Brett Favre is a drama queen (and maybe a few other things too)

My friend (and Favre fan) Kelly Dolan challenged me to cite reasons that the Minnesota QB deserves the label of “drama queen”. But he insisted that I not use the obvious reasons like Favre exiting Green Bay or the Jets fiasco or the Minnesota arrival. To me that’s like trying to prove that Lance Armstrong is a slimeball without mentioning steroids or cancer, but I agreed anyway because it’s still pretty simple.

First of all, what is a drama queen? Is it fair to say it’s someone who unnecessarily cultivates something out of nothing for the sake of getting attention? I think that’s a reasonable definition.

I suppose anyone is allowed to defend Favre and his actions whenever they want. I prefer to objectively compare him to his peers which is often what I do when taking a hard look at someone. Especially someone in the public eye.

Favre can’t wait to find an open microphone to talk to the media. He makes himself the center of attention especially when he’s got an injury to discuss. Think about how often you hear from Peyton Manning or Tom Brady in a similar fashion. Brady was wearing a freaking walking boot two years ago before the Super Bowl and dismissed it as nothing. Manning may be an even better comparison because he has his own consecutive start streak in tact. Manning and Brady treat the media like it’s part of the job. Brett wants you to know he’s a warrior. Or maybe he needs disclaimers in case he doesn’t perform well. Not every elite athlete does that.

Favre also has an axe to grind with the Green Bay Packers. How quickly we forget the story of an interestingly-timed phone conversation between then-Jets QB Favre and Detroit Lions General Manager Matt Millen just days before a Lions-Packers match up. When the story broke, Favre wasn’t quick to deny that he and Millen discussed game strategy. Of course his publicist said that Favre and Millen only talked about hunting and fishing, as publicists are paid to do. Have you ever heard of another professional quarterback doing anything like that?

Before the 2009 season started, Favre had apparently talked about how he would “love to stick it to Packer Nation”. You won’t find this quote on the record anywhere, as you won’t find some other sports truths. How did Packer Nation wrong him? If he still has problems with the front office that’s one thing. But (and I can’t believe I’m defending Packers fans) what did the fans do to him? He carries a childish grudge against the fan base that adored him and one of the main reasons he’s playing for the Vikings is the chance to play the Packers twice a year and become their division rival. You can also argue the point that he screwed Packer Nation more than the other way around because the team is partially owned by the fans.

I could go into other tangents about the selfish Favre acting like he’s above coaches, the team, and the front office, but that’s getting out of “drama queen” territory and into something else.

I believe he’s done a lot to earn negative labels. Again, compare him to Manning, Brady, Kurt Warner, or others. Are they constantly surrounded by this level of drama? Did Drew Brees carry a personal vendetta against the Chargers when they decided to hand their team to a young, talented quarterback?

No. Because they’re not drama queens.

America Loses

God forbid we have a ‘Tonight Show’ host whose humor challenges the viewer a little bit. Apparently anything the least bit conceptual isn’t fit for 11:30/10:30 central.

Conan is out. Jay is in.

I don’t understand why this country watches the comedy that it does. The fact that the cheesy ‘Two and a Half Men’ routinely trounces ‘The Office’ in ratings is criminal. They don’t go head-to-head, but look at the numbers sometime. Nauseating.

The newest criticism I’ve heard from some Conan fans is that he just wasn’t funny on ‘The Tonight Show’. While it was clear that the comedy wasn’t quite as dark or offbeat as it was on ‘Late Night’, it never felt like a problem to me because I expected the show to be a little different. It’s also possible they would have settled in and found their groove if given more time. But still…watching Conan toned down a notch is still far more interesting than watching Jay on his best day.

According to his agent, Conan wants to get back on the air as soon as possible. Which probably means September, probably on Fox. And in my heart of hearts, that’s probably what I really want him to do.

But there’s another part of me that wonders what he would do if late night wasn’t an option. Someone suggested that Conan take his comedy to the internet which is sort of interesting but feels far fetched. My selfish hope would be for Conan to return to ‘The Simpsons’ as the executive producer/show-runner or at the very least write a few episodes before returning to late night.

Regardless of his next step, I continue to lose respect for America’s comedic tastes. And now NBC will have Jay Leno followed by Jimmy Fallon.

