The Wish List

As Christmas gets left behind in the rearview mirror, stores begin to put their 2013 inventory on sale, trying to find a home before it’s too late. The same goes for free agency, where Major League Baseball  players try to find a new team before the clock strikes 2014.

One of the quieter teams on the market this offseason has been the Chicago Cubs. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer of been models of focus, not letting the likes of Robinson Cano or Shin-Soo Choo distract them from their goal. The goal is simple: young talent that blooms into Major League level production.

The Cubs are not short on raw talent. At every position on the diamond, there is a young Cubs prospect with the potential to become an perennial all-star. The likes of Jorge Soler in the outfield, Mike Ott and Kris Bryant at third, and even the big leaguers Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro are the stars that, if all goes according to plan, will lead the Cubs into the future.

The problem is, though, that the roster that is going to take the field in 2014 looks exactly like the one that lost 96 games last season. The only changes are the addition of a closer in Jose Veras, and the swapping of fourth outfielders with the acquisition of Justin Ruggiano.

During the Epstein administration, there has been a focus on attracting low to mid-level free agents to sign to minor-league contracts with Spring Training invitations.  This year, though, there is one area of the picture that is in need of drastic help: experience. Not a single Cubs position player has any post-season experience, with the exception of Nate Schierholtz, who won a championship with the Giants. That being said, there still remain some free agents on the market who the Cubs could sign for little to no real money, and who could provide assistance at key positions in the organization.

The top three options—

Michael Young (Infielder): Michael Young was a key part of two Texas Rangers teams that made it to the World Series. He plays every infield position, and brings above average defensive play alongside a career batting average of .300. While his 37 years of age may be a red flag, his leadership and experience are what the Cubs are really after. Plus, with his utility infield abilities, he can serve as a protection plan against any position that may not pan out. He can offer guidance and mentoring to the young Cubs, as well as to provide some pop of his own. Young is also a fan favorite, who can serve to add some excitement to an organization that has a few too many questions, and not nearly enough answers.

Jair Jurrjens (Starting Pitcher): In his years with the Braves, Jurrjens proved to be a fireballing righthander. At only 27, the potential is still there. The Cubs would not be taking a considerable financial risk to sign him, but the upside could be great. With a career win percentage of 59%, he knows what it means to be successful. This would be an easy investment with hug upside, and the Cubs could use another arm to give Arrieta and Rusin some competition in the back end of that rotation.

Andres Torres/Laynce Nix/Reed Johnson (Outfield): All of these outfielders have very different approaches to solving the same problem. The Cubs have very little outfield depth that is game-ready right now, and these players could each serve as a stopgap to fill the void and provide some education for the younger players on the Cubs. Torres provides speed, Nix a bat that can both hit for power and contact, whereas Reed Johnson has experience playing in Chicago. None of these players will cost much money, and can provide excellent experience.

The Cubs have, to this point, felt as though no solution is better than the wrong solution. There are things, though, that can be done to make the offseason effective at turning a young, raw Cubs team into a contender not too far down the road.

The Fan Maker

Dear Mr. Prior,

It was with sadness that I learned of your retirement from Major League Baseball. For a player who showed so much potential, a flash of brilliance, it is always disappointing to know that we must close the book with no hope for a comeback.

I was 10 in 2002 when you made your debut with my hometown Chicago Cubs. It didn’t take long for you to become a household name, which most certainly included my home.

Until that year, I had only been to one Cubs game. I was a mild fan. As the 2002 season began, though, I couldn’t avoid the excitement swirling around. I began to follow the team with you in the middle of it. You were relatable, a young star bringing baseball to a city. I would check the newspaper every day, just to see what you’d done. When I went to a Cubs game that season, I bought a collector baseball with your name and jersey number on the back. Today, that collection has swelled to over 40 from more than 20 ball clubs, and yours still holds the top spot on the shelf.

