Cubs Fan Dan

Theriot is doing a terrible job, we need him to clog more bases!

Castro is 0 for 1 tonight, he is not ready...... Early may i believe but not positive.

I'm calling nonsense on people thinking Byrd will hit less than 20 Hr's. He has much more power than I thought

Not on the ledge, its only 2 games.... Major positives tonight, Soriano looked good at the plate AND on the bases, Dempster looked great, the cubs hitters worked the count but dont seem totally sharp yet. The Fook hit the ball hard! The Cubs have an extremely favorable schedule early so we can get these back lets just take tommorrows game.

That's funny, b/c I have the same feeling about Lee, Aramis, Lilly, and perhaps Big Z. Surely both feelings can't be true? The Cubs could not get passed all of the No Trade Clauses to dump all of those guys. I agree about Vitters and some of our other prospects, I hope some low level guys step it up throughout the year.

I am hardly going to be able to sleep tonight, anyone else have that problem???? Cannot wait for next weekend, going to Friday and Saturdays game in Cincinatti.

So glad Chan Ho went to the Yankees and not us.

I think the Cubs depth may give them the edge over the Cardinals, I also think most the media is too comfortable with Carpenter being healthy. Lets face it, it is more likely that Zambrano steps up and has abig year than it is that Carpenter is healthy for a second consecutive year. Im not going to go into the season guns blazing saying the Cubs should win it without a contest like last year, but I like our chances. Other than the pirates and probably the Astros you cannot write off most of the division.. Baseball is a crazy game.

Cannot wait for Minor league baseball to start either!

I had a feeling his name may start coming up, but to me it is more likely to come up this offseason.... At that point the cubs may get solid return by eating a few million. If that could happen I would let Lee walk and go for Pena or Dunn.

Anyone else just think Russel is up for 2-3 weeks until Gray is ready? Once Gray is healthy he seems like the most capable candidate to battle Caridad for late inning righty. Not sure I am buying into Shark yet.

I think the bullpen will be okay, also would not suprise me if near the deadline hendry adds bullpen help anyways. So we may really just need 2-3 good months out of this bullpen.

Team Stats & Scoring 1. Number of Cubs wins, 2010 89 2. Number of Cubs wins, Cardinals season series (15 games) 9 3. Number of runs scored, 2010 801 4. Number of runs allowed, 2010 692 5. Final Placement in the NL Central Division 1 Player Stats & Scoring 1. Number of Aramis Ramirez Home Runs 31 2. Number of Soriano Games Played 130 3. Ryan Theriot's Games Batting Leadoff 132 4. Geovany Soto's Batting Average .277 5. Carlos Silva's Starts 11 6. Randy Wells' ERA 3.65 7. Carlos Zambrano's Ks 188 8. Carlos Marmol's Saves 36 Bonus Questions I (20 points each) 1. Which will be higher: Soriano's RBIs or Soto's RBIs? Soriano 2. Which will be higher: Ted Lilly's starts 2009 (27) or Ted Lilly starts 2010? 2010, 28 Starts 3. Which will be higher: Jeff Baker's at-bats or Mike Fontenot's at-bats? Mike Fontenot 4. Who will have more HRs: Zambrano or Theriot? Zambrano 5. Who will have more wins: Wells or Dempster? Dempster 6. Who will have a higher OBP: Byrd or Soriano? Byrd Bonus Questions II (30 points each) 1. Most HRs: Lee 36 2. Highest OBP (min. 400 ABs): Lee .401 3. Lowest ERA (min. 150 IPs): Zambrano 3.04 4. Most Quality Starts: Zambrano Total Possible Points: 2000 The Annual Tiebreaker: Date of Lou Piniella's First Ejection (you may answer "never") May 25th vs Dodgers To be used only in the event of ties.

