He will be missed in the Cub community. It's a shame he didn't get elected into the Hall while he was here. It's a shame the Cubs couldn't win a WS while he was here.

classic Ron Santo in the booth...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6b2Ll7m02U

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101203&content_id=16246292&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc

Very sad. I'm a huge fan of Ron Santo as a ballplayer, announcer, and a person. He was like one of your buddies sitting in on the broadcast, yelling exactly what you were thinking because he was one of the few people you could think of that loved the Cubs more than you.

I'd gotten to the point that I quit watching as many TV games and turned on the radio to listen to Pat and Ron. I wish I'd started sooner. Cubs baseball won't be exactly the same without him.

quote:

---

"He absolutely loved the Cubs," Santo's broadcast partner Hughes told the Chicago Tribune. "The Cubs have lost their biggest fan.

---

R.I.P. Ron Santo - he was a great man on and off the field.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
'00 Wyoming | '00 UTEP | '00 tech | '00 Colorado | '00 @Baylor | '00 Kansas St | '00 Oklahoma | '01 McNeese St | '01 Oklahoma St | '01 Notre Dame | '01 Baylor | '01 Iowa St | '01 t.u. | '02 La-Lafayette | '02 Virginia Tech | '02 La Tech | '02 tech | '02 Nebraska | '02 Oklahoma | '02 Missouri | '03 Arkansas St | '03 Utah | '03 Pitt | '03 Baylor | '03 @Nebraska | '03 Oklahoma St | '03 Kansas | '03 t.u. | '04 Wyoming | '04 Clemson | '04 Kansas St | '04 Colorado | '04 tech | '04 @t.u. | '05 Cotton Bowl | '05 SMU | '05 Baylor | '05 Oklahoma St | '05 Iowa St | '05 t.u. | '06 Citadel | '06 La-Lafayette | '06 v Army | '06 La Tech | '06 tech | '06 Missouri | '06 @Baylor | '06 Oklahoma | '06 Nebraska | '06 @t.u. | '06 Holiday Bowl | '07 Montana St | '07 Fresno St | '07 La-Monroe | '07 @Miami | '07 Baylor | '07 Oklahoma St | '07 @Nebraska | '07 Kansas | '07 t.u. | '08 Arkansas St | '08 @New Mexico | '08 Miami | '08 Army | '08 Kansas St | '08 tech | '08 Colorado | '08 Oklahoma | '08 @Baylor | '08 @t.u. | '09 New Mexico | '09 Utah St | '09 UAB | '09 v Arkansas | '09 Oklahoma St | '09 Iowa St | '09 @Colorado | '09 @Oklahoma | '09 Baylor | '09 t.u. | '09 Independence Bowl | '10 SFA | '10 La Tech | '10 FIU | '10 v Arkansas | '10 Missouri | '10 texas tech | '10 Oklahoma | '10 @Baylor | '10 Nebraska | '10 @t.u.

I made the 3 hour drive over to Chicago this past weekend and dedicated Sunday to heading over to Wrigley. Walked around the stadium, took some pictures and had lunch at the Cubby Bear. Was really nice some of the tributes going on. WGN 720 had Pat/Ron highlights all weekend. Made me laughand tear up.
Also picked up a couple copies of the Saturday morning Chicago Tribune with all of the coverage.

Probably the number one Cubs fan. No doubt. They were talking about his amputatons on WGN Sunday afternoon. How he basically was told his 2nd leg would take 3 months to heal before he would be able to walk. Ron insisted that he HAD to be walking for Spring Training so told them to take his second leg and give him another prosthetic. He was ready and walking for Spring Training that year.

He will be missed.

Minor league pitching coordinator, Mark Riggins, was named the new pitching coach.

Cubs are reportedly after Adam LaRoche to play 1B. I guess Carlos Pena is going to be too expensive.

I love freeswingers who strikeout 150+ times a year

it's almost time to move Aramis over to 1B and make Vitters 2011's Starlin Castro...

Cubs agree with Pena. 1 year 10 million.

Not crazy about the money, but I am glad it is a 1-year deal. He is good with the glove and has some power. Hopefully he can bring his dreadful average back up this season.

