Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

28 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 

Last updated 3-26-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 15
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, P 
Alexander Canario, OF 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
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Game 39 Recap: Cubs 5, Mets 6

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GameCenter, Play by Play, Box Score

W - Burgos (1-0), the forces of evil. L - Dempster (1-2), decency. Things to take from this game 1. We got the Mets' B-team today No Wright, no Beltran, no Reyes, no Easley, no LoDuca, no Alou. Starter Jason Vargas is making his debut for the Mets. Julio Franco is playing 3rd base. He played 3 games there last year, and hadn't played at third prior to that since his rookie year. In 1982. For 2 games. Gotay has never played SS before his one inning there, last night. David Newhan is an OFer playing 2nd base. Brenley mentioned something about a league policy requiring at least 4 "regulars" in a starting lineup, and wondered if Selig might put a phone call in to the Mets for this. Only if we beat them, Bob..... (ah, seems Bob was discussing a spring training policy? In any case, we're facing the B-team.) 2. The pitching "duel" Don't let the box score fool you: while Guzman and Vargas kept the game low-scoring through five, neither was really dominating. It wasn't the sort of pitching duel that has you oohing and ahhing. Vargas was "pitching to contact" and retiring Cub after free-swinging Cub on lazy grounders and fly balls. Guzman kept pitching out of minor trouble, inning after inning. Finally, Vargas started to lose it in the sixth, ending this faux-duel. 3. Cramps Guzman gets a cramp in his leg, batting int he top of the sixth. The Cubs procede to hit a pair of 2-run HR that inning (Pagan and Ramirez), and Guzman is pulled from the game, in line for his first ML Win. 4. Solid Middle Relief Wuertz and Ohman both pitched well. 5. The Ninth Dempster loaded the bases with one out in a 5-1 game when he walks Beltran. Dempster must have looked at the home plate umpire the wrong way, as the ump then gestures at him. Seemed like an overreaction on the umpire's part. Facing Chavez, Dempster goes 3-2 on him, then walks him, too. 5-2 game, winning run now at bat in Ruben Gotay. He gets Gotay in an 0-2 hole, when Gotay serves a single into left. 5-3, bases still loaded with one out... With Shawn Green up, Lou calls for Eyre, who has great numbers against Green in their careers. Green is removed in favor of David Wright. Wright lines the first pitch right back up the middle, just out of the reach of Izturis. 5-4, bases still loaded, one out. And with Delgado facing Eyre, he singles just past a diving Theriot. Murton tries to throw out the winning run at the plate, but his throw is way off the money. Probably wouldn't have mattered, anyway. We enter the bottom of the 9th leading 5-1, leave it with a loss.

  • It takes Vargas 9 pitches to retire us in the top of the 1st. How eager are the Cubs to get out of New York, on getaway day?
  • Mets half of the first, Shawn Green dumps a lazy fly ball in front of Soriano. Looks like Soriano got a bad read on the ball, and then just jogged after it. Catchable?
  • And it takes Vargas 8 pitches to get out of the second inning. The Cubs are making life easy for a guy who struggled in AAA
  • Franco swings and misses at a hanging curve from Guzman, in the second. Hard to look worse than Franco did, on a hanging curve.
  • Woo, we made Vargas throw 11 pitches in the 3rd. Our biggest threat, so far, was a slow roller that Guzman hit, towards the hole between 3rd and SS. Julio Franco showed his spectacular range, however, cutting the ball off before it could get to the hole, and throwing him out.
  • Guzman, pitching to Gomez in the third, hits him in the hand with a fastball that ran in towards the body while Gomez was trying to bunt. Looked and sounded painful. Lou argues that Gomez hadn't pulled the bat back in time, and that it should have been a strike. No go. Gomez painfully advances to first base.
  • Guzman scuffles a bit in the third, with that HBP and a walk, but he gets through it.
  • It's interesting how the useage and meaning of songs evolves over time. WGN keeps playing "We gotta get out of this place," in reference to getting the heck out of New York and Shea Stadium, on getaway day.
  • Mercifully, Pagan ends the perfect game with a blooper into right, one out in the fourth.
  • Wow, and Pagan then outruns the pickoff play at 1st. He gets picked off, but just runs for second, and beats the throw. SB.
  • About the lowest called strike that you will ever see, called on Ramirez in the fourth.
  • Holy Cow, we're suddenly winning this game that, by appearances, has been going against us. Ramirez rockets a single off the LF wall, Pagan scores. 1-0 Cubs. That just doesn't seem right.
  • Delgado gets called out, strike 3, on a pitch almost as low as the called strike to Ramirez
  • Guzman seems like he has to pitch out of trouble every inning, but through 4, it's worked well enough. Once again, gets out of a situation with a couple runners on base.
  • Fifth inning, Chavez singles, steals second (leaving too early, but Guzman didn't notice, and still nearly being thrown out by blanco) and scores on a double down the RF line by Gotay.
  • And again, Guzman pitches out of trouble, getting a GIDP on Delgado to end a 1st and 3rd, one out threat in the fifth.
  • Guzman, leading off the sixth, has to have the trainer come out and check on something. Appears he may have slightly pulled or cramped something in his leg.
  • Following that, a Theriot single and Pagan HR, and we're up 3-1
  • Brenley discussing how Soriano has really been favoring the leg, not running hard unless he really has to, says we'll just have to "take what we can get" from Soriano until he's feeling better. Sounds a bit pessimistic.
  • A Soriano single, and Ramirez launches a 2-run shot; suddenly, we're up 5-1! Where'd this come from?
  • Two outs in the top of the seventh, and Ward hits a lazy roller to Newhan. Newhan, from maybe ten feet, throws the ball into away, into the dugout. Looked like Delgado also had really bad footwork on it, couldn't react to a bad throw. Nothing happens from the error.
  • Wuertz and Ohman have been very effective in relief. Ohman, in particular, is just mowing them down.
  • Brenley with a very funny retelling of his wife trying to do play-by-play over the phone of his son's walk-off grand slam in some minor league game.
  • Wow, that was a devestating ending.
Parachat Inning 1: Soriano's advertisement on Craigslist. Groggily entering parachat for another game. The Mets' B-team. Bob Brenley's weird sense of wonderment. Inning 2: The WGN Foster Care add. More on the mlb.tv between-inning graphic that has replaced the pac-man graphic. David Wright and David Arquette: separated at birth? Julio Franco is very, very old. Inning 3: Further debate on just what's going on in the mlb.tv between-innings picture. Further debate about Fontenot and why more discussion is expended on the 25th man on the roster than the 1st man on the roster. Extended OBP and Middle Infielder debates. Inning 4: The same tired OBP, 19-against-1 debate. Keith Hernandez. Pagan's SB. Seinfeld episodes. Is Ramirez standing and admiring his single? What the Mets announcers have taught us. Continuing to debate whether DeRosa should start or come off the bench. The 2006 Marlins, and what they can (or can't) teach us. Inning 5: Are we STILL debating Fontenot? What one change do you make to this team? (My answer: get Zombie Ruth). Blaming Barrett for SBs against Blanco. Julio Franco and Martha Washington. Inning 6: Feline AIDS. Bonds, Manny, and the rest. Drafts. Hammy Cramps. Chico Walker. Shawn Kemp's skills at tele-impregnation. Inning 7: This discussion was too impossibly stupid for me to try to summarize, without it tainting me, as well. Inning 8: Has parachat jumped the shark? Mennonites. Neutering parachat. Is Julio Franco the highlander? The Amish. Inning 9: Sweating to the Closer. Environmental impacts of meat consumption, and American Indians. The looming Cubs meltdown. Fun with parachat sounds.

