A number of years ago, Mike & I used to amuse ourselves in the bleachers by nominating some poor stiff to be "Worst Cub Of All-Time".
Some of the nominees in past years were Dan Briggs, an outfielder who inexplicably made the Opening Day 1982 roster and went 6-for-48; Jeff Kunkel, who played several positions, none of them well (and went 4-for-29) -- oddly, both of those guys wore uniform #11 -- and later on, Todd Pratt, who in his .133/.209/.167 season on the North Side once hesitated while on third base in the bottom of the 12th in a tie game when a wild pitch was thrown, and thus was thrown out; the Cubs eventually lost the game. That was 11 years ago; Pratt landed on his feet and has become a pretty good backup catcher since then.
I mention this because I am seriously considering Rich Hill for this honor.
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Look, I'd love it if Hill succeeded, because the Cubs could desperately use a good starting pitcher. But I just don't see it. The only positive thing I can say here is that Hill's ERA in his two career starts vs. Arizona (6.30) is lower than his overall ERA (9.32).
This is what Mike would call "praising with faint damns", so I'll quit.
I am confused as to why the Diamondbacks are starting a guy who used to draw pictures of pinup girls... oh. That's Alberto Vargas.
Against Claudio Vargas, Juan Pierre is 8-for-14 lifetime, and just in time, new Cub Cesar Izturis is 3-for-8. FWIW, Izturis also has a lifetime average of .344 (11-for-32) in Wrigley Field.
Finally, despite this diary indicating Juan Mateo will be called up today from Double-A to throw in the bullpen, the current 25-man roster still has only 24 players listed (Izturis is shown with no uniform number).
Discuss amongst yourselves.