Chicago Fantasy Baseball Week In Review - 9/3

By Jerome Cusson

When it came to the expansion of the rosters, neither the Chicago Cubs or White Sox made any significant changes. They both added catchers, a couple of bullpen pitchers, and the Cubs grabbed a blast from the past to create a six-man rotation. We’ll go over the additions by each team, and discuss Ozzie Guillen’s recent rant since no real fantasy impact will be felt by the add-ons on either side of town.

Chicago White Sox

As of right now, the Sox have brought up catcher Donny Lucy from Charlotte, Alex Cintron from the restricted list, and Luis Terrero from the disabled list. Lucy was only hitting .255, but will at least give A.J. Pierzynski and Toby Hall some relief. Cintron has been dealing with his ailing mother, and had been placed on bereavement for the third time this season on August 21 before being placed on the restricted list August 28. Cintron is only batting .217, and since being signed before the 2006 season, has only had a minimal impact. Terrero spent much of the season has a fourth outfielder, and hitting .224. David Aardsma and perhaps a couple other bullpen pitchers may be brought up before the homestand that starts Tuesday.
For the White Sox, this has been a very long road. Going from being the world champions to now being almost twenty games out of first and in last place, even below the lowly Kansas City Royals, is a borderline ridiculous. Ozzie Guillen agrees. After playing the nice guy role and supporting his team the last three months, Guillen threw his team under the bus. He blasted their effort and questioned their heart after a late-night loss to another last place team, the Texas Rangers.
While Lou Piniella was lauded for his actions earlier this season in getting his team fired up, many media members and fans blasted Guillen for being honest. Some are even calling for his head. Guillen continually says that if people don’t like the job he’s doing, then he should be fired. But Guillen deserves one more year to right this ship. This means Paul Konerko should no longer be the captain. This means significant changes to the pitching staff.
It always strikes me as odd when baseball teams in particular want to fire their manager so quickly. The question should always be “If we fire this guy, then who would be better to lead this team?” At this point, there isn’t a better manager out there that can do any better of a job. Joe Girardi will probably end up as Joe Torre’s heir apparent. Phil Garner is very similar to Ozzie Guillen, and he doesn’t have the World Series Guillen does. Cito Gaston has been away from baseball for too long. The White Sox, if and when they do fire Guillen, should go with an experienced manager since they’ve gone with inexperience the last two times.
No matter what happens with Guillen, the players will need to show up and play well instead of just showing up and collecting a paycheck. This is a Sox team that appears to have given up on the season and instead of anger, there seems to be a feeling of apathy. Next week, we’ll look at a couple of the biggest players and “fantasy busts” that must go for the White Sox to be successful next season.

Chicago Cubs

Will Ohman, who created his own controversy earlier this season, was called up again to provide some belief to a bullpen who has been pretty solid the last couple months. Giovanny Soto gets another chance, this time as a third string catcher. The most surprising acquisition may have been Steve Trachsel, who pitched for the Cubs from 1993-1999. He is well-known for allowing Marc McGuire’s 61st home run and winning game 163 for the Cubs in 1998. Many teams were after the veteran right-hander, but the Cubs acquired Trachsel to be their 6th man in the rotation. Instead, Trachsel will be replacing left-hander Sean Marshall beginning Tuesday.

Playing in the worst division in baseball helped the Cubs despite a horrific start. Even though the ace Carlos Zambrano didn’t win a game the entire month of August, the Cubs still regained the lead in the National League Central and now control their own destiny. There is no reason or excuse for the Cubs not to win. The Brewers are a free-swinging team who have had many pitching problems throughout this season. Chris Capuano isn’t anywhere close to his all-star form. Ben Sheets is dealing with his own injury problems.

Because of the Cubs and Brewers inconsistencies, the St. Louis Cardinals were allowed back into the race. Even without Chris Carpenter and a semblance of a solid starting rotation, the Cardinals have managed to hang around, and as these same Cardinals proved, the only thing you have to do is get into the postseason because anything can happen.

To go even further, all one has to do is look at the Cubs’ schedule. The Cubs have just four games remaining with a winning team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Other than that, the only real tough games could be the five remaining with their archrival St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs have trips remaining with central bottomfeeders ,the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Whether the Cubs will take advantage of their situation or have another collapse is anyone’s guess. Next week, we’ll look a Cub who will certainly be around for many years to come, Felix Pie. We’ll look at his fantasy impact, and what it could mean for the big boppers like Ramirez, Lee, and Soriano.

Also next week, we’ll talk about the Chicago Bears, who begin their campaign against the San Diego Chargers. Consider it a re-debut as the “Chicago Fantasy Baseball Week in Review” becomes the “Chicago Fantasy Sports in Review.”