Adventures in Pettiness: Teams Still Angry About Cubs Tax

As the so-called “Cubs Tax” works its way through the Arizona Legislature, sans support from Major League Baseball or the other Cactus League teams, the Chicago Cubs continue to lean back and let things run their course.

The other teams, however, are keeping things petty.

Four teams boycotted the annual Cactus League kickoff breakfast - hosted by Mesa this year - to protest a proposed leaguewide ticket surcharge to build a new Chicago Cubs spring-training complex and to finance other improvements.

The Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds all were absent from an otherwise upbeat breakfast where other organizations thanked their host cities on the eve of the 2010 season.

Opening day for the Cactus League season is Thursday for many teams.

“In a nutshell, we continue to feel it’s fundamentally wrong to implement a tax on loyal baseball fans,” Angels spokesman Tim Mead said, acknowledging that his team stayed away for that reason. “We just fundamentally disagree.”

Josh Rawitch, the Dodgers vice president of communications, released a similar statement by e-mail.

“The Dodgers and White Sox simply feel it is wrong to ask fans coming to Camelback Ranch to pay for another team’s new stadium with a surcharge on their tickets,” he said.

The breakfast was hosted at Mesa’s Hohokam Stadium and attended by Mayor Scott Smith, who has criticized White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf for opposing legislation that would keep the Cubs in Mesa after his own team received public financing for a stadium.

The breakfast was also attended by state Rep. John McComish, R-Fountain Hills, the House majority leader and sponsor of legislation that would partially finance a new Chicago Cubs training complex and pay for improvements to other Cactus League facilities.

“I think it’s a shame to boycott a kickoff breakfast,” McComish said. “That’s what petulant children do. In this case, they already had their turn at bat, they got their stadium.” The Arizona Republic.

Really? Skipping a breakfast, which is a tradition, to protest the tax? Don’t they realize it’s the most important meal of the day?

I get why they don’t want this tax - I really do. But you can be assured that they don’t want the Cubs to leave the Cactus League.

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Jerry Reinsdorf and the Mayor of Mesa Are Probably Not Friends

Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago White Sox, recently voiced his opposition to a decision being made by the state legislature in Arizona to help fund the Chicago Cubs’ new facilities in Mesa via a ticket surcharge on all Cactus League games. Reinsdorf, of course, is not alone, but he has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the plan.

And it’s made him the target of some pretty serious barbs by, among others, the Mayor of Mesa.

With the authority’s initial funds now tapped, Mesa and the Cactus League say they need the legislation to keep the Cubs from bolting to Florida. The authority’s $59 million would cover 70 percent of the public cost for the new facilities, which has been capped at $84 million. Mesa would contribute the remaining $25 million, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith said.

Investment by private parties, including the Cubs, would push the total cost of the baseball complex to about $119 million.

For several months, Mesa has said that keeping the Cubs is essential to the overall health of the Cactus League. On Friday, the city released a new report by economists Alan Maguire and Elliot Pollack, who estimated that if the Cubs were to leave Arizona and be replaced by an “average” Major League Baseball team, the state would lose $138 million a year in economic activity, nearly 1,600 jobs and almost $51 million in wages.

Passing McComish’s bill is one of several milestones that must be reached under an agreement signed last week by Mesa and the Cubs.

Smith defended the Cubs legislation in a news briefing Friday after Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox, expressed opposition to the plan.

“We’re not affecting the current revenue streams” for other Cactus League teams, Smith said. He leveled a broadside at Reinsdorf, whose team practiced for years in Tucson Electric Park before leaving last year to join the Los Angeles Dodgers in a new sports authority-funded complex in the Valley.

“Is this the same Jerry Reinsdorf that skipped out on Pima County taxpayers who had spent tens of millions of dollars to provide him with a taxpayer-funded stadium, to come to Glendale, where Maricopa County taxpayers provided him a Taj Mahal spring-training facility?” Smith said.

He said Reinsdorf’s White Sox enjoy a publicly funded stadium in Chicago and that Reinsdorf last year looked into buying the Phoenix Coyotes, who play in Glendale’s publicly funded hockey arena. “The irony is delicious,” Smith said. The Arizona Republic.

Oh snap. I wonder if the irony tastes like chorizo.

The bill making all this happen is expected to be introduced today, and this is almost certainly not the last we’ve heard of the issue.

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Remember Joel Guzman?

There was a time when a kid named Joel Guzman was basically the top infield prospect in all of baseball. He was 19, 20 years old, and he had the world laid out before him. Guzman was a lock to man shortstop or third base for the Dodgers for years to come.

And then, well, he just kind of stopped being awesome. A year later, he was marginalized, traded to the Rays, and hasn’t been heard from since. Until now, when he signed a minor league deal - sans Spring Training invite - with the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles have signed corner infielder/outfielder Joel Guzman, once one of baseball’s top prospects, to a minor league deal. He will not receive an invite to major league camp.

