Or so says what I just heard on the 11:15 PM WBBM-AM sports report.    I knew it was nonsense to think Dempster would gladly accept a hometown discount to come back to the Cubs.   But if the bidding is going to get north of 4 years and $50 million for Ryan Dempster????    Well then I'm sorry I think the Cubs have to think very seriously about taking  a pass and looking at other options.   Like for instance Randy Johnson on a 1 year deal.   Or maybe look into the medical condition of Brad Penny.  

Priority # 1 is re-signing Ryan Dempster

Cubs are not willing to give Kerry Wood a three year deal which might spell the end of his career in Chicago (very surprising to me)

Rich Hill is back on the Cubs radar -- organization still has faith in his talent

Organization would like Alfonso Soriano to bat 5th or 6th next year

Kosuke Fukudome stands good chance of being platoon mate with Reed Johnson in CF, dependent of course on his ability to hit

Derrek Lee will likely not be traded on recommendation of Piniella

Jake Peavy is not on the radarscope but the Brewers will be very hot and heavy after him

Raul Ibanez is not really a target because of his inability to play right field

Bob Brenly shapes up to be finalist for the Milwaukee job

 

Interesting news in Crain's suggesting that the current credit crisis will likely cause Sam Zell to slow down the sales process of the Chicago Cubs.   Why?   Because for Zell's financial manueverings to work and for him to realize the greatest tax benefits from the sale of the Cubs he needs the new owner to heavily finance the purchase with debt.   Well, credit is significantly drying up.   It's being suggested that Zell will therefore delay the sales process until the financial markets ease up.   That could take a couple of years.   So we might be looking at Sam Zell as owner for a lot longer than anybody would have first envisioned.  

You seriously could not script a more tragic trainwreck if you were a St. Louis Cardinal fan who had hatred in your veins for the Cubs.    The Cubs failed on all cylinders tonight.    They puckered up and failed to hit, field, pitch, execute.   The best performance of the game was actually turned in by Carlos Zambrano of all people because he was the only one who sucked it up and at least tried to persevere.  

And now I'm listening to Lou on the radio and he says these have been the two worst games played by the team all year.   He has no answers, not that I expect the manager to have answers for this.   Yes Lou made a few tactical moves that raised my ire, but make no mistake this was a total failure of the players on the field.   The players who form a $110 million plus payroll.        

P.S.   Yes, it is official, Kosuke is in the doghouse.   Lou was the most critical of a player that I have ever seen him be in public.   Basically suggesting that Kosuke is useless and he's all done being out there on the field anymore.    A little too late for that revelation Lou !!!    Mike Fontenot should have been in the damned lineup tonight and Mark DeRosa and his bad wheel in right field where he couldn't possibly have been any worse than he was at 2nd base.  

Starters....Dempster, Zambrano, Harden, Lilly (I think Lou will use all four if need be)

Pen....Wood, Marmol, Howry, Samardizija, Marquis, Cotts, Marshall

Lineup....Soriano, Theriot, Lee, Ramirez, Edmonds, Soto, DeRosa (RF), Fontenot (2nd)

Bench...Johnson, Kosuke, Ward, Hoffpauier, Cedeno, Blanco

Micah "hey look ma, I just hit for the cycle" Hoffpauier will be picked over Felix "I just called myself safe and still can't hit" Pie.   In light of Lou's love of left handed run production and the presence of two defensive plus guys on the bench in Johnson and Kosuke.  

=====

I will assume we face the Dodgers in the NLDS.   We can figure on facing Derrek Lowe and Chad Billingsley.   Lowe has historically come up huge in the postseason.   I doubt Greg Maddux gets a starting nod.   Hideki Kurodo probably figures in their rotation set-up.   I am under impression that Brad Penny is hurt, which is advantage us.  

