Whatever the question about third base at Wrigley Field is, Shea Hillenbrand is not the answer. Neither is Mark Bellhorn, Lenny Harris, Ramon Martinez, Ken Reitz, Steve Buchele or Vance Law. Honestly, if you want to make somebody laugh today, just start naming some of the clods who have manned third base in the years since the Cubs sent Bill Madlock to Pittsburgh for a warm six pack of Iron City Beer.
Rumors had abounded for weeks that the Cubs would trade for either Shea Hillenbrand of the Red Sox, or Mike Lowell of the Marlins.
All that’s left now is Lowell.
The knock on Hillenbrand is two fold. Number one, he’s considered a first half hitter.
First Half
2001 — .262 BA, .280 OBA, .398 SLG, .678 OPS, 7 HR, 29 RBI
2002 — .298, .331, .490, .821 OPS, 13, 51
2003 (so far) — .303, .335, .443, .778 OPS, 3, 38
Second Half
2001 — .265, .305, .381, .686 OPS, 5, 20
2002 — .288, .328, .424, .752 OPS, 5, 40
That’s not a big track record, obviously. But the thing that troubles me is that Shea gets on base with startling infrequency. It’s becoming frighteningly obvious that Mark Bellhorn can’t play third base, so getting Shea would have been an upgrade. But Mike Lowell is still the big fish.
Probably the worst news in this trade for the Cubs isn’t that they won’t get Hillenbrand (they never seemed that keen on him in the first place) is what Arizona had to give up to get him. Byung Hyun Kim? Are you kidding me?
The Red Sox turned an above average third baseman into a pitcher with the ability to start and close and who has a career opponent’s batting average of .194? If that sets the market, the price for Lowell will be ugly indeed.
I’m sure the Saberweenies will enjoy this trade, as well they should. Not only was it a young, OPS obsessed general manager trading with a baseball legacy GM and kicking his ass down the street, but it just points out how freakin’ terrible Matt Williams is. The Diamondbacks had to trade a promising, 24 year old pitcher for a stop gap third baseman (and really, that’s all Hillenbrand will ever be) to get Williams out of the lineup. As we pointed out a couple days ago, Matt Williams makes FOURTEEN point SEVEN MILLION dollars this year. Woof, indeed.
People will make a big deal out of the fact that the Red Sox are in first place and didn’t wait to trade, but the Cubs are sitting on their proverbial hands. But the Cubs want to make a trade, the Marlins just aren’t ready to do it yet. The difference was that the Red Sox and Diamondbacks have been working on this trade since December and both teams finally got into the spot where they had to make a move. Until the Marlins decide to completely s@#$can the season, the Cubs are at their mercy.
Not all is gloomy in Cubdom today. In fact, things are downright festive. The second place Astros are coming to town and the nearly three-week long Troy O’Leary-Tom Goodwin hostage crisis is over. Sammy Sosa will make his triumphant sprint to right field to start off the first inning and all will be right with the world.
Dusty Baker has decreed that the new “regular” Cubs batting order (although, who knows what regular means to Dusty) will be Gruddy, Gonzalez, Sosa, Alou, Patterson, Big Choi, third baseman du jour, Miller and the pitcher.
I can live with this, although I much prefer Gruddy, Gonzalez, Patterson, Sosa, Alou, Big Choi, 3B du jour, Miller and the pitcher. But Dusty didn’t ask me. Perhaps he was out sprinking Metamucil on the lineup card?
If Astros lefty Jeriome Robertson pitches the finale on Sunday and Jimy Williams comes to the mound, I think one thing will be apparent. With Jeriome and Jimy, the Astros just can’t spell.
What are the Cubs supposed to do with third base with their current roster? Bellhorn is a mess.
He’s hitting .189 against lefties, .232 against righties. So he can’t hit either.
He’s hitting .197 in day games (especially bad news if you’re a Cub), but .246 at home. Huh? Apparently he’s ripping up those home night games.
Lenny Harris isn’t the answer. Dusty knows and loves Ramon Martinez and he won’t play him every day, so that tells you what you need to know about Ramon. What it looks like is that the Cubs are just going to be forced to play with a gigantic, seeping hole at third base for the time being. You know, like pretty much every other day for the last 30 years.
Rosey says even the Astros have figured out the Cubs win with pitching.
Paul Sullivan writes an ode to the Cubs favorite month.
The Cubs are after Mike Lowell. How many times do you need to write it?
Rick Morrissey with a tiresome column about the Spurs-Mavs game last night.
Everybody’s pal, Steve Kerr, was the hero last night.
Remember when Chicago had the decorative cows a few years back? This year they decided to do the same with bobblehead dolls. Check out these photos by little buddy Adam Calderelli from ChicagoSports.com. Just awful. We have a Cardinals’ one in Chicago? At least now I’ll know where to go take a steamer if I’m on the 500 block of North Michigan Avenue.
Greg Couch with more good stuff on the Cubs’ sleazy ticket broker operation.
John Jackson says Steve Stone is better than ever. How can you write an entire column about the Cubs TV broadcasts and not once go off on Chip Caray? I don’t understand.
They’re laying sod at Soldier Field as we speak. Call the neighbors!
The Wizard of Roz with a good one.
Jayson Stark on the Kim-Shea trade. I don’t agree. As far as I’m concerned, Theo bent Joe Garagiola, Jr. over and gave him the Sister treatment.
Flannel Boy agrees with me. I hate it when this happens.
Stark with some best kept secrets around baseball. Regular Joe gets a mention.
Sports Guy consoles Jerry West and says that LeBron might flop.
Stewey tours the college football landscape, and another Husker is escaping. Muahahahahaha!
Boston’s take on the Kim-Shea trade.
Weenie boy Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic says the Diamondbacks should waive Matt Williams, eat his salary and let him come play for the Cubs. No thanks. We’re pretty well stocked on the depth chart at “gimp.”
A Dookie bolted before he ever stepped foot on campus. Hmmm. No doubt Jake will be chiming in soon.
Some guy from Eve 6 was running around a hotel with no pants on. Is that wrong?
Blah, blah, blah, movie about Cole Porter, blah, blah, blah, Elvis Costello, blah, blah, hey! Ashley Judd! Now you’re talking.
John Travolta’s going to be in the Get Shorty sequel. As long as Dennis Farina is in it, I’m in, too.
There will be twenty, count ’em twenty, reality shows on this summer. Yikes.
Just what does “potty” mean in England, anyway?
Fine, if the Polar Bears want to play rough, we’ll start pushing for a regime change there, too.
America’s finest news source goes to their men on the street to get opinions on spam.
Hey dumbass! I was not dealt to Pittsburgh, I was dealt to San Francisco, along with Rob Sperring for Booby Murcer, Andy Muhlstock, and Mr. Hairline Creations himself, Steve Ontiveros. It was the Giants who ended up trading me to Pittsburgh. Get it straight, holmes.
If the Marlins are insisting on Andy Sisco in the package for Mike Lowell, Jim Hendry should tell them to stick it. No way should the Cubs trade a power lefty prospect like Sisco. They already gave the Marlins Dontrell Willis who only took a year to jump from the Cubs A-team to the Marlins rotation (a bigger jump than you’d think) and with Clement coming back to reality, it seems the Marlins might come out the winner on that deal.. Juan Cruz and another minor leaguer (Bobby Hill?) and that’s it.
On a brighter note, ain’t that a shame about Jim Edmonds? This is the kind of injury that will bother him all season. Add the Fernando Vina injury (smells like steroid-related to me) and it looks like the Redbirds are in trouble.
I stand corrected, Bill.
One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. by online poker