The Chicago Cubs agreed to a one-year, $10 million contract with free-agent first baseman Carlos Pena, a source said.
Pena had a star-crossed season in 2010, hitting 28 home runs with 84 RBIs but hitting a career-low .196 and striking out 158 times in 484 at-bats.Pena, who has a reputation as being a good clubhouse presence, would solve two problems for the Cubs: He would give them a left-handed power presence in the lineup next to Aramis Ramirez, and he is a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman.
Hey look the Cubs signed a free agent for less than 20 years. This is one of those “why the hell not” deals. Its one year, maybe a little too much money, but ultimately low risk. If Carlos Pena returns to form you just underpaid for a top 5 first baseman. If he sucks and is injured all year who cares? Kick him to the curb and start over. Cubs aren’t winning anything next year anyway, might as well make their offense at least somewhat competitive.
DENVER — Right-hander Carlos Silva left the Chicago Cubs‘s game against the Colorado Rockies in the first inning after experiencing an abnormal heartbeat Sunday.
Silva was examined by Colorado’s team doctors before being sent to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Denver, where he will spend the night for observation.
“He stepped back, we thought something was wrong,” acting manager Alan Trammel said. “He has an abnormal heart rate. He’s staying overnight for observation is all that I know. He won’t be going back [to Chicago] with us tonight.”
The team said that Silva’s pulse was high and a result of a syndrome called PSVT, which causes an abnormally high heart rhythm. Paramedics corrected the pulse on the way to the hospital, where Silva was said to be back to normal. Silva will see a team cardiologist when he returns to Chicago.
“It caught a lot of us off guard,” Trammell said. “We didn’t know of any history of that for him.”
Not that the Cubs season was going anywhere anyway but it always sucks to get news like that, especially from a guy who was having a great year, minus his post all-star break starts.
It just perfectly sums up the Cubs year though. On Saturday they had one of the season’s only positives, trading Lilly and Theriot for Blake Dewitt, a younger, better offensive player. Followed by Silva’s broken heart. At least the Cubs were able to get a trade under the deadline. Holding on to Lilly would have been foolish and shortsighted. Dewitt should be a good fit in Wrigley and gives the cubs some serious young power up the middle.
Any silver lining is welcome when you sit 13 back to start the month of August. This team is deader than dead, but then again everyone knew that months ago.
CHICAGO — Lou Piniella will retire as manager of the Chicago Cubs at the end of the season.
“I couldn’t be more appreciative of the Cubs organization for providing me the opportunity to manage this ballclub,” Piniella said in a statement. “I’ve had four wonderful years here that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. I’ve grown to love the city and the fans but at my age (67 at the end of the season) it will be time to enter a new phase in my life. It will enable me to spend more valuable time with my family my wife, my kids and my grandchildren. God has blessed me to have been able to work this many years in the game that I love.
“Why make this announcement now? [General manager] Jim Hendry asked me in recent weeks regarding my future with the team and I told him I had made the decision to retire at the end of the season. Since my decision has now been made, I don’t want to mislead anyone about my intentions when asked in the future.
“But more importantly, announcing my decision now is what’s best for this organization in the long run. It gives Jim Hendry ample time to find the next manager and he doesn’t need to do so in secrecy. The Cubs are one of the greatest organizations in baseball. I care very deeply for this organization and want nothing more than for it to experience present and long-term success. I’m proud of our accomplishments during my time here and this will be a perfect way for me to end my career.
This doesnt really come as a surprise to anyone, especially considering the fact that if Lou didn’t retire he would have been let go in what most likely will be a complete team overhaul by the Ricketts this winter.
With that said it still is a little sad to see Lou go out with the past two years he has had. He had the best team in baseball in 08, which considering the Cubs play in the last 18 months seems more like a decade ago. Who would have thought after that summer that the Cubs would be so bad in Lou’s final two years. Its a shame he never got another shot at the playoffs.
He also is one of the last old school managers, along with Bobby Cox and Jim Leyland, who have their 2-3 must see blowups a year. It was always fun to see that big belly come rumbling out of the dugout ready to kick some bases and scream at a few umps.
Now cue all the meatballs saying this will light a fire in the Cubs this year and the players will be playing for Lou, you know because his retiring will definitely make this team not suck.
CHICAGO — Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano has completed his anger management sessions and threw 25 pitches Thursday in Mesa, Ariz., as he started his rehabilitation, according to general manager Jim Hendry.
Hendry said at some point next week the Cubs and Zambrano will get together and decide where he’ll continue his rehab in the minor leagues.
Thank god, our long national nightmare is over. Carlos Zambrano is not angry anymore. I just can’t wait to see the calm, cool, and collected Big Z out on the bump. I bet this new Zambrano gets his 95 mph fastball back. Probably will be lights out now that he doesn’t have to worry about getting angry anymore.
Its just amazing that a 29 year old man who has been immature and angry all his life just needed a couple of weeks with a guidance counselor to straighten shit out. Modern Science truly is amazing.
PS
Love the look on the ladies face in that picture. She is beyond shocked to see emotion at a professional sporting event.
“Oh my god what is that bad man doing. This is terrible, someone get me a cup of tea and the new Virginia Woolf novel, I need to lay down”.
