Will the Cubs return to being lovable losers again?

[torzh]

Old Tribune Management Back in Charge

In a shocking move the Tribune Company let go of Andy MacPhail as team president. The new team president will be Scrooge McCub a successful collections manager who has specialized in repossessing farms from widows and collecting rent from orphans who live on his street. Luckily he is a Cubs fan.

“The fans don't have to worry, were still going to put a winning product on the field. We are just going to make sure that Chicago pays us for it." Scrooge stated at his initial press conference. He went on to iterate that the cubs will contend for the World Series this year, and no players are expected to be cut. He however set a necessary profit of 5 million on mogul level for the first year and profits would increase each year. He also stated that any post season profits will be kept and not put back into the team.

Some costs have already been cut such as Jim Hendry the former GM. The new GM will be an intern for the Tribune, known as torzh (that’s me). Whose salary will consist of a hot dog and a beer at every home game the cubs win. If they don't win he will have to buy his own.

Cub’s fans our outraged that the new GM has absolutely no experience. The only thing he has done in Baseball Mogul 2005 is run simulations and download pictures and rosters. He has however played out the 2003, and 1993 seasons with cubs in BBM2004 demo. Both of which resulted in post season appearances on fan level.

Everything considered it looks like the Tribune is hoping for another 90 years of profit from Wrigley Field. Welcome back Lovable Loser, I can't say we missed you.
Jason Marinitti, Chicago Moon Times

P.S This is inspired by the Mets dynasty by Jimmy. I thought it was interesting to read about a GM learning the ropes and wished he had continued writing. I haven't played any sports management games before. I am wicked manager in the EA games (not that that compares). Anyway I’ll post my lineups etc. when I figure them out.

[torzh]

Tonight a very special WB exclusive with Cub GM Torzh

Hi Im Steve Rock, and today I'm here with Cubs general manager Torzh. Torzh let me start by asking you how you pronounce your name.

Torzh: Torzh with a capital t.

Steve: Thanks, oh and it's good to have you here tonight.

T: It's good to be here, rather than on the street were all the angry fans are throwing stuff at me.

S: Well you did raise the price of all the concessions.

T: I made them all even dollars, if a vendor said to me 'that will be 3.25'. It's like he said it's $4; but I'll give you three shining things with your hot dog. I'm not in a laundromat. Plus now the vendors don't have to carry around all that change. It's a win-win.

S: Right, on that note what do you have to say to all the fans who say your underqualified.

T: I'd like to see them do my job. Actually I take that back, they can't have my job. I know write down, that I said ' I respect but disagree with thier opinion' That sounds smart.

S: We're on live Television

T: I know. I was just joshing with ya.

S: Uh uh, can we get the lineups.

T: Sure here they are in the order they bat:
Derrek Lee (1b)
Todd Walker (2b) platooning with Grudzielanek(2b)
Moises Alou (LF)
Sammy Sosa (RF)
Aramis Ramirez (3b)
Corey Patterson (CF)
Michael Barret (C)
Alex Gonzalez (SS)

S: Interesting, I see you decided to leadoff with Lee. Lee's not exactly your prototypical leadoff hitter.

T: I know, but we don't have a leadoff hitter. He has speed and the best OBP of any one on the team.

S: He strikes out alot doesn't he?

T: Yeah but name me two players on the team who don't?

S: Grudz and Walker.

T: Good call. It's ok to strikeout though. We're having a pool to see who can get more strike outs the batters or the pitchers. I placed a bet on the hitters.

S: You know it's illegal to gamble as a GM.

T: It's ok Bud Selig is in on it too.

S: Then why is Pete Rose still banned from baseball.

T: Bud doesn't like his haircut, says it makes him look like he's from the early 80s. And baseballs moved past that era. Plus I have doubt about his hygeine.

S: I see. I see your platooning you realizes there is no L/R split right.

T: I want to know which ones is better.

S: Couldn't the scouts rate them for you.

T: The scouts are idiots, -+12 thats worthless.

S: Ok, what about the pitchers.

T: The big five. In order.
Woods
Prior
Maddux
Clement
Zambrano

Cl:Remlinger
Su:Hawkins
Sh:Borowski
M: Farnsworth
L: Mercker
Alt: Rusch

S: I see you took Borowski out of the closer role.

T: The scouts didn't like his power rating.

S: I thought you said the scouts were idiots?

T: They are.

S: Care to explain?

T: No.

S: Well all in all, looks like you didn't really do anything, besides put Lee in as Lead off. Why no trades like for a real leadoff hitter.

T: I could tell you Im afraid to make a bad trade, but in truth; I think this team will win without my help. Which is a good thing.

S: Are their any prospects we should know about.

T: I don't know, haven't checked.

S: OK that's enough. It was good having you here.

T: I wish I could say it's good being here. But I hate having to sit up straight for the camera. I'm much more comfortable slouching. Bye.

