(Hopefully) Nate McLouth Is Back

I grew up a Cubs fan and that is how I have always seen myself but I am not one of those fans who loves his team and hates everyone else.  The Cubs will always be my team but I also root for players who, I feel, play the game “the right way.”  The players I root for are the ones who are diving for balls when they are down by six.  The ones who jump into the stands chasing pop ups (but not this way….like this).  The guys who always run out ground balls.  This are the guys I want on my team, not the kind of player who only seems to play well if they are in a contract year (Yeah I’m look at you Adrian Beltre).

Worst Person of the Day

Josh Hamilton sucks.  Not in the baseball sense mind you.  He is the reigning MVP and he deserved to win the award.  He’s a great player he sucks as a person.  Hamilton wants you to believe he is a great guy, a great husband, a great teammate but I’m not buying it.  Maybe he is a nice guy.  I don’t know because I have never met him.  Is he the best husband?  Well obviously not.  But hey, he is a professional athlete and there is a lot of temptation out there.  What I do know is that he is a shitty teammate.

The Mets Sure Suck….Right Now.

Well......yeah.

The first thing you will notice when you look at the National League rosters compared to the American League rosters is how young the NL players are.  Weird, right?  Because I thought every good baseball player was pushing 35 but maybe thats because the only games that ever get shown on TV are Yankees/Red Sox games.  Its crazy to think that some teams out there are currently developing talent instead of just auctioning the same old players.  How did that work out Tampa?  Here are just a few, of the loooong list, of solid young players that we think are poised for a break out this year.

NL Cy Young: So Good Its Kind of Boring

I don’t know if you are one of those people who sits around thinking of reasons why the National League is better than the American League, but if you are here is another one:  pitching.  The NL has the better pitchers by far.  So picking a Cy Young winner is not going to be the easiest job in the world.  I’d like to spend some time on each pitcher but there are just too many that are capable of giving Cy Young worthy performances so I’m going to have to just pick a couple.  Its Friday so I am lacking in patience and motivation.

Best Pre-Opening Day in a Long Time

Everyone who hates the Cardinals had a great day yesterday.  It was my pleasure to watch the worst closer in baseball finally run out of luck.  Ryan Franklin was a below average starter but somehow he has been able to pull save after nearly blown save out of his ass.  Its probably the “genius” of Dave Duncan and Tony LaRussa.  When asked for comment, Adam Wainwright’s overused right elbow said, “Oh yeah.  Fucking geniuses alright.”

Last night, sporting the classiest goatee outside of a West Virginia tractor pull, Franklin gave up the tying homerun in the ninth to wispy centerfielder Cameron Maybin.  In Franklin’s defense Maybin is a powerhouse with a career 13 homers under his belt.  In conclusion…..Go Cubs!

Why Albert Pujols Will Not Win Another MVP

Its not about the money, its about respect....and the money.

The Most Valuable Player award is supposed to go to the player who had the best season.  Now we know that doesn’t always happen.  For example, every Red Sox fan knows, even if they won’t admit it because thats just the way they are, there is no way Dustin Pedroia should have won the MVP in 2008.  He didn’t even have the best numbers on his own team! But this isn’t about the past.  There will be plenty of time to hammer everyone’s least favorite team.  This is about this year.  Who will be the new NL MVP?

Now the point of this exercise is not for me to pick who I want to be the MVP but who I predict will win.  Naming a winner is not a clear cut case of who had the best season.  It should be, but its not.  Too much emphasis is put on how the team as a whole does.  Instead of the best player winning the award it becomes the best player on the best team wins the award.  So, what I am saying is that other factors need to be considered besides who has the best numbers.

Kicked to the Curb

Now that Cubs have made the decision to add Andrew Cashner as the club’s fifth the starter the question becomes what do they do with Carlos Silva?  Obviously, they are going to try to trade him but I don’t have any confidence that Hendry is going to pull it off.  At this point in his career Silva is an emergency pitcher.  He is the kind of guy you keep around in case one of your top five goes down with injury.  This statement creates a couple of problems.

The first is that Silva is owed 11.5 million dollars this year.  Who is going to accept that kind of salary from their 6th or 7th starter.  Even if the Cubs do unload him it will most likely be under the condition that they pick up the bulk of that number.

Now What Barry?

There are two things in this world that I know for sure:  1.  Evolution is real 2.  Barry Bonds knowingly used performance enhancers.  Now, I know number one is still up for debate is some of the neckier parts of the country but I think number two is something we can all agree on.  This case is now actually going to trial and Barry is screwed.  Nobody in their right mind is going to believe that he took the drugs unknowingly.  Maybe if the prosecution accidentally put a racist on the stand he would have a shot, but I can’t imagine the Feds making the same mistake as L.A. county.

So what is he supposed to do now.  Its too late to get a good deal so I guess he just has to stick with his story to the end right?  Maybe not.  I thought ESPN’s Mike Salk brought up an interesting point the other day:  blame the system.  I know, I know.  Just bear with me for a minute.  I said the same thing.  Sure its completely bullshit but the more I think about it the more I think that it could work.

What Chemistry?

Admittedly, I am a Cubs fan.  I am not trying to hide it.  Its not all I am going to talk about but make no mistake I love this team and hate this team and really enjoy complaining about this team.  So get used to it.  Really, everyone should enjoy Cubs talk even if you aren’t a fan.  Who doesn’t like to watch a group of frustrated people collectively curse and pull their hair out for six months a year?  (Notice I am not counting October)

Ok, now that that is out of the way we can get to the important stuff.  Baseball people understand how team oriented this game is.  I know that much of the game is made up of little individual battles (batter v. pitcher, pitcher v. runner, manager v. manager, and on and on) but every team as a whole has a kind of chemistry to it whether its good or bad.  The teams that have good chemistry seem to win more than the others.  That’s just the way it goes.

Take the Red Sox teams in the mid 00’s.  Manny popping his head in an out of the scoreboard while everyone laughed and Big Papi’s gigantic smile are the images that pop into my head when I think about that team.  They seemed to really enjoy being around each other and that transferred to the field.  This isn’t a new idea.  Remember the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates of  ’79 (I don’t actually “remember” because I wasn’t alive yet but you get the point).

Who We Are

Welcome to Kill Whitey (Herzog)

This is a blog about Major League Baseball.  We are not experts, nor will we ever claim to be, thus we can’t promise any deep expert analysis, or over the top statistical evaluations.  Further, we aren’t journalists, thus we can’t promise any inside scoops or breaking news from the locker rooms.  Lastly, we aren’t professional ballplayers, thus don’t anticipate insight into the minds of players or anecdotes from our playing days.  What we are, however, is assholes who love this game of baseball.  Kill Whitey (Herzog) is a blog for fans who really care about the game and do their best thinking with a couple beers in them.  Share your opinions as long as they are like ours:  strong and based on little to no research.  Enjoy.

BK & NB