Game Preview: Pirates (26-50) vs. Cubs (33-43)

First, the lineups...

Tabata, LaRoche, McCutchen, Jones, Milledge, Alvarez, Doumit, Cedeno, Karstens

vs.

Fukudome, Theriot, Lee, Ramirez, Colvin, Soriano, Hill, Castro, Lilly.

Now, the news...

- Z gets sent to the corner with his dunce cap and Grab-Ass to the disabled list with a sprained knee. Miles says Grab-Ass should be out 3-4 weeks. Jeff Stevens and James Russell get the call-ups with Tom Gorzelanny scheduled to start tomorrow.

- Jon Morosi of Fox Sports  says that the Red Sox and Cubs discussed a deal for Mike Fontenot before the Red Sox grabbed Eric Patterson after he was DFA'd by the A's. Morosi also says that the Cubs are "halfway" to sell mode...half-assing it as always.

- The Smokies landed 9 on the Southern League All-Star team after taking the first half division title. They are:

OF Tony Campana

C Robinson Chirinos

C Steve Clevenger

1B Blake Lalli

OF Ty Wright

RHP Austin Bibens-Dirx

RHP David Cales

LHP Ryan Buchter

RHP Hung-Wen Chen

Andrew Cashner and Starlin Castro were also early contributors to their run.

- Bruce Levine put this piece of info out there in his chat today.

The reasons Hendry was enabled to sign people to long-term deals was Sam Zell's insistence that they build up the product so he can get a higher buyout from the Ricketts family. Hendry was on an airplane when the Soriano deal was done by other team executives. Jim has to take his share of blame, but let's not start with revisionist history.

As one of our readers pointed out, Zell hadn't even bought the team by that point (wasn't until April of 2007), so Levine seems to just be shoveling whatever B.S. Hendry is feeding him...or just made an honest mistake about the timeline of ownership.

Cubs try to solve the Pirates puzzle today...recommended for ages 4-5, but does require adult supervision.

Tags: 
Cubs Game Preview
Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 6:18pm
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Comments

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 6:32pm

From Miles: "Lou said John Grabow will be out three weeks to a month with something more than a mild sprain of his left knee."

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 6:33pm

heh, just modified the post to add that.

Miles also been pimping Soriano back to the leadoff spot. hope crunch doesn't read that.

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 6:43pm

soriano was already wasted...we can't get those years back.

good to see him back hitting 6th. go aram.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 7:47pm

Didn't we make the playoffs in those years?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 11:31pm

The Cubs also scored a lot more runs per game.

Other than those 2 minor things, it kind of sucked.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 9:39am

Well, I can't get on board with that correlation = causation thing, but unless the idea is that batting someone else leadoff in the '07 and '08 playoff would have made us win, what's the point?

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 11:48am

"Well, I can't get on board with that correlation = causation thing"

me either.

when you got a guy who hits more or nearly more xbase hits than he has RBIs that says a lot more to me before we even get to the parts where he kept leading off while he had to windmill his legs just to run more than a jogging pace.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 12:41pm

Well, he has not hit lead off this year and that hasn't changed. He has 37 XBH and 38 RBI.

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 1:00pm

he ॰ight as well have the 8th hitter and pitcher hitting in front of him, thway lee and aram are hitting.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 1:10pm

yeah, what he said.

the 2 guys in front of him are struggling to hit .200 combined all season...and the ob% isn't getting much better.

it's july...c'mon lou. move some guys. may is over.

today's lineup aram finally moves out of the 4 slot...where dlee takes his place...and aram is 5th...and soriano is 6th.

Submitted by Tito
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 3:08pm

"finally moves out of the 4 slot"

A-Ram's batted 5th almost as often this year as he's batted 4th.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 12:43pm

the point being, as has always been my point is that the Cubs did just fine when Soriano was hitting like he should be hitting in the leadoff spot because a)the Cubs don't have a much better option for the leadoff spot b)the increased number of PA's outweighs or at least equalizes the less than ideal lineup construction. Not like they're running much with Theriot or Fukudome up there.

now when Soriano was hitting like he did in 2009, he had no business up there or anywhere but 8th or on the bench.

