Lance Berkman's Thoughts on the NL Central

Lance Berkman, or the Big Puma (yeah, I know, pretty lame for a nick name), was on the Mad Dog show today on Sirius XM before his Astros took on the Cincinnati Reds and gave a great interview. Included in that interview, he gave his thoughts on how the NL Central would end up this year. Here are some of his thoughts...

(I was in the car, so I didn't get to write down exactly what he said as he said it, but these "quotes" are exactly how he put things if not worded exactly how he said them)

On the Cubs...

"Clearly the Cubs are the favorites. Not only on paper, but what they did in the offseason as well, with Bradley. They have great starters, a great bullpen, and great balance in the lineup. Everyone will be trying to replace them as the best."

On his own Astros...

"I really like our lineup, we're going to score runs. I think our pitching can be good baring injuries, but obviously that's our big question mark. Mike Hamilton and Russ Ortiz might both be great if they can stay healthy. I mean Ortiz won 17 games a year with a 3 era for five seasons. Then Wandy Rodriguez and Brian Moheller, and he was great for us last year. Pitching is our question mark, for sure, but I think we can be good. Definitely we're right there in that next tier of teams."

On the Cardinals...

"With Tony LaRussa, they'll always compete. And with a guy like Pujols and with Chris Carpenter coming back from injury, they could be good. And obviously with Tony LaRussa as their manager, they'll compete. LaRussa's teams always compete."

On Cincinnati...

"I think they're going to be real good. Obviously the pitching. They have great young arms, and they have a lot of young talent. I think they're going to be good, right there with us."

On Milwaukee...

"I think they're going to take a step back. They lost guys. They're not going to be what they where last year, I'd put them below us and the Reds and the Cards."

And on Pittsburgh...

"Well. They're the Pirates."

You can't argue with him there.

Very interesting thoughts, and I agree with a lot of them. Just thought I'd share the thoughts of Houston's Berkman on our division.

Cubs Baseball on WGN Tonight and other thoughts

You read that right! Cubs baseball returns to WGN tonight with a split squad (meaning that only half the club is making the trip as the other half played the Indians and Woody and DeRo earlier today) matchup against the cross town rival White Sox! I am very happy to get to see Cubs baseball on television once again as the last time wasn't so happy. (Game 3 of the NLDS against LA if you must know).

Also, yesterday marked the release of this years slate of MLB video games including MLB 09 The Show (available on PlayStation 2, 3, and Portable) and MLB 2K9 available on pretty much everything. I was going back and forth on which to purchase (as I have both a XBOX 360 and a PS3). MLB The Show is supposedly the better game (and I don't have many games for the PS3 as it is mainly my Blu Ray player), but 2K9 on the 360 has the ability to continuously update the rosters with any signings or trades, keeping it current. That was too awesome to turn down, so I ended up going with 2K9. After playing a few games last night I have no complaints about my choice, I think that this is the best version of baseball that 2K has put out so far, far and away better then last years version. So even if The Show is the better game, I can't imagine that it is that much better then this years 2K product is. And the updating of the rosters more then makes up for any deficiencies that 2K9 does have.

Finally, I thought that I would let you know that I have tickets to see the Cubs and Astros on Opening Day as well as the second game of the season between these two rivals! I'm very pumped about that! I promise to try and get some good pics for the blog. Also, on Thursday April 9th, I should be going to see the Detroit Tigers take on the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, so that should be fun.

Closer to home, this Saturday I'll be seeing my first live baseball of the season as I check out the #11 TCU Horned Frogs (Go Frogs!!) hosting Wichita St.

Baseball is here my friends. (As I write this, Pat and Ron are on my speakers as the split squad Cubs are tied up with the Indians 4-4 in the 6th inning.) Baseball is here!!!!!

BASEBALL IS BACK!!!

Loving that teams are back in action today as Spring Training Baseball begins.

Today the Cubs are looking to get some unimportant revenge against the Dodgers who knocked them out of the playoffs last season.

Sure the games mean absolutely nothing, but Damnit if it isn't nice to get baseball back.

Many of the games are being carried on MLB.com radio and a couple are getting the MLB.TV treatment (Cleveland/Giants and Red Sox/Twins).

Either way, it's just exciting to hear the announcers and the names of big league players once again as we make our way towards April 6th and Opening Day!!!

I'm so glad that it is baseball season once again.

Spring (Training) Is In The Air!

Pitchers, Catchers, and Position Players have all reported to camp. Spring Training is officially underway, baseball is truly on the horizon.

And all they can talk about on MLB HomePlate (Sirius 210, XM 175) is A Rod.

