"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, March 13, 2004 ::

Look! There They Are!

The last 10 days have been kind of like baseball back in the 50's, when you could only follow your team via the box scores. Kind of refreshing in a way, but I was anxious to see what the Cubs looked like in the flesh, or at least on a TV screen.

Not to be disappointed, I saw them, along with probably most of you, fashion a mostly nicely-played 4-3 win over the White Sox at Mesa -- and beating the White Sox is always nice, whether in spring training or in the games that Sox fans consider their World Series, the six interleague games coming up this summer.

Sammy Sosa started it out by blasting a line-shot home run to left in the first. But that was after former Cub Ross Gload smacked a two-run homer off Carlos Zambrano in the top of the inning.

To hear Ozzie Guillen go on and on about Gload, you'd think he'd be the next great Sox rookie. Um, no, Ozzie. Gload will be 28 in May; he had a brief trial in 2000 with the Cubs after they acquired him in the Henry Rodriguez trade (6-for-31 with a homer, .194 BA, 10 strikeouts, hardly Hall of Fame material), and he plays the one position at which the Sox are pretty heavy in -- first base. Yes, he can play left field, after a fashion, or even right field, as he did today, but not very well. He's kind of a poor man's Brian Daubach, and the Sox, having let Daubach go after a mediocre season, are apparently in the market for such a player.

But enough about that other team. The WGN broadcasters were in decent form today, and spent an inning talking with Ron Santo. Somehow, he sounds better on TV than he does on the radio, maybe because we can actually see what Ron is talking about. I am actually looking forward to seeing the film "This Old Cub", that Ron's filmmaker son Jeff made about him. The website says it's opening in Chicago and Arizona on March 26, but gives no theater locations in Arizona.

Anyway, WGN has changed its scorebox to look more like Fox Sports Net's (a linescore across the top of the screen, and it's easier to read and less obtrusive, though I still can't understand why the red color is so prominent), and otherwise, it sure was nice to see the sunshine that 12,714 were enjoying today.

The game today was, apart from the regulars again being yanked fairly early, more like a regular season game. Zambrano threw five... um, decent innings, and then LaTroy Hawkins came in, during a situation not unlike the way he'd probably be used in the regular season, mid-to-late innings, tie game, and after he shut the Sox down for two innings and the Cubs took the lead on a Tom Goodwin single, Joe Borowski came in for his first save of the spring.

That was nice. It's always easy to think a game like that means more than it does, but players like to walk off the field with a win no matter where it comes, and I'm sure Dusty was happy that he could get his bullpen sort of in order today. In other pitching news, it appears that Mark Prior's bullpen throwing won't begin till Tuesday, which might still give him enough time to be ready for Opening Day, three weeks hence.

Yes, these reports seem kind of boring, I imagine. I am so ready to see a game in person. Next Saturday begin my reports from Arizona.

:: posted by Al at 5:56 PM [+] ::
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Movie Review: "Miracle"
(and Friday Cub game report)

School being out today again for conferences, I took Mark and his friend to see this movie, about the 1980 US hockey team and its amazing win over the USSR and subsequent gold medal.

This seems particularly appropriate this week with the Todd Bertuzzi incident and the ugly state of pro hockey in general, and in the film you are taken back to the 70's (literally, in the opening titles, which I thought was a bit heavy-handed at first, but it serves to remind you of the political climate in which the USA/USSR sports clashes were made in those days), when 20 unlikely young men, college hockey players, were molded by Herb Brooks, who sadly, died not long after the movie was finished shooting, into a disciplined, hockey-playing team.

Hockey is a violent sport, but at the international and college levels it is also a beautiful sport, and though there are people hitting each other, it's done cleanly, not with the gutter fighting that has been common in the NHL, and Kurt Russell does a masterful job at showing the singular devotion that Brooks brought to this role, having been the last cut off the 1960 US Olympic team, and realizing that if he could find the right players and train them well (at times, he's so tough that even his wife, played well by Patricia Clarkson, finds it hard to support him), they could beat the seemingly unbeatable Soviets.