The storm surge is now estimated to be in the 22-25 foot range, which is above previous estimates.   If anybody thinks the city of Houston is going to be in a position to host a major league baseball game by Sunday or even Monday then they are nuts.   It is time for Bud the Dud Selig to intervene and for this series to be moved to another city so something of weekend baseball can be salvaged.    This isn't Drayton McLane being selfish but rather Bud Selig suffering yet another crisis of leadership.  

Okay Pie lovers, why hasn't he been called up now that the Iowa Cubs are finished in the Journeyman Wonder League playoffs, er I mean Triple A playoffs?    Lets see what that pile o' crap Pie can do this go around.   Even Pie deserves a farewell tour before he heads off to play for the Triple A team of the Washington Nationals or Yomuiri Giants next season.   

75 words are about 73 more words then I want to waste on Felix Pe.   But duty and honor necessitate that I keep on typing until the warning box goes away.     

Alfonso Soriano not running out of the batter box on what he thought was a home run today was inexcusable.   It's not the first time this garbage has happened with Soriano.   And I understand completely why Bobby Cox and the Braves might be peeved off and want to fire a fastball into Soriano's earhole the next chance they get.  

My admiration and support of Lou Piniella is unwavering.   But he has horrible blind spot with Soriano that needs to end.   What needed to happen today was for Piniella to PUBLICLY make spectacle of Soriano.   Like in the same vein as Billy Martin yanked Reggie Jackson from a game in 1977 when Reggie played a ball hit to right field on about the 50th hop.   Sweet Lou was on that team by the way.   Because obviously Soriano isn't getting the message via other means.  

If my detractors want to make this an argument of me having long-standing disdain for Soriano, then so be it.   This viewpoint of mine has nothing to do with overall opinion of Soriano.   I would say the same thing if it were Ryan Theriot who did what happened today. 

Officially a done deal.   No details yet on the other players involved.    Ned Coletti is the worst baseball executive in baseball so it will be interesting to see what the Dodgers sent to the Red Sox for what will amount to as a 2 month rental before Manny signs $800 billion deal with the Yankees in order to torment the Red Sox for the duration of his playing career and give the Steinbrenner brothers more World Series trophies.        

75 words on the wall, take one down 74 words on the wall, 74 words on the wall, take one down 73 words on the wall, 73 words on the road, take on down 72 words on the wall, 72 words on the wall, take one down 71 words on the wall, tra la la tra la la tra la la ....75 words, 75 words,  75 words, 75 words, 75 words, 75 words, 75 words, 75 words, 75 words.  

For whatever reason the feast or famine offense that has alternatively gifted and killed the Cubs over the past decade has made it's return.   First couple months of the season it was like watching a brand new ballclub.   Taking pitches, working the count, hitting the other way, laying down the bunt, being aggressive on the basepads....   Lots of us pointed to the addition of Kosuke having some magical transformational powers.  

But now what?   Well, all I know is that going back to a feast or famine offense is sad recipe for major disappointment (again) in 2008.   Cubs have got to get back to being a diversified offense.   Two things I would do.     

1.   Coincidence or not neither Ramirez or Kosuke have been the same hitter since the later was moved up in the lineup.   Therefore with Soriano coming back lets put Kosuke back in the 5th hole hitting behind Ramirez.   Ramirez is the absolute most important member of the Cub lineup.   He is our best and most clutch run producer, a title that he has held since his arrival in mid-2003.   Getting back to offensive consistency starts with getting Ramirez back on track.      

2.   Ryan Theriot needs to stay at the top of the lineup.   And when I say top of the lineup, I mean leadoff spot.   Lets try something bold and put Soriano in the two hole.   It's not like Theriot steals bases (or at least should be stealing bases).   But he does run well and Soriano would surely see a heavier dose of fastballs given the fact that Theriot is always on base.  

Offense is sputtering.   It was bound to happen.   A lot of Cub hitters started out the year like a ball of fire.   Things have a way of evening themselves out.   The biggest concern right now has got to be Kosuke.   He looks like garbage at the plate the past several weeks.   Enough with the lazy flies to left and center already.   And where would this offense be without the continued excellence of Ryan Theriot?  

