March 2008

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Opening Day 2008 has arrived and the season starts off with a division rival tilt between our beloved Cubbies and those Brew Babies from up north. This will be Zambrano's fourth straight Opening Day start, he's 0-1 with an 8.16 ERA in the previous three. Maybe it's Mother Nature's way of calming his nerves with the impending rain delay.

Additionally...(from Cubnut)

The Cubs need to get off to a fast start and not just because it's no fun digging yourself out of the kind of hole Lou's boys escaped last year. Between now and the end of May, the Cubs have 33 home dates; the Brewers, just 25. (Six of those Cub home games are against Milwaukee.)

At the end of the season, the situation is reversed: in September, the Cubs play just 9 home games; the Brewers, 16...the final three when they host the Cubs.

While the rest of his teammates spent the weekend in Las Vegas before heading back to Chicago for Opening Day, Rich Hill remained in Arizona and made his final Spring Training tune-up start versus the Angels' Salt Lake AAA club at the Diablo Park minor league complex in Tempe this morning.

Hill struggled with his control a bit in the 1st and 3rd innings (he walked a batter to load the bases in the bottom of the 3rd and then hit a batter to force-in a run), but he also retired the side in order in the 2nd, 4th, and 5th innings, including the last eight men he faced.

With a mandate from Larry Rothschild to throw between 80 and 90 pitches, Hill ended up throwing exactly 80 pitches (22-14-23-10-11 in innings 1-2-3-4-5, including 50 strikes and 30 balls).

In his five innings of work, the left-hander allowed one run (earned) on three hits, with two walks, four strikeouts, and a HBP, with a 6/5 GB/FB. 

Ryan Dempster's final tune-up before he's unleashed on the National League. The Mariners send out Jarrod Washburn which should give us an idea on the type of lineup the Cubs will send out versus lefties.

Absolutely, if you accept the premise behind an analysis in Friday's Wall Street Journal, which ranked 20 big league managers on:

• Their teams' performance in close games, i.e., games tied through six innings
• Their teams' won-loss record relative to its projected record based on runs scored and allowed (the "Pythagorean" projection)
• How players' individual performances improved or declined under various managers, with allowances made for the players' ages

The managers were ranked in each of the three categories, and the ranks were averaged, giving each manager a composite score.

It's on the front of Rotoworld, but the Phillies claimed Tim Lahey today off waivers. They'll have to keep him on their 25-man roster all season to keep his rights beyond 2008 without a trade or cash exchanging hands. If he can't stick, he'll go through waivers again, but more likely end up back in the Minnesota Twins organization (if they want him). The Cubs are still owed a player for the Craig Monroe deal from the Minnesota Twins. It's certainly possible that it still might be Tim Lahey, but they'll have to wait for the Phillies to be done with him first.

- ESPN's Page2 goes through each and every painstaking year since we last won it all. 

Catching up on day-old news here, but former Cubs manager Preston Gomez was critically injured Wednesday morning when he was struck by a pickup truck in Blythe, California.

The 84-year-old Gomez, who has been a special assistant for the Angels for many years, was on his home from spring training at the time of the accident. Gomez stopped for gas and after refueling his car, "stepped out around the end of the gas pumps and into the path of a large pickup truck," according to the Blythe police.

Time will tell if the Cubs just lucked out by not acquiring Brian Roberts. His strength wouldn't have been in the field as we already have a solid second baseman in Mark DeRosa. Roberts would have given the Cubs a leadoff switch-hitter with a track record of well above average OBP and basestealing ability. Not making the trade keeps the Cubs farm system talent pool of near MLB ready talent available for the future, whether it be a different transaction or if those prospects develop further, maybe a spot on the roster if an injury occurs. Could Sean Gallagher replace one of our 5 starters if more than one breaks down? Will Eric Patterson become a bona-fide mlb leadoff hitter? Can Jose Ceda or lefty Donald Veal become the power arm that teams drool over with just a little more seasoning? Will Roberts back spasms limit his playing time this year devaluing his baserunning skills and therefore his trade value on a team which needed to completely rebuild with young talent?