Comments

I'm really having a hard time focusing at work after that loss. I think I need to take a break from this team for a few days.

And we thought we had seen the ugliest loss of the year when Wuertz BB'd Delgado. Pretty naïve of us.

This is disgusting. I hope the new ownership issues that have plagued Z contract talks wouldn't hinder maybe some possible new bullpen acquisitions.

Did Lou and Dempster go at it on the mound? Pitiful performance last night (I was there and stuck out the rain delay) and embarrassing collapse today. This team is a joke, just like the last few years they are one upping themselves on how to find ways to look worse losing games.

Hendry should have been fired long ago - he overspent in the wrong areas.

Hendry should have been fired long ago - he overspent in the wrong areas. Where did he overspend? And what would you have done differently?

Where are they going to get bullpen help early in the season? The sad fact is that the only hope is that a couple of these guys find themselves soon. Hopefully, Wuertz and Ohman can building off of what they did today. I've always hated that managers now reflexively bring their closer in if they're up by less than 5 runs, but that's the way everyone does it. Why you wouldn't just stick with Ohman who had been pitching so well today is beyond me. The real problem for the Cubs, though, is that they spent all of this money to win this year instead of having and following a plan to be consistently good. This team is no more than a .500 team, but instead of accepting that and having guys like Pie and Theriot playing everyday and developing, they have f'in Cliff Floyd playing right field. I suppose Hendry felt that he had to save his job, but when they are out of it this year by August, he's going to get fired, and next year will be a transition year for the next GM. The ironic thing is, that of all teams in the majors, the Cubs can most afford to take it in the shorts for a year or two to develop a consistently winning team, because half the people that go to Wrigley are there because it's a trendy tourist attraction. Attendance will never fall enough to make actually developing something punitive while they're doing it.

CubsterinLA- No doubt Hendry should have been fired, but his boy McDonough protected him and even opened up the purse strings for him and Hendry still can't put a winner on the field. I would hope the first thing the new owner(s) do is finally fire Teflon Jim.

Lou talked at Dempster, I'm sure something of the throw it over the plate variety, we're up by 4 runs. lot a good it did....

I’m really having a hard time focusing at work after that loss. I think I need to take a break from this team for a few days. Don't do that, you'll miss the Sox series! On second thought...

Carlos Marmol is supposed to pitch tonight for Iowa, keep an eye if he's pulled from the start.

Damn you Hendry, you also signed Lilly and Marquis!!! I fully expect to have this post thrown into my face sometime in Mid-July.

hope someone is tuned to Lou's post-game press conference, love to hear that.

Damn you Hendry, you also signed Lilly and Marquis!!! And Soriano. And A-Ram. And Lee. And refused to trade Hill. And signed Eyre and Howry, who happened to be one of the few bright spots on the team last year. And traded for Cotts, who has been quite good. Someone please name me a GM who has not made any mistakes?

Marmol? The last thing the Cubs need is another reliever who can't throw it over the plate consistently.

There are times when it literally physically hurts to be a Cubs fan. The Saturday 6 runs with two-outs in Philly, the bases-loaded walk-off walk, and blowing a 4 run lead in the ninth -- it's a lot to take in the span of 5 days. For most fans, that's a few months worth of disappointment. For us, it's all in a week's work.

well if dusty didnt...oh wait... well if lou didnt...oh wait, untouchable... well if rothschild didnt...oh wait...he's still got more + than - this year... lemmie see...mike quade...nope, not today.... i really cant find anyone else to blame for this. cant be the players. go figure.

Speaking of Hendry blowing dough, the $16.5 million he threw at SAMARDZJIA is looking like maybe it's money down the sewer. S made his 8th start of the season last night (lost), struck out 1 in 6.1 innings, and now has amassed a grand total of 17 K's in 40 IP. This doesn't look good if you're a Sabremetric afficianado who subscribes to their notion that K's/9 is the best predictor of future success no matter what the age. BB to K ratio? 13:17

sam's dead in the water already? wow...has MTV ruined an entire generation of baseball fans, too? 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 months...if its not gold by then its gold plated plastic.

not my idea to bring up Marmol, Lou and the Cubs were talking about it 2 or 3 days ago.

hell, marmol's looking about the same as last year...if he can come up last year he can come up this year. rather have cherry...he may give up long hits but he knows what he can do with his arm. marmol is WILD, everyone...dont give a damn about his bb/k totals compared to what ive been told and shown.

the $16.5 million he threw at SAMARDZJIA is looking like maybe it’s money down the sewer. Amazing what you can tell from the first 8 starts of a guy's minor league career.

DAVE: HA! Yep, CWTP - Career's over! He's had plenty of time to become an effective MLB pitcher. SO - Where is the bullpen ranked now? Still "average"?

crunch: i really cant find anyone else to blame for this. cant be the players. go figure." Yes the players played the game and lost the game, but if the GM constantly doesn't put good enough talent on the field, how can we blame only the players? We could bring the Daytona Cubs up to play in place of the big league squad, and if they lost more times than not, do you blame only the players? No, they just are not talented enough. While I agree 100% the players are partly at fault, but clearly Hendry has to start finally carrying a very good portion of that load.

Amazing what you can tell from the first 8 starts of a guy’s minor league career. I didn't invent sabremetrics.... You've heard of it...right? For the record, Samardzjia has never been much for strikeouts. At Notre Dame he averaged ~6K/9IP At Boise, in 19 IP, he again was ~6/9 Promoted to A+, he's been averaging ~4/9

Anybody having a worse day than Angel Guzman? Gets hurt, then watches his first career win destroyed by two crap relievers. Think he'll sleep well tonight? Also -- has anyone checked on Ron Santo? This one may have finished him off. Hey Lou -- havin' fun yet?