[torzh]

After 1 month into the season the cubs and my hopes were flying high with a record of 15-8 for the Central division lead. But I feel we need a leadoff hitter. After searching around alphabetically by team I find Melvin Mora. There is a lot to like about him. He is signed through 2006 for only 2.6M, he’s got good speed and and an OBP of better than .400 iirc. Baltimore also has another good LF, I’ll be using Mora in CF. So take Borowski and Grudz, and ship them off to Baltimore. Walker and Grudz had been in a dead heat with Averages around .400, but Walker costs a million less. Borowski had struggled in relief with an ERA of 5.40. Sure he’s only pitched 6 innings but the scouts hate him (70 overall) and they claim he can only throw 9 pitches before he gets tired.

So now I’ve got my leadoff hitter, the only problem is I have Patterson wasting away on the bench. I’ll rectify that later with a trade.

Two months pass and I spend most of my time playing with ticket and food prices trying to maximize profit. Not really noticing that my team at 42 - 35 is now 6 games back of Stl and I’m 4 games back of Atlanta and Philly. Who are tied in the east and tied for the WC. It’s now July 1st, so I need to make a trade but I realize there is a good chance I won’t make the Postseason this year, so I need to start think about next year as well. So I decide to ramp up spending on scouting, the farm system is unimportant since I only have one real prospect Kelton and he can wait.

My biggest problem is Sammy Sosa. The Wrigley faithful haven’t turned their back on him but I have. He has underperformed this year.


BA HR RBI K OBP SLG OPS
289 12 32 77 373 466 839


You would be right if you said that’s not bad, but at 16M for another 2 years it’s completely inadequate, and he’s batting 4th so 32 RBIs is ludicrous by July 1st. I also have Patterson just sitting on the bench, so I shop him around. Surprise, surprise nobody wants him. But I want Mike Piazza despite his salary 16M next two years, which I think I can think I can dump in the off-season. There is no way I can afford him unless the Mets take Sosa. So we work out a Deal. I Get



Name BA HR RBI OBP SLG OPS
Piazza .304 26 62 .367 .657 1.024


He got Sosa, Barrett (a good defensive catcher with a .220BA some pop 10 Hrs only a .709 OPS tho), Francis Beltran(a decent bullpen prospect 81 peak +-10), Ryan Dempster and Giovanni Carrara(both are bums for the bullpen), Nate Bland(a poor bullpen prospect 71 peak). I win, I win. Mets lose, they lost 9 games in a row shortly after this trade (They weren’t a bad team either 41-35 at the time of the trade). They must think more of my prospects, we’ll see in a couple years. Sosa however spent the remainder of the season chilling with Mo Vaughn on the Mets bench (actually he isn’t hurt in the game.)

I've thought about getting another starter since Zambrano is out until late August with Elbow problems(he went down in Early May, but Rusch is performing ok 3-6 with a 4.82 ERA in the 5th spot. So I'll just let that ride since everybody wants too much for a starter with any skill
I Cross my fingers and Hope for the Playoffs we’ve got everything we need and can afford.

[torzh]

Horror of Whores. We missed the Playoffs. The Central conference standings.


- - W L PCT GB ERA Prod Def Overall rating
St. Louis 94 68 .580 - 4.64 .818 .686 74
Houston(wc) 91 71 .562 3.0 4.48 .781 .669 62
Chicago(Me) 86 76 .531 8.0 3.76 .743 .686 72
Cincinnati 84 78 .519 10 4.51 .763 .683 63
Milwaukee 70 92 .432 24 5.02 .746 .683 62
Pittsburgh 60 102 .370 34 5.57 .739 .669 54


And some more stats, my team


lineup P AVG AB HR K/BB R RBI OPS
Melvin Mora LF 285 614 23 1.77 101 76 830
Todd Walker 2B 315 619 17 1.28 90 69 837
Mike Piazza C 271 580 44 1.42 88 109 900
Derrek Lee 1B 244 586 38 1.44 95 119 834
Aramis Ramirez 3B 233 615 27 2.30 69 94 698
Corey Patterson CF 247 425 17 2.40 68 46 726
Todd Hollandsworth RF 265 339 13 3.36 43 51 770
Alex Gonzalez SS 245 551 18 2.33 65 65 728

Bench P AVG AB HR K/BB R RBI OPS
Moises Alou OF 245 359 15 0.83 44 55 745
Ramon Martinez IF 244 156 4 2.08 18 13 661
Tom Goodwin OF 275 91 1 3.50 14 7 686
Paul Bako C 228 92 0 2.08 10 3 589
Bill Selby IF 391 23 2 0.40 4 4 1283

Starting Rotation W L S IP ERA K/BB Whip K
Matt Clement 14 9 0 213.2 3.58 2.07 1.431 209
Kerry Wood 16 9 0 236 2.94 2.54 1.191 272
Carlos Zambrano 5 3 0 82.1 3.17 1.72 1.389 74
Greg Maddux 12 15 0 220.2 2.94 2.53 1.249 152
Mark Prior 15 8 1 211.1 4.34 4.06 1.298 256

Bullpen W L S IP ERA K/BB Whip K
Mike Remlinger 7 4 29 82 4.83 1.31 1.720 88
La Troy Hawkins 4 7 2 96.1 3.27 1.87 1.363 73
Felix Sanchez 2 2 1 64.2 4.59 1.34 1.495 55
Gary Glover 3 7 2 51.1 3.86 1.00 1.507 24
Kyle Farnsworth 2 3 1 58 4.5 1.81 1.431 49
Glendon Rusch 3 8 1 99.2 4.61 1.48 1.734 65
Todd Wellemeyer 2 1 0 20.2 6.53 2.33 1.782 21
Kent Mercker 1 0 1 29.1 5.22 1.55 1.718 31

[torzh]

Where are they now: former Cubs talent and how they did.

