Jon

Pargo with 14 in the 4th quarter as the bench is finishing this one out.

Well, that was certainly a strange last few minutes, but any win is nice.

I have it on video. By the way, are you not in Richmond IN anymore? Just was wondering... Great job. I thoroughly enjoyed your posts and wish I could take notes as well as you do. {its very hard for me to write after surgery last year} All the best, Mark No. I transfered to Northwestern this fall and haven't been there since last May. Thanks. I looked back over my notes and was still amazed that I was able to easily decipher what was written. Maybe I'll try to sell them on eBay.

As I've stated before on this board, I wasn't a huge fan of the previous bleacher expansion plans. With no vertical support beams and some tweaking, I actually like the pictures that I saw. It is a pretty good compromise. As for John Williams, I don't listen to WGN Radio that much during the day anymore, but I enjoy his work. He's a funny guy. Glad you both enjoyed it and were able to make it.

I hope he was correcting their mechanics. You can't start grooming good form too early, ya know. Burnt- I can certainly believe that. If he's anything, it's a people person. I wish I had been able to see Fleita today, but meeting Z was a bit more important to me.

Welcome aboard, Cubman! That was definitely my impression of Hendry. He seemed to be in a good mood all weekend and despite sometimes being with family, he took his time to talk to people and sign autographs. I got similar impressions of MacPhail and McDonough, as well. It was a nice surprise to actually see managment in a cheerful and personable mood! Glad you got to the Z line and I'm even more glad you brought up Edmonds. While I'm hoping Bonds is actually in the lineup when Zambrano pitches against the Giants this season, I'm really looking forward to some Z/Cardinals matchups.

They do now. I just forgot the "2005."

I actually got a few comments from people walking by, but they already new about the site or were members (I didn't catch any names). http://www.jonmdavis.net/cubs/downonthefarm2005p1.mp3 http://www.jonmdavis.net/cubs/downonthefarm2005p2.mp3

Did anyone ask why similar improvements aren't slated for the third base side? I imagine they'red be no place to put the tarp ... Yeah, it's most likely the tarp. I can't think of anywhere else they could put it and still be able to cover the field quickly once a game is delayed due to rain. Plus, they already had those two rows of folding chairs on the field on the first base side from the '98 playoffs.

That's good to hear. I'm a traditionalist and if a fellow traditionalist likes the remodeling plans, I'd be pleased. They were good looking plans. I'll be sad to see the Family Section turn into bleacher seating, but it should be okay. Oh, I did have fun, Tony. I wasn't writing too much.

Unfortunately, no. I did tell him that I'd like to see him start many games in left this season, though.