Welcome to Comedy Hell. Weeknights on NBC.

EOB

Whenever I find myself in a situation where I’m complaining about a poor customer service experience (and hoping to get a little something out of it) I’m usually quick to keep my eyes open for a chance to compliment someone else later. I don’t want to be the whiney customer. And I’m not. But I truly believe that if you’re going to criticize the bad, you should also praise the good.

Where I think I’ve failed at this, however, is when it comes to Christians and the church.

I’m always ready to write about the frustrations. Probably because it’s really easy to talk about the bad. Movie and music critics often admit that it’s way more fun to trash an awful movie or album than it is to exalt a great one.

When I only write about what’s wrong with the church am I creating a sense of hopelessness for someone who maybe has the tiniest thought of wanting to connect with one? I often justify it by thinking “it’s important that people know there are different Christians out there besides what they see on tv.” But sometimes I’m probably helping to create another problem.

If all I’m doing is distancing myself from the churches and Christians that I don’t want to emulate then what hope am I offering to anyone? I imagine someone who doesn’t follow God reading my blog and coming away thinking “yep…religion is pretty crappy”. And it hurts me to think about that.

But I don’t want to be disingenuous either. There is a lot of ugliness and injustice that should be acknowledged. To ignore the cracks doesn’t feel right either.

I keep coming back to the same two words: truth and fairness. And too often I think I’m probably unfair in how I write about the church and think it’s more important to expose the nasty truths than the beautiful ones.

Help me be better at this.

The Hawk

I know what my favorite sports moment of the young decade is: Andre Dawson being elected to the Hall of Fame.

Leon Durham was the first baseball player I ever liked. Andre Dawson was the first and only baseball player I ever idolized. He’s a big reason that I love baseball and love the Cubs. I owned the Starting Lineup figurine, tried to play the way he played, and I’m pretty sure there’s an old VHS tape somewhere of me trying to mimic his unique batting stance…which was filmed only a few weeks ago. Ha.

I’m really glad he’s in and I’m pretty sure he achieved his stats without the help of Mr. Needle. How do I know? Because I trust Ryne Sandberg who has been one of the best, most outspoken voices in baseball about steroids and even addressed Dawson in his own Hall of Fame speech…

Andre Dawson, the Hawk. No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. Stand up, Hawk. The Hawk. I watched him win MVP for a last place team in 1987 and it was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday.

I was able to meet Dawson about five years ago at a Meijer in Rolling Meadows. It was an autograph signing, he wasn’t buying beer or Pop-Tarts or anything. I told him he was my favorite baseball player of all-time and he graciously thanked me. There’s a reason I bought this a few years ago, because I’m still an Andre Dawson fan.

Congratulations, Hawk.

Goodbye Aughts!

There’s really no way to sum up ten years in a single blog post. Too much has happened.

But I can tell you that most of my best friends have come into my life since 2000 and I’m grateful for that. I believe that 2010-2019 will be a better decade for me, but I don’t want to discount the lifelong impact the last ten years have had on my life.

I’ll write some quick memories each individual year brings with some exceptions. I’m not going to share everything.

2000: Relationship with God changes dramatically…graduated high school…began working with friends at a nursing home.

2001: Joined student ministry creative team…started working with Kelly Dolan…met Mark Novelli…started working night shift at church less than 12 hours before Sept 11.

2002: The year of Eminem being everywhere…interesting social situations…heavily involved with student ministry creative team.

2003: Visiting my friend Laurie in Mexico…friends’ weddings…Cubs crash.

2004: Begin working full time at mortgage company…summer of MANY Cubs games…ready to leave mortgage company.

2005: Leave mortgage company!…and join programming staff at church…followed by the most surreal week of my life with friend’s suicide…friends have babies.

2006: Become close with Benanna…job evolves…influential weekend retreat of which I cannot speak.

2007: Benanna marry….dodge a bullet…start living with friends…leave job to begin tv/radio school.

2008: Radio Disney internship…dodge another bullet…graduate tv/radio school…become nomadic and start hunting buffalo.

2009: DisneyWorld…move again…continue hunting buffalo.

I guess those are the biggest things without getting too specific. Some amazing things have happened in the last ten years, but I think the next ten will be unequivocally better.

Finally, all six of my readers saw my Best Movies of the Decade list. So here are some other random favorites from 00-09.

