When Will The Cub Stop Kicking Us In The Nuts?!
Written by Godfrey Logan, Monday April 27 2009 playerpres.com
The Chicago Cubs, favorites to win the National League Central Division for the third straight year are in 4th place with the Cardinals with a roster full of no names and a hall of fame manager are leading the division and looking like it's theirs to lose.
I ripped the Cubs for signing Milton Bradley. He currently has one hit this season and has spent more games on the bench than on the field and is already creating waves by announcing who he will and will not speak to when it comes to the media. Not to mention saying he played last year basically when he felt like it. I thought the guy should only come off the bench anyways considering how little time he's spent on the field in recent years. I have always had great respect for Jim Hendry for being the type of General Manager to take the big risks. Go after the top names in baseball. He makes the trade to get Aramis Ramirez and Derrick Lee. Signed Mark Derosa coming off of a career year with the Rangers after being a bench player for most of his career at that point. I believe he has a great eye for talent but he makes some choices that make me scratch my head. I ripped Jim Hendry for trading Mark Derosa who if the Indians remain on the losing path they're on Derosa might be on another team by the trade deadline. The Cubs are short of a clutch hitter which Derosa has been since he'd been in Chicago. Derrick Lee's numbers are down and I personally am hoping he gets traded. If he does we're basically waving the white flag because I don't know who is out there that could replace not only his bat but his gold glove defense. Much had been made of the Cubs not having a player on the DL to start the season in 20 plus years. Since then several players have been taken out of the lineup with nagging injuries including our reigning National League Rookie Of The Year, catcher Giovanni Soto with a hand injury. But he's also out of shape from playing in the WBC. The Cubs have a short bench that leaves them in a tight position if a starter was to go down. Regardless of the state of our bench with Derosa still a Cub it wouldn't matter. We'd be getting great production and wouldn't be in 4th place right now. I know it's not good to dwell on the past, losing 6 straight post season games but what matters is what you do to pick yourself up. Some are saying that the Padres will eventually fall off and Jake Peavy will become available again. My question is who do we have to go after him? Had we gotten Peavy this season I would have no doubt we'd have the pitching staff to take us all the way. The Cubs have a great staff now but there is also a history of not producing for them no matter how well they pitch. I am looking at this season with a glass half full attitude because I believe that they can and will win the division but not as they are configured right now. I believe this team when healthy can go deep into the post season like the 2006 Cardinals did based on their veteran leadership. But this leadership might be on the DL by the time the season ends if Jim Hendry has done nothing to shore up the bench. He's been running around like a chicken with his head cut off worrying about the bull pen and who should be closer. I think the pen will be fine in the end and continue to be one of our strong points. It's the health of the guys who play the field for nine innings every game that is my concern.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Chicago Rules The Weekend (Why They Play The Games) Playerpress.com
Written by Godfrey Logan, Monday April 20 2009
The White Sox get some payback against Rays in Florida, the Cubs take two of three from Cardinals in shortened series versus their rivals. Bulls and Blackhawks are undefeated in first round playoff games. What a time to be a Chicago sports fan.
I been called a Chicago hater. Even a hater of my favortie baseball team the Chicago Cubs. I call it "callin it as I see it." I have been lucky enough to see my favorite teams at their best and at their worst. Why should I not want them to stay at the top and why should I not criticize when the people in management do things that I feel are not in the best interest of building and maintaining winning franchises? This was a weekend not to find fault but to enjoy the success of my home teams. The White Sox looked like they should have looked last season when I predicted a Cubs Sox World Series with Carlos Quentin leading the way and the league already with seven homeruns. The Cubs and Cardinals lived up to the hype as the best rivalry in baseball. And as it should be made even more important and heated with both teams in contention. The Cardinals came into Chicago looking like world beaters already with the most wins in arguably the toughest division in baseball. All three games came down to late game heroics nothing decided until the last at bats.
The Bulls and Blackhawks are undefeated in first round games. Derrick Rose adding to his legacy as the messiah of the Chicago Bulls scoring 36 points against the Celtics and doing something not even Jordan could do, win a playoff game against the Boston Celtics. With or without Garnett the Celtics are still a very dangerous team. While no on in Chicago is saying the Bulls will win it all but they do believe that with Derric Rose we can go pretty far.
And while I'm not the biggest hockey fan who cannot be happy to have their hometown team win something. The 'Hawks came out sluggish in game two against the Calgary Flames perhaps not knowing what to do for an encore after winning the first game twelve seconds into overtime. But they were able to hold onto home ice advantage with those two victories. Here's to hoping they win this series and play better as the playoffs go along. Instead of finding fault or where these teams have holes that will cause them to sink like a rock. I am enjoying being in the best sports town in America for the time being.
Written by Godfrey Logan, Monday April 20 2009
The White Sox get some payback against Rays in Florida, the Cubs take two of three from Cardinals in shortened series versus their rivals. Bulls and Blackhawks are undefeated in first round playoff games. What a time to be a Chicago sports fan.
I been called a Chicago hater. Even a hater of my favortie baseball team the Chicago Cubs. I call it "callin it as I see it." I have been lucky enough to see my favorite teams at their best and at their worst. Why should I not want them to stay at the top and why should I not criticize when the people in management do things that I feel are not in the best interest of building and maintaining winning franchises? This was a weekend not to find fault but to enjoy the success of my home teams. The White Sox looked like they should have looked last season when I predicted a Cubs Sox World Series with Carlos Quentin leading the way and the league already with seven homeruns. The Cubs and Cardinals lived up to the hype as the best rivalry in baseball. And as it should be made even more important and heated with both teams in contention. The Cardinals came into Chicago looking like world beaters already with the most wins in arguably the toughest division in baseball. All three games came down to late game heroics nothing decided until the last at bats.
