Zambrano vs. Dempster

Ryan Dempster

With the Major League Baseball trade deadline upon us at 3 p.m. CDT today, we likely will see Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster heading out of Chicago, likely to the Dodgers.

Dempster has been good for a woeful Cubs team, going 5-5 in 16 starts (mainly because of little run support), but holding a 2.25 ERA, including a 33-inning scoreless streak earlier this month. Since becoming a starter in 2008, he has been consistently steady for an unsteady Cubs team, including winning 17 games in 2008 and 15 in 2010. However, he likely is out of Chicago, joining Geovany Soto, who went to the Rangers last night, and Reed Johnson and Paul Maholm going to the Braves, all for prospects.

Carlos Zambrano

Waddle and Silvy on ESPN 1000 Radio this morning had an interesting question as they discussed Dempster's likely departure, and that is who was the better pitcher for the Cubs, Dempster or Carlos Zambrano.

Zambrano was pretty good during his 10 years at the Friendly Confines, winning 125 games before being traded to the Marlins after last season. He was known for his bouts of awesomeness, including a no-hitter against the Astros Sept. 14, 2008, in a game moved to Milwaukee's Miller Park due to Hurricane Ike hitting Houston. He won 16 games in 2004 and 2006 and 18 games for the NL Central title-winning Cubs in 2008. He also had a good bat for a pitcher.

However, he was also known for his temper and bouts of immaturity. He was suspended in 2010 after he had a tirade against then-teammate Derrek Lee, and last year, he was pretty much booted off the team in September after yet another meltdown. He was traded to the Marlins and equally fiery manager Ozzie Guillen, but that has not translated to success, going 5-9 so far this season. That has led to a demotion to the bullpen.

So here's the question: Who was the better pitcher for the Cubs: Ryan Dempster or Carlos Zambrano? Cast your votes now.

Cubs vs. Sox showdown

During what has been a long, torturous season for the Cubs, there have been few bright spots.

Sure, we saw Ryan Dempster have a 33-inning scoreless streak this past month. The Cubs also had a stretch where they won 15 of 20 games around the All Star break, a brief tease of respectability that ended with a sweep at the hands of the Cardinals last weekend by a combined score of 23-1, including a 12-0 loss last Saturday that saw the Cardinals score a team record 12 runs in the seventh inning.

Beyond that, the only bright spots, besides the promises from Theo Epstein for a brighter future, have been in commercials. We featured ex-Cubs Kerry Wood and Andre Dawson shilling State Farm Insurance recently. But there also have been these great spots by New Era with actor and Cubs fan Nick Offerman of "Parks and Recreation" and fellow actor and White Sox fan Craig Robinson ("The Office") squaring off.

Round 1 appeared in April at the beginning of the season.




Round 2, which premiered in May, had Robinson quizzing Offerman on how far he would go to end the Cubs' World Series drought.



Round 3, appearing for the first time a week or so, ago, have an ultimate staredown.




Unfortunately for the Cubs, the Sox got the better of them in the overall series, taking four of the six games they played, including sweeping the three at Wrigley Field in May. So continues the long season.

50 Shades of Nationals Grey...

Relief pitchers are notorious for being a little, shall we say, odd. A few members of the Washington Nationals' bullpen continued that tradition, reading the bestselling novel, "50 Shades of Grey."

What's in the ivy at Wrigley Field?

Wait Til Next Century returns with one of the few highlights of this long Cubs season, Kerry Wood and a surprise guest in this State Farm commercial.

Winning can still happen

"Tough break"

Source: NBCSports.com

That was the headline in both the Tribune and the Sun-Times this morning with news that Bears QB Jay Cutler is likely out the rest of the regular season with a broken thumb on his throwing hand after breaking it making a tackle on an interception in the fourth quarter. It puts a damper on a season that has seen the Bears win their last five games and pull into likely the fifth seed in the playoffs as a wild card.