Movie: Ocean’s 11 (barely beating out The Departed). As an awkward 20 year old I couldn’t believe how entertaining and cool that movie was on so many levels. I wanted to be a cooler person and I felt like this was the blueprint. I’m pretty sure I saw it 6 times in the theatre. I own the dvd and still watch it every time it comes on TNT.

Sports moment: Watching the Redeem Team reclaim the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. Surprised? Maybe think it’s lame? I understand. There were more relevant Chicago moments but none of them resulted in a championship. Well, one of them did. And if I were a White Sox fan there would be an obvious alternative answer. But watching Kobe, LeBron, Wade, and others win the gold medal in Beijing was a blast. I also rooted for Kobe Bryant more than I ever had before. On a team that possessed many of the best players in the world, I was most glad to have Kobe on my side when the game was tight in the fourth quarter. So much fun. Least Favorite Sports Moment. Duh.

Television Show: The Sopranos. I’ve written about it over and over again. It’s the show that changed the way I watch drama. The end.

Artist: Coldplay. Minor upset as those who know me would probably expect Eminem. But since 2003 he was pretty inconsistent until returning to form this year. A case could be made for Alicia Keys, but she left me with very little new material for almost 4 years.

Video game: MVP Baseball 2005. I played this game for 4 years because it’s the last of the MVP series. It’s the best. I think I played over a thousand full games. Maybe two thousand.

Athlete: Tracy McGrady. Before there was Kobe/LeBron, there was Kobe/T-Mac. But McGrady’s teams were never good enough to get anywhere. Though his days with the Orlando Magic were my favorite, his stretch of 13 points in 35 seconds was one of the most unbelievable end of game runs in league history.

Concert: The Up in Smoke Tour A friend and I journeyed to Conseco Fieldhouse to see Eminem live for the first time. Also present: Dr. Dre and Snoop. Not bad.

Website: Facebook. Sure, Google is probably more important and YouTube has become more of a search engine than just a video sharing site, but for the time being Facebook is what connects us.

Comedian: Louis CK. Whenever I watch any comedian now, I always think to myself “I’d rather be watching Louis CK”.

So that’s it I guess. My last blog post of the decade. And it’s pretty mediocre. Meh.

The Ten Best Movies of the Decade

Creating this list is a thankless job. Regardless of the ten movies you select, a lot people are going to think you’re an idiot. The EW staff compiled their ten, and I think it’s waaay off. I look forward to my favorite movie critic, EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum, posting her list next week.

Also, this list is constantly changing. If you asked me to do another one in a month, I promise it would be different.

Now that I’ve wasted your time with disclaimers, here you go…

10. Requiem for a Dream (2000)

When you ask someone if they’ve seen Requiem for a Dream you tend to get one of two answers. “No” or “Oh my God”. It’s as emotionally draining as any movie of the last ten years and I vividly remember how strange I felt after I watched it for the first time. Honestly I had no idea what to do. To call it a movie about drugs misses the greater themes of the story.

9. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Wes Anderson mixes sadness and humor as well as any writer-director out there. Some get annoyed with his quirky brand of comedy, but I’ll take character-based offbeat humor over Mad-libs type jokes any day.

8. Monster’s Inc. (2001)

You can make the argument that there are 4 or 5 other Pixar movies that could just as easily have this spot and there have certainly been more visually stunning works. But the reason I went with Monster’s Inc. is because I think the relationship between Sully, Boo, and Mike is on a level that no Pixar film has reached since. The door vault scene towards the end is one of the most imaginative sequence of any movie I’ve seen. Plus the ending makes me cry every time.

7. Tropic Thunder (2008)

I’m sure this selection will draw the most fire, but I think this movie is genius. Freaking. Genius. There’s a vast spectrum of comedic styles and the way the film satirizes pretentious thespians and Hollywood as an industry is brilliant. Not to mention the lecture given by Robert Downey, Jr.’s character about an actor’s Oscar chances playing a mentally disabled character is a thing to behold.

6. No Country For Old Men (2007)

I don’t worship the Coen Brothers the way others do. And if I listed my favorite 50 movies of all time, this probably wouldn’t make the list. But I simply can’t list the ten best movies of the last ten years without including this one. And that’s it. Friendo.