Is it really Hendry's fault that the bullpen is so bad? Who should he have obtained? I'm willing to blame Hendry for certain things, like signing Floyd and DeRosa, but those signings aren't the reason the Cubs are under .500. Clearly, it's been the bullpen, as the Cubs seemingly cannot win unless they get a big lead (and, of course, that didn't work today). But could Hendry really predict that Howry and Eyre would both lose it?

yes, manny..you blame hendry. its similar to having someone call dusty out for everything under the sun at this point to me. look at that 1-8 starters...look at the bench...look at the pen...look at the starters...quit bitching. seriously, this is a talented team that 1/2 of mlb cant compete with on coverage...unfortuntely, this game isnt played on a spreadsheet...its the real world. hey, its the players, maaaaaan. and cwtp...what does sabermetrics have to do with your misuse of them to weakly prove a non-valid point. isnt part of sabermetics...um...not relying on 1 stat, like a strikeout...and things like...sample size playing a role...not to mention you have no clue what sam is working on down there. maybe he's throwing a new breaker or another arm slot...what do you know about him besides some numbers? damn...

ya know what doesnt make you a sabertician... having an internet connection and the ability to read a box score. part of using data is proper interpretation along with what you have the player doing that could negatively/postively influence that.

Samardzija being a sinkerballer and all, you'd probably be happy around 6-7 K's per 9 innings, low walk totals and pretty much non-existant home runs in the minors. Hasn't quite been there yet in Daytona. Naturally I think we should release him, he's done.

"W - Burgos (1-0), the forces of evil. L - Dempster (1-2), decency. " Hee. See you guys at Wrigley.

from the northside baseball message board... Just heard Lou Post Game on ESPN 1000. A lot of long pauses...."The team needs to get it done" "I don't know..." He seemed pissed, shocked and speechless..

How the hell can our bullpen be used to fault Hendry? Prior to this season's suckage, we were considered to have one of he best bullpens in baseball.

im sure the cubs have thrown in the towel on samninja and are concentrating on more effective guys lke mitch atkins down in daytona. oh wait...mitch atkins first 2 years was an utter disaster for him compared to now. its almost as if...ya know...he grew and matured as a player. its like they use the minors to tweak players for a mlb career and how they fit into the system. now should we judge theriot based solely on his switch hitting years? the info i got about the switch back from his 2-sided approach sure looks legit to me...from TCR posters, btw. should i just ignore this cuz it doesnt fit into my view of him being a singles hitter with questionable selection or should i accept that this condition is bettered by the switch to a single-sided approach? or should i just ignore all of that and point at numbers all day?

and cwtp…what does sabermetrics have to do with your misuse of them to weakly prove a non-valid point. isnt part of sabermetics Good grief... reread my post. Get someone to help. Again, a large number of sabremetricians believe that K's/9 is the best predictor of future success. If you believe that JSam is going to beat the odds, it's up to you to explain why you think he can. Because Samardzjia has never had an impressive K/9 ratio at any level. NOT JUST THIS YEAR.

I don't know, a lot of folks had worries about Dempster but figured our set-up men were pretty solid. I'm not sure about best in baseball though. Bullpens are a frugal thing, there's very few teams that can figure them out from year to year on a consistent basis, not unless they can hitch their wagon on 2-3 rubber arms. Shield and K-rod have been great. Twins have been doing it with Nathan and whomever they plug in. Padres found a nice combo of Hoffman, Linebrink and spare parts. The almighty Braves though seem to go on again, off again with their pen. Yanks blow money on a bullpen every year and it's usually a disaster past Rivera. Even Billy Beane has even had some tough years in there. I'm a fan of young power arms in the pen instead of throwing any real money at it, but it's certainly not a guarantee success story. I'd certainly entertain shifting Guzman back to the pen and going with Marshall, but that's probably a bit radical. Or trade JJ for 5th starter and shift Guzman.

"Again, a large number of sabremetricians believe that K’s/9 is the best predictor of future success." and those people are idiots, then. name some names, i wanna go laugh at them. i have a hard time believing the is a foundation of sabermetrics, too, cuz its pretty stupid as hell way to judge anyone but a power pitcher. k/bb is a great starting point to judge a player, but Ks alone say very little without context of stuff and where the rest of the pitches that arent Ks are ending up on the playing field. i can say so much more, but wow...no...i mean, if a cornerstone of sabr is K/9 im sure i would have heard a lot more laughing at sabr guys and a lack of respect for their work.

yet another post lost to moderation... is it too many posts? some key word? too many of these " ... " ?

I don't think any sabermetrician would look at Samardzija's K/9 number exclusively fwiw and make an realistic assertions about him. I think in #36 I explained pretty clearly what you'd expect out of a sinkerballer's numbers.

Ahhh.... the air in this room is just so positive... Bickering... Guys - why are we Cubs fans? This was not a decision that we made because we liked the team's winning ways, or how good they were... What was the moment that made each of us decide that we liked the Cubs? Maybe it's because some of us like to be able to bitch about something... maybe it's because we like being miserable... Can any of you remember the moment that you decided that you were a Cubs fan? I would really like to read that.

should i even bring up maddux has a K/9 in the minors of around 5? i shouldnt? how about d.lowe? how about blah blah blah... how about the people who DO put up high K/9 numbers in the minors and catch pitch for crap in the majors...hell, you can find some of those on the cubs. guess its time to insert marmol and his minor league over 9/K average into the rotation.

Were Wright's and Delgado's hits hard? Eyre said after the game he threw the pitch where he wanted to against Wright. Piniella said that he went out and reminded Dempster that he had a 4-run lead. It didn't do any good, and I don't think piniella is perfect or that Dusty was absolutely horrible, but I can't imagine Dusty doing that.

i blame WGN and day games for me being a cubs fan...esp. living in BAL/ATL territory and not being able to stand either team. wee.

Well the reason I am a Cub fan, sadly, is because of my parents. Once my dad took me to Wrigley and Jeff Blauser hit a game winning homer, I knew right then who my team was. Little did I know then, for I am going to suffer for eternity.

dude, cwtp is just reiterating what other phantom sabermetricians in the land of Bill James would say. It's not his fault. It's not his fault. (note: heavy sarcasm)

looked to me that Eyre threw a meatball to Wright that he raked into center. the pitch to delgado didn't look terrible, I really though it was going to be fielded but theriot was way up the middle for the dp I guess.

im sure the cubs have thrown in the towel on samninja and are concentrating on more effective guys lke mitch atkins down in daytona. oh wait…mitch atkins first 2 years was an utter disaster for him compared to now. Now you're just babbling... I suspect personal K9 is hovering around nada. Atkins has always had a k/9 ratio above 6.00 including rookie league. His total minor league K/9 ratio is 7.69! A ratio of 7.5 or better is what sabremetricians look for in a top prospect.. Last year he was 13-4 at Peoria, so his K9 of 7.24 the year before was a pretty damn good predictor wasn't it? And the 8.26 K9 he had last year predicted continued success this year. Again, K9 isn't a measure of success, it's a sabremetric predictor of success.

