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Samardzija does have a nice K/BB ratio this spring. I think he's probably earned a spot over the poor competition even if the process was entirely fair, and his contract/options situation makes any indecision about that go away. As for Reed, if they're going to take an OF I'd rather have Reed than Perez. That gives another bat to use against left-handed pitching which is probably going to be more useful than a plus defender in CF.

IU only has 12 committed for 2011 but they already have 13 for 2012. But of course they are permitted to oversign by one so they can give a 14th scholarship out in November. Somebody would have to go at that point though.

All he's saying is that he is willing to change his mind based on what other people tell him. I don't see how that's a bad thing.

Again, you're mixing up Hill's misuse last year with how a backup catcher is supposed to be used. If Soto ends up getting 140 starts as planned then Hill would get, what, 70-75 PA? 80? I agree, Hill stinks. I agree, Hill getting 150+ PA is hideous. Neither Ramirez nor Hill should be getting 150+ PA. Only 2 catchers in baseball managed to play 140 games last year. Only 6 managed even 130. And that's games played, not games started. It was a down year for catchers last year but it's still not an easy thing to do to play that much. That assumes perfect health and playing a lot of day after night games.

I'm guessing not even he knows what the [expletive] he was doing. He's going to remember that moment for the rest of his life. Here's a thought: should Dixon have pulled his rebounders away? Butler was out of timeouts, and worst case scenario you go to OT. Pittsburgh is a great rebounding team. Plus how many times have you seen putbacks at the buzzer vs how many times have you seen fouls in that situation? Plus as one of the commentators said it's a little more routine if your players are up on the line. I think Pitt has to put people on the line there. And I don't think Pitt played that badly overall. Butler is just a really tough matchup and it gets much harder when the incredibly streaky Mack gets hot.

His line wasn't that bad before today. Today I'm sure sealed his fate to not make the rotation. It looks like it will come down to whether they want to take Silva or Cashner.

This will be the 5th blowout loss of the spring. So yes, quite a bit.

I'm pretty sure they've done it in past years also. So dumb. In previous years there was two games in the second slot so there was a game to watch during that half hour. It used to be a 1-2-3-2 plan on Saturdays with I believe a 1-4-3 plan on Sundays. I agree with Andy that it might have been a concession to CBS to not only give them 1 but 2 exclusive games to start the day.

I'm surprised that wasn't called a charge on Morris on the final play. Still a great shot.

I thought we only owed him 6 mil this season, after the Mariners picked up 5.5 of his 11.5 salary? If I had to guess how this plays out, Hendry is probably trying to trade him right now but wont find a taker. He'll probably push Cashner into the pen and let Silva start a few times. Those starts wont go well, we'll cut Silva, and try to move Cashner back into the rotation but probably give him a minor arm injury in the process of stretching him back out. We'll watch Coleman get pounded for a few weeks until Cashner is ready to start pitching again. Cashner will be ineffective and an MRI will show a tear in his elbow. He'll miss the next year after Tommy John surgery, and be stuck in the pen permanently after that, as he "couldn't handle a starter's workload." On the fringes of playoff contention at about 6 games back, we'll trade for Paul Maholm for the stretch run. We wont give up too much to acquire him, but Hendry will resign him to an overly expensive contract in the offseason. Probably about 3 years, 18 mil. The Cubs have to pay the 2 million buyout for his option year next year.

Any particular reason? Today's lineup puts potentially the 3 worst OPS players 1-2-3 in the lineup. Would you really have a problem with Castro in the 2 spot? I'm more pleased with the structure of the middle of the lineup than anything. No, but Baker in the 1 spot and Byrd in the 3 spot are both putrid. It's certainly agruable that those two should be batting 7-8 (Byrd 7, Baker 8). I have no problem with baker leading off if there is a left on the mound(not sure if that was case today or not) That's a good point and it is a left-handed pitcher today. I would be ok with this lineup as a normal lineup against just left-handers.

Any particular reason? Today's lineup puts potentially the 3 worst OPS players 1-2-3 in the lineup. Would you really have a problem with Castro in the 2 spot? I'm more pleased with the structure of the middle of the lineup than anything. No, but Baker in the 1 spot and Byrd in the 3 spot are both putrid. It's certainly agruable that those two should be batting 7-8 (Byrd 7, Baker 8).

Any particular reason? Today's lineup puts potentially the 3 worst OPS players 1-2-3 in the lineup.

