The baseball season starts in just three short days with Sunday night’s Yankees vs. Red Sox matchup at Fenway Park. Today, a Hidden Track tradition started in 2007 continues where we chat with of our favorite musicians about their love for America’s past time. For the first part of this year’s Baseball Preview, we asked them for predictions on the upcoming season, while the second part of our questionnaire got a bit more personal.
Batting third for the 2010 Hidden Track Baseball Preview is Umphrey’s McGee keyboardist Joel Cummins. Joel participated in our first Baseball Preview and we’re excited to have him back to talk about his beloved Cubs, his predictions for 2010, Nachos For Two and much more…
Part One – Predictions
Hidden Track: What team do you think will win the World Series and what team will they beat in that final series?
Joel Cummins: The Boston Red Sox will defeat the St. Louis Cardinals-if they don’t trade Pujols to the Phillies for Ryan Howard- four games to two. If the trade happens, Philadelphia will go to the World Series again.
The Red Sox made some nice pickups at the end of last year and in the offseason. Adding the leadership and skill of catcher Victor Martinez was a huge move for them last year. Adding John Lackey gives their pitching a great top three starters, which is what you need once you hit the playoffs. That’s not even considering that Daisuke might return to his former dominance.
Closer Jonathan Papelbon’s clutch pitching will continue to anchor this team. Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia provide for a youthful, speedy and relentless 1-2 punch in the batting order again this year. Experience should only help both of them. Big Papi is really the other big question for this lineup. While his stat line, minus batting average, ended up looking serviceable by the end of ’09, his bat speed has clearly slowed a bit. That being said, he is surely determined to come back with avengence and prove steroid nay-sayers wrong. Marco Scutaro, SS, Mike Cameron, OF, and Adrian Beltre, 3B, rounded out the impact pickups for the suddenly deep and even more formidable BoSox.
The St. Louis Cardinals have the best player in baseball. Sadly (except for the fact that I am a Cubs fan), they are trying to trade him because they cannot afford to resign him once he becomes a free agent in 2011. He is Albert Pujols, the best pure hitter in the league as of right now, and a very good first baseman defensively. Around him in the lineup are Matt Holliday, LF, another of the game’s best hitters and the young but improving Ryan Ludwick, who will no doubt see many good pitches hitting behind Pujols and Holliday. With Adam Wainwright emerging as a number one pitcher and Chris Carpenter apparently healthy, the Cards’ nucleus is as good as any. Closer Ryan Franklin’s durability adds to his worth, but can the aging hurler get through another year without opposing hitters finally solving him?
READ ON for more of Joel’s thoughts on the upcoming season…
The Hidden Track Baseball Preview is coming to a close with two final columns. Today we feature an essay from Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee about the Chicago Cubs. After we gave his band mates Ryan Stasik and Andy Farag a chance to talk about their teams, we thought it only right to get Joel’s thoughts on the Cubs. UM’s keyboard specialist took his assignment seriously, retuning an essay worthy of the Sun-Times sports section. Kudos to Cummins for taking our bait and landing multiple shots at Stasik’s Bucs. Take it away Joel…..
Spending over $300 million dollars in the offseason had to be an enjoyable endeavor for Cubs GM Jim Hendry. After a dismal finish in ’06, a complete overhaul of the club was necessary, and (almost) completed by Opening Day with the exception of a soon-to-be-finished contract extension for perennial All-Star pitcher Carlos Zambrano. Hendry’s job wasn’t just to rise back above the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, he wants to win the division and get his club into the World Series now.
Starting at the top, new manager and former World Series champion as a player and manager, Lou Piniella brings fire and urgency to the entire club. Given the key additions of superstar Alfonso Soriano, veteran pitchers Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis, second baseman Mark DeRosa, slugger Cliff Floyd and pinch hitting specialist Daryle Ward, Piniella knows that winning will be the only acceptable result in ’07.
Read on for the rest of Joel’s carefully crafted Cubs column…
