Chicago Cubs

We all know that picking a top ten list of players in any sport must contain some subjectivity. Sure, one could simply use statistics to support their choices, but how do you compare the relative worth of a pitcher versus a hitter, for example?

Players we remember from our childhoods often have special meaning for us, and it can be difficult to block out those emotions when rating players on your favorite team. We may have looked up to these players as heroes at the time.

Well, we are older now and smart enough to understand that you shouldn't use athletes as role models.

A whisper leaked out of Arizona on Wednesday that Chicago Cubs' left-hander Ted Lilly underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery on Tuesday and isn't expected to return until April.

Great. [Collective sigh from Chicago's North Side.]

Here we go again.

So how does the knowledge that Lilly's now expected to likely miss the first month of the season impact the Cubs as they approach this important winter?

Let's examine a few scenarios.

Reports are flying out of Arizona, where the Chicago Cubs are having their first winter management meetings with new owner Tom Ricketts, that apparently 2009 hasn't bottomed out just yet.

Apparently, the team's only All Star might be a question mark to begin the 2010 season.

That's right folks, it appears that Ted Lilly had arthroscopic surgery on his left (pitching) shoulder yesterday.  The Cubs aren't releasing a lot of details, obviously, but they did say they hope Lilly's ready "within the month of April."

Filed: Nov. 3, 2009

Bruce Levine of ESPN 1000 is reporting that the Cubs and reliever John Grabow are in the midst of heavy talks for a multi-year deal. Levine reports that the offer is reportedly to be a $6.5 to $7.5 million pact, with a third year being a possibility.

The rumors are out there. The free agent lists are nearly complete; only uncertainty over player and club option years remains. The trade market is beginning to rediscover itself, for the first time in six weeks or so.

And now, armed with all of that knowledge, we have an opportunity to begin the task of concretely formulating the best plan of action for the Chicago Cubs over the course of the upcoming off-season. It will be an imprecise science; it will also likely not come to fruition, whatever we may propose, because Jim Hendry's mind does not work in the same way as the average fan's...

It seems that Jim Hendry and the Cubs are intent on doing everything within their power to move Milton Bradley this winter. This reminds me of the offseason that Hendry spent trying to trade Sammy Sosa. Eventually, he did, of course, but in the process ignored other Cubs needs.

I don't think that this is so much of a concern this winter because, quite frankly, there isn't a whole lot that Hendry can do. Given all the expensive, long-term contracts that are untradeable, Hendry has basically tied his own hands. Maybe he's a masochist.

Filed:October 30th, 2009

Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts

And with one 20 minute press conference this morning, an historic event has come and gone, with the Ricketts family officially announced as the Cubs owners.

"It's going to be a big difference between family ownership and corporate ownership. For one thing, as you can tell from talking to us, we all have the same agenda, which may not always be happening inside a corporation. We just want to win. We want to bring a championship back here ." -Tom Ricketts in his first press conference as owner of the Cubs.

On Friday morning, the Chicago Cubs introduced their new owners to the media and the world with a press conference from a rainy Wrigley Field. The 35 minutes of questions and answers was informative, humorous, and encouraging for not only Cubs fans, but any baseball fans.

Tom Ricketts, the leader of the Ricketts Family, gave a brief introduction statement in which he outlined three points for Cubs fans under which they will work moving forward:

1. "We're going to win a World Series"

If you have ever read Baseball Prospectus' Baseball Between the Numbers , or a similarly analytical baseball text, the argument against standard pitching statistics (wins and losses, ERA, and saves) is not new to you. By now, most educated baseball fans understand that all three of those statistics reflect myriad factors far beyond the pitcher's control (and, in fact, relatively few that fall within it).