Looking from a 2004 perspective, when we send professional "Dream Teams" to the Olympics (and the one that went in 1998 to Nagano disgraced the US by not only losing badly, but by then trashing their rooms at the Olympic Village and refusing to take responsibility), it's hard to remember this time in history when the USSR was not only the "enemy" politically but the "big bad bully" of international sports, using what everyone knew to be "professionals" against the college amateurs that the US put up against them.

It really was a miracle. We haven't seen that repeated in the Olympics since then, and the players who played there for the USA didn't, for the most part, have great pro careers (Ken Morrow was probably the best of them, with Neal Broten a close second), and Jim Craig, whose pro career was a flameout (pun intended), had the game of his life against the USSR. If you'd tried to write this script as fiction, no one would have believed it.

The filmmakers made an excellent choice by choosing, instead of young actors, young hockey players, making the hockey action perhaps the most realistic of any sports movie that I've ever seen. Almost all of the action shown in the film was the action shot for the film itself (though there is some of the real USSR/USA game action seamlessly woven in, along with quite a bit of Al Michaels' real play-by-play), and the games within the movie, along with the movie itself, get you really into the emotions of the moment, and while it sounds sappy to say this game helped Americans feel better about their country, I lived through it. And it did indeed do that.

Wish I could say the same about the Cubs' blowout 10-5 loss to the Mariners today, in front of 13,366 at Peoria; having been there, I can tell you that's an enormous crowd for that place, perhaps close to a record.

Greg Maddux threw well today -- what's gotten into him? Eight strikeouts? That's not a typical Maddux game. Maybe he's trying to show he can throw with the big boys. Anyway, that was about it as far as the Cubs are concerned. Felix Sanchez, who I saw throw last spring, had about as bad an inning as you can get -- five hits, two walks, six earned runs, and only got two outs -- and he's certainly ticketed back to Iowa.

Two other guys on the Des Moines list -- Scott McClain and Bill Selby, both of whom are past 30 and not prospects -- generated most of the offense today, with Selby hitting his first homer of the spring. It's nice to know that these guys are available at Iowa in case of injury, and Selby has a couple hundred games of major league experience, mostly with Cleveland.

Tomorrow, at last, I (along with anyone else who gets WGN) will get to see the ballclub on TV for the first time since day one of exhibition games, against the White Sox at Mesa with Carlos Zambrano on the mound.

AYRating (for "Miracle"): ***

:: posted by Al at 7:25 PM [+] ::
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The Cubs Lost To WHO?

Even in spring training, this is a little ridiculous, and as I spent a good portion of the day in school conferences, I don't have a whole lot to say about Shawn Estes being the winning pitcher for the Rockies in a 13-3 blowout at Mesa today.

Worse is the fact that it was pretty close to an Opening Day lineup today, and worse than that is that the Rockies' offensive damage was done by mediocre hitters like Kit Pellow (4 RBI) and Benji Gil (3 RBI), and that Juan Cruz got absolutely lit up.

So I'm going to turn over the rest of today's post to my friend Jessica, who is -- well, let's just say she's a big fan of Greg Maddux, and here's what she e-mailed me after she saw the score:

I get VERY little info and no audio so I was VERY nervous when I saw the Cubs getting shelled because I thought it was a Maddux start. I suppose it would have been better if it was as it would nice to see Cruz pitch well but I am kind of selfish. I am SURE there will be discussion about Estes being the winning pitcher. I assume this means Maddux tomorrow and Zambrano against the Sox.

And that's pretty much where we are today; Sergio Mitre threw three credible innings and Kyle Farnsworth mopped up and tomorrow it's off to Peoria to play the Mariners.

