Cubs Official Release and Drawings on Bleacher Expansion

Things don't happen very fast in Chicago. George Halas started talking about a new stadium in the mid-60's. Papa Bear had been gone nearly 20 years when the Bears opened the New Soldiers Field in 2003. So the Cubs got this bleacher expansion deal done pretty fast. Half a decade ain't that bad when you consider all of the back tavern deals you have to make, to get something done in this town.

We have been talking about the Bleacher Expansion for so long that it has become an old story. On Thursday the Cubs released a press release and some new drawings of the bleachers and Wrigley Campus. My view has always been if it generates more revenue that will be put back into the club...it is good for the team. Many may disagree with this and I understand and appreciate your position. I love Wrigley Field and all of the nostalgia. I really hope that these additions will set the stage for long term on the field success for the Northsiders.

There's a good article on the windfall the Cubs will receive on Chicagosports.com. In this article sports consultant Marc Ganis says they Cubs additional revenue will be less than one would think:

The Cubs "historically have been one of the slowest clubs in adopting new
revenue-stream opportunities in the ballpark," said Ganis, president of
Sportscorp Ltd. "What they are doing now is playing a game of catch-up."

Marc, this team played only day baseball until 1988. Anyways, Ganis estimates that the Cubs will only net 40-45 cents from every new dollar generated from the improvements.

Here's the Official Release.

Here are the latest drawings of the changes.



The Cubs will have a meeting with the community on March 8, 2005. We'll let you know what happens at the meeting.

At HoHoKam



The Cubs moved their Cactus League record to 2-0. They roughed up Felipe Alou's Giants 8-3. Nomar(above in 1st inn.) and Dave Hansen(in 6th inn.) hit HR's.

Cubs Win!

Well it's just the Cactus League Opener, but the Northsiders beat Oakland 2-1. I got a chance to catch the game of the flagship this afternoon. It was great to hear Ronnie and Pat again. Below is a quick overview of what I heard:

THE GOOD: Aramis Ramirez was 1-2 with a HR and 2 RBi. Todd Walker started a great 4-6-3 twin killing on Mark Kotsay in the bottom of the 3rd. Cub pitchers Zambrano, Mitre, Anderson, Ohman and Wuertz held the A's to one run.

THE BAD: Before Aramis' bomb, Nomar was hit in the wrist. Patterson led of the game with a K. In the 5th inning with two outs the Cubs tried a double steal with Cedeno successfully taking second but Hairston was gunned down at the plate on the backend of the attempt.

PAT & RON MOMENTS: Early in the game Ronnie told us how good he felt about Burnitz playing RF. He added that Burnitz had lost weight and looks to be in great shape. I couldn't help but wonder how Burnitz had lost the weight.

Later in the game we found out that Pat had bought Ronnie his lunch at the ballpark. Ronnie also told us that Todd Hollandsworth has the quickest bat he has seen since Billy Williams.

THE ATTENDANCE GAME: Pat won the attendance game.

CUBS CACTUS LEAGUE RECORD: 1-0

Dempster Utility Pitcher...I have an idea

1060west faithful,

Ryan Dempster could be stepping into the starting rotation, or the set-up role, and will even get time at the closing slot.

RyDem sat out most of last season, nursing a limp wing, and now is fired up and ready to step into any pitching capacity he is needed.

I don't think I am alone on this one, Dusty has a history of riding his starting pitchers, harder than Buffalo Bill Cody rode his pony in the early days of the US postal service.

All of this chatter about a utility pitcher got me thinking...So sit back and soak this one in.

With Prior, Wood, Maddux, Zambrano, Dempster, Hawkins, Borowski,Remlinger, Rusch.

This leaves a handful of pitchers in the pen, Mitre, Wellmeyer, Weurtz...

Couldn't we just let each of these guys pitch one inning every game???
With a nine-man nine inning rotation, you would stymie oppossing batters by switching it up on them every time they come to the plate. No need to wait for Dusty to ride a pitcher to his pending doom..

Game to Game the rotation changes the 9th man in the rotation sits 3 days, while one of the bullpen bandits replaces the 1st picther the next day and everyone gets bumped one inning...Genius..Why aren't I the manager of the Cubs, why aren't I the commissioner of the entire MLB?

The bullpen itself would be alive with 3 guys warming up through-out the entire game, this will also keep everyone awake in the pen, too bad we didn't try this when farnsworth was here, it might have curbed his late night frolics at the local watering holes.

Think of the possiblities, 9 man rotation, it might be the greatest invention since artificial turf, or corked bats, or undetectable steroids.

Let me hear your objections to this 9 man rotation that will surely revolutionize the game you once knew, and I will squadh the opposition and nay-sayers and prove my theories on a full season of PS2 '05 baseball. that is just like real anyway.

That is my infinite wisdom for today...Tune in next week when I think of a new way to revolutionize the sport....4 quadrant baseball fields that make foul balls obsoletet, everything is fair...

Just about outside,

MCAV