A lot of hitters who have worked with Jaramillo disagree with Lee’s assessment.  Former Cub Mark DeRosa gives a great deal of credit to Jaramillo.  “I can’t give him enough credit for the way I’ve been able to make adjustments,” DeRosa said in an article written by Jorge Ortiz in USA Today back in 2006.  DeRosa continued, “Had I not met him, I wouldn’t have made this adjustment and who knows what would have happened. It’s not just me. I’ve watched him do it with Gary Matthews Jr., Dave Dellucci, even Michael Young, who has become one of the best hitters in the game.”

Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira also has high praise for Jaramillo. ”He doesn’t cookie-cut anyone’s swing or anyone’s approach. Every player’s different.  He realizes that.  He makes you the best hitter you can be.”

Both Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley worked and thrived under Jaramillo’s tutelage while they were in Texas. “I liked working with Rudy because he spoke Spanish and we could really communicate,” says Soriano.

The Cubs signed Jaramillo to a 3-year,$2.4 million contract yesterday, making him the highest paid coach in MLB.  If he can duplicate the success in Wrigley that he had in Texas, it will be money well spent.

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Want to know more about Rudy Jaramillo’s hitting philosophy.  Check out his website.  You can even buy a DVD detailing Jaramillo’s hitting approach or have him analyze your swing.  Interesting stuff…

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We previously talked about the possibility that Rudy Jaramillo being brought in by the Cubs was a sign that Milton Bradley would be sticking around.  Jim Hendry addressed this concern in an article written by Carrie Muskat of MLB.com:

“Hendry said Jaramillo’s success with Bradley had nothing to do with the Cubs’ decision to hire him. Bradley led the American League in on-base percentage and batted .321 in 2008 in Texas, but struggled to hit .257 this season in Chicago and was suspended for the final 15 games because of detrimental conduct.

“Hendry has talked to teams in an attempt to trade the outfielder and the $21 million still owed on his contract.

“We play the cards that we have,” Hendry said. “Milton’s on the Cubs’ roster [now]. That’s how we go about it until somebody’s not on the Cubs’ roster. [Jaramillo's relationship with Bradley] didn’t have any connection. We could’ve had 20 different guys on our roster and Rudy would still be sitting here today as our No. 1 guy.”

So Jaramillo joining the Cubs doesn’t mean that Bradley will be with the team in 2010.  But Tim Dierkes from MLBTradeRumors.com thinks he should be.  Tim writes:

“The Cubs seem dead-set on moving Bradley and finding someone else to play right or center field.  A player they loved a year ago, they hate now.  Bradley had a slow start and finish, showed little power, and had issues with the fans, media, and manager.  Still, he posted a .378 OBP in the off-year and certainly could improve upon that in 2010.  My advice: work it out, rather than eating $15MM+ or taking on a different bad contract.  Bradley is not the reason the Cubs received over 2,000 plate appearances of subpar hitting from Soriano, Fontenot, Soto, Hill, Hoffpauir, and Miles, nor is he the reason Ramirez was limited to 342 PAs due to a shoulder injury.”

As much as I like Tim and admire the job he is doing at MLBTR, I completely disagree with him.  True, Milton Bradley’s bad behavior is not to blame for the poor season that Alfonso Soriano, Mike Fontenot, Geovany Soto, et al had in 2009.  He’s also not the reason that Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, et al spent time on the DL.  But that’s not really the point, is it? 

Forget for the moment that the Cubs had any other issues to contend with in 2009.  Just focus on Bradley.  Judge Bradley strictly on the merits of his performance and his behavior.  There’s no doubt that his on field performance was sub-par in 2009, but when you couple it with his unstable, even paranoid behavior and the negative impact it had in the clubhouse, bringing Bradley back for another year is just untenable.  A line has been crossed that can not be uncrossed.  The bridges have been burned.  Jim Hendry must find another home for Bradley and the Cubs must turn the page.

Even if you accept Tim’s contention that Bradley “certainly could improve upon” his 2009 performance, does it really matter when you factor in Bradley’s behavior?  If Bradley didn’t have the history of odd, unstable, inappropriate behavior he has exhibited over the course of his career, then maybe I would agree with Tim.  But no matter his on field performance, the Cubs can not afford the negative impact Bradley’s behavior has on the rest of the team.  Bradley is a talented player and he certaily has the potential to put up some respectable numbers.  Unfortunately, the negative impact of his personality and behavior always outweighs whatever positive impact he provides on the field.

