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If they'd send him to Iowa (if they can) to stretch him out, I wouldn't at all mind seeing him as the long man out of the pen, provided the keep him as the long man this time and not as a LOOGY. say what? I said, I wouldn't mind seeing Lieber as the long man out of the pen. That just makes me even more confused. Lieber is the long man right now. Both Lieber and Marshall are already stretched out enough to be the long man. So who are you sending to Iowa to get stretched out? And if you were talking about Lieber as the long man, why did you mention not making him a LOOGY again when that was Marshall? And why would you mention Lieber having to become the long man when he already is? And if you were talking about Marshall, why were you worried about either his ability to be sent down (considering he just came up yesterday) or how much he's stretched out, considering he just started yesterday? I'm honestly not trying to be picky. I'm just trying to understand what you meant.

I've looked at a lot of game logs of starting pitchers, and Burres has to be one of the most inconsistent I've seen. He has been a roller coaster all season long. He's had 4 starts of 1 run or less. 4 starts of 6 runs or more. And 6 starts in between-and 4 of those starts in between were in a row in early May. He's a guy who has not been efficient in his pitch counts lately. The Cubs need to take advantage of that and run him out hopefully at least during the 6th inning and continue to tire out that bullpen. I would tend to agree with rawaction on the LH thing. I'd start 2 of the left-handers (resting either Edmonds or Patterson) in the OF and put Murton at the other spot.

I know, I was listening to the radio and when I heard Pat say "Blanco will be pinch hitting" I was like.......crap, game over man. I assume that was a last second change in plans by Lou. Henry doesn't have strong splits against lefties, and he really never has. I think he saw 3 righties get on base and 1 lefty look foolish so he made the move. If Kosuke's at bat went a little different, I bet Patterson gets a chance to make a play. The last 3 years Blanco has been healthy (I don't count last year for his stats..he was pretty clearly not healthy both offensively and defensively at the beginning of the year, and then he was on the disabled list most of the year) against left-handers he has put up OPS's of .715, .749, .870, and this year had a .697 prior to last night. Could Patterson put up those type of numbers against left-handers? Maybe. He almost certainly could match Blanco's OBP against left-handers. But then when you add in Sherill's splits, Blanco becomes a little bit of a better option. As soon as the bases were loaded, I looked at the lineup and realized that it likely had to be Cedeno, Fukudome, Blanco. Whichever choice was made though, it was going to be picking between bad options.

He's done what he had to do. The first month he was huge for us because the starting rotation was still finding its legs. The last month and a half, the starting rotation has been great for us, and the long man hasn't been needed very much. Lieber cannot really be used as any other role out of the bullpen consistently because of his huge splits. He's one of the least overall needed guys on the team, but he's a nice insurance policy back there.

This was actually DeRosa's best game in awhile. Had a hit and a walk in 4 plate appearances. He did ground into 1 double play, but it seems to be an odd time to complain about him being a rally killer, especially after he kept the rally going in the 9th. The Orioles went all out to win this game, and they did. The Cubs have made their 2 most effective relievers shaky for tomorrow though. Jim Johnson threw 33 pitches, and Sherill threw 30. I thought Lou pulled the right strings at the end. Even Blanco is an ok emergency option against a left-hander due to his significant splits. The players just didn't come through. Cedeno especially was way too aggressive in a bases loaded nobody out situation. The way the Cubs are built are going to make them weak sometimes against left-handed setup men and closers though, because Ward, Edmonds, and Fontenot aren't hitters you can send up against left-handers in any key situation. It would be a lot better if Cedeno didn't have reverse splits of his own, but that is the way it is. The only hitters the Cubs have off the bench to counter a left-hander are Murton and Blanco, or Johnson and Blanco once Reed comes back. The rest are terrible options against any LHP. If you're going to have any loss in the first game of the series though, this is the best kind of loss. The worst pitching matchup is out of the way, and the Cubs best arms in the pen are fresher than Baltimore's. It bodes well for the rest of the series, even if they lost tonight.

