Matt Garza? Yes Please!

My very top secret inside sources tell me that the Cubs are very close to aquiring Matt Garza from the Tampa Rays.

"Cubs GM Jim Hendry is working feverishly to acquire Matt Garza from the Rays, according to Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald. The Cubs are getting set to send Chris Archer, Hak-Ju Lee, Brandon Guyer and Robinson Chirinos to Tampa Bay, according to Miles. There may be additional parts to the deal for each team."

I got two words to say to this. DO IT! If the Cubs can land Matt Garza I'll put their rotation up against anybody's in the NL Central. You gotta remember that Garza is comming from the AL East and has been facing the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox for the past few seasons. He would absolutely shred the NL apart. Chris Archer is a hell of a prospect to give up, but I'll be happy to trade away a prospect for an already established starting pitcher. Additionally, Garza is still young and isn't a free agent until after the 2014 season.
So here we are, the stars are aligned, the train has left the station, and yet something tells me Jim Hendry will ruin this. Even if he does miraculously land Garza, Hendry will probably end up slamming his pitching fingers in the limo door. Or perhaps he'll forget to sign the right paperwork, and end up accidentaly trading Garza to Japan's Hiroshima Carp baseball team. Well I must be going now. Stay tuned for updates. Or don't. I don't care. I just write this stuff because I like to practice typing.

Why Did It Have To Be Ronnie And Not This Boob?!?

So far this off-season, Jim Hendry has done a great job doing what he does best: sucking at being a General Manager. Going into the annual winter meetings he has thus far missed out on landing Adrian Gonzalez, took a huge swing and a miss at Adam Dunn, gotten Paul Konerko to laugh at him, watched Lance Berkman sign with a divisional rival, had former starting shortstop/2nd baseman make a mokery of the team, and failed to move any of the bad contracts. There is some good news though!!!! Sleep easy people, Jim Hendry did manage to sign Jeff Baker to a 1 year deal. World Series here we come!

The Cubs are doomed. Plain and simple. I thought perhaps with adding a good first baseman, and a starter to the rotation and they would be fine. Now word on the street is that they are looking at James Loney at first. What a bunch of crap that is. I'd rather just sign Derrek Lee back.  What's worse, is that the Cubs are owned by a man who knows as much about baseball as I do about whale fishing. I'm just going to quit while I'm ahead. If I continued to type about what a worthless piece of garbage Jim Hendry is, I won't have finger prints by days end.

1940-2010

Forgetting the count, hell, forgetting the inning, mispronouncing names, calling a game as sharp as an eraser, interrupting the play by play man out of sheer emotion: things we hated about Ron Santo? No. Things we loved about Ron. As somebody once recently said, "There is not a single superstar in sports that is more relatable to their fans than Ron Santo. Not Michael Jordan, not Henry Aaron, not anybody."

A lot of people liked to ridicule Ron Santo for his not-so-great color commentary, as if the rest of us weren't already aware. Even Ron himself knew. But those same people that ridiculed, have zero concept of what it is to be a Cub fan. Ron Santo was the epitome and embodiment of what it is to be a Cub's fan. We didn't listen to him to hear how well he can call a game; that's what Pat Hughes was for. We listened to him because he was the only broadcaster that you could truely relate your ups and downs with. Listening to Ron reminded us that it isn't always easy to be a Cub fan, but we're all in this together. THAT, my friends, is what made him great.

The two things that make this so hard to take is that there is no walk into the sunset. Ron never got his World Series, and he never got his plaque hanging in the Hall of Fame. It is nearly unfathomable that a man who completely dominated the league at his position both offensively and defensively for an entire decade does not make it to the Hall of Fame. Perhaps a little divine intervention will finally put an end to this hideous 103 year streak. Rest in peace Ron Santo. You are irreplaceable, and will be forever missed as long as the game of baseball is played.

Hot Stove Courtesy of Chet Steadman...

I gotta make this brief...

Ryan Theriot went to the Cardinals from the Dodgers. (Who cares?)

First base candidates for the Cubs: Lance Berkman, Carlos Pena, & Adam Dunn (doubt it) seem to be front runners.

Pitching interest for the Cubs: Brandon Webb, Jeff Francis, Erik Bedard, Aaron Harang. (All oft-injured players that will demand large contracts. Jim Hendry should have no problems with this one)

A deal is currently being negotiated to lock up Carlos Marmol long term. With the slider that boy throws, the Cubs should just be more concerned about his health care plan than the actual contract itself.

White Sox News...
Expect Paul Konerko to decline arbitration from the White Sox tonight. He won't be back next season with the White Sox. Trust me. I won't say this is comming from outside sources, because I AM the source.

According to the White Sox, A.J. Pierzynski was not offered arbitration. Not because they don't want him back. They just don't want to pay him north of $6.5 million.

Anybody know if Hawk Harrelson is still alive?

Never A Dull Moment with Jo...

 

Kings Were Dethroned

Bulls 96, Kings 85. Bulls were absolutely owned the first half, and absolutely did the owning in the second half. Bulls outscored Sacremento 52 to 28 in the final 2 periods. In my opinion, the Kings did a really good job shutting down Derrick Rose. You might say "but didn't Derrick have 30 points?" Well yes, he did. But the way he was attacking and getting stopped, he could've went off for an easy 40.

After 12 long years, a winning circus trip tastes great, but I have to say, this whole - being down by 20 and comming back to win it - is getting really old. I hope the Bulls are aware fans won't be mad if every game is a blowout. I don't need an entertaining, exciting comeback every...single...game. Before I sign off, I would just like to add, the Bulls had a chance to win every single one of the circus trip games. They had a late lead in everyone of them. You know what would've given us a 7-0 circus trip? Carlos Boozer. It's just a matter of time till utter dominance. Tick-Tock biatches! Stay classy San Diego.

John Lucas III Needs To Find A New Profession Immediately

Wow. The Bulls were 2 free throws away from a guaranteed winning circus trip for the first time since 97-98. John Lucas did his best to make sure this wasn't the case. First off, Thibadeou never should've put him in, in that situation in the first place. Secondly, Lucas didn't just miss TWO huge free throws, he straight up clanked them. Talk about shitting the bed and rolling over in it. You could blind fold me, spin me in a circle for 2 minutes, kick me in the crotch, an I could still shoot better free throws than that. This is one tough pill to swallow. All I can say is hopefully D-Rose comes out with a firey pissed off vengeance against Sacremento this evening.

On a more positive note, C J Watson, well done chap. Its about damn time somebody steps up like they got a set on this team (other than Rose). This game would've been over before it started had it not been for Watson.