A Pair of Cubs from the Far East

 It's not very often these days I feel the motivation to check in on the blogosphere, and even more rare that I feel the itch to scratch out a post. There were times when I would read everything, hit the refresh button on my feed, and cross my fingers that someone else had posted something in the last thirty seconds. 

Times Change. Interests Change. Priorities Change. 

In short, I'm doing well. Really well actually. I'm in a good spot professionally, physically, and mentally. 

As far as cards go, I think I have a handful of Cubs cards from each of the past few years, but not enough to know what the current Bowman design looks likes off the top of my head or even what year of Heritage we're on. I'm still chugging away on my Vogelmonster collection. I recently hit 900 unique-to-me Vogelbach cards, but they aren't all listed in TCBD, which has me at 852. (A part of me wonders if this is the last year we're gifted with the joy of Vogelbach on cardboard. 😢) 

Otherwise, I'm pretty disconnected from the collecting world altogether, which is by design. 

I read more about the Cubs than anything else these days. I'm not sinking money into the Marquee Network, because I just can't commit enough time to watching a game. The Cubs weren't carried by a local radio station in Peoria this year, but the White Sox and Cardinals both were. (The 121-loss White Sox, seriously?)  So, I watch MLB.com's Cub game summaries each morning and search for articles to read about the players. 

I actually feel more connected to the players this way. I enjoy getting to know who the players are and I've come to find that most of the current Cubs roster is comprised of really good human beings. The Cubs may have been underachieving in the eyes of some the last couple of years, but I find them extremely easy to root for. That's important to me. 

Two of my favorites are Seiya Suzuki and Shota "Mike" Imanaga. For those who haven't heard, Shota decided to use "Mike" for his coffee orders to make it easier on the baristas in Chicago. That's just a quick tidbit I unearthed from my daily readings. Fun stuff!

One of my best blogging friends sent me the two cards in this post all the way from Japan. So very, very cool. Thanks, Zippy Zappy!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the holiday season. 

BWTP Makes Me Take Stock

 Bob Walk The Plank reached out recently and asked if I'd take on some 2021 Cubs. Well, that's kind of a silly question. The answer is, "I'll always take Cub cards!"

As of July 31st, the true question is, "Who are the 2021 Cubs?"

Let's start with the cards of players who qualify as current Cubs. 

Jason Heyward, Kyle Hendricks, Ian Happ, Alec Mills and omnipresent rookie Brailyn Marquez can still be labeled as Cubs. The only big name missing from this group would Willson Contreras. 

Count me as one of the collectors who enjoy team cards. I think Adbert Alzolay has some promise and I'm glad he'll get a full season's worth of innings this year to develop. 

Another Marquez card and two other potential pieces of the future in Christopher Morel and Ed Howard. 

Alright, time for those who have been shipped out. 

Jed Hoyer, the GM & president, tipped his hand about an impending teardown by trading Yu Darvish to the Padres last December.

Like Darvish, Billy Hamilton and Jason Kipnis never suited up for the Cubs in 2021. Austine Romine is currently on the 60-day IL.

Craig Kimbrel was sent to Chicago's southside. 

Javy Baez went to the Big Apple's NL squad. 

Kris Bryant will now be suiting up for the Giants. 

No Anthony Rizzo in this package, which is fine. His inclusion would have probably just prompted me to reach for a box of tissues. 

Thanks for the cards, BWTP!

Sigh. 

I've created a Google Sheet for all those Cub fans who want to keep track of these trades. It provides a great look at exactly who has been shipped out and what the talent return was. 

I'm still waiting to see some figures on what the payroll and projected roster currently looks like for 2022. I'm sure the front office will sign a few free agents over the winter, who they hope will perform well enough to flip at next July's deadline. I'm an invested fan with a curious mind after all. 

Full rebuild mode. Again. Double sigh. 

Thanks for reading and I hope your team took on MLB talent yesterday!

Road to Wrigley 5K Race Goodies for Me!

