Joel Sherman of the New York Post posted this on his twitter account about the current state of the Cubs rotation:

"Exec from another team said Cashner is going to be part of #Cubs rotation, so Silva is out; Cubs will eat big $ to make him go away"

Source: http://twitter.com/Joelsherman1/status/51333263851126784

If this is true, that's big and what we all really wanted. It looks like Silva's last performance really didn't have an influence over management's decision to get rid of him (smart decision by Hendry or Quade here).

Goodbye, Silva. Thanks for last year's success, but it is time to move on. I think a number of factors led to this. It's time to bring in Cashner as a starter and make the team a little younger. In addition, Silva also had that spat with Ramirez earlier in Spring Training, and there may be some dugout tension that we do not know about that could have lingered from that (that's a huge assumption, but plausible). Furthermore, Silva just wasn't going to help out the team, and Cashner needs to have the chance to start.

UPDATE:

#Cubs tell Carlos Silva they'll try to trade him, but if not, would like him to consider Minor Leagues so he can be insurance for team - Carrie Muskat

Source: http://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/51692398677471232

In addition, It's posted on the front page of the Cubs website for today's game: "Andrew Cashner, who the Cubs named their fifth starter for the regular season today, starts against the Rangers in Surprise on Saturday at 3:05 p.m. CT."

Pretty much confirms the report from yesterday.

Enter the Andrew Cashner era.

Reports are coming in saying the Cubs have avoided arbitration with Catcher Geovany Soto. He's signed a 1 year, 3 million dollar contract. This coming from Bruce Levine:

According to Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com, the Cubs and Geovany Soto have agreed to a one-year, $3 million contract, avoiding arbitration in the player’s first year of eligibility. He earned $575,000 last season.

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/14/cubs-and-geovany-soto-avoid-arbitration-with-one-year-deal/

Hopefully, we can sign him long term next off season when we have a little more cash.

I know this argument has been beaten to death.

But I know that having a solid addition to the bullpen would benefit this club. Last season, Piniella and Quade had few reliable options from the pen, and the inflated ERA's of many relievers justify the previous statement. Besides Marmol and Marshall, all Cubs relievers last season posted a 4.80 ERA or worse; with a couple stagnating into the tens. With the always injured state of Angel Guzman and the obvious lack of depth for our bullpen, one of Hendry's top priorities should be to bring in a solid reliever, like he did with Eyre and Howry back in 2006 when the bullpen cost us many games in 2005.

Bruce Levine suggests today that the Cubs would be willing to bring back Kerry Wood to the Cubs. As I stated earlier, this argument has been beaten to death many times; and I know one will most likely transpire by the posting of this thread. But, what I want you all to realize is the following: Kerry Wood is vital to this team. Firstly, last season he posted a 3.13 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 46 innings. This automatically would make him the third best reliever on this team if we base the rankings on last year's statistics. His ability to dominate opposing hitters is what we need. In addition, he would bring to this team the face it so badly needs.

Furthormore, his article suggests:

The intangible of Wood's leadership and street cred with the Cubs' fan base would make re-signing Wood a win-win for the team and the player.

 

Here's his entire article: http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/2633/source-wood-would-be-welcomed-back-to-cubs

This is very true; however, nostalgia would not be the sole reason to bring back Kerry Wood. His ability to strikeout and secure scoreless innings is vital to this team if they want to compete with the rest of the league. It's just not the warm and fuzzy feelings of bringing back a lost fan favorite, Kerry Wood is what this team needs.

Breaking news from ESPN Chicago indicates that Derrek Lee wants to remain a Chicago Cub. He intends to use his no-trade clause to block any proposed trade that the Cubs may be willing to make. Bruce Levine broke this story on ESPN:

Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee has told the organization that he prefers to remain a Cub rather than accept a trade.

The Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels proposed trades to the Cubs over the past 10 days for Lee, who has a no-trade clause in his contract. Cubs general manager Jim Hendry confirmed to ESPNChicago.com that Lee wants to stay with the Cubs until the end of his contract. Lee's five-year deal ends after this season.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5417150

Well I guess this means Derrek Lee wants to finish his career with the Cubs. It would make sense for him to go to another team if he didn't want to remain a Cub. If Jim Hendry remains the Cubs General Manager, I would not be surprised to see Lee finish his career in Chicago. It's nice to see that someone has some loyalty in the league. Honestly, he still seems to be our best option at 1b next season given the derth of 1b available in the market. Give him a two year deal, and let's go from there

I'm pretty sure the title of this post alarmed you.

The same thing happened to me when I read the headline on the ESPN Chicago front page: "Castro may join the Cubs in the near future." I became excited! I thought for sure we'd have the great combo of Castro-Theriot up the middle of the infield. But boy was I wrong.

As I read the article, it was essentially pure skepticism. It even ended with:

It’s undetermined at this time when he’ll be brought up.

Basically, Levine is blowing a lot of hot air in this article. I just thought this would be a good lesson to never interpret titles of articles as truth until you read the articles. Thank you very much..

PS: for anyone who cares, here is the article: http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/889/castro-could-be-joining-cubs-at-any-point

Piniella must really like Colvin. On Cubs.com, Muskrat is reporting that Lou wants Colvin to see regular action. When asked about what he wants to do with Colvin, Lou responded:

"I've got to find playing time for Colvin and I've got to get Nady in there occasionally, too, because he needs to get some at-bats and he needs to play some," Piniella said Wednesday. "I'll have to juggle a little bit in the outfield. It's doable. I'm not being asked to do anything impossible. I said if we carried Colvin, and he deserves to be here, no question, that we'd have to find playing time and we will."

Full article is here: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100331&content_id=9028818&notebook_id=9028820&vkey=notebook_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Seems to me that Piniella sees something good in Colvin. If he continues to hit well, he will definitely be a fine addition to this team. He could give Soriano and Fukudome much needed days off throughout the course of the Spring.

Its gonna be interesting to see how this unfolds. You never really see a four man outfield rotation

ESPN is reporting that Cubs management may place a "Toyota" sign in the left field bleachers. Here is a snipit of their article:

The Cubs and automaker Toyota are working out a sponsorship deal that could put the company's logo on a sign hoisted above the left field bleachers.

Continue reading this post »

In a shocking turn of events in spring training, Lou Piniella has essentially annointed Ryan Theriot as the lead off hitter to start the season for the Cubs. What he exactly said was:

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Monday he is "80 percent certain" that shortstop Ryan Theriot will lead off this season.

Continue reading this post »

Every Spring Training, I make this thread to make "fun" predictions for the up coming season. After the season is over, we'll revist this thread to see if our predictions about the team comes true. This is different then the stats compiliation that Al has been doing on the front page. Some topics to consider are:

What will our record be?

How far will we go in the post season?

Who will have a good year?

Who will decrease in their productivity?

Who will be that player to come out of nowhere?

Who will we acquire?

Feel free to answer any of those questions if you please. It should be fun to look back in October to see how close (or truly wrong) we were!