Ivy Chat

Donna Needs More Education

2009-11-26T05:27:00.001-06:00

Normally, we go with Les Nessman. As a change, we go with Jed Bartlett.

Happy Turkey Coma, everyone!

What He's Really Saying

2009-11-19T08:26:00.002-06:00

For the last few days, the radio talk shows have talked about little else than what Dr. Dan Grossman, ophthalmologist from Bloomington, IN, had to say about Jay Cutler, Rex Grossman and the sad state that is the Chicago Bears:

"You know this young man can really play the sport and that position. It borders on the ridiculous. And the media wants to continually rip the player. And they are missing the point. It's not the player. It's the organization.

I'm not even going to rip the coaches. It's not even the coaches. The coaches are given a clear, strong message: 'We're not building an offensive passing team; we're building an offensive running team.'"

What the media has focused on are the direct points Dr. Grossman made (why is Jay struggling and why did Rex struggle) and the "journalistic" angle (why did Fred Mitchell even go and contact Dr. Grossman).

There is some merit in the journalism angle. Is it good for society to have newspapers, in this specific case the Chicago Tribune, continue to try to stave off extinction by creating stories and not simply reporting them? Does it even matter in something as trivial as sports? If this practice is accepted for sports, does it have ramifications for how news organizations will cover hard news?

All good discussions to have.

But Dr. Grossman makes an accusation that fans of sports teams need to understand. Dr. Grossman has directly accused the McCaskey family of directly controlling the style of on field play to the detriment of the product. Listen to what he says:

"I believe that the NFL is a passing league. It has been for the last 20 years. Chicago continues to use the phrase, at least Lovie Smith continues to use the phrase, 'We get off the bus running.' They need to abandon that concept. Running is obviously a very important part of the offense. But the best teams in this league are prolific passing teams."

The good doctor is saying that ownership is guiding the "run first" mentality when the league has moved on to become a passing league.

No one in the professional media has asked Mike McCaskey to comment on this as far as this page knows.

Do the Bears make general manager and coaching hires based upon on-field styles as directed by ownership?

Does ownership get involved in game decisions in other ways?

Are player personnel decisions still influenced by ownership?

This is what Dr. Grossman is saying. About time someone asked if his accusations have merit.

And, Cub fans, let's hope Tom Ricketts is paying close attention to this as well.

Picked Over

2009-11-13T08:43:00.003-06:00

When the Cubs signed Milton Bradley, he was already clearly a loon, but a talented loon. His numbers were good, he got on base, he had decent power. One figured that in a decent lineup, if he could stay healthy, Milton would be a good player for the Cubs. Hell, he could even be the Cubs #3 hitter.

Boy was scouting wrong.

That's what you get when you scout a player via the press and not by watching him regularly.

When the Bears traded for Jay Cutler, you looked at the numbers and listed to the analysts. Here was a franchise QB. Young, proven, ready for the next ten years. People who didn't agree were lambasted by the Boers & Burnstein types with them saying, "You've had plenty of chances to see this guy. Denver's been onllocal TV plenty the last three years. He's great. Don't worry about it."

Sounded good. These guys are paid to watch every game so we gave their opinion the benefit of a doubt. Some of us have non-sports lives and can't watch 16 NFL games a week, much less 15 MLB games a day. Therefore, we've learned to give some credence to their opinion.

Well, one wonders what they saw in Jay Cutler before, because we aren't seeing it here.

Jay is a good quarterback, but he clearly has some serious flaws. Those flaws that are being exposed as a Chicago Bear are some combination of three factors:

1) His receivers are beyond awful. Often it seems that Jay expects Bear receivers to behave like NFL receivers. That's a mistake. While the Bears have some guys that have the talent to catch and the speed to run, they don't seem to have guys that know how to play.

2) The play calling can be brutal. How many third and longs where the play is a three yard swing pass are going to be called before someone suggests that they should try something different?

3) Jay just doesn't see the defenders bracketing his receivers. This seems to be his red zone problem. The less field there is to defend, the more the defense can surround the wide outs, the more Cutler tosses a ball into the gut of a defender.