It kills the good mood Bears fans were in following the team' 31-20 win over the Chargers yesterday at Soldier Field. Cutler looked sharp in completing 18 of 32 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns in the victory. He also managed to avoid getting sacked for only the second time in 30 games, according to ESPN.

But it was one of his few mistakes that did him, likely for the next six to eight weeks.

With the Bears driving, Cutler threw a pass meant for WR Johnny Knox, who slipped on the Soldier Field turf, that was picked off by Chargers DB Antoine Cason, who returned it 64 yards before he was knocked out of bounds. Cutler gave chase and caught up to Cason, but was knocked down by LB Donald Butler. However, the hustle allowed RB Matt Forte to knock Cason out of bounds, and the Chargers subsequently were not able to score.

That in itself was possibly the good news out of this mess, in that Cutler continued to rid people of that notion that he is not a tough quarterback as his hustle did enough to slow Cason to allow Forte to catch him. Add to the fact that Cutler finished the game with that thumb injury and he is doing plenty to erase doubts that have followed him following last year's NFC championship game when he was knocked out with a knee injury.

The Bears also still have hope for the final six games of the year as they enter them with a 7-3 record.

One, despite backup QB Caleb Hanie's relative inexperience, his major experience came from the pressure cooker that was that NFC title game, in which he completed 13 of 20 for 153 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. However, save for the two picks, and Hanie almost pulled off the impossible and got the Bears to the Super Bowl.

Two, the Bears have a favorable schedule. Yes, they have a tough road game this upcoming Sunday at an improving Oakland Raiders, and they still have to visit an undefeated Green Bay on Christmas night. But the other four games are very winnable (home games against Kansas City and Seattle, road games at Denver and Minnesota). If they win four of those games and even split them, they're likely in the playoffs.

Three, the Bears' formula for success centers on a good running game and a good defense. The defense looked a little shaky at times Sunday against the Chargers, with San Diego WR Vincent Jackson torching a defense ranked just above Green Bay and New England in pass defense for 165 yards and one touchdown on seven catches, but they have come through when it counts. Plus, for Forte in a year where he's trying to prove that he is worthy of a big contract, now is the time to put up or shut up, when the team needs him the most.

It can happen.

Who's the new Cubs manager?

Source: Sports Illustrated

Former Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox coach Dale Sveum will be named the new manager of the Chicago Cubs Friday morning, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

That ends a three-week search following the firing of Mike Quade after a disappointing 71-91 season in 2011, and is the latest Red Sox-related hiring by new team president Theo Epstein.

But who is Dale Sveum? A 12-year major league veteran who played for the Brewers among other teams, he has recently spent the last several years as the third-base coach for the Red Sox and the hitting coach for the Brewers. This followed a short, two-week stint as the Brewers' interim manager when they fired Ned Yost shortly before the end of the 2008 season, yet Sveum led Milwaukee to the playoffs. Staying on as hitting coach, he helped Brewers players such as Prince Fielder and others lead the league with 185 home runs as they won the NL Central title.


However, can he manage? He beat out Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin, Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, and Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr., all of whom interviewed for the job but none of whom has managed in the big leagues before. Former Red Sox skipper Terry Francona discussed the job with Epstein before deciding to take 2012 off after spending the last eight years in the pressure cooker that is Fenway Park, where he won two World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. But, as SI.com notes, he believes in advanced statistical analysis, something that Epstein and company have a strong belief in.

Sveum will have his hands full in turning around a club that slipped to 20 games below .500 just three years after winning its second straight NL Central title. He may get back pitcher Carlos Zambrano, whom Epstein said will be given a good chance to return to Chicago after a tumultuous 2011 season that for him ended on Aug. 12 due to behavior issues. He will lose third baseman Aramis Ramirez, though.

