Bold Baseball Predictions: Chicago Cubs

• Rich Harden will win 20 games and have over 200 strikeouts.

 

• Aramis Ramirez will continue to be eerily consistent and finish the season with 29 home runs 109 RBI and a .286 batting average.

 

• Carlos Zambrano will get into a fight with someone.

 

• The Cubs will lose in the NLCS.

 

• Kevin Gregg will have a shaky first few outings as closer and the Chicago media will have a field day about how much better Carlos Marmol would be as the closer.

 

• Aaron Heilman will blow a game against the Mets at Citi-Field and get a standing ovation as he walks off the mound.

 

• Derek Lee’s slow descent will continue.

 

• Geovany Soto will continue to be one of the best catchers in baseball which will in turn prompt a Page 2 column on ESPN about if this is the new golden age of MLB catchers. The conclusion of the article will leave the decision up to the reader.

 

• The Royals will trade at least one of their starting pitchers to the Cubs for nickels on the dollar at the trade deadline.

 

• Bill Murray will drunkenly slide into second base during a game but because he’s Bill Murray, Major League Baseball will pretend it was a staged joke. He’ll console himself by sleeping with 22 year old scenester girls he meets at Pitchfork’s Summer Festival of Pretentiousness.

Ryan Dempster Stays In Chicago With The Cubs. 4 Years. $52 million.

In a plot to foil the Yankees’ plans to buy an entirely new rotation, Ryan Dempster has re-signed with the Chicago Cubs.

Dempster will receive a $4 million signing bonus and make $52 million over 4 years (the 4th year being an option year).

Dempster (last seen, NOT leading my fantasy baseball team to glory….sonofabitch!) was 17-6 last season. He was a closer three seasons prior to 2008. And even though getting what could be a high quality third starter (that would be an ace for some teams) for $13 million per season seems like a good deal, Dempster had one great year last year. His 17-5 record might not be consistent with what is to come.

All though it should be.

Here’s Steinbrenner’s desired Rotation:

1) C. C. Sabathia

2) AJ Burnett

3) Ben Sheets

4) Ryan Dempster

5) Derek Lowe

Mets Lose Again. The Game Was Agonizing and I’m Not Even a Mets Fan…

I don’t know how many days in a row I can post pictures of Mets players and/or mascots looking depressed.

Last night’s shit-showat Shea began with the Mets givng up a 0-1 lead, then, making Carlos Zambrano throw a lot of pitches, Zambrano walking in a run for the tie and then Carlos Delgado hitting a grand slam to put the Mets up 5-1.

You would think a team that must win every game to even have a chance at the playoffs would bring their A game against a team that has already clinched and is definitely playing hard, but clearly doesn’t care as much. You’d figure the Mets would go into shutdown mode and just throw strikes and nurse the lead. Not waste their bullpen. You know. It was a good opportunity for them to put the Cubs away.

But not this team.

At one point Rick Sutcliffe said something to the effect of “I really feel bad for these Mets fans. This team sucks.”

One direct quote I do have was my girlfriend who said “It must be shitty to be on a bad team. But I bet it is way worse to be a good team that plays poorly and loses all the time.”

That pretty much sums up the Mets.

David Wright has gone on record saying that their impending collapse of 2008 has NOTHING to do with their collapse of 2007. He would know better than me I guess…but who or what does this team need to add to actually get the job done?

Will they go after C.C. Sabathia this off season? Ben Sheets? Maybe both of them? Will they try to get a better outfield? One thing they could do is offer the Pirates Ricardo Rincon in exchange for Nate McLouth.

That deal sounds like it is right up Pittsburgh’s alley.

The worst thing that happened last night (aside from blowing a 4 run lead in a must win game) was when the Mets had Daniel Murphy on third with no outs in the bottom of the 9th.

Obviously I don’t blame it all on Jerry Manuel, but come on! The first two batters ate shit. No one could hit a deep fly ball. No one could even hit a shallow outfield fly (which probably could have been enough to score Murphy). With two outs, how could you NOT go for the suicide squeeze? Better yet, with 0 outs, why not try to sacrifice bunt in the runner? Put on a hit and run, lay a bunt down the first base line and have Murphy sliding into home.

Here’s a gem of stat from ESPN:

New York stranded seven runners in the seventh through ninth innings. The Metsfailed to score after putting runners at the corners with no outs in the seventh, then got only one run — on Jeff Samardzija’s bases-loaded walk to Ramon Martinez — after putting runners at the corners with no outs in the eighth. The ninth was even worse.

 

“That’s bad. That’s bad. That’s bad,” Manuel said.

“At this juncture, probably our toughest defeat,” Manuel said. “No question.”

