Little Slide Rooter

First Bartolo, then Pods, now Freddy. Alex Fernandez and Ron Karkovice cant be too far down the road.

Ooh, ooh, I got it. Aaron Miles. Get used to him, because we'll be seeing a lot of him over the next month. enjoy. Look, I hate Aaron Miles, we all hate Aaron Miles, it's fun to hate Aaron Miles. He's a better hitter than both those guys, not to mention the fact that he can fake defense somewhere other than 1B. And Aarons going to be our guy for a while. If a move were to be made, it would have happened. For the record, hes at 3rd for Iowa tonight. It sure would be nice if Milton Bradley and Rick Wilkens would get cracking once and for all, because were really going to need them.

Ooh, ooh, I got it. Aaron Miles. Get used to him, because we'll be seeing a lot of him over the next month. enjoy.

Could always dump Patton for the extra MI, but that likely won't happen. With al of the extra inning games weve been seeing lately, I wouldnt suggest playing with 11 pitchers. However, it makes one wonder if they could throw a hail Mary and dig up someone like Morgan Ensberg or even Shea Hillenbrand. Granted, thered the chance that theyd be no better if not worse than the garbage brigade. However, with one of these guys, if they cant produce, you just cut ties having given up nothing in the process. I don't think somebody like Ensberg or Hillenbrand would be worth wasting the roster spot on. And surely these extra inning games won't continue at this pace, though the likelihood of us dropping down to 11 pitchers is extremely low. If were going to waste a roster spot, why not be it on someone who has had major league success at one point, although they are quite a ways removed from that success.

Could always dump Patton for the extra MI, but that likely won't happen. With al of the extra inning games weve been seeing lately, I wouldnt suggest playing with 11 pitchers. However, it makes one wonder if they could throw a hail Mary and dig up someone like Morgan Ensberg or even Shea Hillenbrand. Granted, thered the chance that theyd be no better if not worse than the garbage brigade. However, with one of these guys, if they cant produce, you just cut ties having given up nothing in the process. What is your obsession with bad minor leaguers? Last I checked, neither of these guys were even in the minors. My only obsession is doing anything possible to get a bat in the lineup. If anything, Id like to see the team rid itself of "bad minor leaguers" and throw up a prayer with a washed up vet and hope for lightenig in a bottle.

Could always dump Patton for the extra MI, but that likely won't happen. With al of the extra inning games weve been seeing lately, I wouldnt suggest playing with 11 pitchers. However, it makes one wonder if they could throw a hail Mary and dig up someone like Morgan Ensberg or even Shea Hillenbrand. Granted, thered the chance that theyd be no better if not worse than the garbage brigade. However, with one of these guys, if they cant produce, you just cut ties having given up nothing in the process.

How many comp picks do the Cubs have? Im sure we get 1 for Wood. Any for Blanco? Howry?

If you take into consideration all of the games weve lost by 1 or 2 runs, it makes perfect sense.

Anyone know if Milton is going to be back in the lineup?

Marmol is still the best arm , no question. He just needs to get his confidence in his stuff back. When hes thowing strikes, he makes even the best hitters look lost. He might benefit from a few innings of mop up duty.

It seems that the pen is OK when were losing or tied, but if they come in with a lead, especially a small one, lord help us.

Branyan is worse defensively at third than Fontenot has been, but I don't think he'll be significantly worse. He played 35 games there last year so I doubt he's deteriorated much. The key is, if he keeps up even in the neighborhood of his current hitting pace, he'll be a large upgrade offensively. Also keep in mind Aramis will likely need a few extra days off and we'd then have Branyan to fill those spots while Fontenot stays at second. Hoff does make him a bit redundant in a bench role, though. That will be fine until Ramirez comes back. Assuming we get Branyan, for now, hes at 3rd with Font at 2nd, with Reed, Hoff, Miles, Hill, and 1 of Blanco/Scales/Freel. Since We really should have more than 1 backup middle infielder, when Ramirez comes back, Hoff could be the odd man out, as Branyan would make him obsolete. The, we have a bench of Branyan, Reed, Miles, Hill, and 1 of F/S/B. Branyan wouldn't make Hoff obsolete. The idea would be to bring in Branyan, play him at third til Ramirez gets back, then play him some in the outfield (when Bradley goes down especially) but mostly as another power bat off the bench and a fill-in for the numerous days Aramis will likely need off. Hoff would then also play some outfield, be another lefty power bat off the bench and be the primary backup to DLee. Both would have defined roles, even if they overlapped some. You need more than 1 back up middle infielder. Then we have Hoff, Reed, and Branyan on the bench, along with Hill, and just Miles to backup the middle infield. I suppose the alternative could be to trade Reed, and hang onto Freel who can also play infield.