Moving him down in the order has literally solved nothing and if anything made the Cubs worse, even if just coincidentally.

personally being up 1-0 in the 1st is kind of neat too...and just kind of wondering out loud, I'd be curious to know what the Cubs record was when he hit a leadoff HR? versus when he hits a HR in a non-leadoff spot since being moved?

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 1:10pm

"even if just coincidentally"

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 2:01pm

well empirically, it doesn't make any team better giving Theriot the 120 PA's that Soriano was getting.

Submitted by Cubnut
on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 10:17pm

In case you didn't see it in our Twitter feed...

At no time this year, over 86 2/3 IP, has Ted Lilly been on the mound with a lead of more than two runs.

For Lilly's sake, I hope he ends this season with a much better team than the one he's pitching for right now. He's earned it.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 9:39am

They said last night the Cubs have yet to score four runs in any of his starts.

Submitted by SheffieldCornelia
on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 11:10pm

And in other news, the Cubs won a nice game today, with the exception of another overall poor offensive performance. Nice to see Soriano generate some offense though, and great start by Lilly.

Submitted by Cubster
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 6:09am

Thomas Diamond in a 0-0 game after 4 ip, Shark comes in bottom of 5th and this happened...

New Orleans Bottom 5th
Pitcher Change: Jeff Samardzija replaces Thomas Diamond, batting 9th.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch hitter Scott Cousins replaces Brian Lawrence. Scott Cousins walks.
Cameron Maybin strikes out swinging.
Danny Richar singles on a line drive to left fielder Bryan LaHair. Scott Cousins to 3rd. Danny Richar advances to 2nd, on throwing error by left fielder Bryan LaHair.
Jeff Samardzija intentionally walks Logan Morrison.
Hector Luna hits a grand slam (14) to left field. Scott Cousins scores. Danny Richar scores. Logan Morrison scores.
Donnie Murphy walks.
Coaching visit to mound.
Bryan Petersen walks. Donnie Murphy to 2nd.
On-field Delay.
Brad Davis called out on strikes.
Mark Saccomanno homers (1) on a fly ball to left field. Donnie Murphy scores. Bryan Petersen scores.
Scott Cousins grounds out to first baseman Micah Hoffpauir.

Game called after 5, rain. Final 7-0.

http://www.neworleans.com/sports/zephyrs/4254...

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 9:04am

Time to reinvent him as a catcher?

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 9:07am

... or football?

... for Green Bay?

Submitted by navigator
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 10:19am

RESTRICTED LIST!
RESTRICTED LIST!

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 8:53am

joe migrane just on wscr.
said he was talking to lou at xmas party last year and lou was fed up wih z then. also said there were more issues wih z that were not made public in the past.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 9:01am

I am firmly convinced that Soriano should be traded as soon as possible while he still appears to have trade value and as long as the receiving team pays nearly all of his contract. He might be clobbering the ball now, but this is not a contract we want to be under for another 4 years.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 9:17am

I doubt any team would be willing to pay nearly all of $72 million for Soriano over the next 4 years.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 9:42am

Check again in two years, when the money is sorta managable. He's no Manny Ramirez but Ramirez went from untradeable to a guy people wanted to give up prospects for as his contract got closer to expiration.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 9:51am

Agreed,

He was put on waivers and not claimed twice.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 12:46pm

Ramirez was traded with 2 months left on his contract and the Red Sox paid all that was remaining. If the Cubs paid all of Soriano's salary they would probably get a few prospects back as well.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 6:51pm

The Red Sox also got Jason Bay on a below-market contract in that trade... they did essentially wind up paying $12 million and two C+ prospects for 2/5ths of a season for Bay, though.

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 11:36am

But even if the Cubs find a taker for him, Soriano has a "no trade" and there is no indication he wants to leave.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 1:45pm

True, but there's not much to stay for, either.

Submitted by Charlie
on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 2:41pm

The nightlife.

And the line of young latin boys provided by the Cubs farm system.

Joking.

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