Kuzul

The Cubs may be known as the lovable losers, but Joey Votto doesn’t care.

Votto refused to congratulate Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd when he made a big play in right field in the ninth inning of the 2010 MLB All-Star game, throwing out David Ortiz at second base for the second out of the inning. 

This play paved the way for the National League’s first victory since 1996.

“I don’t like the Cubs,” Votto told ESPN, “And I’m not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back. But because he made that really cool play, it turned out to be a really cool experience. I’m really glad we got the win today,” Votto said.

He went on to explain why he harbored such cold feelings towards the Cubs.

“We are Cincinnati Reds,” Votto said. “We’re taught to hate everything in the Central Division. That’s just how it is.”  

Is it me or does Votto sound a little robot-esque?

It sounds like the quote should have ended with, “they must be destroyed.”

If Cubs fans needed more reasons to dislike the Dusty Baker-led squad, here you go.

Maybe Votto was just a little bitter that it took a final vote for him to get voted onto the All-Star team…

Read more: John Mark runs a blog that covers the Cubs and the Cardinals over at

TheOutfieldIvy.com

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I am now officially in love with Joey Votto…well, if he were a she. 

The main headline on the Yahoo splash page runs Votto through the ringer for not hugging and slapping the rear end of Marlon Byrd. 

It wasn’t the feature story for very long—enough time to send me into a legitimate laugh out loud.

Says Votto, “I don’t like the Cubs. And I’m not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back. But because he made that really cool play, it turned out to be a really cool experience. I’m really glad we got the win today.”

Yeah baby, that’s the spirit! 

The Cubs outfielder made a great play…possibly a game saver. Votto acknowledged it as being a “really cool play”—so what’s the big deal?

I ask, what in the world is wrong with not liking a rival team? 

It wasn’t anything personal against Byrd. 

It’s just the fact that the Cubs outfielder happens to wear the wrong color jersey—although, I have always liked the Cubbie blue—very classy.

One of my biggest pet peeves in the game of baseball is being forced to watch camaraderie between opposing teams. Players yukking it up with the other team before the game, and especially during the game—it’s sickening.

Call me an old-school soul, but if Shoeless Joe had a smiley face on and tried to talk to Ty Cobb, it’s very likely Jackson would have been murdered on the playing field.

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a catcher trying to make a batter lose his focus by making sport of the guy’s ugly wife. 

Or even, a little banter between a first baseman and a rival who has just reached base is okay.

I’ve seen Joey Votto do that numerous times…maybe even with Marlon Byrd—I’ll pay closer attention the next time the Reds are in Wrigley or the Cubs hit Great American.

“Votto refused to congratulate Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd.”

So what? Did everyone congratulate him? I doubt it, but if they did I’m for sure glad I turned off the tube when the game ended.

Were Votto and the rest of the NL All-Stars supposed to run into the outfield and join the jumping chest bump? 

The ninth inning play by Byrd, where he bull rushed the ball and made a last second decision to let it fall and get the force at second of the sloth-footed David Ortiz was the best play by a right-fielder in an All-Star game since 1979 when Dave Parker fielded a line drive single on a hop and gunned the third base runner down at the plate.

Byrd knew it was a spectacular play. Votto knew it. Everyone who saw it knew it.

According to Yahoo baseball “expert”, David Brown (what a lame name—get a pseudonym buddy), Votto should have congratulated Byrd with a, “Handshake…a wave…a wink…a nod…a glance…a happy thought.”

How about a tongue kiss? Would that have suited you, David Lame Name? 

Lame Name goes on to say, “What a leech—and a sorry excuse for an All-Star.”

Hmmmm….What’s worse, saying you are not going to pat the back of a divisional rival (while saying his play was “cool”), or calling a complete stranger “a leech” and “a sorry excuse for an All-Star?”

I know my answer.

Anyone half familiar with Votto’s style knows that the man takes the game very seriously. He very rarely even smiles.

Now, knowing he is a throwback to the days when joshing around with members of the opposition would lead to a beating, Joey Votto is officially my favorite baseball player.

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If you are a true Chicago Cubs fan, then by now you know that this team is quickly heading nowhere.

Although they are still within 10 games in the division, the chances of them making up any ground is highly unlikely.

So what are the next steps this franchise needs to take?

It is simply to try and move veterans with the high salaries, and to build from the minor league system.

Honestly, if you look at the guys on the Cubs’ 25-man roster, most of them were acquired from other teams, rather than brought up through the system. Maybe the Cubs should take a page from the Tampa Bay Rays’ playbook on building a winner.

So, who exactly should the Cubs get rid of?

Well, I would start by a hobbled Aramis Ramirez, but then who wants a beaten up third baseman that can’t hit anymore? Derrek Lee is also a candidate for being dealt with. He has had an off year so far, but he still could be a player for someone wanting to add a bat down the stretch.

