Posts tagged ‘mike fontenot’

As discussed in today’s episode (download – mp3) the Cubs are closing in on signing John Grabow for two years and upwards of $7.5 million, which is getting plenty of Cubs fans talking (always a good thing). I’m of the opinion that it’s a fair price for a guy that could solidify the left-hand side of the bullpen in 2010.

The Cubs made another move today, sending RHP Aaron Heilman to the D-Backs for two prospects, which most Cubs fans are probably very excited to see.

The fly in my ice cube is when Cub fans are fed the following information, as excerpted from an article on the moves by Bruce Levine:

With a projected $140 million payroll, general manager Jim Hendry was in a position where he had to move peripheral arbitration-eligible players in order to find money for veterans such as reliever John Grabow, who is expected to sign a two-year, $7.5 million contract by the end of the weekend.

It would not be incorrect to say that some of the money saved in the Heilman trade will go toward Grabow’s contract, which will increase about $1 million a year.

This agitates me a bit not because trading Heilman is a bad move (though I would have kept him and settled his arbitration case), but because it infers that Jim Hendry has an airtight budget this offseason. I’d thought that the DeRosa salary dump after 2008 and the fact that Hendry never tried to negotiate a multi-year deal with Kerry Wood that same offseason were anomalies. Until proven otherwise, this is the new status quo for the Cubs. The $300 million offseason happened because an ownership group was ramping up towards a sale.

How an airtight budget fits into a “win this year at all costs” philosophy is anyone’s guess, because to me it’s oil and water.

Anyway, something to keep an eye on. Levine also made mention of Fontenot possibly not being a Cub in 2010 for salary reasons.

I’m not sure which has been more intelligent lately, the folks in the White House or our Boys in Blue. We’ve all done a lot of stupid things in our lives. Some of us have overslid second base during a walk to lose an important game against our biggest rivals. Some of us have never thrown out a baserunner while catching for our new team. Others have simply shot a friend in the face.

Which got me thinking. Who does Mike Fontenot look like? We’ve all spent a lot of time coming up with nicknames for our beloved LSU guy. But in Sunday’s loss to the Rockies, the camera caught Fontenot doing something rather, well, Vice Presidential. He raised the right part of his upper lip and let out a little sneer.

I thought back to our other storied players. Jermaine Van Buren. Theodore Roosevelt Lilly. And then it hit me. Mike Fontenot looks exactly like Dick Cheney with hair wearing Mark Grace’s old number.

I’m not sure, but I think I might be afraid of him now. Or like him more. Or not even care.

Go Cubs!