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Blanco started on September 3rd against the Dodgers, and that was the last time he has seen the field. Since then, Soto's gotten 4 starts and 19 AB's to Blanco's 0. I definitely agree that Soto is the backup unless something major happens.

Random. I'd also go with Ward. I thought about it after seeing Soto run for that foul ball in what looked like slow motion. Soto is ridiculously slow. If it's 1 race, Floyd is easily the fastest (Floyd has lost a couple steps from his 147 career stolen bases but he's not as slow as the 2 of them). If it's 3 races, Soto wins after Floyd hurts himself in the 1st leg.

He is - someone posted the technicalities behind it somewhere on the board awesome. Yeah awesome, you really think Lou will take him over a veteran backup catcher?Why wouldn't he? He's been going with Soto over Blanco for awhile now, why would he change that if Soto keeps hitting? Why would we go with Tracshel over Marshall when Marshall has had a very good season? What does that have to do with anything? Oh I don't know, Lou will go with a veteran over a rookie if given the chance.Then why isn't Blanco in their right now, and why didn't he start yesterday? The same reason Cedeno is in there. You think Rony is gonna make the roster? The last time Blanco started a game was September 3rd (and that's also the last time he's played period). Soto has started 4 times since then. If they are going to put Blanco on the playoff roster, why give him absolutely no PT in September? That isn't going to help him get ready for the playoffs. Every indication is that it will be Soto as the backup come playoff time unless Blanco starts getting the PT and soon.

Right now, I'm hoping that ND keeps the winning streak over Navy going. They'll be heavy underdogs in their next 5 games.

Hmmm... Single Single Single Single (runner thrown out at the plate) Single (runner thrown out at the plate) Single (runner thrown out at the plate) Sounds about right. That'd be a fun inning to watch. Nope, that wouldn't work. It would have to work like this: Single Single Single (runner out at home) Single (runner out at home) Single Single because the ball hits a runner for the 3rd out. or CS/pickoffs Yeah, those first two outs can be made on the basepaths in just about any way. It's the third out that can only be made in specific ways.

Hmmm... Single Single Single Single (runner thrown out at the plate) Single (runner thrown out at the plate) Single (runner thrown out at the plate) Sounds about right. That'd be a fun inning to watch. Nope, that wouldn't work. It would have to work like this: Single Single Single (runner out at home) Single (runner out at home) Single Single because the ball hits a runner for the 3rd out.

I doubt it-the Cubs seem set on going with a 4 man rotation most of the rest of the way. Trachsel or Marshall were only going to get a maximum of 1 start the rest of the way anyway.

2 of the runs were earned. Marshall gave up 6 hits and 2 walks in 2 2/3 innings tonight. While Kendall's mistake definitely hurt Marshall this inning, Marshall was absolutely terrible.

Isn't Cedeno the only other shortstop on the roster? Fontenot has played 3 games there this year. Granted he's not a SS - but I'd still rather see him in there than Cedeno. DeRosa also played a game at short. Fontenot may be the easiest out on the team right now. You must have forgotten how bad Cedeno has played this year. Four of the starting pitchers (Z, Marquis, Lilly, Hill) have a better batting average than Cedeno. .127 BA .169 OBP :pukel: Sample size. The fact is that Fontenot has been a nearly automatic out for quite a while now. His numbers only look respectable because of his red hot start. I just think he's been exposed, and would rather Patterson be getting his AB's. Well, that is if Eric could show up on time. Fontenot has sort of leveled off from his steep decline. Since August 22nd he's been an 800 OPS guy (only 27 AB's before today). So basically Fontenot had a red hot start, an absolutely awful month and a half, and now he's right in the middle where he should be. He's not the good player he showed in the beginning, but he isn't an automatic out anymore like Cedeno has been all year.

Yes, but the games he did that were 6-2 or larger leads. Wood's behind Marmol, Howry, Dempster, Wuertz, and Eyre. All of those pitchers have shown more overall then Wood has. Your 6th best reliever simply doesn't often get to come into those types of games where a team is tied or in the lead.

