1/18/2005 02:28:00 PM by Rob

I'm so excited about this years....zzzzz......



Wake me when it's over, okay? If nothing is going to happen this offseason, Lord, let me go camping, fishing, let me work on something in the basement, anything but wasting my time watching YET another Cub team squander great riches on the road to mediocrity.

Most legitimate sources are reporting that the Cubs are still talking to certain teams about Sosa, but nothing concrete to report. There is no plan to replace Alou in left, or to get somebody from the outside to close games.

Adam a/k/a Socherball over at the Coven DID make a good point today: how can you bitch about the Cubs never developing any positional talent out of one side of your mouth, and complain about their lack of activity in rebuilding the outfield out of the other? For, Soch reasons, shouldn't Jason DuBois have the chance to man left field?

I guess that's true. If this was a normal team, if these were normal circumstances, I would welcome the opportunity to see one of our own grow into the position. So, what's my problem?

1) We haven't developed a great power hitter since Raffy Palmiero.

2) This is NOT a normal year. Hendry has assembled a critical mass of veteran late-twenties, early thirties ballplayers to go along with some of the best young pitching ever assembled. Oh, and of course, Sosa. This is a Win-Or-Else season, this team isn't and shouldn't be built for the future.

3) That having been said, Dusty Baker is NEVER going to trust LF to a rookie. Barring trade and barring an inability to remember to wear his fucking shin guard at the plate, Todd Hollandsworth is slated to get the bulk of ABs in left.

Now, Todd's a hitter. He's a big-game pinch hitter. He can wear my team's shirt anytime. When put in a lineup, he starts out hot. Then he tails off. He's the white Glenallen Hill, and nothing, NOTHING, will ever change my opinion of him.

And no Cub team is ever going to win a pennant with Glenallen in left, regardless of his color. I can probably find stats on his first 50 ABs as a starter with the Dodgers, with the Rocks, with Florida, with us. Probably a .330/.400/.550 guy. The next 100 ABs? .240/.320/.400. Then, he invariably hurts himself.

Fearless prediction Number 2005-07a

If Hollandsworth gets over 250 ABs for us next year, we are in deep trouble.

Fearless prediction Number 2005-07b

If Hollandsworth and Perez combine for more than 400 ABs in 2005, we will finish BEHIND one of the following: Battlin' Buccos, Brew Crew, or the Perpetually Injured Reds.

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