I'm With Theriot On This One...

Yet Another Reason To Hate Phil Rogers

As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, the Hall of Fame has decided that Andre Dawson will wear an Expos hat when he is enshrined into the Hall next July. While I found the news mildly disappointing, I saw this as an issue that could've gone either way. It just happened to go the way that I didn't prefer.

Well, Phil Rogers saw this as an issue that could've gone only one way and in his eyes the Hall of Fame got this no-brainer decision correct. The reasons, however, are astonishingly stupid.

Given the popularity of the Cubs, Dawson's preference and the relocation of the Montreal franchise to Washington, the easy call would have been to point to Dawson's MVP season in 1987 as the reason to use a Cubs cap for his plaque. But Dawson gave Montreal 10 extremely good seasons, including eight in which he either won a Rookie of the Year award, made an All-Star team, received votes for MVP or won a Gold Glove.

Fun fact: Andre Dawson won the Rookie of the Year award a record 8 times during his 10 seasons in Montreal.

Along with guys such as Tim Raines, Gary Carter, Steve Rogers, Jeff Reardon, Ellis Valentine, Warren Cromartie, Larry Parrish and Tim Wallach — among others — he was part of a remarkable run for the Expos' player development staff and, no matter what he thinks about the turf at Olympic Stadium, belongs more to Montreal's fans than any among us in Chicago.

I defy you to make any sense of that sentence. It's impossible.

Dawson's legacy in Chicago lies in the blank-check contract, the MVP season — never mind that last-place finish — and the consistent good vibes between him and fans who were basking in the development of Wrigleyville bars and restaurants, the charisma of Harry Caray and the retro cool of a ballpark that avoided lights until 1988.

I love this argument. Montreal = Pure baseball crazed fans. Chicago = Outdoor beer garden goers who love the sun. Advantage: Montreal!

These are all great things, for sure, but for Dawson there was no Carlton Fisk moment in Chicago. He somehow had seven more playoff hits in Montreal (of all places) than he did with the Cubs, as he was 2-for-19 in the '89 NLCS against San Francisco.

Very true, he did not have a "Carlton Fisk" moment in Chicago. I've always held it against him that he never hit a game-winning home run in Game 6 of a World Series. He also never had a Kirk Gibson moment, a Don Larsen moment or a Bobby Thompson moment. Oh well, at least he never had a Bill Buckner moment either.

Give the Hawk a significant role in getting the Cubs to the World Series and I would join him and you in arguing that he should be immortalized as a Cub. Sadly, the lasting memory of Dawson in that '89 series is the agonizing look he wore on his face limping back to the dugout after too many strikeouts and popups.

After reading Phil Rogers' take on this, I'm not sure if we're debating whether Dawson should wear a Cubs or Expos hat when he is enshrined, or if he should even be enshrined at all?

Jim Hendry Press Conference - Marlon Byrd Signing

Jim Hendry has called a press conference to announce the typical ridiculous idiotic shrewd contract he negotiated to sign super-duperstar Marlon Byrd. The video can be seen below.

BLT: A Year in Review

It seems most sites are putting together lists this time of year of the best this or the worst that. Since we have never really had an original idea in the past, we figured it would be a good time to look back at what were the most popular posts here in 2009. So without further ado, here are some of the posts that you liked the most in 2009, or at least the ones you didn't hate as much.

#5) August 5, 2009

Governor Pat Quinn Proclaims 8/5/2009 to be Aaron Miles Day. This post proved that you can post something ridiculous on the internet and two or three people will actually email on the side to ask if it's true. Please, I beg of you, if you have stupid questions please leave them in the comments so we can make fun of you endlessly.

#4) July 4, 2009

Clock's Rehab Assignment was one of my favorites. Clock went to Elfstrom Stadium to see Aramis Ramirez in his first rehab game against the Kane County Cougars. I asked if he could snap some pictures we could use on the site, and as you can tell if you click the link, nobody does photography like Clock.

#3) July 10, 2009

Erin Andrews' Chin Attracts Balls. This was an absolute throwaway post that had nothing to do with the Cubs. It did prove once and for all though that all you have to do is mention Erin Andrews and you will get page views.

#2) June 8, 2009

A Decade of Drafts The draft review that Clock prepared received the second highest amount of page views, even beating Erin Andrews. It's like I don't even know our audience at all, here I was thinking that you guys just liked dick jokes. Turns out, you like a decade worth of assholes too. Ha! See what I did there?