Hopefully Lilly doesnt give up home runs like Pez and the offense doesnt make Moehler look like Cy Young.

Branyan is worse defensively at third than Fontenot has been, but I don't think he'll be significantly worse. He played 35 games there last year so I doubt he's deteriorated much. The key is, if he keeps up even in the neighborhood of his current hitting pace, he'll be a large upgrade offensively. Also keep in mind Aramis will likely need a few extra days off and we'd then have Branyan to fill those spots while Fontenot stays at second. Hoff does make him a bit redundant in a bench role, though. That will be fine until Ramirez comes back. Assuming we get Branyan, for now, hes at 3rd with Font at 2nd, with Reed, Hoff, Miles, Hill, and 1 of Blanco/Scales/Freel. Since We really should have more than 1 backup middle infielder, when Ramirez comes back, Hoff could be the odd man out, as Branyan would make him obsolete. The, we have a bench of Branyan, Reed, Miles, Hill, and 1 of F/S/B.

Really, the bottom line is knowing that the teams ownership was up in the air, they should have gone after a cheaper option, be it Dunn or Abreu. With all the money tied up in current players, why give another 3 year deal out to a guy who they knew cant play a full season? Even if they got the older Abreu, it would have been a 2 year deal, and maybe we could have kept DeRosa, as long as we didnt sign Miles,whose done nothing and Gathright and Bako, money that was an immediate waste. May as well have just trusted Sam Fuld and Koyie Hill. To top it off, we flushed a few more million down the toilet with Gaudin and Vizcaino. The off season was a series of bad decisons.

I was listening to The Score this morning, and they were talking about the sale. Basically, they said that what might happen is that the lending banks could take control over the tribune, and its assets, including the Cubs, and Zells company would no longer be involved. The lenders would then control the Cubs until the completion of the sale. They speculated that the sale should be completed "in the next few months", which suggest that it will be beyond July.

On 1 hand, yeah, growing up from his humble beginings, I could see him intending to retire back to Venezuela and living like a king in his ealry 30's, but on the other, it brings me back to 2007 before he got his big contract and we was refering to his "new catcher, Yadier". Its hard to tell wit him.

I thought our game was tedious. Padres and D backs are in the bottom of the 17th. Damn.

From what I keep hearig on the radio, aside from Strasberg, theres nobody to get particularly excited by in this draft. Is this true?

Three more games left on the trip, let's not speak too soon. Guzman is just absolutely fantastic. Love him. FWIW, I got in my car from Subway just as the 14th inning started, right before Soriano homered. Crap, I forgot that we are still going to Houston for the third time already this year. Well if we win one more we at least have a .500 trip, win the series and we have a winning trip. We face Moehler, who we have had trouble against, Wandy who everyone has trouble against at home, and Hampton who you never know what to expect. I think we should be able to scratch out at least 1 win, hopefully more.

I remember Peter Gammons bringing him us as the wave of talent in the future that the Cubs had on Baseball Tonight back in 2003. He had major potential. I think a bullpen role is a very good one for him to be in with his injury issues. He was pretty close to being given up on by the Cubs, so I'm really happy that we found a way that he could contribute for the Cubs. they were considering giving up on him as recently as spring training. I remember it came down to him or Gaudin.

I know this is thinking ver prematurely, but if the season ends today, is Wells the NL ROY? A lot of top prospects have come up this season, and theyve had their struggles, but Wells has been consistantly great.

So does Guz get the set up job for now? Marmol has no concept of where the K zone is, and its not like Guz is some guy whose coming out of nowhere, he was the ontime top prospect in the organization. Some saw him as a savior. I remember after the 2003 season all the talk of the future unbeatable rotation of Prior/Wood/Z/Guzman

Finally in the 37th inning the Cubs decide to come alive.