Results tagged ‘ Aramis Ramirez ’
UPDATING MY WISH LIST
At the beginning of November I created my wish list for the Cubs this off-season. Here it is and along with a few changes.
1. Bring Sandberg back to the Cubs organization.
2. Hire a quality manager. We hired Dale Sveum.
3. Keep Greg Maddux in the front office.
4. Go after Prince Fielder. Sounds like it may happen. We may even go after Pujols.
5. Make offer to Aramis Ramirez (this one goes hand-in-hand with number 4 and I’ll explain later) Does not appear likely.
6. Trade Carlos Zambrano. (Even is he says it won’t happen again I know it will)
7. Trade Alfonso Soriano. Sounds like this could happen.
8. Sign Kerry Wood again or find him a job with the Cubs. Might happen.
9. Strengthen the pitching staff
So two of my wish’s have already been rejected. However, the Cubs may pursue Pujols or Fielder which is a good thing.
PRINCE FIELDER-ARAMIS RAMIREZ-DAVID WRIGHT
There has been a lot of speculation about where Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder will land this winter. While I would love to have either of these players on my team, I think it would be best if the Cubs went for Fielder rather than Pujols. I may sound crazy saying that, but I have several reasons for this decision.
Albert is older than Prince.
Albert will probably “cost” more than Prince.
Prince would be that coveted left handed power bat the Cubs desire.
Those three reasons are enough for me.
If the Cubs were to sign Fielder, I would love to see Aramis Ramirez stay with the team. I realize that would require a multi-year deal and I’m not too excited about the idea of giving ARAM anything over two years. I think he wants at least three years…..so, this probably won’t happen. I think Ramirez is kind of like Robin and Prince would obviously be Batman. I think this dynamic duo would drive in a lot of runs in the Cubs lineup. If the Cubs decide to keep Carlos Pena, then I think it would be foolish to bring Aramis back. He’s not the go to hitter you need in the middle of the lineup. He is an excellent complimentary hitter though. He could provide the protection for someone like Fielder.
If we don’t work out a deal for Ramirez, which sounds realistic, I would love Theo and Co. to look into a possible trade with the Mets for David Wright. I know that would cost the Cubs a lot of talent that we really don’t have, but I would like to “kick” the tires on this idea and see what happens.
Finally, from everything I keep reading it seems that Mike Maddux is the leader for the vacant managing position with the Cubs. I hope he gets the job!
HOT STOVE SEASON HAS BEGUN! PLUS, MY NEW WISH LIST FOR THIS OFF-SEASON
Okay, the Cubs have been busy over the last month. Theo Epstein has been brought in as President of Baseball Operations for the Cubs and he has gotten Jed Hoyer, from the Padres, as the new GM. Theo also landed Jason McLeod as the Director of Scouting and Player Development. These three amigos are tasked with turning a century of losing into a championship contender on a yearly basis. That is an enormous challenge!
Theo and crew has already started by “releasing” Mike Quade from his position as manager of the Cubs. Theo then called up Ryne Sandberg and notified him immediately that he would not be considered for the newly vacated managerial position. I think that was a good thing to do. Don’t lead Ryno on and let him believe he has a chance at the job like happened last year. However, I do hope Theo is able to get Sandberg back into a Cub uniform as a major league coach or minor league manager. I’ve read that the Cardinals are interested in him and that would just kill me. If he took over for the Cards in 2012 and won a World Series……..well, it wouldn’t be a good thing for me.
Anyway, before I worry too much about this worst case scenario, I have to remind myself that Theo realizes knows what he’s doing.
The search for a new manager is underway and I have a feeling that Theo will make a wise and educated choice.
Here is my wishlist for this off-season.
1. Bring Sandberg back to the Cubs organization.
2. Hire a quality manager.
3. Keep Greg Maddux in the front office.
4. Go after Prince Fielder
5. Make offer to Aramis Ramirez (this one goes hand-in-hand with number 4 and I’ll explain later)
6. Trade Carlos Zambrano. (Even is he says it won’t happen again I know it will)
7. Trade Alfonso Soriano
8. Sign Kerry Wood again or find him a job with the Cubs.
9. Strengthen the pitching staff
My goal over my next few posts will be to address all 9 of these items on my personal wishlist. I will also add new ideas to my list when I can come up with something feasible. I look forward to the HOT STOVE season and I plan on blogging about it as much as I can.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING
I’ve been really busy over the last two weeks. Since my last post, the baseball season ended with excitement. The Rays and Cards came back in the month of September to make the post-season. It was exciting for baseball and even me. I’ve watched as much as I can of the playoffs up to this point. However, I haven’t been able to watch an entire game, yet. Like I mentioned, I have been busy. I am learning that having three children requires a lot of work and time.