Interestingly, all this is fixable. Better WRs who are better coached would be a help. A GM who drafted and signed better offensive linemen would help.

The question is if this staff can do the fixing? The McCaskey's have more money tied up in Jay Cutler than they do in Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo. At what point do they spend money do defend other money?

A few more losses and we just may find out.

After 40 Years, Days Still Sunny

2009-11-12T21:35:00.000-06:00

Happy 40th to Sesame Street.

Upon Further Review

2009-11-11T09:36:00.003-06:00

It's been like the 1980's around here. The Cubs have new ownership and there are real, honest-to-goodness leveraged buy outs to work on. The latter has taken up the bulk of the time of this writer. Regardless, everything seems like a replay of decades ago.

Speaking of replay, it's interesting how much instant replay has been the focus of the sport world of late. The Major League Baseball playoffs were littered with obvious mistakes that would take one quick glance to overturn on instant replay. Alex Rodriguez had a double that was turned into a home run via replay in the World Series. The Iowa Hawkeyes were saved a loss to Indiana by a questionable reversal of a touchdown call. Then, just last night, the Bulls were denied a potential win via a ten minute review of a potential game winning shot by Brad Miller.

In the MLB General Managers meetings this week, replay was glossed over:

Upon further review ... baseball general managers like instant replay the way it is.

GMs failed to take a vote Tuesday on expanding instant replay following a postseason filled with blown calls by umpires.

"I know there are some who have talked off line about the expansion of instant replay," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office. "Right now, the commissioner doesn't see any reason to consider it."

Bud Selig doesn't see any reason? I guess he didn't watch any of his sport over the months of October and November.

What's true is this: Bud, you opened the door to replay already. It's in your sport. That you use it in only the most rudimentary way on calls that could become undisputed by simply installing Wrigley Field-like baskets in every stadium only shows how unthinking you are.

But you opened the door. To say you only like replay for somethings and not for others is not only dumb, but it suggests you have an outside influence preventing you from implementing replay further.

The thing about replay is you either do it fully loaded or not at all. You know the old joke that says if you won't sleep with me for $10 but you will for $1,000,000, then we know what you are, we are just haggling over price?

How much more do you need to be paid, Bud, to get replay done the right way? We know what you are, we just want to know your price.

Checking the Appendix

2009-11-06T09:46:00.000-06:00

I just want to know how long Stewart has been practicing the Glenn Beck imitation.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The 11/3 Project

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

Remebering Sweetness

2009-11-02T09:20:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, at halftime of the Bears boring win over the Cleveland Browns, the Chicago Bears played a tribute to Walter Payton. Now, unless you saw the late news or read the papers and blogs this AM, you'd never have known about the tribute given ~~Fox's~~ CBS' ignoring the event.

It seems there was a six minute video tribute. The Bears have done their fans a service by posting the video on line. If you haven't seen it, the tribute can be found here.

I was 8 years old when Walter played his first game as a Bear. I have no recollection of watching the Bears before him. Could simply be that they were so bad that there was nothing worth remembering.

Walter Payton is worth remembering.

Hard to believe it's been 10 years.

The Fugitive 2

2009-11-01T22:12:00.000-06:00

Right down the street from Ivy Chat HQ.

Meet The New Boss, Same As / Different from (Circle one) The Old Boss

2009-10-30T09:13:00.003-05:00

The Ricketts family meets the media today at 11:00 AM. I'm certain it will be riveting television filled with non-specifics. Remember, these are new people admitted to a club. They aren't going to start by making any waves.

You may hear some semi-detailed things about the plans for the physical plant that is Wrigley Field. They may talk about timing for upgrades and renovation because they are certainly aware that every day they delay risks some fan getting pulverized by a few tons of falling concrete.

The worry warts who were anti-sale because of unsubstantiated fears that the new owner would tear down Wrigley have nothing to worry about. The rumor of ticket price increases is proof if this. As noted on other blogs, the park was empty the last two weeks of the year. Fans, smartly, kept away from a bad product.