I'm going to have to blame WGN. Can I sue them for making my life miserable? Oh well, I guess the wait will make it just that more sweet when we win it all. Hopefully I'm not in a grave somewhere when it happens.

For the record, even with his poor showing today. Mike Fontenot is still on pace to break the all time single season batting record. His .500 average is still comfortably ahead of Hank Duffy's .479

I'm a Cubs fan because of my father - we just watched every game growing up. This ages me, but my first childhood memory is Milt Pappas's no-hitter - I can still remember the borderline pitch that he lost the perfect game on. I was hooked, though, the first time I saw the field at Wrigley - I saw the beautiful field and my favorite team on it, and I was hooked for life.

Being a Cubs fan- I was hiking in Colorado with my (then) 9-year-old son, who was wearing a Cubs T-Shirt and a Cubs hat. Virtually every person who passed us smiled, gave a thumb's-up, or said "Go Cubs!" I later explained that people don't do that to kids wearing a Reds hat, or an Astros hat, or even a Cardinals hat. It is a special thing that you are a part of. It will frequently be frustrating, and may even move you to tears, but, in the end, it's a special thing that most people want to be a part of. So -- today sucked. So did this week. So, likely, will this season. But, TCR posters, the anger will fade, and if I see you in an airport wearing Cubs hat, I will smile, give you a thumb's up, and say "Go Cubs!"

hell, i know and get along with sabr-types...i know some ones i respect, too. theyve written some well thought out pieces in the flood of papers that is the world of sabr. i cant speak for them, but given what theyve said to me...this whole "moneyball" craze has been a blessing for bringing the math side of the game to the forefront. along with that there's the curse of arm-chair sabr's...the people who dont do the research and just soak up other people's work for their personal argueing points. now, that goes both ways. im not a scout, but a lotta my info comes from smart baseball visual men and scouts. one thing in common with *BOTH* sides that works for me is (at least the good ones) that they take from both sides to create a whole picture. you cannot crutch one side or the other...you will come off looking f'n ignorant. none of it is a science, there's always exceptions, blah blah blah...but you will not have a complete picture of most players out there without the knowlege of how they got their numbers. there's so so so so many ways to have a line of 3.50era/1.20whip on any level. gotta add another moneywrench when you're handicapping the talent they're playing against and the relative skill there. you need well more than some numbers for that. if the batter dont know what the pitcher has, just a number, that batter's numbers are gonna suffer unless they're just that damn good. this is baseball. baseball is a team sport. 1 player's stats can easily be the work and outcome of well more than what that 1 player did...

Alright, thanks crunch and jakey. I'm a Cubs fan partly because I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which actually should be a part of Wisconsin, since it is actually connected to Wisconsin, and it separated from the "troll" part of Michigan by the Mackinac Strait. So, I was closer geographically to the Twins, Brewers, Cubs and Sox than I was to the Tigers. From the earliest moment I can remember, I have always hated the AL because of the damn DH. So, which of those teams I listed didn't have one? The Cubs. I am sure that getting so many Cubs games on TV contributed to it, hearing Harry butcher players' names and seeing how plastered he would get during rain delays, seeing Arne Harris signs in the crowds. They didn't really get me until I went o a game, though. Left field bleachers, third row, with Davey Martinez in LF. I had my glove with me, and was maybe 13 or so. We were there for batting practice, and Dawson and Dunston were blasting shot after shot to the bleachers. Dunston hit one right to us, and I remember jumping up with my glove, declaring that I had it, then diving out of the way when I realized how fast it was coming at me. After that day, I was doomed.

I think its time to run Hendry Out of town. Its his bullpen. He assembled it and decided to keep Dusty around last year to burn em up in august and september. Dempster was miscasted as a closer. You have to throw strikes and throw hard. I'm sure Hendry's Farm System is stocked with readily available arms to rearm the bullpen. Oh thats right, our Farm system only has former catchers turned Pitchers and guys coming off Tommy John Surgery. This GM stinks, he thinks you can just throw out a bunch of players with good offensive numbers and win ball games. We do not have LH balance in the lineup. Jones, Floyd, Derosa, Soriano strikeout too much. Hendry went and got a No HIT SS like Izturis to replace Neifi a no hit SS, and to go along with Cedeno another no-hit SS. This roster is F'd the way its constructed. Need wholesale changes in the Bullpen and in the lineup to compete for a playoff birth. Great start to season. Hendry stinks!!

I'm not relatively old but I'll have to say that Kerry Wood's 20 K game kind of influenced me a little bit. I thought to myself, this Wood guy is good, he'll do this kind of stuff for us a lot in his career. Boy was I wrong.

Lou Piniella has inherited a worse ball-club than he could have suspected. Here's a message I sent to Rick Morrissey, Tribune Sportswriter on 05/30/2005 in response to his article on back-to-back winning seasons by the Cubs and the need for patience: ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 2:17 PM Subject: Baker bashers ignoring Cubs’ years of futility? Dear Rick, You missed the boat with your article and you are now also part of the problem with the Cubs: The manager is responsible for in-game decisions, utilization of personnel and the fundamentals of the game such as fielding, running, hitting and pitching. Baker has failed miserable at all of these and no sportswriter that's happy with back-to-back winning seasons can excuse the teams poor play. I don't care about the near-90 victories: I expect the 3rd largest market city in the country to play in the World Series during my lifetime (I turn 50 next year). Period! There is no excuse for the teams poor performance in the standings every year. Any Tribune Company executives, writers or employees that are happy with anything less than a World Series victory should be run out of town along with Dusty Baker. George

wow... It's great to see everyone that responded while I was writing my reasons... It's fun to read all this... Thanks guys.