 I ran one virtual 5K this summer, but nagging injuries have kept me on the shelf since. AJ, otherwise known as The Lost Collector, alerted me to the virtual Road to Wrigley 5K, but I had to sit that one out. 

Being a Yankees fan and collector, AJ didn't have much use for the giveaways which came with being a participant and since he is a uber-generous individual he sent them to P-town. 

It looks like Holiday has taken to the Cubs drawstring bag. 

I have a friend in mind to pass the shirt along to. 

Inside the bubble mailer and wrapped within the shirt was some cardboard. Woo-Hoo!

Late 80's Donruss always takes me back to my early collecting years. 

The two Sosa cards are separated by nine years, with 1992 Fleer Ultra on the left and 2001 Bowman on the right. Honestly, I thought there would be a notable body mass difference between the two pictures, but I'm not seeing it. 

When I see cards of Mark Prior and Starlin Castro back-to-back it's difficult to not think about what could have been. Both were touted as players who would help bring a championship to Wrigley. 

Prior and Castro were hotshot prospects who delivered on their talent for a couple of years, but then one was bitten by the injury bug and the other was swallowed up by mediocrity. 

It was not too long along ago my Sandberg collection passed the 1,000 card mark. I think AJ is trying to push me on to a second thousand. LOL

This 2003 Upper Deck Play Ball card of Kerry Wood is one I hadn't see before. It certainly has an old school feel to it that I like. 

Last up, some VOGELMONSTERS!

Assuming the NL sticks with the DH, I think 2021 will present Vogelbach with his best opportunity to secure a place for himself in MLB. Miller Park is a great place to hit and I think the Brewers will give him every chance to succeed next summer. I was bummed Vogelbach left Seattle, but I'm pretty stoked he found his way out of Toronto and to a ballpark which is within driving distance for yours truly. 

Thanks for the race goodies and the cards, AJ! I've added you to my ever-growing "send cards to" list. 

Have a great rest of the weekend, everybody!

The SPs That Got Away

My last post looked back at the Cubs' drafts international signings since 1995. In short, the Cubs have been downright awful at developing starting pitching through their minor league system, especially if one considers Kerry Wood (joined the organization in 1995), Carlos Zambrano ('97), and Mark Prior ('01) to be the last three big impact arms to come up through the system.

My favorite Bleacher Tweeter had me pondering after a comment:

PKS, good question. I could name a few off the top of my head, but I had largely forgotten most from this list.

To qualify for the discussion, a pitcher must have had 20+ starts during one season. The last post revealed just seven players who had done this with the Cubs from the 1995 draft to present. What about the ones who got away?

Kyle Lohse - 29th round draft pick in 1996

 I always forget Lohse was drafted by the Cubs. He is probably the most accomplished pitcher on this list, but I'll let you be the judge. His career record was 147-143 with a 4.40 ERA and he made 418 starts during his 16 year career. Lohse was part of a 2-for-2 deal with the Twins in 1999 that brought the Cubs Rick Aguilera.
Verdict: Lohse was a 29th round draft in Single-A when this trade happened. Anytime you can get an established bullpen arm for a lottery ticket I think you have to take it. I would say the Twins won this trade, because the Cubs didn't go anywhere with Aguilera and he retired after the 2000 season.

Jon Garland - 1st round draft pick in 1997

 Jon Garland was traded to the White Sox during the Cubs' playoff push in 1998 for reliever Matt Karchner, who posted a 5.14 ERA after the trade. The Cubs made it to the post season for the first time since 1984 (despite Karchner), but the White Sox found themselves a fixture for their rotation. In all, Garland went 136-125 with an ERA of 4.37 and 342 starts during his thirteen year career.
Verdict: Big L for the Cubs here. Maybe one of the top five most regrettable trades in Chicago Cubs history?