Probably 4. Lee, Ramirez, and Zambrano, and Soriano would have probably been seen as top 100 players. Probably none of them in the top 30 or 35 though.

I was one of the ones who were perplexed by the Pacers pick of Hansbrough, but he's really proving something lately. 30 more points tonight and 5 straight 20+ point efforts. As for the Knicks, since the Anthony trade they have victories over Miami, New Orleans, Utah, and Memphis and 4 losses against the Cavaliers and Pacers. Ouch.

As far as I know, the Cubs can't outright Samardzija to Iowa because of the no-trade clause. They either have to keep him or release him.

It would be really nice if BJ Young gave it some second thought now and chose Indiana instead but I doubt it. Doesn't Young have academic/discipline issues? I thought IU (and Illinois) backed off him thinking he may not even qualify. Isn't IU over on schollys anyways? IU has an open scholarship for next season. Of course, they're full for two years from now -- and still recruiting the 2012 class -- so adding another for next year would change the paradigm for the future. Transfers are inevitable though. Yeah. If I remember right, 2012 will be the first time IU will use all 13 scholarships since the Sampson era. They played with 11 scholarship players this year and will have 12 next year. And while they both say they won't, who knows if Elston or Capobianco will transfer. I can't see anybody else on the roster transferring anytime soon (unless maybe Sheehey has a disappointing season next year and wants out)

Wells should have been guaranteed a spot from the beginning and he's really showing why. Cashner with a nice bounceback outing. That's what he needs right now to stand out especially with almost everybody else in the starting competition imploding right now.

Who are the most likely candidates to make the bullpen? Marmol, Marshall, and Wood are obviously in. Who else has the best shot of making it? Grabow is locked in as the 4th. One of Russell or Maine will probably take a spot (if not both). The other two spots are up in the air. Part of it will depend on who wins the 5th spot in the rotation.

That's ok with me as well.

I actually love this article. They talk over and over again about how stealing bases can be valuable if they pick their spots carefully, steal at smart times, and keep a good percentage. They're basically saying that if a pitcher ever just gives the base to the runner that they aren't going to be afraid to take it no matter who the runner is. They also indicate several times that they aren't going to be overly aggressive with it.

As bearish as I am on the Phillies long-term, I still think they have to be a favorite this year. The offense is declining fast but it should be good enough to win a lot this year with that pitching staff.

That pretty much confirms there's not much of a competition for that spot (which was suspected anyway). If Wells's spot wasn't secured already he's doing a very good job securing it. And Cashner is giving the Cubs no reason to pick him for the 5th spot. I'm not sure who else is, but I doubt they pick Cashner if everybody is terrible. he's pitched four innings. That's between 16-20 percent of his total spring innings even if he stays in the rotation all the way through the end of spring. And there's no guarantee he'll get that long of look. I'm rooting for him to win the spot but he better be impressive in his next couple of outings. I don't think the Cubs will pick him unless he actively wins the job during spring. He doesn't have to be great, but he has to be good.

That pretty much confirms there's not much of a competition for that spot (which was suspected anyway). If Wells's spot wasn't secured already he's doing a very good job securing it. And Cashner is giving the Cubs no reason to pick him for the 5th spot. I'm not sure who else is, but I doubt they pick Cashner if everybody is terrible.

Because it's unnecessary. Further risks the health of teams' best players. Diminishes the overall talent of the league as 18 games means more roster spots on the gameday rosters and the practice squads (due to teams being more hesitant to IR a player with more weeks to get them back). I understand the arguments against it, but do any of them stack up against that there will be 2 more weeks of football? I guess if somebody cared a ton about the playoffs and much less about the regular season than an 18 game season would be a bad idea. For me, having 2 more Sundays worth of football is wonderful. And I don't think the talent level will drop that much. There will be more players injured but there will be more time for star players to come back from injuries as well without getting IR'd (especially if there are more roster spots). couldn't they add a 2nd bye week and extend the schedule to 18 weeks? that way we get more weeks of football (with healthier players) and the players still play 16 games. That is certainly an option. It would only add 1 week of football. It would also give some major competitive issues with the byes. The teams with the two early byes (say week 2 and week 10) would have a big disadvantage to the team with the week 9 and week 15 byes. A week like Thanksgiving would also be stretched rather thin. If there are 4 teams on bye that week with 3 games on Thursday, 1 Sunday night, and 1 on Monday night, that only leaves 9 games total for the four Sunday slots.