#1) May 26, 2009

BLT on SportsCenter was probably my favorite day ever regarding this site. I received an email that said our blog was going to be quoted on SportsCenter and completely blew it off because I figured it was a joke. Who the hell even reads this blog anyway? Curiosity got the best of me though and I checked the Blog Buzz archives later that day and ta-da! That :30 seconds generated the biggest day traffic-wise that this site has ever seen and in the process, made Josh Elliott an honorary Bush Leaguer.

Happy RamaHanuKwanzMas To Everyone

I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone that reads and contributes to this site for a great 2009 and we look forward to continuing this is 2010. May all you Cub fans and Bush Leaguers have a safe and happy Holiday. Posting will most likely be slow over the next couple of weeks, save of breaking news or trades. Let's face it though, if this is the place you come to for breaking news then there's a lot going on that you're not aware of.

So again, from our family to yours, please have a wonderful, relaxing, safe, simple, and joyous holiday. We'll see you in 2010.

Obviously, Jim Hendry Sucks

Obviously, this is Jim Hendry's opening statement to the media today about trading Milton Bradley to Seattle.

“Obviously, it was a trade we’ve been working on for quite some time. There wasn’t any easy solution to it, by any means. Many of the names that were bantered were obviously deals that would have never been considered ideal. But we also knew that we had to move the player.

"In hindsight, obviously, it was an acquisition that I’m responsible for that obviously didn’t work out. The intent, obviously, was to get a quality offensive player from the left side or a switch hitter that had been outstanding for a few years before we got him in our quest to improve on a 97-win team. Obviously, it didn’t work out. I bear the responsibility for that not working out.

"That being said, we have a tremendous amount of really good players that may not have played as well as they would have liked last year. But they certainly are guys that play hard, obviously good teammates, respectful of the great opportunity that they have here to play in front of our great fans. Obviously, in this case, it did not work out like we planned. In this case, this was also responsible for the reason that I sent Milton home, as I mentioned in September, not going to be tolerated, to treat our fans, teammates and members of the media the way he did. It’s just time to put it behind us and go forward. I think this deal helps us in a lot of ways. Hopefully, Mr. Silva will get back to where he was a few years ago. Obviously, he has struggled since (signing) his contract, but he was a quality free agent when he left the Twins. We have been monitoring him a little bit on the side and in games in Venezuela. We’ve done a lot of work on him. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get back and at least have a successful spot on our club in some way, and then we’ll go about our business of trying to add a few more pieces to make the club better before spring training.”

One could argue that this outcome was obvious to everyone last year. Except for, you know, the GM...

Don't Let The Door Hit Ya Where The Good Lord Split Ya

I was in the car when I heard the news that Milton Bradley had been shipped off to Seattle in exchange for Carlos Silva, so I immediately turned over to sports talk radio to get the reaction of the fans. I just assumed that everyone would be elated that Bradley was finally gone. To my surprise, all I was hearing were people complaining about Carlos Silva and that Hendry should've received more in return.

I'm not sure how anyone can think that we should've received more in return. The Cubs have spent the last two months actively trying to get rid of Bradley and it was very apparent to everyone that Bradley would not be a Cub in 2010. That doesn't exactly help your bargaining power with other teams. That's not to say Hendry's not at fault, he created his own situation in this Bradley fiasco, but at this point it was better to just move him. We can discuss Carlos Silva's potential role with the Cubs, if he'll even have one, another day. Ultimately, if Hendry decides to cut Silva tomorrow it will generate a lot less reaction than it would have if he had given Bradley his outright release. Either way though, he's pissed good money away.

For those Bradley supporters out there, I really just don't get it. You can argue all you want that Bradley was good for OBP and you can tell me all the things that Bradley could be if given another chance. On the other hand though, I can tell you everything that Bradley was and it would kill all of your arguments. Basically, he was a giant turd. Bradley wasn't signed to be an OBP guy, he was signed to drive in runs which is something he failed at miserably. Add to that the fact that every person on the team is now happier that he is gone and it's no wonder that Hendry had to unload him for pennies on the dollar.

Carlos Silva doesn't make this team any better and I couldn't disagree with you if you argued that he makes this team even worse if the Cubs think he's going to be the 5th starter. But this was a trade that was all about addition by subtraction, and I'm a happier Cubs fan because of it. Besides, now Jim Hendry can concentrate on signing either Marlon Byrd, Rick Ankiel or Coco Crisp. Wait, what?

Your Chicago Cubs On Facebook

You can learn a lot about your favorite teams by following certain members on Facebook. Some of it good, some of it not so good. I'm pretty sure the following falls into the latter category...