No Defense...

Headline: Chicago Cubs' Jim Hendry defends Mark DeRosa trade

That should read: Jim Hendry attempts to explain his long series of bone headed moves, which happened to include Mark DeRosa. It included this little nugget:
"But there wasn't anywhere else to get left-handed, you know. And over time, I think we will see that we got pretty good guys for him. So we mixed and matched some of the dollars that were made with [DeRosa] and other guys who are not here, and added the guys that we did."

Ok, first of all, if I hear one more Cubs guys say the words "left-handed", in relation to bats of bullpen, one more time I'm going to go Farnsworth on your ass.

Second of all - let's examine how these lefties have improved the team:

DeRosa - 266/.333/.446/.779
Miles - .204/.250/.265/.515
Bradley - .200/.328/.390/.718
Fontenot - .223/.309/.385/.693

Wow...those lefties are really hitting the sh*t out of the ball huh?
Oh and PS. DeRosa has more homers than the other three...COMBINED!

And let's not forget
Blanco - .182/.262/.364/.626
Bako - Currently working as a boat cleaner in Dayton, OH.

As it turns out, Hill blows both out of the water, so to be fair - that one doesn't hurt too much.

Top ten reasons why Jim Hendry sucked (base)balls this offseaon

The top 5 involve Mark DeRosa.
10. Signed Paul Bako to a 1 year deal worth $750,000 as backup catcher, only to realize later that a guy who cut off his hand catches throws and bats better. Meanwhile, the mentor of your now slumping primo catcher signed for the same price to the Padres.
9. Failed to close the door on Jake Peavy while the Padres were in a position of weakness. Now they're winning, and we suck. Good for you for not taking the ridiculous 5 for 1 deal, but you shoulda whittled it down to a 3 for 1 or something similar.
8. Signed the hot headed, but who really gives a crap about that, and more importantly INJURY PRONE Milton Bradley who right now is a 30-million dollar bench player.
7. Failed to resign Kerry Wood for a 1 year deal. Even at 10 million, which I honestly don't beleive it would've taken, he effectively turned a huge strength last year into a huge weakness this year. The loss of a dominant power pitcher at the end of the bullpen cannot be unerestimated.
6. Focused far too much on which side of the plate someone stands on without paying attention to other minor points, like i don't know, the ability to play.

And now...the D-Ro 5....

5. Traded Mark DeRosa, eliminating a clubhouse leader, a versatile player, a clutch hitter, and a fan favorite - not a good days work.
4. Attempted to repalce him with Aaron Miles, who is a switch hitter, but only plays middle infield positions. This would be the same Aaron Miles who the Cardinals did not want. This would be the same Cardinals who are now using a left fielder to play second base - Miles' position. If that's not a warning sign, I don't know what is.
3. Effectively eliminated a reasonable backup for Aramis Ramirez, who by the way, had to leave yesterday's game iwth a calf strain and seems headed for the DL.
2. Only received 3 prospects in the trade. Yes, I said prospects, not one of which is even close to ML ready. This move did not ultimately culminate in a Peavy trade making it a complete and total failure.
1. With two players not playing - Milt and Ramy - the missing D-Ro is magnified because he played both of those positions remarkably well.

So, in summary, while I have been a Hendry fan in the past, this past winter we completely dropped his kibble and obsessed with left-handed hitting, when just hitting would've sufficed.

Peavy deal Dead. DeRosa still not here.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors/post/Heilman-deal-appears-to-end-pursuit-of-Peavy-for?urn=mlb,137550

"We've had no talks about Jake Peavy since they were well-documented during the winter meetings," assistant general manager Randy Bush said. "I don't anticipate anything happening."

Ok, so I'm officially ticked. Not only, have you traded away arguably our most reliable hitter from last season, traded away a lefty from our lefty sparse bullpen, manged to hang on to Rich "out of options and out of baseball" Hill, and traded away our best extra pieces, but now you're once again killing the Peavy trade possibility.

Maybe Jim Hendry is just a baseball genius and I just don't get it. Do we have a better team than last year? I seriously doubt it. Maybe after Milt plays more than a baker's dozen games in the OF I'll change my opinion, but for now I don't think so.

And a minute later, DeRosa is still not here. Hope that World Series ring looks good on him...

Something brewing....?

So it seems Mark DeRosa and Jason Marquis have left the building...I'd be remiss if I didn't express my opinion here. Aaron Miles is a bargain basement Mark DeRosa. Sadly asd in most things, you tend to get what you paid for. WEill Miles be a switch hitting DeRosa? No. He won't be bad, but he won't be DeRosa.

De-Ro is coming off a career year, and actually his numbers have only gotten better since getting here. But he is also in the lkast year of his contract, and Hendry would not be resigning him for more than he already signed for, so DeRosa was gone at the end of the year anyway. May as well get something for him now. Milers offers less field flexibility for more plate flexibility, which is where the Cubs failed 3 months ago.

Marquis was a good 5th starter. In many rotations he's a decent 3rd starter. So's Sean Marshall. We can totally live without him.

