» Heilman

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.

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.

Sean Marshall tossed 4 scorless innings tonight in a 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers. Marshall who is fighting for the 5th starters role has now pitched 9 innings of ball this Spring and has only given up the single run, Sean Marshall and Aaron Heilman are battling it out on equal footing right now.

Milton Bradley singled in his first AB against his former team, Micah Hoffpauier had a hit in his only AB, and has a Spring BA of .303. A-Ram is batting .316 after having two hits in two AB’s tonight. Koyie Hill who is battling for the back up catcher spot had two hits in 2 AB’s.

Discussions involving the sale of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley field are moving forward according to Bud Selig.

Aaron Heilman continued to impress yesterday as he tried to convince Lou that he is the right man for the 5th starters

Making a case for the 5th

role. Heilman who is in competition with Jeff Samardzija, and Sean Marshall for the roll tossed 3 scorless one hit innings as the Cubs fell to the White Sox 4-3 Thursday afternoon. This will be Heilmans second concecutive scorless outing to start his Cubs career. Heilman is a lock to make the Cubs roster, but it remains to be seen if that is as a starter which he prefers or as a reliever.

Sean Marshall was said to have the edge going into the Spring, but after back-to-back impressive starts by Heilman that edge may well be fading:

“My mind-set coming in was that I was going to get an opportunity to start and show them what I could do,” said Heilman

Jeff Samardzija has struggled early this Spring, and it is looking like it may well turn into a two horse race between Marshall and Heilman. Although there is still a lot of Spring Baseball to be played.

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.

If there was one thing the Mets really, really needed it was the solidification of their weak bullpen of 2008. As a Mets fan, I was disgusted with the number of late inning leads blown throughout the 2008 season. Looking back on it, I remember myself dreading innings 6-9 each and every day I watched them play. This has changed though, and in my opinion, it changed a great deal. (Keywords…Great Deal ) 

The Mets signed K-Rod to a three-year, $37 million deal this offseason to become their closer, then completed a 12-player trade with the Mariners and Indians as well. That deal netted them Putz, reliever Sean Green and outfielder Jeremy Reed in exchange for Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Joe Smith and four Minor Leaguers.

Minaya Said: 

To get one closer like Frankie would have been a good winter. I think to get two guys like this is a great winter. And that being said, we’re not done yet.

I couldn’t agree more. We all know K-Rod is quite capable of finishing out games. Granted, those games were with the Angles, but I feel the same or similar opportunities will present themselves here with the Mets in 2009. The same goes for Putz, although he is used to closing as well, I feel he will adjust well to the new role as setup man or a top 3 closer in baseball, K-Rod.

So, way to go Minaya! This falls into the number 2 slot in his top 5 moves by Minaya. Coming soon…the number one pickup for Minaya…I am sure you can all guess whats coming.

Until next time, Happy Blogging!

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