Power Rankings and Other Rumblings from Mesa

By Neil on February 14, 2007 18 Vote 0 Votes

Sometimes die-hard baseball fans have a tendency to look down upon those casual fans or maybe those that jump on the proverbial bandwagon once their hometown team starts to win a few games and shows promise late in the season. Baseball Prospectus ran a very good report about the common fan being just as important as the die-hards or in this site's case....the Faithful. So as we all gear up for the new season, remember a fan is still fan regardless of how much they know or don't know. Maybe the Faithful should look at those referred to as the casual fan as being a gauge on how well the Cubs are doing during the season because if there is plenty of room on the ole wagon in August, it could be a long last few miles of the marathon.

Dayn Perry released his pre-season power rankings, with the Cubs listed 16th in the MLB and second in the central. Here is the latest from around the league, more predictions about the upcoming season and the latest on Zambrano....

According to a report in the Chicago Tribune , the Cubs are not worried about the recent ultimatum issued by Carlos Zambrano. Paul Sullivan mentioned Jim Hendry feels he can still negotiate with Z after his deadline passes without a deal being done. Zambrano took a hit in the media with his statements on Monday....some felt he should have never used the media to discuss his contract.

More on the Zambrano statements surfaced from the Chicago Sun-Times and Daily Herald. Chris DeLuca questioned the ultimatum's source....the Tribune owned WGN and Chicago Tribune. And Bruce Miles mentioned, "Zambrano's Chatter No Concern to Hendry." Only time and possibly a lot of money will sort this out.

Derrek Lee had a busy off-season with Project 3000. The foundation he helped found to help prevent Leber's Congenital Amaurosis.

As mentioned, Dayn Perry from Fox Sports.com released his pre-Spring Training power rankings for all of baseball. Perry ranked the Cubs 16th overall and 2nd behind the Cardinals (13th) with the Brewers ranked 18th and the Astros 21st. Perry stated the Cubs "are now contenders in the semi-comical NL Central." Perry mentioned the Cubs' season may still depend on the health of Mark Prior.

The Chicago Tribune's, Paul Sullivan, gave his breakdown on Lou Piniella's possible impact on the Cubs and more background on the Cubs' new skipper. Piniella should be able to fully communicate with the team considering he did not speak or learn English until kindergarten....he grew up speaking Spanish.

Phil Rogers from the Tribune also released a report on the eve of pitchers and catchers reporting to Mesa. Rogers did bring up an interesting fact. If Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis each win 14 games in the upcoming season (as they did in 2006) it will only be the third time since 1973 (Ferguson Jenkins, Burt Hooton and Rick Reuschel) the Cubs had three starters win at least 14 games....the other two times was in 1989 and 2003, two of the three times they won their division crown since 1945.

Rogers ranked the pitchers vying for a spot in the rotation as well:

Zambrano
Lilly
Prior
Marquis
Hill
Miller
Marshall
Cotts
Marmol
Guzman
O'Malley
Gallagher
Samardzija

A report in the Chicago Sun-Times listed their projected lineup and starting rotation:

Alfonso Soriano - CF
Mark DeRosa - 2B
Derrek Lee - 1B
Aramis Ramirez - 3B
Jacque Jones - RF
Michael Barrett - C
Matt Murton - LF
Cesar Izturis - SS

Carlos Zambrano
Ted Lilly
Jason Marquis
Rich Hill
Wade Miller

Ryan Dempster, Closer

According to a report in the New York Post, even with all of the spending the Cubs did this off-season they could use a healthy Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. The Post also thinks Jacque Jones could be one of the players that gets traded before the season starts.

Baseball Prospectus' Joe Sheehan did pick the Cubs to win the central and projected the following 25-man roster:

Soriano, DeRosa, Lee, Ramirez, Jones, Murton, Barrett, Izturis, Floyd, Theriot, Cedeno, Pagan, Blanco, Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Marquis, Prior (or Miller), Dempster, Eyre, Howry, Cotts, Wuertz, Ohman, Novoa (or Wood)

Sheehan did leave Daryle Ward off of his list and many think with a healthy team Ronny Cedeno could be the odd man out. Sheehan also brought up an interesting subject:

"If the Cubs allow fewer than 200 home runs in 2007, they will win the NL Central. That's how critical their home run rate will be to their success. They'll rely less on their defense than any other NL team."