So Bird’s White Sox recap gloating about the Sox having the greatest month ever has compelled me to give everyone a nice shot of reality about what has transpired on the North Side. It hurts and it hurts bad, here are the facts.
- Cubs went 10-16 in the month of June
- They have lost 9 out of their last 10 series, including all 4 this season to the Pirates
-On that same note the Pirates won 6 games in June half of them against the Cubs and on the year the Cubs make up 1/3 of the Pirates total wins.
-Rank 14th out of 16 in the National league for runs score
-Cubs are currently 9.5 games out of first and in 4th place.
To say it has been ugly in Wrigley this summer is an understatement. For Cubs fans this season has been like getting your TV taken away during shark week.
Well that went exactly how everyone expected. One team sucks, the other team is playing real well. One team plays in the big boy league, the other team plays in AAAA. One team has a psycho baby for a starting pitcher, the other team has a starting rotation that is showing signs of being top notch (12-1 in last 17 games).
Is anyone surprised that the South Siders went home with the illustrious BP cup this year? This weekend just proved everything we already know. The Cubs suck and the White Sox are pretty good. Even in the Cubs lone victory they coughed up an 8-3 lead and almost blew the game in the 9th.
This team and its manager is deader than dead. At some point it becomes evident that a team just stinks, and the past 2 weeks have proven that for the Cubs. Theyre 9-14 in the month of June and 8.5 back in the central. And the baffling part about the Cubs is that they suck across the board. The batting is mediocre, the team era is mediocre, the defense is mediocre, the manager is mediocre. Just a collection of middle of the road talent and overpriced veterans, a truly depressing team to watch.
But hey, look on the bright side, Lebron and Bosh will be Bulls in about 2 weeks.
Jesus christ, what a fucking a baby. Hey bro, you throw meatballs down the middle theyre going to get crushed, no reason to blame Derek Lee, who I’m pretty sure is not only the most mild mannered guy but is also a great fielder and teammate. My guess is this spells the end for Big Z and you know what, good riddance. Its ok to punch your catcher and be a hot head when you throw 96 mph and win 15 games a year, not so much when you cant hit 90.
PS
Good call by Bird this morning saying Z would have a big blow up, then again predicting a big z blow up is like saying the sun will rise tomorrow morning.
Tonight I thought I was going to live through my worst nightmare and see my team get no-hit by the Cubs at the place where Ozzie pukes every time he walks in the door (Wrigley for those who are a bit slow). It was really a bizarre baseball game as both pitchers just dominated and had no-hitters into the 7th. Considering no hitters are the cool thing to do this year, I thought we might see something crazy and have both guys go 9 without giving up a hit.
Even as a Sox fan, I tip my cap to Lilly for a great performance but I couldn’t have been happier to see Juan get back at his old team and break up the celebration at Wrigley with a hit to start the 9th (by the 9th inning about half the crowd stopped talking about shopping and realized they might actually see history). Then all of the sudden it went from history to what looked like a White Sox winner with 2nd and 3rd nobody out…… until Marmol slammed the door shut with some filthy stuff. He did what a great closer should do but there is no excuse for not getting a run across the plate at that point.
Even with a painful loss, the White Sox put together another very good series and take 2 of 3 from the Cubbies. Round 2 of the crosstown classic will head down to the South Side in two weeks as the Sox will try to capture the prestigious BP Cup and dump oil all over each other in celebration.
Caitlin, get me that ladies number, we need to get her a column on TheHotGlove. We’ll call it Shoe Lace Flavors
- Big Cat
I was there…and I did pull the total asshole move of discussing it out loud, and turned to my Cub fan friend to point out what was going on…just in case she didn’t notice. Felt a LITTLE bad for Lilly just because you never want to see that happen in the 9th. As far as the Sox, 2nd and 3rd with no one out after a balk…you don’t deserve a W. And let’s be honest, if they had won 5 in a row I would have started talking about how many games it realistically could take to close the 7.5 game gap…aka I would have been sounding as sane as the crazy lady who walks by tin lizzie chewing on shoelaces.
The Sox make the red line trip up to Wrigley this afternoon to start what is the least anticipated city series in recent memory. Maybe its because the Stanley Cup is currently making its way up Michigan Ave or that both teams have woefully underachieved thus far this season, but one thing is for sure, it certainly doesnt feel like a Cubs vs Sox weekend. In years past, for 2 weekends a year, the entire city had a certain buzz that was undeniably linked to the cross town rivals squaring up.
This year the rivalry feels different. Its extremely difficult to get excited for a baseball series when in reality both teams sort of suck, bad. Throw in the jump the shark aspect with this new “crosstown cup” that the teams are playing for, and it seems like a rivalry is being forced down everyone’s throat. Honestly, is a trophy really necessary? I know there is usually added juice to these games but why commercialize it and create a trophy? Just seems so planned out and inorganic.
We’ll see, maybe when Peavy and Randy Wells take the bump this afternoon everything will change and the city will get swept up by the rivalry. My guess is people will care more as the weekend goes on and the Blackhawks hangover passes. But to say this Friday’s game has even 1/10th the hype as the rivalry in years past would be foolish.
Maybe a good old fashioned brawl would wake these two teams and the city up, get the blood boiling again. Where is that hothead Michael Barrett when you need him?
What are we on a 10 year plan now? The window has most definitely closed
- tommy