I tried to think of deals that were rumored but never happened, but ultimately worked out better than if the trade had occurred. Last year Jacques Jones was almost dealt to the Marlins while being nearly useless to the club the first half of 2007. After that "almost trade" he started hitting again and some would say that was the difference the team needed to make the playoffs.

I'm sure Cubs history is full of rumored deals that never happened giving credence to the cliche that "not making that trade was the best thing that could have happened". So here's a chance for TCR readers to chime in on trades that almost happened (but never did) and the historical hindsight that goes with it.

No, this isn't a bold Ryan Dempster-like statement about the Cubs 2008 chances. We're going to hop into the DeLorean we have sitting around here at the sprawling TCR headquarters and visit my all-time favorite Cubs team - the 1984 ballcub.

So the Cubs' Extra Righthanded-Hitting Outfielder spinner stopped and it landed on...former Toronto Blue Jay, Reed Johnson. The Cubs signed the 31-year-old Johnson to a one-year contract on Tuesday, in time for Johnson to make his Cactus League debut this afternoon against the Giants. (He went 2-for-5.)

Rich Hill's last or second to last chance to straighten things out before the Cubs start the regular season. He'll battle fellow south-paw Jonathan Sanchez.

The Cubs announced more roster cuts today with Eric Patterson and Sam Fuld being optioned to Triple A and Micah Hoffpauir, Casey McGehee and pitcher Les Walrond being assigned to minor league camp. With the addition of Reed Johnson, that leaves 32 in camp with 2 non-roster invitees (Alex Cintron and Chad Fox). Angel Guzman was also put on the 60-day disabled list.

I've updated our 40-man roster page and our new Cubs Depth Chart to reflect the changes.

Felix Pie went 3-3 with a bunt single, a double, a triple, and a sac bunt, leading the Cubs to a 7-6 victory over the Texas Rangers before a capacity crowd at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park this afternoon in sunny Mesa.

The Cubs and Rangers were tied 6-6 entering the bottom of the 9th. Facing Rangers reliever Robinson Tejada, Mark DeRosa struck out swinging and Henry Blanco lined out to short to start the inning, but then Pie smoked a triple into the right-centerfield alley, setting up a chance for Eric Patterson to be the hero. And that he was, as E-Pat lined a game-winning single into center, scoring a hand-clapping Pie from 3rd with the winning run.

box score

Ryan Dempster takes the mound today to celebrate his appointment to the starting rotation. The Rangers counter with lefty Kason Gabbard.

In site news, I've added the TCR blogroll  which you can access via Quick Links on the left sidebar or under TCR Junk Drawer up top. I'm sure I missed a few Cubs blogs, so drop me a note if you want yours added.

I have always wondered that if someone could make a minor change here and there to the timeline, how different being a Cub fan might be. Cub history is littered with so many momentary adverse events that with an occasional tweak, the one hundred year World Series drought would never have been an issue. With just a little help from Mr. Peabody and the Wayback Machine--voilà: Lee Smith throws a different pitch to Garvey, Leon Durham bends just a little lower to field that grounder or Alex Gonzalez actually turns that 8th inning double play.

Here’s a time-warped tale of modern day Orthopedics coming to the Cubs rescue! In order to tell the story of the World Series Shuffle, I went to one of my favorite TV programs of the 1990’s and discovered there were missing episodes in the archives.

QUANTUM LEAP – The Chicago Cubs Episode

The Cubs rallied for three runs in the bottom of the 10th to tie the score, but the winning run was left stranded at 3rd, as the White Sox and Cubs played to an 8-8 Selig Special at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park this afternoon in sunny and warm Mesa.

box score

Following the most-recent cuts from big league camp and reassignments (demotions and outright releases) at Minor League Camp, here are (best as I can determine) the current rosters at Fitch Park: