See Ya Jacque

The Cubs traded Jacque Jones today for a utility infielder from the Detroit Tigers. No, we didn't get Neifi back. We did however obtain the services of Omar Infante, a 26 year old who hasn't had a regular starting spot since the 2004 season. His name quite literally means Baby Omar. I think. He shall be referred to as this for the rest of the season.

Baby Omar is a career .271 hitter who batted .264 with 16 homers and 55 RBIs in 2004. As much as I don't like Jacque Jones, and I rank him right up there with Neifi and Roberto Novoa, I would like to think we could have gotten a little more for an outfielder who managed to hit .285 last year. Sure his arm sucks, he whines a lot, he cries about the fans not loving him, and he couldn't hit a home run to save his life last year, but it seems like we got the raw end of the deal. Maybe we did it to save money, as Baby Omar only made $1.3 million last season compared to the $5.5 million Jones gets this year, but you don't spend $300 million one offseason and then start pinching pennies the next. Jim Hendry, you have disappointed me.

Jacques Jones is Dead to Me

Look JJ, can I call you JJ? Is that okay? Because the whole french thing just isn't doing it for me, and I'm gonna assume that you don't approve of being called Jock. So JJ it is. Anyways, here's the deal JJ. I want to like you as a player, I really do. Then again, I also want to win the lottery, date Jessica Alba, and own a small island nation. Some things just weren't meant to be.

Ever since you first came to this historic ballclub in 2006 you've had some issues. First of all you called out the fans for booing you. I don't know where this idea came from that fans aren't supposed to care how well their team is playing and they should always cheer, even if their 50 bucks just went to waste to watch a crappy performance. I know you ended off the year well and you feel that your complaints were well-founded, but the fans weren't booing you at the end of the year. We were booing you when you were batting .219 through your first 21 games. And that was a vast improvement over the .091 you were sporting after your first 8. You were the first of the recent string of Cubs players who feel like the fans should happily accept someone getting paid millions who sucks at their job *cough* Big Z *cough*. And for that, I cannot like you.

And then there are nights like tonight. At first glance it looks like you had a good night, going 3-for-6 with a run. But you just can't pull through in the clutch. You're not the only one by far, the team left 15 men on base in this game and only scored 4 runs with 10 hits and 10 walks. But it seems like every time you come up to the plate when the game is on the line, I'm reaching for the OFF button on the remote before they throw you a pitch. Because I know what's going to happen. It is for this reason that my friends and I have dubbed you "The Human Rally Killer". And now, thanks to the magical powers of the internet and Wikipedia, the whole world shall know you by this name.

Hey, at least you'll be remembered for something. My best shot right now is "the guy who pretended that he got Wade Miller fired".

Question for the Masses

Looking back at our recent games played, apparently the Cubs have taken 2 out of 3 against their last two opponents. That is actually pretty good, considering if they could keep it up all year they would be the proud owners of a .666 win percentage. But for some reason my gut seems to tell me that the team has been rather lackluster as of late, even knowing that they still lead the Central. Does anyone else feel this way, that we've been playing badly and still winning? I'm sure Soriano's return will straighten things out but this still worries me.

And from a blog that I had not read before yesterday and that puts a lot more thought into these matters than I do, Jacque Jones may have saved the Cubs season. And the collective cynics of the world say: huh?

Well That Explains.....Nothing

Today came the sad yet hilarious news that a former Cub has been busted for steroid use. As you read that sentence, I'm sure a number of different names started popping up in your head. You probably started off by thinking Sosa, Nomar, or Gary Matthews Jr. I can tell you now that you are thinking in completely the wrong direction. Think worse, much worse. Worse than Corey Patterson? Absolutely. Jose Macias? Fo-Sho. Even worse than Jacque Jones?? Sweet Jesus yes.

That's right, Dusty's Golden Boy was banned for 25 games for testing positive for a banned stimulant. I'm surprised they even bother to test people with a .172 batting average. That's like testing a Mormon for alcohol, or Mike Tyson for sanity. You just figure you're not gonna find any, so why bother?

Sam Zell Can Go Screw Himself

As we reported earlier today, the Cubs had finalized a deal with the Marlins allowing us to finally dump Jacque Jones off on another team. rfs found details on the nearly finished deal and posted them here. Well, it turns out that incoming Tribune owner Sam Zell wanted nothing to do with the trading of someone so disliked that he has not had a single at-bat in 6 days.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the deal was complete and signed off on by the commissioner's office, and was going as planned until Mr. Zell, who is also a part owner of the White Sox whom the Cubs just swept, stepped in and vetoed the cash transaction that was included as part of the deal.

According to a high-ranking baseball official with direct knowledge of the talks, they even had a commitment from the Cubs' front office to cover roughly $6.6 million of the $7.2 million remaining on Jones' contract through next season.

The deal collapsed, however, when incoming Cubs owner Sam Zell – who is in the process of purchasing a controlling interest in the Tribune Co., which publishes the Sun-Sentinel – vetoed the hefty cash exchange.

The Sun-Sentinel also mentions that it was Zell who personally decided that the talks for Zambrano's long term deal should be delayed until "a later date".

I'm assuming that Mr. Zell is making decisions solely based on profit margins, but I don't see how having Jacque Jones and not having Zambrano locked up could possibly increase the value of your team. Whichever person or company this team gets sold to, it needs to be one that won't interfere with doing what will help us win. And it definitely can't be a Sox fan.

