» Carlos

Briefly before the Cubs were set to take on the Indians Lou Piniella announced that it was Kevin Gregg who would close for the Cubs and not Carlos Marmol. This is hardly surprising, Marmol has struggled with his control all Spring and has hit 5 batters. Kevin Gregg has not surrendered a run all Spring. Gregg also has more saves saving 61 games over the past two seasons.

Marmol will settle for the set-up role, and is still expected to have one hell of a season.

Just Play Ball

In light of a few blog posts by my co-writers over the past few dayst it got me thinking about past Cubs predictions, whether it be Carlos Zambrano predicting a Cy Young award for himself, or Ryan Dempster predicting a world series win for the Cubs, and it leads me to believe that predictions are negative, who do they help? does it not just place a target on your back? Someone says that they are going to win, is your first thought not that you want to prove them wrong, we are all competitive people, we enjoy sports for many reasons but the competitive aspect is one that i personally adore, and that’s why i love baseball. In baseball we don’t just see team v team, we see hitter v pitcher, manager v manager. Should he bring in a leftie to face the leftie? is the batter expecting a fast ball or a curveball? In a game of baseball there are many competitions in just one game.

Are any of the Cubs going to win awards this season? probably not, we have no rookies really capable of winning the ROTY award like Soto last seaso, I don’t believe that we have the best pitcher in the game capable of winning the CY young award, and i don’t believe we have the hitter to win the MVP. Does it matter? Do you think that the Phillies minded last season when Albert Pujols took home the MVP and Tim Lincecum took home the CY Young award? of course they didn’t, they took home the only award that ever mattered, the world series title. A player can be pleased with a personal achievement but as a team the only thing that matters is the World Series.

I’m happy that this year, there have been no bold predictions from Ryan Dempster or Carlos Zambrano, or any other Cubs player, because it doesn’t matter what you say, it’s all about what you do on the field, for all i know Zambrano will win the CY Young this year and Aramis Ramirez will win the MVP, but at the end of the year if we are not World Series champions will that matter? to me it wont. So why do players make predictions, Jimmy Rollins talks, so did Carlos Beltran, personally speaking there hasn’t been a gurantee that has worked since Joe Namath guranteed victory for the Jets in Superbowl three, so leave the talking to the press, and do your business on the field. I don’t want any extra pressure put on us, the media and the 101 years will do that for us.

So like Joe Garagiola would say ‘JUST PLAY BALL’

Sean Marshall Secures 5th spot

I have been quite busy over the past 24-48 hours with work and some cricket, a great game that should be more popular in the US if you ask me. However i did hear that Sean Marshall will be the Cubs 5th starter this season. I am absolutely delighted about this, Sean has done a great job over the past couple years doing whatever he was asked, leftie relief, some spot starts and he did a commendable job every time.

This means that Aaron Helman will move into the bullpen and Jeff Samardzija will either move with Heilman to the bullpen or move down to AAA as a starter to stay stretched out.

The Cubs will carry 12 pitchers this season, this includes the five starters, Zambrano/Dempster/Harden/Lilly and Marshall. Lou commented that 5 spots in the bullpen have already been secured, likely Marmol/Gregg/Cotts/Heilman and Vizcaino, which means there are two spots still up for grabs, Samardzija/Gaudin and David Patton who has done well this spring with a 1.17 ERA as well as Randy Wells.

David Patton has never pitched above A ball, so to think that he will start the season with the Cubs is a long shot, however the way that he is pitching has led Lou Piniella to say that he is in the mix, and if he continues to impress then why not give him a go.

Zambrano will start Opening Day

If you remember last off-season, Carlos Zambrano was quoted as saying that he didn’t want to start opening day, was he joking? probably, but the stats don’t lie. Zambrano is set to make his 5th concecutive opening day start this year, after manager Lou Piniella chose him instead of Ryan Dempster to take the mound to kick the Cubs season off.

Zambrano is yet to win a opening day start, last season he took the 3-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field, although signs of maturity are coming through in Zambrano, some people have suggested that it is because of his pumped up nature that he has been unable to control him emotions and been wild on opening day, however there have been no World Series predictions, no CY Young predictions from the Ace, even if he does not see himself as the ace of the Cubs pitching staff. It is probably worth mentioning that just because he did not get the win last year, doesn’t mean that he was not effective. Zambrano did pitch 6.2 innings of 0 run ball, all three Cubs runs came on the Fukudome homer in the 9th.

When told of his start on opening day, Zambrano commented that the Cubs don’t have a ace, they have four in himself, Harden, Dempster and Ted Lilly. Zambrano seems happy to share the linelight and pressure amongst his team mates, which can surely only be a positive in the long run.

Carlos Zambrano faced six hitters in Mondays game against Arizona and he struck out three of them. Zambrano looked in mid-season form in his first cactus league game, by not allowing any hits, or any runs in two innings of work. Carlos Marmol struck out 2 of the 3 batters that he faced in his inning of work. Marmol looked a lot sharper in his second appearence of the Spring.

Cubs batters were a little bit quiet in this one, Andres Blanco plated the only Cubs run with a RBI double. However it was the defense that sparkled the most. A day after a defensive nightmare, there were two highlight reel defensive plays, Joey Gathright made a diving grab in the 3rd inning, and Mike Fontenot threw a runner out at the plate in the 7th inning.

