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The Cub Reporter
TCR Friday Notes
A little extra this week to get you through the three day weekend…
UPDATE: Cubs signed infielder Tomas Perez to a minor league deal with a spring training invite.
- If I had a vote for the Hall of Fame, it would have went to Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire, Andre Dawson, Goose Gossage, Bert Blyleven and Alan Trammell. I still can’t forgive Lee Smith for Game 4 of the NLCS, so screw him on my imaginary ballot that doesn’t count for anything.
- Here’s one that Cubs.com seemed to miss or just didn’t care about. It seems pitcher Adam Harben (the bounty in the Phil Nevin trade) whom we just invited to spring camp had Tommy John surgery in October after a few games in the AFL. If you recall, he was removed from the 40-man roster during the offseason and part of the condition of him resigning with us on a minor league deal was that he’d get a spring training invite even though all he’ll be doing is rehabbing at that point. That’s an odd little series of events. Harben who was up there on some of the Twins prospects lists a year or two ago has been suffering from some loss of velocity on the fastball. We’ll see if the surgery helps him regain some of that along with his prospect status.
- A hat tip to “Buried Treasure” for this blurb from former Yank and author of the excellent “Ball Four”, Jim Bouton.
Q: Do you really think we need a panel of people, including Bill James, to figure out statistics and steroids? In Ball Four, you talked about players in the 1960’s taking pep pills called greenies. And if you have a panel that is going to evaluate statistics based on cheating, are you going to alter Gaylord Perry’s numbers? (David Block- Brooklyn, NY)
A: Greenies were performance enablers (usually to overcome the effects of hangovers), not enhancers. Gaylord Perry’s spitters were in plain view, and the unwritten rule was that if you could master it and get away with it, more power to you. In any case, batters could factor spitball pitchers it into their play. Steroids, on the other hand, are a secret weapon that force non-users to take health risks in order to compete. Historical analogies - advantages or disadvantages due to shorter seasons, no night games, travel, racial barriers, etc. - aren’t relevant because, in each case, players of a particular era played under the same conditions. What distorts statistics is unfair (and hidden) competition within the same era.
- As we all patiently wait for the gremlins to be removed from the servers, you can find a new blogroll by clicking on the “Friends” link underneath the mysterious “Authors” box to the right. The layout kind of sucks and the category headings are ginormous but I think you’ll find some interesting stuff.
- As I was poking around the web, there were a few members of the Cubs blog army that I found something worth reading, so I thought they deserved a shout out. So go check out Cubs Cafe, A Hundred Next Years, Wrigleyville23 and the (mostly) satirical Fire Lou Piniella! and say hi.
- More Cubs blog news, former TCR writer Derek Smart has added Phil Bencomo to the writing staff of Cub Town, formerly of Cubbiepalooza. From Mr. Smart himself though, I found this bit of self-reflection good for a laugh-out loud moment:
One of the tendencies of the blogging community, something we do with regularity and lustful aplomb, is take comments by players/management/MSM writers that are, in our humble opinion, intellectually substandard, and with our combination of rapier wit, flawless logic, and overwhelmingly massive capacity for holding onto petty grudges, craft a response that leaves the originator bleeding and trembling jelly-like on the point of our word-swords (a construct we know is imaginary, since it requires the target to have read the salvo, and as all of us who read blogs know, nobody reads blogs).
- I’ve been meaning to mention this for months and I’m losing karma points each time I forget, but the good fellas at GROTA have put together a fund that they plan to present to Derrek Lee at the Cubs Convention to help with his Project 3000. If you have the means, help a fella and his family out.
- If I get a moment before Sunday morning to look at some chat programs, I’ll throw something up on Sunday for those who want to talk during the Bears game. Otherwise reader Chad has his own Bears chat site we can all congregate to as well.
- Not to get all “The Bears Reporter” on you, but these articles on Rex Grossman from “Kissing Suzie Kolber” are some of the funniest reads I had all week. (NSFW most likely).