I didn't oversleep this time (despite not being able to fall asleep until 1:00 once again after going to bed at 11:00) and the el was running very smoothly at 7:00 AM, so I got down to the room at about 8:30 after buying a croisant and a blueberry muffin at the Starbucks about 100 feet away ($5.50!?!). I sat next to Mark and Rich in the third row. Serena later joined us and Tony and his friend got there right at 9:00 and sat in the row right behind us. So here are my notes on the Business session: McGuire showed the crowd never before seen (publicly) pictures and artists renditions of the bleacher expansion proposal and the 3 additional rows of seats between the first base dugout and the visitor's bullpen. These were actual photos taken from the press box and it seems to blend in pretty well. It really only looks like 1.5 or 2 rows are on the field, but there are indeed 3 additional rows over there (I'll get to the ticket info in a little bit). They also showed us pictures of a cardboard cutout they put up behind home plate for where the rotating sign will be. If you're looking in on TV or from the bleachers, it is indeed off center to the left like the temporary green screens were. McGuire claimed that unless you're in the bleachers, you really aren't going to see it if you're at the games (because of the angle that it's at). I was going to draw a cross-section diagram of the brand new bleacher proposal, but I'll only do that if Burnt's pics don't turn out. McGuire said that most rooftops will be fine. The ones in left and right center will have to build up but they should be okay, as well. They are currently planning on having wheelchair seating in the bleachers in right field (currently where the group section is) and on the batter's eye (at the back of it there's going to be a platform for wheelchair seating). They scrapped the restaurant idea for underneath the batter's eye and are considering making it some sort of skybox. They're unsure at this point, but they're definitely getting rid of the bushes and are going to put up that green glass that was proposed before. The bleacher expansion will also connect the bleachers with the rest of the stadium. Bleacher fans will be able to walk around and will even be able to walk behind the scoreboard (see Burnt's pictures when they're posted). I'll get to the better food in a bit. When the plan gets improved, the expansion will be able to take place in one offseason. As for the the triangle building, it will feature batting cages, player parking, and improved commissaries. There will be be underground walkways for the players (unfortunately, this means no more getting autographs by the parking lot). You must have a ticket to the game to walk around in the building or area in between Wrigley and the building. They're planning on having stuff going on up on the roof and there will be walkways from the roof to the upper deck of Wrigley. They're slowly inching closer to approval. The real holdup is that although the Tribune owns the land, the city is claiming that they still own the road in between Wrigley and what would be the new building. Because of the other issues with the city, they're not going to bother fighting it and instead just pay the city for the land. They're currently negotiating. Maloney: They try to keep the ticket playing field as level as possible McGuire: They're reducing the number of tickets you can buy online this year (4 max for all games). They'll most likely sell tickets at Wrigley again this year for when they go on sale but because of the construction, it's not a definite. McDonough: He wanted Steve Stone back, don't believe anything you read. Stone, in his opinion, is the best color guy in any sport ever. The situation could have been handled a lot better on both sides. Stone and the Cubs still have a good relationship. They're very happy to have Bob Brennly. They have a very, very good broadcast team in him and Len. Maloney: 3,000-4,000 no-shows a game on most days. McGuire: They would not be pursuing expansion if they didn't think Wrigley would last. The steel is in good shape. He said the critical inspections of the concrete consist of "whacking the hell out of it." They're actively pursuing attractive netting that will fit tightly up against the concrete. The nets will also prevent false claims. They continue to actively monitor the concrete. At some point in the future (more than 10 years out), some concrete will have to be replaced. They're taking a more "aggressive approach with the bleachers." They reinforce the steel every offseason. McDonough: McGuire works incredibly hard to keep Wrigley going. McDonough: There are still going to be games on WCIU and CLTV. They have been assured that Dish Network will have CSCN by April 1st. McGuire: The blackout restrictions are inteded to protect the TV rights holders. They're going to have to look at the blackout restriction map (the fan asked about the ridiculous blackout zones). McGuire: If you have multiple ticket orders, you can call up the Cubs or tickets.com at a later date to consolidate the purchase in order to pay just one shipping fee. McDonough: They have talked about retiring Fergie's number. Maddux is wearing #31 right now, though. They will revisit the idea down the road. The Cubs do not take retiring numbers lightly. A fan suggested retiring #31 for both Fergie and Greg and McDonough pointed out that when Maddux goes to the HOF, he'll most likely be going as a Brave. Maloney: The luxury dugout seats and the new three rows of seats (which will be slighly less expensive than the ones behind home plate) will go on sale in March. They'll most likely use the same lottery system as last year and will sell them on a game-by-game basis. They will not be sold as season tickets. McGuire: If the Cubs had to shut down Wrigley, they do not have an agreement already in place but the logical choices would be either the Cell or Miller Park. They do not envision having a need to do that, though. McGuire: The current bleacher expansion plan calls for 1,800 new seats. They will think about making more bleacher season tickets available after the expansion. McGuire: Levy Restaurants, who in 2004 had handled the food service for the skyboxes, will take over all concession sales from Aramark. Maloney: They do look on Stubhub.com and eBay for season ticket holders who sell their season tickets and post their account number. They try to figure out who's selling the tickets and they do take action (he didn't specify). Maloney: In terms of season ticket holders not being able to buy addition tickets for the playoffs (at least in the bleachers), their hands are tied because it's MLB's event. The other 29 teams get tickets and they just couldn't offer additional seats to season ticket holders and still meet their agreement with with MLB. McGuire: Taking the names off of the home jerseys was the right move. Players were the reason why they started wearing the alternate blue tops at home. It's now a tradition for the starting pitcher to chose the uniform for every game. If it was up to him, they'd use the pinstripes at home exclusively and mostly just the greys on the road. McDonough: The Enesco promotions are not taking place this year because the company changed management and they just couldn't meet the demand. This year, they're going to have autographed photos of players and even have authentic remakes of the exact glove models that Santo and Banks wore when they played. They'll give away 120 gloves per promotional date. McDonough: They will go forward with the 7th inning stretch guest conductors. 21 former Cubs did it in 2004 and it's a great way to keep them close to the organization. He also said that Harry loved celebrities and because it's an imperfect game and an imperfect team, having imperfect conductors is fitting. I obviously didn't go to the Down on the Farm session, but I'm sure Mark will post about that. We may even get the audio of it from Burnt. Despite getting very little sleep, I had a great time this weekend. So thank you Mark and I hope you all enjoyed these reports.

