mlpeel

Rightly so, though: no pitcher in the system has been treated with greater care than Guzman, yet he's broken down every season but one (and that was a short season). There's no reason to expect he'll ever stay healthy long enough to compile an impressive career: the #1 predictor of future injury for a baseball player, particularly a pitcher, is past injury. I still list Guzman in my Cubs Top Ten (but not Top Five) prospects, but that's perhaps an indictment of my rating system and the current state of the system rather than a meaningful endorsement of Guzman. I was quite surprised to hear MacPhail tout Pinto over Sean Marshall -- and I say this as someone with a slight acquaintance with and a healthy respect for Pinto. But Mitre's appearance didn't surprise me at all. Interestingly, MacPhail described Sergio's sinker as "double-plus". What a far cry from the kid who couldn't throw any kind of breaking pitch when he was with the Lugnuts only 3 years ago.

Not at all, Mark: the pleasure was ours.

Wow, Jon really covered the spectrum: not a lot for me to add. Despite the weather, I arrived with my friend Rich in good time to get good seats for Meet Cubs Baseball Management -- good thing, since I didn't see Jon and Serena and I don't know 1908 (who was holding seats for me) by sight. Jon and 1908 had both left phone messages for me; I got them shortly after I got home tonight... Though the room ultimately filled up, it wasn't anything like last year's crush; the weather scared off all but the true die-hards, I think. Bruce Miles stopped by to chat for 15 to 20 minutes while waiting for Hendry to arrive. The most relevant note from Bruce: he doesn't think revealing Sosa's departure from the final game (which, per Bruce, was an isolated incident, totally unlike Sosa's usual work habits) hurt the Cubs' chances of dealing Sammie; Sosa's contract made that difficult from the start. Bruce also shocked me into silence (never easy!) by affirming that Paul Sullivan of the Tribune is indeed a Cubs fan; I never would have guessed that from Sullivan's articles... Bruce also said HoopsCubs was planning to attend on Saturday; perhaps he'll have a Convention post or two later on. I asked Jim Hendry how he reformed the farm system. Naturally he didn't go into specifics, but described the situation he inherited from the Larry Himes regime as "a disaster"; implied that the current Cubs farm system is modelled after the systems Gary Hughes set up for Cincinnati and Florida; said his best move was making Oneri Fleita the Latin American coordinator; and credited the system's strength to improved drafts and undrafted free agents signings in Latin America, Australia, and Asia. He was pleased with the number of homegrown players who logged time with the 2004 Cubs, and mentioned that Ramirez and Garciaparra were obtained in exchange for players from the system (he might have added that Derrek Lee, Matt Clement, and indirectly Michael Barrett also were obtained for Cubs minor leaguers -- but he may not have wished to add that that was also true of Alex Gonzalez and Paul Bako). The overall tenor of Meet Cubs Baseball Management was nothing like as hostile as I expected; it really went amicably. Some pointed questions were raised, but without the nastiness that marred some past Conventions. Jon caught up with us at the coffee shop. As he noted, we moved on to the Dusty/coaches session, where we sat with Mark_R. Catching sight of Jon's NSBB T-shirt, Old_Style_Man introduced himself from a few rows back. He was drinking some beverage from a cup, but I haven't a clue what it could have been... I can't add to Jon's coverage of the Baker session. As far as I was concerned, meeting Mark and OSM was the highlight: halfway through, I left to reserve seats at "Baseball Renaissance". A useless precaution: the room never came close to filling, and seats were still available in the front rows during the session. But what the room lacked in quantity, it made up in quality: this was by far the best group of questions I've ever heard posed at the Convention, and MacPhail's answers were forthright and interesting. Jon covered most of it, but I can add a couple of items. MacPhail stated that $1.3 *billion* was spent on player acquisitions this offseason -- and that the New York teams accounted for 30% of it (at least, I *think* my scribbled note says 30%; at any rate, it was an exceptionally high percentage for 2 teams out of 30). As Jon mentioned, Carlos Beltran's deal received a lot of discussion; I asked MacPhail afterward if he thought Houston had really come close to keeping Beltran in the face of the Mets' 7 year, $119M offer. MacPhail replied, yes, the Astros had almost pulled it off: they had gone 7 years and 9 figures in salary. His source for this tidbit? Astros owner Drayton McLane. Jon didn't mention Pat Hughes's interjection when I asked MacPhail about a technicality of the waiver rule. As MacPhail marshalled his thoughts about my question, Hughes said, "The other night, Ron Santo was explaining the waiver system." I laughed so hard I almost hyperventilated. Ernie59 and Mark Kanges hailed me as I left this session (in answer to Djaxxfan, I don't believe Mark asked any questions, let alone tough ones, in this session). We chatted a few minutes and I introduced them to Jon. I ran into one of Serena's friends after this session; he remembered me from last year (probably thinking, "Oh, there's that guy who never shuts up.") He told me Serena was sick that morning, but might make it to the Convention later. With snow falling hard when this session ended, I resolved to believe the forecasts -- that snow would end in the late afternoon -- and so stuck around for 1 more session (wrong call, alas: I would have saved myself a lot of driving grief if I'd beat it after the MacPhail session like Jon did). I opted for History of the Cubs Convention, featuring John McDonough, his #2 man Jay Blunk, and Wayne Mesmer. It was an amusing but not terribly informative session. McDonough told some good stories. The best: when asked about the removal of the names from the uniforms (more on that below), he said he really wasn't the right guy to tinker with uniforms; he was still living down the time he had suggested putting CUBS across the uniform fronts -- a design which didn't outlast Opening Day: when Harry went into the radio booth in the middle innings, he suddenly blurted out, "Hey! It looks like CUBA on the uniforms." Exit CUBS uniforms, stage left... McDonough also described how he sold Harry on the original concept of the Convention in August of 1985. McDonough felt he couldn't put the Convention over without Harry's help -- particularly since Harry would have to fly in to a Chicago winter from Palm Springs. He said Harry loved titles for himself ("The Mayor of Rush Street"); halfway through his pitch, McDonough had an inspiration, and told Harry he would be the Honorary Chairman of the Convention. Harry mentally tried that on for size, and McDonough knew he had him; Harry talked up the Convention on every broadcast for the rest of that dreary season. Over the years, Harry grew less involved, but he continued to think of himself as the Honorary Chairman and felt a sense of authorship for the Convention -- and McDonough added that he certainly deserved to. From the Q&A, perhaps the most interesting item: someone asked why Sosa wasn't in this year's Cubs Calendar. McDonough answered they basically weren't sure if Sosa would still be a Cub next year. So belief that Hendry could trade Sosa ran deep in the organization -- which McDonough (perhaps unintentionally) emphasized when he said that Hendry *would* make more moves before Opening Day. Blunk was given "credit" for the removal of the names this year; he said it fit into the traditionalism the Cubs sell, but they'd revisit the decision next offseason. McDonough hired Mesmer away from the White Sox; he and Wayne are old friends. There was no special to-do about this being the 20th Convention because they didn't want to deflect attention from Sandberg's election to the Hall. Perhaps the 25th Convention...

