Odds & Ends Vol. 2

More partial-column topics.



1) I think my father captured it best in an e-mail:

juan pierre has been tapped to lead the cubs to the promised land.... vegas stopped taking wagers and now have the baby bruins as prohibitative favorites.. do they even need to play the season???

The point, of course, is we ought not go overboard with our excitement about Pierre. The excitement is real, though, at least for me. He's a leadoff hitter, a guy who has never been injured much (*knock on wood*), a guy that has played on a championship team, and a guy that seems like a good guy to have in the clubhouse. I always liked Pierre as my impression of him is as a cheerful, fun-loving player, and the Cubs need more of that. He might not be as funny as Doug Glanville, but at least he won't be as dry as Patterson, who makes Dick Cheney look downright affable.

Baby Bruins in 2006!

2)I tuned into Mac, Jurko & Harry after the Pierre trade to hear Chicago Sportstalk had to say, and I realized that Harry feels like I do about Todd Walker. I had no idea he's pulling for Walker as much as I am. In fact, he had to defend his position against a rather negative caller, and I thought he made the simple point that Walker is a darn good hitter, probably the third best hitter on the team. (Although we can hope for this to be the year Michael Barrett steps it up a notch, and there are the rookies...)

I still wonder: why aren't more people upset that reports have this guy expected to be traded? The only left-handed slugger they've got, a career .290 hitter who only struck out 40 times last season... ditch him? A guy who's only grounded into 10 double plays in 2 seasons and 769 at-bats for the Cubs? Isn't this a pretty ideal #2 hitter behind Pierre, opening up possibilities for -- *gasp* -- the hit and run? And instead you want... who? Neifi? Even if Walker hits #5 or #6, he needs to be in the lineup.

As for defense, I've heard talk that he isn't all that good at turning the double play. I only saw this the month or 6 weeks after he returned from getting his knee clipped. Although there were some times with Cedeno that were awkward for both of them. With Derrek Lee at first, though, can't you afford someone with only adequate range at second base?

And don't even get me started on the ethics of exercising an option on a guy just to trade him, after the same guy took less money to play for you because he wanted to be a part of the team. That would irk me something fierce. In fact, I think that would bother me more than sabotaging their lineup as any trade involving Walker would inevitably do.

3)Since the last one I linked went over well, I'll mention that Roger Angell writes this in a column titled "White Sox Nation" for The New Yorker:

This year’s White Sox won steadily through the early season, building a fifteen-game margin by August 2nd, then wobbled badly, almost giving way to the onrushing Indians near the end, but they were not much baited for their failings. Why? Why, because of the Cubs, of course—the hated North Side rivals, who have made losing into opera. The Cubs won a World Championship in 1908, then tried but failed in seven more World Series, the last in 1945. Now they are good at losing in the playoffs as well, having turned the trick four times since 1984. Their most recent defeat featured that grisly sixth-game, Steve Bartman fan-interference episode, when the Cubs, five outs away from the World Series, coughed up an eight-run inning, and then the pennant, to the Florida Marlins. All this has established the Cubs as clear leaders in the ever-popular “It’s Our Turn to Win” show, now that the Red Sox have been crossed off.

Let's get one thing straight now, before 2006 even begins: Destiny owes me, other Cubs fans, and the Cubs themselves nothing. Just because she saw fit to lend fortune to the Red Sox, and then the White Sox, this does not mean the Cubs and their fans are due. It is not our turn... unless it is.

While the article is well-written and while I can see the temptation to play that angle, I reject that interpretation of it outright. I'm hopeful It's Our Turn to Win, but this does not translate into any sense of entitlement. The rhythms of baseball are odd, and we have no way of knowing how they'll proceed, but when the Cubs win the World Series this year, it will have very little to do with a cosmic wink and apology. Unless, of course, it has everything to do with that, in which case, what do I know? If that's the case, I'll be saying, "Thank you," not "Darn right it's our turn."

Maybe I'm screaming in an empty forest, but in case there's anyone out there tempted to feel entitled as a Cubs fan, I'm just saying that you don't speak for everyone. All we ask for is the best effort, top to bottom, and I think we'll see it this year. Plus, it'll be better when we celebrate their champagne if we aren't just collecting on karmic debt.