- And your standard issue, Youtube clip of the week, this time Wrigley Field circa 1929.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/U63LW6wV3no" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
I found that along with some old Bears footage over here along with a link to a converter program that allows you to download YouTube videos onto your own computer.
Go Bears and we’ve got some new articles in the pipeline for the next two weeks starting on Tuesday, so be sure to check in if you can, you know, actually access the site.
This entry was posted
on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Friday Notes.
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79 Responses to “TCR Friday Notes”
January 12th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
http://www.rotoworld.com/conte.....mp;id=3682
funny, Rotoworld has a picture of Burnitz for Jason Bay on his page…
January 12th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
http://preview.tinyurl.com/twhsa
Cubs Winter League roundup..
January 12th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
And He Smells Funny Too”
Japanese not interested in fat, unethical Sammy Sosa-
http://www.japanbaseballdaily.com/
January 12th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
is that a joke site or real? I can’t imagine anyone publicly stating that, ouch!!!
If it’s for real, there’s also a story about Ichiro getting out of Seattle after this year.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Looks real, I got the lead from Deadspin.com
January 12th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Worth a chuckle:
“I’m not going to play until I’m 40,” said [Pedro] Martinez, 35. “You’re not going to spend your whole life on a career and not even have time for family or anything.”
January 12th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
the “perez” with the minor league signing was tomas perez…also alex s. gonz. to a minor league deal.
both getting a SI invite.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Rob, the link for Chad’s site doesn’t work…
January 12th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
alex s. gonz. is being signed to the cubs and/or KC depending on what site you check…looks like it may be KC.
only mentions tomas perez in the cubs official press release.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
a(S)gonz to KC…per their press release. bad rotoworld…no cookie.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
The SS competition is shaping up nicely.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
t.perez would/should be good for cedeno if cedeno doesnt break with the team. he can play pretty much anywhere.
if cedeno continues what he’s currently doing down south, he could very well be in the plans off the bench in the majors…wouldnt count on it, though.
January 12th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Didn’t S. Gonzalez retire?
January 12th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Thanks much for the mention…
January 12th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
www.chadsbearschat.blogspot.com
it’s nothing more than a link to a parachat button because the football site we go to at SB Nation won’t allow a chat program because they’re fascists.
January 12th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Wow, Jason Bay is signed on the mega-cheap…
January 12th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Hendry lured him out of retirement with a big bag of cash, Carlos.
January 12th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
man, I really thought Jacque for Rodrigo Lopez was what we were going to get.
But alas, Lopez goes to the Rockies for RHP Jim Miller and RHP Jason Burch.
Hendry is going to have to try and pawn him off to the Marlins, Rangers, Pirates or Indians now.
January 12th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Jock seems like a Rangers kind of guy. I don’t mean that he’s the kind of player they usually look for. It just seems like he’s the kind of player that should, at some point, plays for the Rangers.
January 12th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Ignore my grammar, please.
January 12th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Rodrigo López is gonna get pummeled at Coors…
January 12th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
speaking of Erstad, A’s offered him a one year deal.
January 12th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
“Cubs sign Perez” ??????? I don’t care what the first name is. I can’t deal with ANOTHER light hitting utility guy with the last name Perez. I had flashbacks and my stomach became sick. Here’s to hoping Lou keeps him in the minors…..
January 12th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
“”It’s great to be with a team that wants me to be there,” said Lopez, 31.”
Nice shot at Angelos. Are the Orioles the new Devil Rays?
January 12th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Rob,
Thanks for the shout out. I’ve never received one of those. I feel 20 years younger. Seriously, TCR has set the standard for a long time. Thanks for doing a great job carrying on what Christian started.
Go Cubbies.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
January 12th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Good stuff today, Rob. Especially the YouTube video — never seen anything like that before. That was awesome.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Also… maybe someone with more info on Harben could tell us if he could benefit from a velocity increase with this TJ surgery? It’s always hard to tell, but sometimes the young guys do pick up a few MPH.