option years, not times. Murton has been optioned 1 this year already. Doesnt that mean if they want to send him down, theyd have to DFA him, and hope he doesnt make it through waivers, which he wouldnt? And Ronny hasnt been Optioned yet this year, hint hint. once you have been optioned once in a year, he can be optioned as many times possible in that year without losing an option gotcha. I'm pretty sure this is correct. Cedeno is kind of like a Rule 5 draft pick this year, he had to make the team out of spring training and stay on the team the entire year or we would have had to DFA him or trade him. I'm not sure, but if I had to guess Murton probably will be the same way next year. Does Fontenot have any options left? Fontenot has to have a lot more than Murt and Cedeno. He was up for 7 games in '05, but was never sent back down since being brought up last season, and was never brought up by the O's. Fontenot went back down to Iowa 3 days after he came up the first time he was up last year. He has 1 option left. Cubs minor leaguers of note: Zero options: Soto, Cedeno 1 option: Fontenot, Marmol, Wuertz 1 option already being used this year: Ascanio, Cotts, Hill, Pie I see a website that Murton had 2 options to start the year (obviously he would be using 1 during this year). I don't think that's correct though. This should be his last option year unless there is something I'm not aware of. Patterson still has another option for next year if the Cubs need it, as do Marshall and Gallagher.

Meche was a type B free agent. Elias uses the 2 years before free agency to determine their rankings. The good thing for Wood and Dempster is they both should be high on the strikeouts category. Wood should be helped by the fact that he's in a normally weak relief pitcher class, while he's hurt by the fact that playing time is a major factor, and he missed 2/3 of the year last year. Wood's save totals this year will also be a huge asset to his ranking. Dempster will be a fascinating case. On a relief pitcher scale last year, he was pretty good. He had a high ERA, but that was balanced out by pretty high strikeout totals and a decently high save count. This year, as a starting pitcher, he's got everything Elias seems to like. He's durable. He wins lots of games at a good percentage. He has a good ERA. He has high strikeout totals. Unfortuantely, I have a feeling they'll lump both of Dempster's years together and simply classify him as a starting pitcher without any adjustments. That will hurt his innings pitched number, his wins, his winning percentage, pretty much everything.

The odd part in keeping Fontenot over Patterson, assuming that is what eventually happens, is that Piniella apparently thought enough of Fontenot's defense to pull him in the 4th inning of a blowout after he already hit a HR that inning. Of course, Piniella did admit that he completely forgot about that HR, but how can he be that high on Fontenot when he won't even keep him in the game early in a blowout because of his defense? I don't think it was his defense considering he's put Fontenot in the game several times this year in close games late. I think Piniella was trying to get DeRosa to start getting out of his slump by getting him an at-bat against a left-hander.

I'm not so sure about that. 14 mil a year is pretty steep, but I easily see Dempster getting between 10 to 12 a year for 4 years. That would be comparable to the contracts of several other mediocre pitchers who have hit the market in the last couple years (Silva, Lilly, Meche, Suppan, etc.). Why would Dempster automatically get less than those guys? His 3.40 ERA that badnews speculated would be the best contract year of any of them. Plus, you add in any playoff pitching which typically only inflates and rarely deflates any value for a mediocre pitcher. An interesting thing that badnews brought up is..what type of free agent will Dempster be classified as? I honestly don't know how they average the statistics when you have a guy who was a reliever one year and a starter the next. His save and strikeout totals made him good in the 2007 rankings for closer. His wins, winning percentage, strikeouts, and ERA are all excellent right now, which means he'll be ranked highly on their system as a starting pitcher. If they average them together, he should be a type A FA. If they try to shoehorn him only into the starter system and just throw in his relief numbers from 2007 into the starter formula, he'll be a type B. I wouldn't go 4 years 56 for Dempster. I doubt Wood will reach Cordero money, but if he does I'd have to let him go too.

They don't need to send both of them down. Reed Johnson going on the DL will keep one of those two safe for at least another 10 days or so.

It was all about the Cubs CF position. Pie blocked the 8 spot for a while, leaving nowhere for Theriot to go but 2 in Lou's mind. At the same time, a left-handed bat was needed in Lou's mind to protect Ramirez. Now Edmonds is filling that role of the 5th place hitter, which allows Lou to do what he wanted all along and put Fukudome up at 2 and Theriot down at 8. How Edmonds hits the next 3 weeks will probably be the biggest determining factor in where Fukudome goes when Soriano gets back, no matter what Fukudome or Theriot does. Not saying I agree with it, but piecing together all of Lou's quotes, this seems to be the plan he had envisioned all along.

Longest home winning streak for the Cubs since 1936. It's just so nice to expect good things out of your team. I wasn't even really upset after the Tampa Bay series even though it was very tough just because I knew the team would bounce back, and that was a nice way to do it!

Yeah, I think Hoffpauir is gone. It's too bad for him, but he'll get more shots with the club, and he'll likely be a big favorite for a bench spot next year. Your bench just has to fill certain gaps though in your ballclub, and the gap he would fit into is already covered on this team. Murton's still a darkhorse to be sent down though just because of how much they like Hoffpauir.

