2013 Quarry Unlimited - #21 Chicago Cubs Part 2

The Cubs to me exemplify a nasty by-product of modern baseball, easy excuses for non-competitive teams.  The Cubs are a large-market team that is capable of spending a lot of money on salary.  Maybe they can't compete with the Yankees and the Dodgers at the top of the pyramid, but there is no reason they shouldn't be at the next level with the Red Sox, Rangers, and Mets.  However, they are building their team in the same way a super small-market team like the Rays or A's have to.  The Cubs should never say they won't be competitive for a couple more years until their top prospects are ready and their fans shouldn't accept that statement.  Look at the Red Sox, they could have stayed at the bottom of the league for a few years and collected high draft picks, but they tried.  They signed solid veterans to 3 year deals and turned it into a World Championship.  Meanwhile the Cubs signed 16 year old kids that might help in 2021 or so.  I understand why the Twins or Royals have to wait so long to rebuild, because they don't have the revenue, but for the Cubs to just sit back and wait is ridiculous.  Anyway, let's go ahead and take a look at the second half of the 2013 Chicago Cubs.

My Top 5 Cubs Cards
1. Carlos Villanueva
2. Dave Sappelt
3. Julio Borbon
4. Dioner Navarro
5. Thomas Neal

How can you not love a card where the subject looks like he should be tying a screaming woman to a set of railroad tracks?  Great 'stache.  The one thing I love about Cubs cards is the presence of the Lake Michigan seagulls.  The early season/pre-ivy Dave Sappelt here is no exception.  Sliding into third base has recently become a somewhat classic shot.  I'm surprised it was never done earlier.  Third base was a lot easier for photographers to shoot even with non-digital cameras.  Finally, the Navarro and the Neal bring to mind the old Wide World of Sports phrase, 'the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.'  Here Navarro displays a nice thrill of victory while Neal unfortunately shows the other side of the coin. 



Coming Monday - #22 San Diego Padres

Thanx for reading.

2013 Quarry Unlimited - #21 Chicago Cubs Part 1

Another team that has fallen a bit on my list is the #21 team, the Chicago Cubs.  The reason that the Cubs have fallen on my list is because it is now the return of the game that is played every 10-15 years or so.  It is a game I like to call, "Let's Overrate the Cubs' Prospects."  When LOCP was last seen, the likes of Felix Pie, Mark Prior, and Corey Patterson were supposed to be the next Hall of Famers to come out of the Cubs' system.  Granted Prior had a good year or 2, but he was made of glass.  Pie and Patterson were colossal busts.  Now we have what is being referred to as the "Big Four" with Kris Bryant, Albert Almora, Jorge Soler, and Javier Baez.  Once again some Cubs fans are ready to carve them into a new Mount Rushmore and it just a little too much.  If they turn into stars then that is great for the franchise, but as of right now they have accomplished just as much in the big leagues as me...nothing.  There are some really great Cubs fans that I have met online, in fact most of them are great.  However, this is a case of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch.  For now, let's take at some team trivia.

CUBS TEAM TRIVIA

# of players to play in a Cubs game (1993-2013) - 458

# of those players to have a Cubs card (as of today) - 349

% of Cubs players to appear on a Cubs card - 76.2%

Big names left out - Ben Grieve, Orlando Merced, Phil Nevin

# of new Cubs in 2013 - 35

Total # of Cubs in 2013 - 56

position on last year's list --   #18    =  DOWN 3

Let's take a look at the first half of the 2013 Chicago Cubs with the team card leading the way.

I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2.

Thanx for reading.