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Just letting you know, the Cubs have signed Raley and Burruel.

Kosuke's .850 OPS is good for third best center fielder in the majors this season (with a minimum 300 PAs). Bradley's .398 OBP is good for third best among all right fielders in the MLB this year (again, with a minimum 300 PAs). Both of them and Z have been quite good for us this season.

I prefer Kosuke leading off as well. Not sure why Lou dropped him in the order.

I could see him possibly passing through waivers considering he's making almost $5 million this season and is very close to free agency. It's odd, though, as there are conflicting reports on whether or not he passed through waivers.

The coffee was black and Lou takes two sugars in his coffee Has Lou given a reason in Chicago why he would go with Shark rather than Sean? I haven't heard anything from Lou, but I figure the reason is that Shark is stretched out enough to go 4-5 innings, potentially. Marshall is stretched out enough to go maybe two innings.

Didn't Hardy clear waivers? There were rumors that he was placed on waivers, but the Brewers denied the rumors. My guess is he was placed on waivers and cleared. Marmol likely wouldn't clear.

Along with the UFL, the USFL is apparently making a return. Here's the Web site.

He can't be more than potential middle relief guy. He has a mid-to-upper 80s FB and a slider. Thanks. I didn't know much about him, but listening to the Smokies broadcast got me curious.

He thought he did too.

Good inning by Gregg.

Nice catch by Milton.

Who else is available? Kosuke is already in, then its Miles, Koyie Hill, Aramis Ramirez (hurt). Am I missing anyone on this horrid bench of ours? Fontenot With Eyre ready to come in, I prefer Miles. Miles OPS v lefties: .669 Fontenot OPS v lefties: .583

I had no idea Rios was that good defensively.

I might be forgetting something, but weren't the only bullpen moves made in the offseason basically swapping out Wood/Howry for Gregg/Heilman, adding in Guzman and then swapping Gaudin for Patton? If so, Gregg has been an improvement at the closer's spot over what Wood has done this year and Guzman has been very good. Patton hasn't been in that many key situations this year and Howry has been better than Heilman. Marmol's struggles have hurt the pen the most.

His defense must be incredibly stellar, because he's currently OPSing 110 points lower than Kosuke and they're making similar amounts of money. Or Kosuke is worth a good bit more than he's making.

Oh my god that's disgusting. I have pined for Theriot and Bradley at the top for OBP purposes. I don't think its that bad really except that the bottom 3rd looks very very anemic... I still prefer Kosuke in the leadoff spot, but with him not starting, I have no problem at all with Theiot leading off. Especially against a left hander. Kosuke OBP: .391 Theriot OBP: .348

No. Not nothing. $60+ million. Kenny Williams strikes again? White Sox trying to catch up to the Cubs in bad contracts? They've added $116 million in contract value for two players (Peavy and Rios) since the trade deadline.

That's a good point. I haven't heard if they tried or not, but if he refused, then (as you said) there's nothing the Cubs could have done.

agreed. I couldn't make it one series before turning it off When it's my team playing though, I'll watch the whole thing. I watched every snap of the Titans game last night, but likely won't watch that many games overall in the preseason. It's nice to get an idea of what some of the young guys can do on your team - even if it is just preseason.

From the sound of it, the back was not an issue all week and didn't bother him. He apparently re-aggravated it sometime before the game (probably on a BP swing or something) and couldn't pitch. If that's the case, there's no sense in treating his back if it's not bothering him at all. I disagree with that. If your ace pitcher, who you owe a lot of money too, has to leave a game early because of back problems, it only makes sense to be precautionary and give his back some treatment. I dont care if Z said he felt better than ever, injuries dont usually just disappear, so be on the safe side and give him some treatment. If there's no lasting pain, though, what do you treat? I don't know exactly what the pain was that he felt, but if it was just a twinge of pain and they decided to pull him but then it got better - what treatment should they have done? And the amount of money the Cubs are paying him is rather meaningless in this. Had he gone out on the mound despite feeling some pain and then ripped some muscle in his back and was out for the year, then yeah that's being careless with him. But his back felt fine (apparently) all week, but then was re-aggravated before the game, so they didn't even let him take the mound. From what I can tell, they were being as cautious with him as they could be.

It was pretty funny to see them in the old Oilers uniforms. The grazing buffalo on the Bills' jersey was humorous as well.

From the sound of it, the back was not an issue all week and didn't bother him. He apparently re-aggravated it sometime before the game (probably on a BP swing or something) and couldn't pitch. If that's the case, there's no sense in treating his back if it's not bothering him at all.

What are the thoughts of some of those here on Hung-Wen Chen? I read his Cubs Wiki page, but don't know much else about him. What kind of upside does he have?

It was nice to have football back last night - even if it was just a preseason game. Granted it was a preseason game and generally meaningless, but the Titans looked good overall. Every running back had a good game, the lines improved as the game went on and both Kerry Collins and Patrick Ramsey looked solid. Vince Young struggled early, but seemed to get better as the game went on. The defense was really good while the starters were in. Would it be worth making a preseason games thread or just use this one?

Randy Johnson is better than Jason Hammel, but otherwise you're right. isn't randy johnson done for the season? I knew he was hurt, but didn't think he was done for the year. He may well be and I just didn't know, though. He had/has a torn rotator cuff but he thinks he can come back for the final 3-4 weeks of the season. Ok, thanks.