Hire Jim Essian

Last season, I felt jusified in beginning this chant for Aramis Ramirez after he hit his dramatic lead-changing, walkoff homerun last year against the Brewers. Of course, it's hard to give the award to a player whose team squeaks into the playoffs with 85 wins. Conversely, it's hard to give it to one player on a team so dominant that ... Read More

On this date in 1969, the Philadelphia Phillies made the wise decision to sign a catcher by the name of James Sarkis Essian Jr. They gave the young man a chance to put together a solid, 12-season Major League Baseball career and to have a moment of glory as interim manager for the 1991 Chicago Cubs. Since that ... Read More

Thanks for keeping Jim Essian's seat warm. Have a couple for me, you cantankerous old bastard. ... Read More

A week ago, we sized up the final six weeks of the Cubs' season and developed a scenario where the Cubs could have the division wrapped up with a week to go, where they could spend that final week setting up their playoff rotation while also playing spoiler to the Brewers and Mets. The first phase of this stretch run concludes ... Read More

Kermit is going out of town tonight and staying out of town until Monday, so the whole HJE gang is allowed take a breather if they want to. I can't speak for Mike D., but I'm going to take advantage of it. But I wouldn't dare leave you idiots without anything to read this week, so I'm doing ... Read More

Nah, just kidding. It's dumb again. That's 1,023 horrible questions in a row, if you're keeping track. Of course, if you are, you're dumber than a Muskbag. I only do it because it's my job. My free job. How much longer is manager Lou Piniella willing to give Fukudome to get his offense going before he ... Read More

.500 seasons are rare for us. It wasn't until 2004 that the Cubs enjoyed back-to-back .500 seasons for the first time since 1972, which also happened to be the year I was born. In that time, the Cubs finished a season .500 or better a ten times--with last night's thrashing of Pittsburgh marking the eleventh. So hitting 81 ... Read More

I was talking with Pre the other day, and Pre made the astute observation (thank you, Pre) that Alfonso Soriano's recent "Player Perspectives" essay was clearly a punishment handed to him by Lou Piniella for not running out a recent deep fly ball. It's clear that Soriano had help on the essay. Fortunately, HJE was able to get ... Read More

VS. Neal Cotts Bobby Howry ... Read More

So, Carlos Zambrano went out and beat the Reds even after chewing his gum so hard that he cracked a molar? I'm not sure if that's badass or completely ridiculous. Either way, the magic number is at 30 with 35 games left to play. So, even if the Brewers win out, all we have to do is ... Read More