Enhanced Box Score: Pirates 4, Cubs 0 - September 30, 2009 (Game One)
Ted Lilly’s stellar 2009 campaign is over, and it ended unfortunately - a four-run first inning spoiled an otherwise excellent performance.
Lou Piniella Suggests that Milton Bradley is Gone
Although the prevailing wisdom has already been that Chicago Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley is not long for this team. But what remains unknown is just how determined the Cubs are to dump him and his $21 million commitment remaining over the next two years.
If manager Lou Piniella is to be believed, the Cubs must be pretty determined.
“Our general manager Jim Hendry had to do a tough task of sending him home [on Sept. 20], and I’m sure it wasn’t very pleasant for him,” Piniella said on the “Waddle & Silvy” show on ESPN 1000. “The big thing with Milton this year was the fact he drove in 40 runs.
“We needed a big bat to put in the middle part of our lineup, and we thought Milton would be the one. And it just didn’t work out, for whatever reason. So we move forward from there and now we try to find somebody else. And I know Jim will work very hard at it.” ESPN Chicago.
Of course it remains to be seen what direction Tom Ricketts will take with respect to 2010 payroll. The Cubs already have commitments that exceed $100 million, so it is possible that dumping Bradley may not result in the signing of another big bat. And if that’s the directive from the top, perhaps Jim Hendry thinks twice about trading Bradley for nothing.
ShareGod’s Wrath Watch: Kevin Gregg’s Season is Over
Chicago Cubs reliever - not closer - Kevin Gregg suffered a cracked rib at some point this year, and now it’s going to cost him the rest of the year.
The Cubs learned Tuesday that reliever Kevin Gregg, who struggled in August and September after a good first half, has a cracked left rib and won’t pitch in the final days of the season. Gregg had been pitching despite discomfort, but when he wasn’t able to pitch on the last road trip, an MRI exam Monday revealed the injury.
”He doesn’t know when it happened,” manager Lou Piniella said. ”It was something that was totally unexpected. It’s not threatening at all for next season, but he can’t take the ball anymore.”
Gregg lost his closer role in August after a series of blown saves, but Piniella absolved him and praised Gregg for continuing to work in relief.
”I have a long-term memory, and the memory I have is of a guy who took the ball and didn’t complain, and that’s all you can ask,” Piniella said. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
Ribs must be profoundly unimpressive bones if you can break one and have no idea for days/weeks/months.
It is very likely that the man brought in to replace Kerry Wood has thrown his last ball for the Cubs.
ShareLou Piniella is Angry, Interested
Carol Slezak of the Chicago Sun Times recently described Lou Piniella as “tired, cranky and disinterested” in this year’s Chicago Cubs team. Lou did not take too kindly to that suggestion.
“I’ve been in it from the first day I’ve been here to the last day I leave here,” Piniella said. “I take pride in the team winning and playing well to please our fan base, which to me is the best in baseball. We work exceedingly hard here as a staff. If you want to stick around and be here until 1 o’clock, 1:30 in the morning when the parking lot is closed, and we’re having meetings on how we can get the team better, you’ll see we’re very interested and have a lot of pride.”…
“I take exception to that,” he said. “I can take criticism, believe me. Invariably in this business here, you’re going to have to be able to take criticism and you’re going to have to have a thick skin. But at the same time, at least be correct in your assumptions.” Muskat Ramblings.
It does seem easy to watch from a perch and believe that Piniella is not quite “in it” this season. The fire in his belly appears to have been extinguished years ago, replaced by a calming, folksy grandpa gut.
But it seems a stretch to take that observation and contort it into a view that Piniella is not passionate about this Cubs team.
Also, nerd pet peeve: Sleziak would have been much better served by using “uninterested,” not “disinterested.” Everyone uses disinterested these days when they are trying to suggest that someone does not really care about something. That word is “uninterested.” Disinterested means that you are neutral. And don’t go running to an online dictionary. I don’t care what it says.