The Brewers won last night too.

Also, does anyone else think that if the Brewers and Mets combined their rosters they might actually be fun to watch and good? I think they should look into that…I’m sure Bud Selig would approve.

This ship is definitely sinking.

Cincinnati Reds Trade Adam Dunn, Blow It Up, Try To Rebuild After 18 Years Of Misery.

Saying it has been 18 years of misery isn’t exactly fair.

The Reds did make the playoffs 13 years ago (they were promptly swept).

They were also in first place in the NL Central in 1994…you know…before the strike ended the season.

But I have to wonder how it feels to be a Cincinnati Reds fan this morning.

One of their best players for the last several seasons has been traded for prospects. Ken Griffey Jr. was sent away a few weeks back. It can’t be easy.

You know how when you’re a sports fan you have your teams and you have the teams you hate? Does anyone else feel like between yours team and the teams you hate, there are a slew of teams that you have a certain affinity for. You aren’t exactly a fan of the team, but you would definitely root for them should your team not make the playoffs or get eliminated by someone else. Am I the only one?

I can honestly say that the run and gun Phoenix Suns were one such team. I think Bombs felt the same way. I loved watching them do ridiculous things even when the Celtics were horrible.

The Baron Davis Warriors were another.

And I’ve always had a strange and inexplicable affinity for the Cincinnati Reds.

When I look at the NL standings they are sort of the team I root for in the Central.

I mean, I like the Cubs, I can’t NOT like the Cubs, and the Brewers are sometimes entertaining (though this is mostly based on my love of Gorman Thomas).

But the Reds are sort of, like I’ll look at their box scores.

I love Brandon Phillips. I loved Adam Dunn. And I loved Griffey (when he was healthy).

But do I ever watch their games from start to finish? I mean, if they are on, maybe. But I would never seek them out. I just sort of…want them to be good. Does that make sense?

Obviously I don’t get upset when they suck (I would have lived a sad sad life) and wouldn’t throw a party or celebrate if they won it all, but if the World Series was the Reds against the Rangers (or someone else completely random that I have nothing against) I would actually watch it to root for the Reds.

And anyway, trading Adam Dunn for prospects will hopefully help the Reds rebuild.

This is a team that just never seems to go in the right direction.

They never seem to spend money on high quality pitching (yet throw out all kinds of cash for Broson Arroyo). They are in a very tough division. If they go for a youth movement ala the Florida Marlins or Tampa Bay Rays, I don’t see how it could do anything but help their chances in the long run.

However…for the next 3 or 4 seasons…

Jimmy Clausen Drinks…World Ends.

Crowley would look good in this...

I’m going to preface this post by saying I’m very anti-Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish.  

I think that out of all of the bandwagons in sports, Notre Dame leads by a long shot.  For some reason people LOVE Notre Dame.  A lot of these people cannot name a single athlete on any of their sports teams (other than maybe Brady Quinn, who will get his chance at the NFL level soon, and will have a TD:Interception ratio of about 1:5).  

The Notre Dame bandwagon really pisses me off.  

The only thing that pisses me off more is when I see someone in a BC hat and Notre Dame shirt, or vice versa.  

Sports bigamy is disgusting, let alone wearing two rivals gear…I put this on the level of wearing a Cubs hat and White Sox shirt.

 Anyways, the Anti-Notre Dame rant could go on for hours, but I will save your eyes for the time being.

The Chicago Tribune ran a story today about how pictures have surfaced of Jimmy Clausen, current Notre Dame QB, and other teammates allegedly drinking.  Supposedly the athletes were participating in “Beer Olympics” and are underage.  This is Clausen’s second accusation of underage alcohol consumption and is apparently a big deal.

I feel like Nore Dame just needs to let go of it.  We all know that no matter what Clausen will be starting all year at Quarterback and this will just get negative press for the school.

The fact that they were competing in Beer Olympics is pretty hilarious, as I like to imagine top D1 athletes as getting whatever they want, not having to go to class and banging the top 50 hottest girls on campus before the end of their freshmen year…not as losers who got dressed up in red jackets and competed in Beer Olympics. 

I have never competed in Beer Olympics and probably never will, that shit is just weak.  I can think of no more bro-like activity than busting out a 30 of Nady Light and creating stupid beer games, which is actually sort of how I picture a typical Notre Dame party anyways, so maybe this is just par for the course.  

Irregardless (yes, i realize that’s not a word), the fact that Notre Dame is undergoing an investigation about this is incredibly lame, and they have other things they should be focussing on…like the fact that they won three games last year and were projected as a top 5 team in the preseason polls.

