Cubs Afternoon Game Thread: Bud Wants Realignment, Big Z Pitches, and Milton Keeps Talking
If you've been around the interwebs at all lo these past few days, you're undoubtedly aware that Milton Bradley is completely incapable of shutting his trap.
Today, Jim Hendry responded to Bradley's allegations that he was "a prisoner in his home" and that the North Side is a tough place for African-Americans to play baseball.
Hendry called Bradley's implication to ESPN that he received hate mail from within the organization "absolutely ridiculous," and said Bradley needs to look "in the mirror" and accept responsibility for his poor 2009 numbers.
"We're all brought up in life to accept responsibility when we fail, and to judge people by how they act and how they carry themselves when things don't go well," Hendry said.
Hear, hear, Jim. However, I have a better idea that will allow all of us to get off this merry go-round. How about, in addition to Milton sticking with the ol' reliable "no comment" when asked about the Cubs, reporters JUST STOP ASKING HIM ABOUT IT.
He thinks we're all racist. We get it. He blames all of us for his inability to make it in the Windy City. I understood that the FIRST 10,000 times you asked him about it. It's old news. We're all tired of it. Report on something more recent like Mark McGwire admitting he used PEDs or George Brett retiring from baseball.
Speaking of actual baseball stories, have you heard what Bud Selig wants to do to major league baseball? He wants to mess it all up!
The concept (of realignment) gained strong support among committee members, many of whom believe there are non-economic avenues that should be explored to improve competitive balance, similar to the NFL's former use of scheduling to help parity (in which weaker teams were awarded a weaker schedule the next season).
As with most issues of competitive balance, floating realignment involves finding a work-around to the Boston-New York axis of power in the AL East. In the 15 seasons during which the wild-card system has been in use, the Red Sox and Yankees have accounted for 38 percent of all AL postseason berths. The league has never conducted playoffs without the Red Sox or Yankees since that format began -- and in eight of those 15 years both teams made the playoffs. Since 2003 the Sox and Yankees have won at least 95 games 11 times in 14 combined seasons.
One example of floating realignment, according to one insider, would work this way: Cleveland, which is rebuilding with a reduced payroll, could opt to leave the AL Central to play in the AL East. The Indians would benefit from an unbalanced schedule that would give them a total of 18 lucrative home dates against the Yankees and Red Sox instead of their current eight. A small or mid-market contender, such as Tampa Bay or Baltimore, could move to the AL Central to get a better crack at postseason play instead of continually fighting against the mega-payrolls of New York and Boston.
Floating realignment? That sounds confusing and complicated and like it will inevitably manage to screw the Cubs.
And look at this little nugget buried at the bottom of Verducci's column:
The Cubs already have a manager-in-waiting if Lou Piniella does not come back in 2011 on a new contract, according to one executive familiar with the club's thinking. It's Ryne Sandberg, their Triple-A manager and the darling of new Cubs ownership. Only eight men have managed a major league team after being inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player: Frankie Frisch, Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Bob Lemon, Red Schoendienst, Tony Perez and Frank Robinson.
In Cubs news this afternoon, the Cubs take on the Giants in Mesa. You can listen to the game on mlb audio here (mlb.com will do the away broadcast), but there is an intriguing little "mlb.tv" link at the top of the boxscore as well. Only time will tell what that means. Of course, the live box score is available as well.
Today Big Z takes makes his second spring training start of the season. The Cubs' lineup looks like this (h/t @CarrieMuskat):
Theriot SS
Byrd CF
Lee 1B
Ramirez 3B
Nady DH
Soriano LF
Baker 2B
Hill C
Aducci RF
That's a . . . nice. . . lineup. That's. . . um. . . lots of fun.
Hey WGN, the debut of Xavier Nady doesn't warrant a tv feed? (giggle)
I'm going to have to leave the room when DeRosa bats.
46 Comments
Teebob2000 said:
Don't be all hate-y on Nady before the poor feller has an AB. The fair thing is to wait for when he fails, THEN get all up in his stuff.
That 1 thru 4 lineup is intriguing...
FrankS said:
Hey, he can probably throw as well as Jacques Jones and Milton Bradley!
Doc said:
Hey...Bradley didn't have too bad of an arm. Just ask the fans in the right field bleachers.
Teebob2000 said:
Nady's batting 1.000!!!! Seee????
berselius said:
Per Keith Law, Harden is looking terrible in ST. Terrible velocity and mechanics.
Doc said:
I think Jon Heyman has a similar report (I just can't find it.)
I think he's really going to struggle down in Texas this year. He's over due for major injury too.
