Posts filed under 'Chicago Cubs'
Mark Cuban, American tycoon and entrepreneur extraordinaire, is looking to acquire the Chicago Cubs and be their owner very soon. He is also reported to be one of the eight affluent bidders for this baseball team. Cuban has had experience owning and managing another major sports franchise, NBA’s Dallas Mavericks so he is considered to be one of the better candidates to be the Cubs’ new owner.
Still, there are some reasons why Cuban might or might not make it as the Cubs’ new owner. Cuban has been known to be a loose cannon and his lack of tact isn’t always pleasing to most, especially baseball commish, Bud Selig, who might pull strings and not get Cuban elected as the new owner. That said, Selig might also let his friend, John Canning, get top priority in owning the Chicago Cubs.
May 5th, 2008
Derrick Blakely Ellison was born on September 6th, 1978 in Leesburg, Virginia. Ellison started in his baseball career in 2001 not long after he completed his studies at Longston College. This left-handed relief pitcher is being given another chance to make his name known in the professional baseball league. The Chicago Cubs are the team giving him the opportunity by providing him with a minor league contract. Ellison was added to the Cub’s roster earlier this month after finishing the last two seasons with the Joliet Jackhammers. Ellison’s training for the Cubs will begin in March of this year in Arizona. He currently holds a 5-2 average with a 3.35 ERA as he finished his 2007 Jackhammer’s season. He has the ability to be a star pitcher but the talent needs to show through if this dream is to happen. Many players have tried to break into a professional baseball team without mush success. Derrick Ellison has been given two tries to make it work; once with the Seattle Seahawks in the 2005 season and now with the Chicago Cubs. It will be interesting to see if he can take this second opportunity and make it profitable for the Chicago Cubs in the 2008 baseball season.
February 2nd, 2008
Former general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Dave Littlefield has joined the Chicago Cubs as an advanced scout. Littlefield aged 47, was fired by Pittsburgh after the Pirates went 442-581 for a .432 winning percentage in his six-plus seasons as general manager. During his long career, Dave with the Pirates, Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers. Hopefully, he will manage to do much for the Cubs this season.
December 24th, 2007
Yesterday Kranitz was hired as the Orioles new pitching coach, replacing Leo Mazzone. During the past 2 seasons, Kranitz was the pitching coach for the Marlins. The club wanted to retain him for following year, however, Kranitz wanted to explore other options, and was not with the team for the final 6 matches of this season. Rick Kranitz also worked with president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail in the Cubs organization and Baltimore manager Dave Trembley.
October 18th, 2007
With the MLB playoffs right around the corner, ticket brokers are salivating at the possibility of having the Cubs, Yankees, Redsox, and Mets all making the playoffs. Even more so, the Yankees and Cubs are two of the hottest teams heading in to the fall classic, and Cubs’ fans annual “this is the year” whispers are turning into loud chants. The possibility of a Yankees-Cubs world series would not only be great for insanely priced ticket sales, but it would also be great for baseball. It would be the perfect storm. A Yankees-Cubs would cure the hunger for two championship-hungry markets in the Yankees-Cubs faithful. With huge markets in New York and Chicago, anyone and everyone is going to want a piece of history, and those who capitalize on this momentous occasion will make a lot of money. For now its just a dream, a cindarella story in the ticket broker world. But even dreams can sometimes become reality.
September 26th, 2007
After the Cubs were defeated by their city rivals, closer Ryan Dempster told reporters that he was moving to the rotation. Thus, he confirmed the rumors that had been blowing around the Windy City. The player then excused himself and went to a meeting with pitching coach Larry Rothschild, Piniella, and general manager Jim Hendry. 20 minutes later, Ryan changed his tune. He said that they just kind of talked about things, and that he was going to go back down there and close. The move is still imminent, but no one appears to know when it might happen. Piniella has confirmed only that Rich Hill will start the game on Tuesday against the Padres. Lilly will follow him on Wednesday, but further changes are coming to the rotation as Piniella wants to kick-start his underachieving team. After Hendry spent 300 million dollars on new signings this winter, the Cubs are still 2 games under .500. However, moving Ryan Dempster to the rotation seems to be a strange move. Ryan has converted 9 of 10 save opportunities
this season. He looks settled in the role again after struggles during the previous season. Piniella seemed to be really upset with Dempster last Thursday, when he allowed five ninth-inning runs to give the Mets a 6-5 win over his team. However, overall Ryan has delivered something that the coach himself acknowledges. If the Cubs closer really is to become a starter, Marshall would become a short-term move. But we know that trying to
second-guess Piniella is an impossible task.
August 16th, 2007
Jim Palmer, legendary MLB Hall-of-Famer and former Baltimore Orioles pitcher, has teamed up for the second time with Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals and Minor League Baseball for a special program. Entitled Strike Out High Cholesterol, this national cholesterol-education program helps lower LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) levels. The program will tour ten Minor League baseball parks across the united States during the baseball season this summer in order to raise awareness about high cholesterol levels and its two major sources, food and family. Over
50 percent of all adults in the US have high cholesterol level, and Jim Palmer is no exception. High cholesterol can contribute to a higher risk of heart disease, if left untreated. It is the single leading cause of death in America. As a former athlete, Palmer has always done his best to lead a healthy lifestyle, but he is still struggling to control his high LDL, or “bad” cholesterol. Many of us are still unaware of the fact that cholesterol comes from two main sources: our food and family. Virtually, about 75 percent of cholesterol is produced naturally in our bodies, generally
based our family health history. The remaining 25 percent of cholesterol comes from our diet. Jim Palmer confessed that he was thrilled to be a part of Strike Out High Cholesterol program. It allows him to educate people about the importance of understanding the major sources of high cholesterol level and knowing our family health history. He also said that the program hit very close to home for him as he was adopted and did not have the \
privilege of knowing his biological family’s health history.
August 16th, 2007