5. Lost in Translation (2003)

A quiet, plotless film about two strangers that takes place in a bright, massive city. The common complaint when it was first released was “nothing ever happens”…which is true. But there’s so much more going on here. In fact I’ve adopted this as a litmus test in determining one’s film tastes. Snobby? Yes.

4. Mystic River (2003)

As narratively strong and well-acted as any movie on this list. When Oscar season rolled around I rooted for Bill Murray to beat Sean Penn because I didn’t want to hear Penn’s political theories. But Penn won, and deservedly so. Despite a lineup of gifted performers, this is his movie. Well, his and Clint Eastwood’s.

3. The Departed (2006)

Far and away Scorsese’s best movie since Goodfellas, which I would put in the Top 5 of the 1990’s. The best crime drama of the last ten years also finds Leonardo DiCaprio doing the best work of his career. I also feel like this is one of the few deserving Best Pictures of the decade. I never get tired of watching this movie.

2. The Pianist (2002)

The unbelievable (yet true) story of a gifted Polish pianist named Wladyslaw Szpilman surviving the Holocaust is masterfully told by Roman Polanski, a Holocaust survivor himself. I often think the finest (and best written) dramas are not too reliant on words. Same goes for this film which uses dialogue sparingly in an amazing third act.

1. 25th Hour (2002)

The best movie of the decade and I bet about 80% of the people that I know haven’t seen it. There are so many themes, so many layers yet it never feels chaotic or cluttered. Sometimes I think the word “haunting” is overused but it fits this film. From the post 9/11 setting to the beautiful score to the ambiguous final sequence. The writing, direction, and acting work together incredibly. It is simply brilliant.

Random Thoughts

The first version of this list had Mystic River at #1. And then I watched it again. It’s absolutely phenomenal. I have nothing negative to say about it. But after watching it…I just can’t put it at #1. I have no concrete reason.

If you’re angry that the Lord of the Rings trilogy was not included…you’re probably reading the wrong blog.

If you’ve never seen Tropic Thunder and have a desire to watch it, try to watch the theatrical version. The director’s cut has some extra footage that slows the movie down quite a bit.

Yes I know Roman Polanski is a creep.

Other Pixar movies that could have taken the #8 spot: The Incredibles, Up, WALL*E, Ratatouille.

Movies that barely missed this list: Ocean’s 11, In the Bedroom, Sideways, Munich, Minority Report.

Too Good To Be True

Hulu is starting to suck.

Yes, it’s still my go-to place for catching up on episodes I missed. And until further notice it’s probably still the best way to watch tv on the web.

But I’m afraid that may change soon because this happened about six weeks ago…

Chase Carey, the deputy chairman of News. Corp — which co-owns Hulu — says the popular online destination that carries TV programming, will start charging users, probably as soon as 2010, B&C reports.

Noting that “It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online,” Carey added that “I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value. Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.”

Carey made his remarks at B&C’s On-Screen Summit in New York on Oct. 21. He later told B&C’s Claire Atkinson that not all content on Hulu would be behind a pay wall.

Interestingly, at the TVWeek Innovation360 Conference last week, Jeff Bewkes, chairman and CEO of Time Warner, said that Hulu would eventually go to a pay model. “That’s not an if,” Bewkes said, “that’s a when.”  Looks like “eventually” is coming sooner than later.

More importantly, it indicates that a number of media executives at the very top of their companies believe that TV shows on the Web cannot just be given away, especially to those users who don’t have cable or some sort of TV service for which they pay.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Capitalism simply does not work. Just kidding. Settle down.

Of course we don’t know the specifics yet so maybe it’s a little premature to get angry. Then again, Chase Carey can bite me. I don’t know the actual numbers, but don’t tell me Hulu isn’t making serious money with the way they run commercials. Maybe it is the best business decision for them. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Also, Hulu has started splitting up short clips to generate more ad revenue. Sometimes I like to see who was on Conan the previous night so I just watch the interviews. Many guest segments are now broken up into three or even four separate clips. Nicole Kidman was on recently and the interview was split into four parts, each shorter than 3 min 45 sec.

For now, it’s still great. I’ll probably watch Glee on Thursday. But all good things come to an end. Especially when there’s a profit to be had and the “good thing” we’re talking about is free tv.

God bless America.