"Atkins has always had a k/9 ratio above 6.00 including rookie league. His total minor league K/9 ratio is 7.69! A ratio of 7.5 or better is what sabremetricians look for in a top prospect.." you missed the boat on that one. atkins is a totally different player the past 2 years compared to where he was. you wouldnt know that looking at numbers, though. that's the boat. it wasnt until he got to peoria that his ***HEAD*** got into the game. he learned **WHEN** to throw what pitches. okay, we clear? no, dont believe me. well, its not up to you...or me. its up to mitch atkins and the skill he picked up dont show on the back of a ballcard. fact. here's a fastball guy who took a couple years to mentally get into a game. you see numbers, you have no idea how they got there. this is important if you wanna judge a player and predict without some magic indicator what a player's worth is.

for fun.. WS winners in 1-run games; Cards: 22-27 WSox: 35-19 RSox: 16-18 Marlins: 30-23 Angels: 32-14 Dbacks: 23-25

Billybucks... I like your response the best... It's a little "Field of Dreams"-y, but it's true. But why do we do that? Why is it this brotherhood that means more than the hat you wear? I am starting to think that it's because we recognize that there is more to baseball than winning. Does that ring true with any of you? If that is true with us at all, then WHAT THE HELL ARE WE COMPLAINING ABOUT???? WE PICKED THIS TEAM, AND CONTINUE TO DO SO KNOWING FULL WELL WHAT WE ARE GETTING OURSELVES INTO!!!

btw..mitch was a raw pick by the cubs...fastballer...pretty much it...can change speeds. when they got him the fastball was about all he had. developed a curve in boise...screwing around with a changeup... pretty much got the curve down in boise...not something of beauty, but something he can do besides throwing a fastball 3/4 of the time. cue peoria. he still doesnt have the changeup, but its a work in progress..what he does have is his fastball/curve and jody davis. "something" happens at this point. atkins becomes a cerebral pitcher. he learns WHEN to throw a pitch, how to effectively change speeds... now you got him in daytona this year and its pretty much a continuation of things. get his changeup a little tighter and he's in AA in now time for 07. ...now you tell me where to find that on your spreadsheet and which is more usefull...that or 7.69K/9 for determining this human being's future.

reasons why aaron b is a cubs fan for as long as he can remember. Watching Cubs games with my dad when I was really young. WGN telecasts in Omaha Nebraska during the 87 (Andre Dawson) season. As much as I joke, I'm glad Dad wasnt a Yankee fan. Sure we would have won more. But I could have cursed with prickitis.

Cubs fanship? Going to Cubs games with my father and grandfather. It was passed on genetically. I never do regret it, even when they suck. Although 'even when they suck' seems a bit redundant to me. Perhaps I'm a masochist (probably so) but when they do win at some point in my lifetime (and they will) it will be one of the greatest moments in my life...you know after my marriage and my daughter being born.

...should add that the curve and maybe the change (dunno) were nothing new to atkins, but for all intents and purposes he was a fastball pitcher by name/rep/trade

Posted in the other thread: "Frankly, I blame myself. I leave the chat and we’re up two. I leave, we lose. Actually my problem is, again, with Lou. You don’t use your closer in non-save situations."

Made it. I'm here. Why do I like the Cubs? George "The Baron" Mitterwald......that's the only reason I like the Cubs. "The Baron" was the Cubs catcher at the time we got cable TV when I was a little kid in Ottumwa, Iowa. I thought he was an All Star wrestler, and I named my dog after him. Oh...and that Sandberg guy helped a little too. Joey from Mankato, formerly from iowa

Ron Cey, and the way he stood in the batters box, and all the ways we used to mock him at little league practice.... another reason I got hooked...

As a Mets fan, it's hard not to enjoy a win like that, but I feel for you guys. Cubs fans are good eggs; and we Mets fams, as NYs longtime ugly sister, and not many seasons removed from some pretty abysmal teams, feel your pain. Even now, I can't watch Alou patrolling the left field of Shea and not think of you-know-who. Good luck with the rest of your season. See you at Wrigley. And if Wuertz and Dempster start turning your hair white, I know of a great masculine hair-coloring product.

Heh, CWTP cracks me up. Thanks for lightening up a rather bleak afternoon.

Thanks for the kind words, Keith. It's appreciated. Best wishes to you guys, too.

Rob G. — May 17, 2007 @ 2:39 pm Carlos Marmol is supposed to pitch tonight for Iowa, keep an eye if he’s pulled from the start. ========================== ROB G: Carlos Marmol has indeed been suddenly pulled from the Iowa Cubs starting rotation and has been sent to the bullpen. Marmol will be replaced in the I-Cubs starting rotation by veteran AAA RHP John Webb.

sounds like he's not getting called up quite yet though and they'll give him a few shots in Iowa out of the pen. Looks like they might go with 11 pitchers for a little longer than expected.

My reasons for being a Cubs fan are equal parts: my older brother, wgn, and harry. prolly mostly my brother, if he hadnt been watching in 1982-ish, I most likely wouldnt have started. My first memory of a Cubs game (on TV) was watching Fergie's 3000th in San Diego, and my brother explaining to me why it was a big deal. First in-person memory, June 27 1985 against the Meh-ts. Sarge made an absolutely ridiculous Head Down Here, Feet Up There diving/tumbling catch in LF, then doubled up the runner at first.

ROB G: Oneri Fleita has said in the past that the Cubs project Marmol as a future reliever--possibly even a closer--because he throws with greater velocity and intensity when he works just one inning. Of course, there is also the command issue that will need to be addressed, but I would think Marmol's days as a starter (at least with the Cubs) are done. Donald Veal might be the next young Cubs pitcher to get moved to the pen and primed as a closer, although he needs to get as many minor league innings as possible under his belt first. But Veal has all the earmarks of a late reliever (throws gas, high number of pitches-per-inning, lots of K's, needs to work often to help him repeat his delivery and keep his mechanics straight).

CWTP, Please stop, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about

Reasons for being a Cubs fan: I was 8 the summer my family moved to the Chicago suburbs, and that summer also happened to be 1989. Since I moved during the summer, I didn't know anyone yet, and the only thing that salvaged my summer from complete disaster were the regular 1:20 telecasts on WGN (also, we didn't have cable, so it was either the Cubs or The Frugal Gourmet on PBS). Pretty much fell in love with the Boys of Zimmer that summer, and was devastated when they lost to the Giants. I still hate Will Clark.

As an earlier poster mentioned, it was hard to focus at work after this game. I've been a fan since '89 when at the age of 6 I saw my pops yell at the TV, Giants, and Will Clark and it hasn't gotten any easier since then. As far as all the downers on our boy SAMARDZJIA, I heard Steve Stone on The Score mention that he would be OK. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, "the poor results are a consequence of him trying to develop another pitch". So let's give him some time. AZ Phil and Rob G, your contributions to the site are very interesting and informing. Keep up the good work! I have tix for Sundays sox game. I'll be carrying a sign that says "Show Z the $ ... ALREADY!". Hope this gets out and encourages others to do so! Go cubs!

I was at the game today. It was my first (and definitely last) trip to Shea. (It couldn't be more of a pit.) My Met friend/colleague thought drinking Busch Light in cans under the North Ave. overpass was a good way to spend the 2 hours before the game. (We had to get there early to beat the traffic.) Our seats were cheap ($12, with the charges) and very high behind home plate. The stadium was packed with kids, who had no interest in anything except getting in my way every time I had to walk somewhere. (Shouldn't they be in school, or something?) Planes from LGA fly over every 3 minutes or so, which only adds to the general rumble of the place. It's noisy, but not in a we're-into-the-game kind of way. I think NYers are just loud, regardless. My friend was a bit down after our HRs--he had placed $100 wager on the Mets during the trip down--but I kept telling him that our bullpen would bail him out. I had no idea how right I was. The only upside: There was a healthy Cubbie presence is the crowd, which was nice to see. The traffic was horrendous getting out, and it took me over 3 hours to get back to New Haven. (I once again remembered how much I hate NYC.) I'm looking forward to taking in some games in Parachat. The people are (generally) nicer and certainly funnier, I probably would have a better view (even if it's on the tube), and the parking is not as bad.