Todd Wellemeyer - 4th round draft pick in 2000

 Wellemeyer didn't become a started until his fifth MLB season, and then had 53 starts for the Cardinals in two years toward the tail end of his career. Overall, he finished his career a 32-34 record, a 4.83 ERA, and 75 starts. Wellemeyer was sent to the Marlins in 2006 for two minor league pitchers who never became much.
Verdict: Wellemeyer had a 6.19 ERA in three seasons as a reliever before being traded. The Cubs gambled on their return, a former 7th rounder and 11th rounder, but neither panned out. The Cardinals found gold with Wellemeyer in 2008, but I don't think anyone would have predicted that. This one is a draw for me.

Dontrelle Willis - 8th round draft pick in 2000

 Willis, and three other players, were traded to the Marlins in 2002 for Antonio Alfonseca and Matt Clement. Willis made his MLB debut the next season and rattled off 162 started in five years. He finished his career with a 4.17 ERA and 72 wins to 69 losses.
Verdict: Willis was electric and all of baseball was watching his smile and crazy windup when he burst on the season as a 21-year-old in 2003. Clement and Alfonseca helped the Cubs to the playoffs in 2003, and Clement gave the Cubs the three best seasons of his career. I'll give a slight edge to the Marlins on this one, but only because Willis was making league minimum and Clement was in his arbitration eligible years.

Ricky Nolasco - 4th round draft pick in 2001

 Nolasco started 312 games in his twelve year career. During that time he posted a 4.56 ERA and had a career record of 114 wins and 118 losses. Nolasco was packaged with two other young arms, in 2005, for the Marlins' Juan Pierre.
Verdict: Juan Pierre spent one season of his prime atop the Cubs batting order before signing a free agent deal with the Dodgers the next winter. The Cubs finished 6th in the old NL Central and didn't need to lose an arm like Nolasco for one year of Pierre. The Marlins won this deal.

Andrew Cashner - 1st round draft pick in 2008

 Cashner has a 57-87 win-loss record in 188 starts, with a 4.10 ERA for six teams in his career. He has spent more than his fair share of time on the injured list. He netted the Cubs Anthony Rizzo in a 2-for-2 trade in January of 2012.
Verdict: There was lots of debate around this trade when it was completed. I'm a pitching guy and I wasn't sold on the move by Theo Epstein at the time. Fast forward eight seasons and a World Series Championship later and I think it's easy to say the Cubs made the right call on this deal!

Chris Rusin - 4th round draft pick in 2009

 Rusin made 22 starts for the Rockies in 2015 and like most Rockies pitchers he did not fair well. Colorado claimed Rusin off waivers from the Cubs in 2014.
Verdict: Losing a young lefty arm to waivers?  Hmmm.  Rusin has pitched in part of eight seasons and has a career 4.62 ERA. Meh. I can live with this.

Zack Godley - 10th round draft pick in 2013

 In 2017 Godley had 25 starts for the Diamondbacks and posted a 3.37 ERA. Hey, that's pretty good! The next season he made 32 starts to the tune of a 4.74 ERA. Not great. Godley was packaged with another minor leaguer to land the Cubs Miguel Montero in 2014.
Verdict: Godley had a real nice 2017 and Montero gave the Cubs an insurance run (which they needed) in the 10th inning of Game 7 of the World Series. The edge goes to the Cubs on this one.

Dylan Cease - 6th round draft pick in 2014

Cease, once considered a 1st round talent out of high school, slipped to the 6th round in the draft because of Tommy John Surgery. The Cubs helped him rehab, and babied his arm for a couple of years, and then sent him and Eloy Jimenez to the White Sox for Jose Quintana in 2017. Cease had his first crack at pitching in the big leagues last season and made fourteen starts. I think he'll easily top 20 this coming season.
Verdict: I did not like this trade for the Cubs in 2017 and I don't like it even more now. Eloy is going to be a stud and I still think Cease is the best arm Theo Epstein's front office has drafted during his tenure. Quintana has been a solid starter, but quite unspectacular during his stay on the north side.