I think it would be a lot to give up, but if they did it's probably because the NL is pretty wide open this year. If the Brewers got C.C., does that make them a favorite for a playoff spot? Absolutely, even if the Cubs continue to play well and take the division out of play. They have to beat the Cardinals and Marlins out for the wildcard. The Brewers would have to be quite the favorites to win that 3 way battle. Once in the playoffs, currently you have the Cubs, who the Brewers have played pretty well so far this year. You have the inconsistent Phillies and the struggling Diamondbacks. The Brewers would have 2 aces at the top of their rotation and a decent offense. I don't think you make that type of move unless it makes you the favorite to win it, and I don't think the Brewers would be the clear favorite even with C.C. so I don't think they should do it. But I can certainly see why they might.

I wonder why they decided to tell Z that he was going on the disabled list on Saturday considering they told Eric Patterson Friday afternoon. Then again, the article doesn't specifically say he was told Saturday, but it does imply it.

I'd probably go with the same lineup, but add Derosa at 2B and behind Soto in the order. I was thinking the same thing last night. I was planning to go look at the numbers before I posted, and then forgot. It probably will be exactly what you said. The only possible change I see is switching Patterson and Theriot, but I think Lou will keep those two in the same spot, and I think that's wise for today.

Didn't think there was any way I'd say this before the season started, but Rich Hill. He's almost 6 years older than Gallagher. He's slightly closer to arbitration. He is also less likely to help the club in 2008 than Gallagher is at this point. Those 3 things together IMO make up for the fact that Hill's upside is still higher than Gallagher's. It's just completely up in the air right now if Hill can hit that upside consistently, and I'd rather keep the guy who's a much better bet to be consistently good in the next few years, even if he may not be great. Gallagher would be the last of the 3 young starters that I would trade. I'd trade Marshall first, then Hill, then Gallagher (if you threw in Ceda and Veal, the list would probably go Ceda, Marshall, Veal, Hill, Gallagher).

no he's the one that will likely finish second and have no shot at being the backup. At this point of the season Uggla is an MVP candidate. Not the leader but up there. So after the leading vote getter at each position (aside from outfield), it is up to the manager to fill out the rest of the spots? The players get to pick some of the players through voting of their own, the manager fills out the spots to get the squad up to 31 (and to make sure that each team has at least one representative) and then the fans get to pick the 32nd player from a list of 5.

I thought Indiana was done recruiting for the year. I guess not. California 6-5 guard Malik Story joins the Hoosiers. He's supposed to be one of the best shooters in the country and was originally committed to USC before decommiting earlier this spring. Maybe IU can get to 10 wins after all playing the 5 guard lineup. I know they will be able to shoot decently, and they will do a pretty decent job guarding anybody 6 foot 7 or shorter. I just have no idea how they are going to do anything inside.

Lou has already said that Patterson is going to get a start in this game after what he did today.

From Sullivan: Interesting to see how that impacts the roster moves. You have Marshall and Ward ready to come up in the next 3-4 days. If Reed goes to the DL, what's the other roster move? It will be interesting to see if they feel that Patterson needs to be up, or do they keep Hoffpauir and feel comfortable with Fukudome and Cedeno as the two backups in CF to a slightly injured Jim Edmonds.

Guillen wants Carlos to miss two starts, both of which would be against...the White Sox. It's just coincidence, I'm sure (or am I...), but it's pretty ironic... Both starts weren't going to be against the White Sox. The first start was scheduled against the Orioles. I don't think we're going to have to worry about Z going to the White Sox anytime soon though:

Think the Cardinals will very likely win this game, but I have a feeling the Red Sox give them a scare while doing so. 10-6 maybe?

It's just a slump that is not unusual for pitchers like Marmol, or very unusual for Marmol during his career. The Cubs will just have to live without him for a week or two, use him in some easier spots, and try to slowly get that command back. This might end up being a very good thing for Marmol overall though. The work will probably be lighter for him until the slump is over. Couple that with Lou's already decreased usage for him, and Marmol's innings pace will continue to drop. It already is down to a 95.04 inning pace for the season after being over 100 for a while. Hopefully this period will drive that inning pace down to 87-90.

With the kind of stuff he just showed? Pretty low I'd say. That looked like 2006 Marmol there when he was starting for the Cubs. Every pitch was nasty, but he didn't know where it was going. Marmol's had periods like this every year of his career (maybe not compressed so well into 2 outings, but definitely huge control problems at times). He was just never "the guy" before, and so they were much less noticable.