The former Los Angeles Dodgers’ ballyhooed prospect was dealt to Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2006 as part of the Julio Lugo, trade-deadline deal.

He was with the Washington Nationals organization last year, batting a combined .268 with 12 homers at Double-A and Triple-A. Guzman, 25, batted .232 in 24 big league games with the Dodgers and Devil Rays. baltimoresun.com.

Why am I bringing this up?

I love the idea that Starlin Castro is the future for the Chicago Cubs at shortstop. I really do. He’s clearly got all the skills, but he still has to actually develop into the player we’re all projecting him to be. A lot can happen along that road.

And when folks talk about refusing to trade Starlin Castro in any deal, I would just ask: remember Joel Guzman.

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The Chicago Cubs 2010 Television Schedule

The Chicago Cubs have announced their broadcast schedule for the 2010 season, and it will feature the lowest number of games on WGN in a long, long time - just 58 games. And that, of course, does not include Opening Day, which will be on WCIU. The Cubs will be on Fox eight times, and ESPN at least twice. There are six games that could wind up on ESPN or WGN.

Enough summarizing, let’s check out the full schedule. The full Cubs TV schedule is after the jump.

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The Cubs Are Considering Kris Benson

Though the Chicago Cubs are not looking for another starting pitcher - or looking to make any other considerable free agent acquisitions - they’ll continue to monitor guys they can snag on minor league deals. One such guy is formerly mediocre starting pitcher Kris Benson.

A number of National League teams are keeping track of Kris Benson’s progress, including the Diamondbacks, Cubs, Reds and Nationals, according to one major league source.

The Dodgers are also looking to add starting depth but are a more remote possibility, sources indicated.

Last week, Benson’s agent said he expected the free agent right-hander to join a new team within the next few weeks. FOX Sports on MSN.

Benson, 35, pitched a little bit - terribly - last year for the Rangers, but before that hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2006. It’s highly doubtful he’ll come back and contribute meaningfully.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason to sign him. Her name, my friends, is Anna Benson.

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Reed Johnson is Headed to the Dodgers

Once the Chicago Cubs signed Xavier Nady, the writing was on the wall with respect to free agent outfielder Reed Johnson. And now, according to Ken Rosenthal, Johnson is being targeted hard by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and is likely on the way there soon.

Johnson is a quality reserve outfielder, who will be missed in that regard. But if the choice was Nady or Johnson - with apologies to Reed’s legion of fans and spectacular chin hair - the Cubs made the right choice.

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Cubs Reportedly Prefer Chan Ho Park to Kiko Calero

Late last week, the Chicago Cubs reportedly entered negotiations with reliever Kiko Calero to fill the “need” for another right-handed, late-inning reliever. For whatever reason, those talks have cooled - with some speculating that Calero is holding out for a two-year deal, and the Cubs wisely sticking to a one-year offer, given Calero’s shoulder issues.

In the meantime, the Cubs have apparently started looking elsewhere, and their gaze has landed firmly on Chan Ho Park, according to Jon Heyman. Together with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Cubs are looking at Park for a bullpen spot following his successful - if not great - stint in Philadelphia last year. Park, who will be 37 next year, has had a roller coaster career - in his younger days, he was a successful starter before falling off the map. He reclaimed his career in 2008, putting together a great season for the Dodgers.

Park has started and pitched out of the pen the past two years, so the Cubs could be viewing him as another possibility to compete for a spot at the back end of the rotation. If the Cubs land him, hopefully it’s just for the pen: Park was dominant as a reliever last year for the Phillies, but as a starter, he couldn’t keep his ERA under 7.

At the outset of the offseason, Park turned down a $3 million offer from the Phillies, so one has to wonder what he’s expecting to get now. Presumably he would prefer more than one year, and probably more than $3 million per, but he’s highly unlikely to get both of those desires satisfied. At a minimum, let’s hope he doesn’t get them satisfied from the Cubs. Assuming he’s re-thought his previously rejection, a one year $3 million deal would be just fine.

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Cubs Looking at Mark Mulder

Hooray! The Chicago Cubs are looking at a starting pitcher!

Oh … it’s Mark Mulder?

The Cubs, Dodgers and Cardinals are among the teams still monitoring the progress of left-hander Mark Mulder, one major league source said.

Mulder hasn’t remained healthy over a full season since 2005. He is 6-10 with a 7.73 ERA in only 23 games since then.

Milwaukee has been linked to Mulder throughout the offseason and has a built-in edge: Rick Peterson, the Brewers’ new pitching coach, worked with Mulder during his best years in Oakland. FOX Sports.

Mulder hasn’t even thrown off a mound yet this year, so obviously this is very preliminary. And even if it weren’t preliminary, Mulder isn’t the guy you’d be counting on to fill in a spot in the rotation - he’d be a low risk flier. And even if Mulder was throwing as well as he was when he was healthy five(!) years ago, it’s not like he was a superstar. His last great season was in 2003.

But, um, he could be the next Ryan Dempster! So get excited.

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