Hello again, everybody. It was a beautiful week in Chicago, the birds are chirping, the sun is beaming, and the Alcantara’s are raking.
As many here know, I am an unwieldy optimist, but even I have been smacked down by reality so much lately that is just didn’t seem like things would ever change.
And then things just started changing. I look up and Alcantara goes 4-for-5 with three RBI around the same time the Landmark Commission is telling Lakeview and all others, here comes a new Wrigley … and with it, let me say, here comes a new day for our beloved franchise.
And with that out there for all to consume, let’s get down to some ramblings.
- Congrats to Anthony Rizzo for making the All-Star team. It was completely deserved, and should not have come down to a vote.
- Man, that trade with the Padres was a disaster. The Cubs got hosed. I’d rather have an injury-plagued pitcher over an All-Star first baseman who could hold the position down for a decade.
- Sorry, just had to get that out. And for those who thought I was serious when I said keeping Feldman and Marshall would have netted a World Series … the above is also sarcasm.
I am sure the other General Managers are not going to take cheap shots in the public realm, but still, it seems like the overwhelming consensus is that Epstein and Hoyer got the best deal possible.- To all of the haters out there, the Soriano for Corey Black trade ain’t looking too bad right about now.
- I like that Tom Tunney was going for the filibuster at a city meeting. That … is … awesome!
- Seriously, Arismendy Alcantara, WELCOME to Chicago. The spell-check on my computer officially needs to be updated.
- He will only be up here for two games … he will only be up here for two games … he will only be up here for two games … he will only be up here for two games.
- Actually, we are going to let him stick around for a little while.
- Can you think of another Cubs prospect who came out of nowhere, was barely heard of by the average fan, if at all, less than a year ago, and had a huge game early one or two days into his Major League career?
- Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
- I must say, though, being this excited while your team is on a 1-6 slide really says a lot about the past century. Not that anyone didn’t already know that.
- You know what happens to neighborhoods? They change. It is an undeniable, incontrovertible, and unavoidable fact. To believe your neighborhood will not change the entire time you are there is like believing that bacon and sausage can be combined as one.
- The Ricketts family has done everything it can to please those around them, but this is a business. Businesses are built to do one thing … MAKE MONEY.
- I believe they should be afforded some good will after they built a beautiful new facility in Mesa and the best facility of any Major-Leauge team in the Dominican. They are proving they want to do right by Cubs fans.
- Not all that long ago, I wrote that while many claimed renovating Wrigley would ruin the neighborhood, the reality is NOT renovating Wrigley will. The Vitalogy of Wrigley’s Restoration
- I sit here today with the same thought. And I am willing to say that when it is all said and done, ten to twenty years from now, the Lakeview neighborhood, and specifically Wrigleyville, will be as big and beautiful as ever while it produces hoards of cash for the city.
- And you know what Chicago currently needs more than ever before? You go it … MONEY. Why else do you think Rahm has been so easy to deal with in this process? He gets money. He made a ton of it before he was ever a politician.
- Thursday, July 10, 2014 may forever be remembered as a seminal day for the Chicago Cubs franchise. The first piece of the baseball future arrived while the “final first” piece of the business future arrived.
- When the Cubs hoist the World Series trophy a few years from now, think back to Thursday, July 10, 2014. That is the day this big, old ship finally starting turning in the night.
And with that, I will put down the seven glasses of Cubbie Kool-Aid I have consumed, and hand it over to you, the faithful CCO reader and poster. As always, respect each other below, and throw me a little here and there if it doesn’t hurt too much.
And until next time, but always …
Stay Classy Cubs Fans!!