Oh well.    Bad patches happen for all offenses.   Lets just get this out of our system right now.   Milwaukee and St. Louis breathing down our necks is actually a good thing.   I'd rather have this team have to fight tooth and nail to make the playoffs then to get their via a cakewalk.   It will make us a better team come playoff time.  

Perhaps we see the value of Rich Harden in a couple days.   He's a shutdown pitcher, and with the offense sputtering he can be our slump buster.  

Is there really ANY mystery which pitcher should be shed to get back to a 12 man staff?   Michael Wuertz !   He has been terrible all season long.   His slider just begs to be hit.   And if his slider isn't getting tattoed then he is walking people like crazy. 

The pen should be....Wood, Marmol, Howry, Gaudin, Lieber, Cotts, Marshall.   Figure out what to do with Scott Eyre when he is ready to come off the DL.  

 

Bye bye Michael Wuertz.  

Like I've said time and time again, pitching is KING in baseball.   And like former manager Dick Williams used to say, "there is no such thing as a team having too much good pitching."   I think we are starting to see the importance of pitching.   

Those of us with brains and objective sense have recognized since the start that this team has screaming need for another primetime starter.   If we lose Carlos Zambrano for a long time?    Well, that will be devastating.   Regardless the situation with Z the imperative is for Hendry to make a blockbuster move for a Rich Harden, CC Sabathia or AJ Burnett type.   Otherwise 2008 will go down as yet another disappointing season.  

The bullpen?   Well, I get skewered for the thought, but I have little faith in Bob Howry.   He's all used up.   Scott Eyre?   Well, we saw tonight just how reliable he really is.   He is nothing more than a loogy at this stage.  A loogy that you wince at everytime he is brought into a ballgame?   Michael Wuertz?   Not good.   And classic example of how ERA is poor stat in and of itself for a relief pitcher.   So Hendry needs to get another bullpen arm too.  

We can sit and live in denial that a rotation of Dempster, Lilly, Marquis and Gallagher following up Zambrano is good enough to win October baseball.   Or to even get this team to the playoffs.   We can also sit and live in denial about the strength of this bullpen once you get past Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood.  

Jim Hendry....GET this team a primetime starting pitcher as well as another quality bullpen arm.   And do it soon.   I could really care less if you have to significantly mortgage the future to engineer these needed trades.   Just do it.  

Great game at the old ballpark today.   Electric atmosphere and one of the most satisfying wins in a long time.   Doesn't matter that it came against a wretched ballclub in Colorado.   Anyway, the lackluster performance of Ted Lilly in 2008 convinces me more than ever that we MUST acquire a primetime starting pitcher if this team is going to make it to the promised land.   Lilly has devolved into left-handed version of Jason Marquis.   Hopefully he can get it going.  

I like Dempster.   But I'm not going to be seduced into thinking he can keep pitching like a bonafide # 2.   I also like the promise of Gallagher.   But right now thinking of him as anything more than a # 5 type starter is a mistake.   So basically we are left with ace Zambrano, Dempster and three # 5 pitchers in Lilly, Marquis and Gallagher.  

Jim Hendry, get this team Rich Harden.   Trade whatever it takes to get him because THIS is the season that is our best chance in 100 years to win a bloody friggin World Series!!!!!    

Just as soon as he clears waivers on Wednesday.   And passes a physical.   Or so says Gordon somebody of the Chicago Sun Times.   Go to the Sun Times webpage and check it out.  

I've said for a few days Jim Edmonds was at least worth exploring.   Looks like Jim Hendry did a little more than just explore.    I think this is a good minimal risk move.   If it works, then great.   If it doesn't, then no great shakes.  

Bye bye Felix Pie.  