Most attendees are repeaters, and the Cubs stage most things in the same rooms every year; they just figure everyone knows where everything is by now. Get a few Conventions under your belt, and you'll be able to walk it blindfold.

I guess I dropped the ball on that one and forgot to announce it -- but I got him his ticket in good order, so I didn't totally mess it up...

Always -- both know me by sight after all these years -- but I'll save them for for Sunday's wrap-up. I also have a question for Dubois, but I still haven't thought of a good one for Leicester.

I don't collect autographs, so I can't help you there. I go for the Q&A sessions with team personnel. If you plan to attend the Jim Hendry/Dusty Baker session at 9 tomorrow, get there *early*: it's by far the most popular session (it's Spike O'Dell's show on WGN), so seats go fast and it fills up in no time. Baker's session with his coaches is also popular, and the session with the pitchers figures to be well-attended.

Sunday is a light day: Meet Cubs Business Management (business VP Mark McGuire, marketing VP John McDonough, and ticket sales director Frank Maloney) start at 9 in the Boulevard Room near the hotel main entrance, then Down on the Farm with farm director Oneri Fleita and scouting director John Stockstill in the same room at 10:30 -- the session I particular attend for. This year's DOTF prospects are Jason Dubois and Jon Leicester; I'm a bit surprised Sergio Mitre isn't listed. There's a kids session overlapping those 2, and more autographs, but the whole thing's wrapped up by noon.