In summary, the Cubs have traded away more pitching prospects (8) in the last 25 years who have become serviceable starters than they have brought to the majors (7). Dylan Cease could easily be the 9th pitcher to make the discussion a little bit more lopsided. In all, I think the Cubs did pretty average in the trades above. They lost a few (Lohse, Garland & Nolasco), but they also won a couple (Rizzo & Montero), and then there were a couple that didn't amount to much.

When it's all said and done . . . #tinstaapp. There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.

Thanks for reading!

Home Grown Cubs SPs

This time of year most baseball fans are turning their attention to one of the other major sports. I'll follow the Bradley Braves basketball season and I'll try to stomach my way through a few more Bears games, but I'm still thinking baseball.

Everyone jumped on the hype train when the Cubs' young talent was coming up a handful of years ago. But now, guys like Bryant, Baez, Contreras and Schwarber have reached their arbitration years and the Cubs payroll will undoubtedly push the boundaries of one of the luxury tax thresholds.

Most of my Cubs following friends could care less if the Cubs are penalized to the hilt for blowing past the MLB imposed payroll limits. Me? I want to know why the Cubs can't have elite talent on their roster and stay under the luxury tax limits.

For the Cubs to have their cake and eat it too, they need to get better at developing pitching. And not just any type of pitching, but the kind that becomes expensive if not groomed from within: starting pitching. Guys like Walker Buehler, Jack Flaherty and Mike Soroka are young, cost-controlled starting pitchers who give their teams the payroll flexibility needed for sustained success.

So, where are the Cubs crop of young rotation arms? Let's take a quick look at the last five home grown starting pitchers to reach the big leagues.

Coincidentally, these are the only five pitchers drafted or signed by the Cubs to filter up through the minor leagues in the last five seasons. Five arms in five years yielded nine starts. Ouch. Alzolay, in my opinion, is the only one on this list who could still turn into something special.

So, who has received the starts the past five seasons (2015-19) and how were they acquired?

There are thirty names in all and most came from trades or free agency. Chicago paid a premium for Lester & Darvish (contracts) and Quintana (prospects), but the rest were brought in to fill the back end of the rotation. In the case of Hendricks and Arrieta the Cubs struck gold, and a front office will do that from time-to-time, but not without it's fair share of Luke Farrell and Jake Buchanan types.

When was the last time the Cubs were able to draft or sign a player at the onset of their professional career and then have them deliver 20+ starts at the MLB level? After some research I found it's been done by seven players in the last twenty seasons, but none have been added to the organization since Theo Epstein took control on October 12th, 2011. One player has contributed a couple of 20+ start seasons since Epstein arrived, but he was drafted in 2006. More on him in a bit.

Two of the seven starters have contributed just one season of 20+ starts. Rich Hill, who was later sold for peanuts to Orioles, didn't miss a start during the 2007 season. (Yes, this is the same Rich Hill who pitched for the Dodgers in 2019.) Sean Marshall, who later switched to the bullpen and then was traded away to the Reds, started 24 games for the Cubs in 2006.

For fun, let's take a look at the five other home grown pitchers, in the last twenty years, to have at least two seasons of 20+ starts for the Cubs. These are the more memorable guys.

How many can you name off the top of your head? I was able to come up with all five of the ones below, but I didn't recall Marshall and Hill because of their lack of continued success in the rotation. Honestly, I was shocked I hadn't forgotten anyone. I thought for sure there would be more than just seven different names.

Here they are, in order of when they were acquired by the Cubs with the most recent being first.

Jeff Samadzija

I never thought Samardzija would make it as a starting pitcher. I was wrong.
The former Notre Dame wideout was pitching at an All-Star level in 2014 before he was traded to Oakland nine days before the Mid-summer Classic. If I recall correctly, he represented the Athletics at the All-Star game. He is the only home grown pitcher to start 20+ games during Theo Epstein's tenure and he did it twice.

