» Chicago

Well Carlos Delgado will have surgery and be out until around the All-Star break. Possible replacements that may possibly arrise via trade are Aubrey Huff/Orioles; Nick Johnson/Nationals; Victor Martinez/Indians; and maybe even Jorge Cantu/Florida if any of these guys are or become available. I can see all these teams saying they need 2 of the Mets top  prospects, and I honeslty don’t think any of them except Victor Martinez warrant them, however, I would be willing to trade both if we can also land a SP in the deal ala Cliff Lee or Fausto Carmona (even though he hasn’t been great) from Cleveland; and Jeremy Guthrie (even though he hasn’t been great) from Baltimore. I doubt the Indians are willing to trade Victor Martinez and or Cliff Lee/Fausto Carmona so soon, but if so I would be willing to trade Fernando Martinez(of), Jon Niese(sp), Reese Havens or Wilmer Flores(ss) for BOTH Victor Martinez and Fausto Carmona or Aubrey Huff and Jeremy Guthrie, potentially. I think at catcher and 1b, Victor Martinez would be a dream fit, but Huff/Johnson would be less attractive becasue then what do we do when Delgado is back? I guess Huff could play LF again which moves Murphy to RF and then Church and Sheffield become unhappy or Murphy loses playing time which I would thoroughly disagree with. I guess Nick Johnson/Washington can come quite cheap since they also have Adam Dunn and a sundry of outfielders. I just strongly want to emphasize if we trade for a 1b then we should attempt to land a SP along with them if we rid of our top prospect(s). Agreed?

Some other random suggestions/potential candidates:

Russel Branyan/1b, Jose Lopez/2b, Erik Bedard/sp – Mariners… I think something could work here

Adrian Gonzalez/1b, Jake Peavy/sp – Padres… I wish something could work here

Jermaine Dye/of – White Sox (Move Murphy to 1b)…He’s solid but we really need a SP also

Matt Holliday/of – Athletics (Move Murphy to 1b)…May require way too much for thus far subpar performance

Helton/Atkins/1b – Rockies… Hmm, maybe Helton Could come cheap other than money cost?

All these guys are probably tradable minus Adrian Gonzalez, but they have a top notch 1b prospect.

The losing way that is.

After wining their home opener on Friday 3 to 10 against the Phillies the Rox dropped the 2 weekend games 8 to 4 on sat & 7 to 5; then they traveled to the Windy City of Chicago and was welcomed by the rain, wind and Ted Lilly, the Cubs won the first game shutting out the boys 0 to 4 and almost came close to a no-hitter as well but Garrett Atkins broke that up in the 7th inning. The Rox did win Wed’s game 5 to 2 then flew to LA where Manny Ramirez & the Dodgers cleaned the Rox’ clocks clean by sweeping them in the 3-game set: 3 to 4 Fri, 5 to 9 Sat & 14 to 2 on Sun.

Monday the Rox are in Phoenix taking on the 4th place Diamondbacks of Arizona for 3 games, let’s hope Jason Marquis can work his magic on the D’backs by shutting them out — although I’ve heard Jon Garland is pretty good pitcher — either way the Rox need to get a winning streak started.

Outfielders celebrate series win. Soriano (left) Gathwright (center) Bradley (Right)

One Day after Ryan Dempster did enough to win his game, Ted Lilly did enough to lose it. However Dempster walked away with a no decision and Lilly walked away with the win. It’s funny how things work out in baseball, it will work itself out over the course of the season i am sure.

Koyie Hill was catching Lilly who served up 4 home runs and 5 runs total. Soto left game 2 with shoulder soreness in the 6th inning, and although it is not expected to be too serious, he may have to miss the first game of the weekend. Aaron Miles would be the back-up catcher for the game if anything was to happen to Koyie Hill, Theriot would also be a candidate in extreme circumstances.

Mike Fontenot hit a 3 run homer and added another RBI on Wednesday to propel the Cubs to a 2-1 series victory. A-Ram continued his strong start to the season with 4 RBI’s on the night, and Fukudome was back in the lineup and answered with a 4 hit night. D-Lee and Theriot both got on the RBI list as well. Soriano hit his 2nd home run on Tuesday with a shot that landed on top of the left field train track.

David Patton pitched 2 innings in his MLB debut Thursday, and after a shaky start he calmed down to retire the next 6 hitters after the lead-off HR. After Patton surrendered the home run, Lee came to the mound to tell him to calm down and show the Astros his stuff, wise words from a veteran head. Guzman and Marmol have each started the season well.

This is hopefully the start of many series wins this season.

Carlos Zambrano pitched 6 innings on Monday to get the Chicago Cubs quest for a third straight division title rolling. Zambrano left the game in the 6th with two men on, Heilman was able to get a DP but not prevent the run scoring, he could do nothing about that. Cotts got the man to end the the 7th, Marmol pitched a good 8th, and Gregg got the save in the 9th, allowing one run on a sac fly.