Yahoo Sports released their thoughts on the NL Central.

MLB.com released their thoughts on the NL Central, as well.

Ken Rosenthal from Fox Sports.com and XM Radio released his report on the off-season winners and losers. Rosenthal lists the Phillies, Indians, Dodgers, Braves and Red Sox as having the best off-seasons in all of baseball. The Cubs received their own category.... A league of their own. Rosenthal mentioned his concern over all of the money spent with several questions still needing an answer. Rosenthal used the phase "Hoo boy!" to describe his feelings about the Cubs.

SI.com released a photo retrospective on spring training that includes photos of Bill Veeck, Dizzy Dean, Don Baylor, Michael Jordan and Lou Piniella among other greats of the game including Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Pete Rose.

The Cubs made the reissue of an old number official on Tuesday. According to a report on Cubs.com, Jason Marquis will wear number 21 this season.

Because of all of the attention created by Carlos Zambrano's statements and the Cubs trading Jae-Kuk Ryu be sure to check out the Down on the Farm: Adam Harben article that ran on Tuesday here at the CCO. There is good information about Harben's status for Spring Training and his potential.

Well, that's the latest and I'm sticking to it.

Doc

Daryn Perry wrote the Cubs ""are now contenders in the semi-comical NL Central." Doesn't it seem a bit irritating to hear how bad the NL Central is when the current MLB champion is from the NL Central and the year before that the two team in the league championship series were from the NL Central. Maybe the NL Central is only comical on paper or in the minds of the sportwriters.

agustin rexach

Jim[Tinley Park]. I agree on all except that the NL Central is weak. Last year the final results indicated that it was, but remember the first couple of months when all of the teams were over .500 Including Pittsburg for like a whole week? Everybody "experts" were saying of how dominant it looked. St. Louis was almost runned over by Houston on the final 2 weeks and yet managed to win the World Series.

Even though I hate the Cardinals, up until the All- star they looked pretty impressive and ditto in the playoffs.

For sure the NL Central is not the AL East but to me this year will proove to be the strongest on the NL. I truly believe the AL is stronger but not for long either.

The mets look good and so do the Phillies but what about the rest? So do the Dodgers, but what about the rest? not even the Padres

I see the Astros and the Cards a little diminished from last year but .500 teams. The Brewers should be over .500 if that terrifying Pitching staff manages to stay put and healthy and the Pirates could be very good and have the starters to back it up. The Cubs look Yankeelike in the top of the order 5-6 Hitters and pitching can't be worse than last years, so we wil play well over .500 'If Mark and Wood are back in form.[lol] The only team that to me will be weak are the Reds. Same pitching less bats. under .500 clubs.

There is a lot of offense in the NL...lets see!

Jim (Tinley Park)

I wouldn't get to worked up over any of these polls.

We all know that the Cubs have improved over last years train wreck of a team. We also know that we do have some question marks. Lets face it, the outfield is not 100% settled. Dempster is a ?, and the fifth starting spot is up for grabs. Most of these polls have a lot of American League teams in the top spots. We can't really argue that:

Boston,Detroit,Yankees,Angels,Oakland,Cleveland,

Bridgeport, Toronto and Minnesota have solid clubs.

In the NL, I would agree that the Mets look tough and that the Nl Central is weak.

Anthony

I think most Cub fans are relieved that the Cubs brass has seemingly done enough so that they do not have to rely on Prior's health to compete for the NL Central Crown. What does need to be pointed out, and it's something Bruce Levin mentioned today, is that if Prior does have a comeback season, the Cubs will go from being good to being VERY good. So while I am not counting on him, I am rooting hard for him bc I think he may (and I stress that word MAY) be the key to the Cubs going further into the postseason.

Ryan R

I tend to forget sometimes about all the fair weather Cubs fans out there, or the ones who go to Wrigley because its "cool". They give the rest of us a bad name.

Funny, I'm about 6'4 and 205 and yet people still say stupid stuff to me although usually while walking away. Of course I usually respond with stats that blow them out of the water, and the starting lineup of the '84 NLCS.

Hubert

Dayn Perry is retarded. Nuff said.