Scott Kazimir's line so far tonight vs Texas: 3 ER, 6 BB, 9 K, 109 pitches, 4 IP must be getting notes from Carlos Zambrano.

I only read about 20 posts before I couldn't stomach people bashing Hendry for the way the bull pen is performing. I am not a huge Jim Hendry fan but if we think back to the offseason we can all agree that one area no one was worried about was the bull pen. It was the one positive area of the team from 2006. Why they suck now, I don't know. Maybe we should be questioning their pitching coach for not being able to get things in order out there. Our bull pen has 11 losses, most in the NL. No one would be bashing Hendry if even half of these were wins...so it is unfair to blame Hendry for the way they are throwing the ball right now.

Dad and older brothers, going to games at Wrigley as a kid, Jack Brickhouse, Dave Kingman, getting used to losing.

JOE: re sori - you realize that FONZIE's BA in the 2-hole is .121 right? It is his LEAST productive spot in the lineup in a place where one HAS to make contact. UGH!!!

"I don't know," Piniella said. "I'll be honest-- I don't know. These guys have to do it. I don't know what else to say. Wuertz came in and did a nice job. Ohman comes in and does a nice job, and we hand the ball over to our closer. "The last time he (Dempster) threw in Philadelphia, I even mentioned it to him--'It's the best I've seen you throw the ball all year."' ---- OH WOW...HE CANT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS TEAM...SHIFTY LOU, SHIFTING THE BLAME...HE BLAMES THE PLAYERS...HE... oh wait...it is up the players. forgot about that. my bad. go press conference freakout go.

[i]Speaking of Hendry blowing dough, the $16.5 million he threw at SAMARDZJIA is looking like maybe it’s money down the sewer.[/i] [i]Let’s trade him to the Bears.[/i] Can Rex pitch? Or maybe we could pick up Urlacher and use him as our "Designated Hitter" in those interleague road games...

"Our bull pen has 11 losses, most in the NL. No one would be bashing Hendry if even half of these were wins…so it is unfair to blame Hendry for the way they are throwing the ball right now." Well, here is one small, but impactful thing that he did during the offseason which is hurting us now - David Aardsma, a mid-90's on-the-rise reliever who starred as a reliever for Rice and in the minors was TRADED to the fucking Sox for Neal Cotts who couldn't get my 87 year old dad out last year. When we realize that ALL of the effective relievers are RH pitchers in our division, and the majority of the top hitters are also RH hitters, an objective person had to go "WTF?!" We already had TWO lefties...of course one is Eyre - but he was the "good" Eyre last year. Now - in a scenario where we NEED a strong RH pitcher to go to instead of Howry - we have Rocky Cherry. This is a Hendry move that helped to sink us so far, and added to the cesspool of a bullpen. Yes I am BLAMING HIM for this.

neal cotts is one of the pen's least offensive offenders. still hasnt given up a homer and like aardvark his only big enemy seems to be control. cotts has more stamina, aardvark has a far better fastball. not like its night/day.

Why am I a Cubs fan? I don't know. My Dad cursed me with this and I will never forgive him for that. No joke. "I hate myself and I want to die" -Kurt Cobain

howry, wood, wuertz, dumpster...cotts, ohman, eyre... on "paper" it looks solid...its performed solid...the questionmarks of wood's health, wuertz's true value in the eyes of some, dumpster's dumpsterness... still, the howry collapse and the level of the eyre collapse so far has been...wow. wood never showed up, seems ohman's worked like 1/2 the games the cubs have played or something...sometimes he's great, sometimes he sucks. month and 1/2 in...the injuries havent hurt as much as in years past and the only pitching injuries have been to guys no one really cares if theyre injured or not...well, except wood. even with the best injury/backup/bench/starting coverage the team has had in many years the losses keep piling up on slack bats and a shakey pen. go figure.

another post sent to moderation... i really gotta find a pattern and figure out what im doing wrong here.

I'm not sure if it's a chemistry thing or what, but this team is not "clutch". They can't clutch hit, then can't clutch pitch. Maybe it will come with time, but I'm not very patient. The business about K/9 is hooey: year after year Cubs pitchers have high K/9 and BB/9. Common sense tells us it's because they simply don't throw a lot of strikes.

askimet spam doesn't really divulge their rules so I can't tell you crunch what the issue is. I'm guessing some of the weird punctuation and repeats of the same term, but just a guess.

Biz- "was watching Fergie’s 3000th in San Diego" I remember watching that game too!

hehe rynox...and yeah, rob...im just gonna keep my own copies of stuff that gets sent to moderation and see if i can find anything that makes some sense. could be something well deeper than just what i'm doing...could be a lotta things.

If you're going to blame Hendry for what the Cubs are doing right now, it's only fair that you give an example of what he should have done differently. Honestly, I'm not sure what more could have been asked of him during the off-season. He signed the top two FA position players available (Ramirez & Soriano), he added two starting pitchers who have done a great job so far, and he built a team that wasn't dependent on Prior and Wood. Granted, Hendry didn't get involved in the sweepstakes for Jason Schmidt or Barry Zito. I don't think landing either pitcher was realistic nor do I think Hendry made a mistake by not going after them harder. Hendry also did not bid high enough in the Matsuzaka sweepstakes, but again, I don't think that was a mistake. Hendry traded Aardsma for Cotts. I suppose an arguement can be made that the Cubs got the short end of that deal, but I don't think the season so far has hinged on that trade. So what could Hendry have done differently. Short of some sort of Fantasy League trade (i.e. Ronny Cedeno for ARod), I can't think of anything he could have done differently that would have really mattered.

E-Man-: Re#96, Soriano in the #2 spot. It is true that he is a career .161 hitter in the # 2 spot in the lineup. It is also true that it is a sample size of 31 AB's, which is roughly 1/20 of a season. It's called sample size, please look it up, and familiarize yourself with the term.

No more surprises for Piniella. He learned our last dirty little secret today: the closer stinks, too. Come on, Lou, how did you think we lost all those games last year? Was it all Neifi? On a more positive note, those proud Cubs of DesMoines collected fifteen more hits today in a 9-1 pounding of Oklahoma behind Sean Marshall, whose ERA is 1.82.

what is with the PCL pitching this year...AAA cubs are eatting everyone's pitching alive.

marmol pitched in relief tonite...and hit ANOTHER batter. that's 8 in 41 innings. neat.

oh, he also struck out 2 in .2ip...gave up a single then was replaced...his hbp batter scored on a single. 1er, 1h..

