Thursday, August 13, 2009

Cub Notes: Because Analysis Ain't Overrated

Something to ponder before you go hunting for fans that deserve to be hunted down.

Wood, Gregg among baseball's worst closers. Kevin Gregg has taken a lot of heat from Cubs fans, especially the one at this blog, for his inability to get three outs in the ninth without giving up eight runs in the process. And while many Cub fans yearned for Kerry Wood's return -- things wouldn't necessarily have been better off.

RotoAuthority.com ranks baseball's worst ninth inning options, and you won't believe who you'll find there.

Wood ranks in the bottom five among closers in earned run average (4.23), WHIP (1.38), highest home run rate (1.58) and save percentage (75 percent). Gregg ranks among the worst in save percentage (81.5 percent) and HR rate (1.84).

And while I owe Jim Hendry somewhat of an apology for letting go of Wood, it would have been somewhat of a consolation to get draft picks for him rather than to let him go for nothing by not offering him arbitration. As for Gregg, who has given up more home runs this year (11) than he did the last two years combined (10), he had no place on this roster to begin with.

Hendry: I don't expect to make this team any better

Chicago Sun-Times beat writer Gordon Wittenmyer caught up with the Cubs GM (presumably at a donut shop ... where else are you gonna find GM Jim?) recently, only to find out that it looks like the Cubs are standing pat.

Hendry said he's checked the waiver wires for available players daily, ''and there was nothing that made any sense. And I'm not anticipating that it probably would. Hopefully, we're going to survive the injuries.''

Maybe if Hendry checked this blog, he might find some players that do make sense.

No changes? I don't understand why not. This team hasn't won a series from an opponent with a record above the .500 since May and has gaping holes in its rotation, bullpen and general bench depth. I can't fathom why the Cubs wouldn't need to make any additions to a team that currently sits four games behind the first place St. Louis Cardinals.

I recently read that Christian Guzman cleared waivers, and even though Washington doesn't want to trade him right now, I would at least entertain the idea of adding Guzman and moving Theriot to second base.

But that might make too much sense.

Editorial: Cubs fans need to re-route their anger

As an avid baseball fan, it's a rare occurrence when I admit openly that I cannot wait for the season to be over. But here I am doing so, if only to save my sanity from Cubs fans because their anger toward this ball club is misguided.

You can hate Alfonso Soriano as much as you want, but if not for his April (.955 OPS, 7 HRs) and July (.992 OPS, 5 HRs) performances, the Cubs would be Brooks & Dunn without the Brooks. Milton Bradley gets hit with the "you cost us Mark DeRosa" blame, yet it was Aaron Miles and Mike Fontenot that replaced DeRosa at second. Not Bradley. Bradley, did replace Jim Edmonds.

Say, what is Jimmy Baseball doing these days?

Anyway, if you really want someone to be angry with then direct it toward Jim Hendry, Lou Piniella and Sam Zell.

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