Randy Wells

Randy Wells was drafted as a catcher. Yes, seven home grown pitchers have started more than twenty games in a season for the Cubs in the last two decades and one of them was drafted as a catcher. Wow.

Mark Prior

 Prior, injuries aside, was a heck of a pitcher. A team could do much worse with a number one draft pick.

 Carlos Zambrano

Big Z spent fifteen years in the Cubs' organization, with twelve of those seasons at the major league level. He was a fiery competitor and a fun guy to cheer for. I have to believe he is what every scout and draft coordinator hope to bring to an organization.

Kerry Wood

Kid K is my favorite on this list, but in Wood we're looking at a #1 draft pick from way back in1995. This flamethrower also spent large chunks of time on the injured list, but when healthy he was one of the more exciting pitchers in the game.

Here's the a list of all seven and how they were acquired:

Three of these guys, in my mind, have star-worthy credentials. There can be a lot of value to a team in guys like Samardzija and Wells though. In fact, Samardzija was paid $19.8 million each of the last three years to be what I would call a slightly-above average MLB starter. Guys who can take the ball every fifth day, give you 180+ innings, and can keep you in a ballgame are not cheap. If they're making the minimum salary and toeing the bump, then you have something special.

The inability of this current Cubs front office to draft, sign and develop starting pitching has been well documented and it's becoming a running joke in some circles. Moreover, this deficiency is handcuffing the Cubs' off-season plans, which is unfortunate for a team looking to rebound next year after a rough finish to the 2019 campaign.

I hope the Cubs find something special in their farm system sometime soon, before most of their current offensive stars price themselves out of Chicago's budget.

AREA 40: Dishing Out Some Coin

This post might be a few weeks overdue, but I prefer to think I've let it age to perfection.

Wes is building a LARGE stack of packs to bust on his birthday next spring and while doing so he's been holding little contests with each update. 

I happened to win one of the contests and I came away with a 1996 over-sized All-Star set from Upper Deck. 

Taking a look at the back I believe eleven of the starters have been elected to the Hall of Fame.

I have an unofficial goal of owning a set of baseball cards to represent every year since my birth year. This prize will fill the 1996 vacancy nicely!

As Wes is wont to do, he added in a bonus. 

BOOM!

How 'bout that? Although I should have assumed a commemorative coin existed I actually didn't know about it until it landed in my mailbox. "A 39mm Silver Plated Medallion Limited Edition of 10,000." Super cool!

I've placed all my most prized Cubs memorabilia in display case. Can you find it?

 Right next to Wheaties box!

 Thanks a million, Wes!

Purging before the Move

My good friends, Jeff and Nichole, have been Cubs season ticket holders . . . who live in Texas. I just got word that they're moving to the Pacific Northwest and then a couple weeks later a package mysteriously finds its way to my mailbox.

I have to assume they're in the stages of packing. Been there and done that. Laura and I haven't moved as recently or as frequently as they have, but I understand that it's sometimes easier to find a new home for things rather than pack and unpack them.

Packages from Jeff are always the best for a couple of reasons. 1) They never come announced and 2) they always are centered around baseball and the Cubs.

So, let's see what I get to add to my newly remodeled man room. 😁

Stickers!

I think #That'sCub was the Cubs' social media slogan in 2017.  This year it's #EverybodyIn.

A new watch!

 It's one of those wrist flip bandy thingies. The correct terminology is escaping me right now.

This is really cool. It's a 4" by 6" lenticular card of Wrigley Field.

 One of views show Wrigley Field from April 23rd, 2014.  The other one shows it from the same date in 1914.

 The back shows it is a holiday card. Very nifty! The Cubs did a fine job of marketing when Wrigley turned 100 years old.

 Speaking of cards...

This one is more of a celebration card!

 When you open it up it starts to play music.

Feel free to hit play if you like, but you probably already know what song you'll hear! Fantastic!

A big thanks go out to Jeff and Nichole for the sweet Cubs memorabilia and best of luck with the move!