Cubs looking into a deal for Tampa Bay pitcher Matt Garza.

I woulda been ok with a 2 year deal but 1 year is great. That means he has extra motivation to play for another contract. If I were GM, I would not exceed 3/4 year contracts on anyone.

Interesting idea about Aram moving to 1B. Seems like he could be a pretty good fielding 1Bman.

Maybe we can move ***udome and Soriano in a package deal

...as in Soriano for Zito perhaps?

Carlos Pena is getting 10 after a season where he batted .196 with 28 homers.

In one of Lee's worst season's in memory, he batted .260 with 19 homers and was making 13.

At least it's a one year deal. I guess they're really banking on him picking his HR count up again at Wrigley

Pena had some injury issues last season. Plantar facitis (sp?), I believe. His average was terrible, but he still put up some good HR & RBI numbers. He takes a lot of walks and plays good defense, too.

Coming from the East thread for a moment, because of the Pena signing.

Obviously "Los" had a rough year batting last season, with an abysmal average, and he wasn't quite up to his usual standards in HRs and RBI. But that said, he's a outstanding fielder (with an earned and deserved Gold Glove to his credit) and he's a genuinely good character man.

Tampa couldn't afford $10,000,000 in the hopes that he didn't repeat 2010, so I'm not sad to see him go for that reason. But when he plays like he's capable of, Rays fans will remember him fondly and probably wish he was still at the Trop.

Thanks for the input.

Small Pena note, $5MM of that contract is deferred.

I still think the one thing the team is missing is speed on the bases. All to many times I get the feeling the team is just going station to staion on hits. I'd love to see a move that would get a consitant SB threat a well as a guy who can push for that extra base when it's needed.

Castro can fly. That's about it, unless DeWitt has some speed I am not aware of.

So now that Pena has been added, how would you configure your Opening Day starting lineup? I would probably go with the following.

Fukudome RF
Castro SS
Byrd CF
Ramirez 3B
Pena 1B
Soto C
Soriano LF
DeWitt 2B

[This message has been edited by Dr. Cub, Esq. (edited 12/9/2010 4:12p).]

Ugh. Kosuke. I've thought that guy was off the payroll for the last 3 years. He makes 12 mil a year. The guy has proven he's not good for an entire MLB season. I'd platoon him with Colvin and give Colvin more of the time.

Pena is talking about the move on cubs.com

Some of it is highlights of him hitting homers into the empty stands in Tampa while talking about the fan support in Chicago. It looks like an Aggie basketball game in there.

The problem with a Fukudome/Colvin platoon is that they both hit lefty.

ZERO reason Colvin should not be playing everyday over Kosuke.

I'm too lazy. Someone go find & post the offensive numbers for both players. I think you'll be surprised at how they match up.

That's the problem. Colvin has potential for the future. We're waiting to get rid of expensive ***udome.

I had forgotten they were both lefties.

[This message has been edited by Lance Uppercut (edited 12/9/2010 9:36p).]

Wow. You were right in their similarities, but what's crazy is they had the exact same number of ABs on the season.

Colvin:

.254 avg
.316 OBP
.816 OPS
.500 SLG
20 HR
100 K

***udome:

.263 avg
.371 OBP
.809 OPS
.439 SLG
67 K
13 HR

funeral procession streaming live now...
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/livenow?id=7835259

I would never bat Byrd and Ramirez next to each other in the heart of the order it makes it too easy to bring in righty and lefty specialists to carve up the middle of the order late in games.

Castro SS
Dewitt 2B
Ramirez 3B
Pena 1B
Byrd CF
Soto C
Soriano LF
Colvin/fu ku RF

LOL at fu kudome being a banned word

[This message has been edited by HoosierAggie13 (edited 12/11/2010 6:59a).]

I think they have a good shot at getting Garza this offseason I just hope they dont overpay. Any deal including Brett Jackson would be overpaying IMO. I could handle something centered around maybe Carpenter, Archer, Vitters, Lee or Cashner. They could pick 2 of those 4 and have a good deal for both sides, although I really like the progress Archer has made he could make a play at the rotation this year.