Despite the bad baseball product, management clearly believes the demand for Wrigley Field tickets hasn't subsided. This is due to the fact that the Wrigley Experience minimizes subscription risk. No owner is going to destroy Wrigley as doing so removes the safety net in bad baseball times (as 2010 projects to be).

But the issues real fans have either won't be addressed today or will have direct answers dodged. Those issues are:

- How much input are you going to have in on-field operations
- Are you going to hire a baseball person above Jim Hendry
- How sensitive is payroll to interest rates given the massive amount of debt you have incurred
- Are you willing to support the operation with personal cash if it runs on a negative cash flow basis or are you running this to be break even or even profitable

The correct answers to these questions, from a fans' perspective are: yes, yes, hopefully none as the debt hopefully is at fixed interest rates, and yes to personal support.

Maybe they'll surprise us with some quick decisions that they've had as much as four years to plan out. One expects that the real decisions will start trickling out over the next 5 months.

All that said, hope is alive.

:::UPDATE:::

Crain's with the first report from the scene.

The Cubs Are Sold, The Deal Is Closed

2009-10-27T10:26:00.003-05:00

The Ricketts Family is, as of this minute, the owner of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. According to Crain's, the deal closed this morning. The banks funded the deal, the cash changed hands, and the Tribune is out as a decision maker.

How long has this deal been in the making? Ivy Chat first talked about a Cubs sale at 8:24 AM on October 24, 2005. That means the sale, that some said would never happen, took four years, three days, 2 hours and 2 minutes to close. That equates to:

- 1,464 days.
- 35,137.6 hours
- 2,108,256 minutes
- 126,495,360 seconds.

This day is a huge day for hope, and celebration that the Tribune is gone. It is not a day to beatify the Ricketts. They have done nothing yet to deserve it.

For those that say the Ricketts are going to be great owners, there were many Washington Redskins fans who said the same thing about Dan Snyder. That hasn't worked out very well.

The Ricketts family may very well end up being terrific. Time will tell. And the trust of the fans must be earned, not gifted as many seem ready to do.

That said, today is a cause for hope because, under Tribune ownership, there was no chance of success. That impediment is now gone.

Celebrate that.

Oh, and someone get word to the proprietor of Bleed Cubbie Blue: You owe up on your steak bet. You lost.

McNutty!

2009-10-24T22:22:00.001-05:00

Iowa 15, Michigan State 13

No Dr. Needed

2009-10-23T22:57:00.004-05:00

Joseph Wiseman (1918 - 2009)

The first Bond Bad Guy was nearly the best.

Completely Everything Went

2009-10-23T22:48:00.002-05:00

Soupy Sales (1926 - 2009)

What's White Fang gonna do now?

The New and Future Hitting Coach

2009-10-21T11:34:00.004-05:00

All signs indicate that the Cubs will hire Rudy Jaramillo to be their new hitting coach:

One report has it as three years and $2.42 million but the Cubs could not confirm that figure.
...
The 59-year-old Jaramillo comes to the Cubs from the Texas Rangers, where he spent 15 years and earned a reputation as one of the top hitting coaches in the game. He became available after the Rangers offered him only a one-year contract extension, which he declined.

A few points about this hire.

First, being the hitting coach for a team where Jose Canseco said he introduced Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez to steroids suggests that other things were at play in the good hitting other than Jaramillo's five point approach.

Second, as Dave Pinto notes, Texas hitters had wild swings in their home and road scoring:

Since 1995, the Rangers scored 5.70 runs per game at home, the best home mark in the American League and second only to the Colorado Rockies. On the road, that drops to 4.90 runs per game, 10th in the majors and ninth in the American League. In other words, there’s a big ballpark component to his success as measured by the success of the Rangers offense.

Believing that Jamarillo will actually make a difference is a belief that takes a lot of faith.

Third, some quarters seem to to think that a three year, $2.42 million dollar deal is a sign that the salary spigots will be open under the Ricketts regime.