:: posted by Al at 8:13 PM [+] ::
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Cubs Roundtable

As many of you know, Christian Ruzich has been conducting a roundtable discussion between many of us who are members of the Cubs Blog Army, at The Cub Reporter.

Since he has finished posting all the responses as of today, I'm going to post here the complete questions and answers that I sent him. There were some questions he originally sent that I answered, that were not included in his roundtable, so I include those answers here.

Q: Most pundits agree that the Cubs have one of the best rotations in baseball. Will the rotation live up to the hype? If so, which pitcher will have the best year? If not, who will falter, and will the team be able to overcome it?

A: You know, it's easy to say on paper that it will live up to the hype, but as we have already seen with the minor injury to Mark Prior, anything can happen during a baseball season and often does.

By all logic, Prior is positioned to have the best year, but with Kerry Wood's contract now signed, he may feel a lot of pressure off and finally blossom, at age 27 (in June) into the pitcher we all felt he would become when he was drafted.

Keep in mind that while Prior has been compared to Tom Seaver, Wood's style is more like that of Nolan Ryan. Ryan struggled with his control in his 20's, as Wood has. But I think Wood has the advantage of having other good pitchers around him, which Ryan didn't after he left the Mets.

Carlos Zambrano seems to me to be the guy who could blow up if things don't go right. He nearly imploded in the playoffs, though that might be simply because he threw many more innings than he ever had before. I still love Zambrano's talent, though, and don't forget he's the same age as Prior.

Q: Which, if any, of the Cubs pitching prospects will make an impact on the team this year?

A: None, unless there are injuries, in which case Angel Guzman might get a shot. I don't think any of the others is quite ready in 2004.

Q: What should be done with Juan Cruz?

A: He's actually in a very advantageous spot. He should be in the bullpen, and he could be a long reliever, setup man if the other setup men have been overworked, or even get a spot start if necessary.

IF everyone performs as expected, and IF it appears that the prospects will be ready in 2005, and IF the Cubs have a mid-season need, he is very good trade bait.

Q: How much better is the Cubs bullpen this season than it was in 2003?

A: Tons. Consider the advantage alone of having LaTroy Hawkins instead of Antonio Alfonseca. Kent Mercker ought to be at least as good as Mark Guthrie.

The biggest wild card here is the uncertain status of Mike Remlinger. But there are pitchers in camp -- Gary Glover comes first to mind -- who could fill that slot on a temporary basis.

Q: While there are very few questions about the pitching, there are plenty of questions about the offense. Will the Cubs score enough runs to hold off the Astros in the NL Central?

A: Yes, but not necessarily because of the offense. It'll be because guys like Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens will find that pitching in Minute Maid Park isn't quite like pitching in Yankee Stadium.

The Cub offense WILL be improved over 2003.

Q: Who will have a better 2004, Michael Barrett or Damian Miller?

A: Barrett, without question. Miller is 35 and didn't have a good 2003 and is going to a worse hitter's park.

Q: Who will have a better 2004, Derrek Lee or Hee Seop Choi?

A: Lee, without question.

Q: Who will have a better 2005, Derrek Lee or Hee Seop Choi?

A: Again, Lee, who will be 30 in 2005, ought to still be at the top of his game. Even if Choi pans out to the top of his potential, he will not quite be at the level of Lee by 2005.

Q: The Choi for Lee trade was a classic example of trading potential for current performance. Do you think it was the right trade to make for this year? What about for the future of the team?

A: Yes, absolutely, because the team truly is thisclose to winning, given what happened last year and the other upgrades made to the bullpen, having Patterson back, having Ramirez for a full season. While Choi might have been a productive regular, having someone who is already so, AND comes from the World Champions to boot, cannot hurt.

For the future, I suppose some will say it sends a message that position players cannot make it through the Cub farm system. But this isn't completely true. Sometimes you produce a position player whose value to the team comes through trade. Choi might be such a player.

