Bleed Cubbie Blue

[HomerOne]

Disclaimer: I was inspired by all of you to write this thread, but especially want to thank Orcin and Hendu Style whose dynasties I follow religiously and can only hope to come close to greatness as writers. Thank you!

And, now, without further ado...I bring you...
BLEED CUBBIE BLUE

Spring 2013

I am a GM looking for work. There were four teams on my list: the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs, the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins (not necessarily in that order). I was attracted to the Phillies job because I wanted to bring a sabermetric approach to their front office that has been lacking and rebuild their farm system which has fallen in recent years. The Minnesota Twins job was also attractive to me because they are a team in desperate need of a rebuild and a sabermetric approach, even more so than the Phillies. Plus, this scenario seemed to be the most realistic to real-life in that Terry Ryan could easily cede his job to a younger GM. They also remind me a lot of the Houston Astros and I admire the job that Otto Orcin/Jeff Luhnow has done with that team and thought I could provide a similar stamp on the Twins ballclub. The Cleveland Indians job was intriguing because they hadn't won a World Series since 1948 and I still get choked up watching Major League when the Indians win the pennant.

In the end, however, I chose the Chicago Cubs because they are the ultimate underdogs. They haven't won a World Series in over a century and, like the Boston Red Sox before them, have suffered a series of events that many have chalked up to "curses" or being a "snake-bitten" organization. Plus, they represent the ultimate challenge to a GM. Who wouldn't want to be part of the group of people that delivers the first World Series championship for the Cubs since 1908? And, last but not least, they just happen to be my favorite team.

So I, Homer Green, have decided to accept the job of new Chicago Cubs GM beginning with the 2013 season. My first assignment was to call Dale Sveum and the coaching staff and the players on our roster. I shared with them my thoughts and vision for this year and the future of the Cubs. So far, everything has been positive and productive and I can't wait to begin getting to work.

Instead of relying on a multitude of screenshots, I'm going to provide monthly reports/storylines that are less stat-driven and more character-driven.

Stay tuned!

[beachbomer]

Looking forward to you dynasty............ I started mine one way and as it progressed I am leaning more toward the less stats driven and more character driven story myself.

[HomerOne]

Meet Dale Sveum and the coaching staff

Today I met Dale Sveum the manager of the Chicago Cubs. Dale is a quiet man with a very dry sense of humor who tends to not show a lot of emotion. However, he is a very pleasant guy to talk to and he seems to have an abundance of confidence. I told him that I remember having his baseball card as a kid where he was sporting what I jokingly referred to as a "porn-stache" which causes him to respond by saying "Thanks for making me feel old there, Homer. And for bringing up the infamous porn-stache as you call it." I also ask Dale about his nickname as a player, "Nuts", and he tells me with a sly grin that it has absolutely nothing to do with the lower half of his body.

Sveum was a young prospect for the Milwaukee Brewers in the late 1980s and is best remembered for hitting a dramatic game-winning home run early in the 1987 season which kept the Brew Crew's early season winning streak of 12 games going (they would win 1 more to start the season 13-0) and breaking his leg during a game in September 1988 that practically ended his once-promising career as a starting shortstop, relegating him to be a utility player the rest of his career.

Dale and I have different musical tastes with his being heavy metal and mine being classic rock. He also likes to hunt and fish and loves to ride his Harley motorcycle whenever possible. And he has a funny quirk which is eating cereal at all times. But none of that matters as much as the fact that Sveum seems to have the respect of the clubhouse. Even with a losing record last year (61-101) I was impressed at how the team did not quit on him. We talked about how that didn't always seem to be the case with his predecessor, Mike Quade. I'll never forget the look in Dale's eye when he told me point-blank "I can assure you that guys not hustling on this team or not giving 100% at all times will NEVER be a problem." And he had that look in his eye that convinced me that he meant it.

The next coach I met was Jamie Quirk who is more outgoing and talkative than Sveum, but equally as respectful. We talked about his days with the Kansas City Royals where he told me that as a young player coming up he thought that he could play third base as good or better than George Brett. "Okay, so I was wrong about that" he said before laughing and pointing out that he let Brett know this as well (the two have always been close friends). I also asked Quirk about the game last September versus the Washington Nationals in which he got ejected for shouting obscenities at former Nationals coach and now Astros manager Bo Porter. All Quirk told me is that things were said in the heat of the moment, but as far as he's concerned, it's over and done with. And that was that. I told him that I admire his passion and fire as long as we don't completely lose our temper.