By 2003, “Prior Fever” in Chicago had reached critical mass. You didn’t let us down, with an All-Star selection and a third-place finish in the Cy Young Award voting. We would have elected you mayor of the city if given the chance. Your numbers could have spoken for themselves. Instead, the Cubs won the National League Central and brought playoff baseball to the North Side for the first time in 6 seasons. Between you and Kerry Wood, it didn’t matter what happened on offense, you would shut things down on the mound.

The Marlins series was epic. The Cubs seemed in the driver’s seat. Maybe it was just my bias, or the skew of Monday Morning Quarterbacking, but it just felt like our year. In game 6, you threw 7 innings of a masterpiece. In the eighth inning, everything changed. Maybe it was the Bartman play. Maybe it was Alex Gonzalez’s booted ground ball. Maybe it was a curse placed on us by an angry goat owner. Whatever it was, the momentum swung and that was the end of things. We fought, clawed and begged. But the loss from that game gave all of the positive momentum to Florida, who overcame another Cubs lead and took the World Series by storm.

Watching the ending of that series, I cried. I had never cried because of baseball before. I was old enough to know that there was no crying in baseball, yet loved the game enough to know that there absolutely is.

As we would come to learn, though, the ending of that playoff series was also the end of your dominance. Flashes of brilliance from then on were permeated by periods of injury and struggles. Your tenure with the Cubs ended, and you bounced around the league, looking for different places to restart your career. All the while, your fans hoped. I hoped. I followed each team, wishing that a roster spot would open up and that number 22 would come out of that bullpen.

In reality, it seems, it wasn’t meant to be. Now, though, you have the opportunity to move on to the next part of your journey. Front office management, where you can make careers for the next generation of baseball stars, broadcasting, where you can give life to the best sport in the world, or coaching, where you can craft a new arm, a better swing. All of these opportunities come together to allow you to do what you’ve been doing since May 22, 2002: making baseball a magical experience for those who get to watch you play.

So this retirement is a party, not a funeral. We celebrate the brilliance of a couple of seasons of unhittable dominance. We remember the incredible emotions that came with being a Mark Prior fan. And we thank you, I thank you, for giving me the best thing any ten year old could ever ask for: a baseball hero.

Your fan,

Austin Zoot

Five are Fighting

After their second loss to the Broncos in three weeks, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid took the podium for his post-game interview. In his statements, he talked about the need to look forward and focus on getting to the playoffs. He remarked that unlike in the BCS, one loss in the NFL regular season is not enough to tank a championship drive.

This was a particularly touchy subject in the state of Alabama this past weekend. With one second left in the Iron Bowl, Auburn took an Alabama missed field goal back 100 yards to stun the two-time defending champions. Not only was this an epic ending to a well-played football game, but it also shattered Alabama’s dreams of a third straight title.

When rankings were officially announced on Monday, Alabama had dropped to fourth with undefeated Florida State and Ohio State in the top two spots, and Auburn, for their 11-1 season, and unseating of the Crimson Tide, moved to third.

The challenge becomes analyzing teams with different records for ranking purposes. Should Ohio State, who went 12-0 and extended the longest winning streak in the BCS, play for a national championship instead of a one-loss SEC school who may have had a much tougher schedule?

Here’s what it comes down to (or, at the very least, should come down to): if team A and team B played one another on neutral turf, who would win? The rankings play such a significant role in the bowl selection process that it is unrealistic to go solely based on record.

Missouri was six inches to the left of a perfect season. Ohio State has one because one play went their way. Alabama and Auburn were separated by one second. Any of these teams could very well compete against Florida State, the fairly unquestionable top team right now. When considered in terms of head-to-head matchups, though, there seems to be a pretty clear way to sort through it all.

Ohio State has not played nearly the competition that the SEC deals with on any given Saturday. Michigan, Illinois, and Purdue do not stack up the same way as LSU, Texas A & M, and South Carolina. Within the context of conference difficulty, all of a sudden, a 12-0 Ohio State starts to look like a 12-0 Northern Illinois University, who find themselves ranked 14.

