Welcome to Chicago, Theo Epstein!

The Jewish fall harvest holiday Sukkot began on Wednesday night, and to celebrate, it looks as if the Cubs have harvested themselves a GM who assembled a team that won two World Series in a four-year span.  According to reports, Theo Epstein has agreed to a five-year deal to leave the Red Sox and take charge of the Cubs. 

When Jim Hendry was fired, I said that hiring his replacement would be one of the most important decisions in franchise history, and I'll give credit to the Ricketts family - they knocked this one out onto Waveland Avenue.  It's not just that Epstein broke the "Curse of the Bambino" in leading the Red Sox to glory, it's the way he accomplished it:

Carlos Zambrano Tells it Like it Is

Whoever had June 5 as the day Carlos Zambrano had his first meltdown since being "cured" of his anger management problem - Mazel Tov! You win! Money quote:

We should know better than this. We play like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the team and the owners. Embarrassing for the fans. Embarrassed - that's the word for this team....We should play better here. We stink. That's all I've got to say."

It's good to see that someone on this team cares enough to have the guts to come out and say what everyone in the world (except for maybe the guy who matters most) is thinking. Big Z didn't necessarily have to throw his closer (or was it maybe his backup catcher or his pitching coach?) under the bus for poor pitch selection to Ryan Theriot in the bottom of the 9th inning. But I think that's a good thing. In my last post, I said this team wasn't even "fun" bad, and wondered if I'd have trouble sticking with them to the All-Star break. But considering Zambrano's history of scuffling with a teammate or two, a little internal dissension, especially involving Big Z, could make this snoozefest of a season worth watching after all.

EDIT: So it turns out Big Z wasn't actually angry when he said this, just frustrated. And boy, howdy, do I understand how that feels:

"What I said yesterday was (in) a moment of frustration," Zambrano said, before the first game of a series against Cincinnati. "I apologized to Marmol. Let's move on."

Aw, great, thanks for making with the nicey-nice, guys. So now I guess the Cubs won't have any internal dissension, and after another listless performance against Cincinnati on Monday night, it looks like Snoozefest 2011 is back in business.

And then there were three....

I started following baseball in 1977. With the Texas Rangers victory in this year's ALCS, there are only three teams that I have not seen reach the World Series: the Seattle Mariners, the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, and you know the other one.

But hey, if you believe the Ricketts calendar, we've only gone one year without a World Series appearance. That's progress!