If he had been traded for, let's say, a 32-year-old first baseman with the idea that you could squeeze one or two years out of the guy and win now and ONLY now, I'd say it would have been the wrong thing to do.

But Lee is only four years older than Choi and he is already an established major league star, and at 28 ought to have at least four or five productive-to-star-level major league seasons ahead of him, by which time there will be a whole new class of prospects available.

The money it cost to sign Lee isn't that huge, and therefore I'd say well worth it.

Q: Jim Hendry was very active this winter. Everyone expects the Lee and Maddux acquisitions to help the team immensely. Was there another, lesser transaction the Cubs made this winter that you think will have a significant impact on the team?

A: LaTroy Hawkins is arguably the key acquisition of the year. Having him in the bullpen, presuming he continues what he has done the past two years, accomplishes two things:

1) Gives us an outstanding setup man, replacing Antonio Alfonseca, who was absolutely useless.

2) Gives us a pitcher who can close if Joe Borowski gets hurt or fails.

I would also nominate Todd Hollandsworth, who essentially replaces Troy O'Leary on the roster and in that role. Hollandsworth is a much better pinch hitter than O'Leary and can play better defense at more positions, including CF if necessary.

Q: What sort of seasons do you expect Moises Alou and Corey Patterson to have? If one or the other struggles, will Dusty pull them from the lineup, or stick with them?

A: Patterson ought to be able to pick up where he left off. The real question mark is whether he'll have his speed back. Others who have had similar injuries have had mixed results. The advantage to Patterson is that he is only 24, and has worked very hard to get back. His hitting shouldn't suffer -- only his baserunning and defense.

Alou? Who knows? I'd like to think he still has one more salvo left in him, and he didn't have a bad 2003.

I'd think Dusty is under enough pressure to win that he won't stay too long with either one. The best thing is that, with Todd Hollandsworth, Todd Walker and even Tom Goodwin, he has acceptable options to start, which he did not have last year. Troy O'Leary got tons of playing time during Sammy Sosa's injury and suspension and he was a failure. The bench, in this aspect, is vastly improved.

Q: Who will get more playing time at second base, Mark Grudzielanek or Todd Walker? Who should get more playing time?

A: Grudzielanek has already been anointed the starter, and I suppose that makes some sense, since he did have a reasonably productive 2003.

I still have a feeling that there will be scouts around watching him, and there are a couple of teams (notably the Yankees) who could use a starting 2B. He could be traded before Opening Day.

Walker should get the bulk of the playing time, being both a better hitter and lefthanded, but the best thing is that he's not the kind of guy to complain about this. He came here specifically to be on a winner, and knew he'd be going in as the likely backup.

And how often have you ever heard players say that about coming to the CUBS?

Q: How close is Sammy Sosa to being a Hall of Famer?

A: He's a lock, with 539 HR, and I believe he will rebound from his somewhat down 2003 to have another 50-HR season this year, and approaching 600 HR, he's in.

Q: Recently, GM Jim Hendry locked up Greg Maddux, Kerry Wood and Derrek Lee for the next few years. Who on the current roster, if anyone, should get the
next long-term contract?

A: What I would do, presuming he picks up where he left off last year, is try to sign Mark Prior to a contract extension, or even rip up the last two years of his deal and sign him to an entirely new five-year contract. At 23 he is certainly worth it.

Q: As a Cubs fan, are you having a hard time dealing with the fact that the Cubs go into this season as favorites?

A: Yes. I am always looking around me waiting for the other shoe to drop. That is, I suppose, from years of being conditioned that way. As noted earlier, anything can happen, just thinking about the minor injury to Prior, what if that turns into something worse? What if, as happened to Mo Vaughn a couple of years back, Derrek Lee sprains his ankle the first week of the season?

Q: What are you looking forward to about the 2004 Cubs? What are you dreading about them?