“aaaat forward…?”

(Whoever did this in Photoshop needs to remove Bob freakin Love from the background and add Scottie Pippen. Also, someone got a little wrinkle-happy when doing this. Look at his shorts.)

Is LeBron James coming to the Bulls a pipe dream? Maybe. I’ll say this…six months ago I didn’t think there was any chance. I just assumed he was staying in Cleveland or going to one of the NY/NJ teams.

But recently the idea has picked up a little bit of steam from people like Phil Jackson, Peter Vecsey, and veteran Inside the NBA writer Mark Heisler.

In an interview with ESPN radio, Phil Jackson was asked about where LeBron will be after this season…

“I don’t see LeBron changing venues,” Jackson said. “And if he does, I would say it’s going to be one of the big three. It’s going to be Chicago, New York or L.A. And L.A. is definitely out of it if Kobe Bryant is here. (LeBron’s) marketing, his financial capital — if that’s what his goals are — those are the places he could come. So Chicago has the edge in that territory. But the reality is they built a team around him. He’s comfortable there. There’s something he identifies with in Cleveland and the Akron area. It’s going to take something special to get him out of there.”

So Phil thinks LeBron probably stays in Cleveland, but sees the Knicks and Bulls as the other two options barring a remarkable turn of events in LA.

Then Peter Vecsey wrote for the New York Post…

LeBron is viewing the Bulls as a wild card challenger (besides NY and NJ); no other suitor need apply…That explains why rising restricted free agent Tyrus Thomas, who suffered a forearm fracture in the weight room Friday that required surgery (out six weeks minimum), wasn’t given an extension. Chicago definitely believes it has a shot at luring LeBron.

I e-mailed Vecsey and asked him to elaborate a bit on his column. I asked him “So the Bulls are in the picture? Not THE picture, but in the picture? It’s not an absolute pipe dream for Bulls fans to have some hope of seeing LeBron in red and white?”

Vecsey replied and said “I have it on very good authority three teams are in the picture….Knicks and Nets are in HD, Bulls are in the background. No others…”

If that’s actually true and LeBron is serious about winning titles, the Bulls are the best pick of those three. The Nets are currently 0-13 (!). The Knicks are 3-10 and just added that third win by defeating, you guessed it, the Nets. The Bulls are 6-6 despite being coached by a boob and having their best player hurt and bad for most of the early season. They’re also playing shorthanded with a 7 man rotation which will catch up to them later in the year.

I’m not saying LeBron is leaving Cleveland. I’m saying the Nets are horrendous and the Knicks aren’t much better. The Bulls are closer to a title than both those teams thanks to a 21 year-old point guard who will be an all-star for years to come and a third year center leading the NBA in rebounding.

I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

Chicago! Sports! Thoughts!

The Cubs

Reasons For optimism

• The 2010 Cubs will be without Milton Bradley. Sure, he hasn’t been traded yet, but he will not be a Cub next year. That is the very definition of addition by subtraction. Stories are starting to come out about how much of a problem he was in the clubhouse, culminating in applause from some players when Jim Hendry told the team he’d sent Bradley home for the remainder of the season. Think about that.
• For all the frustrations you get with Alfonso Soriano, he’s a pretty important part of the team and he’s a very valuable player when he’s healthy and hitting. And I don’t mean his unholy hot streaks. I mean career averages. Soriano had surgery in September on the knee that was bothering him all season, so it’s reasonable to hope that he can hit 30-35 home runs again. He is vital to the Cubs’ chances.
• The starting pitching and bullpen should be in decent shape, and the Cubs have been a team recently that can go get a guy at the trading deadline when they need to. Whether or not financial realities will allow them to do that next season remains to be seen.
• It’s difficult to know much more until Bradley is dealt and we know the specifics of the trade. How much the Cubs are able to save (or not save) will affect whether they’re able to pursue legit center fielders (Granderson, Cameron) or have to go another route. Sam Fuld, anyone?