Carlos Zambrano is my top choice to be sent packing, but who wants a guy that throws more temper tantrums than strikes?

Also you could add Kosuke Fukudome, Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, and Alfonso Soriano to the list of guys who could be dealt with if the right offer comes along.

Marlon Byrd, even though he leads the team in hitting and has been the lone bright spot, could be gone. He is unhappy with his current contract, and is trying to get the player’s union to help him void the deal. But, at least we’ll get something for him, right?

The big problem with unloading a group of guys that have not came through over the past several years is the massive salaries these guys carry.

Here is a breakdown of the top ten Cubs salaries in 2010, according to FOXSports.com .

In this bad economy, who wants to pay that for a group of guys that have barely won 30 games at this point in June?

The short answer is, nobody!

I will go out on a limb and say that the Cubs may be able to deal Lilly since he is a left handed starter and those can be a hot commodity coming down the stretch.

Zambrano will be dangled, along with Ramirez, and maybe Lee, but nobody will bite. I think Fukudome could end up out West with a playoff contender, as could Xavier Nady.

Dempster may be on the block too, but he is not a young gun anymore, and I doubt anyone will want to take on his contract.

The bottom line is that it is all about waiting until next year again.

But before next year begins, the organization needs to decide how it wants to prepare for the future. Will they stay with the same stale product out on the field, or bring up the future Cubs in guys like Starlin Castro and Tyler Colvin.

Finally, I think that Cubs manager Lou Pinella will step down by mid August. Sweet Lou can’t throw enough fits on the field to get these guys fired up. I think it would be wise to retire and move on to the next stage of his life before this club gives him a heart-attack.

As always, we hope that next season will be the year, but a lot of next season depends on who the Cubbies can unload by July 31. This core group simply did not get it done and their time is up.

It’s time to bring up the kids in Iowa City along with their manager for 2011.

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( Originally posted on IvyReport.com )

I hate when my friend says “things could be worse” when it comes to the Cubs.

As the Cubs sit at 27-35 on the season; third place feels a long way away from first, and it is.

As much as this 2010 Cubs team is in the hole right now, their future is not insanely bleak. With the tradable contracts of Ted Lilly, Derrek Lee, Xavier Nady, Ryan Dempster, and Carlos Silva, the Cubs can get a gigantic amount of back-loaded cash and older players off the team this deadline.

Players like Fukudome, Zambrano, and Soriano could always find suitors, but the Cubs would have to eat a sizable amount of their contracts. Although that is a hassle, they still free up positions are another pretty large chuck of change.

I say things could be worse because the Cubs could have made a few rumored signings this past off-season that would have further handcuffed them for the future…

Begin Slideshow

Recently, Lou Pinella said he had to start the players who were swinging the bats the best. So he promptly started Xavier Nady’s glistening .222 batting average (though he has been getting better lately).

However, just looking at overall season performance, here’s the best possible offensive lineup for the Cubs.

Begin Slideshow

Marlon Byrd has been essentially carrying the Chicago Cubs, sporting a .340 average to go along with his .951 OPS. His 51 hits are second to only Martin Prado in the National League.

A glaring issue with Byrd’s season thus far, is his shockingly low walk rate. He has walked only three times, good enough for the worst walk rate in the majors (1.9 percent). Byrd has never been mistaken for a walk machine, but he would set a career low at this pace.

Of course, Byrd’s walk rate is acceptable so long as he continues his hit parade, but is that possible?

Byrd’s Batting Average on Balls in Play is high (.358), but it is possible he can sustain that rate. Byrd has also taken advantage of the fastballs he’s seen, producing 11.9 runs above average against that pitch.

Behind his low walk rate is his reluctance to lay off pitches in the zone. Byrd has been attacking offerings in the strike zone, and his aggressiveness has neutralized any weaknesses against off speed pitches, and strengthened his ability to hit fastballs.

It remains to be seen if he can continue his torrid pace, although Byrd certainly has the ability to produce at the level he is at for the remainder of the season.

Looking at Byrd’s contract, he signed a back-loaded deal (typical of Jim Hendry) in the off-season. He is paid only $3 million this season, but he gets $5.5 million next year, and  $6.5 million in 2012. Can Byrd perform at this level for the next two and a half years?

A lot of Cubs fans may look at this season and be pleased with individual performances, but I look at this season as being lost. I am more interested to see his performance repeated in the next two years, and maybe see this as the first successful free agent signing since Ted Lilly.

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When asked what his team needed to do to turn it around after a fifth-straight loss to the Pirates, Chicago Cubs skipper Lou Piniella had this to say:

“If we start doing the things that we’re capable of doing, I won’t have to answer these questions all the time.”

But the question remains, can this team turn it around in time to make any noise in the post-season picture?

The quest to find this answer began today with a 4-3 comeback win over the Bucs.