Why would Canning accept a counter of just the Cubs if he bid $650 mil. for the club and the park? I don't see that happening. And if the difference in offers is as large as $350 mil., the Trib and the Trustee are asking for a lawsuit (brought by the employees and/or the Department of Labor). Well, if Canning doesn't accept the counter he basically removes himself from the running. Selig then would no longer have a crony among the bidders. Then MLB simply doesn't approve any of the other owners, and the Tribune remains stuck with the Cubs who they don't want anymore. That doesn't sound like a good plan for the future of this franchise.

Players who will definitely start: Ramirez, Floyd, Kendall Likely starters: Lee, Soriano, DeRosa Above Average Chance: Jones, Cedeno

I think Looper might have been trying to get Jones's arm tired from waving that bat around so much :D

Not necessarily so.... just because the Tribune may want something doesn't mean they're going to get it, or even that they're entitled to. Similarly, if 23 of 30 owners don't approve the sale to the highest bidder, this could not be construed as Tribune Co failing in their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. I agree with this but, What kind of public relations nightmare would it be for Selig, Canning and the owners who voted against Cuban. Anything short of winning a WS in a couple of years would create a Canning lynching party. I know its not the same thing but it would be like the Cubs being highest bidder for ARod. ARod accepting the offer, Then somehow MLB ruling the contract unfair and ARod going back to the Yankees. I know its not the same thing but thats how the general public would see it. People forget about those sorts of things. Remember when A-Rod was being traded to the Red Sox? The union blocked the deal that both A-Rod and the Red Sox were happy with , A-Rod went to the Yankees, and a year later nobody cared. It would be the same thing except even more so for ownership situations. A lot of casual fans might not even pay attention in the first place to who is getting ownership until somebody is actually approved.

Really? How do you figure? I don't doubt that he could be possibly classified as an Type A after the season, but it would be pretty foolish for Hendry to offer Kendall arbitration for fear from a Cubs standpoint that he would surely accept it. I'd rather not see the Cubs pay Kendall $10MM or thereabouts for next season. If Kendall declines arbitration, then he would be more foolish than Hendry for offering it to him in the first place. If Kendall has a good end of the year, some club might sign him before the arbitration deadline. If they do that, the Cubs get the pick (because they can then offer him arbitration and he'd be forced to decline). I don't see Kendall as a type A though right now, probably a type B. That would actually be in the Cubs best interest. If Kendall is a type A, I doubt any team signs him before the deadline because they don't want to give a pick to the Cubs. If he is a type B, then the Cubs get compensation but it's from the league and not the other team, so the other team has no barriers from signing him early.

The question is what's better-pitching Z and Lilly on 3 days rest, or giving Trachsel another start? I think management is going to try to ride their 4 pitchers down the stretch, and off days are going to make sure that only a couple starts will be needed to be made with 3 days rest.

While that is a real good thought out post CCP, Looper and Pinerio are both right handers, we face Mulder tomorrow. Well, that was a lot of work for nothing :D That's good though. Not having a left-hander start at all today gives the Cubs a lot more options to mix and match during the doubleheader without having to start a bad lineup in one of the two games.

What starters do you think Lou will rest? I know Floyd and Jones will play in game 1, and Murton and Monroe in game 2. Kendall will start 1 of the games (likely game 1) and Soto will likely start game 2. If you are going to rest Lee or Ramirez, game 1 is the time to do it, considering that if you rest one of them a left-hander comes in the lineup. I expect Soriano will want to play both games. Theriot will probably start 1 game, and Cedeno will probably have the other one. If both Lee and Ramirez need to only play 1 game, I throw what some would call a forfeit lineup out there in game 1 loaded with left-handers (who Looper has struggled slightly with). Floyd, Jones, Ward, Fontenot would all be in the lineup with Soriano, Theriot, DeRosa and Kendall. I hope to scratch across a few and hope that Lilly does well. I think that lineup could do enough damage, and when they bring in their left-handed specialists in later in the game you have plenty of right-handed pinch hitters that can break the game open. Then the second game, I have the power ready against the left-hander. Soriano, DeRosa, Lee, Ramirez, Monroe, Murton, Soto, Cedeno. If either Lee or Ramirez can play both, then I stick them in the lineup for game 1 as well and don't change anything else.

