Winter is coming...

Best bat flip ever

Big boy Dan Vogelbach really enjoyed this home run:

They've trained him so well!

"She told me about the letters."

"Letters, what letters?"

"The letters, she told me about them. I know all about the letters. How do you think I know? She told me. That's how I found out."

Nothing beats this

After a grand slam at Wrigley last week, not many things can make me laugh harder than this:

I cannot wait

For the new Washed Out album on August 13th:

Bullish on Jason Kipnis

It may be because he's on one of my fantasy teams but I'm feeling pretty good about the future of Jason Kipnis.

Darwin's Gold Glove

Darwin Barney was presented with his Gold Glove yesterday for his amazing defensive season at second base last year that saw him rank 7th among all MLB players in UZR (15) and 6th overall in UZR/150 (17.2).  These pictures are straight from Bleacher Nation, I thought this great:

Ranking the hitters

I'm doing a weekly series on ranking the top 150 batters for fantasy baseball over at Vigilante Baseball.  Check out week one.

Cooper's dream

In light of Carlos Marmol's struggles in his first two appearances of the year, which have seen him give up four hits, three earned runs, two walks, and one hit batsmen in just an inning and a third of work, I felt it necessary to post this text message from my brother Cooper:

Luckily somehow Marmol has not caused the Cubs to lose a game yet, and he did miraculously get the save yesterday.  I may need to change the name of this blog soon, however.

Looking for a shortstop on the waiver wire?

Jean Segura, the Milwaukee Brewers rookie starting shortstop, was just dropped in my keeper league and I could not contain my excitement.  At the end of our annual auction draft I had drafted too many offensive players and ESPN would not allow me to draft any more, so I had to watch as Segura went for $1 as one of the last players taken.  On my way driving to work today I couldn't wait to see if I had won him on waivers, although I held the last wavier priority in the league.  The last time I was driving to work hoping I had won a waiver was just a few weeks ago as I was trying to add Matt Carpenter in the same league, having not been able to draft him for the same reason as Segura.  In that instance, the league commish won the waiver and brought me down from my post-draft high, so I was fully expecting for him to have beaten me to Segura, especially after seeing that I had traded away Rickie Weeks last night.  Much to my delight, Segura is now mine, and if he is sitting out on your waiver wire, what are you waiting for?  Make him yours.

Despite the tangent on Jean Segura, this Vigilante Baseball article actually focuses on Everth Cabrera, with some scouting reports from Baseball America on Andrelton Simmons, Josh Rutledge, and my boy Jean Segura.

Everth Cabrera and middle infield sleepers

Vigilante Baseball: Hating on Pujols

                                Pujols can smell his decline, 

It’s hard to move on from Albert Pujols.  The man known as The Machine was the best player in baseball from 2001-2010, an unprecedented eruption of offense that saw him hit .300+ with 30+ HR and 100+ RBI for ten consecutive seasons.  The streak finally came to an end in 2011, but with 99 RBI and a .299 batting average to go along with 37 HR it was easy to expect Pujols to bounce back to his old self in 2012.  Instead, the deterioration continued.  Pujols’ decline has now become a pronounced trend as he has regressed each year since 2008.  Overvalued: Albert Pujols

Vigilante Baseball: Don't pay for catchers

Instead, draft my boy Weli Castillo or one of the many solid backstops that will be available late in the draft. Just don't pay for catchers.

Vigilante Baseball: Loving Alex Rios

The reasons for not trusting Alex Rios are plain to see.  He is one of the most inconsistent performers in fantasy baseball, tantalizing players with his 30/30 potential one year and putting up a .267 wOBA the next.  After his standout performance last year which saw him put up career highs in home runs (25), batting average (.304) and wRC+ (125), it is easy to say that he will regress this year and downright lazy for some to say that he’ll just follow his trend of alternating good seasons with poor seasons in the same way that Prince Fielder puts up a great power season every other year.  While Rios will most likely not repeat his fantastic 2012 season, he has a long way to fall before reaching his ADP of 75.  
Vigilante Baseball: Loving Alex Rios

Vigilante Baseball: Hating on Jay Bruce

I'm starting to write again for Vigilante Baseball after briefly writing an article and doing rankings last year.  The site is revamped and there's a lot of content so check it out.  Here is why I think Jay Bruce is going way too early in drafts this year: Overvalued: Jay Bruce

Return of the Wookie

Animal Collective announce tour with Dan Deacon

There are not many tour combos I would rather see than Animal Collective touring with Dan Deacon.  Recently I had the chance to see Dan Deacon at Lincoln Hall in Chicago and it was a live experience unlike any other.  Pure jubilation mixed with and moments of epic weirdness is the best way to describe this show.  Animal Collective live is an electronic explosion of their recorded music, on a level they can't quite reach in a studio.

This spring, Animal Collective will be touring with support from Dan Deacon. A pre-sale will begin on 
Wednesday January 16th at 10 AM local venue time. Go to http://bit.ly/animaltix to access the pre-sale.