Down 3-1 in the seventh, the Cubs found a way to claw back and tie it. In the eighth, Soriano stole his way over to third, and Xavier Nady knocked him in with a single. Marmol was able to hold the one run lead in the ninth.

The win puts the Cubs at 16-22, and gave Lou Piniella his 1800th career win—something only 13 skippers before him have done.

Could this be the turnaround that the Cubs so desperately need? If you go back to the 2007 season it took a Piniella outburst in which he assaulted the third base bag during a late May game against the Braves. The Cubs would get hot in June and eventually catch and surpass a struggling Brewers team down the stretch.

The keys to getting this team going are simple. Sweet Lou needs to rekindle the fire that has made him one of baseball’s great managers. No offense to the calm 66-year-old that is having fun, but that isn’t what got him 1800 wins.

The next thing that has to happen is that big boppers Ramirez and Lee need to get it going. Ramirez is still hitting below the Mendoza line, and D-Lee is hitting a measly .230 and is second to only Ramirez in strike outs.

The final piece, and the one that has cost them the most games is the awful bullpen. Perhaps the biggest joke out in the pen is the $60 million ace that hits gatorade dispensers just as hard as opposing batters hit him. At 1-3 with an ERA of over 7.00, Zambrano has proven to be the poster boy for woeful Cubs pitching.

Also earning the nod for being a bullpen liability are former Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, Esmailin Caridad, and John Grabow. I know both Notre Dame and Caridad have only thrown a combined seven-plus innings, but a combined ERA of over 14.00 doesn’t help keep you in the majors.

Earning honorable mention is Justin Berg and Jeff Gray. The only thing keeping them from being picked on is they are a combined 1-0, even though their ERA’s are just under 7.00.

The few bright spots—and I do mean few—are the pitching performance from Carlos Silva, who is 4-0 with an ERA under 3.50. Dempster and Gorzellany haven’t pitched horribly, but in most games get no run support, and Lilly has looked decent in his few starts. Finally Marlon Byrd, who I thought would be a waste of money is leading the team in all of the triple crown categories.

Earning honorable mention is Soriano, who is hitting over .300 with seven homers, the newcomer Castro, who had seven RBI’s in his Cubs debut, and the bullpen performances from Marshall, Russell, and of all people, Marmol.

The bottom line is that anything coud happen in a division where the Cardinals are clearly the best team. What could help the Cubs is how mediocre the other teams are, and how many times they get each team the rest of the way. But it is gonna take a fire being lit to get this team going.

So what is the future of the Cubs in 2010? I think it is going to be a team looking to sell and get younger by the All-Star break.

If the Cubs can find any value in unloading veterans like Ramirez, Lee, Zambrano, Soriano, Dempster, and Lilly—they should do so. By now it is apparent that this is not the nucleus that will provide the North Siders with their first World Title since before the Great Depression.

However, in these tough times, there will be a lot more sellers than buyers, and moving the high salaries of these older players may be tougher than it once was.

The future of Cubs teams for years to come will depend on what management does with this year’s underachieving team. It could be the difference between rebuilding now and for the next two to three years, or sitting with a group of veterans that have yet to even win a playoff game.

Also, when Lou Piniella retires either at season’s end, or resigns before season’s end, look for the next Cubs manager to be Ryne Sandberg. He has spent several years in the minor league system now and already knows the players that will eventually get called up, in case the Cubs elect to rebuild.

To sum it all up, if the Cubs can’t get it together,they will look to rebuild, dump salary, and Ryno will be the skipper in 2011.

I am sure there are many Cubs fans that will disagree with me, but as Dennis Miller would say: “That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.”

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I know it’s early and a small sample size. But this shout out to Marlon Byrd goes beyond his early season statistics, which are pretty good by the way.

The man plays the game the right way. He seems to be a genuinely decent human being and a teammate who cares about winning.

In short, he is the opposite of the things many of us dislike about recent Cubs teams.

Sure, the fact that Byrd is hitting .341 with six homers and 24 RBI helps. But it’s the way he goes about his business that impresses a cynical, long-time Cubs fan such as myself.

Now, it shouldn’t be a revelation to have a player simply play the game the right way. They make big money, so we should expect it, right?

Well, consider how bad things have been for the Cubs.

Geo Soto finally shows up to camp in shape, but still goes on to provide fans with a suck-fest of a season thus far.

Milton Bradley is inexplicably given three guaranteed years at $30 million and decides he hates playing in Chicago. Apparently, Seattle isn’t much to his liking either.

Alfonso Soriano is paid a king’s ransom, then gets injured and perhaps just as bad, he hops at the plate and in the field. It’s cute when you’re a 40-40 guy—but when you can’t catch a fly ball, it gets old quickly.

Aramis Ramirez suddenly can’t hit or field yet says he doesn’t want or need help.