Hey, that guy Jerry Blevins I was talking about the other day is in AA now. He's moving up! He gave up a run in a third of an inning in his first appearance for Tennessee tonight, so his ERA is 27. At Daytona it was 0.38. He's the 6-6 lefty reliever who mysteriously gained 6 mph on his fastball recently. I don't know why, I have relievers on my mind these days.

Althought I do fully blame this loss on the Death Twins, it should be duely noted on the record, that onec again, the Cubs offense got a lead and decided to take the rest of the game off.

After my mom died and I moved in with my dad, I started watching Cubs games with him. That was 1989. "Hey, playoffs, cool." I had no idea what I was getting into.

Sorry to distract from the discussion and reference Trans' original article, but what was the story with the Ump in the 9th and Dempster. I (mercifully) didn't watch the last few innings, but early in the game when Lou came out to argue a call, the Mets radio guys were talking about how the home plate ump was a hothead and had a hard time controling himself, thus predicting a high likelyhood that Lou would be getting tossed. I take it whatever happened in the 9th would support that theory about the ump?

Oh yeah, and I have to blame WGN and Daygames for being a Cubs fan. And it didn't help growing up in a part of Minnesota that had Zero Twins TV coverage, and radio coverage was provided by a station that had such a poor signal, one would think it was powered by a guy riding a bicycle.

After watching the Cub game today (Thursday, 4-17) with a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th and Lou brings in our closer. Seems Dempster has his bad days and his real bad days, and today was one of those real bad days. He has basically struggled all year, picking up where he left off at the end of last year. I think it is time for Jim Hendry to go out and find a true bonifide Major League quality closer. Put Dempster in a set-up bullpen roll, where he really belongs anyway, or put him back in the starting rotation. HE IS NOT A CLOSER!!!!!!!!!

What do you think it would take to get Manny Corpas away from the Rockies? He's looked good in relief and might help this pen become a little more consistent. I'm thinking Murton and Ohman.

Why am I an Old Cubs fan? I grew up loving to watch Frank Chance play and even wanted to play first as a high schooler.

I should have clarified my post from earlier......it was Fergie's 3000th strikeout that I watched on TV, not his 3000th, uuuh, anything else (insert Shingledicker joke here.)

I tend to think that young players should get the benefit of the doubt, not grizzled veterans, but that's not the way it plays out, at least with the Cubs. Rocky Cherry was demoted to Iowa on Tuesday after a less than stellar performance Monday night, in which he faced five Met batters and only retired three of them. The two hits off him were a bouncer over third and and grounder up the middle. He was charged with no runs, but two inherited runners scored on the first hit. Lou gave him a parting (public) shot about how much better he was in spring training and what he needs to work on. Then we have Dempster's latest meltdown. Lou said, ""I'll be honest—I don't know. These guys have to do it." Let me add one remark about Dempster's ERA before yesterday, which has been touted by his defenders. A closer's job is to protect narrow leads. Since the Cubs have only won two one-run games, and one of them was a walk-off fly ball to left by Ward, Dempster cannot be said to have done his job. Maybe he hasn't been given the opportunity; but he really hasn't done anything.

Jace et al -- Part of being a Cubs fan is anguishing together over the truly remarkable losses -- - Walk-off walk - Blowing a 4-run lead in the 9th - Last year's Neifi game (2 runs score on a sac fly) - Last year's Barrett game (catcher throws to third with nobody covering home, runner scores wiinning run laughing) - Last year's Aramis game (pop-up conks him on the noggin) The Cubs NEVER win games this way, they only lose in this fashion. I can't remember any of the above ever happening in the Cubs favor. So, we have 2 choices -- we can gripe, yell, snarl, and then get ready for the next game -- or we can quitely drift into apathy. It's Chicgao -- what do you expect? TCR provides a tremendous public service to allow us to vent our frustration on-line rather than at those around us. A sincere thanks -- I sleep much better once I can let it all out. Also -- Pie 2-for-5 (with an SB) -- which lowered his average.

" grew up loving to watch Frank Chance play" Frank Chance!?!?!? He last played with the Cubs in 1912. How old are you??

"It’s called sample size, please look it up, and familiarize yourself with the term." Its called "stick it in your ear", and "why hasn't he been batted 2nd much by other managers #2 in the 10 years he's been in the bigs." But of course you're the guy that hated the Marquis signing and penciled in Kerry Wood as the closer. Jerk.

My solution is: fire everyone New Lineup: Theriot Fontenot Lee Ramirez Soto Hoffpauir Pie P I guarantee that the above lineup will do at least as well as the 2006 Cubs. And for approximately 1/10th the cost. Then spend all the extra cash on pitchers.

TCR provides a tremendous public service to allow us to vent our frustration on-line rather than at those around Good Morning BillyBucks, Thanks for bringing it up, 'cause I was about to write that TCR has become more of a place just to vent rather than analyze. (what happened to the "analyzing to death since" motto that used to be at the top of the page? -- perhaps it should be replaced with "Venting since the Bartman Game, 2003")

Jacos: 129...........I am an old Cub fan. My name is not new Cub fan. I have seen the Cub senior management make lots and lots of mistakes over the years. So Jim Hendry is just one of many incompetent general managers in the last 100 years.

Managers bat Soriano first because they've been in love with speed over OBP for a while now. It's a foolish mentality to me, but one that exists. Also, sabrematics don't simply look at k/9 to judge a young pittcher. They look at the kind of pitches he throws too. If a young pitcher has the kind of pitches that generally lead to strikeouts, they also look at WHIP and HRs to see control. If the pitcher isn't throwing stike out pitches, they look at ground balls, fly balls, etc. It's much like scientific experiments where you have to take into account all variables before you have real results. Not saying all stat people do that, but that's how sabrematics should be done.

Jacos- Cubs could use a lefty starter? You going with the all-lefty rotation? Hill, Lilly, Marshall, etc. CWTP -- TCR is not JUST for venting, but that is one useful purpose.

TCR fills a need. Whether it be analyzing, venting or just plain goofing. God knows that as Cubs fans we need all of the above. The analyzation feeds both our optimism (spring training/farm system) and our pessimism (statistical lists of the cubs performance, game analyses etc.) The venting is just different opinions being expressed as to why what is happening is happening. And the goofing well, that's just something we need to keep us semi-sane since most of the time these "games" we look to for an escape from the drudgery of our everyday lives only provide us with more drudgery.