Because Notre Dame sucks almost as bad as all the bandwagon losers who jock their shit, please just let Jimmy Clausen and his bros do whatever they please…they were going for the gold!

AL Playoff Predictions

In my original mid-season article I wanted to make some serious 2008 season predictions. For whatever reason it didn’t happen so much.

So now that the season is approaching 3/4 of the way over, its time to make some bold statements about who has a shot, who is in another rebuilding year and who is flat out dead where they stand.

I predict that the Tampa Bay Rays are in fact a legit competitor. Really, they are probably more serious a challenge to both the Red Sox and Yankees than either team will be to the other from here on out.

People still say things like “it’s not gonna last” or whatever. There is no way this team completely folds unless they 1) get cocky like the 2007 Mets…Because they are young and have never tasted victory before, I doubt this happens. 2) have several severe injuries to key players…All though injuries can happen at any time, the worst part of the season for them (just before the half way mark) has come and gone.

Does that mean that I think they are definitely winning the AL East? No. Not definitely. But I do think they will be in the race all through September.

And the other two teams that have a chance to win the AL East?

The Yankees are one.

Even though I was programmed to hate everything they stand for, to detest everything about the organization and all of their players, far be it from me to assume that just because they are 3.5 games back right now that their season is over. That’s just stupid.

The Red Sox fans that I hear that from are either 1) new to being Red Sox fans (2004 to present), 2) drunk, 3) HOPING and PRAYING that it is true or 4) Not paying attention to the 2008 Red Sox and 2008 Rays.

This Yankees team has a few issues that are a little more obvious than ones they have had in previous seasons. For one, they are really having trouble staying healthy. They are seeing some of their quality offensive players get old and regress. The pitching is not really there.  It isn’t Texas Rangers bad, they still have a few good guys getting decent starts in their rotation, but they have been scrambling all season with everyone outside of Mussina and Pettitte. Some of the young guys look good, sure, but they won’t look good for long if their confidence gets shot. If I were a Yankee fan, that would worry me.

But this Yankees team is far from done. They are only 3.5 games out of first. 3 games behind the Red Sox. They can still score runs (thanks in large part to ARod). Hell, they have a +50 run differential. Even if the pitching is somewhat inconsistent (which is the word I would use…its not bad…bad would imply consistency. The Rangers pitching is BAD) they still have an offense that can score 5 runs a night, 10 on any given night and it would never surprise me to see them win a game 22-5.

But offense won’t win any Championships. It comes and goes. There one night, gone the next. You can’t rely on it.

I wouldn’t say I think the Red Sox are done or not going to make the playoffs.

I could easily see a situation where the Red Sox drop a few too many games, have trouble with the Rays and Yankees in September and end up a couple games out of the Playoffs. I could easily see that happening…But I don’t think it will.

The Red Sox have not exactly been the most healthy team either this season. What they do have going for them is the youth movement, JD Drew being great again and a fairly solid rotation. But Manny is taking his 4 week vacation early this season. Hopefully Ortiz is fine. Hopefully things work out. But as you’ve seen in the past, I’m not all that optimistic. 

To me, for the thinking Red Sox fan, you have to consider a few things. The lack of a trustworthy bullpen. The injuries racking up. The fact that players stepping up and filling in holes is nice while it lasts, but it will NEVER last forever. Last season’s Red Sox just seemed to me like they were easily going to win the World Series all year. You could feel it. They had everything clicking the right way. They weren’t hampered by injuries to key guys all year. They could hold a lead, they could come from behind. They could win big games. They did it all. These Red Sox seem more like the 2005 Red Sox to me. Unless they get their act together over the next 50 games, I don’t think they will get very far even if they make the playoffs.

So to make a prediction…

I predict the Rays win the AL East by about 2 games. The Red Sox get the Wild Card by about 2 or 3 games with the Yankees right on their heels.

You know what team IS breathing fire right now? The Angels of whatever city in California.

The Angels are the only team in the AL that seems like they could easily win a World Series without any issues if the season ended today.

And the funny thing is, I think they’re UNDER PERFORMING.

They only have a +34 run differential, a few of their key bats have had rough seasons, its been weird. Take a look at their player stats. Torii Hunter hasn’t exactly rocked the Earth with his offensive output this season. Vlad looks like he’s getting older. Chone Figgins isn’t nearly as effective as he has been in years past. But they still find a way to score runs. They have an undeniable rotation (Saunders, Santana, Lackey, Weaver and Garland…the worst ERA in the rotation is Garland’s 4.12), they strike people out, and have you seen their bullpen? Scot Shields might be the most underrated pitcher in the AL. The guy has 21 holds. an ERA under 3.0, 1.18 WHIP, a K/9 average of 9.76, add in an unstoppable closer in Francisco Rodriguez (more than 40 saves) and then look at the stats Jose Arredondo, Darren Oliver and Darren O’Day are putting up.

