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Cheech Tremendous

Spring Training 2009

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From what I heard Andruw Jones looked somewhat not awful in spring training thus far, what are the chances he catches on elsewhere?

 

I wonder what happened to Tom Gorzelanny. He just stopped being able to pitch in the majors. He was good all through the minors, came up and had a good year and a half, then just fell apart. He was never really a strikeout pitcher, but he fell off significantly in that department last year. When he went back to AAA for 7 starts he had something like a 2 ERA, a WHIP under 1 and had 33 strikeouts and 4 walks then came back to the majors and was as bad as ever. I'm not really sure what you do with a guy like him.

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Julian Tavarez signed with Washington Nationals and here's what he had to say about it:

 

Why did I sign with the Nationals? When you go to a club at 4 in the morning, and you're just waiting, waiting, a 600-pounder looks like J-Lo. And to me this is Jennifer Lopez right here. It's 4 in the morning. Too much to drink. So, Nationals: Jennifer Lopez to me.

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I hope the Nationals free Manny Acta for his own sake. Just say "look, you're really too smart to work for us, you don't deserve this. We'll just let Jim Riggleman deal with this." Here's a guy who actually studies sabermetrics and shit instead of "goin' with muh gut" or whatever grizzled old skippers say, and the only way he can effect his new-found knowledge is to decide whether he'll start Ron Belliard or Willie Harris today. It's tragic, in a sense.

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Yeah, I really don't get why there was no interest in signing him. The only time he was really bad was last year during his short stint with the Yankees. I really don't get why there was no interest in a catcher who will probably hit .280 with about 10 HR's and 25-30 doubles. It's not a bad signing at all to me. Sure, he's not the force he was 10 years ago but in that ballpark he might hit even better then the numbers I wrote above. I don't know if his defense fell off a cliff, but if he's even decent defensively he's not a bad option at catcher for a lot of teams.

 

About 2 months ago I wondered why no one would take a chance on him for a million or so, to me that's a potential great deal if he's motivated.

 

Hell, just last year for the Tigers he hit .295 with a .338 OBP in 82 games, before being traded and nothing working out in the 30 games or so he played in NY.

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Finally ending with the news he told Chris Brown he needed to show his woman who's boss.

 

 

And I just now discovered Fukodome and Reed Johnson are the Cubs 2009 center fielders. I like Reed but Fuko didn't hit worth a damn in the WBC, which isn't encouraging. Joey Gathright is fast but he can't hit worth a damn so I doubt he'll be much but a pinch runner or fill in. Fontenot and Miles at second leaves me with continuing concern. I just don't know what to make of this team.

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Oh shut up. There are perfectly good reasons to be skeptical about this team. You have enormous injury risks at left, right, and third. Precipitously declining production at first, soon-to-be-overexposed bench player at second, and unworthy replacements behind them. Rich Harden is already set to Prior Standard Time and scheduled to be out for the entire month of April. They took last year's team and made it worse in a variety of ways. The last time the Cubs subtracted critical pieces and told us they'd contend was 2005, a disastrous season, and I feel a lot like I did before that season, trying to convince myself that somehow this players on this team add up to a world championship. If everything goes right for the Cubs, they'll win 90, down from last year but enough to win a weak division and get summarily bounced by a team that's built to do more than win a weak division. At worst, they're in the mid-70s. I think things will be worse rather than better. Take all the missed time that Soriano and Ramirez had from being old and creaky, now subtract Mark DeRosa for no good reason other than "he talked to the media." It's not promising.

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You two should take your spat off-board. Maybe argue over AIM or something. This is really awkward.

 

I posted that before I saw Czech's post, but still. You guys are continuing to throw barbs at each other over nothing and it's really uncomfortable.

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I somewhat agree with Czech's assessment of the Cubs, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a Brewers fan. I think if they stay healthy they will be really good and win the division again...but I think it's more likely that they will have some key injuries. I'd still pick them to win the NL Central, though, because on paper they probably have the best team right now.

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Also consider that midseason improvements are going to be very difficult with the ownership in flux and the money pits that already populate the roster. Look, I want to believe that Milton Bradley will do well, but I don't see it happening. I don't see Fukudome getting better. It's not going to be the walkover people think it will be at all.

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Ok, here's why I'm optimistic on the Cubs.

 

1. They have the division's best pitching staff, and would even if Rich Harden missed the entire season. The Cardinals are restocking, the Brewers lost Sheets and Sabathia. The Astros are paper thin. Who is going to beat these guys?

 

2. Giovany Soto is legitimate. Having a catcher who can slug .500 is a huge advantage.

 

3. This is a team that is solid up and down, rather than relying on one or two big stars. If Bradley gets hurt for a couple weeks, it will not kill the team.

 

4. Really, that 2005 club had Neifi Perez playing 154 games at shortstop. They were going to contend?

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This offseason hasn't really had enough crazy stories outside of the A-Rod stuff. Here's one that will do for now:

 

BRADENTON, Fla. _ The wife of Pirates outfield prospect Jose Tabata is suspected by police of abducting a 2-month-old girl in Plant City, Fla.

 

Amaila Tabata Pereira was found with 10-pound Sandra Cruz-Francisco standing at a street corner in Bradenton, Fla., the city where the Pirates hold spring training, on Tuesday afternoon. The baby had been reported missing by her mother, Rosa Sirilo-Francisco, at 9 p.m. Monday.

 

Plant City is located 56 miles northeast of Bradenton.

 

The mother told a Plant City police investigator she was leaving a health department office in mid-afternoon Monday where she had taken her baby for a routine checkup when a woman named Janet claimed to be an immigration employee.

 

The woman said Rosa Francisco should give the baby to her or risk being deported. Police think that woman was Pereira.

 

Police said the 43-year-old Tabata Pereira also goes by the names Alalia Rivera, Amalia Segui and Almalia Maldonao. The Pirates media guide lists her name as Mayita and media relations director Jim Trdinich said that was the information provided to the club by Jose Tabata.

 

Tabata, 20, was married this past December in Hillsborough County, where Plant City is located.

 

"This is an extremely serious matter and we have given the matter our full attention," Pirates president Frank Coonelly said in a statement released by the club. "While we have received very little information at this point in the investigation, we have received no indication that Jose is believed to have had an involvement in the matter.

 

"We are attempting to secure more information as quickly as possible. Until we receive further information, it would be inappropriate to comment further other than to say we will provide whatever assistance we can to the sheriff's office and to Jose as they deal with the matter."

 

The part that made the story seem crazy to me is that 20 year old Jose Tabata married a 43 year old woman with about 23 first names.

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The Rays have optioned David Price to Triple-A which really comes off as a move to delay his arbitration clock than doing what's best for the team. It's even worse than the Orioles having Matt "God's Real Son" Wieters start the year in the minors as at least in Baltimore's case it won't be effecting their playoff chances.

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I really hate that move. I mean it's not like the Rays are hurting for pitching, but still. Price is obviously ready.

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Anyone else's local teams doing things like this because of the economy:

 

The Reds are offering 5 dollar tickets all season now

They have $1 hot dogs, cokes, ice cream and peanuts

 

And they've dropped the price of a draft beer down to $5

 

 

 

This was done because tickets sales aren't just low, but they are alarmingly low due to the economy. Corporate sponsors are dead, so they're desperate to get people to buy seats. It's now cheaper to go to a reds game then it was in 1996. I'm not really sure that's a good thing, maybe it's a bad sign.

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And yet I can't get tickets to Opening Day at a reasonable price 'cause they went on sale via lottery. Jerks.

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