Animal Collective Tour Dates THUR 1/17/13 Sydney NSW AU Enmore Theatre FRI 1/18/13 Sydney NSW AU Big Day Out^ SUN 1/20/13 Gold Coast AU Big Day Out Gold Coast WED 1/23/13 Melbourne VIC AU Palace Theate^ FRI 1/25/13 Adelaide SA AU Big Day Out Sat 1/26/13 Melbourne VIC AU Big Day Out MON 1/28/13 Victoria Park Perth AU Big Day Out Perth THU 3/7/13 Boston MA House of Blues* FRI 3/8/13 Montreal QC Metropolis* SAT 3/9/13 Toronto ON Danforth Music Hall* MON 3/11/13 Cleveland OH House of Blues* TUE 3/12/13 Covington KY The Madison Theater* WED 3/13/13 Nashville TN Marathon Music Works* FRI 3/15/13 Royal Oak MI Royal Oak Music Hall* SAT 3/16/13 Chicago IL Riviera Theatre* SUN 3/17/13 Madison WI Orpheum Theatre* MON 3/18/13 Minneapolis MN First Avenue* WED 3/20/13 St. Louis MO The Pageant* THU 3/21/13 Kansas City MO Midland Theater* FRI 3/22/13 Denver CO Ogden Theatre* SAT 3/23/13 Salt Lake City UT Depot* SUN 3/24/13 Boise ID Treefort Festival* 6/29/13 -7/7/13 Roskilde DK Roskilde Festival TUES 7/2/13 Helsinki FI The Circus ^w/ Africa Hitech  *= w/ Dan Deacon

The 2013 Chicago Cubs as I see it today

The Chicago Cubs 2013 opening day lineup as I see it today: 

1. David DeJesus – CF
2. Nate Schierholz – RF
3. Anthony Rizzo -1B
4. Alfonso Soriano – LF
5. Starlin Castro – SS
6. Ian Stewart – 3B
7. Wellington Castillo – C
8. Darwin Barney – 2B

Puke inducing.  There isn’t a much better way to describe this diatribe-inviting lineup. 

The Cubs starting rotation though, looks much better:

1. Matt Garza
2. Jeff Samardzija
3. Edwin Jackson
4. Travis Wood
5. Scott Feldman/Carlos Villanueva

DL. Scott Baker

When Scott Baker returns this spring from Tommy John surgery he will join Edwin Jackson as another solid #3 MLB starter in this rotation.  Travis Wood, Scott Feldman and Carlos Villanueva each have the potential to be #3 big league starters as well, but each also has experience in the bullpen giving the Cubs plenty of flexibility.

Bottom line: the Cubs should have a deep and effective starting rotation. Good pitching, solid defense and anemic offense.  Do I smell the number two wild card in the Cubs future?  If absolutely everything goes right, it could happen. Cubs fans are at least allowed to dream.  

Year end lists

There's nothing like being completely overwhelmed by year end lists chalk full of songs you've never heard.  It's always fun to root for certain songs that you've become fond of to see if and where on the list your song will appear.  Reading these lists is obviously a lot more fun when you've dutifully been paying attention to the music scene over the course of the year.  This year, that was not the case for me. But the lists are still fun and it's always nice to see what you missed out on, what hidden gems may be waiting to be listened to and enjoyed.

Just for fun, I wanted to take a snap shot of my most listened to songs on my iTunes.  No thought required, just a simple list of my most played songs.  Therefore, what should be my "favorite" songs.  Making a year end list is always so difficult, I never feel like I get it right in the end.  So while I try to come up with my favorites of this year, (and this is really just for me to see how it changes over time) here are my most listened to tracks on iTunes over the past five years:

1. 134 plays: Washed Out - Hold Out
2. 126 plays: Cut Copy - Out There on the Ice
3. 106 plays: Animal Collective - The Purple Bottle
4. 98 plays: The Tough Alliance - Miami
5. 97 plays: Cut Copy - Lights and Music
6. 94 plays: Air France - Collapsing at Your Doorstep
7. 92 plays: Gauntlet Hair - I was thinking...
8. 91 plays: Little Dragon - Feather
7. 88 plays: Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire
8. 84 plays: VEGA - No Reasons
9. 82 plays: Animal Collective - What Would I Want Sky?
10. 80 plays: Of Montreal - I Was Never Young
11. 79 plays: Of Montreal - The Party's Crashing Us
12. 78 plays: Animal Collective - Grass
13. 78 plays: Cut Copy - Saturdays
14. 78 plays: Neon Indian - Terminally Chill
15. 75 plays: Animal Collective - Winter Wonder Land
16. 75 plays: Animal Collective - Water Curses
17. 75 plays: Blood Diamonds - Grins
18. 74 plays: LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
19. 72 plays: Gold Panda - Marriage (Star Slinger Remix)
20. 72 plays: Memory Tapes - Plain Material 

Marmol Watch

The 2012 Marmolade has not been as delicious as Cubs fans had previously come to expect when they tossed back a frosty mug of Marmol's finest in years past. However, after coming off the DL in late May, Marmol has once again looked like his old self.  According to Muskat Ramblings, "Carlos Marmol is 6-for-6 in save opportunities in his last nine outings with a 1.04 ERA, giving up one earned run over 8 2/3 innings, walking five and striking out 15."

That may be due in part to this hilarious note I came across at Bleacher Nation:

I knew the Cubs’ coaching staff didn’t like Carlos Marmol shaking off the pitches that his catcher was calling, but I didn’t know they were this serious: since he came back from the disabled list in late May,Marmol has not been allowed to shake off his catcher. If he shakes off a sign, he owes pitching coach Chris Bosio a case of wine. Not coincidently, Marmol has been excellent in the last month and a half.