Piecing together the 25 Man Roster

[jersey cubs fan]

It only takes 11 days to get the extra year IIRC. But late June would probably be the likely timeframe.

 

But he already has some service time from last season.

 

Was he a sept. call up or was it earlier? I don't see him up before June anyway but I thought that sept. callups worked differently/ didn't count for service time

 

He started in June, was sent back in July and had something like 50 games total after the September call-up. BR.com lists his service time as 0.068.

[MWV]

If my math is right, that would mean he cannot be called up any earlier than June 13 if the Cubs want to avoid burning a year of service time.

[weis21]

Assuming no more moves are made, I'd like to see this opening day lineup and this starting rotation:

 

Dejesus

Castro

Soto

Lahair

Byrd

Stewart

Soriano

Barney

Garza

 

vomit times a million. you're not wrong, it's just that GOD i hate remembering that is our opening day lineup. especially that 3-5.

 

oh, me too. i sat there for about a minute and tried to think of a way to move lahair out of cleanup, but in the end, i figured it just didnt matter anyway. i suppose sveum will probably use that same thought process at some point this season. ack.

[mookie]

Strasburg is going to break the single game strike out record on opening day.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Strasburg is going to break the single game strike out record on opening day.

 

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/510615/baseballstrasburgpitch_medium.gif

[imb]

Strasburg is going to break the single game strike out record on opening day.

 

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/510615/baseballstrasburgpitch_medium.gif

 

god, i forgot how much he looks like prior

[El Duderino]

i can't even remember what prior looked like pitching. :'(

[dew1679666265]

LaHair at cleanup, there it is just sitting there flipping you off.

 

I was about to make a post that there's no way LaHair would actually be in the cleanup spot, but then I looked at the rest of the options and realized there's really no good option for any middle of the order spot.

 

That's a really horrid lineup.

[Backtobanks]

i can't even remember what prior looked like pitching. :'(

 

He was the guy with the towel. :lol:

[Guest]

i can't even remember what prior looked like pitching. :'(

 

He was the guy with the towel. :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Sammy Sofa]

i can't even remember what prior looked like pitching. :'(

 

He was the guy with the towel. :lol:

 

[expletive] you.

[SouthSideRyan]

i can't even remember what prior looked like pitching. :'(

 

He was the guy with the towel. :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

ha

 

ha

 

ha

 

ha

 

ha

[Cubswin11]

LaHair at cleanup, there it is just sitting there flipping you off.

 

I was about to make a post that there's no way LaHair would actually be in the cleanup spot, but then I looked at the rest of the options and realized there's really no good option for any middle of the order spot.

 

That's a really horrid lineup.

At least it's kind of balanced with L-R-R-L-R-L-R-R?? That's all I got. That offense could, and probably will, really suck and struggle to hit for power.

[Cubs Evangelist]

There is a good chance we don't hit 80 HR as a team this year... that will be a nice record to post!

[davell]

LaHair goes .272/.344/.496 for the season. He plays LF once Rizzo comes up and Soriano is DFA'd. After the season, we trade him to Tampa for Alex Cobb.

[TruffleShuffle]

There is a good chance we don't hit 80 HR as a team this year... that will be a nice record to post!

 

there is a good chance the cubs will do something that no team has done for 20 years. right.

[Guest]

There is a good chance we don't hit 80 HR as a team this year... that will be a nice record to post!

 

there is a good chance the cubs will do something that no team has done for 20 years. right.

 

Yeah, even the Mariners hit at least 100 home runs the past two years.

[CubColtPacer]

I would say the team is pretty balanced between lack of power and lack of OBP. The Cubs have 4 power threats (Soriano, LaHair, Stewart, Soto). All of them struggle with high strikeout rates that can lead to low BA/low OBP (and for Soriano it's doubly bad since he has a bad walk rate).

 

Then you have Barney, DeJesus, and Byrd who have better BA without much power (and Byrd and Barney don't have a good walk rate either). Castro has both BA and developing power (without much of a walk rate).

 

If I had to guess, I'd guess that the teams OBP rank will be a little worse than their slugging/HR rank. But it will be pretty close. Neither should be dead last in the NL, but both will easily be in the bottom half.

[Cubs Fan Dan]

Vs RH

DeJesus

Castro

Stewart

Soto

LaHair

Soriano

Byrd

Cardenas

 

Vs LH

Byrd

Castro

Soriano

Soto

LaHair

Baker

Stewart

DeJesus / Johnson / Sappelt

 

Definitely not sexy any way you cut it. But improvements out of Castro, DeJesus returning to form and productions out of LaHair and Stewart could keep the team competitive if the pitching is much better(i believe it will be).

 

My feels are Stewart and Volstad have their best seasons and LaHair puts up a decent OBP and solid power numbers.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Why is the general consensus that Russell already has a spot nailed down with Maine and Gaub battling it out? All 3 are around the same age and Russell has more experience and as a result an overall better track record, but what we've seen of Maine and Gaub both of them seem to have better stuff than Russell. I know that Gaub is with Marmol, Shark, and Casey Weathers in the great stuff but spotty at best control but if he can fix it, could Rusell be the odd man out?

[SouthSideRyan]

Because Russell was really good when used out of the pen and because Scott Maine sucks.

[KingCubsFan]

Why is the general consensus that Russell already has a spot nailed down with Maine and Gaub battling it out? All 3 are around the same age and Russell has more experience and as a result an overall better track record, but what we've seen of Maine and Gaub both of them seem to have better stuff than Russell. I know that Gaub is with Marmol, Shark, and Casey Weathers in the great stuff but spotty at best control but if he can fix it, could Rusell be the odd man out?

Did you just group Carlos Marmol with John Gaub and Casey Weathers?

[Guest]

i can't even remember what prior looked like pitching. :'(

 

He was the guy with the towel. :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

ha

 

ha

 

ha

 

ha

 

ha

 

Yea, he went there.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Why is the general consensus that Russell already has a spot nailed down with Maine and Gaub battling it out? All 3 are around the same age and Russell has more experience and as a result an overall better track record, but what we've seen of Maine and Gaub both of them seem to have better stuff than Russell. I know that Gaub is with Marmol, Shark, and Casey Weathers in the great stuff but spotty at best control but if he can fix it, could Rusell be the odd man out?

Did you just group Carlos Marmol with John Gaub and Casey Weathers?

 

Only in that they have great stuff and poor control. This is based on the limited time we saw Gaub. As for Weathers, I knew nothing of him before we got him, but he was the 7th overall pick in '07, and always been a reliever at least as a pro so someone must have really liked what they saw once upon a time to pick a reliever that high.

[TruffleShuffle]

or sometimes guys just don't develop like expected. the draft was almost 5 years ago; not everyone who was drafted highly 5 years ago has great stuff or elite talent.