Rob

It may not be in our lifetime but someday Manny, Bonds, McGwire, and all the other people who used steroids will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. 100 years from now when steroids don't seem like a big deal (because of genetic modification or whatever crazy [expletive] players are doing to cheat) the Committee will just shrug its collective shoulders and put up their plaques.

NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR FANTASY TEAM I cracked up laughing. Then I remembered Manny Ramirez is on my fantasy team too.

Just heard it during the Red Sox - Yankees radio broadcast. Looks like he got busted for steroid use again, if you trust the broadcasters. Edit: They started reading MLB's release. He was informed by MLB about a violation of their drug policy and rather than continue with the process they have for dealing with that, he decided to retire. It could possibly be recreational use, but it's not hard to make the jump to "was going to be suspended 100 games for PED usage, decided to call it quits."

Justin Berg Austin Bibens-Dirkx Chris Carpenter Robert Coello John Gaub Scott Maine Jake Muyco Max Ramirez Chris Robinson Matt Camp Jonathan Mota Marquez Smith Tony Campana Ty Wright Granted, a not insignificant number of those guys will turn 27 at some point during the season.

Good first day down on the farm.

Worth going for? There seems to be a match at least on the surface. Tsuyoshi Nishioka broke his leg today, leaving the Twins needing a second baseman. We have an excess of second base types, and a big friggin hole in the rotation.

Here's my rundown on the options. If any of you notice I made a mistake, feel free to call me out on it. 1.) Jay Jackson is injured. Or at the very least his velocity is way down, he's not on Iowa's roster, and he's in no position to help us. 2.) Chris Carpenter appears to have been converted to a reliever, having spent the entire AFL as one and it appears spring training as well. He could potentially be stretched out, but isn't in a position to help us immediately. It's unlikely we go this route, simply because I doubt the Cubs would want to jerk him around when it might only be a couple starts after he finally gets stretched out. 3.) McNutt, Cabrera, and Dolis simply don't appear to have enough polish yet to succeed. It's not inconceivable they might get the call, but I would bet against the Cubs starting the arb clock and beginning to burn options unless absolutely necessary. Easily the highest upside play though. 4.) I think we can all agree we probably wont jump somebody from A ball. 5.) There's the standard assortment of low upside guys in the high minors whom we probably wouldn't be crushed to lose if we wanted to outright them back after they're done. This group includes guys like J.R. Mathes, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Thomas Diamond (all of the preceeding at Iowa currently). 6.) There's a group of lefties at AA that all could present an intriguing choice. Chris Rusin, Hung-Wen Chen, and Brooks Raley. Rusin is probably the most intriguing of the three, with heavy groundball tendencies and great control boding well for at least some semblance of success in the major leagues. His strikeout rate is good too. Chen has more experience in the upper minors. Raley probably has the most upside, but has never thrown an inning above Daytona. He probably should have been lumped in point #3. 7.) We could stretch out Russell. Due to having been stretched out all spring it wouldn't take so much, and as a starter in the minors until recently I'm not as worried about his arm falling off in short order as I might be some of the others. Ultimately, the way he pitched this season may make the organization feel he's invaluable in the bullpen in front of our big 3, or they may go "gee whiz, that looks like a guy that can be at least serviceable. Let's not take our chances with the other guys." I just don't know which way they'll feel. Gut feeling, I'd say we'll probably call up Diamond for 2-3 starts. If he's sucking and we find out Wells and Cashner are going to be out longer we'll probably go with Cabrera, McNutt, or Rusin... depending on how they're all looking at AA.

By the time he's adequately stretched out, there might be no need for him to make any more than 2-4 starts. Given that he would be unavailable in the pen for all that time, I have a hard time thinking we gain more than we lose. Besides, he hasn't pitched a starters workload in years and was having trouble staying healthy when he did. The Marshall as a starter ship has sailed.

Damn. Oh well. Get em Friday.

Guess who isn't starting tomorrow? I'll give you a hint. Blake DeWitt.

