Getting serious for a moment
So yeah I have no idea what happened in the game last night, aside from TheHawk's periodic phone calls to fill in the blanks. However, I do know we have some injuries right now. I have no clue what's up with D-Lee, and Scott Eyre looked like he banged up his arm some too. However, I just want to put things in perspective for a second.
Yeah, I'm a crotchety-arse when it comes to the Cubs. Not a minute goes by where I'm gainfully searching for the downside or the dark moments amid our day-to-day struggles. However, I'm breaking from the trend and feeling happy today. Why? Because I just beat cancer, that's why. I know I've kept it quiet as hell around here [aside from brief comments regarding drugs and medication and whatnot], but yes. I just saw my doctor and he gave me the all-clear. I still need to monitor for a few years, but I couldn't care less. Two major surgeries, 4 rounds of chemo, shitty restrictive diets, the cold corridors of hospital life -- it's all behind me.
As for the Cubs, they're a lifeforce for me, and I'm sure the same goes for all of us. Their everyday minutiae is what absorbs me, but right now, the Cubs can wait. I just got a new lease of life, and no blown save or 15-day trip to the DL could possibly dampen it. I'll be back tomorrow once the beer wears off.
Also, congratulations to Ryan Dempster -- there's a few posts coming in celebration of his heroics too.
posted by Jim Hendry @ 4:12 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Congratulations, JT.
There's got to be a Dusty quote out there that is appropriate for this occasion...
Okay, I hate to interrupt the happiness here, and it is well-deserved, but there is some actual Cubs bad news today that hasn't just been drummed up by JT.
MLB.com says that Lee has a fracture and is likely to miss 2-3 months. He will be in an immobilizing cast that will go above the elbow. This is bad news.
But the silver lining: Jim Hendry has to be happy right now that he did not trade Todd Walker. Since you've got Walker and Hairston to play second, you can now use Walker at first regularly, maybe Mabry from time to time, and you don't necessarily have to go trade to get an interim first baseman. However, this still severely disrupts our lineup (major loss of power), and no one in baseball can replace Lee's glove at first (which has really been helping our infield, especially the young one, Cedeno).
Another positive: Eyre only suffered a "bruised knee" and is day-to-day, so that's not as bad as it could've been.
There is a basic truth about all team sports: Offense wins games, defence wins championships.
I think the team will miss Lee's defensive skills at first base even more than they will his bat. A team's chances of winning, over the long haul of a season, depends more on the pitching staff than its sluggers. And a pitching staff needs solid fielders behind them. Lee did a phenomenal job at first, catching many throws by the infielders that probably would have gone for errors, thus changing the results of games.
In addition to the team needing to raise the level of their offense, sans Lee, they are going to have to start making very good throws to first.
I definitely agree, Jim. I did not mean to overlook Lee's defense, and how much it will be missed, but there is more you can do to adjust the offense in his absence than what you can do to adjust the defense. I would look to see A-Ram and Cedeno take a little more time on some throws and/or putting some balls in their back pocket they might have thrown to Lee.
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