A: I look forward to the team playing exciting baseball every day. They did so last year, sometimes intensely so, and that's one of the best things about a Dusty Baker-managed team. Teams like the 2002 Cubs, who quit on two different managers, were painful to watch. Win or lose, Dusty's teams always play hard, and that's one terrific thing about watching them every single day.

I dread the front-runners, the hangers-on, the near-sellouts that will happen every day at the ballpark. Those of us who have suffered through the horrific past, ought to at least qualify for some sort of martrydom, and be able to be first in line to celebrate what we hope is a future filled with many championships.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

:: posted by Al at 11:51 AM [+] ::
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It's Split-Squad Day Again

And another split result, this time not ties, but an 8-3 win over Oakland at Mesa, in front of a smallish crowd of 7,291, and a 13-7 blowout loss to the Diamondbacks at Tucson, with a lot of the minor leaguers riding the bus down there.

Most of the hitting in the Oakland game was done by reserves, except for Derrek Lee's first homer of the spring. David Kelton also homered and Paul Bako had a couple of hits. Kerry Wood got into the fourth inning today, the first Cub pitcher to do so this spring; I suspect by the time I get there, starters will be going five for the first time. Todd Wellemeyer made his case to make the squad by striking out three in his two innings of work.

Tipped off by my friend Dan Lichtenstein, I tried bypassing the MLB audio site to listen to the game on the A's station website, but all I got was a talk show talking about the Raiders, of all things. Seriously -- do these sports talk shows only talk about football? That's one reason I gave up listening to local sports talk radio here. All they'd talk about was the Bears, no matter what time of year and how bad they were. I'm not going to bother paying for MLB radio, since I don't need it during the season. MLB made another mistake here; last year they gave away the spring games as an enticement to sign up, but this year you have to pay first to get the "free" exhibition games. Yet another stupid marketing decision.

Today, Sammy Sosa actually made the ride down to Tucson and had a 1-for-3 day; Jason Dubois, who I suppose has an outside shot at making the team as a backup, homered, but that was about the only good that came. Jimmy Anderson, also trying to make the team, threw two good innings, but the D'backs damage was done off four pitchers (Carmine Pigniatello, John Foster, Brad Cornett, and Russ Rohlicek) who have virtually zero chance of pitching anywhere north of Jackson, Tennessee this year, so that part of the split-squad results have absolutely nothing to do with how well the Cubs will do this year.

Can't wait for Saturday when I can actually see a game (via TV, on WGN). Tomorrow, the Rockies visit Mesa.

In other news, Mark Prior did some long-tossing today but it appears it'll be a while before he throws off of a mound. It's still way too early to be worried about him.

And in an amusing note, I signed up to be in a Yahoo baseball fantasy league. It's free, and I figured, why not?

In setting up my player rankings, I noticed that Barry Bonds is not called by his name, he is simply listed as "SF Left Fielder". I learned that this is because His Bondsness has opted out of the MLB marketing plan; therefore they are not allowed to use his name in connection with things like this.

And Bonds thinks this is going to get us to buy his self-branded stuff. What utter arrogance.

:: posted by Al at 7:38 PM [+] ::
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Wrigley Field Construction Update

It being a gorgeous, sunny day here in Chicago and nearly 50 degrees (probably nicer than it will be on Opening Day), I decided to hie myself down to the ballpark to see what was up with the construction. I had seen them starting to build the new message board underneath the scoreboard when I was in line for wristbands, and as you can see here:



they have made considerable progress. Why the random numbers are on the board, I have no idea. As you can see, the new board is the entire length of the scoreboard, unlike the old one, which was only about 1/3 the scoreboard length. My understanding is that this board can also do color video.

Got lucky today too -- the gate on Sheffield was open about a foot off the ground so I was able to peek the camera in and get this view of the new box seat construction:



As you can see, not only do they have a lot of work to do on the seating area in the next five weeks, but they've also got a lot of resodding to do!