Time for those of us who attended Day 1 of the 2005 Convention to set down their observations. I'll kick things off; NSBB 2004 Poster of the Year JonMDavis, 1908, and Serena should add to this thread as they get opportunity to post, and I hope other NSBB members will chime in. I arrived in the Hilton's Grand Ballroom, the site of Opening Ceremonies, at 3:30. A bit to my surprise, that turned out to be plenty of time to stake a good location: I was close to the podium and close to the door. The room filled up pretty quickly thereafter, though: the doors nearest to the microphones closed by 4, and it was standing room only by 4:30. About that time, I spotted JonMDavis -- not too far away in actual distance, but with the press of crowd he might as well have been 100 miles away (we'll find out later if he had any clue who I was; I couldn't call him because I couldn't hear anything on my cell phone over the crowd noise). The crowd was in a good mood, but relaxed: the buzz that fired up last year's Opening Ceremonies was missing this year. It looked for just a moment as though the ceremony would actually start at 5:00; but on the whole, the 5:10 start was as close to on time as I can remember. After the usual charity promo (enlivened a bit when marketing director John McDonough walked away from the mike without introducing Wayne Mesmer; he had to go back to take care of it), the Cubs personnel were introduced -- about time, as the attempts by Pat Hughes and Mesmer to whip up the crowd were greeted with polite enthusiasm rather than real frenzy. The old Cubs were Paul Assenmacher, Glenn Beckert (looking trim and energetic), Mike Bielecki (I guess he'll be back on Not For Women Only tomorrow), Jose Cardenal (shockingly 'fro-less: I would never have recognized him without the intro), Jody Davis (who drew the usual "Jody! Jody!" chants), Andre Dawson (who got a *huge* hand, stopping the "Jody!" shouts), Bobby Dernier, Jim Frey, Joe Girardi, Richie Hebner (almost the only one to throw his hat into the crowd -- just in the year where I had great position to nab one, but he was nowhere near me when he let it go), Glenallen Hill (a lot of people clearly remembered that bomb he hit to the rooftop across the street), Burt Hooten (whose introduction puzzled some of the younger fans standing near me), Randy Hundley, Jay Johnstone, Dave Kingman, Vance Law, Gary Matthews (introduced as an ex-player rather than a current coach!), Mickey Morandini, Keith Moreland, Gene Oliver, Andy Pafko (still holding up well), Milt Pappas (the Silver Greek now), Paul Popovich (prompting another round of "who?" from the younger fans), Dwight Smith, Lee Smith (some shouts of "Hall of Fame!"), Tim Stoddard, Kevin Tapani (who looked like he could go out and pitch right now), Gary Varsho, Rick Wilkins, and Don Zimmer (*enormous* hand; unlike his buddy Frey, who faked a throw of his hat, Popeye let his fly -- and duplicated Ron Santo's 2004 feat of hitting the chandelier). Then the heavy artillery: Fergie, Billy Williams, Ernie, and Ron Santo (who received the second best hand of the night: many cries of "Hall of Fame!"). Dave Otto and Scott Sanderson were on the program but weren't introduced; guess they couldn't make it. The new announcing team, Len Kasper and Bob Brenly, preceded the current Cubs; then Jim Hendry got a slightly understated hand (which may not bode well for the questions he'll hear tomorrow morning). Unlike years past, Hendry was the only front office man introduced tonight: MacPhail was the only other honcho on the list, but he wasn't introduced. Then the coaches -- Gene Clines, Sonny Jackson, Juan Lopez, Dick Pole, Chris Speier (surprisingly loud applause: I guess a lot of people realized he replaced Wendell Kim), and Larry Rothschild (who got the best greeting by far of all the coaches) -- followed by Dusty Baker: there were a few decided boos mixed among the solid cheers he received, but the cheers prevailed. Nothing but cheers for the players, though: Michael Barrett, Ryan Dempster, Jason Dubois (most people seemed to know who he is, which is encouraging), Derrek Lee (got a great hand), Jon Leicester, Sergio Mitre, Corey Patterson (greeted with enthusiasm), Mark Prior (greeted with even more enthusiasm; and Corey must feel like a shrimp standing next to Mark), Glendon Rusch, Todd Walker (a crowd favorite), Todd Wellemeyer, Kerry Wood (second best hand among the players), and Mike Wuertz. Arriving out of alphabetical order: Greg Maddux, who drew the most applause of any current Cub -- apparently saved up from last year, when so many of us vainly hoped his signing would be announced at the Convention. But the biggest hand of the night was saved for the last introduction, Ryne Sandberg. Ryno threw out the first ball -- but not before McDonough announced the Cubs have retired his number: look for it up on the flag pole next season. Joe Borowski was on the program but wasn't announced; Carlos Zambrano was a no-show again this year, but *was* announced and promised for tomorrow. Then they trotted out the film of last year, which was the cue for many to leave (including me: I had to beat it before the snow started). More tomorrow...

