Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard This Before

The USA Today style chart below shows the number of mentions in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times of three key players who are no longer on the team in 2009, from April 1st to August 1st this year (therefore, it excludes offseason chatter about their trades, and only includes articles in the local papers during this baseball season). One of the three players was a team legend who left after 11 seasons, with many, many fans angry that he would not be coming back, unable to imagine him playing for another team. One leading Cubs blogger even suggested that John Grabow was “not allowed” to wear his usual uniform number on the Cubs, because it was the same as this ex-Cub legend. The other two were journeyman free agents (fifth starter, super utility man) who were traded two years into their three year deals. One guy got mentioned 140 times so far this season, more than half the number last year, despite not being on the team anymore, and nearly 50% more than the next guy. I wonder which one? Articles Mentioning 3 Ex-Cubs During 2009 Season by Local Papers Of course DeRosa is C, getting mentioned in more articles in Chicago than games the Cubs have played without him so far this year. Do I have a point? Not really. I don’t know if the DeRosa obsession in the media reflects the fans’, or if the fans’ obsession reflects the media’s. I’m just ******* sick of hearing about Mark DeRosa, with the straw that broke my camel’s back being the article by Carrie Muskat yesterday about trade targets saying Hendry and Piniella were “looking for a left-handed Mark DeRosa.” I guess with DeRosa playing well despite his wrist injury and being on the Cardinals, the Cubs’ main rival, that this situation is only going to get worse as the year goes on (unless the Cubs pass the Cards by several games in the standings in the near term, which is unlikely). I apologize for contributing to it, and will now go and shave my head with a cheese grater while chewing on tin foil.