Anniversary #1

Time sure does fly. It was exactly one year ago today that I started this blog, hoping to give day-to-day stories about what life was like as a Wrigley Field vendor. When I realized that those stories weren’t very exciting, I changed the blog format and structure. Now I mostly preview upcoming events and mix some ‘random thoughts’ in here and there. Sure, my amount of readers hasn’t really gotten up to double digits. And true, there are some spelling and grammar errors. But who would have thought when I started this thing on March 30, 2006 that in the span of one month I would have previewed a national championship college football game and the Super Bowl that each featured my favorite team? Or that when I did a college basketball preview in mid-November and I ranked that top eight teams in the land that half of that list would actually make the Final Four?

So to start off year two of the Hot Dog Guy, I am going to preview the team that this blog was created to cover. The 2007 Chicago Cubs may be exciting, could be actually pretty good, and are sure to cause me to have some sleepless nights. Play Ball….

What I Like About This Team:
-The biggest difference in this year’s team compared to last seasons isn’t the increased payroll, the new center fielder or the non-existent question mark’s in the middle infield. It’s the guy who won’t throw one pitch, drive in one run or steal one base. Sweet Lou Piniella, who was hired to replace the man responsible for more head scratching decisions since Dave Wandstat left the Windy City, will bring fire and passion to a ball club that has missed it ever since the. Bartman game. He may not cozy up to the players like Dusty did, but then again, he probably wouldn’t have given Neifi Perez over 800 at-bats in one and a half years either. I really think that Lou by himself wins the Cubs at least five games this year. He may not have been great with Tampa Bay a few years ago, but he is better then every manager besides Bobby Cox and the Sleeper (Tony La Russa’s new nickname) in the National League.

-Difference number two between ‘06 and ‘07 is obviously that increased payroll and the new center fielder that goes along with it. While it seems strange that adding the best player from a last place team to a different last place team will make a big difference, I honestly think Alfonso Soraino makes the Cubs lineup one of the most dangerous in the entire Major Leagues. He can hit for power, steal bases, and is one of those guys that opposing managers have to keep in mind throughout the entire game. Having him lead off, followed by guys like Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Michael Barrett, Jacque Jones and Matt Murton should make life easier for the Cubs pitching staff. These guys should put up about four runs a game. Then again, if the winds blowing in and hits are not easy to come by, I’m going to be upset that the Cubs didn’t pick up anybody with a good on-base percentage.

-Other reasons to be optimistic about this season include the upgraded middle relief, the non-reliance on Prior and Wood, at least one more year of Big Z, the breakout season of Rich Hill, another AJ Pierzynski beat down (Hey, a man can dream right?), the emergence of Felix Pie, being in the worst division in baseball and the chance of seeing Aramis Ramirez playing great baseball both before and after the All-Star beak.

What I Don’t Like About This Team:
-I’m going out on a limb here, since everybody not named Zambrano could be a candidate for this award, but I would say the worst player on the Cubs last season was closer Ryan Dempster. The Canadian went 1-9, blew nine saves and pretty much forced all of Wrigleyville to gauge their eyes out whenever he came in from the bullpen a year ago. So it shouldn’t be a shock that since Dempster is back as the teams closer it goes under the listing of things I don’t like about the 2007 Cubs. I had hoped that Kerry Wood would establish himself as a good fit for the closer role, but of course he went out and got injured, eliminating that chance. Dempster’s biggest problem is that he always seems to be putting the first batters he faces on base, making his job much harder then it has to be. I’m not sure I can last another year of eye gauging.

-When scouts are evaluating a position player, they look at the five tools: Hitting for power, hitting for average, speed, arm and fielding. Apparently Cubs GM Jim Hendry felt that majority ruled, and if a player had at least three of those five, they were good for the team. Because this roster has a lot of players who will hit home runs, a few who will steal some bases and enough guys that hit for average. Yet the teams defense is going to be horrible. In the opening day lineup of Soriano (CF), Murton (LF), Lee (1B), Ramirez (3B), Jones (RF), Barrett (C), DeRosa (2B), Izturis (SS) and Zambrano (SP), I would say the only above average fielders are Derek Lee and Cesar Izturis. Michael Barrett is solid behind the plate and Mark DeRosa is an upgrade over Todd Walker. But overall, the team defensive grade would be a ‘D’. In the outfield, you have Matt Murton, a guy who pretty much has no arm strength, Alfonso Soriano, who is playing center field now because he was so bad at second base and left field, and Jacque Jones, a decent fielder but a guy who routinely overthrew cutoff men last season. And the fourth outfielder, Cliff Floyd, is even worse with the glove then those three. Lets hope that some of these new pitchers learn how to throw ground balls.

-Will somebody please explain to me why the Cubs signed Mark DeRosa for three years, $13 million and Cliff Floyd for two years and as much as $17 million when the team already had Ryan Theriot and Matt Murton. I understand the team has had bad luck just handing jobs over to young players (See Ronny Cedeno last year), but from what I remember, the team hasn’t done much better giving jobs to players past their prime (see Todd Hundley a few years back). That money could have gone to players who possess skills that the current roster doesn’t have, like defense.

-Other reasons to believe that this season will end like the 98 previous ones include a lack of proven starting pitching, a lineup with nobody that will consistently take walks, not much of left-handed hitting, Larry Rothschild, a weak bench and the fact that the Cubs two biggest rivals have each won the World Series in the past two year.


My 2007 MLB Predictions:
AL East----Boston
AL Central----Detroit
AL West----Anaheim
AL Wild Card---New York
AL MVP----Gary Sheffield, Detroit
AL Cy Young----John Lackey, Anaheim

NL East---Philadelphia
NL Central---St. Louis
NL West---Arizona
NL Wild Card---Atlanta
NL MVP---Andruw Jones, Atlanta
NL Cy Young---Carlos Zambrano, Cubs


Despite the fear of the dreaded World Series hangover, I think the Tigers are the best all around team in baseball. Adding Garry Sheffield was a great move, because if he is motivated, he can be one of the best power hitters in the league. Boston got better over the winter, adding Julio Lugo, JD Drew, and of course Dice-K Matsuzaka. Anaheim has the best starting pitching in the AL, and the Yankees are the Yankees, meaning I had to put them in the playoffs. In the end, I think Boston makes the World Series because they have the combination of a great, experience rotation (Schilling, Dice-K, Becket) and a monster lineup (Manny, Big Papi, Drew).

The other World Series team from ’06 is the Cardinals, and I think they will return to the playoffs mainly because of the weak Central division. The best team in the NL from a year ago, the Mets, will miss the playoffs because they have no pitching. That allows the Phillies to win the division, and as a surprise, I like the Braves to win the Wild Card. In the West, I have no clue who the best team is, so I went with the squad that had the best overall pitcher (Brandon Webb). Come playoff time, I think we could be in for some amazing series’ because all the teams are so equal. I will take the experienced Braves to make it to the end of October.

In the Series, the Red Sox will make quick work of their former Bean-Town neighbors, winning the Series four games to one. The MVP is always somebody unexpected, so I’ll take catcher Jason Varitek.


By the way, I’m guessing the Cubs will finish 79-83 and finish third in the Central behind St. Louis and Milwaukee. Let’s hope I’m way off.