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The Chicago Cubs have spent the past few years treading water in the middle of Major League Baseball. They haven't been going on tears, but they also haven't been at the bottom of the league.
Although this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is something that is very frustrating for Cubs fans who want to get some sort of identity out of a team that refuses to give itself one.
That may be changing this year under new, full-time manager, Mike Quade. He is giving a young Chicago Cubs team some fire and might actually get ...
There is a lot that makes a city, a great sports city. There is a lot that makes Chicago the best sports town in America. It's more than championships. It's more than the length a franchise has been in a city.
It's the atmosphere of the city. It's the attitude of the fans in the city. It's the love and passion the fans share for the teams in their city. It's the revenue these teams create for the city.
Let's take a look into what makes Chicago great.
Atmosphere
If you walk through downtown Chicago any day of the year, you will never fail ...
CHICAGO CUBS
Last Year: 75-87, 5th in NL Central
Manager: Mike Quade
PROJECTED LINEUP
C- Geovany Soto (R)
1B- Carlos Pena (L)
2B- Darwin Barney (R)
3B- Aramis Ramirez (R)
SS- Starlin Castro (R)
LF- Alfonso Soriano (R)
CF- Marlon Byrd (R)
RF- Kouske Fukodome (L)
Generating offense was a problem for the Cubs last season. Aramis Ramirez, who really struggled in 2010, needs to have a better season after his OBP dipped below .300 in 2010. He still produces in terms of power, but the Cubs will need a line of .280/.350/.500 in order to contend.
Carlos Pena was brought in to hit behind Ramirez and provide some much needed left-handed power. ...
As a Reds supporter, I love talking to Cubs fans.
See, in Cincinnati, we’re used to losing. We’re familiar with the bruised, aching feeling that follows every season gone bad. We know all too well the dejection of finishing fifth or sixth in the division, with no realistic prospects of hope on the horizon.
Yet, no matter how low a team like the Reds sinks into the vacant, hollow abyss of obscurity, it helps to know that there are Cubs fans out there whose plight makes ours seem like a paddleboat ride down a chocolate river. I know a few guys like ...
I had previously thought that Cubs manager Mike Quade didn't possess a "mean streak." I'm not talking like a Chris Brown/Mel Gibson anti-Semitic streak. Hell, I'm not even talking about the visible anger shown by the young, African-American couple in the State Farm commercial.
I literally thought the "Q-Ball" didn't release his tension on water coolers or overweight Hispanic starters, but Carlos Silva trashed Quade's staff and got shipped out of town faster than a Jansport knapsack full of hate mail. With Silva gone, the Cubs have now freed themselves of all remnants of the ...
There was a time back in the days, when the Cubs were lovable losers, when the team was managed by a succession of genial incompetents who routinely traded away their best prospects for has-beens and hired equally incompetent field managers who were generally long-suffering and sympathetic counterparts of the players they directed. The guys who played what passed for baseball in those days were flawed but likable regular guys who had some degree of talent, but also some fatal flaw that kept them from achieving greatness, at least in Chicago. Or so it seemed anyway. Maybe it was never the ...
Instead of trying to get something out of Carlos Silva and his $11.5 million salary for 2011, the Chicago Cubs have decided to cut their losses.
The Cubs released Silva on Sunday. They will be responsible for his $11.5 million salary in 2011.
This move by the Cubs comes as no surprise. Silva didn’t earn a spot on the Cubs’ 25-man roster, and after he wouldn’t report to the minor leagues, the Cubs had no choice but to cut him.
Silva, who went 10-6 for the Cubs last season with a 4.22 ERA and 48 percent groundball percentage in 113 innings, will ...
Home runs put fans in the seats, but pitching wins championships. It's a simple fact in baseball when it comes to building a team that you will only go as far as your starting rotation will carry you when October rolls around.For the Cubs, trips to October have been few and far between in the last 100+ years, but that does not mean that the team has been without its fair share of great pitchers.So here is a decade by decade look at some of the best pitchers ever to don Cubbie Blue and take the mound at Wrigley Field.Begin ...
I know I've hardly been a beacon glowing in the otherwise dark night of the Chicago Cubs. In fact, you might say I'm much more of a realist than most Cubs fans. Still, always looking at the grim realities can become downright boring and so, in an attempt to liven up my day, allow me to put on the ol' rose-colored glasses and search out reasons to be hopeful that 2011 will be a better year than 2010 for us Cubs fans. For one, it can't be much worse. Sure, the season ended with a nice stretch run following the ...
After he struggled to produce at the plate all spring, while unable to play acceptable defense at second base, Blake DeWitt has officially lost his role as the starter.He was never starting full-time to begin with, as Jeff Baker was the plan when lefties were on the mound. Now though, DeWitt has played at such a lackluster level that it forced manager Quade's hand in the removal process.The 25-year-old wound up hitting .186 in 48 at-bats. Paired with his lackluster Major League career thus far, an he has found himself relegated to the bench role of backing up third and ...
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