Then I met our pitching coach Chris Bosio and praised him for his charitable work in the off-season to help cancer patients in the Chicago area. Bosio lost his mother two years ago to Hodgkin's lymphoma and a brother to lung cancer. His father had kidney cancer and his wife's had cancer. It is a shared but unfortunate bond that we both share in that I've also lost loved ones and friends to cancer and, thankfully, my Dad is a cancer survivor. Bosio also had knee replacement surgery last November on both of his knees after having 12 arthroscopic procedures done during his playing career. He's a good man and he has an extensive knowledge of pitching. I'm looking forward to working with him.

Hitting coach James Rowson and I didn't talk very long because he was working with our hitters, but he's very excited about starting his first full season as Cubs hitting coach. We both talked about the philosophy of hitting and stressed the important of getting on base and drawing walks which is something Cubs hitters haven't done very much of since the 2008 season. I told Rowson that I watched several videos of Cubs games from last year where some guys looked like they were playing golf rather than baseball. He agreed and said that hopefully we won't be seeing that too much this year.

[HomerOne]

Meet the Scouting Director

Today I met our Scouting Director Jaron Madison who joined the team last August. We didn't talk long, but both agreed that we will be seeing lots of each other and talking a lot more over the next couple of months leading up to the MLB Amateur Draft in June where we have the 2nd overall pick in the 1st round.

If you want to read an excellent interview with Madison, check out this link: Scout.com: MadFriars Interview: Jaron Madison

[MarkCuban]

I really like the premise, I'll definitely read it. I love detailed characters. I use them in my write ups... I can never balance characters and monthly reports.

Since Dale Sveum is sticking around as manager, do you plan on holding the annual bunting tournaments he initiated?
ESPN covers the 2nd Annual Cubs Bunting Tournament

The name of the thread is the only thing I will pick at. Bleeding Cubby Blue, or BCB, is known across the internet as one of the most infamous cub blogs. A few people may read it and think the wrong thing.

The internet is a funny place.

[HomerOne]

Originally Posted by MarkCuban

I really like the premise, I'll definitely read it. I love detailed characters. I use them in my write ups... I can never balance characters and monthly reports.

Since Dale Sveum is sticking around as manager, do you plan on holding the annual bunting tournaments he initiated?
ESPN covers the 2nd Annual Cubs Bunting Tournament

The name of the thread is the only thing I will pick at. Bleeding Cubby Blue, or BCB, is known across the internet as one of the most infamous cub blogs. A few people may read it and think the wrong thing.

The internet is a funny place.

Thanks! I'm not really big on bunting tournaments. I actually am quite familiar with the BCB blog and titled this thread in tribute to it.

[HomerOne]

APRIL 2013 Summary

Today is May 1st and as we stand right now or sit, the Chicago Cubs are tied for 4th place in the NL Central with the Pittsburgh Pirates (10-18). The bad news is that we have lost 8 out of our last 10 games and our team's hitting, OBP and slugging percentage is dead-last in the National League. I read the report this morning and said to myself, "Are you freakin' kidding me?" except I didn't use the word "freakin'".

Pitching-wise, we rank 11th in ERA, but defensively we are 3rd in the National League.

We also made a minor trade in mid-April when we sent C Steven Clevenger to the San Diego Padres in exchange for 1B/OF Jesus Guzman. At the time we were carrying 3 catchers on the big-league roster and would have sent Clevenger down to AAA were it not for the fact that Cs J.C. Boscan and recently acquired Mike Rivera have been tearing it up at AAA. We decided to trade Clevenger and added Rivera to our 40-man roster.

Then towards the end of the month, Dale Sveum had a rare display of emotion during a live radio interview. Sveum said "Whatever happened to journalistic integrity? No one cares about reporting the facts anymore. It's all about sensationalism these days. All you guys care about is selling newspapers and driving up ratings. And I'm getting pretty damn sick of it." What Dale was referring to was recent stories that suggested the Cubs recent struggles as of late have been the result of off-field distractions.