Breaking News

For all of you that read this blog for up to the minute Cubs info (who the heck would actually do that is beyond me), the word on the street is that we have...

FINALLY TRADED JACQUE JONES!

While there is nothing official that I can find at the moment, it sounds like we sent him to the Marlins and pretty much got nothing for him. I'll be back later when I dig up something solid.

EDIT:

Found something decently solid.

The Turning Point Continues

The Cubs have their first 3 game winning streak ever since 2006. Zambrano was solid, the hits came rolling in, and I don't really have anything to complain about. Except that Lou still hasn't been ejected from a game. I've got faith that will happen soon enough though.

Game Summary for April 28th, 2007

• Score: Cubs manhandle the Cardinals, 8-1.
  
• Player of the Game: Jacque Jones. Great running catch, and a huge three run homer.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jerks.
  
• Comments: Zambrano was solid for once, Jacque Jones was amazing, all is well with the world. I'm still not sure why Lou keeps starting Jones in center and Floyd in right instead of the Pie-Jones outfield, but as long as we win I'm not going to complain too much.
  
• Magic Number: 145, pending today's Houston-Milwaukee game.

Tomorrow is the series finale and the chance to sweep the Cards in their own house. Rich Hill against some guy named Kip Wells. This oughta be good.

Bill Hall Sucks! Bill Hall Sucks! Bill Hall.....well, you get the idea.

During tonight's game I discovered the true power of the left-center field bleachers. The drunk gentlemen behind me held an impassioned hatred for Bill Hall, and they did everything they could to make this known. They began with "F--- you Bill Hall! Hey Bill, your mother's a @$%*#!", and whatever else they could come up with. After the security guy who doesn't actually get to watch the game told them that profanity and insulting immediate family was not allowed, they reverted to "Bill Hall sucks!", "Hey Bill, you're a moron!", and "Hey Bill, you suck!". They couldn't come up with much else. As it turns out, a couple hundred of drunk bleacher bums chanting that you suck really has an effect on your self esteem. Mr. Hall went 0-for-6, something we reminded him of every time he came back to the outfield.

We are not only a force for evil, however. Jacque Jones spent the majority of the game in center field for some unexplained reason, and once he moved over to right field he did something remarkable. First of all, he made a great diving catch. But more importantly, he threw the ball on the was to 3rd base on one bounce! That was unprecedented.

Once Felix Pie came into the game in center field our attention turned to him, and he churned out two hits in the late innings that ending up not helping our team win at all. It's more than he had been doing lately on offense though.

Some other highlights of the Wrigley experience:

• The college kid sitting two seats over from me caught a ball tossed to him by a Brewer outfielder, and a home run hit during batting practice. I caught nothing.
• Showing up two and a half hours early to a game that wasn't even close to sold out meant that I had a chance to get a good picture of the Harry Caray statue without anyone in the way for once.

• Showing up early also meant that front row in the bleachers was available, which allowed us to partake in the constant heckling of the aforementioned Bill Hall.
• Having beer spilled on my sweatshirt an hour before the game started. That was fun.
• Saw Ronnie Woo Woo again, didn't get a high five this time though. He didn't come down to our part of the bleachers.
• I yelled at Jacque Jones once asking how many outs there were. He flashed me the two sign, which was awesome. About an inning later I told him that he threw like my sister.

So that was my game. A lot of fun, but any 12 inning game where you lose is depressing at the end of it all.

Game Summary for April 23rd, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose to the Brew Crew, 5-4 in 12 innings.
  
• Player of the Game: Aramis Ramirez. Hit his 200th career home run, a solo shot that gave the Cubs a fairly solid lead.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: The umpires. The last out was made on a ridiculous called third strike where the ball nearly landed in the dirt. Lou had some words for them in the tunnel after the game.

Piniella was not available to the media after the game. He and Perry exchanged some words with the umpires as everyone was headed to their respective clubhouses through the same tunnel, and Perry had to be pulled away. None of the words can be made available either. This is a family Web site.

• Comments: Zambrano failed to get a win again, continuing his April struggles. This time it was not his fault, however, as he left the game with a 4-2 lead. Scott Eyre came in and did what he does best, giving up two runs to dissolve the lead. The Cubs had trouble stringing together hits and failed to score after the third inning. Rocky Cherry made his Major League debut, giving up a solo home run to Prince Fielder and picking up the loss.
• Magic Number: 149. Can't gain any ground when you lose to the division leaders.

I will be at the game again tomorrow, and since Rich Hill is pitching I am hoping for a better outcome. On a side note, Wade Miller was placed on the disabled list with 'back spasms', which I believe is medical speak for having a 10.54 ERA. In the meantime I'm going to try and find out exactly what Lou said to those umps.

Cubbies say the darndest things

I was perusing the ESPN page for the Cubs today and came across this blurb under the team notes area. The reporters were discussing the switch of Murton to right field, and then this transpired:

Asked if he needs a stronger arm in right, Piniella paused for about 15 seconds and said, "You guys ask tough questions. Ten, 11 games into the season, why can't you all throw a softball right down the middle?" He laughed, but never answered the question.

Sounds like the skipper isn't very confident with the Frenchman's throwing abilities.

The Cubs are facing Greg Maddux this afternoon, which should be interesting to watch. Michael Barrett served up this quote when asked about encountering the legend today:

"I'm going to try to hit a line drive off his head..."

Barrett then tried to cover himself by claiming he was joking, but I'm not so sure about that.

Cubs vs. Padres at 1:20 today, our worst against their classiest. May God have mercy on our souls.