12/21/24
February 18, 2004
Greg goes home.: Coveted lefty Greg Maddux has signed a three-year deal with his old homies, the Chicago Cubs. Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times thinks this makes the Cubbies the favorites to win the National League pennant. What say you?
P.S...Maddux is a righty. Just saying...
posted by bcb2k2 at 10:14 AM on February 18, 2004
Also, I don't think anyone should really consider the Cubs ever a favorite to win a pennant. It just kills them. Adding Maddux will possibly help get them over the hump, however Maddux isn't what he once was. As long as he's totally healthy, he can still get you 12-14 wins a season. He just seems to have poor showings more often the last couple seasons then he usually had.
posted by bcb2k2 at 10:17 AM on February 18, 2004
i say good on the cubs. going to be a good season for chicago. i never thought the maddux-to-nyy were actual.
posted by jerseygirl at 10:19 AM on February 18, 2004
3 years for $24 million, right? That's less than the $10.5M per year number that Boras was looking for. Maddux is going to be invaluable to those young pitchers. I'm not feeling good about the Cards' chances this year.
posted by mbd1 at 10:22 AM on February 18, 2004
Matt Clement had a very good year last year: An ERA just over 4 with a respectable 1.23 WHIP, holding hitters to a mere .670 OPS. He struck out 7.6 hitters every nine innings. He's now the Cubs' fifth starter, almost certainly the best such role-player in baseball. Great move for the Cubs, especially since 1. Maddux will win his 300th in Chicago, and 2. The third year only activates if Maddux meets incentives.
posted by jeffmshaw at 10:46 AM on February 18, 2004
Wow...I'm kinda stunned by this...I really don't know how to feel. I mean, he really dissed us Cubs fans when he went to Atlanta for less money. I guess I can't really blame a player for wanting to get out of a losing situation (see: Barry Sanders), but it sucked when he left the Cubs.
posted by NoMich at 10:58 AM on February 18, 2004
Can any of you baseball nuts tell me if this will be the year that Atlanta ends it's reign of domination on the NL East? Please, let it be this year...
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:22 PM on February 18, 2004
I'd say yes, Philidelphia is definitely looking good this year. You aren't the only one hoping, Ufez.
posted by dfleming at 12:30 PM on February 18, 2004
NoMich, Braves fans certainly now understand, since Maddux is leaving a Braves team that is going to be the worst one we've seen here in about a dozen years to go to a young team that's going to win a ton of games. Good on Greg. So in answer to your question Ufez, no one in Atlanta is expecting to win the East this year. The GM is on record as building this team as a wild card team, so that the most anyone here is hoping for (and in my opinion, even this is a stretch). What can I say, we had a good run (I'm certainly not going to apologize for the Braves' success).
posted by trox at 12:53 PM on February 18, 2004
What can I say, we had a good run (I'm certainly not going to apologize for the Braves' success). No apology expected. It has been one hell of an impressive streak, but frustrating as hell to fans of the other NL East teams, even those like me that keep just an oblique eye on the ballgame.
posted by Ufez Jones at 01:02 PM on February 18, 2004
Lefty, righty ... isn't he ambidextrous? He's old! He needs to learn! /redfaced
posted by wfrazerjr at 04:26 PM on February 18, 2004
This is EASILY the best off-season in baseball hotstove history. Maddux, Schilling, Sheffield, Vazquez, Vlad, N.Johnson, ARod, Pettitte, Clemens, Wells, A.Soriano, Sasaki, Little Matsui, Colon, Juan Gonzalez, J.Lopez, Tejada, IRod, Palmeiro, Sexson... Every one of them switched teams (or left baseball) during the off-season. And that's just the A-level stars...lots of good support players (Escobar, Batista, etc.) also switched teams.
posted by grum@work at 04:29 PM on February 18, 2004
I'm still brokenhearted from the Cards not landing Maddux, but I'm glad he's back in Chicago. How valuable will it be for Wood, Prior et al to have this guy sitting in the dugout with them between starts, just talking about pitching? I really think this could be the year of the Cubbies. I'm just hoping St. Louis smashes the ball around well enough to keep the damned Astros out of the postseason.
posted by wfrazerjr at 04:31 PM on February 18, 2004
I'm with you on that one wfrazerjr. Haven't Petitte and Clemens had enough? In all seriousness, the three divisions that will be fun to watch are (in no particular order) the NL Central (astros, cubs, and cards all fielding fine teams and anything can and probably will happen), the AL East (arod, brown, schilling, foulke, tejada, lopez - jeez did this division sign most everyone?), and the AL West (can the As keep it up and boy Anaheim should be fun to watch).
posted by trox at 05:10 PM on February 18, 2004
I really think this could be the year of the Cubbies. [This is funny]
posted by billsaysthis at 07:05 PM on February 18, 2004
Jeez. Houston's going to be awful tough. Just off the top of my head, I'm guessing the Astros and Cubs will be fighting for the NL Central Division title, and the team that doesn't win it will be the wild card team. This is a dynamite addition to the Cubs.