Time to walk with that new Ricketts swagger…

Updated on April 5, 2010 By Ken Begg 13 Comments

Ah, the best day of year for baseball, before the Cubs actually start to suck.  Also the first official day of the Ricketts Family era, although they will be constrained by horrible Tribune signings for up to five more years, as with Soriano who is signed that long and still owed 90 million plus dollars.

Thus, despite our garish $140 million payroll, one of the highest in baseball, the hated Cards are pretty much everyone’s default choice to win the division, with the argument basically being whether the Cubbies will finish in second or third place.

Of course, nobody really knows.  After all, the entire Cubs roster COULD stay healthy all year, and everybody COULD perform at peak levels, and maybe whatever seemingly small-time trade (all we can afford) at mid-year will pay huge dividends.  Or maybe the Cards will all get hurt or suck and we’ll squeak in that way, although then we’d just get humiliated again the post-season.

And again, this is the time of year when we’re most optimistic.

And hey, if nothing else, I always have this to look forward to:

Don’t have tickets until September, but I’ll be thinking of that pretzel all summer long.

UPDATE:  Marlon Byrd stakes Cubs to a three run lead in the first inning of the first game of the year.  By the end of the first inning, the Braves lead the Cubs 6-3.

Oy.
UPDATE UPDATE:  8-3 in the 2nd, Zambrano already knocked out of the game.  Terrific.

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  • Dr. Whiggs

    Never eat anything bigger than your head, Ken. It’s bad for you.

  • Look- you guys are adorable in that photo. There, I said it.

  • We are merely reflecting the glow of the pretzel, as the moon does the sun. However, as I noted before, we definitely do have a fatty / skinny comedy duo vibe going.

    I appreciate your concern, Dr., but don’t worry; I plan to break it into at least three pieces as I eat it, none of which themselves will be bigger than my head.

  • BeckoningChasm

    Nice B. Kliban reference, Dr. Whiggs.

    “Anything can happen in wormholes. Somewhere the Cubs are winning the World Series.” (John Crichton)

  • Dr. Whiggs

    I… didn’t know I was making a reference, honestly. But I shall pretend it was intentional and erudite.

  • Plissken79

    What a pretzel….that looks bigger than the Death Star

    Even if the Cubs make the playoffs, they are going to have a heck of a time making the World Series. The Phillies are head and shoulders above every other team in the National League

  • silverwheel

    As a diehard Cards fan, I wish for doom and destruction to rain down on Cubdom (well, more so than usual). I must admit, I will miss having Milton Bradley to make fun of – thankfully Zambrano and Soriano should be able to carry the comedy all by themselves.

  • Sorry Ken, but as a St Louis Cards fan I must say, with Kruschev-like shoe pounding, “WE WILL BURY YOU!”

  • I can’t really argue with you. Still, there’s a reason they play the games. We’ll see.

    If nothing else, it would be nice to see some just decent baseball. Usually even that’s too much to ask.

  • Food

    Could be worse. Out here, we got the Choakland A’s. The A’s are a flat zero this year. Last night, they send their HR leader of the past two seasons, Jack Cust, to the minors, and make the probable past-it Eric Chavez the full-time DH. Worse, they never told Chavez. He heard about it through the press. They signed Gogo Grisp, but he went and got injured late in spring training, who knows how long he’ll be out.

    So take heart. The Cubs may disappoint, but nobody expects anything better than last place from the A’s.

  • Lawyer Ku

    Hey Ken,

    Besides being in the NL Central together, what do the Reds and Cubs have in common?

    Neither have ever won the World Series in their new parks.

  • bt

    Ken, I have 4 tickets to next Wednesday’s game (the 14th), that I’d be happy to give you as payback for 10 plus years of reading your site. Assuming you can get off work that day.

  • Your use of the word ‘payback’ in this case is ambiguous, but I’ll assume you don’t mean revenge (although the offer of Cubs tickets in this regard is also ambiguous). Sadly, I already had to turn down opening day tickets for the same reason, i.e., we’re short staffed next week and I can’t take an afternoon off. I sincerely thank you, though. The weather looks to be staying fairly nice for a while, too.