That is 5 quality starters and 5 reliable relievers. Name another team in baseball with a pitching staff that good.

I could easily see the Angels steamrolling through the playoffs. They are easily taking the West (ahead by 10 games now, probably by 21 by year’s end).

In the Central, I can’t really say what is going to happen. It is still a 3 team race. The Tigers, though better than at the start of the season, are still not as good as advertised. I think I made my feelings about this Tigers team known in my mid-season review article.

But I don’t think they’re out.

The Twins don’t have the pitching to stay ahead of anyone other than the Royals for long. Even if the Twins prove me wrong here and somehow win the Central, they are out in the first round to the Angels or Rays (based on my above predictions).

The White Sox just don’t excite me at all. They have a few guys playing inspired baseball, a lunatic manager and even though they’re in first in their division, most casual sports fans in Chicago are probably far more interested and invested in the Cubs right now. The White Sox have a good rotation, but it isn’t great. Vasquez and Contreras give up too many runs, I question Gavin Floyd’s durability (can he last through September?) and Buehrle gives up 7 hits a start (average). This isn’t to say that I would not gladly accept a few starters from the White Sox for the Red Sox. I would take any of the top 3 with open arms.

The bullpen is good. Not Angels good. But good.

As far as their offense goes, its like a team of power hits that don’t hit all that well (Jermaine Dye aside). They generate a lot of runs but remind me a hell of a lot of the Yankees….but with the pitching to back it up.

I’m going to say the White Sox take the Central by about 4 games. The Twins drop down to third. The Tigers’ insanely slow start will just be too much to overcome. Its a hole that is too deep in my opinion.

So for the AL my playoff predictions are:

1. Angels 103-59

2. Rays 96-66

3. White Sox 95-67

4. Red Sox (WC) 94-68

Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin To The Cubs For Prospects.

 Well that didn’t take long.

The Cubs have decided to greatly improve their rotation by trading away six prospects for the A’s ace and consistent starter Chad Gaudin.

Rich Harden is Rich Harden. He strikes people out. He’s an ace. He’s nice to have at the top of a rotation. He is a great pitcher.

Chad Gaudin is a guy with some upside. Actually, I thought before this season that Gaudin and Jason Bergman (Nationals) might be the two starters who made the biggest strides towards improving greatly this season. They both put up decent stats last year while battling injuries and playing for mediocre teams. Neither of them have really come full circle, but it was my unexpressed opinion before the year started.

How can you not like Chad Gaudin? Look at that face. Its like he’s shitting his pants while winding up and trying not to laugh about it.

It makes sense.

And it makes the Brewers look like they could be in a lot of trouble (both in the standings and the future, because they kind of sold the farm for CC and there is no guarantee he is going back there. In fact, if I had to bet on it, I would say the Yankees will probably offer CC something absurd like $300 million for 10 years or something following this season. That would be a Yankee-front-office-like decision…buy high sell low…or just buy high and watch the investment disappear…)

Its funny that this year has seen 3 of the top pitchers in the AL leave for the NL. It seems like the National League might just be rebounding from what some dub “inferiority”.

The real losers here are the A’s fans who have no real reason to watch the rest of the season. Its not like they didn’t have a chance at a playoff spot. They had some good pitching and were capable of beating quality teams. Maybe the investment in prospects will pay off in the future…but right now it sucks.

BRING BACK RICKEY HENDERSON!!!

NHL Will Do Another Winter Classic At Wrigley Field.

My NHL coverage here is lacking. It was even a pretty good season. A great Finals. Unfortunately the hated Red Wings won the Stanley Cup (as usual), but I had to root for them since the Celtics roasted the Pistons in 6 games. Its only fair.

Anyway, Guy McHockey has announced that the NHL’s Winter Classic game will be at Wrigley Field this New Year’s Day and be between the defending Champs and Chicago Black Hawks.

So imagine this…

…here.

What will most likely happen is that the Cubs Black Hawks will be massacred by the Tigers Red Wings. Hopefully Cameron and Ferris show up and everything is happy regardless.

Either way, I m still very very very unimpressed by the decision to make the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day, as that is College Football time (the one time of year I watch College Football). Why the hell wouldn’t they do the Winter Classic on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve? That would be perfect. Shit. I could stop Watching “A Christmas Story” for 3 hours to watch some hockey. No problem.

I’m pretty sure Guy McHockey wants to run the league into the ground…