Snap Back To Reality

• The Phillies are still intact and present problems for the rest of the NL. The term “video game offense” is getting a little overused but it’s frighteningly true for the Phils. Calliope music and all. They have 3 MVP-caliber players just in their infield. They are mighty and God help us if Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge get back on track.
• Albert Pujols still plays baseball for a living.
• They won’t really talk about it, but the team is in a state of flux since Lou is done after this year and it’s very possible Hendry will be too. Personally, I’ll be happy to see both of them go. New owner Tom Ricketts says he’ll use this year to evaluate. Unless the Cubs win the World Series, I’d like to see a new GM brought in with a new philosophy and a manager who seems like he actually wants to run the team. The way Lou talks you’d think he’s powerless to do anything.

The Bulls

Reasons For Optimism (for more detailed thoughts see the above blog)

• They have put themselves in a good position to sign an impact player to pair with Derrick Rose
• Joakim Noah is turning into a man and leading the NBA in rebounding. Joakim Noah. I was totally against this draft pick 2 years ago and I’m very happy to say that he’s proving me wrong.
• Luol Deng looks stronger and healthier than he has in a long time which helps the Bulls almost as much defensively as offensively. He’s long and is a very good rebounder for a small forward.
• There’s a real chance the Bulls will hire a professional coach next season.

Snap Back To Reality

• Derrick Rose is still on his way back. He essentially missed the entire preseason so he’s still not quite there. And…he’s still being coached by Vinny Del Negro who is without question the worst head coach in the city. (I’d vote for Ozzie as the best)
• Rose needs to get better defensively. Some of this may be attributed to his bad ankle but he’s a defensive liability right now.
• John Paxson is still calling the shots. He did a nice job of cleaning up the mess that Jerry Krause left for him, but he’s been at the helm for 6 1/2 years now, and where are they? What does he have to show for those years? One playoff series win. A bad Ben Wallace signing. A bad Tyrus Thomas draft pick. Good call on Noah and he got lucky with Rose. Hinrich, Deng, and Gordon are all good players but we saw how far a team can go with that core. I have very little faith in the man. Oh yeah…and he hired…
• Vinny Del Negro.

The Bears

Reasons For Optimism

• Jay Cutler, despite having a bad year, is still a young and very talented quarterback who will be here for years to come. That is a good thing. If you wished the Bears still had Kyle Orton I’d like you to excuse yourself from reading this blog. Go. Now, please.
• Ummm….they’re not the Browns?
• Hmmm….
• If anyone would like to add reasons for Bears’ optimism, please do so in the comments section. You know who you are.

Snap Back To Reality

• Do I really need to do this? Most of the people reading this probably watch the games. Both lines are bad, the receivers are mbleh, Forte is either hurt or became bad (hopefully hurt), the secondary is weak, and Jerry Angelo doesn’t like draft picks.
• Again, feel free to add reasons in the comments section

The White Sox

Reasons For Optimism (if any true Sox fans would like to share better insight than I can provide, please do)

• Excellent starting rotation that will have a (presumably) healthy Jake Peavy for a full season
• Gordon Beckham may be the best baseball player in Chicago in the very near future.
• Even though he grates on me and I don’t think he’s funny or entertaining, Ozzie is a damn good manager.
• I think you can make the argument that Kenny Williams (also not my favorite person) is the best general manager in Chicago.

Snap Back To Reality

• There may be a home run deficiency depending on the rest of the offseason acquisitions.
• The porous defense will have to be significantly better than last year. Alex Rios helps and not having Dye in right is a plus, but there are still a lot of questions in a lot of important positions.
• Who is the DH?

Interview with Len Kasper

The Cubs’ new hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo has built himself a nice little reputation as being one of the elite hitting coaches in the game. How much value should be put into a hitting coach? Do you think someone like Rudy can legitimately make veteran hitters better offensive players or is there not that big a difference between the ‘worst’ hitting coaches and the best?

LEN: Well, the hope is that he brings out the best in the Cubs’ hitters and his reputation says he should help make this offense better.  However, I generally believe guys are what they are and while a hitting coach can tweak a few things, for the most part, it’s up to the players to get it done.  I do think coming off such a disappointing season for this offense, the timing is good for someone with Rudy’s reputation to come in.  My guess is, most of the guys will be a little more open to suggestions/criticism considering all the down seasons they had last year.  For me, the key guy is Alfonso Soriano.  He worked with Jaramillo in Texas and maybe he can recapture his All-Star form.

What can Cubs fans watch for now that Jaramillo is the hitting coach? Is there something we’ll be able to see during an at-bat that will be different because he’s teaching them?