I don't think too many people could expect too much more out of Floyd then what he's given this year, which is a above average OBP player with below average slugging, below average defense, and ok baserunning. Here are his season totals: .291/.367/.423 His home runs due to his recent hot streak are starting to fall in line with his career (remember that he's had his 2nd lowest amount of at-bats in his entire career, 265). They're still maybe 2-3 homers behind what he should have done by now, but Floyd was never a huge power hitter. He only made it to 30 home runs twice in his career, and his slugging was only over .550 once. He had some good power years, but he always let his OBP carry him. His OPS+ is now 101 for the season, so he's been an average MLB player at the plate. Of course he made up a lot of that ground with his recent surge-I think people would have felt better if he had spread out his hot streak through the season rather than put it right at the end. Also, 5th is a bad spot for him in the batting order (Floyd is a 6th or 7th hitter at this point) but with Jones having a bad year and Soriano at leadoff, the Cubs don't really have an option for the 5th spot that looks any better. So basically, Floyd has been what I thought he was. I maybe expected about 20 points more of slugging and a couple more home runs. He's had about 50 extra at-bats then what he should have had at this point as well. I expected him to get between 200-300 at the start of the year, and it looks like he'll hit 300. The real issue that hasn't been taking away at-bats from a player like Murton hasn't been Floyd, because that 200-300 was expected. It's been all the other people-DeRosa, Pagan, Pie/Jones, Monroe, Ward, even Theriot for a start that has really cost people what many thought would be a 60/40 or 65/35 split for Murton and Floyd this year. Floyd's been an ok player, but with Ward on the team and having shown that he can play OF almost as well as Floyd, I see no reason to sign Floyd back for 2008.

I said this after week 1. He's long gone. can't say I blame him. If he wants to play college football... key word being play... it's pretty obvious that he's not going to get the chance at ND, with Joe Montana Jr. already starting as a freshman. I've heard it's already a done deal. Awesome get for NIU :D Jones is a good player, and he'll be a great fit for NIU. He just didn't fit Weis's offense very well. If they had that little trust in his passing game (as was obvious a couple weeks ago) I'm not sure why he ever came to ND, because they weren't suddenly going to start running the option again (or a more free flowing style like Jones is best in). I wish him well, as he seems like a good kid.

Have you not watched this Cubs offense? Its pretty had to predict Yeah, that's definitely true. BTW Keener, you may want to rethink your sig now that Floyd has brought his numbers up by 170-180 points or so in the 3 days since you last updated it :D It really doesn't bother me, I'm just expressing my happiness that he finally is doing something and has brought his numbers up over the last two months up so fast :D. I was waiting for somebody to say something about the sig. If he continues this for say a week then Ill change it, but until then, even Neifi Perez has had 2 good games in a row. Believe me Id love to get Cliff FLoyd hot for the final 2 weeks, but Im not holding my breath eaither. That's true, but that does show sample size pretty well that Floyd has caught Murton in that time period after just 2 good games. I'm also hoping he can get hot over the last couple weeks, but I'm not holding my breath either.

Have you not watched this Cubs offense? Its pretty had to predict Yeah, that's definitely true. BTW Keener, you may want to rethink your sig now that Floyd has brought his numbers up by 170-180 points or so in the 3 days since you last updated it :D It really doesn't bother me, I'm just expressing my happiness that he finally is doing something and has brought his numbers up over the last two months up so fast :D.

Definitely true. Floyd's hot streak might mean that he has earned his 3 million for this year. It's pretty obvious he's fading though, and the Cubs cannot give a spot to him next year.

Nomar was pretty mediocre for us. True, but Nomar was still a little better for the Cubs than Harris has been for TB this year. Also, apparently Harris has been moved off of SS. He hasn't started a game there since July 29th, and the guy who was playing 2nd some of the time (Wilson) is now playing SS all of the time. Playing at 2B really dilutes the value that Harris has, and his numbers have been horrible after the break.

I think most of you are being too kind to Milwaukee when you say you think they will go 10-7 with their remaining schedule. Looking at their games and the fact that SD looks more and more like they'll have something to play for that last series, I don't see it. With that said, I think 9-7 will very likely do it for the Cubs, and it's reasonable to think 8-8 will get it done as well.