In an article by Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune, Jim Hendry is quoted as saying Joshua didn’t do anything wrong.  He said Joshua was brought in from the minors to replace Gerald Perry in June and was told it was a temporary assignment.  Hendry also told Joshua at the time that he could have his old job back if things didn’t work out.

Later in the article, Derrek Lee is quoted as saying, “I hate to say it, but a hitting coach is overrated.”  He also said that neither Perry nor Joshua were to blame.  If a player doesn’t hit, it’s the player’s fault, not the hitting coach’s.

In addition to looking for a middle-of-the-order bat and a leadoff hitter in the offseason, Hendry will now also be looking for a hitting coach.  What promises to be a busy offseason just got a little busier.

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The season isn’t quite over yet.  Both the Tigers and Twins won yesterday, so they will play a one game playoff today at the Metrodome in Minnesota.  This is the second year in a row the Twins will be playing in a one game playoff.  They lost to the White Sox last year.

-edit- The one game playoff will be held on Tuesday (10/6), not Monday (10/5).

The other teams going to the post season in the AL will be the Yankees, Angels and Red Sox.  The Yankees will await the outcome of today’s game between the Twins and Tigers and will then host the winner.  The Angels will host the Wildcard winning Red Sox to start their best-of-five series.

In the NL, the Rockies will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies beginnning Wednesday afternoon.  The Dodgers will host the Cardinals at Chavez Ravine beginning Wednesday night.

I’m picking the Yankees and Red Sox to survive in the AL, while the Phillies and Cardinals will play for the pennant in the NL.  All Division Series games will be broadcast on TBS

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Alex Rodriguez entered the sixth inning of yesterday’s game against the Rays needing seven RBI to hit 100 for the season.  Time was running out and it didn’t look like he would make it.  What happened next is a new AL record.

 Rodriguez came up with two on and belted a three run homer off Rays pitcher Wade Davis.  The homerun brought him closer to the century mark in RBIs, and Rodriguez thought he might get one more at-bat in the game.  But as the Yankees continued to batter Rays pitching, that at-bat came sooner than ARod thought it might. 

The Yankees half of the sixth inning continued and Rodriguez found himself in the on deck circle when the Rays intentionally walked Mark Teixeira to load the bases.  Rodriguez then delivered his second homerun of the inning, this one a grand slam, giving him seven RBIs in the inning and a new AL record.  His second homerun of the inning was also his 30th homerun of the season, giving him seven consecutive years of 30 or more homeruns.

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I’ve advocated for a salary cap in the past on these pages.  I’m less concerned with a cap controlling a team’s spending as I am in forcing teams like the Pirates and Marlins to spend a minimum amount.  As it is, these teams are spending less on player payroll than they receive in revenue sharing.

Another concern I have with the disparity in spending is that  lower spending teams have trouble competing.  Of course, those who disagree with me point to teams like the Twins who have been at least in the hunt for the plaoffs most of the past decade.  The Marlins are another example.  Not only have they made the playoffs, but they won the World Series, beating the high spending Yankees.

As I’ve said in the past, the low spending teams making the playoffs is the exception that proves the rule.  Murray Chass disagrees with me.  In a recent article, Chass makes the assertion that there is no problem with the system as is and that it should be left alone.  To prove his point, Chass offers the following:

These are the teams, according to their rank in the salary standings, that have made the playoffs the last 10 years. This year’s lineup includes the Tigers and the Rockies, who had not clinched their spots when this was posted. (number in parentheses is the number of teams in the top 8 that were in the playoffs):

• 2009 (6): 1-4-5-6-7-8-12-17
• 2008 (4): 2-5-6-7-9-10-15-28
• 2007 (5): 1-2-5-7-8-22-23-26
• 2006 (3): 1-5-6-12-14-17-19-21
• 2005 (4): 1-2-5-6-10-12-14-16
• 2004 (5): 1-2-3-7-8-11-12-19
• 2003 (3): 1-4-6-10-11-17-23-26
• 2002 (3): 1-4-7-10-13-16-27-28
• 2001 (4): 3-5-6-8-9-12-17-26
• 2000 (3): 1-3-5-12-15-18-25-27

Chass’ point is that in almost every year, there are lower payroll teams in the playoffs.  Here’s my point: In seven of the past ten years, at least four of the top eight highest payroll teams made the playoffs.  And in every one of those 10 years, four of the top twelve spending teams qualified for the post season.  So what you have is the top spending teams claiming four playoff spots every year and the remaining 18-22 teams fighting over the remaining four spots.

