Tag / Luis Valbuena

by admin

Against The Astros All Time Leaders – Through 2021

astros-primaryIn the past, we’ve looked at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. This offseason, we will take our first ever look at those leaders against all 30 clubs.  We continue today with the Houston Astros.

The Astros began life in 1962 as the Colt 45’s, joining the National League along with the Mets, and became the Astros 3 years later.  In 2013, they moved to the American League, becoming just the second team to switch leagues.  I’ve seen them play 47 times, including game 2 of the 2005 World Series and games 3 and 4 of the 2021 ALDS.

Home Runs

Name Total
Derrek Lee 4
Corey Patterson 3
Tim Anderson 2
Paul Konerko 2
Adam Dunn 2
Tadahito Iguchi 2
Alfonso Soriano 2

Hits

Name Total
Derrek Lee 15
Alfonso Soriano 11
Aramis Ramirez 11

Runs

Name Total
Derrek Lee 10
Alfonso Soriano 6
Aramis Ramirez 5
Paul Konerko 5
Alejandro de Aza 5

RBI

Name Total
Derrek Lee 8
Paul Konerko 7
Tadahito Iguchi 7
Adam Dunn 7

Doubles

Name Total
Derrek Lee 4
Aramis Ramirez 3
7 tied with 2

Triples Continue reading →

by admin

Two Sides Of The Same Town

cws-chiFollowing last week’s trade deadline deals, Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel became the 36th and 37th people I’ve seen play in person for both the Cubs and the White Sox.  With the first round of crosstown kicking off this afternoon at Wrigley, here’s a look at those players, in alphabetical order.

David Aardsma

After posting a decent season with the Cubs in 2006, Aardsma was traded to the White Sox for Neal Cotts.  Aardsma lasted one season with the Sox, where he was unable to duplicate his success from the year before.

Jason Bere

Drafted by the White Sox in the 36th round in 1990, Bere debuted with the big league club in 1993, finishing 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting.  After an All Star selection in 1994, injuries marred the remainder of his tenure on the South Side, which ended in 1998.  He resurfaced with the Cubs in 2001 and had a decent season, but he went 1-10 in 2002 before being let go.

Emilio Bonifacio

Bonifacio spent back-to-back partial seasons in Chicago, first for the Cubs in 2014 after signing as a free agent, where he played decently enough to be flipped at the trade deadline, along with James Russell, to the Braves for a young catching prospect by the name of Victor Caratini.  He returned to Chicago in 2015, signing with the White Sox, where he he did not do well at all, hitting .167 in 47 games before being released in August.

Welington Castillo

Debuting with the Cubs in 2010, Castillo spent time behind the plate for the Cubs until May of 2015, when, having been replaced in the starting lineup by Miguel Montero, he was flipped to the Mariners.  He returned to Chicago in 2018 after signing with the White Sox as a free agent.  On May 24th of that season, he was suspended 80 games for a violation of the PED policy.  The White Sox then cut bait following the 2019 season, shipping him off to the Rangers.

Neal Cotts

Acquired by the White Sox in the Billy Koch trade, he debuted with the team in 2003.  He was a key contributor in the bullpen during the 2005 championship season, and was the only relief pitcher to appear in all 3 rounds of the playoffs that season.  Following the 2006 season, he was traded to the Cubs for David Aardsma, and he spent the next 3 injury filled seasons on the North Side.

Scott Eyre

Joining the White Sox organization in a 1994 trade with the Rangers, he debuted with the big league team in 1997.  He split the next 4 seasons between the rotation and the bullpen, not to mention between Chicago and Charlotte, before being moved to the Blue Jays following the 2000 ALDS loss to the Mariners.  He joined the Cubs as a free agent for the 2006 season and enjoyed 2 seasons of relative success, before falling apart in 2008, when he was traded to the Phillies.

