It’s a good day to be a Cubs fan! Former Cub great Andrew “The Hawk” Dawson was elected into the baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Dawson received 420 of 539 votes by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, 15 more than the 75 percent necessary to gain election. It was the ninth ballot that Dawson had been on before being elected.
Dawson had this to say after hearing he had been elected:
“It was well worth the wait. I can’t really describe the elation,” Dawson said during a telephone conference call. “If you’re a Hall of Famer, eventually you’re going to get in, no matter how long it takes.”
Dawson played just six years of his 21 year career with the Cubs but that is where he had his best year of his career. In 1987 Dawson won the MVP award while leading the league with 49 homers and 137 RBI. Dawson was also runner up for the MVP in 1981 and 1983.
Dawson finished his career with 2,774 hits, 438 home runs, 314 stolen bases, and 1,591 RBI. He is one of only six players in major league history to record over 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases in his career.
Congrats Hawk!
Milton Bradley’s time in Chicago if officialy over as he was traded to the Seattle Mariners for pitcher Carlos Silva. Silva has a terrible contract just like Bradley, but hopefully the change of scenery for both players will be good. However, I don’t like this trade one bit.
Trading Bradley for Silva is not a win for the Cubs. Your team is worse off then it was in my opinion. You open up another position in the outfield and lose some of that pop especially from the left hand side of the plate. I agree that Bradley should have been traded, but not for Silva.
“We knew we had to move the player,” Hendry said Friday of Bradley. “In hindsight, obviously, it was an acquisition that I’m responsible for that obviously didn’t work out.”
Gee you really think so Jim? Maybe you should have worked a little harder at the Winter Meetings and got a decent deal done then. Silva has won five games in two seasons in Seattle. Wow what a winner we got coming to the Northside!
The best thing from this trade is probably the $9 million dollars that the Mariners are sending along with Silva. This will allow the Cubs to go after a centerfielder and move Kosuke Fukudome back to right field. I’d like to see the Cubs go after Jacoby Ellsbury who doesn’t have a position with the Red Sox now. Will it happen? I doubt it…
Hey Cubs fans, sorry for not updating the blog on a more constant basis but I really just haven’t been in the mood to talk about the Cubs after the season. Yeah 2009 was a terrible season for the Cubs and it sure pissed off a lot of fans but hopefully things can get turned back around and that all starts with the off season.
So far there have been three players that have filed for free agency. Pitchers Rich Harden and Kevin Gregg have both filed while outfielder Reed Johnson also filed for free agency. The only other potential free agents on the Cubs who have yet to file are pitchers John Grabow and Chad Fox.
A player must file within 15 days after the World Series is over. The Cubs retain exclusive negotiating rights during that 15-day period.
With the new ownership in place it will be interesting to see what happens this off season. I don’t think much will happen as the Ricketts family and Jim Hendry are pretty happy where they are as far as the roster. The one question that keeps popping up however is what will happen with Milton Bradley? There are teams interested in him, but how low will Hendry go to get him out of Chicago?
What’s everyones thoughts on the offseason and any moves Hendry should make?
Jim Hendry has signed his first piece of the puzzle during the offseason as he has signed former Texas Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo to a three year deal. Jaramillo turned down a one year offer from the Rangers as he was hoping to secure a multi year deal and that is when the Cubs jumped in and took action right away.
Jaramillo is well known for his five step hitting approach and will look to bring that to the Cubs starting in spring training. Jaramillo has already worked with Cubs players Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley when they both spent time in Arlington with the Rangers.
“Rudy Jaramillo is widely regarded as the premiere hitting instructor in the game,” Cubs GM Jim Hendry said. “The addition of Rudy to our franchise is a strong statement from our new owners, the Ricketts family, and we thank them for allowing us to move quickly to fill this important role with the best in the business.”
This is a great hire for the Cubs in my opinion. Jaramillo is well known through baseball as being one of the best hitting instructers and he will have his hands full with the happy swinging Cubs. I think he will get the job done and we will see players like Soriano and Bradley have a higher batting percentage as well as on base percentage in the 2010 season.
