OK, I don't have a blog any more, but somebody needs to point out how Phil Rogers is just mailing it in.

This morning, Rogers takes a look at trade deadline deals and reaches this conclusion (as summed up in the subhead):

Sellers usually enhance futures and buyers have mixed short-term results

On July 20, 2009 - a mere 356 days ago, as the trade deadline approached - Rogers wrote a column that concluded:

History long has said midseason deals favor the sellers, not the buyers. Only about one of three midseason trades achieved a short-term objective last season.

As we noted last year, his premise is faulty, as he cherry picks instances to "prove" his point - and even cites some that disprove it. He just doesn't realize it.

He does the same this year. You'd think an editor over there would say, "Phil, you wrote this column last year at the deadline. Let's try something new, shall we?"

Keep collecting those Trib paychecks, Phil.

So what's the matter with the Cubs?

The weather, of course:

"We have a fly-ball-hitting team here in a lot of ways, and it doesn't really help when the wind is blowing in a lot," Piniella said. "It helps the other team, too, we understand that [when the wind blows out]. We don't have the quickest team, so getting the ball up in the air and letting it sail into the stands or over these stands, it's good for us."

No wonder Milton Bradley had such a horrible time in Chicago. The Cubs onboarding process for new employees is apparently a mess.

Check out how Jim Hendry welcomed the new stat guy (Ari Kaplan) to the front office:

"I was joking around before: Look at all those stats we knew that Silva had," Hendry said of pitcher Carlos Silva, who was 1-3 with an 8.60 ERA with Seattle last year before turning it around with the Cubs this season so far. "It's a process. Some of the best guys statistically we've ever signed, the on-base percentage people a year or two ago, it doesn't work out always.

"It's a game that has to have a strong human element, whether it's scouting or performing. You just don't draw people up on computers and plug them in and that means they can perform at Wrigley Field in a pennant race. You just keep putting all your information together. You rely heavily on your scouts."

Kaplan will report to Hendry. That's a strong welcoming message from the new boss, eh?

(h/t The Cub Reporter)

OK, WV23 is back - if only to set the record straight on our legacy.

The following sentence appears at Bleed Cubbie Blue this morning on the continuing baserunning issues of the Cubs:

Two runners -- Geovany Soto at the plate in the second inning and Alfonso Soriano at third base after doubling in two runs in the fifth -- were thrown out on the bases, but neither was a TOOTBLAN; both were reasonable chances to take at the time and given the circumstances.

TOOTBLAN is, of course, Thrown Out on the Basepaths Like a Nincompoop - a component of the Ryan Theriot Adjusted On-Base Percentage (RTAOBP). Both were invented here at WV23 as an exercise in rationalizing Theriot's deceptively high OBP in 2008.

As a reminder, RTAOBP is calculated thusly:

(click "read more" for full story)

Phil Rogers needs to stop typing everything he thinks, or the Trib needs to hire some editors. Preferably both.

From today's gem of a column:

Dempster could turn a bad bullpen into a good one, if he's up for such a seemingly downward move in the second year of his four-year contract. The seventh and eighth innings are huge for a pitching staff, and the Cubs badly need help. Dempster makes sense in this role, which is no reflection on his work as a starter. He has had six quality starts yet the Cubs have gone 2-6 behind him. He could be more valuable in one- and two-inning doses in front of Marmol.

So much wrong in so few words.

(click "read more" for full article)

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but the Cubs have concluded that the best place for Carlos Zambrano is not the bullpen:

CHICAGO — As for that Carlos Zambrano-to-the-bullpen experiment, the Chicago Cubs are saying: "Never mind."

Having failed to fix the team's eighth-inning relief woes or to improve his own performance during his three weeks in the bullpen, the $91.5 million right-hander is returning to the rotation.

"We took a chance that we needed to take," manager Lou Piniella said before Tuesday night's game against Colorado. "We thought his velocity would increase. It hasn't. We're going to stretch him out to get him back in the rotation, and we'll see when he's ready."

But good job by the Cubs yanking him back and forth, forcing him to change his routine, and then requiring the team to get him stretched out again so he can be a starter. This is mildly reminiscent of Lou moving Alfonso Soriano up and down in the batting order a couple of years ago - but far worse.

(click "read more" for full article)

The Royals have fired whomever was their manager up until today and hired Ned Yost.

Our retrospective on the Yost years in Milwaukee can be found here. Enjoy.

(This of course makes you wonder: What is so bad in Kansas City that the answer is "hire Ned Yost.")

It's not much better for Rick Sutcliffe:

(click "read more" for full article)

This doesn't seem fair:

DENVER -- The Phillies will have the rare fortune of playing 84 regular-season games on their home field this year.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that they have moved the June 25-27 series against the Phillies from Rogers Centre in Toronto to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia because of the G20 Summit.

"After reviewing all of the options with the parties and taking all of the security considerations into account, it was determined that the best course of action is to play the series in Philadelphia," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "I appreciate the cooperation of the Blue Jays, the Phillies and all of the parties who have helped resolve this challenging situation."

Thank heavens the G20 wasn't scheduled to be held in Houston. The Astros would have had a stroke.

It's probably easier to get away with this in Seattle than, say, Chicago:

Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. missed a chance to enter an unspecified game last week as a pinch hitter because he was asleep in the clubhouse, according to a report from the Tacoma News Tribune.

When pressed following the game as to why he had not used the left-handed slugger as a pinch hitter, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu was evasive.

But according to two unnamed younger Seattle players who are both fond of Griffey, the future Hall of Famer had fallen asleep.

(click "read more" for full article)