I’ll be the first to admit that spending a lot of money doesn’t guarantee a team a spot in the playoffs.  Just look at the 2009 version of the Cubs.  But when money is wisely spent, the team that spends the most usually wins.

Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times is also critical of Hendry.  Primarily, Hayes chastises Hendry for signing Bradley in the first place.  Hayes writes:

When I heard the Cubs were considering signing Bradley, I called a colleague who had spent a lot of time around the troubled outfielder in the past. I was told that Bradley is bright, sincere and passionate. I also learned that he could be moody and sour and that the black cloud that often hovers over him can produce lightning strikes, hurricane warnings and, in extreme cases, nuclear winters.

He continues:

It takes a unique player to excel in one of baseball’s most unique environments, and a cursory examination of Bradley’s history would have revealed that he was not that type of player, not by a long shot. I learned that after checking one reference. One.

As I’ve stated previously, signing Milton Bradley was a disaster waiting to happen.  His suspension is hopefully the end of the disaster.

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Not so fast there, partner.  Bradley’s suspension may not be the end of the disaster afterall.  As I reported previously, the MLBPA may be filing a grievance against the Cubs on Bradley’s behalf.  If they do, Bradley could return to the team before the end of the season.  Paul Sullivan of the Trib writes about the possibilities of Bradley returning before the close of the season:

 With a decided lack of support in the Cubs clubhouse, Bradley’s return could make for some awkward moments during in the final week of the season. The relationship seems unretrievably broken, and all the apologies in the world aren’t going to heal these self-inflicted wounds.

But, just for a second, imagine the possibilities of a Bradley comeback for the last week of the season:

If Ryan Dempster handed Bradley a mirror, would he laugh?

Would Lou Piniella even dare write Bradley’s name in the lineup? And if not, what if hitting coach Von Joshua asked him to pinch hit again?

How would Bradley deal with the media crush that would greet his arrival, making for another potential You Tube moment, like his “What else ya got?” performance last week.

And if Bradley was playing in right field in Wrigley Field in the final homestand, would it lead to a very ugly and perhaps dangerous atmosphere?

That last question really bothers me.  Bradley is a baseball player, not some sort of enemy military figure.  True, he’s a jerk of near epic proportions, but the man does not deserve to fear for his safety from a bunch of ill-mannered fans.  It’s a shame that the question even needs to be asked.

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The aforemention Dave Kaplan has some additional thoughts on Hendry’s future with the Cubs.  He thinks Hendry is the man who can turn around the team in 2010.  But first, he wants to describe some of his mistakes:

Taking two guys like (Kerry) Wood and (Mark) DeRosa who thrived in that environment and replacing them with a guy like Milton Bradley, who was extremely uncomfortable in that situation, was one of the biggest mistakes that Hendry and his staff made in their off season evaluations. Add in the fact that, as one player told me on Monday, Milton Bradley brought tension to the locker room from the first day he joined the team in spring training. No one felt comfortable around him and everyone tried unbelievably hard to make him feel welcome and accepted on the team.

Kaplan also chastises Hendry for bringing in Aaron Miles on a two-year deal when the Cubs already had Andres Blanco in the pipeline.  But in the end, Kaplan throws his support behind Hendry:

Barry Meister is another well known agent who has negotiated with Hendry for several of his clients, and he too likes working with the Cubs GM. “If indeed the Cubs are in recovery mode this off season and they are trying to fix their club then I believe that Jim Hendry is as good as it gets trying to fix a team on the fly,” Meister said.

Add in the fact that Hendry’s work ethic is legendary, and you have a guy who should be extremely motivated to turn around a team that had just about everything go wrong for it in 2009. Teams always want players in their contract year because their performance tends to improve. How about an executive who had a bad season and has new ownership coming in? Sounds to me like the perfect recipe for turning around the Chicago Cubs in 2010.