January 12th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Boy..I dunno if I agree with greenies not being performance enhancers. I understand the Gaylord Perry argument about the spitter, but I think that portion might be a tad off base.
However, if they are, you don’t even want to think about how many guys would get suspended for it.
At the same time, I’d reckon at one point a few years back it was probably awfully close to an even playing field because nearly everybody used ‘em.
January 12th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Nats sign Jerome Williams?!
I hope he comes back to Wrigley, now! Pleeeeze!
January 13th, 2007 at 12:18 am
re:26…
doubt tomas is much more than AAA injury replacement and teaching fodder.
he is the type of veteran who you could keep in AAA to work with others.
i dont really see cedeno breaking with the team if izturis is healthy, honeslty…and i dont see tomas breaking with the team before cedeno gets his shot…his “many gloves” role is being filled by theriot, anyway.
January 13th, 2007 at 1:43 am
maybe someone with more info on Harben could tell us if he could benefit from a velocity increase with this TJ surgery?
Who couldn’t benefit from a velocity increase?
Anyway the THT Annual has an essay on Tommy Johns surgeries and one of the symptoms of guys with UCL problems is often a drop in velocity and the TJ surgery tends to give it back to you, in some cases even increasing what you once had.
And I think I recall when the trade was made from some scouting reports that he’d lost some mph’s from his fastball, fwiw.
January 13th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Ichiro not happy in Seattle-
http://deadspin.com/sports/mlb/
ichiros-rooting-for-the-bears-today-228557.php
He would be a nice mid season pick up.
January 13th, 2007 at 11:37 am
how much is left for longterm pickups, though?
none of us know and yeah…it could be countless.
there’s still the “z issue” and the 08/09 payrolls are kinda scarey before Z even enters the money shuffle.
personally, its hard to even say something like this about the only true ace on the team, but i dunno if the cubs can keep Z at 17-18+m longterm and not become a 120+m team in the years to come.
the spending has been a nice surprise, but hardly any of it has been publicly announced and the ceiling of the spending is still a mystery.
January 13th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
A kind of funny Letterman clip… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU4orBE1-pE
January 13th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
http://i1.tinypic.com/4haw5jd.png
More offseason fun: a site traffic graph comparing the five major sports in the US — notice how pronunciated are the spikes and depressions between offseason/regular season traffic and how Nhl.com was basically dead during the strike — also, how all five sites are beginning to decline after a 2004-2005 peak. To my surprise, there’s a clear winner, Internet traffic-wise, and it ain’t baseball nor football.
January 13th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Carlos, that’s because the NBA season is in full swing, while the NFL season is winding down and the MLB season hasn’t started yet. Look back at what sport was on top at different point in any given year, and it nearly always corresponds to whatever sport is “in season” for that time of year.
January 13th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
well if your talking about the NBA being the clear winner it’s pretty much because of Yao Ming..
although it seems to me that MLB and NBA kind of go back and forth. NFL is pretty much an American sport.
And MLS isn’t a major sport, golf, Nascar, college football I would guess trump it easily, I’m sure they trump hockey as well by now.
January 14th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Sunday Rogers Rumor:
Your favorite and mine, Phil Rogers today:
“If the Cubs are going to make a Jacque Jones trade before spring training, it probably will be with Pittsburgh. The Pirates are intent on adding a left-handed hitter and might be willing to give up one of their left-handed-hitting center fielders, Chris Duffy or Nate McLouth. ”
Where does he get this stuff?
January 14th, 2007 at 11:22 am
The Pirates don’t want to trade Duffy, they like what they saw from him to end the year.
Plus it looks like he has outstanding speed. 26 SB’s, 1 time caught stealing.
You want a realistic option that you might not be happy with? Colorado would like to move Wily Taveras for a hitter with some more pop.
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