Let 2007 begin

I was paging through the unhappy Super Bowl section in this morning's Bright One, when I saw it. On page 21 of the paper there was "Fonzie", with the soon to be familiar leg kick, posing in his batting stance in his brand new Cubs uniform. On the side was the 2007 schedule and on the left was the slogan "Play like there's no tomorrow". Well, I guess the new marketing guy is trying. He has to do something to earn his keep.

Next I stumbled onto BaseballAmerica.com and noticed that Felix Pie was the cover boy this morning. I clicked through and Jim Callis had listed the Cubs Top 10 Prospects. One thing that I found real interesting on Callis list was he had Samardzija listed as the Cubs third highest prospect behind Pie and Donnie Veal. I guess that tells us about the state of the Cubs farm system in Callis' eyes. If you don't believe me, this line probably says it best:

With that pressure to win and a farm system thinned out by injuries, trades and attrition, Chicago plunged heavily into the free-agent market this offseason.

Finally Jack P. posted this link in the comments to Jayson Stark's ESPN.com article on the Cubs offseason spending spree. Stark writes:

As the Cubs head for spring training next week, they'll be hauling along 11 newly signed free agents, four of their own free agents whom they re-signed, a couple of new pitchers they traded for and one record that Bud Selig hopes will never be broken:

This team committed more dollars in one offseason ($317.55 million) than any franchise in the history of baseball -- or the history of dollars, for that matter.

Yeah baby! Bud Selig's mad at Cruller Jim for spending too much. LOL. Anything that makes Bud's headspin gives me a chuckle. Way to go JH.

So with the end of football season yesterday, today was the unofficial start of the 2007 baseball season. The MSM seemed to oblige with a couple of article on the boys in blue. Now we just have 9 more days until we see the video and pics of Cub pitchers and catcher reporting to Fitch Park in Mesa. So here's hoping the Cubs can "Play like there's no tomorrow" in 2007. Whatever that means.