Kosuke Fukudome Continue reading →

by admin

A Dog & Pony Show

cubseventOver the weekend, the Cubs put on a number of presentations for their season ticket holders reviewing the progress over the past year and the plans for the upcoming year.  I attended the early presentation on Saturday, which featured President of Business Operations Crane Kenney, general manager Jed Hoyer, and radio play by play man Pat Hughes.

Crane Kenney kicked things off with a review of that morning’s official ground breaking for the newly dubbed 1060 Project, the rehab and expansion of Wrigley Field.  He followed up on that with multimedia presentations covering, among other things, the new spring training facilities, the new baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, and the goals behind the renovations at Wrigley Field.

Jed Hoyer was next on stage, covering the baseball side of things.  His initial focus was on the development of the major league roster, including Anthony Rizzo, Starlin Castro, and, surprisingly, Luis Valbuena.  The pitching staff remains a work in progress and should be a focal point of this offseason.  Hoyer also went out of his way to point out that signing Edwin Jackson may have been a mistake.  Finally, Hoyer addressed the young future of the team, starting with Javy Baez, Jorge Soler, and Arismendy Alcantara, covering both the successes they had and the struggles they faced in the big leagues.  He followed that up with a look at the minor leagues, including Kris Bryant, Albert Almora, Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, and Kyle Schwarber.

When Hoyer was done, he was rejoined on stage by Kenney and moderator Pat Hughes for a brief Q & A session with the audience.  Nothing of much substance was covered during this part of the presentation.  Overall, it was a well put together event with only one downside: an audience full of demented Cub fans.

One older gentleman spent the time before the program began telling everyone who would listen that Theo Epstein has no business holding his job because he once attended a panel at the Cubs Convention wearing a red shirt.  While focusing in on red being a “Cardinal color”, this scholar has missed out on the fact that it is also one of the colors of, yep, you guessed it, the Chicago Cubs.  Another fun group of gentlemen were the mid-20s former frat boys sitting behind me who wondered 1) why there were so many women at an event for season ticket holders and 2) if throwing your wife down a flight of stairs should really count as domestic violence.  The Cubs spent the afternoon trying to convince their customers to renew their season tickets.  Some of their fans did their best to undo the efforts, just by being themselves.

by admin

2013 Final Batting Leaders

Another season has come to a disappointing end with both Chicago teams bringing up the bottom of their division.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the games I attended this year.

Home Runs

Name Total
Adam Dunn 7
Alex Rios 4
Oswaldo Arcia 2
Jeff Baker 2
Alexei Ramirez 2
Asdrubal Cabrera 2
Jordan Danks 2

Hits

Name Total
Alexei Ramirez 32
Alejandro de Aza 31
Continue reading →
by admin

All Star Break Batting Leaders

As we close the books on the disappointing first half of the 2013 season, here are the offensive (and believe you me, it has been pretty offensive) leaders for the games I attended:

Home Runs

Name Total
Adam Dunn 4
Alex Rios 2
19 tied with 1
Hits

Name Total
Alexei Ramirez 18
Alejandro de Aza 16
Conor Gillaspie 12
Dayan Viciedo 11
Alex Rios 10
Runs

Name Total
Alejandro de Aza 11
Adam Dunn 5
Continue reading →
by jim

The Dale Sveum Era Begins

The Cubs look to kick off a new era, featuring new manager Dale Sveum, new GM Jed Hoyer, and new team president Theo Epstein, with today’s season opening game against the Nationals.

Starting Pitchers

Ryan Dempster, Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija, Chris Volstad, Paul Maholm

Ryan Dempster, who gets the Opening Day nod again this year, and Matt Garza are the only holdovers from last year’s staff.  Samardzija had a strong spring and looks to maybe have finally put everything together.  Volstad and Maholm beat out Randy Wells and Travis Wood, among others, for the final two spots in the rotation.

Relief Pitchers

Carlos Marmol, Kerry Wood, James Russell, Rafael Dolis, Lendy Castillo, Shawn Camp

Continue reading →