“Next year” never came for him

Today I went to an estate sale with a friend. I’ve written about them before, and being at one is different from going to a yard sale or a garage sale. As I get older, and realize that everyone’s time on this earth is limited, I also appreciate the opportunity to take a peek into

What’s different now

After a slow start, when hiring a new manger was the main focus, the Theo Epstein braintrust has kicked into high gear recently. The Zambrano trade received the most notice, but the turnover has affected the starting rotation, the bullpen, the outfield and the corner positions of the infield. No player seems to be off

2011 in review

The year is coming to a close, and everyplace you can think of seems to take this opportunity to do a retrospective on the year gone by. I’ll join the crowd for this one time, and look at what happened in 2011 for the subject that I write about the most: Cubs baseball. The biggest

Hanu-Cubs, Night 2

As with last night, and every night during this festival of Jewish Cubs players, the shamash is the vocal stylings of the late Steve Goodman (with some help from others this time): Last night’s honoree, the late Dave Roberts, is profiled here. Tonight I’ll be discussing Sam Fuld, who was drafted by the Cubs and

Trading for PIDLs

If you’ve read any of these posts before, you know that I’m a long-time (though not life-long) Cubs fan. And one of the ways I manifest this is by collecting baseball cards from years gone by. It started when I was six or seven, and went away until I was in my thirties, and then

The Cubs got fleeced

At the end of the 2010 season, the Tampa Bay Rays brought young Jeremy Hellickson up from the minors, and he went 4-0 as a result. The Rays correctly decided they had something there, and so they traded one of their higher-priced starters–Matt Garza–to the Cubs. Garza was due to make just under $6 million

Bring Ryno back

The Cubs have already righted one of their wrongs by letting Jim Hendry go, but they need to go further than that. And repairing the damage done to their relationship with Ryne Sandberg is the next step they need to take. Sandberg was a great player, no question about it. From the first game I

Tarzan’s rookie card

I have already written about Jim Hendry’s ouster here, and I am excited that a new course for the Cubs will be charted soon. There’s no way that Mike Quade can survive, since the new GM will want to put “his people” in place. Does Quade finish out the season? Probably, but I think he

It’s about time!

I’ve been saying for years that Jim Hendry was not the right person to be making decisions for the Chicago Cubs. Three division titles notwithstanding, the bar has been raised higher than that, and Jim Hendry’s handiwork seems as far away from clearing that bar as it ever has been. I’m practically giddy at the

Countdown to the #DoubleTriple

The second part of the baseball season begins tonight. Many teams, perhaps even most teams, still have something to play for, whether it’s a division title or a chance at a wild card berth. My team, the Chicago Cubs, isn’t so lucky. They ended the first part of the season at 18 games below the