The final photo today:



is of a similar message board to the one under the CF scoreboard, that is being installed on the facade of the upper deck in LF. It's my understanding (though that one isn't visible from the street) that an identical board is going on the RF facade as well. It also appears that the "mini-boards" that were under each upper deck last year have been removed.

These new boards will have scores, stats, and of course, advertising. Well, someone's got to pay for that $88 million payroll!

:: posted by Al at 1:09 PM [+] ::
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A Loss! A Loss! My Kingdom For A Loss!

No, of course I wouldn't give up stuff for a Cub loss, I just wanted to type that phrase, somehow it popped into my head after reading about the 6-5 loss to the Royals today at Surprise, where the attendance was a rather-small 7,016 -- I guess Cub fans in Mesa didn't want to make what is about an hour's drive to the west side of the Phoenix metro area.

And if they think that's far, wait till the Angels (or some other team) moves to Goodyear, where they are proposing to build yet another complex in the exurbs of the Valley of the Sun.

Yeah, I know. The title of today's post is lame. So sue me. It's a lame kind of day, with lake-effect flurries flying off Lake Michigan, temperatures cooler than yesterday, and me really tapping my foot waiting for nine days from now when I'll be heading out to Arizona myself.

I busied myself today printing out scorecards for the games I'll see there; I created a scorecard form using MS Publisher, and I have team logos saved, and they make really nice cards, considering no one in spring training sells a scorecard, and I really don't want to have to spend $5 a day on a program, and especially when the scoresheet in said programs is on glossy paper. I'll usually pick up one program per ballpark, just for the rosters (which usually aren't too accurate), and just keep bringing it back each day.

Dusty Baker must really be enjoying giving his regulars time off; the only regulars who started today were Aramis Ramirez (who homered, his first of the spring), and Derrek Lee, who had an RBI. Matt Clement pitched poorly for the second straight start, but it's way too early to worry about that, and besides, with the thinner air and low humidity in Arizona, pitching stats really don't mean that much. Maybe Dusty is saving the starting lineup to show off to the home folks; in that case expect a near-Opening Day lineup perhaps on Saturday when the Cubs will host the White Sox in a WGN-TV game.

Calvin Murray, who won't make the team, and Todd Hollandsworth, who will, also homered today. LaTroy Hawkins pitched the eighth and struck out two, and apart from that most of the pitching was done by pitchers who won't make the team, though Jamey Wright made a case for himself by striking out two in his own scoreless inning.

Garth Brooks, the country singer who played outfield for the Padres a few springs ago, is for some inexplicable reason being allowed to do this again for the Royals this year (it's getting silly, really -- he's 42, older than Roger Clemens), and Hawkins walked him. There must be a country song in there somewhere, but I think I'll let Brooks write it.

:: posted by Al at 8:11 PM [+] ::
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Wish I Could Have Seen This One

Carlos Zambrano turned in the best performance by a Cub starter so far this spring, striking out seven in three innings of shutout ball, and the Cubs beat the Brewers 8-4 on a day when the temperature in Mesa reached nearly 90 degrees (don't I wish -- 40 degrees outside my window right now).

Matt Kinney, who beat the Cubs several times last spring, got cuffed around pretty good. Sammy Sosa hit his first home run of the exhibition season, and Scott McClain, who got the start at 3B today, hit two. That's meaningless, of course, since McClain has exactly zero chance of making the team. But I'm sure it made the 10,639 in attendance very happy.

Gary Glover also threw two scoreless innings, which puts him in the running to fill the bullpen slot that will be temporarily vacated when Mike Remlinger starts the season on the DL. Other candidates, as discussed, are Todd Wellemeyer, Francis Beltran and Jimmy Anderson. I'd think Anderson might have a leg up only because he's lefthanded, but you never know what Dusty Baker will decide. You should see these four get quite a bit of work over the next couple of weeks.

The spring record is now 3-1-2, which looks like a Bears record from the 1950's, when tie games used to be all the rage in the NFL.