- - - Team W L IP ERA
Ryan Dempster NYM 1 4 36.2 3.68
Joe Borowski Bal 4 7 102.1 6.6

- - Team AB Avg HR R RBI OPS
Mark Grudz. Bal 512 264 7 63 48 672
Sammy Sosa NYM 72 306 7 15 24 1.016
Michael Barrett NYM 255 216 3 26 18 582

So what went wrong? Well Piazza punked out offensively when he got to Chicago. He batted .240, with 47 Rbi and an OPS of 783 for the cubs. Rusch all though he didn’t do bad, Zambrano would have probably gotten us 3 more wins. I don’t know why I gave Remlinger such a long rope because he hung me with it blowing 7 save opportunities, a good closer would have only blown 4. with that we would have tied Houston, So I put the Blame squarely on those three’s shoulders. Piazza will be dumped to whoever wants him. Rusch won’t get the 5th starters job which will open up since we won’t sign Clement. And Remlinger won’t be closer. Before the playoffs get under way I decided to resign all my players. (Actually I cheated a little bit here, because I didn’t realize that very few bench players stay in the bigs if they get dumped to FA I dumped my entire bench, they usually retire) So I went back after letting it go the first time. BTW players ask for less if you negotiate with them before the season ends.

Matt Clement wants 10.5 for 7 years
Matt you’re a good pitcher and we thank you but we lost 2.3M last year and we can’t afford to give you a raise.

Todd Walker wants 7.3M for 7 years
Todd it’s like I told Matt, we aren’t giving out those kinds of raises this year.

Aramis Ramirez wants 2.2M for 5 years (was making 3.1M)
It’s good to see you Mr Ramirez, you realize of course you didn’t break 700 OPS last year right. But since you understand the need to take a pay cut I’ll give you 2.3M for four year, shape up though or your trade bait.

Moises Alou wants 2.3M for 2 years
Wow benching you really improved your attitude I remember back in July you wanted 4.3M for two, Regardless we don’t need you on the bench. Unless you’ll take less then a million. No then good bye.

Cory Patterson wants 3.7M for 3 years.
Cory, your lucky your only 23; because if you were older I’d send you packing. 3.7 it is, but don’t tell anyone you got a raise.

Todd Hollandsworth wants 2M for 4 years.
I just sent Alou to the old folks home, so the job is yours for now. Actually he wanted more years, but I can’t remember how many.

Alex Gonzalez wants 8M for 5 years
Alex, your out of your mind. I was overpaying you at 5m and you only hit .245 this year. Get out of my office.

Carlos Zambrano wants 9.2M for 3 years.
Carlos you have a future with this club. I’ll give you 9.9M For 5 years, But you realize you’re the highest paid pitcher on the club so don’t get hurt again. Hm the 10.5 for Clement seems reasonable now. But I can’t afford both of them and Carlos is younger now.

Sergio Mitre wants 300,000 for 1 year
If I could pay you less, I would. Cut your hair and get a Job outside baseball. Cause your done here,

Tom Goodwin wants 820,000 for 3 years.
Ok Tom it’s a deal. Can always trade you or use you as pinch runner.

Jose Macias wants 590,000 for 3 years.
Your name keeps coming up in trades and my manager loves your defense so sure. Just don’t expect to start, ever.

Paul Bako wants 1.2M for 5 years
Paul your 31. Catchers go to **** in their early mid 30s. So how about 2 years at 1.5M. You might even start next year.

Benji Gil wants 340,000 for 5 years.
You’ve got no talent, but if I fire you. Your replacement will have less. Deal

Kent Mercker wants 620,000 for 2 years
You're cheap sure.

Kyle Farnsworth wants 3.7M for 3 years
You'd have to take less then a million get lost.

Andy Pratt wants 610,000 for 1 year.
Do you want to go longer? 1M for 2 years is too much 1 year it is.

Ramon Martinez wants 1.8M for 5 years
Hmm 2M for 4 years and you’ve got it. Done

The playoffs hit and it went something like this
Angels 3-2 Yankees
Red Sox 3-2 Royals

Braves 3-1 Astros
Cardinals 3-0 Dodgers

Red Sox Sweep the Angels
Cardinals 4-3 Braves

Red Sox win the World Series by 4 to 1 breaking their Curse, Next year we break ours.