Chicago Sports Then and Now

Will Frank Thomas and Tom Glavine enter the Hall of Fame when they become eligible in 2014?

Now that Frank Thomas and Tom Glavine have both officially retired from Major League Baseball, it is time for that time honored tradition of debating whether they are Hall of Fame bound.

In both cases, I don’t think it is a matter as much of ‘if” they will get the call from Cooperstown, but instead “when” they will actually receive the prestigious honor.

With first-year nominee Roberto Alomar just missing selection in 2010, it served as a reminder that not everyone who seems a lock to get into the Hall of Fame will receive enough support in their initial year of eligibility.

In fact, when you look at players with comparable careers to both Thomas and Glavine, it might actually be considered a surprise if either of these great players actually reach the 75% mark during their first year of eligibility.

Given that he eclipsed the magical 300-win plateau, it might be a bit of a surprise to suggest that Glavine is not a first ballot lock.

However, both the history of similar candidates and the other candidates on the ballot in 2014 could conspire to hurt Glavine’s chances of first time induction.

Of the 20 pitchers with 300 or more victories and who are now eligible for the Hall of Fame, all 20 have plaques in Cooperstown.

However, of the eight pitchers who have reached 300 victories since 1950, only three (Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan) reached the Hall of Fame in their initial year of eligibility. Read the rest of this entry →

On Thursday, the Cubs and closer Carlos Marmol agreed to terms on a one-year, $2.125 million deal for the 2010 season, a payraise of over $1.5 million from 2009.  The agreed upon figure was the exact midpoint between Marmol’s asking price of $2.5 million and the Cubs’ original offer of $1.75 million.

Marmol is happy about his new deal

Marmol was named the club’s closer in August of last year, going 11-for-11 in save opportunities and leading the team with 27 holds for the season.  He will likely not have to compete for the job this season, as former closer Kevin Gregg was not offered a new deal and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Marmol becomes the seventh arbitration-eligible Cub to re-sign before reaching a hearing, with infielders Jeff Baker and Mike Fontenot, catcher Koyie Hill, right-handed pitcher Angel Guzman and left-handed pitcher Tom Gorzelanny agreeing earlier in January, and left-handed pitcher Sean Marshall agreeing to a $950,000 deal last week.

With those players signed, the only outstanding arbitration-eligble player for the Cubs is shortstop Ryan Theriot.   Theriot is asking for $3.4 million in 2010, while the Cubs have countered with $2.6 million.  Either way, “Riot” will be getting a significant raise from his 2009 salary of $500,000.  If it gets to that point, the hearing will take place sometime before February 21.   Read the rest of this entry →

Andruw Jones has hit 388 home runs in 14 MLB seasons.

My son Mike suggested that the White Sox recent acquisition of Andruw Jones might want to be compared to the signing of Jermaine Dye six years ago.

Mike pointed out that it was generally viewed that Dye was on the downside of his career when he was picked-up by the Sox in December of 2004.

Dye’s 2003 season was plagued with two stints on the DL, as he hit a horrible .172 for Oakland with 4 four homers and 20 RBIs in 65 games. However he did improve his numbers considerably the next year, batting .265 while hitting 23 homers and driving in 80 RBIs.

The Jones downside has been going on for three consecutive years. In 2007, his last year with the Braves,Jones batting average dipped to .222, a 40 point drop from the year before, although his power numbers of 26 homers and 94 RBIs were good.

After signing with the Dodgers in December of 2004, there were high expectations in LA of the former Brave star. Yet Jones was on the DL three times in 2008 and hit a paltry .158 in 75 games, while hitting only 3 homers and driving in just 14 runs. Last year with Texas, Jones again had injury issues as he hit .214 for the year with 17 homers and 45 RBIs. Read the rest of this entry →

Jim Thome hit 134 home runs while with the White Sox.

