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Not much chance of the big inning with the 8th hitter up and 1 man out. It makes sense to play the infield in there (and that would have been the case even if it hadn't worked).

Less pressure? He also didn't miss by a ton with many of his pitches in the majors and his pitches had movement on them. Maybe AAA hitters are just having a hard time laying off the somewhat close pitches while many major league hitters do not. And we know Cotts can be effective when he either is throwing strikes or hitters are chasing his pitches. His stuff is certainly good enough.

He's talked about it, but he hasn't done it prior to this year. He's gotten riled up before this year. Not to umpires though (which is where people are clamoring most for him to show passion). The only time he really did was that game in 2007, and he admitted afterward that he planned to blow up beforehand, which is quite a different thing from getting riled up. He's gotten riled up at relievers before this year, but he also has done so this year (Cotts for example). I don't see a big change in Lou from past years to this year.

What's his status as a prospect? He's 21 in A ball doing fairly well. But it's his 3rd season in A ball, even if he's always been relatively young for his level. Is he somewhat similar to the guy they just drafted in the first round? Talented CF with contact issues and little power? Sort of. Burke was a supplemental round pick where he was supposed to have above average power (that was supposed to be his greatest asset). He does have serious contact issues (although he's decently patient at the plate as well) but the home run power hasn't shown itself like it did his senior year of high school. The hope is that he turns some of that doubles power into more home run power. He does have a frame that can do that and he has shown it before, so it is possible. I'm just happy right now that his K rate is at the lowest its been throughout his career. He's still an upside type of prospect. He has quite a bit of potential and time to develop it. It is encouraging to see him take steps of development over the past year, but he needs to take a few more. When is time going to start working against him? Does he need to earn a promotion this season, or by next season, to the FSL? Do they have a couple years before they need to add him to the 40-man? If he is going to amount to anything, I'd have to imagine we'd need to see him doing something positive in AA by 2011, when he'll be 23. I'm not the best at timetables for the minor leagues yet, but I'll try to give you as best as I know. The timetable for adding him to the 40 man should be after the 2010 season. It would really be a disappointment if he wasn't at least at Daytona at the start of next year. I don't see him as a guy the Cubs will be real aggressive with as he has gotten overwhelmed with levels that are too high for his development stage in the past. I think he could struggle the first half of the year in AA in 2011 and still be ok as long as he had a positive year in Daytona in 2010 and did well the second half of the year in 2011. But I do agree that there needs to be some success had in AA in 2011, even if he ends up starting there again in 2012.

What's his status as a prospect? He's 21 in A ball doing fairly well. But it's his 3rd season in A ball, even if he's always been relatively young for his level. Is he somewhat similar to the guy they just drafted in the first round? Talented CF with contact issues and little power? Sort of. Burke was a supplemental round pick where he was supposed to have above average power (that was supposed to be his greatest asset). He does have serious contact issues (although he's decently patient at the plate as well) but the home run power hasn't shown itself like it did his senior year of high school. The hope is that he turns some of that doubles power into more home run power. He does have a frame that can do that and he has shown it before, so it is possible. I'm just happy right now that his K rate is at the lowest its been throughout his career. He's still an upside type of prospect. He has quite a bit of potential and time to develop it. It is encouraging to see him take steps of development over the past year, but he needs to take a few more.

The top 5 offenses last year when scoring 1 run or less: Texas: 18 games overall, 2-16 record Cubs: 17 games (it might be 18 and I miscounted) 0-17 Boston: 19 games, 2-17 Minnesota: 20 games, 0-20 Detroit: 22 games, 0-22 The one run number means nothing because it's so absolutely normal. The Cubs did not have any more troubles with consistency than anybody else. Being barely over .500 on the road ended up being the 3rd best road record in the whole major leagues. Besides, the team who was easily best on the road (the Angels) got bounced in just 1 more game than the Cubs. As for the record against .500 or better teams, I'll have to check later but I doubt the Cubs were sufficiently worse at that than most teams. It's a very strange team that builds up a good record by beating up on the good teams and struggling against the bad ones..normally it's the other way around. I can sort of understand the thought that as the probability of runs goes down that the percentage of small ball needs to go up. At the same time, I don't see any evidence that the Cubs were trying to play for the home run with RISP the whole time. And you know who struck out at a higher rate than the Cubs with RISP last year? Both the Phillies and the Rays struck out a greater percentage of the time, and it didn't seem to affect them in the playoffs. As others have shown, 16-50 is also in the normal range although on the high side of normal. It certainly isn't atrocious.