Hendry has done a lot of good things over the years.  I’ve been a supporter.  But I have to admit that this past off season was horrible for Hendry and the Cubs.  Do we really want the guy that screwed up a team that made it to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons be the guy who also fixes it?  At the moment, I have mixed emotions.  I still think that Hendry can get the job done, but he screwed up big time last year.

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The Astros fired manager Cecil Cooper.  Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle wrote about it here.

I’m not saying that Cooper didn’t deserve to be fired, but what did it accomplish firing him with just 14 games left in the season?  It seems the horse was out of the barn at that point.  Why not just let him stay until the end of the season and then give him the bad news.  Nothing was gained by firing him just before the season ended.

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I was going to write a post about why I hate ESPN Insider, and then I decided just to include it in this post, and then changed my mind once again.  For now, I’ll just say that I hate ESPN Insider and one of these days I’ll tell you why.

So what’s happened since the last time I posted?  Let’s see:

• The Cubs took three-out-of-four from the Brewers
• The Cubs split a four game series with St. Louis
• During the home stand, the Cubs went 6-4 to bring their record to 43-43 on the year, and 3.5 games behind the division leading Cardinals.
• The Cubs are tied for third place in the NL Central with Houston…Houston?  Where did they come from?
• Ted Lilly was selected to represent the Cubs at the All-Star game.  I guess someone had to go and Lilly is as deserving as anyone.
• Alfonso Soriano was moved out of the lead-off spot (finally) in favor of Sam Fuld.  Fuld played CF against the Cardinals and Soriano batted fifth.
• Milton Bradley is hitting just .243, but he claims he’s figured out what he is doing wrong and will have a much better second half.  I hope so.  Bradley has been working with Cubs hitting coach Von Joshua and thinks he’s found what he’s doing wrong.
• Rumor has it that the Cubs are interested in B.J Ryan, who was released by the Blue Jays last week.  Ryan is owed $15 million over the next year-and-a-half, but would only cost the Cubs the league minimum with Toronto picking up the balance.  This is a good risk.  Ryan won’t be the closer (I hope), but could become a killer LOOGY.
• Roy Halladay is rumored to be on the trade block, but the Cubs are not rumored to be interested in him.  Is Jim Hendry really not interested or is he just playing it cool?  Of course, it could be that the Cubs 1) don’t have the budget room to take on Halladay’s contract, 2) don’t have the prospects that will be needed to get Halladay, or both.
• The Cubs may file for bankruptcy in order to clear some debt from the books.  Supposedly, this could speed up the sale process and put Tom Ricketts in charge.  If it will help the Cubs get some help before the trade deadline, I’m all for it.

Now we’re all back up to speed.  The All-Star game is tomorrow (in St. Louis) and then after an off-day, the Cubs travel to Washington to take on the Nationals.

Obviously, I kid.  The move had no real impact and probably won’t for a while, if at all.  It’s hard to put any real blame on Perry for the Cubs hitting woes.  I don’t think any hitting coach could be so inept that he causes the kind of problems the Cubs hitters have had this year.

Having said that, I think there were some problems with Perry.  I noticed that Lou Piniella had to get involved a lot when guys were in extended slumps.  It’s great that Lou has the ability to get involved and make a difference, but if the hitting coach is doing his job, Lou shouldn’t have to.  It seems to me that in too many instances,. Lou had to.

Even so, I don’t think that switching hitting coaches is the cure to the Cubs’ ills.  Von Joshua, no matter how good he is, isn’t going to fix Milton Bradley’s head.  He’s not going to make Lee into a power hitter again.  And he’s not going to make Aramis Ramiez heal faster.

If Joshua wants to know where to start, here’s a list of the guys hitting less than .250:  

• Ryan Freel    .167/.211/.167
• Aaron Miles    .200/.240/.252
• Andreas Blanco  .212/.278/.303
• Geovany Soto    .223/.332/.318
• Milton Bradley    .227/.335/.383
• Alfonso Soriano  .229/.296/.454
• Mike Fontenot    .236/.324/.396
• Bobby Scales  .241/.333/.466
• Koyie Hill  .246/358/.386