a.
greed.

I know this view is pretty unpopular, but I was fucking giddy to see Kerry Wood go, for similarly knee jerk emotional reasons. Dude got more mileage out of scruffy facial hair and a scowl than anybody except Erstad. When he missed time down the stretch because of his stigmata blister problem, he forfeited any right to be called “gritty” or “a gamer” or “gutsy.” So, yeah, I agree w/r/t DeRosa, but wish the Cardinals had picked up Wood too, because that guy could do way more damage to them, especially in the hands of The Genius.

Point of clarification: Mark DeRosa participated in 3 times as many Cubs wins as Candy Maldonado.

Maldonado participated in one, DeRosa three.

“He was arguably the team MVP last season, in fact.”

Sure, you can make that argument. Phil Rogers made the argument that Zambrano ought to be waived, too.

Of course accepting such an argument completely dismisses much better arguments such as “Mark DeRosa was much less valuable to the team than: Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Dempster, Carlos Marmol, Geovany Soto, or, perhaps, Kerry Wood”.

Guess where he ranked on the OPS+ list? If you guessed 4th, you’d be correct. How about RC (runs created), which measures that player’s contribution to the amount of runs the team scored? DeRosa was 3rd, behind Lee and ARam. He was just ahead of Soto and Soriano, but he also had 30 more PAs than Soto and 90 more than Soriano.

I haven’t even gotten into the pitching staff.

I guess this is just one long-winded way of saying, “Mark DeRosa was a very useful player last year, but he was no where near the team MVP and arguing for such things is exactly what makes dopes like the average Cubs fan cheer when he comes up in a tie ballgame for the opposing team. Please stop saying and writing things like that.”

Great article, miked. The Derosa love here in Chicago is nuts and I can’t add anything to your commentary.

But I think your original comment about the number of playoff victories was correct. Ole Stubbleface was only on the 2007-2009 Cub teams which were swept. Unless I mis-read your story and/ot tj’s comment. Which is very possible.

No, Mike:

Candy Maldonado played in Game 2 of the 1989 NLCS (Cubs win, Maldonado made a few outs).

Mark DeRosa was dogshit in Games 1, 3 and 5 for the Braves in the 2003 NLDS (All Cubs’ wins).

Mark DeRosa sat next to Bobby Cox during Game 4 (a Cubs loss).

So, Mark DeRosa has yet to play in a winning Wrigley Field playoff game.

I hope you know I was not give DeRo a standing ovation, and I totally agree that his so-called intangibles are staggeringly overrated, precisely because he did NOTHING in either NLDS series for us.

I’d still rather have him than Freel and Miles. If he were playing second, with Font and Blanco as backups, there would be more hope in Mudville right now.

Of course, I’d rather have the rotting corpses of Jacko and Billy Mays than Freel and Miles.

BTW: wonder how the guys at killbillymays.com feel today?

Originally Posted By PenFoeI get hating Cubs fans for, well…pretty much everything.
Giving DeRosa a standing ovation in a critical situation is beyond dumb.

But there’s no reason to hate on DeRosa for his time with the Cubs.
You point out his two, agreeably major lapses during the playoffs, but you fail to point out that he also went 7-21 in October the last two years with an OPS of .833 and 1.083 (I’m sure someone else can figure out his combined playoff OPS as a Cub, it lies somewhere between those two numbers.)

He’s one of the very few players that have overachieved while on the Cubs. He was signed to a very reasonable contract, played solid ball the entire time he was here and did it all around the field.

Now that he’s a Cardinal, he obviously deserves to be hated, but directing your hate at him for some gushing quotes and couple playoff mistakes is misdirected.

Agreed. Moreover, I don’t necessarily hate DeRosa at all. In fact, I liked him plenty as a Cub. But, he came and went as most journeyman like himself do. Do I think the Cubs should still have him on the team? Sure. However, there is a line drawn there somewhere between sanity and losing-your-mind-and-cheering-for-an-opposing-player-when-the-game-is-tied-in-the-bottom-of-the-8th lunacy that I doubt I’ll ever cross.

I’m with Pen, which I’m sure he’s psyched about. I hate the Cub fans that love DeRosa. I hate the Cardinals more than I hate DeRosa, and he’s now merely guilty by association.

I’m not gonna say I wanted to see DeRosa go and and I’m not gonna deny I wanted him back. I fucking hate Aaron Miles, Farney Freel, and Fontenot remains a fill in player in my eyes. I like Blanco, but he’s still a rook and not the long term answer. DeRosa is currently better than any of these guys put together and he led the Cubs in runs scored last year, although considering that the rest of the team can’t drive in runs, that’s probably a moot point. What annoys me is that Hendry gave this guy away for nothing and now he’s been dealt to our division rival, where like it or not, he can help them down the stretch. That’s not good. With Ramirez coming back (hopefully soon) maybe things will turn around for the Cubs, as the division remains close.

However, I for one will not cheer DeRosa in an Indians or a Cardinals jersey.

This whole thing seems like a misdirection by Hendry so we don’t see how screwed Bobby Scales is getting.

@murcer –

His UZR would suggest he did NOT in fact play great defense. Who are you to suggest he played harder than anyone else? Let me guess: you watch the games, right?

Originally Posted By Adam Bthis needed to be said. why do cub fans get off on hating our team so much that an opposing player is cheered in a crucial situation?

but of course, i saw far too many MARK PRIOR jerseys at Comiskey on friday, so i guess expecting rational, supportive behavior from such misanthropes is a little beyond the pale at this point.

At least they weren’t Sammy Sosa jerseys!

I think I’m on record here that I only really had two issues with the DeRosa trade:

1) For allegedly “selling high,” Hendry didn’t get jack shit to help the ballclub this year. It looked like the prospects he received were moving parts in a Peavy deal, but now that we need hitting and bullpen help, they look like players that won’t contribute to the betterment of the team for a while.

2) Hendry replaced DeRosa with Aaron Fucking Miles.

I think it sucks that he ended up with St. Louis, because I’d much rather have him playing infield for us than the Triple-A squad that we’ve seen most of the season. But I’m not going to cry over it, nor give him a standing ovation when he shows up at Wrigley in opposing colors (that’s reserved for long-time Cubs, like Wood, Grace, Dawson, etc.)

I have nothing bad or snarky to say about DeRo’s time as a Cub, though. The guy gave us pretty good production at a reasonable price, and was a key contributor to two division titles. I have good memories of him as a Cub, but that’s all they are: nice memories of two decent, but ultimately frustrating seasons.

I’ll have no trouble hating him now, though. One look at that photo of him mugging in that ugly, bathtub-meth-soaked St. Louis uniform has me rooting for him to get a Z. fastball in the ribs during his first Wrigley at-bat next week. Provided Carlos could find that sort of accuracy right now, which I’m not sure he could.