Make sure in the program you're using that the recording source is set to "microphone" or whatever jack the microphone is plugged into (such as "line in"). Also, open up the Windows volume controls and make sure that source isn't muted.

I'm glad you got his autograph. I was surprised that he was still signing when I walked by at 12:00 (he started at maybe 11:10). That was nice of him. Apparently, he actually did arrive Saturday morning but wasn't at his autograph session for some reason. I posted a thread about his gum here: Premium Non-Premium I'll post my report in a little bit. I will say that I also got Dubois' autograph on my pass while I was looking for information on the Carlos line. After he signed on stage, he just stood around at signed for more people. Nice guy. Also, my el rides took only 60 minutes each way. I was pleasantly surprised.

I completely forgot to write that down because I was laughing pretty hard. Pat also told the story of how Jim Riggleman actually had to console Ron Santo in the clubhouse after the game in September of 1998 when Brant Brown droped the fly ball. He said it was the first time in history that a manager had to cheer up a broadcaster. MacPhail then told the story of how the next game, Brant Brown was right back out there in left field starting and a pigeon attacked him for an entire inning. He speculated that it was the reincarnation of Harry Caray. Good stuff. Yeah, I decided to head out because I was exhausted and really needed to get back to do a little bit of work. By the time the train I was on got through the loop and above ground, the weather was absolutely brutal. I caught the earlier end of the delays because of terrible visibility and the switches were starting to freeze. It had to have been a lot worse later on. Okay, time for bed. I've got to get up at about 6:30 tomorrow.

When we were there, a game worn Sosa jersey from 2004 went for an even $1,000. Apparently that was down about $400 from last year. I must have missed the 30 cents per dollar statement from MacPhail. It was good talking to you today, Mark. I'll try to catch you at a game this year.

Pictures? Now that's a problem. They didn't let anyone wait to take pictures with players in autograph lines last year. That really holds up a line. And they also made sure that each person only asked to have one item signed. That sucks. Then again, that may have been Michael's choice. I'm glad you were able to meet Kerry, at least. And I will, Tim...once I get some more homework done.

Did anyone ask about the shirt or should I skip that marketing expense next year? Nobody asked about it, no. I couldn't say how many people actually paid attention to it when I was walking around. Of course, Hendry saw the address twice... I won't even begin to try to comment on some of the things that Dusty, Hendry, and the rest said. I'm pooped.

I'll edit as I find my responses. Tremendously detailed notes Jon. Like I'd seen all day, just not scribble that I couldn't read. Burnt out, good to see you there, even if it was for a good minute or so. Not having written down the questions, I couldn't figure out which one's you asked. And yeah, I was able to make out everything that I wrote. Truly a miracle. Bah. I forgot to mention that Burnt spotted me and we talked briefly. OldStyle also spotted my NSBB t-shirt at Coaches' Corner and we said high.

Sorry to hear about the autograph line, Jessica. They did a slightly better job with them this year by putting all of the populer players in one or two lines and all of the non-popular players in two other lines. That way, if you miss one guy, you can stay in that line for another good player. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with Barrett. I saw him going from one event to another and he had about 40 people following him, trying to get autographs. He's a pretty popular guy now.

Ha. Dempster is a real character. I'm going to listen to that session when they put it up on WGNRadio.com. That's Z for you. I'd love to hear Barrett swearing at him in Spanish sometime. I'm glad he was able to make it. With the weather, I'm actually a little surprised. Oh, I think I forgot to designate which where Mark_R's questions. Hopefully he can do that later.

