Posts tagged ‘Ronny Cedeno’

After their awesome start to the season and record-setting April, the Cubs are now mired in an awkward slump. Awkward because the offense that is generating the most runs per game in the National League isn’t supposed to lose 8 out of 11 games. But we’ve found a way. But as inexplicable as the losses have been, the wins are just as difficult to account for. Ronny Cedeno taking walks? What kind of twilight zone episode is this?

Maybe we should just admit that this is the team we expected to see when the season started on March 31st: A team that loses too many close games and occasionally beats the heck out of the competition. That was the 2007 Cubs. Or more correctly that was the 2007 Central Division Champion Chicago Cubs. Our formula last season was to tread water until the pitching staffs for the rest of the division broke down, and then we rode the bouncing coattails of Alfonso Soriano in September. It worked then, and it will work again this year.

In a way it’s just sad that we’ve already seen what this 2008 Cubs team is capable of so early in the season. It makes seeing it every third or fourth game its own form of slow burning pain. But take solace, Cubs fans, because as much as the Cubs haven’t perfected their potion, neither have the White Sox. Their struggles are so bad that they put all their bats next to a bunch of blow-up dolls in the clubhouse as a joke. That just proves that nobody in this city has perfected anything except silliness, and we can expect plenty of that from both sides of town throughout the summer.

Considering the dolls and the Cubs tough losses at St. Louis and Cincinnati just goes to show that a fluke in baseball is still the norm. A broken-bat flare off of Ryan Dempster scored 2 runs on Monday night, the runs that ended up making the difference in the game. A few blown calls on sliding plays at home plate effected the outcomes both Sunday and Monday.

How should the Cubs answer? Two things: get out an airpump, and start Ronny Cedeno. You never know, it might work.

The storylines this Spring so far have been fairly entertaining, with the Cubs youth movement pushing for more playing time in battles for closer, (the fake battle for) center field, and (the semi-fake battle for) 2 starting rotation spots. This is all before mentioning the twist in Felix Pie’s olives or DeRosa’s so-called minor heart surgery. If the Cubs Movie guy had the cameras rolling and celebs talking this March, he would have ended up with a product that perfectly encased what it means to be eternally optimistic and eternally in denial.

That six letter word is always in play for us Cubs fans. And don’t act like you don’t know which word I’m talking about, because that would be a logic loop, not unlike the one that Neifi Perez will operate at your local county fair later this summer. But back to denial. I’m not talking about the 100 year stuff. My name isn’t ESPN, which mentioned the freaking anniversary over and over on cue DURING A SPRING GAME VS. THE ROCKIES.

I’d simply like to direct your attention to the fact that the young guys have played sparkling ball this March, and by and large the veterans have fizzled. But this is glass half full time, see below if you’d like Sheps’ take on the veteran offense, which in my mind has been equivalent to a dripping faucet. But don’t worry because the faucet is only at 85% right now. Whatever that means.

We cannot deny that every young player mentioned in every Brian Roberts rumor is doing well and that it’s causing a headache for Jim Hendry. Murton is doing what he always does, beating out infield hits, getting on base, and beginning to drive the ball with authority. Ronny Cedeno, ye of raw talent and raw brain, has strung together some more hits of late (and more caught stealings). Even Sean Marshall is batting 1.000. He’s also been solid on the mound, fyi. The anchor in the lineup has certainly been Micah Hoffpauir, whose Ted Williams-like spring should land him a spot on the Cubs roster if Sam Zell knows how to sniff a good investment. But the O’s would be even smarter to land a guy who is depositing his hits further from the plate than any other Cub.

With all the exhibition success these guys are having, I can’t deny that it’s affected my own feeling on the Roberts trade, and yesterday it snowed six inches outside of my apartment. I can’t imagine seeing all of this up close as a scout in Arizona and giving the green light to Hendry, despite my own love of clogged bases and the dream of Roberts scoring on smash hits by D-Lee, Soriano, Aram, Fukudome, and Soto.

Has it had an effect on what you think about the trade?

The Chicago Cubs unveiled their new international ad campaign on Tuesday. The new graphics, designed to highlight players’ diverse backgrounds, feature many current Cubs. Fukudome’s ad reads “I don’t need an interpreter. My bat does the talking,” and features images similar to those seen on the Japanese flag.

Information leaked to Cubscast from a source close to the team includes the rejected ads from this new campaign:

Ronny Cedeno’s ad was to feature the Venezuelan flag with text reading “My fans don’t need an interpreter either. .203 is .203 in every language.”

Felix Pie’s ad read “Felix Pie: Six Tool Player.” The prototype reportedly featured Pie, a native of the Dominican Republic, utilizing his 6th tool, a Corey Patterson mask. Pie is widely known for carrying it with him to lower expectations for his strike zone command. Unfortunately, all this ad accomplished was to lower expectations for the Cubs front office’s ability to do simple math.

Jon Lieber’s ad featured the American Flag and read “Sure I’ve been to foreign countries. We’ve played games in Canada and Miami. That’s two.” Also the white stars representing each state were replaced by tiny illustrations of Ford F-150’s.

Ryan Dempster’s ad proved to be difficult for the Cubs marketing brass with Dempster’s uncertain pitching role. Reportedly, they nearly approved a graphic that displayed the Canadian maple leaf, with the quote “In my country, if you’re bad at hockey you’re bad at baseball. And I can’t skate.”