Bruce Miles

True

Hit the heck out of that one. Knew it off the bat.

Bowen DFA

Honestly, we have not been told

Nothing like using up all of his options early. They use one option only this year no matter how many times they send him out. Hey Bruce! Any word on who's going down? Word should come any minute.

Nothing like using up all of his options early. They use one option only this year no matter how many times they send him out.

Lineups Giants Roberts, CF Vizquel, SS Winn, RF Durham, 2B Molina, C Aurilia, 1B Feliz, 3B Frandsen, LF Lincecum, P Cubs Soriano, LF Theriot, SS Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Ward, RF DeRosa, 2B Jones, CF Hill, C R. Hill, P

Interesting discussion. Back on what I believe is the topic (Hendry's off-season), these were his top priorities, as I've been able to glean over the last few months and recently: Hire Piniella as manager (failing that, hire Bochy) Sign Soriano Sign Lilly Sign DeRosa (who was valued over Durham) The Cubs always liked Cliff Floyd, so his signing seemed inevitable. What about Marquis? The Cubs made a run at Gil Meche at the winter meetings but couldn't sign him. They went until almost Christmas before signing Marquis, who came on the recommendation of Greg Maddux and who had worked with Rothschild in Florida. (When I mentioned to Maddux after one spring-training game that Marquis was having a good spring, he replied, "Well, he SHOULD.") Would Meche have been a better signing? I don't know. The Cubs were one-half of the equation in that scenario, and Meche chose the Royals.

Thanks, Bruce. I was cautiously hoping this was the case when Larry was retained under Piniella. I know that he was well thought of before coming to Chicago and that Leyland felt he was one of the best as well. I was hoping when Lou kept him that he would prove to be worthy of that high esteem. It's looking like he is. Pitching coaches can coach, push, cajole and work on pitchers' mechanics until the cows come home. Ultimately, it's up to the pitchers to execute those pitches. I heard a lot about Rothschild and the mechanics of Prior and Wood from 2004-present. A lot of times, a pitcher or any athlete will fall back on what feels "comfortable" or what he is used to doing in game/stres situations rather than do what is right or what is coached. Larry spotted a couple things with Zambrano and his arm angle long about May. It took a lot of repetition and convincing to get Carlos to do things right (from what I hear, Larry spotted something on tape with the positioning of Zambrano's lead, or left, arm, and it took a lot of work on the side to get him to change it). He did a lot of work with Marquis beginning last winter. We'll see if some "refresher" work recently gets Jason back on track.

I've had a lot of conversations with Larry. Trust me when I tell you he's a very bright guy and, I believe, a very good pitching coach. Zambrano blossomed under his watch. Matt Clement had his best years under Larry and still swears by him. Joe Borowski came out of nowhere in 2002 and 2003 under Rothschild. There's a lot of stuff that happened under the previous regime, and Larry, to his credit, won't get into it. I go by what his pitchers, past and present, tell me.

That's what the Cubs want him to do. And as somebody else pointed out, he is a nice guy. If he can help, it'll be one of those great ironies. Bruce, Which catcher do you see leaving when Dempster is activated? It all depends on how Soto does. I don't expect to see Dempster activated until the Arizona series.

That's what the Cubs want him to do. And as somebody else pointed out, he is a nice guy. If he can help, it'll be one of those great ironies.

It's not a pipe dream. The Cubs acknowledge that he's done quite well. Bringing him up doesn't seem imminent, however. But Soto could force their hands sooner rather than later.

The Cubs' first preference will be to stay in house, i.e., somebody from the system.

I'm not Fred, but I've got Z with 21, 20, 25, 12, 16, 16 Thank you Not Fred :wink: . I was just curious about A) the wind up change and B) How long a lash he has for this innning. I went to the TV booth and asked Brenly. He said he just thinks Z was not in sync in the windup and that the stretch has allowed him to quick-pitch and vary his times to the plate.

I'm not Fred, but I've got Z with 21, 20, 25, 12, 16, 16

Oh yes, it does. All runs in the inning are earned.

41 pitches, 20 strikes for Z after 2.

Looks that way, for now at least

Lineups Cubs Soriano, LF Theriot, SS Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B DeRosa, RF Fontenot, 2B Pagan, CF Hill, C Zambrano, P Pirates McLouth, CF Sanchez, 2B LaRoche, 1B Nady, RF Bay, LF Bautista, 3B Paulino, C Wilson, SS Youman, P

Lilly's 11th quality start. If Cubs hold on to win, they'll be 32-12 in games they get a quality start. Their starters have a 1.62 ERA in those games. They will have won their last seven games in which they've gotten a QS. Only once this year, has a Cubs pitcher done the minimum in a QS (6 innings, no more than 3 earned runs). Also, 13 of 14 hits tonight were singles. Got to go to the postgame.

Actually, Lou asked Soriano if he wanted the night off. Soriano said no. True.

No, it's a day off for Lee and DeRosa.

Lineups Cubs Soriano, LF Fontenot, 2B Ward, 1B Ramirez, 3B Floyd, RF Jones, CF Hill, C Izturis, SS Marshall, P Nats Logan, CF Belliard, 2B Zimmerman, 3B Young, 1B Kearns, RF Lopez, SS Schneider, C Fick, LF Bergmann, P

Well of course every team's ERA is going to be outstanding when they basically say "hey let's throw out the bad starts and keep the good ones." It's kinda worthless. We're talking about quality starts, period, here. I'm not talking about the bad starts, so there are no stats that we're "throwing out" here. In the Cubs' quality starts, a stat people like to malign, they have a 1.63 ERA. That's all quality starts combined, whether they meet the minimum requirement or not. In games the Cubs don't get a quality start, the team record is 11-29. Great, so let's change the requirement to 7IP 3ER. 7IP 3ER equates to a 3.86 ERA, which is actually good. I'm sure the quality starts with an ERA over 4.00 didn't produce nearly as good a record as all the quality starts combined, reason being that a 4+ ERA isn't particulary good. You aren't just throwing out 6 innings, 3 runs then. You're throwing out 6 innings 2 runs, 6 innings 1 run, and 6 innings 0 runs. Is that not worse then just leaving in the 6 innings 3 runs? Best way IMO would be to require a min. of 6IP and an ERA less than or equal to 4.00 for the game. That way you would have to do 7IP if you allow 3ER, but you could still get a quality start by doing 6IP/2ER. This would elimate those mediocre games that are currently counted as quality starts. 4.50 ERA is not "quality" pitching. How many of those "mediocre" starts to you think the Cubs have had this year? One. Exactly one. On April 9, Ted Lilly pitched 6 innings and gave up 3 earned runs. The Cubs lost 5-3 when Howry gave up 2 runs. In all other quality starts, the starting pitcher has exceeded, in most cases by far, the minimum standard. There is research that says this is the case in most quality starts. It's not a perfect measure. But it does tell a pretty accurate story.