On the plus side, Sveum's connections to Milwaukee could be enough to bring hotshot Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder to Wrigley Field. The Tribune reports that the Cubs are not likely to meet his salary demands, but the two sides are at least talking. Plus, there's always a chance they could snatch top pitcher Mark Buehrle away from the crosstown White Sox, though he is 33 years old and could potentially lose more of his 85-mph fastball during the course of any long-term deal.

Either way, the management of the Cubs appears to be set, and it's time to start focusing on who will actually take the field April 5 against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field.

Review: "The Book of Basketball" by Bill Simmons

"The Book of Basketball" by the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, can be described as many things. Long. Thorough. Self-involved. A valentine to the sport of basketball and particularly, the Boston Celtics.

One thing you can't say about it, is it's boring. Sure, it's nearly 700 pages long (at least the hardcover version of it). It's filled with stats (and more stats). But if basketball stories, arguments about basketball and pop culture references are your thing, then Simmons does the job in his second book (following "Now I Can Die in Peace" about the 2004 Red Sox winning the World Series).

Let me give the good news about "The Book of Basketball" and the bad news.

First the good news:

It is loaded with stories about players going all back to the early 1950s, the early days of the NBA. It goes into detail about the experiences of players (such as how racism affected black players of that era like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson) and thoughts on what drove players. He includes several of his own experiences, including attending Celtics games with his father while growing up in the 1970s and sitting at a table next to a retired Michael Jordan and his entourage in Las Vegas (a great story).

He also goes into great detail with his arguments on who he considers to be the 96 greatest NBA players of all time (The Pyramid, which covers nearly 400 pages of the book), and provides a great argument for nearly every one of them (not to be a spoiler, but he was smart enough to realize Michael Jordan was the greatest player in NBA history and let his love affair with Celtics great Larry Bird color his opinion).

There are also the footnotes, which is almost as good reading as the regular book. Some of them are pop culture references in which he compares players and teams to movie and television characters, others just aside stories. Most are fairly entertaining.

Then there's the bad news:

First, there's the length. Nearly 700 pages is long, too long. It took me nearly six weeks to get through it (Hey, I do have a life outside of this blog and reading, after all). Some of the book could be considered filler, such as much of his arguments for his choices for the great 96 (Eventually you just go, "Ok, Bill, you made your point.").

Then there's the editing. Scattered throughout the footnotes thoughts from his editor (whom he called "Grumpy Old Editor") whom Simmons allowed to provide his quick thoughts on different points (often showcasing a homerism for his favorite team, the New York Knicks). However, there were several errors throughout the manuscript that should have been caught, including one reference to Pistons great Isiah Thomas' comment that if Larry Bird had been black, he would have been just another good player (at one point, the book said Thomas said if Bird had been white). Another error/typo said Clyde Drexler played for the Pistons when he went up against Jordan and the Bulls in the 1992 NBA Finals (Drexler played for the Portland Trail Blazers). If "Grumpy Old Editor" had paid more attention to the editing rather than chiming in on the Knicks, these things likely would have been caught.

Finally, and not spoil a point, in his chapter on the greatest NBA teams of all time, he inexplicably listed the 1996 Bulls (owners of the record-breaking 72-10 record and a fourth NBA title in six seasons, starting another three-peat run) as the second-best team of all time behind the 1986 Boston Celtics. Yeah, the 1986 Celtics were great, and had some great players (Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, etc.), but they don't match up with the owners of the team with the best record in NBA history, one that began with a 41-3 run to start the year. This was the example of his homerism showing (but then again, maybe that was the point of the section, to continue that argument of what was the best team in NBA history, and maybe this is MY homerism showing).

Overall, a good effort on Simmons' part. It has been said that a writer should write on what they know and what they love, and it is clear that Simmons did just that in "The Book of Basketball." Plus, with the news that the start of the 2011-12 NBA season has been pushed back to at least December 15 thanks to the continuing lockout, this may be the closest we get to NBA basketball outside of rebroadcasts of classic games for a while.