Within the SEC, teams cannot simply use single games to lead to a ranking. Realistically, if Alabama played Auburn again tomorrow, even in Auburn, my money would be rolling with the Tide. Same goes for Alabama and Mizzou, Ohio State, or anyone else, frankly.

The hope is that next year’s shift to a four team playoff will alleviate their challenges. That doesn’t bring any solace to the five legitimate championship contenders who are fighting for dear life in the hopes of earning one of the two spots.

There is plenty of football left to play before bowl selections are made, but if the last day of the regular season is any indication, the answers won’t get any easier.

Bull Market, Bear Down

The Bulls’ hopes of a championship run snapped along with Derrick Rose’s meniscus earlier this week. For the second straight season, the team is forced to look to the rest of their year knowing that their superstar, the face of the franchise, isn’t going to be returning any time soon.

Now the Bulls are faced with a decision. It has become clear that Rose is facing much more than simply physical deterioration. A meniscus tear does not require a player to miss the entire season, especially only eight or nine games in. To rule out the whole year means that Rose is dealing with an emotional, mental block that puts his career in far more jeopardy.

With Rose as no longer a viable option, the speculation has been that the Bulls tank their season in favor of drafting higher and getting more in return for the future. While this may put the future into perspective, it is not the kind of answer that Chicago fans are looking for. Bulls fans are accustomed to the big names, the Michael Jordans of the world, not the Anthony Davis model.

That leaves it to the Bulls front office to go out and get themselves a free agent or two. Luol Deng, the Bulls’ last real star left standing with Rose hurt and Carlos Boozer struggling to produce, is going to be on the market, but so will a few other big name options, including Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki, and even LeBron James. If the Bulls want to return to form, they will find a way to bring in the big name that will immediately launch them into the upper class of teams in the league. Rose, it seems, will no longer be sufficient to lead the charge.

In a similar predicament, the Bulls’ football counterparts are having a similar challenge. Jay Cutler has played five seasons with the Bears, and only played a full season in one. While playing “often,” he has also experienced injuries each year, including concussions, sprained ankles, and a general beating. In the 2013 season, the pressure was on, as Cutler was in a contract year and was being evaluated both by the team and others as to the extent to which he deserved to be resigned. Yet again, the injury bug caught hold, and Cutler has missed parts of four games.  The Bears are 6-5 this season, yet another season that started strong and head into mediocrity after Cutler gets beat around.

Aside from Cutler, the Bears have a running back that is capable of being a stud, two of the best receivers in the game, and a defense that, while struggling this year, is known for being monstrous.

With Cutler’s contract coming to an end, the Bears have a similar identity crisis on their hands. Rather than resigning Cutler, though, it would do the team best to let the guy go and move on to the next play-caller.

While free agency may be the route for the Bulls, it is not for the Bears. In a draft class that has plenty of quarterbacks that run the gamut on playing styles, the Bears have several options. The trend right now is running quarterbacks, like RGIII or Russell Wilson, guys who can get out of the pocket and extend drives with their legs. This doesn’t really fit in with what the Bears have done in the past, or the way their team is built. Instead, there is one option that appears to be a QB-Team match made in heaven.

AJ McCarron is the most undervalued pick in the draft. To get him, it will probably take a mid-to-late second or early third round pick. A pocket passer, McCarron would fit into the Bears’ system, and wouldn’t require a top draft pick to do it. It would also greatly help his development as a player to be able to spend at least his first year throwing to receivers like Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery, who have a way of making even the Josh McCowns of the world look good.

Both Chicago teams are looking to heal, but must go in very different directions. Retailers should celebrate, though, because either way, there will be some new jerseys hitting the Chicago market.

Twin Billing?

As the Hot Stove starts to heat up, MLB teams are attempting to decide the direction to take their organizations. Whether to pursue the hottest free agents or seek a trade, to look outside for help or to focus on internal matters to strengthen the team, teams have a big few months ahead of them.