The business about K/9 is hooey. A bunch of hooey.. !! Thanks for the A.M. laugh. Meanwhile, for anyone interested, JC Bradbury did a recent reanalysis of DIPS and not surprisingly K9 again emerged as the single most relevant predictor of future success... .

Also, sabrematics don’t simply look at k/9 to judge a young pittcher Who said they did? Again, what I said is true. In the minds of many sabermetricians, K9 is the single most important indicator of future success for a pitcher no matter what the level.. And recently JC Bradbury proved it.

What do you think it would take to get Manny Corpas away from the Rockies? He’s looked good in relief and might help this pen become a little more consistent. I’m thinking Murton and Ohman. Seriously? Murton and Ohman for a middle relief guy? I know Hendry is not that stupid.

Again though, only for certain pitchers. Not all pitchers throw strike out pitches, so therefore it's not for them.

135- Just Old Cub Fan- Well I hope I'm together as you are when I'm your age, because with the Frank Chance comment I would put you atleast 103 years old. ;-)

” grew up loving to watch Frank Chance play” Frank Chance!?!?!? He last played with the Cubs in 1912. How old are you?? ....................................................................... I think he meant Frank Castillo?

Blue - Wish I had an answer for you, but all I know and saw of it, I posted. I missed the exchange, just heard the WGN crew describe it. Seems to have been virtually nothing from Dempster; the ump's response wasn't dramatic, it was just pointless and unnecessary, given the (supposed) infraction.

Sorry guys, I am not old enough to have seen Frank Chance, but am probably the oldest Cub fan making comments on the Cub Reporter.

E-Man- Excuse me???!!!! I hated the Marquis signing?!! I penciled Kerry Wood as the closer? You had better get your freaking facts straight! I was one of the biggest Marquis defenders in theCubs blogsphere. Saying that Soriano can't hit second in the lineup, and then pointing to a miniscule sample size as concrete evidence is just plain ignorant. I may be a jerk, but you have the wrong reason.

JAOCF - I should introduce you to Grandma Trans, who is quite web-savy. (For all I know, she may be a poster, here) IF only she had taught her skills to Momma Trans, who struggles to send emails.....

crunch: "oh wait…it is up the players. forgot about that. my bad." The players are doing about what I expected. I thought this team is basically a .500 team and that is basically what they have done this year. How can I blame them for performing what I expect they should do? The GM just hasn't done a good job of building this team over the past few years. You can't expect a team with players that makeup a .500 team to play .600 ball. You blame the GM for not getting players who can play .600 ball. Go Teflon Jim!!!

Sweet Lou: "If you’re going to blame Hendry for what the Cubs are doing right now, it’s only fair that you give an example of what he should have done differently. Honestly, I’m not sure what more could have been asked of him during the off-season." GM's build an organization, not just in one season but for years, he has thus far failed in the long term plan...CLEARLY. There might not be one glaring mistake he made in the 5 months of the offseason this past year, but it is a culmination of things over the past years that add up.

ESPN 1000 in Chicago is reporting that Carlos Marmol is in the Cubs clubhouse as we speak. A roster move could be imminent. Also, to clarify Stone's report on Samardzija on Monday's WSCR show with Boers/Bernstein: He has been pitching with a set number of changeups being called (certainly more than he would normally throw) in efforts to make him a more complete pitcher. His fastball has been rated by Baseball America (and many scouts) as the best in the Cubs system. He no doubt could dominate at Daytona by throwing it 95% of the time, but that isn't going to help him at AA and above.

Virgina Phil: "Come on, Lou, how did you think we lost all those games last year? Was it all Neifi?" No, wasn't it all Dusty??? :)

So... is Urbina still in prison? I'm all for the Cub's going and breaking him out. I'm sure he'll at least throw strikes. Not only that, opposing batters will be afraid to tick him off.

George Altman: Also, to clarify Stone’s report on Samardzija on Monday’s WSCR show with Boers/Bernstein: He has been pitching with a set number of changeups being called (certainly more than he would normally throw) in efforts to make him a more complete pitcher. His fastball has been rated by Baseball America (and many scouts) as the best in the Cubs system. He no doubt could dominate at Daytona by throwing it 95% of the time, but that isn’t going to help him at AA and above. His fastball is fantastic! Reminds me of Peavy's 2-seamer that runs down and in to right-handers. If he can learn Peavy's control we'll have a real nice pitcher on the Cub's in 08 or 09.

Classic Rynox! lol! I loved the picture of the building collapsing too. May I suggest a photo of the wheels coming off a car for the next choke job to occur...probably sometime later today if my Cubs radar is accurate!

Rynox — May 18, 2007 @ 9:41 am So… is Urbina still in prison? I’m all for the Cub’s going and breaking him out. I’m sure he’ll at least throw strikes. Not only that, opposing batters will be afraid to tick him off. .................................................................... He got 14 years. So any help Urbina can provide will have to wait til sometime in 2019 for Ugie to help the pen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugueth_Urbina

I apologize for terrible grammar in 158. Wrote half sentence, looked for link and wrote same sentence again.

Rynox, I was praising you for the post about Urbina.....sorry I was unclear there, you snuck in a second post before I got mine in. Transmission, kudos for the pic.

When Blevins moved up to Tennessee yesterday, Dopirak and a pitcher named Tim Layden went back to Daytona. This solidifies Jake Fox as the Tennessee first baseman.

Re: Urbina Not sure we need another relief pitcher known for throwing gasoline on a volatile situation. Per the Wikipedia link in #158: "Urbina allegedly attacked five farm workers on his property and tried to injure them both with a machete and by attempting to pour gasoline on them."

Also heard on Chicago radio- Marshall will be here next week Lee can ph today, probably play tomorrow. Lou today- "there will be major changes to the alignment come Monday or Tuesday" My questions- "alignment", huh? Is Guzman going on Dl or to the bullpen? Is Eyre going on the DL with Wade Miller's back spasms (wink,wink)?

Jacos #149 My favorite player as a kid in the 40's was Andy Pafko. Mister Reliable.

Marmol?! From my time watching him last year - he walks half the batter he faces and strikes out the other half. Has he changed that much at AAA since last year?

JAOC, I swear I was going to ask you about Pafko, because I figure Pie is his successor, with about sixty dead years in between.

Dempster should get a job at Farnsworth's old hangout, The Gingerman, where serving them up is a good thing. Can the Cubs send someone all the way down to a softball league that plays in Lincoln Park?Just shows you how much of the game is mental. His previous game was pretty good. Eyer made some dumb comment about what a tough situation to be in with men on base. Did he not read the job description for relief pitchers when he chose this line of work? What was even more disturbing was Lou during the press conference. He had the perplexed,confused and resigned Dusty look on his face. Someone who knows him asked me "Can you believe this? Oh yeah, I forgot. You're a lifelong Cub fan".

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.