This. If this team somehow manages to stay in contention until August, at least there will be an obvious spot for them to improve. It really depends on the health of the other pitchers. If the other 4 are healthy, the Cubs are very likely to find a dependable starter out of the quartet of Gorzelanny/Silva/Marshall/Samardzija. Two of those are very good bets to be dependable IMO (Gorzelanny and Marshall) one is somewhat reasonable (Silva) and one is a longshot but still has the capability (Samardzija). If they are needed for 2 spots for most of the season it becomes a little more difficult, but for 1? Sure, an upgrade could always be a possibility but I really doubt it will be a major hole at the end of July. I am really not too worried about the pitching staff as long as Lou does not stick with people too long in their roles like he did with Gregg. If the Cubs can get 2 and half somewhat decent months out of Gorz and Silva then we get close to trade deadline. The Cubs will have prospects and people to move if a decent name hits the market, Rickets already said if they are in the hunt they will have money to work with at the deadline. Who knows by late june or early July you may see some pitchers like Webb, Harang, Arroyo, Meche, Sheets...etc... available. If the cubs can have a strong April I will not be worried.

In which case we don't have to worry at all. I dont know about that, I could see us going into next season Fonty 3B, Castro SS, Theriot 2B, 1B Baker if the other 2 walk. That way Hendry can have middle infielders at every position, that would be his wet dream. I know you're mostly kidding, but I'm pretty sure if we lost $25 million in salary we'd find a way to replace it in the offseason. We could sign Dunn or Carlos Pena for 1B, but the 3B FA options are fairly poor. Either way we'd have the money to spend if we needed to pick up salary in a trade. I agree, was just mocking Hendry's middle love for middle infielders. There will be some good options at 1B as free agents, I would still dabble with putting Soriano at first and go for a top tier left fielder, possibly even explore Adrian Gonzalez trades. I hope we do not lose Ramirez though. Another interesting thought, what if the Cubs tank the first half and were in position to sell in July. They would have 2-3 very big pieces they could move.

It sounds kind of like the thought is that it'd be one of Marshall/Gorzo in the rotation and one of Silva/Shark in the rotation. The other one of each of those groups would pitch out of the pen. I was kind of going with the assumption Lilly will be back mid april so after 2 weeks which a 5th starter is barely needed Shark goes back down? Or does Gorz have any options left?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5025391 Well, at least MB is comparing himself to other ignorant pieces of **** acceptance is the first step right?

In which case we don't have to worry at all. I dont know about that, I could see us going into next season Fonty 3B, Castro SS, Theriot 2B, 1B Baker if the other 2 walk. That way Hendry can have middle infielders at every position, that would be his wet dream.

I would say more luck went into MB's perfect game. Kerry Wood's 20 k game was the most amazing pitching performance I have ever seen in my lifetime, and it may possibly be the most amazing I ever do see.

Having Marshall and Gorzelany in the bullpen together seems slightly redundant does it not?

The only thing I can think of is that Piniella plans to ease Soriano and Nady into the lineup and may want Colvin as the starter. Also Byrd has never been an every game starter so Colvin's ability to start some games in center could be helpful as well. IF he can be fairly productive and get at bats without hurting the team working with Rudy all season and learning from the veterans around him it should not hurt his development. Though if Colvin's career takes off (not really likely) the Cubs may be glad Byrd was signed so reasonably so they can eventually trade him or use him as 4th outfielder(i know thinking too far ahead).

Tracy's power has arrived finally, 2 doubles and 5 rbi's! Hopefully he can string together a couple more great games to take the last bench spot.

Colvin has a chance to make the team.... http://muskat.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/03/324_colvin_could_be_on_team.html If anybody here really thinks Tyler will be much more than a spot start or 4th outfielder in the future is it worth a shot to give him a start in CF and LF once a week while Nady recovers?

If Soriano is healthy enough to play 140 games he will hit over 30 home runs and drive in around 90-100 in the 6th spot. Im prediction 125ish games .281/.321/.520 .841 ops 31 HR's 86 RBI's Somewhat of a bounce back year for Sori.

I think we worry about Aramis when both he and Lee put up .300 35hrs 120 Rbi seasons and decide to opt out to be free agents.