The Bulls and Blackhawks are undefeated in first round games. Derrick Rose adding to his legacy as the messiah of the Chicago Bulls scoring 36 points against the Celtics and doing something not even Jordan could do, win a playoff game against the Boston Celtics. With or without Garnett the Celtics are still a very dangerous team. While no on in Chicago is saying the Bulls will win it all but they do believe that with Derric Rose we can go pretty far.
And while I'm not the biggest hockey fan who cannot be happy to have their hometown team win something. The 'Hawks came out sluggish in game two against the Calgary Flames perhaps not knowing what to do for an encore after winning the first game twelve seconds into overtime. But they were able to hold onto home ice advantage with those two victories. Here's to hoping they win this series and play better as the playoffs go along. Instead of finding fault or where these teams have holes that will cause them to sink like a rock. I am enjoying being in the best sports town in America for the time being.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Milton Bradley The New Kerry Wood
Written by Godfrey Logan, Monday April 13 2009 playerpress.com
We've seen this in Chicago before, a guy with plenty of talent but if he trips over his own feet he needs to be taken out of the game.
In the meantime Mark Derosa whom the Cubs traded to Cleveland for pitching prospects hit two homeruns for the Indians yesterday. Milton Bradley has just one hit for the Cubs this season with plenty of walks. That reminds me of the year I played Pony League baseball where I had similar numbers. Bradley had to be taken out of the game yesterday for straining his groin running the bases. While it can be said that Bradleys injury is at least a baseball injury compared to Kerry Wood who once hurt himself fallingout of a hot tub. But we at least got to see the full talent of a Kerry Wood. We have yet to see what Bradley can do. It is my prediction that he will soon have conflict with the fans who have seen this before. While the man who the Cubs traded to make room and money for Bradley will likely have another great year and at the end of the season fans will be begging to trade Bradley to get Derosa back.
Written by Godfrey Logan, Monday April 13 2009 playerpress.com
We've seen this in Chicago before, a guy with plenty of talent but if he trips over his own feet he needs to be taken out of the game.
In the meantime Mark Derosa whom the Cubs traded to Cleveland for pitching prospects hit two homeruns for the Indians yesterday. Milton Bradley has just one hit for the Cubs this season with plenty of walks. That reminds me of the year I played Pony League baseball where I had similar numbers. Bradley had to be taken out of the game yesterday for straining his groin running the bases. While it can be said that Bradleys injury is at least a baseball injury compared to Kerry Wood who once hurt himself fallingout of a hot tub. But we at least got to see the full talent of a Kerry Wood. We have yet to see what Bradley can do. It is my prediction that he will soon have conflict with the fans who have seen this before. While the man who the Cubs traded to make room and money for Bradley will likely have another great year and at the end of the season fans will be begging to trade Bradley to get Derosa back.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Bears Won't Get Chance To Screw Up Draft
Written by Godfrey Logan, Friday April 03 2009 playerpress.com
On the day of the draft I will turn 33 years old. already balding the last thing Iwanted to do that day was pull out what was left of my hair.
I'm glad the Bears got Cutler though the Bears had chances to draft a quarterback before this trade. There was talk the Bears would have drafted a wide receiver at number 18 but with the picks the Bears have made in recent years I was terrified who they would have drafted considering the last picks they made at the wide receiver position have not even seen the field. I'm glad this trade happened though I believed it was a long shot because it has taken the responsibility out of GM Jerry Angelo's hands. Not to say that Kyle Orton wasn't a serviceable quarterback but his numbers had fallen off in the second half of the season which is what prompted Angelo to comment on it at the state of the team address leaving many fans to believe that the team was going to draft a quarterback. Theproblem with that choice is that we would have had to wait for such a player to develop and fans in Chicago who have been pining for a franchise quarterback since Sid Luckman. The only problems left now is figuring out who Cutler is going to be throwing to since our receivers right now are very much still wet behind the ears and hopefully changing the defensive scheme. It is obvious to the fans that that scheme isn't working and yet they keep on using it.
Written by Godfrey Logan, Friday April 03 2009 playerpress.com
On the day of the draft I will turn 33 years old. already balding the last thing Iwanted to do that day was pull out what was left of my hair.
I'm glad the Bears got Cutler though the Bears had chances to draft a quarterback before this trade. There was talk the Bears would have drafted a wide receiver at number 18 but with the picks the Bears have made in recent years I was terrified who they would have drafted considering the last picks they made at the wide receiver position have not even seen the field. I'm glad this trade happened though I believed it was a long shot because it has taken the responsibility out of GM Jerry Angelo's hands. Not to say that Kyle Orton wasn't a serviceable quarterback but his numbers had fallen off in the second half of the season which is what prompted Angelo to comment on it at the state of the team address leaving many fans to believe that the team was going to draft a quarterback. Theproblem with that choice is that we would have had to wait for such a player to develop and fans in Chicago who have been pining for a franchise quarterback since Sid Luckman. The only problems left now is figuring out who Cutler is going to be throwing to since our receivers right now are very much still wet behind the ears and hopefully changing the defensive scheme. It is obvious to the fans that that scheme isn't working and yet they keep on using it.
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