That being said, don't take too much stock in this one appearance. As I recall, Harden isn't a great spring training pitcher anyway.
berselius said:
I'm not concerned with his spring stats, but reports like this from scouts should be taken seriously.
berselius said:
More from Law:
"His arm used to be fairly free and loose, but his motion is severely restricted and he's visibly favoring his right shoulder, reducing his velocity and his command."
Doc said:
He's hurt. That was almost identical to what we saw from him when his shoulder bothered him.
JulieDiCaro said:
Probably because of the white hot pain that shoots through his arm everytime he throws a baseball.
FrankS said:
Can someone PLEASE slap Bud silly for this latest suggestion? It was bad enough that the Cubs lost the Mets as a rivalry team when MLB went to 3 divisions, but to allow teams to pick their own divisions?
If you want to compare to the NFL, maybe they need to put in a salary cap. They need revenue sharing for all revenue (including television/cable networks), not just ticket sales. Although somehow the Cowboys managed to make a ton more money than other NFL teams, but I would guess those loopholes will be closed at some point. Make it so player contracts aren't guaranteed past the first or second year. That might take care of guys like Carlos Silva who get big contracts and basically sit back and take their money for doing nothing.
The reason that Boston and New York win so much is they have learned how to take advantage of the current system. Do something that forces them to change rather than making people wonder what division their team is going to play in. And for goodness sake, you don't think Toronto, Baltimore and Tampa aren't going to scream if they lose home dates with the Yankees and Red Sox? Has Bud been talking to the guys that supposedly run NA$CAR?
Doc said:
It might be time for my long overdue scheduling blog.
Selig is a moron. (or moran)
Dmband said:
So I think its clear now. Jim Hendry is a racist. JOKING.
Someone needs to explain to Bud Selig that if he really wants parity, there needs to be a cap floor/ceiling.
Allowing teams to change divisions is stupid. Allowing Cleveland, in that example, to play more games against better teams doesnt seem like it would lead to much parity to me.
Doc said:
No...I think Jim Hendry is racist...
against white people.
How dare he give Milton Bradley $30 million and then balk at the idea of giving Ryan Theriot $3.4 million.
He's a jerk.
Doc said:
TOOTBLAN for Theriot already.
Good grief.
JulieDiCaro said:
How is Z looking? I've been on the phone, unable to listen.
Doc said:
Got through the first two inning in a total of 14 pitches.
Is in a little bit of trouble in the third.
Doc said:
oops, innings...oh what I would give for an edit button!
Doc said:
3 straight hits...bases loaded and no outs.
Z sucks. Trade him.
Doc said:
HBP...Giants up 1-0. Still no outs.
Doc said:
Grand Slam
5-0 Giants.
Still no outs.
We should have gotten him a live chicken.
JulieDiCaro said:
Whoa.
Glad I'm not listening.
Doc said:
Scoop out of the dirt at first to complete a double play to retire the side. Finally.
This team sucks except for Lee and Koyie.
Edelweiss said:
Both Theriot and Milton Bradley should be given pills that make them physically ill at the sight of a microphome.
JulieDiCaro said:
Z's line: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1BB, 1 SO, 1 HR 9.00
That's . . . that's not so good.
Doc said:
That would be good if you were Carlos Silva.
Dmband said:
Doc-
I can see the T Shirts now...."Jim Hendry Hates White People" with a picture of Theriot and DeRosa on the back..
LOL!
Doc said:
See! See! DeRosa too! WTF!
Edelweiss said:
The Cubs have the only two albino players in MLB.
Doc said:
Cubs lose. This team sucks.
Dmband said:
From Da Bears Blogger on Chicagonow...granted this is one person, but I thought it was a good out of towner perspective on the issue...
"Dear Milton Bradley...
I am from New Jersey. I am not black. I say these two things so that's it clear I have no stake in your claims that Chicago is a racist city that somehow kept you prisoner in your home. Chicago is my adopted city, my adopted home. In my many trips there, most spent around fans of the respective sports teams, I have never felt hostility towards myself or anyone around me. I have never seen a racial incident at Wrigley or Soldier Field (I have seen them at Yankee Stadium, Shea, Giants Stadium, the Garden...etc.) Playing the race card to excuse your underperformance and shit attitude is the lowest thing any minority can do in a country that still struggles with immense racial tension. What you've done is despicable. It's pathetic. In other words, it's par for the course. "
JulieDiCaro said:
eh. old news.
when we did our "Cubs and Racism" podcast last season, we had an African American Cubs fan on who was pretty clear that he's experienced a fair amount of a racism himself on the North Side.
Dmband said:
I wonder if we can re-align this year.
Im thinking:
Cubs
Pirates
Nationals
Royals
Indians.
Then we might actually win the divison.
Eric From The Dugs said:
Paraphrasing here:
Teams will assign themselves whether they plan on contending or not.