Meet Cubs Baseball Management (my notes aren't as detailed in this one): Dusty: Happy for the new year and a new season. I missed the reply to Mark Peel's question. He can fill in. Dusty (my question): Recommended Groeschner and kinda feels weird about the change. Mark O'Neal was highly recommended from a lot of people. The trainer is the most valuable member of the organization. So far, he has heard nothing but positives about Mark. He's a very valuable guy to have around. Hendry: Haggerty was not very capable of helping the big league club. They needed open roster spots for addons. Sisco has been disappointing in the past year and a half. Dusty: Too much emphasis is placed on pitch count. You have to take a pitcher to the limit to find out what that limit is. He doesn't keep track of pitchcounts himself. Larry does. He plays a game with himself to see how close he is. He doesn't keep close track. Dusty: He defended Barrett over the incident with Houston. He said that Michael was the "most mild-mannered, Christian man in the world." Something happened between him and Houston when he was with Montreal and he hasn't forgotten. He really wants to beat Oswalt. Hendry: No problems in the Z negotiations. They're going to follow the same plan with A-Ram that they did with Kerry and Lee last year. Dusty: Only giving 1 IP per reliever ties down his hands. There aren't as many guys in the pool in case of injury. Hendry: There is no # of wins from Maddux that makes his deal worth it. He's good for 15 wins a year. They were fortunate to get him. The week before Greg signed, he really didn't think they were going to get him. You have to just stay on top of everything and keep at it. Maddux can do it for two more years. Dusty: In response to a question from a little kid that drew a lot of laughter, some of the players today are bad examples on kids when they swing the bat and don't run right away. He said he saw his son imitating Bonds the other day. While he likes the swing, he didn't like to see his son not run right away. You won't see too much more of that from the Cubs this year. Hendry: Wouldn't call Kelton a disappointment but is miffed that he's not a big league hitter yet. He had an outstanding winter and will compete in camp. He's out of options and you can't count him out. They have one of the top five or six farm systems in baseball. They have such a bulk of quality pitching. Pie is the "prototypical leadoff hitter." He plays with guys from the big leagues during the winter and has done really well. Praised Dope and called him a "special player." He's high on Richard Lewis as well as Harvey. Dusty: "I don't whine." He doesn't like guys who complain. He's going to nip it in the bud during Spring Training. He's never had a team with that reputation before. The team doesn't like it, either. They know about the reputation. Hendry: Rule 5 is a gamble. You can't remove someone from the 40-man roster until mid-March and doesn't want to expose those players to waivers. Leicester was up because he couldn't add anyone else to the 40-man roster last year and did a great job. Dusty: You can't bring the bad stuff from the past to the future or you'll just be stuck in the past. If the season started now, Rusch would be the #5 starter. Guys can look great in the spring but it's different when you get to a stadium that has a third deck. Hendry: There aren't many prototypical leadoff hitters in the game. Look at the Yankees when they lost to the Marlins in the WS. They had Jeter leading off one day. He's hoping Pie can be that guy for the Cubs. Corey ran out of gas last year after surgery. Those leadoff hitters are hard to find. Hendry: Maggs is a "great, great player" but he had a tough injury. The Cubs doctors have talked with his doctors but he has yet to have a workout. He just has to stay on top of the situation. Dusty: He has to talk to Sammy in person. No business over the phone. He's going to give Sammy the opportunity as he does with everyone else. He needs to put Sammy in a situation where he can succeed. He has to take responsibility for himself. He knows that he's too patient with players for the fans. He's even too patient for himself sometimes, but he has to keep looking at the big picture. And heard from Ron Santo: They never really considered switching over to the TV side. He has a radio face, after all. And since most people just turn down their TVs anyways, they wanted to stay on WGN Radio.