Aaron

Jim and Ryan R.....totally understand what you mean. I do think people are jealous of the passion...They're jealous of the fact that we root for a team even when they're losing, rain or shine, year after year, and never waver....I remember those "experts" jumping all over the bandwagon in 2003, and again at the outset of 2004 saying we had all the cards in place to win....my, how times have changed.

Dayn Perry IMO, has a personal vendetta against the Cubs...maybe they didn't hire him for Carrie Muskat's position, or something...who knows? Or maybe someone on the team called him a nerd for that geeky picture he has on the foxsports site, but whatever it is, I can definitely sense that he has something personal against the Cubs. He is consistently critical of the Cubs, while other teams have made similar moves, and he says nothing...pretty funny, huh?

jim

Hey Scott, they released him then signed him to a minor-league contract. He is still with the club. He will be with AAA Iowa.

jim

Elliot great book. I have read it and know what you mean. I can't stand it when i go to a game and I have to sit near a bunch of drunken morons who are there for the girls and the "cheap beer". We have great fans but man there are a bunch on the other end of the spectrum.

scott

Doesn't this guy realize that the Cubs released O'Malley? Some expert.

jim

good one. That has to be a fun job. I know what you are talking about too. I always fly my cubbie colors when on the road. I don't have as many people be rude to me, maybe because i am 6'3'' 220. Not sure but i can relate.

elliot

The problem with fair-weather and bandwagon Cubs fans is that they ask stupid questions. The don't understand the intricacy of the game. They would rather watch an offensive showdown than a pitching duel masterpiece. They hear about some of their top draft picks and wonder why we can't just throw them into the majors right away.

There's an amazingly well-written baseball book called "Men at work" by George Will that I highly recommend every serious fan on this site to read. Maybe on your plane ride to Arizona. It taps into the minds of some of the greatest baseball managers and players this century and you realize almost immediately that professional baseball is much, much, much more intricate than we could ever imagine and far more fascinating than what we see on television or grew up playing.

Ryan R

Jim,

I fly a corporate jet for a major corporation here in Cincinnati. Actually I fly three. Lot more efficient than the airlines, and I will still have a pension when I retire LOL.

Ryan R

Just read Perry's article. The Diamondbacks at 9? Agreed with him that they have a lot of potential but he's getting a little ahead of himself.

And how is it that the NL west is "well balanced" yet the NL central is "somewhat comical".

Jim

Now that is a Job. When yo say jets do you mean personal or the Big ones. I have always wanted to get my pilots license. My Dad had a plane for buisness when I was younger, wasn't a jet but have always wanted to learn since I was a kid.

Ryan R

Jim,

I fly a jet for a living so I get to see the entire country all the time. Most of the time when I'm off I'm wearing a Cubs hat/shirt etc. I swear I have had complete strangers walk past me on several occasions in several regions of the country and state "Cubs suck, The Cubs?, etc." I really think its jealousy for the passion we show for our team despite its losing ways. Kind of shows up people and they don't like it. I don't know what else it could be. Other than St Louis, who else have we beat consistenaly in what 99 years?

Jim

The more I travel the moreI realize that people don not like the Cubs. Yes we have fans everywhere but people can't stand the fact that we love our team. i was asked a couple of weeks ago how could I be a fan of a team known for losing. I quickly corrected him with a mouthful of stats. He never said who he was a fan of but he was from CA. I and many others on this site could be a baseball "expert."

The cards will be in it but it will come down to the Brew-crew and us. Yes we the Cubs are not counting on Prior, but I AM. If we can have a rotation of

Z

Prior

Miller

Lilly

Hill

We would be set. Who cares what the "experts" say. We all know what to expect and what we want to happen so lets get out of ST before we predict a NL central champ.

Austin

I am so sick of all the "experts" writing about how much money the cubs spent, I just wish they would actually write somewhat of an intelligent article then just saying they hope it all PAYS off (haha...sorry).

But seriously, 16th? I think he had us 7th or 8th in the NL...I don't see how the cards are better, they only won 83 games last year, and they took a HUGE step backwards in the offseason. And, for the last time, will somebody tell these "experts" the cubs are NOT COUNTING ON MARK PRIOR ANYMORE? I really don't see how he is a factor...

In my opinion, its up to the Cubs and the Brewers, maybe the Cards...