Thursday, July 28, 2011

Cleveland Rocks! Fukudome Leaves Cubs, Joins Indians

The Cubs and Indians have been talking about a Kosuke Fukudome trade for a few days now, but apparently it took having a no-hitter thrown against them to spur the Indians into action.  Jim Hendry has sent Fukudome to the Indians for two low-level prospects:  21-year-old OF Abner Abreu (who has a .294 OPB and 102/22 K/BB ratio in A-Ball this year, meaning that he should fit right in with the Cubs' organizational philosophy); and 25-year-old RHP Carlton Smith (who in two years at AAA Columbus has posted a 5.46 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP).  Oh, and the Cubs will be picking up most of Fukudome's remaining salary for the year (all but $775K).  So as far as return, not much in the way of prospects, and not much in the way of salary relief this year, although maybe enough to help get contracts done with some of the Cubs remaining unsigned 2011 draftees.  But how much can you expect to get for a 34-year-old corner OF with a $13.5 million contract and a .369 slugging percentage?  Of course, to the Indians, who have lost Shin-Soo Choo to injury and have been using a platoon of Travis Buck (.617 OPS) and Austin Kearns (.632 OPS) in RF, Kosuke must look like Mel Ott.

Fukudome never became the player the Cubs thought they were getting when they signed him.  The Cubs expected him to become a middle-of-the-order run producer from the left side, but that role didn't work out for him, as his high OBP made him more suited for the top of the order (unfortunately it wouldn't be the last time the Cubs made that mistake while assessing a player's skill set.  Of course, had Fukudome hit the way the Cubs thought he would in 2008, that 2009 mistake would never have been made in the first place.  But I digress).  Eventually, the Cubs found themselves in a similar situation with Kosuke as they were in with Matt Murton - another player with a solid on-base skills, but not enough power to be a corner OF and not good enough on defense to play CF.  Fukudome's habit of fast starts (.979 April OPS) and slow, painful declines during the season (.772 career OPS) was maddening, as were the ever-popular "helicopter" swinging strikeouts.  Bottom line - Fukudome's skills and the Cubs' needs weren't a good match.  Since he would have found himself playing elsewhere in 2012, at least now he finds himself in a pennant race.

With Fukudome gone, the Cubs will let Tyler Colvin, who is pretty much the complete opposite of Fukudome (decent power, low OBP), take most of the playing time in RF, and the Cubs will be down to two regulars (Soto and Peña) who consistently work counts.  And I guess this is as good a time as any to recall Kosuke's greatest moment as a Cub, which came in his very first game in blue pinstripes and gave us hope that the 2008 season was going to be a special one:


Thanks, Kosuke, for your often underappreciated skills, and best of luck to you in Cleveland, where I hope you'll help keep the Indians ahead of the 3rd place AL Central team.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Happy Birthday to Me!

One year ago today, I came up with a bold, innovative idea that promised to revolutionize the way we viewed Internet sports coverage.  But instead of pursuing that idea, I started this blog. When I first put fingers to keyboard, I had no idea my favorite teams would provide so much material.  So on the occasion of the first birthday of "The Frustrated Fan", let's take a look at some of the highlights from my first year of blogging:

  • The Cubs made a nearly seamless transition from a hopeless, crappy 2010 season to a hopeless, crappy 2011 season.
  • The Bears surprisingly won the NFC Central and hosted the NFC Championship Game (that's good)...which they lost to the Packers, who went on to win the Super Bowl (that's bad).
  • With an exciting freshman QB at the helm, the Illini football team overcame the frequently idiotic coaching of Ron Zook and won their first bowl game of the new millennium.
  • Bruce Weber finally won an NCAA tournament game at Illinois without players recruited by Bill Self, then lost in the next round of the tournament to a team full of players recruited by Bill Self.
  • And (perhaps) best of all, Ron Guenther's reign as Illinois Athletic Director came to a peaceful end.
So many memories - and so many questions still to be answered in the upcoming year:
  • Which veterans will the Cubs dump at the trade deadline?  With over $40 million in payroll coming off the books in 2012, whom will the Cubs bring in to upgrade next year's roster?  And will Jim Hendry be the GM doing that off-season upgrading?
  • Will the NFL lockout end in time for the season to begin as scheduled?  And wouldn't a cancelled NFL season actually be better than the alternative - a season in which the Packers stand a good chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions?
  • Can Zook build on last season's success after losing his best offensive player and two best defensive players to the NFL draft?  If not, how much longer will the new AD (whoever (s)he is) keep him around?
  • Shouldn't a basketball team which possesses three consecutive highly-ranked recruiting classes and plays a relatively soft non-conference schedule and in a weak Big Ten be able to comfortably make the NCAA tournament?  And if Weber's Illini spend another Selection Sunday on the bubble (or worse), how much longer will the new AD (whoever (s)he is) keep him around?
Stick around to get the answers to these (and many more) questions.  It's sure to be a better "Year Two" than the Ricketts family is having!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Cubs Sign Dave Bush, White Sox Make Even More Ridiculous Move

In a previous post, I speculated on which washed-up starters the Cubs would try out next.  In doing so, somehow I overlooked Dave Bush.  Fortunately, Jim Hendry did not, as Bush has been signed to a minor league deal by the Cubs organization.  Bush has been so bad during his career that, unlike a lot of crappy pitchers, he hasn't fared well against the Cubs (lifetime 2-10, 5.28 ERA).  The good news is that if we're down to picking up guys who can't even beat the Cubs, we must be scraping the bottom of the barrel now, and there shouldn't be too many more of these signings.

You'd think that it wouldn't be possible for a Chicago baseball team to make a more desperate move than this one, but then along come the White Sox to do just that.  Being released by the 2011 Cubs is pretty much the definition of "finished", but Kenny Williams must have slept through the first half of the season, as Doug Davis, who went 1-7 with a 6.50 ERA for the Cubs, was signed to a minor league deal by the White Sox on Friday.

So it's not enough that the White Sox have beaten the Cubs on the field and won the BP Crosstown Cup each of the last two years.  By signing a pitcher who's even worse than the one the Cubs signed today, now their GM is apparently trying to wrestle the title of "Worst GM in Chicago" away from ours.  Well, Kenny, you may have won this round, but you've still got a long way to go if you want to catch up to Jim Hendry in this race.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The All-Star Game

It's great to know that I can leave the Cubs for two weeks and come back to find everything's almost exactly the way I left it.  Sure, the Cubs have swapped in one has-been starting pitcher (Ramon Ortiz) for another (Doug Davis), but they still can't win more than two straight games and still have the second worst record in the major leagues as we hit the All-Star Break.

As for the All-Star Game itself, at least the Cubs' pity only representative in the game is the one who's most worth watching.  But even the presence of Starlin Castro on the National League's roster isn't enough to compel me to tune in tonight.  The whole "this time it counts" novelty has run its course, and not just for me.  TV ratings for the All-Star Game have steadily dropped since the infamous 2002 tie game, to the point where last year's Game was the least-watched midsummer "classic" ever.  While many people may attribute that to Fox Sports's taking over coverage of the game and to "Buck-McCarver Fatigue" in general, I think another culprit helps explain the declining interest in the All-Star Game - interleague play.