TCR Friday Notes
I just wanted to thank Sweet Lou and Aisle 424 once again for their guest posts last week. Be sure to visit their blogs on a regular basis as well. I had one more guest column lined up, but the server issues last week preempted it. The plan is for it to be up next week.
Speaking of the server issue, everything seems to be working smoothly once again. Or at least it has since Monday when I got back. Anyone still having issues connecting? We did have to upgrade to a higher server package at three times the cost, so I'm now forced to take on advertising on my body parts for $5 a pop.
- The Cubs made some roster moves today, Marcus Mateo, John Gaub, Jeff Gray adnd James Adduci were optioned to Triple A. Darwin Barney, Bobby Scales, Robinson Chirinos were assigned to minor league camp leaving 33 in camp. It appears James Russell will be added to the 40-man roster and make the team (a 0 ERA in spring will do that for you) and Tom Gorzelanny and Carlos Silva will be the starters, leaving the bench as the final puzzle to be solved.
Starters: Soto, Lee, Fontenot, Theriot, Ramirez, Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome
Starting Pitching: Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny, Silva (who has actually pitched decently since his first outing)
Bullpen: Marmol, Grabow, Berg, Caridad, Marshall, Samardzija, Russell
Bench: Hill, Nady, Baker with Hoffpauir, Blanco, Fuld, Colvin, Millar and Tracy fighting for those last 2 spots in theory.
If I'm keeping track correctly, that also leaves Mike Parisi, Chris Robinson, Ted Lilly and Angel Guzman to round out the 33 with Lilly and Guzman set to start the year on the disabled list. The Cubs are probably trying to work out a deal to keep Parisi is my guess(or move him to another club) and Robinson is just around to have an extra catcher.
- Say hello to new Cubs blogs, Cubs Locker and Cubbery: 100 Years and Counting. That makes 53 on the Cubs blogroll on the lower left sidebar. I don't know much about Cubs Locker, other than they've been around since 2006 so I guess they're not that new, but Cubbery is written by smalbrecht who many know from Parachat on game days. I'm not sure if he's paying residuals to Chad or not.
- Great quote discovered by Cubnut by Duke coach Mike Kryzewski on his seniors not living up to expectations:
“Just judge people for who they are right now. We are not the Yankees. We’re not – thank goodness we’re not the Cubs, who are my favorite.
- I can't remember if I linked to this before, but here's Alex Eisenberg's look at the Cubs farm system from Baseball Intellect and his top 15 Cubs prospects.
- Starlin Castro
- Hak-Ju Lee
- Brett Jackson
- Josh Vitters
- Jay Jackson
- Andrew Cashner
- Chris Carpenter
- Kyler Burke
- Ryan Flaherty
- D.J. LeMahieu
- Dae-eun Rhee
- Logan Watkins
- Chris Huseby
- Chris Archer
- John Gaub
- 10 minutes with Bill James and 1200 words on heart and Nomar Garciaparra from Joe Posnanski.
- Morgan Ensberg has a blog and it's really well-done. He, like everyone else in baseball or who talks about baseball or has ever watched baseball, has an opinion on Milton Bradley.
- I want to get up our yearly Cubs prediction contest by Monday. What would be some good questions? Here was last year's questions if it helps.
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