The Season in Quotes and Other Bullets

October 9, 2012, by Brett Taylor Chicago Cubs

Each of the two divisional series that played yesterday evened up, with the Orioles beating the Yankees and the Cardinals beating the Nats. Those series are tied at 1-1, while the Reds lead the Giants 2-0, and the Tigers lead the A’s 2-0. Those series resume play today at 4:30pm CT and 9pm CT, respectively.

The 2012 Cubs season in quotes from CSN Chicago. My favorites? Crap show, The Twitter, I’ll pitch on the freakin’ moon, eye-ballin’ our dugout, and nap during the Sox game. Missing from the CSN list: “I mean … golly!” and “Cat’s pajamas.” Do yourself a favor, by the way, and don’t read the quotes from Ryan Dempster. It’ll just bring it all back.
Patrick Mooney takes an early look ahead to 2013, discussing the Cubs’ offseason plans, minor league progress, Dale Sveum’s future, etc. It’s a video, by the way.
The Daily Herald has Len Kasper’s thoughts on the postseason, the past season, and the Cubs’ window for competitiveness. On the latter: “If everything hits just right, I wouldn’t rule out competing next year. Realistically, I would say 2014 possibly and for sure by 2015. By that point, some of the young prospects we are just starting to hear about could be wearing a big league uniform.” Sounds about right.
Paul Sullivan’s positional review/preview series continues with first base, where Anthony Rizzo is locked into the spot for many years to come, hopefully.
Doug Padilla reviews the Cubs’ starting pitching in 2012, but somehow doesn’t mention the parade of fill-ins later in the year (Rusin, Raley, Berken – not even Germano).
Baseball autographs go digital, featuring Kerry Wood (who donates his fee to charity, it should be noted). The personalized bit is definitely awesome, but don’t you want like, a picture or a ball you can hold in your hands? Did I just turn 80?
The Cubs didn’t land any prospects on Baseball America’s top Florida State League list (that’s where the High-A Daytona Cubs play), which is a bit of a kick in the grapes. Among those who were considered are Matt Szczur (whom BA had previously strongly supported), Ronald Torreyes, Arismendy Alcantara, Matt Loosen, Austin Kirk, and others. The list is loaded with top talent (I actually didn’t know how loaded the FSL was this year), so the absence of any Cubs isn’t totally shocking or insulting. There are also 12 organizations represented in the FSL, so each would be expected to place just 1.67 players on the list, so, again, it’s not like this is a nightmare. But after the AZL, NWL, and MWL lists looked so nice for the Cubs, we’re starting to see that whole “problems in the upper levels” thing. And there are still two steps above High-A…