We get it, he's a cheater, let's talk about baseball!

First of all, I hate how much coverage gets heaped on the Yankees anyway, there are 29 other teams out there. (And believe it or not, they aren't all the Red Sox.)

Recently Adam Dunn signed a two year deal with the Washington Nationals. And Ken Griffey Jr is in the process of signing a deal with the Atlanta Braves. Haven't heard too much coverage on either of those deals though.

Look, the steroid issue is important, and the fact that the player many considered to be the best in the game (personally, as much as I hate to admit it, I would probably give that title to Albert Pujols, damn Cards) has tested positive for steroids is a big black eye to the sport, the game is more important then any one player, be it A Rod, Clemens, or Barry Bonds (and with his trial about to begin, trust me, we're going to hear a lot from him in the coming weeks).

All I ask is that we not let A Rod and steroids dominate the news. Let's talk about various teams chances. Who is going to win the American League East? Can the Rays repeat? What about in the West? The Angels have taken a huge step back, but have either the Rangers or the A's taken a big enough step forward to compete? Where is Manny going to sign? When is Manny going to sign? And for how much? There are far more stories that should be (and deserve to be) getting our attention. Let's see some coverage on that as well.

Steroid Talk

It has gotten so old as A-Roid is the latest name we've heard. There will be others.

And in my opinion, the sooner the better. I hope that the other 103 names from the 2003 Survey will soon be released and then perhaps we can finally start to put this behind us.

3 Days until pitchers and catchers report. (Let's focus on that good news.)

Not Just Rooting for the Laundry

There is a famous Jerry Seinfeld bit where he talks about fans just rooting for the laundry, as in, they root for the uniforms, not the players. And, of course, as it is with all good comedy, there is truth to the joke.

I'm a Cubs fan, I root for the Cubs despite the fact that a third of the team will be different this season from last season.

That being said, I do attach some feeling to some of the players as well and continue to root for them after they leave the laundry behind. That's why I'll be rooting for the Indians to have a good season. They have two of my favorite players with them this season, Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa (both Cubs last year).

One of the players that I will always root for is Matt Murton. He is going to be a hell of a player when he gets the chance. Last season with the Cubs he was clearly not going to get a chance to be an everyday player. There were too many players ahead of him in the outfield. He got traded to the A's in the deal for Rich Harden, and while I was sorry to see him go, I thought that he would finally get a chance to play. Well, the A's didn't really give him much of a chance and his numbers weren't too good in the part time position that they used him in.

Yesterday, they traded him to the Rockies, meaning he'll have a chance to prove himself to his new team in spring training and play in a park that caters itself to offensive power. I'm telling you right now he's going to have a monster season.

In his only full year to get playing time with a big league club (the Cubs in 2006) Murton batted .297 playing in 144 games and 455 at bats. He hit 13 homers and had 62 RBI. He had a .809 OPS (the number you get when you add your slugging to your onbase percentage, OPS stands for Onbase Plus Slugging and it is considered the best statistic to gauge offensive prowess). This was in his first (and as of yet) only full season in the bigs. It stands to reason that it will only get better (and those numbers are already pretty good). Add in the fact that he'll get 81 games in Colorado at Coors and I predict a break out year for him this season.

In fact I'll go even further and predict that he'll be in the All Star Game.

Not enough of a limb for you? I'm predicting that he's going to have a season of a .300+ avg., 30+ homeruns, 100+ rbi, and a .900 OPS. Those type of numbers are MVP consideration numbers. In fact, why not, if the Rockies are in the NL West race at the end of the season, I'll go ahead and predict that Murton will be in MVP consideration.

I really believe that he's going to be a hell of a player and have a hell of a season. While I'm sad it isn't for the Cubs, I'm not too upset, because I think that Rich Harden is going to have a Cy Young type year, so it was a good trade for us.

Either way, I'm rooting for the kid, and not at all because of the laundry.

I Need Baseball!!!!

Well, the Super Bowl is over, meaning that Football has once again moved on.

I love football, and I thought that this was a very entertaining Super Bowl, but I am ready for the start of the baseball season.

Luckily, it is only 10 days (that's right just 10!) until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.

It is less then a month until teams start playing spring training games and in just over a month, we will have the 2nd World Baseball Classic.

March 7th the US and Canada will get the WBC rolling in Toronto, and I can not wait.

It has been an interesting Offseason, still is (after all Manny Ramirez, Ben Sheets, Bobby Abreu, and Adam Dunn all remain unsigned), but I'm tired of the talking and ready for some action.

LET'S PLAY SOME FRAKKING BASEBALL!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, needed to get that out. But seriously, I can't wait.