Cubs lose 9-1 to the D-Backs but the pitching and defense looked good.

Brad Snyder hit a grand slam to put the Cubs as the only National league team to start the spring unbeaten. The Cubs used a 9 run 7th to beat the cross town rival White Sox 13-0. Micah Hoffpauier continued his strong spring with a RBI double, giving him 8 RBI’s in 4 games. Koyie Hill who is battling for the back-up catchers role also knocked in a pair with a 2 run double.

Aaron Heilman made the most of his spring start, striking out 4 of the 7 hitters that he faced. Heilman will battle Marshall, Guzman and Samardzija, for the 5th starters role in the Cubs rotation heading into the new season. Kevin Gregg who is batling Carlos Marmol for the closers role gave up one hit and struck out one batter in one inning of work.

The Cubs sit atop the cactus league standings after starting a perfect 4-0.

In other news:

Carlos Marmol has decided that he wil pitch in the WBC. Lou has told Marmol that it will not effect the battle for the closers role, and he will still be able to compete when he returns.

Corey Koskie and the Chicago Cubs agreed to a minor league contract today. Koskie will join the Cubs when team Canada are finished playing in the WBC. Koskie might be that cover for 3rd base the Cubs have been looking for all spring.

Players line up before the Brewers game

Any time we beat a NL Central opponent i get a good feeling, yes i know its spring training before you all start mentioning that it is pointless. We saw our first glance of Milton Bradley, even if it was a fleeting one, Milton worked a walk in his first and only AB and then was lifted as a precautionary measure after feeling some tightness in his quad.

Jake Fox who is trying to find a position with the Cubs helped his cause by belting a 3 run shot in the third inning, Joey Gathright had 3 singles, a RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.

Sean Marshall who is battling for the 5th starters role gave up 1 run on 4 hits over 2 innings of work. Chad Gaudin hit a double while pitching one inning. Carlos Marmol gave up one run in one inning of work, and Angel Guzman picked up the save.

The Cubs move to 2-0 this spring. We now head to face the Texas Rangers with Ted Lilly getting the start.

Lilly to pitch before heading out to WBC

With the opening game in the cactus league just 2 days away, pitchers are starting to be designated games to pitch over the coming week. As i stated in my last post, Jeff Samardzija will pitch the opening Cactus League game on Wednesday at HoHoKam park against the team that swept the Cubs out of the play-offs last season. Mitch Atkins, who impressed at AAA last season will also pitch two innings in the game against the Dodgers.

Sean Marshall who like Jeff Samardzija is battling for the 5th starters role will pitch Thursday against the NL Central division rival Milwaukee Brewers. Marshall who many believe to be the early favorite for the rotation will have stiff competition, and will have to watch one of the competition perform first in Jeff Samardzija before he takes the mound.

Ted Lilly is slated for his only cactus league action Friday against the Texas Rangers. Ted Lilly will join team USA ahead of the WBC. The 17 game winner is one of the few Cubs players sill participating in the event.

Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster are not slated to start in the first round of rotation starts, pitching coach Larry Rothschild said that there were no problems with the pitchers. Rich Harden continued to throw off a mound with no problems, however he is a week behind other pitchers. Andrew Cashner impressed cubs management with his smooth arm action, and asked Cus hitter David Lee about his change-up that he has been working on, positive feedback was given.

Two day’s to go ladies and gentlemen.

Carlos Marmol is considering not pitching in the WBC, Lou Piniella made a joke comment to Marmol that while he was away pitching in the WBC, Kevin Gregg would be in Mesa pitching 98mph fast balls. Marmol and Gregg will compete for the closers role and Marmol doesn’t want to miss a beat, however he commented that it is always hard to turn down your country. He is expected to make a decision today on whether he will pitch in the WBC or stay in Mesa with the Cubs, I’m hoping that it is the latter.

Jeff Samardzija will pitch the opening cactus league game Wednesday agains’t the LA Dodgers at HoHoKam Park. Samardzija will be vying for the 5th starters role with Sean Marshall and Aaron Heilman. The young hurler from Notre Dame will be given the ball first and asked to show what he can do. Samardzija spent the majority of last season in the Cubs bullpen so will need stretching out if he is going to be considered for the 5th starters role. Set rotation pitchers like Carls Zambrano and Ryan Dempster will now pitch until the second week of games.

Rich Harden is yet to face live hitters, Lou is holding him back to make sure that his shoulder is fully healthy. Harden will pitch two more side sessions before facing the likes of Soriano and Bradley in live batting practice. Harden has commented that he feels great, and his daily routine to get himself ready to go is working fine.

Koyie Hill and Paul Bako will compete this spring to be Geovany Soto’s backup. Bako has collected quite the number of Jerseys from being moved around so much, he doesn’t offer much on the offensive side of the ball, but he can continue to mentor Soto, who is going into his 2nd full season with the Cubs. A little bit of healthy competition never hurt anyone.

The Cubs might be looking for extra infield help, although carrying 12 pitchers and 13 position players does not give much room for Wiggle. As of right now there is not a back-up for A-Ram at 3rd base, DeRosa who took on that role last season is now in Cleveland. Jake Fox has been taking ground balls at 3rd, however with a back up catcher, Hoffpauier, Johnson, Gathwright, and either Miles or Fontenot, there is not much room left to add cover at 3rd.