LEN: Not having spoken to Rudy about his philosophy, I can’t really answer that specifically.  But my guess is that any sort of changes will be pretty subtle.  And keep in mind, coming off what I would call an underachieving 2009 season for this offense, it should simply be better just because I anticipate many guys naturally coming back to their level anyway.  And that’s not to take anything away from Jaramillo’s credentials, but I think regardless of who the hitting coach is, I would be shocked to see the Cubs score fewer funs in 2010 than they did in 2009.

It sounds overly simplistic, but do the Cubs need to hit more home runs? In 2008 they were 5th in the NL in home runs but they led the league in runs scored. Last year they were also 5th but were 10th in runs scored. Is it fair to say that if a team is not getting on base as much as it should they better be able to hit the ball over the fence?

LEN: The stats don’t lie–the Cubs went from 1st to 10th in runs.  They finished 10th in OBP and 8th in SL.  They need to get on base more and hit for more power.  Pretty simple.  And yes, in general, if you don’t have one, you absolutely need the other.

There has been a lot of buzz about 19 year old shortstop Starlin Castro who seems to be on the fast track to the major leagues, some say as early as midseason next year. Do you expect the Cubs to move Ryan Theriot to second base not only to clear the path for Castro but because it’s a better spot for his skills?

LEN: You’re right, that seems to be the buzz.  I haven’t seen Castro play, but everything I read and hear about him is that he is a huge prospect.  I talk to the Cubs’ people about the farm system and I always get an honest assessment.  I never feel like anyone overhypes prospects, but I hear front office personnel glow about Castro unlike any other position player in my 5 years with the Cubs.  So, I’m excited to see him play.  If he continues his progress, I don’t think there’s any question the Cubs will make room for him and the logical answer would be to move Theriot to 2B at some point.  In Theriot’s defense (no pun intended) at shortstop, his UZR (from Fangraphs.com) was excellent last year.  In fact, according to that metric (Ultimate Zone Rating), he was one of the best defensive shortstops in the NL, so I don’t think there’s a reason to move him until Castro is ready.

What are reasonable expectations for Randy Wells? He was an “old” rookie last year at age 27. Is it fair to expect him to improve on his impressive rookie numbers or do you think 2009 may have been his ‘magic’ season?

LEN: I think it’s always interesting to see how a 2nd-year player performs after taking the league by storm like Wells did.  We saw Geovany Soto have a very difficult time in his sophomore season as the league seemed to adjust to him and he got off to that very slow start (and battled some injuries).  In Wells’ case, we’ll have to wait and see, but he maintained all year that he would never “act” or feel comfortable with his status, that he always felt like he had to prove himself as a big leaguer and if he comes in with that same attitude this year, he should be fine.  Randy is even-keeled, studious and a big-time competitor and I like his chances of starting in the majors for a long time to come.

Do you think we’ll ever see Carlos Zambrano “grow up” for a lack of a better term? Not just in his demeanor on the field, but in the way he takes care of himself off the field and how seriously he takes his job and responsibility to the team?

LEN: I have 2 thoughts on Carlos.  One, we tend to often overlook his numbers for what they are and simply focus on what “could have been.”  Did you know his 2009 ERA of 3.77 was lower than his ERA in BOTH 2007 and 2008?  He is and has been one of the most consistent starting pitchers in the NL for the last 7-8 years.  And let me pose this question–if you look at his durability and consistent excellence over that long a stretch, can you name a better Cubs starting pitcher over the last 20 years?  You have to go back to Greg Maddux (the first time around) to find the last Cubs starter whose numbers stack up to Zambrano’s.  So, there’s that part of it.  Secondly, yes, there has always been and maybe always will be a question about his blow-ups, his immaturity, whatever you want to call it, and until that goes away, there will always be a “what if” attached to his resume.  We see him at his best and wonder why he can’t do it every time out.  The bottom line for me is this–because we see every pitch he makes and every tantrum he throws, we tend to undervalue his contributions.  He can be maddening to watch at times, but when it’s all said and done, you say to yourself, “Wow, he’s 105-68 with a 3.51 as a Chicago Cub.”  That’s pretty darn good.

 

Big thank you to Len Kasper. He’s always been incredibly nice to me and it’s cool that he took some time out to answer my silly baseball questions.