Spending $30,000 LESS over THREE years compared to what the Cubs are spending in ONE year for Aaron Miles is proof the payroll will go up? Coaching payroll is a rounding error to a major market team. This signing is no different. The Cubs payroll next year for their 25 man roster will be close to $135,000,000. Jamarillo's $800,000 salary equates to 0.059% of that payroll. Look at it this way: If the Cubs 25 man payroll was $50,000, the Jamarillo's salary would be $296.29. This signing says nothing about future payroll commitments.

Lastly, the length of the signing is interesting. With Lou Piniella retiring/quitting after the 2010 season, the next Cub manager will not have the ability to hire their own hitting coach. That's an interesting restriction on the next manager.

And, given what we know about the last 15 seasons with Jim Hendry in the organization, Rudy could be here for the next GM as well.

Sayonra Johjima-san

2009-10-19T14:48:00.002-05:00

Interesting news out of Seattle. Catcher Kenji Johjima has decided to return to Japan and cancel the final two years left on his contract:

Kenji had an option to return to Japan and used it - leaving all $16 million on the table by walking away.

GM Jack Zduriencik tactfully said the decision was all Johjima's.

"We are very appreciative of everything Kenji has done for this organization over the past four seasons," Zduriencik said. "We respect his decision to return home. Joh has been a terrific teammate and a great competitor. His work ethic, production and desire to win made him a positive role model. We wish Kenji the very best and will follow his career."

Signed before the 2006 season – at the behest of Japanese ownership – Johjima batted .291 with 18 home runs and 76 RBI over 144 games of his first season. Those were numbers he’d never repeat.

One wonders if Kosuke Fukudome has a similar clause in his contract and if he'd consider exercising it.

Then again, this is a Jim Hendry contract. To expect a pro-management clause like this without some sort of financial kicker is probably unreasonable.

Ivy Chat has no ill-will against Mr. Fukudome, but readily agrees that his contract money would be better spent on other players. Does anyone know if Chunichi needs an outfielder back?

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!

2009-10-16T23:41:00.001-05:00

Funny stuff.

HOAX!!!!

2009-10-16T07:49:00.001-05:00

"You guys said, that, um, we did this for the show." - Falcon Heene

If anyone pays this family a cent for their "story," they are contributing to child abuse.

First Metaphorically, Now Literally

2009-10-12T11:26:00.002-05:00

The Chicago Cubs are bankrupt:

The team filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Monday. The move was anticipated as the Tribune Co. looks to complete an $845 million sale of the team, Wrigley Field and related properties to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts.

The purpose of this is to legally release the Cubs from financial obligations that are tied to their corporate parent, the Tribune Corporation. Things that will be released are financial guarantees and any other contracts that need to be dissolved.

If the judge is a Cub fan, perhaps he could negate three other contracts? I'm thinking of the ones with the names "SORIANO," "BRADLEY," and "HENDRY" on them.

Letting Go of Rich Harden

2009-10-08T16:11:00.000-05:00

With the focus on 2010 and the sale of the team likely three weeks away from closing, there’s a lot of discussion on what’s going to happen to Rich Harden and will the Cubs offer him arbitration. The Cub Reporter goes so far as to suggest that this decision could affect Jim Hendry’s hold on the Cubs general manager job (see: Arbitration is Going to be the End of Jim Hendry).

First off, Jim Hendry’s job security is far more closely tied to the contracts of Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley, and the performance (or lack there of) of the minor leagues that Jim Hendry has run since 1995 compared to whether or not he gets a draft pick back in compensation for Rich Harden.

But back on point: There’s almost no way that the Cubs can offer arbitration to Harden. He is not a risk the Cubs can afford in 2010.

The Cubs have three of their five rotation spots filled in with Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster. Slot number 4 is reserved for Randy Wells until he proves he doesn’t deserve it.

That leaves one spot for Harden. But the Cubs also have Tom Gorzelanny, Sean Marshall, and Jeff Samardzija as candidates for the job. These names don’t even include long shots like Casey Coleman into the mix. All these guys are a lot cheaper than what Harden will cost.