One report, which accused 1B Anthony Rizzo of "extracurricular indiscretions", has been a particularly sore subject for Sveum. "What players do on their own time is their business, but to imply that any of my players aren't giving it their all on the field is absolutely ridiculous, and to make these kinds of accusations against someone without any proof is just plain irresponsible!"

After this happened, I met with Dale and we both headed out for dinner. I always found that people tend to be a lot more calm when they've had some food in their stomachs. I could certainly understand his frustration, but it was out-of-character to see him so flustered and I wanted to nip this in the bud before it became a regular occurrence.

"So tell me, Dale, how are you feeling?" I asked him. "I guess you could say that I had my 'Lee Elia moment'" as an embarrassing smile came across his face. The "Lee Elia moment" he was referring to was an infamous outburst in April 1983 made by then-Cubs manager Lee Elia who let out his frustrations over the team's struggles by lashing out at Cubs fans. What many people did not know is that part of Elia's anger was because there were some Cubs fans who were calling relief pitcher Lee Smith the "n word" and this especially angered Elia.

"Dale, you didn't even come close to a 'Lee Elia moment'. But it is very out-of-character for you to be this emotional. Seriously, how are you doing?" I asked him. "Seriously, I'm fine, HR." he replied. Sveum and many Cubs players and personnel refer to me as HR instead of Homer. At first, many of them respectfully called me "Mr. Green", but I politely told them that it was okay that they call me by my first name. The HR nickname was someone's idea although I don't remember who.

I told Dale that I can understand his frustration, but re-iterated my faith in him, the coaches and the team and told him that we have a lot of baseball left to play. He agreed and he seemed to be in a much better mood after we talked than he was earlier that afternoon.

Just as we were both feeling better, the next day SP Travis Wood complained of shoulder trouble and a few days later we learned that Woody will be out for 4 months due to shoulder inflammation. No one was more disappointed to hear the news than Travis, but he vowed to come back this year and if there's anything that can be said about Travis Wood, his work ethic is impeccable and when he says he's going to do something, he does it.

We called up SP Christopher Rusin from AAA Iowa and all he did was pitch 8 innings, striking out 7 and giving up 1 earned run in his 2013 debut versus the Miami Marlins at Marlins Ballpark. Rusin briefly pitched for us last year and went 2-3 with a 6.37 ERA, but at the age of 26 he's part of our young corps of Cubs players and we hope to see more good starts from him like we did in his 2013 debut.

The baseball world also got some sad news in early April when Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos died after a brief illness. His son, John, took over the team as owner and, having a father who was born in Baltimore, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Orioles. I never met Peter Angelos, but my thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I wish his son well as the owner.

[HomerOne]

MAY 2013 SUMMARY

Well, the month of May is over and, regrettably, it wasn't that much different than April. We finished with a record of (10-17) and our hitting got a little better while our pitching got worse. Defensively, we also regressed a bit although we're still ranked in the top 10 at #6.

Some highlights:
Congratulations to 2B Brett Lillibridge who on May 7th became the first Cubs player to hit for the cycle since 1B Mark Grace in 1993! He did it against the Cardinals, too, which was nice and it would have been nicer if we hadn't lost the game 6-5 to St. Louis.

That same day, we also traded RF Brian Bogusevic and SP Jeff Suppan to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for SP Dustin Moseley. Bogusevic and Suppan were at AAA Iowa and Moseley will be going there to join their starting rotation.

On May 16th, we got some very bad news that RP James Russell is out for the season. He is expected to miss 14 months with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. He was very good this year, going 1-1 with a 3.42 ERA, striking out 29 and walking 5 in 26.1 innings.

We made two more trades in the month of May. On May 22nd, we traded 3B Luis Valbuena and SP Brandon Dickson to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for SP Chris Volstad. Volstad returns to the Cubs whom he pitched for last year after being acquired from the Miami Marlins for SP Carlos Zambrano. On May 27th, we made a trade involving long-time veterans when we sent RF Scott Hairston, CF David DeJesus and $2.5 million in cash to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for LF Raul Ibanez. Ibanez can platoon with Alfonso Soriano in left field and the trade of DeJesus opens up CF for Brett Jackson who has done a nice job in a brief amount of time with us this year. Hairston was unhappy about a lack of playing time and he was also struggling so we accommodated his wishes by trading him to Seattle where he can start and giving us a platoon in right field of Nate Schierholtz and Darnell McDonald.