All of this though, just reeks of something bigger. Some maneuvering that will send 5 players to San Diego. Something like a Cendeno, Pie, two of the 3 prospects we just picked up and maybe a Rich Hill.

It's possbile. And it's also the only thing that will make this DeRosa crap not suck.

Hate to tell ya folks

Looks like the Cubbies won't be clinching at home... Even if they dio, you won't be here to celebrate.. Too many night games for the Boo-Hoo Crew. It'd take an unusual set of circumstances to clinch at home, after THEIR game. It's possible I suppose, but with the Boo-hooers playing the Reds, I don't see it.

Of course, as I write this, with two outs, Ramirez doubles, Edmonds singles, DeRosa singles, and Soto - MVP Soto - ties the game on a 3 run homer.

Just goes to show, I don't know shizzle about shizzle...

Stay tuned, this game seems to have another minute or two left...

Gotta change my shorts...

So I'm down...Dangit...Hamels is dealin'. We're done tonight. I started organizing books. That's right...ORGANIZING BOOKS with the game on in the background. Fontenot blasts one, so goody we're only down by two. Then A-Ram. Or should I say A-Slam. Man..you wanna talk about DeRosa, Soto, whoever. A-Ram is C-L-U-T-C-H clutch. I mean, I'm happy with a Sac fly. That's probably what he was trying to do. But dang. Dempster didn't have it tonight, but he's off the hook. Woody comes in, and gets a weak popper to A-Ram. Done. Sold. Start Packing. We're outta here.

It's just amazing. The Cubs are NEVER out of the game. Ever. down by 10, up by 1. It's never done.

So Kaplan's on the air saying go all in. Oh I am. All in, including my watch and car title. Have been all season. The cards are on the table and I'm reaching forward for the chips. The first couple games, I'll admit, I was skeptical. But since then, and really every year since 2000, I have been all in. All Cubs, All the time.

Now that's a lot of minutes.

Hey Chicago What do you say...

...the Cubs are gonna lose to the worst team in baseball...

Ok, I get it, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while, but Marquis/bullpen made these guys look like the Yankess - before they sucked.

Didn't watch, but listened while at work, which is BTW, worse. Lee hit a home run, first in 51 games. Woo Hoo. DeRosa's, well, geez, DeRosa's been downright awesome in the recent past. Just too bad the pitching staff
got caught with their pants down, standing on top of a building, with a camera and jumbotron pointing right at their pimpled backsides...

But wait there's more - Milwaukee's playing the Braves and the Cards play Pittsburgh...GREAT.

Willis hits a long fly ball, and this is a grand minute...

8 in 7

Dang, that was quite the offensive explosion today. 8 runs in the 7th inning. Mark DeRosa batted twice as a pinch hitter. That's just awesome. Dempster gets the win - number 14 in mid August - and the Brewers are already losing :).

Not to mention, the Brewers today have not 1, or 2, or 3, but FOUR starters in the lineup batting below .250. _4_. including the pitcher, that's 5 relatively easy outs. Mendoza, party of 5, your table's ready.

How can they be this good when they're this bad???

I'll wait to update the magic number until the Boo-hoo Crew goes final.

Can I have a minute with a side of "I suck"? - Rickie Weeks.

Twin killing...

I knew Atlanta was pretty bad this year but sheesh! The only thing more brutal than the beating the Cubs gave the Brave - on the road no less - was the tongue lashing I got from my wife for watching two - yes two - games in one day. Since I have to yield the rest of my TV priveledges for the rest of tonight, I figure I'll write up a post.

Marquis threw halfway decent. got himself out of a couple of jams today. Good defensive play getting to first on a shot hit past Lee and almost past DeRosa. Harden looked kinda human today. Certainly not the dominating performance we got the first four starts. But he gets the W, so all's well.

The big story today/tonight was the bats. Up and down the lineup, just hit after hit after hit. Great to see. Maybe these guys have figured out how to hit on the road. Against rookies yes, but I've mentioned in previous posts, rookie seem to give the Cubs trouble.

Overall a pretty happy day, except the Brewers are currently beating the bejesus out of the Padres, so we only gain 1/2 game...considering we lost 1/2 game yesterday, that's not all that encouraging.

One more tomorrow, and that's the way the minute crumbles...

7* All stars!!

Yes! 7 all stars on Tuesday! Wait - what's that? Ohh Soriano broke his hand. Oh ok, well still 6 All Stars baby! Woo-hoo! What? Oh. Ryan Dempster's last start is two days before so he won't pitch? Rats. Well, ok. Still 5 All stars. Who? Why? Kerry Wood's got a blister? Oh..uh..um...ok.

4 all stars. What? Fukudome's been stinking up the joint lately and if Clint Hurdle knows anything about anything he won't play past his first at bat? Huh...

Congrats Cubs fans! The Cubs will set the record for most invited spectators at the All Star Game...La Di Freakin' Dah!'

Is it still too late to vote in Mark DeRosa?

That's my minute...well, 50 seconds....40...you get the idea.