Author: David Medsker (Page 11 of 20)

A few weeks ago, Baseball Prospectus reported that Cubs pitcher Mark Prior was suffering from shoulder problems. The Cubs vehemently denied this, saying that Prior was just fine, despite the fact that he hadn’t made an appearance in anything more than a simulated game. On Tuesday, Baseball Prospectus, those vicious, slanderous bastards, were vindicated. Prior went to Los Angeles to have Dr. Lewis Yocum check out his shoulder. And just like that, Glendon Rusch is the #3 starter. Yikes.

General Manager Jim Hendry is all too aware of the perception by many of this news coming out now, as opposed to the beginning of spring training:

“Obviously, it will be perceived any way people want to perceive it. But there is no advantage of us holding back until March 14, then discussing a problem we knew about earlier.”

To paraphrase Rotoworld, you bet your ass there’s an advantage. An allegedly healthy Prior relieves the Cubs of the responsibility of having to hit the free agent market for another pitcher (though they should have done that either way). An allegedly healthy Prior wins as many games as Rusch, Jerome Williams and Rich Hill combined. Lastly, an allegedly healthy Prior allows the Cubs to tell their fans that they have a chance to compete, which gives the fans hope. And fans with hope buy tickets. The Cubs had every reason in the world to bury this story as quickly as possible.

The Cubs have trumpeted Prior and Kerry Wood as the two men who would take the Cubbie faithful to the promise land. They then surrounded these two with a manager (Dusty Baker) who doesn’t have the slightest idea when to pull a pitcher out of a game, and a pitching coach (Larry Rothschild) who doesn’t know bad mechanics when he sees them. Steve Stone, of course, does know bad mechanics when he sees them, being a former pitcher, and he urged Wood to change his mechanics or start selling cars. The Cubs repaid Stone’s honest assessment by jettisoning him from the broadcast booth. If I’m Carlos Zambrano, I’m signing as a free agent with the Orioles and Leo Mazzone as soon as I’m able to.

In the end, it’s stuff like this that makes Cubs fans suspect that the Tribune Company, owners of the Cubs, care more about making money than they care about winning. And if Rafael Furcal’s decision to play for Los Angeles instead of Chicago is any indication, even the potential free agents are starting to realize that, too. Combine that with the baseball renaissance on the South Side, and it seems the Cubs have the making of a meltdown on their hands.

But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe then the Tribune Company will try harder to win. Or, with any luck, they’ll sell the team to someone else, someone who cares more about the game than sweetheart broadcast deals, corporate synergy, and licensing.

Neo wishes he could dodge bullets the way that Team USA did last night. While pundits analyzed the rules of the World Baseball Classic, and determined that Team USA would be eliminated if Mexico won by a score of 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1, no one seemed to consider the possibility that Mexico might beat the ever-loving snot out of Canada (which they did, 9-1), and that that would put Team USA back in control of its own destiny. All they have to do is beat a South African team that gave up 10 runs against Canada and 11 runs against Mexico. Oh, and South Africa has to face Roger Clemens. Seems like a done deal, right?

Not so fast, punk. South Africa has absolutely nothing to lose, while Team USA has everything to lose, which means the American hitters could press too much and psyche themselves out while the South Africans just go in a hackin’, and whatever happens happens. Now, I’m not saying that I think South Africa is going to pull the mother of all upsets, but you know, even the Royals win sometimes. Team USA would be wise to adopt Ben Stein’s tactic of taking all challenges seriously, because if they lose to South Africa, they will look seriously bad.

Update: After two innings, Team USA is winning 10-0. Whew.

After losing 8-6 to Canada yesterday, Team USA actually put itself in the position to be bounced out of the World Baseball Classic in the first round. They are tied with Mexico for second place – Canada, which sports such legends as Matt Stairs and Stubby Clapp, is 2-0 – in a four-team division where only the top two teams advance. Yikes.

The easiest way for Team USA to get into the next round is for Canada to beat Mexico today, while Team USA beats South Africa tomorrow (which doesn’t seem to be a problem, since both Canada and Mexico have already done so). But if both Mexico and Team USA win, the team who allows the fewest runs will advance. At the moment, Mexico has allowed six runs. Team USA has allowed eight, which means no one loves Jason Bay right now more than Team USA’s pitching staff. If Mexico wins 1-0, Team USA is done.

Let’s think about this for a second: Team USA actually needs help to advance to the second round of the World Baseball Classic. Team freaking USA, the team that, despite the laundry list of defections and last minute replacements, still has a murderer’s row of hitters and ridiculous pitching. But even the Devil Rays beat the Yankees from time to time – actually, the Rays are Yankee killers, go figure – as evidenced by Derrek Lee and Alex Rodriguez getting schooled by a AA pitcher in the Orioles organization yesterday. If they, God help them, lose to South Africa tomorrow, it might go down as one of the biggest flops in American sports history.

Now, you would think that by saying this, it means that I think the whole WBC idea was a bad one, which couldn’t be further from the truth. That game between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic was one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen. The joint was jumping, like a soccer match during the World Cup. No American baseball game has ever looked like that, and it was fascinating to watch. Plus, even with the number of American players who are not contributing, the team is still stacked. They should be beating everyone in the first round, period. If they fail to advance to the next round, Bud Selig’s head just might explode like the weightlifter in “Final Destination 3.”

Shocking to think that the three games into the World Baseball Classic, Team USA could already have nothing to play for. Critics will surely jump in to say, “See, I told you it was a bad idea.” But it’s not a bad idea: it’s a great idea that’s taking place at a bad time. Do this in the fall, and see how many more players sign up to represent their country.