Playing Catch Up

So many things to discuss and so little time to scribble:

Days of Our Bears: Thomas Jones gets what he wants. Jerry Angelo gets what he wants for him. Lance Briggs gets what he doesn’t want. Thomas Jones was a nice running back, but he’s not the kind of guy you cry over losing and he’s certainly not the kind of guy you get giddy over getting (Mike Greenberg). Yes, he was only the second running back rush for more that 1,300 yards in Bear history. But to go as far as David Haugh did in the Tribune yesterday calling him “the Bears' best running back since Walter Payton” is just plain wrong. One Neal Anderson still holds that title. Neal was faster, a better runner, and a more accomplished receiver than Jones ever was or will ever be. Jones is also 28 and was looking for big money. Angelo did the right thing for both Jones and the Bears by unloading him

The only downside to the Jones trade is that the Bears only upgraded their draft slot. Couldn’t they have negotiated for a pick outright? With needs on this team ranging from QB to multiple WR, to OL, to LB, to possibly even RB, an outright 3rd round pick seems worth more than moving up 26 slots.

Tribune Zell-ing Out: The hot rumor du jour is that Sam Zell, fresh off converting billions in REIT investments into cold cash has now emerged as a major player to buy the Tribune Company. As a current investor in the White Sox and Bulls, does that give Zell a conflict of interest? Or, as a local guy, would he have the civic integrity to try to run the Cubs as a public trust instead of a profit center? And what about Naomi? This 18 month old story should begin moving again in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

Prior Performance Predicts Future Performance: While Kerry Wood was doing his first piece of auditioning for the Cubs closer job (soon to be vacated by Ryan Dempster), Mark Prior was doing his best impression of post-shoulder trouble Rick Sutcliffe. It has been speculated here that Mark Prior’s career may have begun a downward spiral the day he collided with Marcus Giles in August 2003. Prior came back from that boffo bit of baserunning to pitch in September and October as well as any pitcher since Orel Hirschiser in 1988. Based on published reports in 2004, 2005 and 2006, we know that Prior’s Achilles was hurt during that time. It is speculated here that Prior overthrew his arm to compensate for the weak leg. And that is what has led to his reduced velocity, the “genetic weakness” in his shoulder and his general ineffectiveness since 2003.

While Lou Piniella currently claims Mark Prior is healthy, there is no reason to believe that Lou is lying. One doubts, however, that a healthy Mark Prior is undamaged.

John McDonough Keeps Using Those Words: Cubs Interim-Until-The-Sale-President gave an interview to the collected media yesterday. The highlights:

1) John continues to use four words that Cub fans love to hear, “We articulated the mission early on that the ultimate goal was to win. The ultimate goal was to win the World Series and try to initiate this dialogue where we talk about winning more often.”

John may not realize it, but he’s also bashing Andy MacPhail with those words because he’s saying “win the World Series” wasn’t said often enough under the old regime.

2) John states directly that the reason the Cubs spent $300 million this offseason is because people stopped showing up. “I saw some frightening sights at times when I would go into the stadium and see 14,000 or 15,000 people there,” said McDonough. Gee. If only people has stopped showing up 10 years ago...

3) As to if he’ll have his job much longer due to a sale, John goes with the don’t-ask-don’t-tell angle:

I don’t know. I really don’t know. If you’re the property they’re looking at, whether it’s the newspaper group, the broadcasting group or just parts by themselves, I haven’t been privy to those discussions, nor do I think I should be.

I dunno if McDonough will actually be a good team president, but says all the things you want to hear from a guy in that role.