Carlos Zambrano blows up on and off the field and is currently a middle-relief staple.

So when you see a player like Byrd, you stand up and take notice.

He has never been a great player by any means, and he probably never will be. In fact, many consider him more of a role player.

In fact, 2009 was the first year that Marlon Byrd ever had 500 ABs in a season—or hit more than 10 home runs. He doesn’t steal bases, and has never appeared in the postseason, or been an All-Star.

But he seems to enjoy playing baseball and also seems to like being part of a team. After last season, those are two very welcome sights for Cubs fans.

Look, Byrd isn’t going to the Hall of Fame but he does deserve our appreciation.

And I just wanted to make sure you’ve heard about the Byrd. Everybody knows that the Byrd is the word.

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This article was originally published at The Daily Cub.  Visit TheDailyCub.com for more original Chicago Cubs coverage.

One week ago the Cubs were 13-13, coming off of a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks and looked to be back on track to get the most out of their team this season.

All was well in Wrigleyville.

Fast-forward to present day and the Cubs are 14-20 and coming off of being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates (14-19), and about to suffer the same fate against the Florida Marlins (16-17) pending tomorrow’s matinée,  as the Cubs try to stop their four game slide.

So one big question continues to pop up in my mind, as I always love to play the blame game. That question is…

Who is at fault for this horrible excuse for a team that takes the field in Chicago Cub uniforms?

It certainly isn’t Marlon Byrd, who I didn’t expect to repeat his numbers last season, but who is surprising me by playing well game in and game out. He is batting .339 with six home runs and 23 RBI.

It surprisingly isn’t Carlos Silva, who could have destroyed the Cubs every five games. He is 3-0 with a 3.50 ERA and a WHIP of just 1.17.

It isn’t Kosuke Fukudome, who is batting .330 with five home runs and 18 RBI.

Alfonso Soriano? Batting .311 with seven home runs and 18 RBI.

It’s not Tom Gorzelanny. Despite being 1-3, his ERA is just 2.83, and he is striking out 9.86 batters every nine innings.

You can’t blame Carlos Marmol, the up-and-down pitcher has yet to allow a home run, saved four games in five attempts, and has an ERA of just 0.61 in 14 appearances. He would just love to close out more games for the Cubs but he doesn’t get the chance.

So who are the people that are most deserving of the blame, if it isn’t all of these guys who could have easily laid a goose egg this season instead of being the only people playing well?

It’s Ted Lilly. He’s 1-3 with a 4.88 ERA, his second highest ERA since his third season in the Major League.

It’s Carlos Zambrano, the “ace” who has pitched so bad this season that he has earned himself a spot in the bullpen. He would be known as the other Carlos if it weren’t for his nearly $19 million salary. If you aren’t happy about your new bullpen spot, try getting your ERA below six.

It’s Aramis Ramirez, who is batting just .156 with three home runs, and said today that he was his own hitting coach. He may want to fire his hitting coach.

It’s Derek Lee, who must have hired Ramirez as his hitting coach. He’s batting just .220 this season with four home runs.

Although Lee and Ramirez have decent RBI numbers this season, it’s hard not to when you have Byrd, Fukudome, and Ryan Theriot in front of them. Those three have no problem getting on base, and would have less trouble scoring if it weren’t for the production behind them.

It’s the defense, which has 28 errors already this season, tied for second with the Detroit Tigers in the entire MLB. This also puts them alone in second in fielding percentage this season thus far.

With every person who needed to play at their best doing just that, you would expect the Cubs to be above .500 and surprising every analyst who expected the Cubs to be a flop this season. Instead, every player who was actually expected to play well decided to take the season off. You did everything you could to prove your haters wrong. If you keep doing this, maybe those who were expected to play well will use you as an example instead of the other way around.

I’m Joe W.

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Last week, Double G Sports battled Sports Page Network in Battle of the Blogs Fantasy Baseball. I was fortunate to come away with a 13-6-1 win over the blog network I write for.

My offense took over and capitalized on Sports Page Network missing it’s star catcher Joe Mauer. I won the week with a team batting average of .267. My team knocked seven home runs this week. Sports Page Network had just three home runs the entire week. The lose of Mauer may have hurt his team drastically. I ended up winning nine of the ten hitting categories.

My pitching staff once again struggled this week, going 1-3 with a 4.63 ERA. Fortunately for me, Sports Page Network’s staff had a horrific week. They went 1-7 with a 5.52 ERA. Phil Hughes is becoming the ace of my staff. He once again pulled together a solid performance. Hughes went seven innings in his lone start this week, giving up seven hits and allowing two earned runs. He struck out seven and only walked one in his quality start and win.

My bullpen received a boost from Carlos Villanueva and Peter Moylan. Each pitcher got two saves/holds this week.

Read more of the recap as well as a preview of this coming week when I battle Royally Speaking, visit Double G Sports.

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