Many of the hot-stove prognosticators are seeing a likely duo of Andruw Jones and Mark Kotsay as the White Sox Designated Hitters in 2010.  If this is so, Sox fans will see a significant reduction of homers, RBIs and bases on balls from the DH position, compared to the Jim Thome era on the South Side.

Jim Thome posted some prodigious numbers in his three full and one truncated seasons for the Sox. These included 134 homers and 369 RBIs. He consistently produced 30+homers and 90+ RBIs per season. Add 362 walks to the mix, and Thome came up with a .391 OBP to go with a .542 slugging percentage.

Kotsay has been a platoon and role player his entire career. His lifetime slugging percentage is .413, while his career OBP is .336. During the last four years, Kotsay has hit a combined 28 homers.

Andruw Jones, on the other hand, was a full-fledged star with the Braves a few years ago. In 2005, he slugged 51 homers and drove in 128, following those numbers with 41 and 129 in 2006. After signing a free agent contract with the Dodgers, Jones seemed flabby and out of shape. He became injured, and his numbers plummeted. Last year with Texas, he hit 17 homers with 43 RBIs. Jones has a career .448 slugging percentage and a career .338 OBP.

If we combine the power numbers of Kotsay and Jones last year, they produced 21 homers and 66 RBIs. These fall far short of what Thome produced each year. This projected DH combo is starting to make me worry.

Cubs fans will be seeing a lot of that image

The Cubs’ playoff hopes for the next few seasons took a major hit on Tuesday when the St. Louis Cardinals re-signed left fielder Matt Holliday to the richest deal in their history.  Holliday, who hit .353 with 13 homers and 55 RBIs in 63 games with St. Louis last season, signed a 7-year, $120 million deal, the biggest contract this offseason by nearly $40 million.

In an offseason full of little moves made by the Cubs, the Cardinals outdid them with one big one, as they secured themselves protection for the best hitter in baseball for the better part of the new decade.  The Cubs cannot be considered favorites to win the NL Central in 2010 or 2011 now, as St. Louis’ core of Pujols, Carpenter, Wainwright and now Holliday are locked up through then.

While the Cubs’ 1-2 punches of Lee and Ramirez and Zambrano and Dempster are solid, they are no match for what the Cardinals now have to offer.  So while the next two seasons on the North Side will likely be a competition for the NL Wild Card, there is reason to be optimistic for the future.  Two main reasons stand out: Read the rest of this entry →

Mark Buehrle anchors what should be a solid White Sox pitching staff in 2010.

As I mentioned in an earlier piece, there is much reason to be optimistic about the White Sox in 2010. However, great expectations in April often result in shattered hopes in September. Already the Sox pitching staff is being hyped as one of the better ones in baseball. Sox fans may well remember the cockiness of Cub fans in 2004 extolling their team’s starting pitching staff that year. And it just wasn’t the fans.

Peter Gammons and most other baseball analysts were touting the Cub starting five as  the best in baseball that year. And who could argue with the likes of Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, Matt Clement and Greg Maddux making up the rotation? Yes, great expectations abounded. Then Prior and Wood got hurt, and those who were predicting twenty wins each from both of them at the beginning of the season, witnessed only a combined fourteen wins as the season concluded.

For Sox fans, there is no doubt that Jake Peavy, Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd and John Danks rank as one of the top hurling quartets in the Big Leagues today. Freddy Garcia, as the fifth Sox starter, should give the team a solid five or six innings most games, while showing great competiveness especially in the big games.

Nevertheless blogs are beginning to spreading rumors about Danks having a sore arm this off-season. There are also suggestive entries about Peavy not being completely healthy after last season’s injury. Also the White Sox relief pitching is highly suspect by many who raise a number of questions of concern.

Will Bobby Jenks once again be out of shape as he reports to Spring Training? Is Scott Linebrink washed up? Can J. J. Putz maintain a strong, healthy arm the entire season? These questions among others temper our optimism about the Sox with caution as we head into the New Year.