vance_the_cubs_fan

I wonder if Holdzcom will elect to become a FA.

Very nice.

That's the ballgame, folks. The biggest positives: Guzman and Lilly looked sharp. Negative: Prior still doesn't have it.

I expect Soto to the primary catcher at Iowa. And Ronny won't be as bad at AAA. Ah yes, I forgot about Soto. Do you think the Cubs will use Soto and Hill at AAA and send Fox to Tennessee?

He played for... Arizona... right? Dodgers then. But he was traded to Arizona.

As nice as Iowa's pitching will be, can anyone fathom how bad the defense could be with Cedeno at SS, Patterson at 2b, and Fox at C. That's pretty ugly up the middle.

I remember meeting Koyie Hill at the Future's Game in 2004. His stock has fallen greatly since then.

Cedeno is just making it easy for the Cubs to ship him to Iowa around March 28.

I fully support and endorse this nomination! I'd take him over Cedeno at this point. If we go to an 11-man pitching staff, I can see Coats and Pagan getting those last two spots. I think Cedeno would be the lead candidate if they go with only 11 pitchers. A lot of posters may act like defense doesn't count, but Piniella is pretty big on defense. And he apparently is unhappy with both Theriot and DeRosa at SS. If they carry an extra bench guy, it will likely be a SS, probably Cedeno or else Perez. Cedeno's defense was bad last year and continues to be terrible through spring training. And yet it's still better than Plesac's broadcasting skills.

Joe Carter...wow what a statement, hahah Well... Carter had some personality, didn't he? I can't quite remember why I hated him so much. He mumbled....a lot!

No way the Lions get a second rounder for Bell.

If I have to listen to much more of Plesac, I'm going to be longing for the days of Joe Carter.

Fox hit that ball real hard.

Guzman has pitched well enough to head north in some capacity.

Same here. Beyond Price and Weiters, everybody has too much risk for me... Is there a good chance at least one of them falls to us? I think it's way too early to tell. A lot can happen between now and the draft.

Guzman looks phenomenal. If he's not the fifth starter, he should be the swing man.

He has to, Billy Butler cannot possibly step on a field. Ever. The same may be said of Sweeney nowadays.

Guzman loses control of one inside and Butler gets first.

I fully support and endorse this nomination! I'd take him over Cedeno at this point. If we go to an 11-man pitching staff, I can see Coats and Pagan getting those last two spots.

Coats really, REALLY wants to make this team!

wha-a-a-a-a-at? Why not??!?!? :shock:

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. You're reading way too much into it. He just got finished watching Guzman hit 96-97 on the gun with great movement. His tone was much more indicative that it was a throw away comment than anything else.

Guzman looks very good today. He definitely should be the leader for the fifth starter. It's going to be interesting to read Lou's comments after today.

For selfish reasons, I hope Samardzija is at AA. That may not be the best for him, though.

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. I agree. Considering how well Guzman had just thrown the ball, I see it as a statement of props to Guzman and not a dig at Prior at all. It was a throw-away comment for all intents and purposes.