Alfonso Soriano got the ball rolling with a lead-off home run in the first inning and the Cubs never looked back, Ramirez added a solo shot of his own and Theriot and Hoffpauier each added a RBI. Fontenot was the star man on the day going 3/4 with 2 runs scored, as he looks to show Lou Piniella that he made the right decision naming Fontenot as the second base starter.

The Cubs will be back in action Tuesday as Ryan Dempster takes the mound.

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’

Here is the second installment of Cubs In Focus, Second Base. Although this position is not definite yet, here are my projections:

Fontenot Starts At 2nd

Mike Fontenot

Mike Fontenot will start at 2nd for the Cubs this season, thats my projection, Lou has not said as much, but i thought he had the edge over Miles coming into the Spring and his performance up to now has only strengthened that it my opinion. Mike ‘Mini Babe Ruth’ Fontenot is known for his small stature but his ability to generate power using every aspect of his frame to do so. Last season Mike hit 9 home runs in just 243 AB’s, quite impressive for a part time player in the system.

Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot both played in the 2000 World Series for the LSU Tigers, a story that is often told, but what is often left out of the story is the fact that Mike Fontenot was the LSU Tigers leading hitter in the NCAA tournament hitting .432 with four doubles, two home runs and nine RBI’s. He has plenty of experience playing with Ryan, so they should form quite the partnership in the middle of the Cubs infield.

When given the oppurtunity to start, which he will be this season, he could have his break out year, expect good things from Fontenot, he is a hard worker, and a bright personality, he is also a left handed hitter that Lou and Jim Hendry were craving before the season.

Back-Up’s: Aaron Miles & Esteban German

Patton Making a Name

The Chicago Cubs rule 5 draft pick up David Patton has never pitched above single A ball, in 2008 he had a W/L record of 4-5 and a ERA of 3.54 and a WHIP of 1.38. So why is this player holding a 1.04 ERA this spring, and why is this single A pitcher confusing major league hitters?

It seems that David Patton has a great shot of making the major league team out of Spring training, many suggest that it is between him and Jeff Samardzija, and with the prospect of keeping Samardzija stretched out at AAA for emergency starts, it seems that Patton has every chance of breaking camp with the big league team.

“I was in the Rockies’ organization for four, five years, and to get some movement and see that another organization was interested in me really boosts your confidence a little bit and shows there are always people are watching,” Patton said. “There’s always an opportunity that someone’s going to see what you have. Maybe one organization doesn’t like you, but another might. It’s a really good opportunity.“

Patton throws a fastball a curveball and a change up and is a agressive pitcher, he struck out 87 batters in just 73 2/3 innings last season in Single A.

“He’s got a great arm, he’s got three plus-pitches,” Cubs player development director Oneri Fleita said. “He’s pitched out of the bullpen and gives us another guy who gives us some depth. He’s got a plus arm, threw up to 94 miles an hour and throws strikes.

Cubs fans might be hearing the name a lot this season!

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.

Ok so like i mentioned in a earlier post, I’m getting bored with Spring Training, and if you have been reading this blog regulary you will likely be getting bored as well, generic posts about games that don’t really matter with little significance. So now i will rounding up the Spring Training games every few days, or even once a week, that doesn’t mean that there wont be more posts on other things.

Projected Rotation:

1) Carlos Zambrano……perhaps not the ace that many believe he is, but if he can avoid his bad month then he is as dominant as any pitcher in the game.

2) Ryan Dempster is coming off a great season, but now he has the contract, will his performances stay at a consistent level, i think they will but it is a question mark

3) Ted Lilly is a great number three guy, a good pitcher who is coming off a good season, will be as solid as usual this season.

4) Rich Harden, is this the best fourth starter in the league? absolutely, he’s an ace on many staffs, there are still injury concerns but if he stays healthy all season then he will add a lot to this rotation.

5) Sean Marshall, the one rotation spot that is not sewn up yet, Marshall has pitched well this Spring, and deserves a chance, he has every oppurtunity to be a 10-15 game winner this season.

Projected Line-up

C- Geovany Soto, a young guy with a ton of potential, he had a great rookie season, and anything is possible. Pitcher love him and he is a dangerous hitter.

1B- Derek Lee, a great glove man and a consistent hitter, needs to cut down on the DP’s this coming season..

2B- Mike Fontenot, glad the little guy will be given a chance, mini babe ruth has a rapport with Theriot and he has pop in his bat, could be his break out season.

SS- Ryan Theriot wont hit for power, but he will get on base, and swipe some bases as well, locked down.

3B- Aramis Ramirez is one hell of a player, the best hitter on the Cubs? probably, could go 30+ homers and 120+ RBI’s, hitting with Bradley in front or behind will benefit his numbers.

LF- Alfonso Soriano needs to keep his legs fresh, he can still run and he hits for power, can change a game from the innitial swing of the game.

CF- Kosuke Fukudome, stella defense and lets hope that he is the hitter of the first half rather than the second half.

RF- Milton Bradley, the new guy to the lineup, has a ton of potential but like Harden he needs to stay healthy, there have been questions of his temprement but under Lou he will be just fine.

Bench and bullpen will be done next week.