I cannot wait to see the nicknames that are developed for the "not contending this year, thank you" division.
I think we should all take the first crack at it.
And yeah, despite my post yesterday (under The Dugs... all 3 contributors have their own CN accounts now) Milton Bradley has officially crossed the line into incomprehensible lunatic now.
JulieDiCaro said:
We just need relegation like in the EPL. You want to play like Kansas City? Fine, but you're going to do it in AAA.
AndCounting said:
Amen to the "stop asking about it" line of thinking, Julie. I knew this would happen. It's a video interview. Anybody can see his responses. Anyone can watch and see that the interviewer asked him THREE TIMES if he thought hate mail was coming from within the organization and he said he didn't think it did, he hoped it didn't. Now suddenly HE was the one who implied it came from within the organization or he just didn't rule out the possibility strenuously enough. Colleen Effing Whateverthecrap is the one who implied it came from within the organization. Stupid piece of crap media. Milton is one guy who is paid to play baseball. I don't care what he says. The media is supposed to be filled with communications experts who should know the implications of what they're doing and saying better than anyone in the world. I blame Milton for his baseball. I blame the media for the ridiculous flood of idiotic stories.
JulieDiCaro said:
I blame him for not being mature enough to stick to a "no comment." He gets baited because it's so easy. He can't help himself. But I completely agree with you, as well.
Dmband said:
There's no question that the media is fanning the flames and in most cases, creating the fire. Unfortunatley, that is what they are paid to do these days.
And, unfortunatley MB is not just a guy thats paid to play baseball, he is also someone who has a national platform available to him to make sweeping generalizations about a city or fan base (with ZERO specifics to back it up by the way). For example why didnt she press him to show the actual letters? A real reporter would want to get to the bottom of whether or not a CUBS EMPLOYEE sent it...seems like that would be a pretty significant story.
My only other point was now, because of these comments, I have to defend myself to idiots and explain to them I am not racist, merely because I am a fan of a sports team. Sadly, that will still need to be explained to some people.
FrankS said:
But without a doubt there are racist idiots at Wrigley Field because in any large group of humans you are going to find racists idiots.
Maybe those 25 new Cub Ambassadors can help put an end to the obscenities and racial insults coming from the stands. It certainly needs to end if the Cubs are going to remain family friendly.
And maybe the Cubs should institute a policy that they screen all fan mail before it gets to the players. And then turn over the stuff that crosses the line to either postal inspectors, the Chicago PD or the FBI.
And just to toss out a crazy conspiracy theory, but the hate that SOME White Sox fans have toward Cub fans just might be such a driving force that they would pretend to be Cub fans and send racist emails and shout racist from our stands just to make Cub fans look bad? Sounds crazy, but if you read some of the stuff that Sox fans have written on Cub blogs and message boards, then it doesn't seem too far-fetched.
JulieDiCaro said:
I completely believe that there are racist remarks directed at players during the game because Derrek Lee and Jacque Jones, who I believe NOT to be clinically insane, have said so.
If people are so offended by being called racists, then they had damn well better start standing up to these jerks when they open their big mouths. If I ever heard anything like that at a game, I would be on the person who said it like white on rice.
Cubs fans are understandably upset by being lumped in with the bad apples, but how about if we all make a point if letting the bad apples know that this kind of thing won't be tolerated at Wrigley?
Edelweiss said:
I have only sat in the bleachers twice in my 65 years, but both times I went away embarrassed. This is where the drunks sit, and they have nasty attitudes. If a player makes a mistake, or has a bad day, he will receive a nasty boo, along with an insult about his race, religion, ethnic heritage, or height. People on the North Side are better educated, and supposedly less racist, but when they get drunk, they stop hiding their true feelings. Derrick Lee hears less of the nasty remarks because he doesn't play in the outfield. If Fukudome heard any, he probably wouldn't understand American slang, and Soriano plays in left, where less of that goes on. The guys who could have stuck up for him, never heard the remarks. That said, Bradley probably got the brunt of the attacks because he can't keep his mouth shut, and people know they can push his buttons.
abe frohman said:
We can't control MB talking or the reporters for asking questions. We can control only our own actions.
I have an idea: anyone who is sick of hearing about Bradley, stop talking about him. Stop thinking about him. Stop googling "Stupid things Milton Bradley has said about Chicago in the last 30 minutes".
And- for the love of all that is holy - STOP POSTING ABOUT HIM.
FrankS said:
Moths to the flame, man, moths to the flame.
JulieDiCaro said:
I disagree.
Everyone who frequents this site knows that I'm completely incapable of controlling myself.
Doc said:
That's what the diapers are for.
Teebob2000 said:
Rawr!
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