God’s Wrath Watch: Andres Blanco Suffers Sprained Knee
Chicago Cubs reserve infielder Andres Blanco is battling in Spring Training for one of the last two spots on the bench, and things took a dark turn for him yesterday on a pick-off play at second base.
Andres Blanco underwent an MRI on his right knee after suffering a Grade 2 sprain in the sixth inning Saturday. He’s expected to be out seven to 10 days. He apparently got his spikes locked in the infield dirt at HoHoKam Park when he made a play at second base on the White Sox’s Jason Botts. Blanco tried to turn and his cleats locked. Muskat Ramblings.
Recall, Lou Piniella’s plan appears to be having Mike Fontenot as the primary backup at shortstop, which would obviate the need for Blanco anyway. But that plan is far from a guaranteed success. With Blanco missing a couple of critical weeks, young shortstop Darwin Barney (great with the glove, Blanco-ish at the dish) will see a great deal more action at shortstop with a chance to win a spot on the team, should the Fontenot plan fail.
All-universe prospect Starlin Castro will see more time at short now, as well, but you have to believe this has no impact on the Cubs’ plans: unless Castro makes the team as the starter at short (not gonna happen), he’s not going to be carried as a reserve.
ShareAdventures 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.
ShareInitial Spring Training Rotation Set
All of the Chicago Cubs’ expected starting pitchers, and those competing to be in the starting rotation, will get a shot in the first week of Cactus League games.
The Cubs have their Cactus League rotation set for the first five games. Randy Wells will get things started Thursday vs. the A’s, with Carlos Zambrano scheduled for Friday vs. the Diamondbacks. Carlos Silva will go Saturday vs. White Sox, and Jeff Samardzija and Tom Gorzelanny will both start Sunday in split squad games. Ryan Dempster goes Monday at Oakland. Sunday is the first of five scheduled split-squad games. Muskat Ramblings.
Mike Parisi and Sean Marshall, who are also gunning for a starting spot, will follow Wells in Thursday’s game. Keep an eye on who keeps starting as the Spring Training schedule wears on - most teams don’t keep their offensive starters in the game much beyond the first half, so getting pitching starts, as opposed to relief appearances, is the best way to test a guy’s starting mettle.
ShareWatch More Chicago Cubs Spring Training Games
That headline feels like it should be followed with “or else.” But no, I don’t intend it to be threatening. That’s just your insecurity talking.
The MLB Network is going to air a crap ton of Spring games this year, so in addition to the handful of games on WGN, you’ll be able to catch a few more Chicago Cubs Spring Training games on TV.
The full list is available at that link, but the Cubs games include March 19 against the White Sox, March 22 against the Indians, March 23 against the Royals, March 26 against the A’s, March 28 against the Mariners, and April 1 against the Rockies.
ShareThe Other Cactus League Teams Are Seriously Pissed About the Cubs Tax
In order to construct a new stadium and new facilities for the Chicago Cubs, to keep the team’s Spring Training in Arizona, the city of Mesa has reached out to the State of Arizona for funding assistance. The State, in turn, has proposed a surcharge on all Cactus League game tickets, a decision which has rubbed some of the other Cactus League teams the wrong way - the most vocal of which have been the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks. But it seems that basically all the teams are pretty upset.
The proposed ticket surcharge hasn’t been well received. Last Friday, the other 14 Cactus League teams had a conference call to voice opposition of the plan.
“If it’s a choice between this surcharge and the Cubs leaving for Florida, I would gladly put on my work gloves and help them pack up the truck,” one Cactus League team official said.
What the city of Mesa will remind the other teams is that the Cubs drew 251,275 fans to their road Spring Training games in 2009, an average of 13,225 per game. The next-biggest draw was the Red Sox, who drew 208,550 fans total fans and an average of 10,976 to road contests. Muskat Ramblings.
Clearly the other teams don’t believe the Cubs leaving would have the negative impact that the city and State believe it would have. And naturally, relative to each other, the teams are probably right. That is to say, the Cubs staying in Arizona means more to Arizona/Mesa than it does to the other Cactus League participants. The Cubs staying is certainly a good thing for those teams, but they’ve obviously crunched the numbers and believe that the tax will more negatively impact their bottom line than would the Cubs leaving.
ShareJerry 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.
ShareA Wrench in the Cubs’ Spring Training Plans
After an offseason of back and forth, the Chicago Cubs decided two weeks ago to stay in Mesa, Arizona for Spring Training for the foreseeable future. As part of that decision, Mesa committed to provide new and improved facilities for the team, and a sweet new ballpark. As it turns out, the city and state have planned to help finance the project through a surtax on Cactus League tickets.
Unsurprisingly, some teams aren’t all that into the plan.
The Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks oppose a plan to have the entire Cactus League bankroll the $84 million stadium being built in Mesa for the Chicago Cubs.
Arizona lawmakers are crafting plans that could impose new ticket charges on all Cactus League games and raise rental car taxes Valleywide to help pay for the Cubs’ new spring training complex.
Cactus League President Robert Brinton said ticket surcharges previously have been used by specific cities to fund baseball stadiums within their jurisdictions, but this is the first time a leaguewide fee could be imposed for one project. In a nutshell, the D-backs, Sox and spring training fans Valleywide would help foot the bill for Mesa to build a 15,000-seat stadium for the Cubs.
“We’re opposed,” said White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Phoenix Business Journal.
On a surface level, you can understand where the White Sox and Dbacks (among others, probably) are coming from. Higher ticket prices means potentially reduced attendance, and less revenue. But at the same time, let’s not kid ourselves: the Chicago Cubs are the biggest draw in the Cactus League. That’s not me being a homer, that’s just a fact. The League is better for everyone involved with the Cubs in it, and if this is what it takes to keep the Cubs, then so be it.
The Chicago Cubs’ official response, predictably and correctly, has been: take it up with Mesa and Arizona. They have to find a way to pay for this stuff, and it’s up to them to figure out how to deal with it. They could try to pawn the whole bill off on Cubs’ fans heading to Mesa, but again, that ignores the fact that the team provides benefits to the whole league. Perhaps a disproportionate surtax, weighted onto the Cubs’ home tickets, would be appropriate.
ShareHow About Tony LaRussa for Cubs Manager?
With Tony LaRussa coming up for free agency soon, and Lou Piniella wavering between retirement and returning in 2011, maybe the Chicago Cubs will consider LaRussa for their next manager spot?
You should see your face right now. No worries - he feels the same way we do.
“You’ve got a double-headed whammy there. I have a lot of friends and fans that I’m close to with the White Sox. And you know White Sox and Cubs, they don’t mix. I’ve got friends and fans that I’m close to in St. Louis, and the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cubs don’t mix. So I think if there is one place that I don’t fit, just because of my past, it would be the Chicago Cubs.” Chicago Breaking Sports.
There is no denying that Tony LaRussa - for all his pitcher hitting 8th weirdness - is a great manager. There’s also no denying that Tony LaRussa is a douche.
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