Basic notes from Hendry: - Wells had some slight discomfort yesterday, went in for MRI, found a strain in the forearm but it's nowhere near the elbow or ligaments - Regarding Cashner, says the MRI found a minor strain in the rotator cuff. Says Cashner will "miss some significant time" but doesn't expect it to be a long-term problem. - Neither Wells nor Cashner is seeing any doctors about a possible surgery - Mentioned he didn't want to rush some young guys at AA but they may be able to help in the next couple months. - Confirmed Coleman is coming up. - Zambrano is fine after the cramping issues from his last start. Completely brushed off that question. - Pena should be playing Friday, available today if needed. I get the impression he expects at least one of Wells and Cashner to be out for 2-3 months, given the way he talked about the guys in AA who could help down the road a bit. We'll probably see another AAA chump for the short term at least.

I thought so too at first. Looked like he caught the ball in the basket and then lost his balance and put his glove beyond the basket while trying to recover. It'd be pretty damn hard to reach over the basket. He was clearly reaching down into it. Obviously you're not 7' tall.

I thought so too at first. Looked like he caught the ball in the basket and then lost his balance and put his glove beyond the basket while trying to recover.

Bout time he snuck one out.

Personally, I'm of the "ride the hot hand" mindset. But I'd probably default to the glove guy if all of them are cold, pretty much for the reason you stated.

And be between 10 and 20 runs worse in the field. Doubtful. DeWitt is a 3rd baseman playing a position higher up on the defensive spectrum and getting awful reviews from all involved. Barney is a defense-oriented shortstop playing down the defensive spectrum and getting great reviews. What am I missing? Hmm that's true, but the fact still remains that Barney should not be on an MLB roster. 100 points of OPS is a pretty shallow estimate. And you think .100 points of OPS so easily covers the potential two win difference on defense that it's a great injustice to play Barney over DeWitt? It's pretty likely all three options suck equally. Nobody is getting screwed out of playing time they deserve.

Young hit a liner into CF. Byrd came in and made a stupid decision to dive for it. He came up empty handed. Soriano had trouble picking up the ball and Young ended up with an inside the park homer.

I don't know if Byrd diving at that or Soriano bobbling it is worse...

So is acting like Blake DeWitt is good enough to warrant being upset about starting Darwin Barney. I'm pretty sure he'd OPS a good 100 points higher over a full-season. And be between 10 and 20 runs worse in the field. Doubtful. DeWitt is a 3rd baseman playing a position higher up on the defensive spectrum and getting awful reviews from all involved. Barney is a defense-oriented shortstop playing down the defensive spectrum and getting great reviews. What am I missing?

Truly, a great injustice has be corrected. Darwin Barney getting regular starts is indeed an injustice. So is acting like Blake DeWitt is good enough to warrant being upset about starting Darwin Barney. I'm pretty sure he'd OPS a good 100 points higher over a full-season. And be between 10 and 20 runs worse in the field.

I hate Chris Young.

Thats amazing. It's a bit early for it to be too amazing. There's some other guys who haven't missed yet. Shane Victorino, Alberto Callaspo, Todd Helton, Coco Crisp, Adam LaRoche, Andrew McCutchen, and Kurt Suzuki join him on the list. Weirdly enough, of the players on that list only Todd Helton has swung at a higher percent of pitches seen than Starlin Castro.

That's why I guessed Mathes has a shot. But yeah, Rusin did occur to me. I'm not sure the Cubs want to add Mathes to the 40 man roster. If he bombs and is demoted or is replaced by Wells in two weeks, it would seem like a real waste. Rusin makes more sense as he could stay on the 40 man regardless of how long he's up for. It's likely he'll get a couple of opportunities in the next few years if he were to blow this one. I think the idea is that Mathes is exactly the kind of marginal "talent" that they wouldn't mind losing when they try to send him back down.

.196 BABIP last year. He's about the easiest candidate for a bounceback in the entire league. Not really. He's been useful an entire two years out of his career. He's never been an OBP guy either. I'm not opposed to acquiring him or anything. He's at worst better than Barney obviously, but I don't think he's a slam dunk bounceback. Yeah really. Timely of fangraphs to release an article on Hill today.

That's why I guessed Mathes has a shot. But yeah, Rusin did occur to me.