Why Corey Patterson Should Return to the Chicago Cubs

Steve Tutaj — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:44:26 -0500

Corey Patterson, one of the Chicago Cubs’ most disappointing prospects in recent memory, just might hold the key to preserving the future of several current Cubs prospects.

The only position battle the Cubs enter Spring Training with is in center field.

Highly touted prospect Felix Pie will battle fellow youngster Sam Fuld for the chance to crash into the ivy-less brick walls at Wrigley Field on Opening Day.

Both of these young men bring excellent defense and speed to the table, with Pie having the highest offensive ceiling. That being said, it may very well be true that neither is ready to take the everyday job for a veteran team trying to break a 100-year Championship drought.

Enter Corey Patterson. Many Cubs fans may cringe at the thought of the object of their scorn returning to Chicago. The young man definitely struggled to live up to expectations, and his flashes of brilliance only made his penchant for long slumps and strikeouts even more maddening.

Since moving on to Baltimore in 2006, Patterson has made improvements in his game. He has cut down on his strikeouts from 118 in 2005 (451 ab) to 65 in 2007 (461 ab). His baserunning, another disappointing aspect of his play in Chicago, has finally matured to match his speed, and he averaged 42 stolen bases over the past two years despite a .309 on-base percentage.

No player in the majors with a worse obp had more steals than Patterson. In fact, Patterson had as many steals as Ichiro Suzuki, who had an obp of .396. In short, when Corey gets on base, he’s likely on the move. And in the National League, an elite base stealing pinch runner can definitely make a difference in the win column.

While Patterson’s defense certainly remains near tops in the league, the Cubs will likely have little use for a defensive switch as Pie and Fuld are both excellent defenders, Alfonso Soriano led the NL in assists, and some say Kosuke Fukudome can win a gold glove this year.

At this point in his career, nobody expects Patterson to meet expectations that existed as recently as 2004. However, you can expect a .270 avg, .310 obp, 10 homers, and very few walks combined with speed on the basepaths and excellent defense. Is this anything less than Cubs fans can expect from Pie or Fuld in their first full season in the majors?

Whoever loses the Pie/Fuld battle will find themselves as the 5^th outfielder off the bench. This equates to being used for sacrifice bunts, pinch running, and keeping the dugout stocked with Big League Chew. Wouldn’t the losing youngster be better off fine tuning his game at Triple-A Iowa? Furthermore, if Pie wins the starting nod and struggles the first two months, don’t the Cubs risk destroying his confidence, a la Patterson, and losing out on his talent for good?

With Patterson on board, the Cubs would have a proven centerfielder ready to step in and let the young prospects mature at their own speed. Additionally, if Lou Piniella and management start to see signs that Pie won’t live up to the hype, Patterson can provide enough cover for the Cubs to trade Pie while he still has some value in July for some late-season help.

Corey just may have a positive impact on another top Cubs prospect as well, his brother Eric. Eric Patterson is currently digging his way out of Piniella’s doghouse after showing up late or a meeting last Fall and being immediately demoted back to Double-A. Having a brother on the big league club can only serve as more motivation for Eric to stay focused and keep preparing for his next shot in the majors (which will most likely come at the expense of a Mark DeRosa trip to the DL).

A $2-3M one-year deal for Patterson seems like a small risk to take for a $120M payroll. The Cubs have a club that can contend for the NL pennant, and they have the financial ability to strengthen a potential weakness on the team. At worst, they get one of the best pinch runners in the league. At best, they get a decent, veteran centerfielder who still has some upside while also relieving the pressure on their top prospects to produce immediately for a contending team.

Maybe Corey Patterson can’t erase the memory of his disappointments, but he can play a part in ending the 100-year drought, or the 101-year drought, or the 102-year drought...

Chris Berman Interesting Once Again!

Steve Tutaj — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:10:54 -0500

Boy was I wrong.

Last February I wrote an article here that suggested it was time for ESPN to part ways with Chris Berman. I argued that his brand of shenanigans had lost their meaning and effect in the maturing ESPN brand. More regrettably, Berman had just become annoying and painful to watch.

One year later, Berman couldn’t be more entertaining television. No, his “Greatest Highlight” series isn’t what has my attention. In fact, nothing he’s done on air has had my attention for years. Instead, it’s the recently released video of the Swami’s antics off the air that are his greatest work.

Now in all fairness to the man, there is no doubt that we would all have embarrassing moments caught on tape if a camera was in front of our face for 20+ years. We all have our moments of disdain for our coworkers and we even mock our friends from time to time. Not everything we say or do is meant for all to hear and see. I don’t take offense to the recently released videos of Berman talking about smuggling drugs across the border from Canada or ripping into his video crew, I actually find them among his best work ever.

Imagine if the “Greatest Highlight” was replaced nightly by the “Greatest Berman Rant.” Now they are both equally irrelevant sports journalism pieces, but the rants are 100x more entertaining. Viewers would hush the room to see what Berman was up to when the cameras kept rolling, not hit the mute button and wait for his segment to end. If ESPN really insisted on a poll-based bracket, they could even let the viewers decide which moment was the greatest ever. One might even consider an “On-air or Off-air” challenge where you must determine if the video clip was televised or not. ESPN could fill a vault with embarrassing Berman tape that has aired; imagine what they have on him that occurred off-air.

Some internet sites have proposed that the release of these videos is an inside job by someone at ESPN in an effort to push Berman out the door. Whether the conspiracy theory is true or not, these videos will do anything but hasten Berman’s departure. For one, ESPN’s execs will certainly not allow their anchor icon to be so rudely dismissed for some dirty laundry. More importantly, Chris Berman is actually interesting again. This man isn’t a clown anymore, but instead, he’s an edgy anchor who could snap at any minute and have a meltdown for the ages.

Please ESPN, do not end your association with a founding father. Embrace this opportunity. Encourage all your producers to post their own videos of Chris Berman. Start a new “Swami’s Final Thought” segment at the end of every SportsCenter. Take Berman off his leash and let him run wild. Who knows, he might even bite somebody.

Bleacher Report - Articles by Steve Tutaj

Why Corey Patterson Should Return to the Chicago Cubs

Chris Berman Interesting Once Again!