The first two months of this season have not been very good for the Cubs. As I sit and type this, we are 20-35, 17 GB the Cincinnati Reds in 5th place. And I have let manager Dale Sveum and the coaching staff know that I'm not happy about this. They're not happy about it either. Hopefully we can get this thing turned around in a month where many people normally expect us to swoon.

[HomerOne]

2013 MLB AMATEUR DRAFT SUMMARY #1

With the 2nd pick in the 1st round, the Chicago Cubs drafted SP Mark Appel from Stanford. Mark was recently ranked #2 in BNN's list of the top ten draft picks for 2013. We are confident that he will sign with us and we look forward to seeing him pitching in our farm system very soon. There were quite a few prospects that could easily have been our selection, but in the end we decided on Mark Appel because we need to restock our farm system with quality pitching arms. We also admire Mark's work ethic, leadership and his attitude which are all parts of what we like to call "The Cubs Way".

[HomerOne]

2013 MLB AMATEUR DRAFT SUMMARY #2

Here is the complete list of 2013 Chicago Cubs draft picks with brief summaries:

#1 Mark Appel (unsigned)-start pitcher (R/R) likely to sign, projected to be future MLB starter
#2 Dan Slania (unsigned)-relief pitcher (R/R), could be future closer
#3 Mitch Garver (unsigned)-catcher (R/R), not a great bat, but great defense
#4 Johnny Field (unsigned)-left fielder (R/R), great eye/defense
#5 Cavan Biggio (unsigned)-third base (L/R), son of Craig, great eye, team leader
#6 Connor Harrell (signed)-left fielder (R/R), great eye, little pop
#7 Anfernee Grier (signed)-can play all OF positions (R/R), good eye/speed
#8 Dane McFarland (signed)-center fielder (R/R), great defense/speed, decent hitter
#9 Matt Boyd (signed)-starter (L/L), good control, won't strike out much
#10 Brett Binning (signed)-second base/shortstop (R/R), great eye, little power, average defense, looks to get better
#11 Tyler Smith (signed)-shortstop (R/R), good eye/defense, not great speed but an intelligent baserunner
#12 Lonnie Kauppila (signed)-shortstop (R/R), very good eye/defense
#13 Tanner Poppe (signed)-closer (R/R), good control, but doesn't strike out a lot of guys
#14 Dalton Duty (signed)-right fielder (L/R), good eye, team leader, average defense, little power
#15 Cal Quantrill (signed)-reliever (L/R), son of Paul, decent control, doesn't strike out a lot of batters
#16 Chantz Mack (signed)-left fielder (L/L), very good eye/defense, little pop
#17 Eddie Campbell (signed)-starter/reliever (L/L), average control/strikeout artist
#18 Chris Barrett (signed)-second baseman (R/R), good eye but excellent defense, little pop
#19 J.D. Underwood (signed)-reliever/first baseman (L/R), average control/strikeout artist
#20 Daniel Jackson (signed)-second baseman (R/R), good eye, average defense/speed
#21 Brad Schreiber (signed)-reliever (R/R), below-average control, decent pitcher
#22 Brandon Thompson (unsigned)-catcher (R/R), very good eye w/ power, decent defense
#23 Diego Rivera (signed)-shortstop (R/R), good eye/defense, great speed
#24 Bob Cleary (signed)-shortstop (R/R), good eye/defense, decent speed
#25 Greg Fontan (signed)-first base (L/L), not a patient hitter with little speed, but a very good defensive first baseman
#26 Thatcher Perry (signed)-catcher (R/R), not a patient hitter, little power, decent defense, but needs work
#27 Kevin Pohle (signed)-reliever (R/R), very good control, decent pitcher
#28 Ernesto Medina (signed)-center fielder (R/R), average across the board
#29 Drew Van Orden (signed)-reliever (L/R), inconsistent control, average pitcher
#30 Gustavo Martinez (signed)-right fielder (L/L), not a patient hitter, average speed/defense