ShareEnhanced Box Score: Pirates 0, Cubs 6 - September 29, 2009
And with that impressive win, the Chicago Cubs were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Series Preview: Pirates v. Cubs, September 29 - October 1, 2009
The Chicago Cubs welcome the Pirates to Wrigley for four games in three days. The reason for the fourth game is a rain-out in August. That I was at. And it sucked. A refresher on the series preview here at Bleacher Nation:
The idea is to hook you up with the bare minimum of what you need to know about every series this year. That way you can look like a genius, hardcore fan in front of all your friends, with minimum effort. Oh, and there will be pictures of hot chicks, too.
Check out the Pirates series preview, after the jump
ShareRich Harden Probably Won’t Be Back in 2010
Although Rich Harden has said he’d like to return to the Chicago Cubs next year, the Cubs appear to have other plans.
“We’ll see what happens,” [Harden] said. “Hopefully we’ll sit down with Jim (Hendry) and talk about that. It’s a good city, good fans, good team … I feel like what we did this year obviously was a little disappointing. It would be good to come back next year and make a run for it.”
But the Cubs have no plans of bringing Harden back, as manager Lou Piniella hinted Sunday before a 5-1 loss to San Francisco in the final road game of the season.
“You look at our starting pitching here for next year,” Piniella said. “You’ve got (Carlos) Zambrano, you’ve got (Ryan) Dempster, you’ve got (Randy) Wells, you’ve got (Ted) Lilly, you’ve got (Tom) Gorzelanny, and you’ve got (Jeff) Samardzija, who is going to go to winter ball. And if this kid keeps improving, he’ll be right in the mix. So we’ve got six nice arms.” chicagotribune.com.
Now, this could of course just have been a senior moment by Piniella. And it does seem passing strange that Piniella would know that the Cubs definitely won’t be bringing Harden back even before the new ownership is in place.
Still, it was always highly unlikely that the Cubs would sign Harden to the kind of multiyear deal another team will give him given his injury history and the Cubs’ current commitments. It cannot inspire confidence, however, to know that the Cubs will be relying on a youngster in at least two of the five rotation spots next year.
ShareObsessive Bradley Trade Watch: To the Giants for Aaron Rowand?
Yes, it’s time for another obsessive watch. Harden’s shoulder largely held up this year, the Cubs’ new owner is all but in place, and Jake Peavy ended up on the other side of town.
So let’s obsess about something we’ve already obsessed about for months: Milton Bradley. As the Cubs just finished a four-game set with the Giants, it is appropriate to speculate: might they be interested in Bradley? And might they be interested in dumping an equally unattractive contract like, say, Aaron Rowand?
[B]oth GMs are motivated sellers, and a Rowand-Bradley deal would not be out of the realm of possibility. Rowand has three years and $36 million left on his contract, while Bradley has $21 million and two years left on his deal. Obviously more players would have to be involved, unless the Giants were willing to pay around half of the $15 million difference in the contracts.
Rowand hit .309 with 27 home runs and 89 RBIs with Philadelphia in 2007, so it’s hard to believe he’s cooked already. But it’s a bad fit for him in spacious AT&T Park, and Rowand could be revived in his favorite city, perhaps even reunited with his old friend, Reed Johnson, who is a free agent.
It’s just one of many scenarios that will be speculated about as the Bradley Watch moves into high gear after the season next week. Hardball.
Calling things “___ Watch,” are we now, Paul Sullivan? I see how it is.
Rowand is a solid defensive outfielder, but one whose offensive prowess always seemed a mirage to me. That 2007 season, which Sullivan cites as proof that Rowand still has some top level offensive ability, seems more of an anomaly than anything else. It came during a five-year stretch where Rowand never topped .750 in the OPS department, except that 2007 season.
Worse, he played his home games at a very hitter friendly park in Philadelphia that year, and predictably, his numbers were much better at home than on the road.
If you held a gun to my head and forced me to choose between these two guys and their contracts, I think I might just see how fast I could run. Or see if my karate lessons are paying off. I’m a maroon belt.
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