As for my Cubs, I am expecting a huge change this off-season. I think Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano won’t be back next season. We will have a new General Manager soon and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ryne Sandberg come back to the organization in a coaching or managing position on the big league team or in the minors. If he isn’t brought back, I expect some other organization to snag him and make him their big league manager.
I keep reading rumors that the Cubs will pursue Theo Epstein. I think that would be a great fit for the Cubs and the Ricketts’ family. We have a lot of money that is coming off the books this year and after next season as well. I believe that Theo would spend that money wisely if he actually becomes the GM for the Cubs. If he doesn’t, I’m fine with that as long as we hire someone soon.
I awoke today to see that Steve Jobs had passed away. I finally bought my first IPOD just a few weeks ago. I absolutely love it. My wife has had one for quite a few years, but I’ve been too cheap to buy one. Glad I finally did. Rest in peace Steve.
THOME AND MORE
First, I am really excited to see Jim Thome reach 600 homeruns. He did it the right way in my opinion. I have never suspected him of using PEDs to reach this historic number. Thome and Griffey, Jr. are the two players from the steroid era that I believe did not cheat. Maybe I am being naive, but I believe strongly in both players abilities without the use of steroids or any other PED. With that said, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! JIM THOME!!!!!
On to some Cub news. It appears the Cubs are going to keep GM Jim Hendry. I don’t like it necessarily unless he can regain some of his magic that he used when acquiring Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. His history of trades has been decent but his big free agent signings and even one of his big contract extensions have been busts. Kosuke Fukudome, Alfosno Soriano and Carlos Zambrano are all players that received nice contracts from Hendry. That’s not good.
I still wish the Ricketts family would make Greg Maddux GM. Imagine him bringing his brother, Mike Maddux, over from Texas as our new pitching coach. That would be great! I trust Maddux and would love to see him as our GM some day soon.
While the Cubs have been playing better baseball as of late I am not sold on our potential roster for 2012. I know it’s early, but Ricketts and Hendry better come up with a serious game plan for the future.
TIME OFF
Over the last few weeks I haven’t written one single post. There are a combination of reasons (excuses?) for doing this. I felt like I was beginning to get negative and whine about my team’s performance. My goal is to be positive on this blog. I have also been busy with my son’s baseball team. And it’s summer now and I have plenty of other things going on. One of those things was digging a hole trying to find where my water line enters my basement. I had to reseal it because there was a small leak and I needed to fix it before it became a bigger problem. Anyway, those are just a few things that have kept me from writing anything on here as of late.
As for the Cubs, I have been happy of the play of Castro, Ramirez and Pena as of late along with some strong starting pitching. I feel we can still put together a respectable season. At least, that’s what I am hoping for. If not, I look forward to the changes the team will make in the upcoming weeks.
So, I’m back and don’t plan on taking any more breaks anytime soon.
THE DREADED “L” FLAG
This is a picture that Cub fans are getting used to seeing this year. It’s not one we want to see either. Until the Cubs start playing better or until I change my mind, this will be my gravatar picture.
Don’t get me wrong, I want the Cubs to win, but it’s hard to do so with so many injuries and overall poor play.
Now some good stuff! The Cubs have three players that I think are worthy of making the All Star game this year. Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro and Sean Marshall. Barney and Castro are both hitting over .300 while Marshall boasts a 1.07 ERA as of this post.
On another bright note, both Carlos Pena and Aramis Ramirez just homered off Bronson Arroyo in Cincinnati!!!!
That’s all for now. I’m going to finish watching today’s game! GO CUBS GO!!!
DOWN ON QUADE
Well, I must admit that I am embarrassed by the Cubs performance this season and especially over the last week or so. We’ve lost 7 in a row including being swept at home by the Astros and on the road against our Arch rivals. Two of those losses were extra inning games ended by walk off home runs by Albert Pujols. Anyway, we aren’t playing very good baseball as a whole and it’s obvious.
I still don’t understand Mike Quade and his lineup. I believe that Aramis Ramirez needs to bat third. That gives us our best chance to drive in runs in my opinion. I know he’s not producing all the well this season, but part of that is due to having little protection in the lineup.
Quade baffled me early in the season when he platooned Fukudome and Colvin in right field. Both are left handed batters and he let Fukudome play against right handed pitchers and Colvin against left handed pitchers.
Quade frustrated me when he kept batting Marlon Byrd in the three hole. I think Byrd is better suited to hit 1st, 2nd or 5th in the lineup. He’s never been known to be a great run producer. That’s usually who you want batting third…..a run producer!
Quade has also aggravated me with the handling of our starting rotation early in the season. There was a stretch where he kept leaving starters in too long and not trusting the bullpen setup of Wood, Marshall and Marmol.
I guess I am taking out a bit of my frustrations on our new manager and I know it’s the players who play the games. But he’s setting the lineups, making the pitching changes and is in charge of this team. I know that he’s competitive, but I think he’s going to have a long summer.
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