CUBZ99

Who are these other options?

You don't think he has out played Shark to this point? Silva has basically had two bad innings all of spring training. He has shown that his sinker is more effective and he has shown some glimmer that he can be somewhat effective as a 4-5 starter. I was as big on Shark as anybody prior to spring training, but based on his outings so far he hasn't shown any improvement and I'm coming around to agreeing with Gooney and others that think his window of opportunity is quickly closing.

It would be nice to have a better option than Shark for the bullpen.

I'm not ready to give up on Silva yet. He had one terrible outing this spring and then with the help of Rothschild seemed to find his sinker again. We all know that he isn't going to be a top of the rotation pitcher in this league, but there was a time where he was valuable as a back of the rotation guy.

Looks like Cashner, Diamond and Stevens were sent down today. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100319&content_id=8841942&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Except you left out the part of him putting up a .873 OPS in the AFL against AA-AAA competition. Clearly he is a kid that excels when pushed. I don't have a problem with them starting at AAA, but to base his not being ready to play on the number of HRs he hits in the minors is ridiculous. In regard to his defense, it is pretty obvious that the kid can get to balls that other avg. SS (Theriot) wouldn't or can't get to.

Seems like many aggressive promotions for the Cubs, if these rosters hold up. Carpenter and J. Jackson in AAA. Huseby, Archer, D.J. Lemahieu and Jackson skipping Daytona. Not surprised to see H. Lee in Daytona, hopefully he will thrive like Castro did.

I think it is a good idea to raise more revenue.

That fact actually implies the opposite of what you think it does. How so? A player who has gotten better several years in a row is likely get worse in the immediate future, and vice-versa. But in determining who is more washed up, it presents a better argument for the player who isn't getting worse. I mean, really what you're saying is that the guy on a decline has a better chance of improving because he can't get worse. The player who is putting up better results will struggle to continue to improve. I don't want to focus on Bako necessarily because it probably wasn't the best example, but FWIW, taking his whole career, hitting wise, its pretty constant suckage. Yes, we have "the book" on Bako, but his book tells us he's acceptable as a backup catcher if you don't have better options. So last year we brought him in. His and Hill's spring training wasn't the biggest deciding factor, in fact probably one of the smallest, but it still plays a roll. Also its a really small sample, but in his limited at bats last year, Bako's OPS did go up again. Millar's book tells us he was acceptable at one time, and has been pretty steadily getting worse to the point where he doesn't have value. But not focusing on these two, a pretty common spring training scenario is you have two young guys coming from AAA who are fighting over the last bullpen spot. They each have at least comparable numbers. Close enough that an argument could be made for either. And since their young, developmentally there is still a lot going on with their skills, and despite a large number of minor league stats, spring training helps to determine if either has gained an edge. Plus spring training evaluations are not simply based on spring training statistics. Jaramillo can tell if a person is swinging the bat well or whether they are struggling. Like WF22 said, if two guys come into camp with similar backgrounds/skills and are fighting for the same position, why not give it to the guy the coaches feel is the better performer?

After getting rid of Bradley, I'm guessing there is zero chance that Hendry would be interested in Dukes.

That was my point when I criticized the signing. In theory it's harmless and meaningless. But with the Cubs, in practice it almost always involves them letting one worthless piece of crap veteran take up roster space without the ability to add an ounce of value to the team. In the case of Millar, I just don't see many better options at this point. It sounds like Tracy has already made the team. And who else is left? Scales? Hoffpauir? Aducci?.... Colvin would be the only player in camp right now that would be more deserving. And even then, I'm not sure if he would not be better served getting more AB's everyday in Iowa rather than part time playing.

Rothschild sprinkled some of his pixie dust on Silva. Seriously though, Rothschild is going to have to earn his paycheck this year with the pieces he has been given to work with. He has taken pitchers like Dempster and Marquis and gotten the most our of them and seems to do well with sinkerballers. I'm not going to jump on the Silva bandwagon, but I would be extremely happy if Silva found a way to be an average to above average starter this year.

I really like Silva's line so far this game. Looks like he has the sinker working well.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_ylt=Am4aeEskLihlx3cgMO9VAUoRvLYF?gid=300315117 Sheets is having a rough go of it so far this spring.

How is it possible that he isn't the top prospect? A 19 yr old SS, that plays very good defense, has a cannon for an arm and makes great contact at the plate. Watching him play today, you could see why everyone is excited about him. He seemed to have incredible range and got to one that I'm guessing Theriot wouldn't have gotten to. Same play he almost threw the guy out at first and probably would have if Lee were playing 1B instead of Hoffpauir. The only knock on him at this point, is that he doesn't hit for much power. It should be a simple decision, just as with Cashner. If he makes the team better he should be playing with the club.

It looks like if he keeps playing the way he has been in ST that he will make the team.

I thought he was a hard thrower, until I saw him today. Poor control and lack of a good fastball. Doesn't sound like a recipe for success.

Hard to argue with what he is saying.

If Castro were being blocked by Theriot, I would be more in favor of sending him down to AAA. But if he made the team, I wouldn't lose any sleep over the Fontenot/Baker tandem getting less playing time. The exciting thing about Castro so far, is that he seems to thrive off of a challenge. Every level he goes to he seems to get better.

Heard that most of the kids and some of the players fighting for bench spots are going to play today. Should be fun to follow.

The most recent Bradley quote from Chicagosports.com http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/03/bradley-says-thank-you-to-hendry.html :-)) :-)) Now that is funny. Real classy guy.

That interview reminded me of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm with Seinfeld. "I never received hate mail in any other city"..........having said that, "I did receive hate mail in two other cities." Also, the whole garbage about the envelopes not being postmarked and him believing that the Cubs organization planted hate mail at his locker was also ridiculous. If that were the case, I'm sure they would have gotten to the bottom of it. You don't invest $30MM into a guy and then try to make it as uncomfortable as possible for him.

Meh, semantics. It's not like "ass-y" or "crappy" are quantifiable terms. It means different things to different people. To me, his numbers are more crappy than not to make me think he's worth a trade. It would be a different issue if it was a question of signing him, but such is life. If you think a career 1.28 WHIP and 3.78 ERA are crappy for a reliever, your expectations are extremely unrealistic. Granted I wouldn't give up the farm for the guy, but he his stats show him to be a respectable if not above average bullpen arm.

I see that David Weathers is still unsigned. I know he isn't the best option, but he was pretty impressive with the Reds in the first half of the season last year. Wonder if he has anything left.

Shark's line looked pretty good. Out of the 6 outs he recorded 5 of them were the groundout variety. Hopefully that is an indication that he is getting good sink action on his fb or that his off speed pitches are becoming more effective.