Why We Watch - 2008 Chicago Cubs

March 3rd, 2008 by Tuffy Posted in baseball, mlb, why we watch |

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

It’s Our Anniversary

Twenty years ago, three men not named Tony put together a little band in Oakland that had a few R&B #1 hits and a few top 10 singles. Their infectious beats, snarky lyrics, and soulful grooves set a high standard for their contemporaries.

Twenty years ago, Don Zimmer led the Chicago Cubs to a 77-85 record in the NL East, good enough for fourth place. The team boasted six All-Stars, including the immortal Vance Law, yet could not produce a winning season for the fourth consecutive year. This marked the Chicago National League Ball Club’s eightieth year since their last World Series victory.

In 2008, there is a distinct lack of banners, parades, and commemorative bobbleheads in Chicago to mark the 100th anniversary of that 1908 triumph. (Well, not on the North Side, at least.) Still, you can expect every national announcer to mention this ignoble achievement during each Cubs broadcast.

If we’re supposed to believe men that have been selected over time for the ability to succeed at the highest level with extraordinary amounts of stress heaped upon them by their loved ones and authority figures could suddenly seize up when faced with a fastball in September, you can only imagine the size of the ham sandwich the Brewers must be building for the Cubs to represent the choke job required to lose the division in their hundredth attempt.

What Goes Around Comes Around

It’s been a rejuvenating offseason for Kerry Wood. The right-hander has come a long way from that 20-strikeout game his rookie season…

Most important, Wood is healthy.

“I felt great when I finished the season last year,” Wood said. “It felt like June for me when the season was over because I had such a late start. I took some time off and got right back into it. It’s nice to come into camp. My body feels good, and I’m ready to go.”

Quick quiz: what year was this written? Answer: doesn’t matter. It’s the same quote recycled since Jim Riggleman strapped himself onto Wood’s back and rode him to a Wild Card triumph that lasted all of 24 hours or so. Wood hasn’t been the same since being put up wet that winter.

While Dusty Baker’s hatred of young men with functional arms is well-documented, it has never helped Kerry that his delivery lurches and spins more than an angry Whirling Dervish held together only by overstretched rubber bands. Frankly, it’s surprising his arm has stayed attached to his torso for this long.

The low-level gamble by the Cubs to bring him back full-time as a reliever and the titular favorite for the closer role bears watching for both team and man, but Cubs fans are most interested in Wood for not being Mark Prior. While both men struggled with the mortality of their wings, Wood exuded a blue-collar image and Prior projected petulance.

As Mark Prior tests his arm for the umpteenth season in his new Padres uniform, Cubs fans want to see Kerry Wood succeed for them as well to justify their affection and faith. That’s always been a lot for any man to shoulder.

My Ex-Girlfriend Is a Padre

Speaking of ex-Cubs now peddling their wares in San Diego in no small part for their personality flaws, the only people in Chicago that miss Michael Barrett either work in a bar or wish he would pick them up in a bar.

The list of players Barrett has been in an altercation with is only slightly shorter than the list of players he’s thrown out stealing. After losing his cool with Carlos Zambrano (who will not see “calm” anywhere in his bio in his lifetime) last June, he was sent off unceremoniously to San Diego for the ham sandwich pictured above.

(By the by, that slapfest with Pierzynski in 2006 was pretty cool, but reflection forces one to admit that the cleansing scent of vinegar was pretty strong on both of them that day.)

That trade made room for his obviously superior teammate and one of the best reasons to watch the 2008 Cubs: Geovany Soto. His .389/.433./.667 line last season in limited exposure may be a little optimistic, but he’s been waiting to bust out as long as Barrett’s been busting chins.

Soto throws out runners with ruthless efficiency. He hits the long ball. He doesn’t strike out often. He can play 120 games behind the plate (and may have to with Henry Blanco backing him up). He’s one of the few young players the Cubs can boast about. Sound smart at parties by talking him up as much as possible.

Tell Me, Pie, Where Did We Go Wrong?

On the other hand, the young player the Cubs expected to boast about last spring spent the year getting to know the potholes and rest stops on I-80 between Iowa and Chicago as Felix Pie bounced between Triple-A and the big boys.

• April 17: Up to the Cubs
• May 10: Down to Iowa
• June 3: Up to the Cubs
• July 8: Down to Iowa
• August 8: Up to the Cubs

In 87 games, he somehow managed to accrue only 177 at-bats. Attempts to stop Lou Piniella from asking umpires to write ‘Defensive Replacement’ as his name on the lineup card during double-switches went for naught. Still, his offensive struggles (.215/.271/.333) are understandable under the circumstances; he can expect to beat those numbers with regular time.

Pie should be settling into a full-time role this spring with no competition in front of him for the Opening Day trot. However, daily rumors involving Coco Crisp, Kenny Lofton, and the unfortunately-named Anyone But Felix Pie are a reminder that the Cubs don’t have much patience with youth and that every problem can be solved with a check.

(Well, except maybe this problem.)

We’d Never Listen to You If You Had No Loot

Unfortunately, this man has cut Cubs fans a reality check from his personal checkbook. The real estate entrepreneur took official ownership of the Cubs’ parent corporation (Tribune Co.) in December and immediately started talking about ways to monetize his investment.

Cubs fans have suffered through corporate ambivalence since the Tribune Company purchased the club in 1977. However, all efforts to milk the Cubs teat by their public stakeholders were fairly beneficial, like the creation of the WGN superstation. They were never great owners, but they were largely indifferent caretakers.

With Zell’s arrival, though, the Cubs franchise and Wrigley Field are just another acquisition to be flipped at the greatest profit. Chatting up CNBC with talk of renaming Wrigley Field showed a deaf ear to public opinion, but it’s not remotely the worst of Zell’s plans. His attempts to sell Wrigley Field to the City of Chicago for the subsequent tax breaks and avoidance of upkeep costs are far more heinous to a fan base that has a deep emotional link between home and loved one.

Cubs fans are watching this year to make sure they don’t see this bearded imp in next year’s plans. Of course, they can rest assured that the commissioner of Major League Baseball will look out for their best interest.

Erm. Moving on.

I’m Leavin’

Finally… Fukudome!

By the way, Cubs fans pronounce it “NL Central Division Title”.