Thoughts on the Chicago Cubs and other topics in baseball. E-mail Tom at: tomsmithcubs@ hotmail.com

 
MORE ON MARIOTTI: I received a great e-mail from a reader who commented on my post from December 23, 2003 on Jay Mariotti's column. In Jay Mariotti's column from December 23, 2003, Mariotti wrote, "Sometime during the holiday season, I'm thinking Moises Alou owes Bartman a phone call and an apology. If the temperamental left fielder didn't throw a hissy fit when Bartman reached up and knocked the ball away from his reach, no one knows who Bartman is today." The reader reminded me of what Jay Mariotti wrote about Steve Bartman after Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. Mariotti called it the "Curse of the Idiot Fan, the Revenge of the Nerd, the Stupidity of the Goof in the Cub Cap and Headset Radio". Mariotti has also written, "Never forget (Brett) Favre is an eternal enemy of this city, no different than Mrs. O' Leary's cow or Steve Bartman..." ; and "...(Ivan) Rodriguez, who shared the Most Valuable Player award in the NLCS with Steve Bartman." For Jay Mariotti to write Moises Alou should call Steve Bartman and apologize is galling.
For Jay Mariotti to call on Moises Alou to apologize to Steve Bartman is even more galling when it was the Chicago Sun-Times which released Steve Bartman's name and where he worked. No one would know who Steve Bartman is today if not for Mariotti's Sun-Times colleagues Annie Sweeney, Frank Main, and Chris Fusco who wrote the story revealing Bartman's information and the Sun-Times editors who decided to run the story.
If Jay Mariotti is so concerned about Steve Bartman being able to be anonymous, how about Jay Mariotti apologizing to Steve Bartman for all the nasty comments Mariotti has written about him? How about Jay Mariotti denouncing his colleagues and editors at the Chicago Sun-Times for revealing the information about Steve Bartman? Jay Mariotti loves to denounce "company men" at Tribune Company. If Jay Mariotti is serious about what he wrote yesterday about no one would know who Steve Bartman is today, here is Jay Mariotti's chance to do what he loves to criticize others for not doing. Jay Mariotti has the opportunity to write an apology to Steve Bartman and denounce what his Chicago Sun-Times colleagues, editors, and superiors did by writing what they did was wrong. Or is Jay Mariotti a "company man" and not willing to rock the boat?
posted by Thomas at 5:04 PM

 
CUBS SIGN WALKER: The Chicago Cubs have signed second baseman Todd Walker. The move is somewhat of a surprise after the Cubs re-signed Mark Grudzielanek. One has to wonder if the Cubs are considering moving Grudzielanek to shortstop and benching Alex Gonzalez. The defense would be weakened, but the offense would get a boost. The OBP and OPS for the three over the last three seasons are the following. Grudzielanek's OBP (.317, .301, .366); OPS (.710, .665, .782). Walker's OBP (.355, .353, .333); OPS (.814, .784, .761). Gonzalez's OBP (.303, .312, .295); OPS (.691, .737, .704). Walker's stats have gone down the last three years but still better than Gonzalez.
The Cubs needed another infielder and got a good one in Walker at a low price. Another good pickup by the Cubs.
posted by Thomas at 3:35 PM

 
MARIOTTI RE-RUN TIME: Jay Mariotti is back with another mediocre column in today's Chicago Sun-Times. As usual Mariotti needed to fill some space and could not think up much new to say so he throws in a bunch of "The Tribsters are cheap." lines. Some of the column is actually new material, but alas, this column is even worse than the usual Mariotti column on the Cubs. Today's Mariotti column is about Game 6 of the NLCS and the Bartman ball. When writing about the "Bartman Ball" being destroyed by Grant DePorter and Harry Caray's Restaurant, Mariotti writes, "DePorter is taking recommendations on desired methods of horsehide murder, and predictably, he will hear from thousands of fans before the February 26 ritual. By no coincidence, that is the sixth anniversary of Caray's death and the occasion of the restaurant's annual worldwide toast to Harry, which means DePorter has just made a rather hefty public-relations investment." Couldn't Jay have spent two minutes and gone to Google to look up that Harry Caray died on February 18, 1998 not February 26? The toast and destruction might be on February 26, but it is not the anniversary of Harry Caray's death.
Later in his column Mariotti writes, "Sometime during the holiday season, I'm thinking Moises Alou owes Bartman a phone call and an apology. If the temperamental left fielder didn't throw a hissy fit when Bartman reached up and knocked the ball away from his reach, no one knows who Bartman is today." Two points need to be made here. One, any knowledgeable baseball fan knew what Bartman did was wrong. We did not need Alou to be upset to inform us Bartman should have leaned back and let the ball be caught by Alou. Two, the reason why anyone knows who Steve Bartman is today is because the media decided to publish his name instead of letting him remain anonymous. But Jay is not done with his nonsense.
Jay then writes, "But with the Cubs still in command at that point, leading 8-3, didn't Alou's mini-tantrum contribute to his teammates' unraveling?" Once again Mariotti has his facts wrong. Couldn't Jay have taken two minutes to look up the Cubs were ahead 3-0 when the "Bartman Ball" incident occurred not 8-3? Unbelievable that nobody at the Chicago Sun-Times caught these errors.
Mariotti goes on with this nonsense though. Mariotti writes, "If Alou keeps his cool, maybe Alex Gonzalez keeps his cool and does not make the error. If Alou keeps his cool, maybe Mark Prior doesn't suddenly lose it." Right. Alou was responsible for Alex Gonzalez making an error and Mark Prior losing his good stuff. And if Alou keeps his cool, maybe Jay Mariotti might write an interesting column for a change.
posted by Thomas at 11:56 AM

 
CUBS SIGN BARRETT, TRADE MILLER TO OAKLAND: The Chicago Cubs have signed catcher Michael Barrett and traded catcher Damian Miller to the Oakland Athletics as the player to be named later to complete the Cubs-Athletics trade from last week. The Cubs and Athletics are going to be trading minor-leaguers and the Cubs will pay $800,000 of Miller's salary next season. In the end the Cubs will only be saving about $650,000 with this deal. I still do not like this deal but looking at Barrett and Miller's OPS the last few years it does not look as bad as I originally thought. For 2001-2003 Barrett's OPS was (.656, .750, .678) while Miller's OPS was (.761, .774, .679). So the last two years Barrett and Miller have had a very similar OPS. Over the last three years Barrett has a .759 OPS in day games and .687 OPS on grass. Over the last three years Miller has a .777 OPS in day games and .739 OPS on grass. Their OPS favors Miller but not strongly. I still think this is the front end of a move to come by the Cubs. With Javy Lopez signing with the Baltimore Orioles today one has to wonder where Ivan Rodriguez is going to wind up and if maybe the Cubs might be able to sign him at a reduced price.
posted by Thomas at 4:41 PM