ESPN's Enrique Rojas tweets that the Cubs have called up Starlin Castro.
As I wrote in a recent article, my main concern with calling up this 20-year-old shortstop phenom is that the manager, Lou Piniella, will simply do to him what he's done to Tyler Colvin.
That is, sit him on the bench.
Look, the only reason to bring Castro up is to play him every day as your starting shortstop.
Period. End of story.
But again, we all know that this is potentially Lou's last season in Chicago so he tends to go with the hot hand.
What if Castro struggles?
And he will struggle, this ...
Look, it’s early but then again it’s not that early. We’re into May and the slash line from Aramis Ramirez looks like a pitcher's (not named Zambrano): .149/.214/.267/.482.
Perhaps as troubling as his struggles at the plate is the word going around that Rami isn’t seeking help from Rudy Jaramillo. He apparently feels he is a professional hitter who can figure things out for himself.
If that’s true, then that mindset is stupid. I don’t care what you’ve accomplished in life, everyone needs help sometimes.
Lou Piniella says that he may move Ramirez down in the order and move Soriano up. Personally, I ...
This is not simply a reaction to the post by Bruce Levine, who is wrong more often than he is right. There seems to be legitimate buzz around the Cubs organization about bringing up young stud Starlin Castro.
But it doesn't necessarily mean the end of Ryan Theriot as a Cub, for they may simply move The Riot to second base and play Castro at short.
Regardless of what they do with Theriot, one thing for sure is that they won't bring up Castro to sit on the bench. He will not come up until manager Lou Piniella can guarantee him regular ...
Please tell me this is April Fools Day.
Look, the Cubs have done a lot of dumb things in their history, but moving Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen may be the craziest thing they have done since the "College of Coaches."
For those of you not up to date on Cubs history, the College of Coaches was the brainchild (or brain-dead decision) of then-owner P.K. Wrigley back in 1961, and consisted of rotating eight coaches as managers.
This did not turn out well. Without firm and consistent leadership, chaos reigned in the Cubs' dugout and this became the laughingstock of major league baseball.
Likewise, ...
On WSCR "The Score" this morning, Cubs analyst Bob Brenly was asked about Alfonso Soriano's reaction to not running hard out of the box on a double in Monday's game.
To set the stage, Soriano admired what he thought would be a home run in the batter's box on a hit that should have been a triple.
When asked about it, Soriano said he hit the ball hard and that's all that matters.
On the Danny Mac Show, Brenly responded to Soriano's comment by calling him "selfish" and saying that he would have pulled the Cubs left fielder from the game.
In fact, ...
Other than Carlos Marmol, who has yet to blow a save since he was proclaimed the closer late last season, this Cubs team offers little in the way of relief.
Sure, there is Sean Marshall, but he can't pitch every day.
But the "cure" to the bullpen woes may not be solved by another Jason Frasor or Heath Bell rumor.
It may be eased if the team can figure out how to score more runs, so that every game is not a tightrope act.
Hey, the bullpen, except for the aforementioned Marshall and Marmol, has been bad.
Esmailin Caridad, who looked so good in a ...
Look, when you're a long-suffering Cubs fans like myself, you have to find your success's where you can.
So, when I heard the news that the Cubs passed the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees for the highest non-premium average ticket, I shouted: "We're Number One! We're Number One!"
OK, so this isn't much to get excited about. In fact, it hurts because going to Wrigley Field is just so darn expensive these days that as a family man, I just can't afford it.
And to be able to charge an average ticket price of $52.56 despite not having won ...
So much was made of the fact that while, yes, Carlos Zambrano pitched terribly on Monday, at least he didn't act like a maniac on the mound.
Oh yeah, that has been the source of much of the criticism levied against Big Z over the years.
That is, he has acted immature at times, and that his behavior on the mound is part of the reason why he has failed to live up to his status as the ace of the Cubs.
So a slimmer, calmer Zambrano showed up in camp this spring and most everyone said that he was headed for a ...
Even from the writer who told you that the Cubs' pitching is the teams' Achilles heel, I will not say "I told you so."
That's right, for even with the White Sox, who I picked to win the AL Central this year, they may have won easily but you won't hear any gloating.
Why? Repeat after me, IT'S ONLY ONE GAME.
I know, Carlos Zambrano was horrible and the defense was bad. Alfonso Soriano played as if he couldn't care less.
And Jeff Samardzija, who is only on a major league roster because he has a big contract (relatively speaking), like Carlos Silva, ...
MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom reported that Cubs skipper Lou Piniella had this to say following the team's win over Arizona is the final game of the preseason on Saturday:
"I think the Cubs, their time is coming to win the World Series. Hopefully, it's very, very, very soon."
As someone who's been waiting for 40 years, I sure hope it's soon, too, Lou.
I actually like Lou's World Series chatter. For too long, the club has been careful to avoid that talk, saying instead that the goal is to "win the division" or "have a winning season."
When Mike Ditka took over as Bears ...
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