Cubs play Harden ball

Add comment July 8th, 2008

Mission accomplished. The Cubs now have the first and second best starting pitchers from British Columbia. More importantly, Jim Hendry avoided a disaster in trading for Randy Wolf, countered Milwaukee’s C.C. Sabathia addition and even added bullpen help.

Let’s just hope Harden can avoid his familiar history with injury.  

100 years of taking you out

Add comment July 8th, 2008

This year isn’t just the 100-year anniversary of the Cubs last winning the World Series. It’s also the 100-year anniversary of Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

Wayne Drehs of ESPN.com writes how Harry Caray and the Cubs fashioned the song into tradition.

Wait for it

Add comment July 8th, 2008

So the Milwaukee Brewers were able to land a top-flight ace before the trading deadline (slight shudder). So Mark Mulder is returning to the Cardinals rotation (hearty chortle).

And everyone is waiting for Cubs GM Jim Hendry to make a dramatic, jaw-dropping deal to counter our friends to the northeast.

I’m asking Jim to channel the important words from Omega pledge Chip Diller: “Remain calm. All is well.”

The usual suspects mentioned as potential Cubs targets ALL have big, shiny red flags. Oakland’s Rich Harden? Perennially creaky. Toronto’s A.J. Burnett? Creaky and cranky. San Diego’s Randy Wolf? Isn’t really that much better than Jason Marquis at this point.

On the Cubs front, Carlos Zambrano is back and healthy. Sean Marshall has had consecutive good starts, including Sunday’s win over the Cardinals.

I believe Hendry has time. A few more weeks, perhaps more teams will realize that their postseason hopes are unrealistic and would be willing to unload.