Then, you add in that Harden was only good for 141 innings this year. That low total comprised the third best total in his career. He’s only been over 148 innings once and that was the five seasons ago. Harden on your team requires you to essentially have an extra arm in the bullpen and a 6th starter ready at all times.

And, as others have noted, the reasons for shutting Harden down for the last three weeks weren’t exactly shouted from the rooftops and Harden himself didn’t complain about it. How healthy is he? Is he worth the financial commitment if he’s not healthy?

Now, you risk that he’ll get $10 million or more in arbitration. That’s on a team that will have a payroll of close to $135 million for 20 players. On a franchise that will be levered to the hilt.

If this was 2011 and the Cubs were starting to see payroll runoff, they could spend $10 million on a pitcher who would pitch 75% of the time. In 2010, with payroll commitments peaking, money to be paid to Milton Bradley for not being here and improvements to the lineup needed, it’s nearly impossible to see how Rich Harden gets an offer of arbitration.

If the handling of the Harden situation is a "bad" on Hendry, it’s going to be for not letting Harden go via waivers and saving over $1 million in payroll in 2009. Non-tendering him would be a decent baseball move and a required one for the 2010 Cubs financially.

Sale: Approved by MLB

2009-10-06T15:42:00.002-05:00

David Kaplan reports that MLB owners have unanimously approved the sale of the Cubs to the Ricketts family by a vote of 29-0 via conference call.

The last two steps are the pre-packaged bankruptcy of the Cubs to clear away all contingent obligations of the Cubs to the Tribune and Shawon Dunston, followed by funding of the bank debt 10 days later.

The Trib could be out by Friday, October 23rd.

Let's hope Crane Kenney and Jim Hendry are out by Halloween.

Yeah, it's unlikely, but that would be a hell of a treat compared to the tricks they've played on us.

Backing the Bid

2009-10-02T08:57:00.000-05:00

Sometime in the next few hours, the International Olympic Committee will vote on where the 2016 Olympic Games will be held.

This page certainly hopes that the games are awarded to Chicago.

In general, public financing of sporting events is a bad thing, especially when those funds are used for single purpose stadia that benefit the financial well being of the single already high net worth owner of the benefiting team.

But the Olympics are not that type of event. Yes, many people stand to make a lot of money off the games. That's part of the key: The money will be spread out among hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs will be created and last for many, many years.

Furthermore, where Chicago really stands to benefit is in the redevelopment of blighted and ignored areas of the city.

Look at the Lake Michigan shore line from Soldier Field south to the Museum of Science and Industry and compare it to the same area to the north. On the north side there’s some of the best real estate in the country: Lincoln Park. On the south side, you see miles of underdeveloped and underused lake shore and the blight that was Michael Reese Hospital.

There are two points that are generally used to oppose the Olympics. Both are valid, but one is severely mitigated.

Point one is the cost. Where is the $10 billion in construction funds going to come from? Is this all going on the taxpayers?

The answer to this is that a large portion of the funds come from the money the games themselves generate. NBC is paying nearly $1.2 billion to broadcast the London Olympics. That number will likely go up for Games that are timed to maximize American TV viewing habits as a Chicago games would.

NBC isn't the only broadcaster. In general, international broadcast rights fees are about 65% of the American rights fees. This means $2 billion from TV revenue alone is available to pay for the cost of the games.

The other sources of revenue? Ticket sales, memorabilia sales, corporate sponsorships (how much does Visa pay in?), and yes, taxes.

But, if you can get, say, $10 billion in development and have 70% to 80% of the cost paid for, isn't that worth it? This city has blown nearly a billion dollars on Soldier Field and Comiskey Park, alone. And who benefits from that? Jerry Reinsdorph and the McCaskey Family.

If the South Shore could become a second Lincoln Park, everyone would benefit.

The benefit is worth the risks of costs in this view.