Slumps happen.   So I'm not about to overreact to the current losing phase this team is undergoing.   But objectively speaking, our pitching staff is not nearly as good as everybody thought it was going to be.   Even in a weak NL and weak NL Central.  

Zambrano is evolving into a true ace and is one of the elite pitchers in the game.   But the starting rotation behind him is dubious.   Dempster's been doing the job and giving this team desperately needed innings.   Lilly also seems to have turned it around.   But do we really feel good about that top 3 overall?!?   And behind these three we have question marks and garbage aplenty.  

The bullpen situation isn't much better.   Wood is going to cause indigestion everytime he takes the 9th.  While he can pitch lights out at time, it is the same old Wood where you always fear an implosion is right around the corner.   Marmol is the only pitcher in that pen who is exceptional.   Howry has become a question mark.   Wuertz is enigmatic.   Marshall is a long man at best.   Worst of all?   This bullpen is in danger of being burnt up before the dog days of summer arrive.  The second half of the season could get real ugly with this pen.   We've seen this before with Cub bullpens.   They aren't that good to begin with and get ridden too hard in the early months only to have a colossal collapse the second half.       

Solution?   Well, there probably aren't many.   I think Hendry absolutely positively needs to be in the market for whatever "top flight" starting pitcher may become available.   Much, much easier said than done.   Personally, I think he must find out about Rich Harden.   I know Harden is always injured, but fact is when he is healthy he is dominant.   Hendry also needs to find some help for this bullpen.    I would also like to see Sean Gallagher get a serious trial as starting pitcher.  

I am an unabashed supporter of Lou Piniella.   That being said he has horribly mismanaged Alfonso Soriano since day one of spring training.   Now Piniella has a full blown mess on his hands.  

This is where Piniella needs to earn his money.   This is where Piniella needs to stop coddling Soriano and stop with the rationalization of sunnier days in the future.    Soriano is a certified bust.   Banking on him getting hotter than shit for several weeks a season doesn't justify his presence the rest of the season.   Not even remotely so.  

The second worst contract disaster in baseball next to Barry Zito. 

I'm not going to instigate.   Nope.   Instead I'm going to open this subject up for debate and remove myself.  

....sacred cows of recent memory....

1.  Michael Barrett...two years ago nobody dare take objection to Barrett's defense behind the plate or ability to work with a pitching staff

2.  Alfonso Soriano...how dare anybody (to include apparently Barry Rozner) take objection of this magnificent 5 tool superstar who puts up sexy personal statistics

3.   Felix Pie....saying he will never hit his way out of a paper bag in this league ranks up there with claiming Ron Santo's toupee looks bad....you just don't do it, because after all Pie is a burgeoning superstar that Sweet Lou is too stupid to know how to develop and use properly

4.  Kerry Wood...critiquing Wood ranks up there with stealing one of Ron Santo's legs when he isn't looking...we couldn't be critical when he famously imploded and was inconsistent as a starter, we couldn't be critical when he laid waste on the DL for a very, very long time, and now we can't be critical when he clearly lacks the cahoonies and moxy to be a 9th inning closer

 

I thought for sure the hot start of the Cardinals has been a mirage.   But now I'm not so sure.   All of a sudden their starting pitching looks pretty darn good with Wainwright, Looper and Piniero.   Mulder is due back pretty soon, Lohse is around and Carpenter and Clement are lurking in the future too.  

Who is this Shumaker guy?   And how is Ankiel still doing what he is doing?  

Should we start to be worried about the Cardinals?   Honestly I thought Tony LaRussa was off his rocker for agreeing to come back for two more years.  

Arizona is head and shoulders the best team in the National League.   The Cubs in my estimation are the second best team in the league.   Beyond that??   The NL East is bad.   New York has lots of problems, Atlanta continues its decline (and now Smoltz might be done), Philadelphia has no pitching beyond Cole Hamels and Brett Myers.   The NL Central is bad.   St. Louis is a mirage right now, Milwaukee has zero bullpen, Cincinnati is a work in progress, Houston is awful, Pittsburgh even worse.   The NL West is mega-putrid.   Ned Coletti is spending Los Angeles into the ground with his repeated terrible signings.   San Diego has holes all over the place.   Colorado doesn't have pitching.    San Francisco is putrid.  

