Cubs to Stay in Mesa

D-Lee in Mesa

The Cubs will be in Mesa until 2016…keeping their Spring-Ball home of 57 years for another six seasons, at least. The contract with Ho Ho Kam park will expire in 2011, so look for an improved fascility at that point.

Nady to Chicago

Xavier Nady is trading in one set of pinstriped baseball trousers for another pair of pinstriped baseball trousers. And pinstriped baseball blouses…

yard.

$3.3 million guaranteed plus $2 million in incentives based on games played…Good work Hendry. D-Lee has a backup, and Kosuke has a platoon-mate. I’m pumped.

Cubs Options: Dye /vs/ Nady

The Cubs are looking to fill another outfielder spot…the pool is getting shallower. Even though fan-favorite Reed Johnson is still on the market, the Cubs brass are taking long looks at both Jermaine Dye and Xavier Nady.

They stack up fairly evenly, with career stats as follow:

Dye: 2257 Career AB; .280 AVG; 87 Dongs
Nady: 6487 Career AB; .274 AVG; 325 Dongs

Both are Right Fielders for the most part. The X-Man was injured last season, playing only 7 games…but has good career numbers and can sub in for D-Lee at 1st with little difficulty. Dye is a baseball player’s baseball player. Period. He can platoon in the OF, and possibly at 1st, if push absolutely came to shove…and those 325 dingers makes him hard to pass up.

Tough call. I do think either of these guys would be an improvement over Reed Johnson, as much as I hate to say it. We need a stick off the bench, and Reed has been spotty at the plate.

Big Mac, Aaron, Maris, and The Kid

I think that we can now without a doubt put an asterik in the record books. With Mark McGwire’s admission to using steroids in his record breaking season and the heavy evidence that Bonds did the same, I think that Hank Aaron and Roger Maris should still be celebrated as ball’s home run kings.

We, as fans, deserve a true clean player to break those records.

On that note; Stick with it Grif, we’ll keep cheering for you as long as you will swing the bat…

By the by… I don’t quite have the graphic skills the Swiz does so I have only shown my hero to head this post.

M’s 2010 Roster

I attempted to emulate Joe’s 2010 Cubbie lineup card with my own for the Mariners, but after staring at the active roster for a while it seems to be a Herculean feat. Not only did manager Don Wakamatsu use some 140 different lineups throughout ‘09, there has also been quite a bit of shaking up on the current active roster. Pretty much the only guarantees are Ichiro in right, Gutierrez in center, and Figgins at third. Although I am sure Rob Johnson will be doing most of the catching.

The starting rotation is another quagmire following the best one-two punch in ball. Cliff Lee and King Felix will be dominant, but who follows them? Ian Snell, Garrett Olson, and Jason Vargas are my bets. There will be a dominant closer, however, in David Aardsma.

So, I tried. But that is one tough nut to crack.

Maddux Takes Position with Cubs

Los Cubs have announced that Greg Maddux will join the team, in the position of assistant to GM Jim Hendry. Glad to hear it; Maddux is one of the best of all time, mentally. His duties will be mentoring in nature, helping younger players develop.

Truth be told, I just wanted to put that picture up. It is from The Onion…”Greg Maddux wears sweater vest to mound.” Classic.

Regardless, it can’t hurt. First Dawson to the Hall and Sandberg to AAA Iowa, now Maddux back in pinstripes. Good PR, if nothing else.

McGwire Comes Clean

In a move that should come to a surprise to approximately no one, Mark McGwire has finally admitted to steroid use, off and on for a decade.

Next up? Bonds, Clemens, Sosa?

ESPN is reporting the following:

NEW YORK — Mark McGwire finally came clean Monday, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998.

McGwire said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade.

“I wish I had never touched steroids,” McGwire said in a statement. “It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era.”

The reasoning was Andy Pettitte-esque…

“During the mid-’90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years,” McGwire said in the statement. “I experienced a lot of injuries, including a ribcage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years, and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries, too.”

Well, that is that. Pretty unfortunate.