The more reasonable argument against is that of trusting Mayor Richard Daley to do it right. This is a very valid argument. Just look at the aforementioned Comiskey and Soldier Field deals. How much better would the bid look if Soldier Field had been truly redone as an 80,000 seat retractable roof stadium?

You worry with Daley about the vision thing. You also worry about the graft thing. Yes, there's a good chance not all of the money spent will be spent above board. OK, more than a good chance. A lot of it will.

There's no answer to this other than to say, "Yeah, but the Games are going somewhere. And graft will go where the games go. Might as well be our graft."

Ivy Chat supports the Bid.

As to if Chicago will actually get it, the betting line here is that the Games were a lock the minute Sen. Obama became President-Elect Obama last November.

We will find out shortly.

And Thus, It Ends

2009-09-30T09:05:00.005-05:00

Bruce Miles wrote up his game story today with the following opening line:

It might be too late for this year, but nobody wants to talk about next year on the Cubs.

Well, when Chris Iannetta homered in the 11th inning for the Colorado Rockies last night, the Cubs were eliminated.

All that's left to talk about is next year.

Even this season's last 5 games won't show much. Kevin Gregg and Rich Harden have been shelved, so there's no more scouting to see if they'll earn a new contract for next year (they won't). Angel Guzman is out for the rest of the year. Aramis Ramirez is likely done. Jake Fox has been hidden on the bench to keep any trade value he has from slipping away. Alfonso Soriano has been gone for months and Milton Bradley was never really here (even though he says he felt like $30 million).

If seeing Jeff Samardzija start excites you, well, perhaps there's that left.

Many of the the Cubs are already done for the year. Fitting.

Given that, and despite Bruce's intro, the focus from here on out is 2010.

As it has been since August.

Elimination Party

2009-09-25T13:09:00.006-05:00

Today was the day. No, not the Cubs. Ivy Chat, from Bleed Cubbie Blue.

It must have been that 5th comment in 2009 that got Al's attention.

Someone please send a Banned by BCB/BTI card to Ivy Chat, please. I'm now in the club!

Cubby Occurence From The Angel

2009-09-25T11:55:00.002-05:00

Just classic:

First baseman Derrek Lee scored the game-tying run ahead of Jeff Baker, whose two-out, two-strike home run off San Francisco closer Brian Wilson put the team in line for the win.

As Lee and Baker were mobbed by teammates in the dugout, relief pitcher Angel Guzman slapped the side of Lee's helmet, causing Lee to experience neck spasms that forced him to come out of the game for defense in the bottom of the ninth.

Lee has missed numerous games over the years with neck and back spasms, after initially suffering the injury in a home-plate collision in 2006.

After the game Thursday, Lee told team personnel that he'd be in the lineup Friday night, but the team's training staff could insist that he sit out a game or two.

The gods clearly think the Cubs are still contending. I guess the gods sell bus parts.

Final Steps

2009-09-24T10:46:00.001-05:00

Crain's on the case:

Tribune gets OK for Cubs sale

A federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware has approved the Tribune Co.'s sale of the Chicago Cubs.

The judge on Thursday authorized Tribune to enter into transactions to sell the team to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade. The family agreed to buy a 95 percent stake in the team and its Wrigley Field home for $845 million.

The deal also needs approval from Major League Baseball.

The Tribune plan calls for a separate bankruptcy filing by Chicago National League Ball Club, an affiliate not involved in the company's Chapter 11 case. The Cubs bankruptcy should last only a few days but is needed to ensure that sale is free of all liens and claims, and that contracts can be assumed and assigned.

The owners will approve this via a conference call as quickly as they can. Any delay risks seeing the deal fall apart and the purchase price of the team fall.

And that would dilute the values of every other franchise.

This is going to be over very, very soon.

:::UPDATE:::

From the Chicago Tribune, all the objections to the sale have been cleared:

Former Cub Shawon Dunston had filed a handwritten letter last week seeking college money he said the baseball team owed him. On Tuesday, Dunston dropped the request.

And Delta Tau Chi was just hoping for a new pledge!