him stand out like I should have. I has got some incredible stuff. From that Gammons article it sounded like he was going to pitch out of the bullpen instead of starting. However, if he can start as a number four, that would be pretty sweet for the cubs.
The fassero call was nice. I don't really know that much about clement but I do think that he won't be a number one or two pitcher in a staff.
Kerry Wood, although he walks a lot of guys still has a lot of time to get better control. Randy Johnson used to walk a lot of guys before he got his mechanics straightened out. If he can control his walks and stay consistant on the mound (both of which can be corrected unless your shawn estes) he'll be an all-star.
RUmor has it that bobby hill has the potential to be a player.
One major drawback for the cubs is the division they play in. Cinny, Houstan, and St Louie are all ready to make the playoffs in 03'. The NL central might turn out to be the toughest divison in baseball.
Although I haven't been to wrigley field, I ahve sat in EVERY imaginable sit at pacbell park. From the dugouts to the pressbox to the bleachers to field level, that ballpark is ridiculously sweet. The only thing that sucks are the fans. SF fans are the worst i have ever seen. If you guys come out to the west coast let me know and we'll catch a game.
Quote from: Vitb6 on 01/14/03, 09:54:47 PMAs for Wood, no way will he get 20. 16 if he is lucky. The most wins he has in any year is 13. He walks too many batters to get 20 wins, so therefore he doesn't go deep into games.
Don't get too down on Wood. Sucka makes a good point about him being young and not having good mechanics. Greg Maddux used to walk around 80 batters a season in his early Cub days and Wood is in that range.
year walks
Maddux: 1987 74
88 81
89 82
90 71
Wood: 1998 85
2000 87
2001 92
2002 97
The last 2 seasons give you the best perspective, because he's had more starts, but I wouldn't say he's a lost cause.
I'd say that if he can stay healthy and learn the game a little better, he might just surprise you!
the cubbies might compete for a wild card spot for 5 months...come september they will set like the sun. i wouldnt mind seeing the cubs do well but it is unlikely seeing as how the tribune company is making a killing off the suckers that fill the seats.