Wow. So many mixed feelings about this one. I don't think Perry deserved to be fired for a month of problems. But anytime you're the hitting/pitching coach, you know that you might get fired just to try to shake up the team and so I can't feel too bad for him. By the same token, my wish would be that Joshua would stay down in the minors where he can teach all the kids his wonderful ways. But if anyone deserves to get a coaching job in the major leagues it is him so I am very happy for him.

I seem to remember people saying that he likely would have normal splits but not be a terrible hitter against LHP. I think Lou trusts Kosuke more than the other Cubs left-handers against LHP. You can see it by who he pinch-hits for more often in that situation. But Kosuke is going to have a hard time starting against many LHP because the Cubs have three OF's who all normally hit left-handers very, very well.

The Cubs pitching staff has been 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the NL each of the last 3 years. That's the main reason Rothschild has stayed-his pitching staff has been consistently excellent.

Maybe...but even the old Theriot hit lots of fly ball outs to right field. He tended to ground out more to the left side and fly out to the right side. About that particular spot shows up a bunch on his hit chart from last year.

Gregg has now had 15 out of his last 17 scoreless outings. He has really settled down from the beginning of the year.

It's probably only for a day or two until Freel is ready. With Harden on a strict pitch count tomorrow and Wells going short today, they want to have enough arms for tomorrow. Of course as soon as I say that the other corresponding roster move will be done before tomorrow's game, but we'll see. I'm a little sad that it was Scales. For what we're planning to use the 2nd backup MI for over the next couple weeks, he would have fit better than Blanco on the team.

I really think Freel is just about done in the majors. His legs just continue to get worse and worse. Remember that he went on the DL it was just because the Cubs needed a roster spot and he was only supposed to be out 4-6 days. Instead, he can't make it back when he's eligible (I haven't heard why, but I would assume because he isn't completely 100%). Freel played the game so hard for a few years that it has obviously taken a toll on his body. Between the leg injuries and the concussions, I just can't see him staying healthy very long or playing at a high level when he is moderately healthy.

Marshall is the one who is out of the rotation. It will likely be Waddell that will be sent back to Iowa, although that's just my speculation from how he's been used and the way the other options have pitched (besides Patton, who the Cubs seem determined to save)

Doesn't Milton have a games-played clause this season that guarantees the final year of his contract? I'm guessing he'd be against going on the DL so he can reach that limit. I think he only needs to play in 75 games each year to guarentee the third. He'd likely easily hit that if he did a 14 or 30 day DL stint. They gotta put him on either one until he can get as close back to 100% Bardley-style he can be because right now it looks like he can't do squat and like he's playing in pain. He only needs to play in 75 games this year to vest the option. Next year doesn't matter. But it has to be this year, right? Let's say he's falls short this year but somehow manages to play in something nuts, like, 140 games next year: no 3rd year? That's my understanding of the clause. Of course, if Bradley played 140 games in 2010 the odds are pretty high that the Cubs would pick up the option.

What good timing! There was actually an article just written on the front page on this very subject: http://www.northsidebaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=11&Itemid=117 The one thing I disagree with your assessment is 2B. Everything about Fontenot from both a more visual approach and a purely stats based approach makes me see him as at least a little above average at second base although he should still be in a platoon (maybe you could find a better platoon partner for him, but Fontenot should still be getting most of the at-bats). Fontenot should be above average at the end of the year both offensively and defensively at second though.

Nah, dangerous hitters up who have seen him several times. I'd go with the Gooz. Yeah, it's the fourth time through the order and he'd be facing 2-3-4. As much as I'd like to see Guzman, I'm hoping it's Gregg, since that would mean the Cubs took the lead. Plus Z bats 4th in the inning, so if the Cubs take the lead it will probably involve Z being pinch-hit for. With both warming though, it looks definite that Z is done..just a question of which guy comes in for him.

Well, the Cubs still have Z for probably one more inning while Wandy almost certainly has to be done now (and if he isn't, he could really run into problems this inning). That is a small Cubs advantage.

Bradley hit a ground ball and immediately grabbed for the back of his right leg. He jogged down the line and then tried to stretch it out in between innings at first base. He then is still in the game..we'll see how he is when a ball comes his way.

