CaliforniaRaisin

3 plus pitches are back. :)

He has to be expendable, Billy Butler cannot possibly step on a field. Ever. And people complain about Dunn's defense.

Please elaborate. Why the guy would say anything that would even insinuate something like this is about a teammate is beyond me. He didn't insinuate that Prior was done. Pleasac asked him a question about expectations and prefaced it by saying "If you can get the pitching shored up, the offense looks like one of the best in the league." In the midst of his answer, DeRosa said, "With the way Guzman is throwing the ball, he might be our fifth starter." There was no dig at Prior whatsoever. I didn't mean to say it was a dig but it definitely didn't show any confidence in Prior's ability to rebound... You hear statements like that all the time in ST. It meant less than nothing, IMO. If both pitchers were no-names I'd agree but when you have someone with the pedigree of Mark Prior, it's hard to agree. Perhaps if DeRosa had a chance to think about his answer it would have been more diplomatic but I think his thoughts about Angel are telling. It's still relatively early in ST yet DeRosa doesn't feel that Prior will rebound. He was being honest about his feelings for Guzman... The guys on the team just want to win. A new guy like DeRosa has no allegiance to Mark Prior. As such, he's given his gut feeling. Based on what everyone else has quoted as DeRosa's comments, you're definitely digging way too deep on what DeRosa said.

Aww, now Richard Lewis and Andy Pratt are no longer Cubs. :(

Buck Coats can play SS. Not well. But he has had quite a few games there in the minors.

Guess it's time to say go Ohio State.

Oh, and the most important thing about Guzman's outing have been all those groundballs. He's getting the sink that he didn't have last season (along with the command). :D

Me? :D

If he didn't start, I don't see why he'd come in later in the game.

Wilken dropped hints of Samardzija starting the season at AA during the convention and I can't see how Samardzija's camp can hurt that chance. I'd prefer he start at Daytona, though. There were also hints that the Cubs would like to see Jeff at Wrigley in September - they're obviously going to push Jeff but I think it has to be with some moderation. Heck, most people thought he'd start at Peoria before they said Daytona when he signed his baseball-only contract.

Oh, and Jake Fox, please please please please please learn how to improve your catching defense (and work on hitting offspeed stuff).

No, I was thinking that too. Thirded. Fourthded This is concerning. Why is he changing his arm slot? His curve was good and had good bite so thats kinda weird since he's not over the top as much. Im satisfied with the velocity today, nothing spectatular but as been stated its progress. I'm sure Rothschild knows what's up.

Who doesn't? What did he do now?

So word on the street is it's Len and Plesac. What happened to Bob?

Whatever, Prior can do that too. Prior changes speeds much better - 87 vs. 112 is tougher to pick up than 97 vs. 112. ;)

He will. Was Kinkade's injury really that bad? Poor guy. :( I'm pretty positive I heard it break. Gooz hits 97. Damn. That's awful.

Santo was mentioning the same exact thing... How low did he go?

He will. Was Kinkade's injury really that bad? Poor guy. :(

What kind of unreasonable expectations are you talking about? I think there's a good chance that Prior as we knew him is gone. He threw 83-84 mph last game and it sounds like people were hoping he'd be back into the 90s and have good control again. It's not going to happen in a day, might never happen, but this game doesn't prove that he's done. Yeah. He improved, he introduced his curve in-game and his FB had better movement and velocity. Location still a worry. I can't say he's never going to be the same after 4 ST innings, especially when he's shown the improvement from the first appearance to the next.

Exactly.

I would think 4 more starts should be enough.

Better movement on the FB too. Now he just needs the command. I expect his 4-seamer will be in the low 90s by the end of ST.

Sounds like most of you had unreasonable expectations of Prior after his previous start.

Meh.

More importantly, yay, a good curve!