Other than that, I don't have a whole lot to say today. Spent a fair amount of the afternoon checking out a possible new school for Rachel... click here for the website of the British School of America to find out more about it. It's a very interesting concept, and I liked it a lot. They've only been operating in the USA for about ten years, but have already been well-established in several cities, including Chicago, Boston and Washington, and are planning more schools across the USA.

Oh, and speaking of education, Saturday I wrote that I was "chomping at the bit" to get to a ballgame. My dad (who else?) e-mailed me that the correct usage should be "champing at the bit". Seems this little phrase originated in England as long ago as the 14th Century.

Thanks, Dad. Who says you can't learn things here?

:: posted by Al at 7:28 PM [+] ::
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Cubs Blog Army Roundtable

Christian Ruzich, who runs the terrific Cub Reporter blog, asked several of us who are in the CBA to answer a few questions about the upcoming season.

Today, he's posted some of my responses, as well as a few others. The series will continue all week, after which I'll post all of my responses right here.

:: posted by Al at 1:05 PM [+] ::
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Well, That Was A Complete Waste Of Time

TWO complete wastes of time, actually, and not Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time, either.

The Cubs had their first split-squad day of the spring today, and actually the radio game surprised me, because I knew they were playing the Giants again, but WGN radio covered the Mesa game against the Royals... when I first tuned in I was wondering if Matt Stairs had suddenly become a Cub again.

It didn't matter in either case, as the Mesa squad tied the Royals 4-4, and the half-team that headed over to Scottsdale tied the Giants 6-6.

This isn't uncommon in spring games, especially with split-squad contests, as the team is spread pretty thin, and generally this early there aren't enough pitchers to go extra innings.

Just about everyone got to play today, and no one did anything notable, except for Todd Hollandsworth's three-run homer in the first inning of the Mesa game, which helped the Cubs to a 4-0 lead. Greg Maddux threw two uneventful innings and then it was off to Double-A-land. It's fun to see the kids play when you are there and from the Hughes/Santo description, it was a gorgeous day in Mesa, but when you are hearing the exploits of Casey Kopitzke and Brian Dopirak on the radio, I have to be honest with you, it gets a little boring. Dopirak is actually someone I saw play in a Fitch Park minor league game last year; he's a first baseman with some power, but obviously will be buried in the Cub organization behind Derrek Lee. He'll play at either Daytona or possibly West Tenn this year.

The only pitcher who threw against the Giants who has even a slight chance of breaking camp with the major league squad was Sergio Mitre, and he gave up one run in his two innings. Big deal.

So the only thing I can report of real interest today is how I had to fight with my new A/V receiver to even listen to this game. Like you, I don't have an actual radio in my room with the computer, so I went upstairs to listen. I wanted to put WGN on a preset button on the receiver, but -- and listen, I am NOT a technophobe by any means -- I had to pull out the manual to figure this out, and by the time I had done so, I missed most of the first inning.

Man, I'll be glad when these games are on TV again.

:: posted by Al at 7:33 PM [+] ::
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The First Crack In The Armor

Okay, this isn't the biggest deal in recent Cub history, but it now appears that Mike Remlinger will start the season on the DL.

Remlinger is a useful pitcher who had a decent, not great, season in 2003, and is 38 years old. With two years left on a 3-year, $10 million deal, you'd hope he could be effective for at least this season, but if he's not, the Cubs at least do have several other options, including Jimmy Anderson or Felix Sanchez if they decide to go with a lefty, or perhaps Gary Glover or Francis Beltran from the right side.

Keep in mind that Jim Hendry is never averse to making a deal before the end of spring training and that plenty of teams are still out there looking for help (Mark Grudzielanek, anyone?) and that could be an answer to this as well.

For once, there are enough major-league caliber pitchers in camp that Remlinger can get healthy and ready without having to be rushed.

And that in itself is refreshing.

:: posted by Al at 11:36 AM [+] ::
...