Coachs' Corner: Dusty: Sarge's favorite saying is "Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in" Dusty: Whether or not to leave a pitcher in is the toughest decision to make. Pitchers' strengths vary a lot and you really have to monitor the number of "stressful innings." It also depends on how tired the BP is and what the upcoming schedule is like. Larry: You can't risk a season for just one game Dusty: The AL is a lot easier because you don't have to worry about double switches and the like. Dusty (in response to Mark Peel's question): Sosa's strike zone has changed, yeah, but that's to be expected when you get older. Your body changes. Sarge: Being hurt changed his stance. His toes were bothering him for a long time. Sarge: On working with a hitter, he looks at hitters and works with their strengths. He doesn't like oddities but leaves them alone if they work. Corey needs to swing through the ball more instead of just having an uppercut swing. Dusty: In terms of lineups, he was always in a preset lineup when he was playing. Some players used to play in platoons before and just haven't seen enough LH pitching. He'd love to have the same lineup everyday but has to put people in the best position for them to succeed. Dusty: Definitely noticed a lack of fundamental baseball. Some players have never bunted before and it takes a while to teach it in the majors. They have a lot of swing and miss guys so it makes hit and runs hard. Speier: He's going to be a "very, very aggressive base coach." Everything depends on the situation. There are times when he'll hold a runner if there are two outs, of course. He boasted about his great sense of hearing and said that he has to hear from the crowd if it's "go or no go." That drew a big laugh from the audience. Dusty: Can't stand baserunning mistakes. Players used to be embarrassed about those. You can't really practice baserunning in game situations because you can't replicate the intensity. At 30 or 35, you have to know how to run bases. They have a great baserunning instructor in the minors in Vince Coleman. At 35, it's too late to teach baserunning. If the ball is in front of you, it's all on the player. They need self-pride. Larry: The pitchers are good hitters. They're more interested in their bunting ability, though, since that's probably more important in terms of strategy. Dusty: He has gotten in trouble for using starters to long (from the media and fans, I assume). Larry: There is a fine line between building up stamina vs. risking injury. You want to get a pitcher out on a high note. Stamina should really be built up in the minors. Pitchers know they aren't expected to last long. Quality starts is NOT a good stat. Wins are most important, whether it's 1-0 or 6-5 ( :scratch: ). You'd like to leave them in there. Sonny Jackson (my question): When they acquired A-Ram in the middle of the season, they didn't want to change his defense mechanics. Instead, they waited until Spring Training. They filmed him and other thirdbaseman around the majors, especially Eric Chavez because he's a smaller guy and has to depend more on his footwork. It's all about footwork. They wanted to get A-Ram's feet going. They gave the videos to A-Ram and he watched them by himself. They left it up to him. He went to work and worked a lot. You have to really give him credit and all they want him to do is keep it up. Dusty: He does get nervous when opposing sluggers come up to the plate and will often turn to Dick Pole and tell him not to have one of his "epiphanies." Gene Clines: In regards to a hitting philosophy, he takes what the hitter currently has and improves on it. The approach is different with different hitters. Dusty: Corey is the best candidate for the leadoff spot. He's still learning how to play baseball. He's been talking with Brett Butler during the offseason. Corey never hit leadoff in the minors but they have guys on the coaching staff who did and will try to work with him. He has shown flashes of being able to succeed in the leadoff spot. He has improved thanks to Sonny Jackson and other coaches. Sonny: Corey always batted 3rd in the minors. They have to start from scratch. Everything is based off of his footwork at the plate. They work every day together when the team is at home. Wants him to bunt more because of the pressure it puts on the defense. He's trying to convince Corey to bunt more. Dusty: The music selection in the clubhouse has been 100% more democratic since he got here. That's all. I left about five minutes early to get to the MacPhail session. Oh, and Juan Lopez's nickname is "Porky."

I made a couple of edits to my prevoius post (including a new Paul Sullivan story). I was also disappointed that I wasn't able to talk to Pat Hughes. He was at the MacPhail session and only 10 feet away from me the entire time, but when the session was over, he had to dart out of the room to get to the Behind the Mic session. Darn! Oh well. Maybe another year.

Sold out? When I left earlier, they still had boxes of them... but I left a few hours ago, so maybe they are. The people saying that are also trying to sell them, so it could be a "rumor". In any case, I just found a guy with over 300 of them getting $6 each. Major, major profit. They definitely didn't sell out. They were actually selling them at the individual sessions. They were selling really, really well, but they still had plenty. A few more notes for now about my day: I spent most of it with Mark_R and a good deal with Mark Peel and his friend. I saw Mark Kanges and Ernie and was going to follow them to the Behind the Mic session (that had already started), but I really needed to get something to eat. All I've eaten in the past 30 hours is two slices of pizza (I'm going to dinner soon). And by that time, I didn't bother going to the session. And it actually looks like I have a massic cut on my right shoulder from carrying around my heavy backpack the entire time. There was no bleeding, but strangely enough, it looks like it's bleeding right now. Freaky. I also kinda overslept a bit and it took be really long to get down there this morning because of the weather. I was planning on getting there at 7:30 (it's between a 75-90 minute el ride), but actually walked right into the hotel at 9. Because of the weather, I was still able to get in the doors. Even better, I have a new Paul Sullivan story. I had a spot along the wall before I went up to get in line to ask Dusty a question. When I got back, who steals my spot? That's right. Paul Sullivan. It wasn't that bad, though. There was a nother spot about 10 feet away. Of course, he barely took notes during the session. He was reading a newspaper during parts of it. Hopefully Mark Peel will only have to expand on a few points. I wanted to take the pressure off of him, especially since he had to get up before 5:00 this morning.