Maybe a new thread for this years convention? Yes, it was part of my plan to start a new thread for this year's convention.

That's all Bruce has time for right now -- time and tide and baseball games wait for no reporter -- but he may return another time to take a stab at the remaining questions. Thanks, Bruce!

Northside Baseball welcomes Bruce Miles, who's taking an hour or so before tonight's game in Pittsburgh to answer questions. Bruce covers the Cubs for "The Daily Herald"; he also contributes articles to the Cubs' official publication, "VineLine". Bruce has been covering the Cubs for more than a decade; he knows the players and the front office folks. You're up, Bruce!

Submit your questions on the Cubs to Bruce Miles. Bruce will stop by at noon CDT on Wednesday, April 21, 2004, to answer them. Submit as many questions as you like -- but please, only 1 question per post! You can still submit questions in this thread as the chat progresses; if Tim doesn't move it over to the forum where Bruce is answering in a timely fashion, ping him with an instant message. Enjoy! Mark Peel

Gotcha; thanks. Cle (who subscribes to my newsletter) mentioned the site in an email a few weeks back; never been there, though. If the Salty you mention isn't E. R. "Salty" Saltwell (and I feel sure it isn't), I have no more notion of who he is than I have about DD. As for NC Cubbie, hmmm, judging by the name, sounds like a disreputable sort...

What's "DD's site"?

Northside Baseball welcomes Jim Callis, who's taking time out of his busy schedule to answer your questions on Cubs prospects. Jim is the executive editor of Baseball America and is one of the authors of BA's "Prospect Handbook"; he writes the Cubs prospects section in that book, but his expertise covers all major league prospects -- and most other things baseball, too. Take it away, Jim!

Hollandsworth and Macias already have other roles on the team. Murray's job with Goodwin starting would be Goodwin's job with a healthy Patterson. When Corey gets activated, it's off to Iowa for Murray. If Patterson's late and Macias is truly an adequate defensive center fielder, then Murray (*and* Trenidad Hubbard, another invitee) will be competing in camp against someone who might fill Macias's job temporarily. Heath was invited to camp last year as a non-roster player; he was coming off shoulder surgery. He failed to rehab quickly enough to participate in camp, so the Cubs voided his contract in mid-March.

I thought the news out of the convention was that Corey was progressing on schedule to be ready for opening day. What this? That's pretty much how I heard it. Baker did say on the radio earlier in the day that the Cubs had signed Calvin Murray to cover themselves in center, just in case Corey wasn't ready quite on time; but that's just a standard precaution.

Not in either of the sessions I attended that featured them. But I missed the manager/coaches session, and my friend who took notes for me had to leave before it was over. Anyone?

Yes, Lukas McKnight is from Libertyville, IL. Still lives there, I think.

Oh, rats! But I couldn't get out of the Wood-Prior talk after asking my question: I started edging out about 5 minutes before it ended but couldn't navigate my way through all the autograph hunters waiting to pounce. "New Cubs" was a good 5 minutes along by the time I arrived.

Thanks for your notes, Hoops! Dang, I wish I could have squeezed in there; but the crowd was spilling into the hallway by the time I made it...

I spoke to Mr. Fleita after the meeting about it also; I made sure it wasn't simply an off-the-cuff remark before repeating it here. As it happens, Harris himself feels he can handle the position, which he played in college, at the major league level. But that doesn't make your conclusion wrong: Nate Frese will play the bulk of the innings at short for Iowa.

Harris won't play shortstop at Iowa this year, except perhaps in emergencies: the emphasis will be on getting him ready for the majors, with the idea that he'll get a shot at either second or third next spring. But if Ronnie Cedeno doesn't bounce back and Ryan Theriot doesn't develop at the plate and Buck Coats washes out against a higher level of competition, they might revisit the notion of Harris at short -- depending on what other options they have at the other positions. It's only a possibility, not a priority right now. But it beats heck out of the farm director saying, "He's not a shortstop."

Yeah, while McDonough was talking about availability and trying to keep the crowd from overfilling the hotel, it was clear he was thinking of those bids on eBay too. Somebody at the meeting joked about buying Convention passes through Wrigley Premium Ticket Service next year. Maybe I shouldn't root for a changed system. I gave away 2 tickets this year: I could have gotten 1 more, auctioned it off, and financed pretty much my whole weekend with the proceeds...