Cubswin11

Lee with a solid 2B to the LF corner, he's 2-2 today and it looks like he got over that injury he ran into 2B pretty well.

At leas we got Gaudin to come in and clean up the mess...

Not a good last outing of the spring for Mr.Marshall, lets hope that doesn't carry over to the regular season.

Not looking good here bases loaded nobody out for the Angels

I saw him sitting between 90-94 in the first 2 innings and then it appeared he went to pretty much just throwing changeups. I am not to worried about him, he gets 1 more start in ST (sat. I believe) so that means he won't start until the Brewers series. He will also probably get another side session/sim game in before he makes his first start of the season.

Linebrink got a 4@19 deal from the Whitesox and he has never been a closer.

If Gregg has success how long until people start showing up to games in those ridiculous glasses he wears? It could be like Clement 2.0

I had/have my doubts about Dempster as well, but he has had a real good spring outside of todays start, so I could easily see him going 15-18 this year. I think Z is going to finally get to 20 or more this year. Lilly is probably the safest pick to get to the 14-17 game range this year, it's juts that his outlying stats won't look as good as Z's/Dempster's/Harden's even if those 3 don't win as many games.

So it looks like the bench is going to look something like Hoffpauir Miles Johnson Bako/Hill German/Gathright/maybe Scales looking at German's BR page I didn't realized he can/has played so many positions, though it does like he plays below avg. defense at all positions.

The problem with that is that most players arent too keen on being DLd with an "injury" if they dont have an actual injury. Of course with Goozes history, he may end up with an actual injury. Yeah I know it would take one of them to actually accept doing that, but with the way Gaudin has pitched this spring it's quite possible there is something wrong with him.

Anybody a little surprised that the line in the Duke Villanova game is Duke -3? I was expecting a pick-em, or Nova to be favored, but not Duke.

What if we decide to start Gaudin/Vizcaino/Guzman on the DL with an "injury" and try to let everything else sort itself out. We would have time to keep Patton and see if he has what it takes to stay in the majors and whoever out of Gauding/Vizcaino/Guzman stays up if one of them really suck we can cut/trade/DL them and bring in the other guy after he comes back from his "injury"

Jeff Baker from Colorado?

Wow - to extra innings we go. Yu Darvish couldn't hold the 1-run lead in the bottom of 9. 2-2. With all the hype surrounding him coming in to the WBC he really hasn't helped himself out with his performance tonight and his start the other night in SD. Should be interesting to see when/if he decides to make the transition to MLB, I think he will either become an absolute stud or an absolute flameout but nothing in the middle. Does he ever pitch out of the windup? Or dose he strictly pitch out of the stretch? I haven't heard a reason why he has been pitching out of the stretch in the WBC since he is a SP.

The Good: Z finally gets to 20 wins, and posts the highest OPS on the team Fontenot hits 20+ HR's Bradley plays over 125 games and leads NL in OPS/OBP Reed Johnson becomes our everyday CF by the start of June, guess it could be considered bad because it means Kosuke sucks again Gregg saves 40+ games Marshall wins 15 games and posts a sub 4 era Theriot hits .300 again and has a .370+ OBP Soriano has a 30-30-30 season HR-2B-SB, stays healthy 155+ games and finishes top 3 for MVP voting Dempster puts up similar numbers to last year Lilly wins 15+ games Soto has a better year than last year Heilman pitches well in the bullpen but bad in the starting rotation We win 89 games and the division Ramirez has another typical year, solid, but not great The Bad: Harden makes less than 15 starts Marmol sees his production fall off across the board, spends time on the DL We struggle to find a consistent 6-7th inning reliever Kosuke continues to suck miserably Lee hits under 20 HR and gets dropped to 7th in the lineup in the 2nd half Whoever starts for Harden between Shark/Guzman/Gaudin/Atkins/Heilman has no success Miles doesn't hit over .260 and posts an OBP under .310 And the Boldest of statements (if you consider it one after the offseason) the Cubs trade for Jake Peavy by the middle of July after Ricketts becomes owner and the Padres have to start selling off assets like Michael Jackson when they see record low turnout at games. Division Standings: Cubs 89 wins Cardinals 83 wins Reds 81 wins Astros 77 wins Brewers 74 wins Pirates 69 wins

If Kosuke struggles early, I wonder how long Hendry takes to consider bringing Edmonds back or trade for someone?

Yeah, I am surprised they even won a game/got into the tournament. Being a Wisconsin resident and getting to see most of their games, this had to be one of their worst/least talented teams in 10+ years. They just are an awful offensive team and marginal defensive team. They don't have 1 guy who you could go to offensively when you needed a basket that you know they could get a good look/shot and have a good chance of making something happen.

In a few years when he is done with the Reds I think you could play a Dusty Mad Lib with that line... Dusty brought _________ back the next ________________ and ________ blew out his elbow, and he is just now getting back to where he can pitch again Insert Jonny Cueto, Mark Prior, Edinson Vlozquez, Aaron Harang, Kerry Wood

I wouldn't mind us signing Hill to a minor league deal, adds some depth, and he probably could at least become a decent swing guy/MR.

Yeah what they're doing doesn't make sense. I don't see why they wouldn't put up food/beverage stands, a beer garden, get some live music and bands playing with some interactive baseball stuff like batting cages and what not. They could bring in some extra revenue with that stuff and they won't be making any money off a [expletive] softball field.

I wonder if Gaudin is hurt? With the performance of the MR guys this spring it looks like there is going to be a revolving door all season for the last 2 bullpen spots, as nobody seems to be stepping up and taking the 6/7 inning roles.

Nice outing for Dempster I don't see any reason not to expect a similar year to last year form him. Maybe a era .3-.5 points higher, but I think he will be solid again.

Did that guy not remind anyone of the SHAMWOW guy?

According to the Cubs.com board someone heard on ESPN 1000 that Lou said that he still isn't sure who is batting 3/5/7 between Lee/Ramirez/Soto. There is still hope that Ramirez could get the #3 spot which is the best option IMO. I don't see Lou putting Lee 7th to start the year and Lee will have to play himself out of the 5 spot before he is moved below that. Soriano LF Fukudome CF ? Bradley RF ? Fontenot ? Theriot

how? Because he's got Bradley, Ramirez, and Fontenot in front of him. Three guys who get on base at a pretty good clip? What he said ^^^