If the Astros fall out of it, it makes more sense to trade him to a division rival than any other team. Tejada helps the other team like the Cubs for 2009, but then the loss of prospects hurts the Cubs every year after 2009 (when Tejada is probably not re-signed). Since the Astros wouldn't care about 2009 at that point, it's in their best interest to weaken one of their division rivals for upcoming seasons. Even if the Cubs won it all in 2009 because of that move, why would the Astros care? They weren't going anywhere anyway.

Seriously. We now have Fontenot, Miles, Scales, and Blanco. What's the damn point of having so many 2b? Two backup middle infielders is standard for a major league ballclub. The Cubs have 5 players to cover 2nd, SS, and 3rd, which is exactly what most teams have. Now it probably lines up like this: Fontenot is the starting 3rd baseman Miles is the starting 2nd baseman Blanco is the backup SS and gets some starts at 2nd Scales is the backup at 2nd and 3rd Miles, Scales, and Blanco all feel like they should be backups, so it makes sense that it sounds like there are way too many infielders. But there really aren't. Now I personally would have risked it and kept Fox. You can use him in emergency situations at 3B. But they worked him out there for over a week and it looks like they weren't comfortable at all putting him there. I probably would have still kept Fox anyway knowing that, but the 2nd middle infielder is much more needed as a standard part of this ballclub than the 12th pitcher. I'm much more unhappy that it wasn't Patton who didn't get the axe in favor of Fox instead of Scales or Blanco.

Look at Wandys last 3 outings, Id say its already been fixed. Lets just hope he keeps on that trend and doesnt go back to the early season Wandy. Unfortunately, it's not just early season Wandy. 2007 home: 95.0 IP, 2.94 ERA 2008 home: 81 1/3 IP, 2.99 ERA 2009 home: 39.0 IP, 2.31 ERA Wandy at MMP is a really bad matchup. He has seemingly figured out how to pitch to take the best advantage of the strange dimensions in that ballpark. Hopefully the Cubs can keep it close and scratch a few across against him. His recent starts do encourage a little bit although just one was at home.

I think this move is the whole don't want get to stuck with 1 backup middle infielder with the only option in the minors not being able to come back up for 8-10 days. If somebody had a day to day injury in the next few days, the Cubs would be in trouble. It still isn't a good move to me even with that reason. But it doesn't preclude Fox from coming back up for interleague play either. He will be eligible to come back up before he would get any chances to DH so they can always revisit this situation then.

that part won't last But that's just icing, right? Miles can't hit and his defense is worse than Blanco's. If 2 middle infielders can't hit, might as well take the great defensive player. this. having said that, Miles isn't getting DFA, IMO. they didn't give him a two year deal just so they could give up on him 2 months into the season. And there lies the problem with this organization. They won't cut ties when it's apparent that the player they signed is no longer capable of doing the job. No siree, they won't admit to making a mistake. Of course, the Cubs never admit making mistakes, or so they say. Very few teams will ever cut a player who is both making over 1 million dollars and has another year left on his contract. Teams will cut high salary players that are gone at the end of the season, but they will rarely commit to having dead money in future years. Both Miles and Freel should not be DFA'd and there's a good reason why..depth. If they both leave the team and Scales and/or Blanco get hurt, who gets called up next? You could end up in a situation where you have a player that is absurdly bad getting playing time instead of just being a fringe major leaguer like those four are. That doesn't even take into account that Miles had a .229 advantage in OPS in 07 over Blanco and a .090 advantage last year, and that's with him playing in the major leagues and Blanco in the PCL. A healthy Miles is almost certainly a decent upgrade with the bat to Blanco (unless Blanco is finally starting to figure hitting out, which is somewhat unlikely but still possible at his age). Yes, Blanco is a very big upgrade defensively from Miles. So it's really a tossup if you want the extra hitting or the extra defense, and since their primary position is going to each be second base, which lowers the defensive advantage that Blanco has over Miles, I'd still rather take Miles. I wouldn't take Miles if I had to pay him that contract, but the team has to pay the contract anyway at this point. Freel vs Scales is a different argument I think. Scales is probably the better hitter and defender at this point. I would probably keep Freel for depth purposes until Ramirez comes back and then he would be the one who I would let go to make room for Ramirez on the roster.

A very nice night for Fontenot. And he's going to love what it's going to do for his numbers..I have him going from a .698 OPS to a .746 after the at-bats tonight. And his peripherals would suggest that he is even better than that. I'm happy overall with him. You know you're hitting decently well when you leave 13 men on base and still manage to score 7 runs!