I took Griff to an Arizona Fall League game yesterday.  The AFL is basically a Minor League All Star league, each MLB team will send their best 3-5 minor leaguers to form 6 teams.  I love going to MLB games, but there’s just something special about going to a game in a small stadium where you are right next to the players, can hear them chat with each other, and hear every umpire’s call.  This was at Ho Ho Kam park, where the Cubs have their spring training, which is about 5 minutes from where we live.

Hopefully this was the first of about 8,000 games that I can take Griff to.  I can only hope that he loves baseball as much as I do, we’re off to a good start.

On a side note, the man circled with an arrow pointing to him is Jim Hendry.  He is the General Manager of the Cubs.

I thought about stopping and speaking my peace about the state of the Cubs but decided instead to just pretend like Griff and I were walking back and forth a couple of times.  If I did say something, these were a few thoughts going through my mind:

1.  Are you sure Mike Quade knows how to manage a team?

2. Please don’t sign Aaron Miles, or anyone like him, to multi-year contracts with player options for additional years ever again.

3.  Please quit giving every player that asks for one a complete no-trade clause (how does Jeff Samardjaiadjiaza have a no-trade clause?).  It makes them immovable when they inevitably start playing terrible by year one or two of the contract (or before the ink is even dry).

4.  If you sign Adam Dunn this offseason, please follow the guidelines outlined in #2 and #3.  You and I have both seen him almost single handedly destroy every building on Sheffield with the monster bombs he hits off Zambrano every year.  But once you sign him, you will realize this doesn’t happen every day, only the days he played the Cubs.  That does not make him worth 6 years/$120 million, with a player option for a 7th at $20 million, and a no-trade clause.  See?  That was easy.

5.  When someone has a “career year”, it does not mean they are going to continue playing at that level ever again and don’t pay them like they will.  There’s a reason it’s called a career year. See: Soriano, Alfonso; Bradley, Milton; Fukudome, Kosuke; Pierre, Juan.