The Cubs SHOULD be able to mop up in this league.  

 

Gone relatively unnoticed is the marvelous performance of Soto.   I thought he would be good defensively and work well with the pitching staff, and he is doing both admirably.   On offense, I thought 15-18 HRs and 55 RBIs or so to go with a .260 BA.   But he's blowing those projections away.   I'm very impressed with Soto's sweet swing and his approach to each at bat.   He's a very intelligent hitter, especially for somebody of his relative inexperience level.  

Anyway, it is high time Chicago (and baseball) start giving Soto his props.   He is very good at his craft.  

I can't go through another season of Alfonso Soriano, aka the $136 million man.   His at bats drive me insane.   I've never seen a "franchise" player be so ridiculously un-clutch.   He is like a bathtub full of cold water thrown on this offense time and time again.   He NEVER comes up big when the Cubs need him most.   NEVER.   Did Jim Hendry keep the warranty card on Soriano?   Can we return him and get some of our money back?   Crikey.  

 

Well, this much we know...

 Club would love to move Jason Marquis

 Relative "wealth" of decent pitchers, meaning a handful of promising names are ticketed for Triple A (e.g., Gallagher, Marshall, Hart, Ascanio, Lahey??)

 Matt Murton is expendable

 Open question mark in CF

 Need for a good 4th outfielder/CF RH platooner

 Open question mark at utility infielder

 Sweet Lou is getting grumpy about the losses

 Sweet Lou is dropping hints that he need another outfield bat

=

So what happens?   It's March 6th already.   I'm thinking we will have a minimum of two new positional players by close of camp.  Assume for a moment we aren't talking Brian Roberts and Jay Payton.  

Then whom????    

Good article by Bruce Miles in the Daily Herald today.  Nothing real surprising, but interesting nonetheless.   Sweet Lou says Ryan Dempster is the # 3 guy in the rotation right now.   He goes on to say that the Cubs will have a veteran staff and it will be difficult for any of the youngsters to break through.  Which validates my thinking on how this staff is going to shape up.

Rotation...Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, Hill, Lieber or Marquis

Pen...Howry, Marmol, Wood, Wuertz, Eyre, Cotts...with Fox, Marshall, Ascanio, Hart battling it out for the last spot  

Cubs will have some nice pitching depth at Triple A.  Gallagher, Smardzija (if he doesn't wind up at Double A), Ceda, Hart, Ascanio, maybe Marshall.  

Sweet Lou suggested that the following might be the top and middle of the lineup.

1.  Soriano - LF
   
2.  Theriot - SS
   
3.  Kosuke - RF
   
4.  Lee - 1st
   
5.  Ramirez - 3rd

Personally, I like it.  A lot.   A real run producer in the # 5 hole.  And I really like Kosuke in the # 3 hole.   I have some hesitation about Lee hitting cleanup, but all in all I like this.   I would presume the rest of the lineup would round out as follows.

6.  DeRosa - 2nd (I like him in this spot)
   
7.  Soto / Blanco - Catcher
   
8.  Pie or Fuld / RH Platoon Mate - CF

Just signed on.   Frankly I am stunned not to see thousands of posts regarding Soriano's quad injury and the fact that it apparently has yet to heal all the way.   My goodness, the $136 Million Man had 5 months to recuperate and this thing still isn't right?!?   This is a REAL big deal ladies and gentleman.   I could care less about the stolen bases no longer being part of his game.   But if his leg isn't right then it will invariably have consequences on his hitting and fielding.  

Is this why Hendry has yet to trade Matt Murton?!?    

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/799541,CST-SPT-cub18.article