For the Minnesota Twins, this is a question that requires some fan input. Last week, the Twins posted on their Twitter account “Give us your list of the top 3 free agents you think the Twins should pursue using #TwinsHotStove. We’ll talk about fan answers on the show.”

While representing a small social media gimmick, the Twins get to the heart of a very important question in putting together a team from year to year. What is the role of the fan? Do the ticket holders have a part in constructing the team that will take the field 162 times?

The reality is that the Twins will most likely do very little, if anything, with the information they receive from their twitter account. Fans aren’t really qualified to make organizational decisions, especially when they are playing with hundreds of millions of dollars. At the same time, though, those dollars originated, at least partially, in the pockets of the fans, and thus, they have an argument for contributing.

While baseball has blossomed into a trillion dollar industry, it’s true intent is to entertain. The fans are, or at least should be, the focus of the organization. This doesn’t appear to be the case when you view negotiations with players that include no-trade clauses and contract incentives and stipulations. The game has shifted to focus instead on the players and the front office.

While asking fans which players in particular they would want to see in their teams uniform may not be realistic, it is not unreasonable to ask what kind of team they would like to see. Take a look at the Houston Astros. Who in their right minds is excited about the Astros? Their fan-base is the pity of everybody, except maybe the loveable losers of Chicago, and the future doesn’t look particularly bright. The front office is promising that things will get better, but that doesn’t appear to be happening any time soon. The money that is being spent is being done in a way that will replenish the farm system and get the team ready for the future. At the same time, though, that means that being an Astros fan, at least for the next, oh, half decade is going to be an abysmal thing.

For fans to be able to select the overall direction of the team, whether it be rebuilding for the future as the Cubs appear to be doing or a win-now mentality the likes of which the Yankees almost always embody, is not an unrealistic request. If teams really expect to see fans pay their dollars to see their organization, it is not unrealistic to expect that they would have some kind of input.

This is unlikely to become a reality any time soon in any of the major sports fields, but that twitter is as good a place as any to start.

Opening Drive

Sports are about so much more than what goes on between the foul poles or the sidelines. Sports are about the way we feel. For something as trivial as athletic performance, sports are deeply ingrained into every fiber of our national culture, and our global community.

Sports are about going into a foreign city and finding the only other person wearing a Cubs t-shirt. Sports are about hating the opposing team for no other reason than rivalry. Sports are about the friendships developed over a well-timed football kickoff.

Sports are about those moments when we jump out of our seats, throwing our hands into the air with the joy of a win. Sports are about those moments when we feel the pain of another season ending without a championship.

Everywhere we go, sports have embedded themselves into the way we think and the way we talk. We talk about political “races.” We talk about “the long shot.” We talk about “slam dunks.” Sports have so deeply infiltrated the way we think that we begin to transform all areas of our lives into sporting events.

Sports bring us together. After September 11^th, the Yankees helped the city of New York heal. After the Boston Marathon bombings, the Bruins’ Stanley Cup run kept “Boston Strong.” Sports are our opportunity to forget about the crazy things happening in the world around us, and instead focus on the world that we create.

Sports are about heroes; those men and women who use athleticism to stand for so much more than just a game. Sports are about villains; the athletes who put themselves before the integrity of the game and choose to blemish it. Sports are about everyday people, attempting to take the ordinary and to make it extraordinary.

Every day of the year, sports take place and bring us something to talk about. Without sports, we would have emptier closets, fewer TV channels, less to talk about. We wouldn’t have an outlet for our emotions. With sports, we have an opportunity to think, to feel in ways otherwise impossible.

“The Left Fielder” is a new blog dedicated to exploring all of those thoughts and emotions that make sports so important to who we are. The title comes from the notion that those things in the world that surprise us most are from “out of left field.” This blog will attempt to find the elements of the sports world that exemplify the complexity of life, and embody the world in athletic form.

From baseball to basketball, football to hockey, and so much more, this media outlet will explore the diversity of ideas that we express through our appreciation of sports, and the ways we choose to interact with them.

Follow us on twitter, @ZPLeftFielder.