Mesa will soon become a battle ground. To the victor goes the final spot on the Cubs starting staff. The losers may get a spot in the pen, or may not make the major league club at all. From veteran hurlers to rookie phenoms, from crafty lefties to hard throwing righties, I cannot remember the last time the Chicago Cubs had so much talent battling for the last spot in the rotation. Just three years ago Glendon Rusch left spring training as the number 3 man on the Cubs staff. Dark times…

I cannot say I was heartbroken to see Jason Marquis traded to the Colorado Rockies earlier this year. Jason was brought in after the disastrous 2006 season in which no pitcher except for Carlos Zambrano started more than 25 games. Marquis was brought in to bring stability to the Cubs rotation, and to eat innings. In all honesty Marquis did what he was brought in to do. He also blew countless leads, and gave many Cubs fans heart attacks any time he was on the mound. Although the Cubs made the playoffs in the last two years, Jason did not start in any of the six games. Jason just wasn’t part of the long term Cub plan. Now the fifth spot in the rotation is open.

In the days before Spring Training officially kicks off I will write blogs about all of the guys competing for the final spot in the rotation. Starting with Chad Gaudin, Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija, and ending with Aaron Heilman, I will give you my analysis on each pitcher.

The Chicago Cubs had their chances late in the game but were unable to score two runs to tie the game an they lost to the San Francisco Giants by the score of 2-1.  With runners in scoring position in the eighth and ninth innings, the Cubs were only able to score one run.  The Cubs wasted a pretty good pitching performance by Jason Marquis as well.

Marquis pitched seven innings and only gave up four hits and two runs.  The first run was when Fred Lewis stole home in the first inning, and then Randy Winn had a rbi single off of Marquis in the sixth inning.  Marquis deserved to get the win but there just wasn’t any offense for the Cubs.

The Cubs offense was limited to only five hits in the game and never really got a rally going until late in the game.  Geovany Soto had a rbi single in the ninth inning for the Cubs only rbi.  Tough game for the offense, hopefully they will swing the bat better on Wednesday night.

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The Chicago Cubs send Eric Patterson and Sam Fuld down to Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday.  Both players were hoping to make the big league roster but the Cubs decided to go with Mike Fontenot and the newly aquired Reed Johnson instead.

The Cubs also reassigned Les Walrond, Micah Hoffpauir, and Casey McGehee to minor league camp.

Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Scott Eyre will be taking it easy for a few days as he rests his pitching arm/elbow.  Hopefully that is all Eyre will need after his elbow started to hurt over the weekend.  If Eyre does have to start the season the disabled list, look for the Cubs to use Carmen Pignatiello out of the bullpen.

The Chicago Cubs have expressed interest in Reed Johnson who was released by the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend.  Johnson could be the right handed outfielder the Cubs have been looking for all off season.  Johnson could help out in centerfield as well as the corner outfield positions as well.  Something could happen in the next 48 hours involving Johnson and the Cubs.

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The Chicago Cubs made a couple more roster cuts on Friday as they sent relief pitcher Neal Cotts to Triple-A Iowa where he will probably stay the entire season unless he gets traded.  Cotts just doesn’t have what it takes to make the Cubs big league roster and be productive for the big league team.

Koyie Hill was also re-assigned to the Cubs minor league camp.  He is third or fourth on the Cubs depth chart at the catchers position so I wouldn’t expect him to be called up unless there are severe injuries at the catchers position.

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Sean Gallagher and Jose Ascanio have been optioned to Triple-A Iowa by the Chicago Cubs.

Gallagher has been rumored to be included in the Brian Roberts trade that has never happened, and had hoped to make the team as a long reliver or starter but he is so far down on the depth chart right now that isn’t going to happen.  I can see Gallagher getting a callup once something is done with Ryan Dempster or Jason Marquis.

Josh Kroeger was also sent to the minor league camp.

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella is going to bat Alfonso Soriano in the #2 spot here towards the end of Spring Training and see how he does.  Piniella’s reason is because Soriano is only 80-85% healthy and he doesn’t want Soriano thinking he has to run as much as he would if he were in the lead off spot.

Ryan Theriot would bat leadoff and Kosuke Fukudome would be moved down to the #5 spot in the batting order if this  idea happens in the regular season.

To be honest, I don’t like it one bit.  We all know Soriano is a better player when he is a routine, and he has been batting leadoff since last season, so keep him there in my opinion.  I also dont’ agree with batting Theriot #1 and Fukudome in the #5 spots.  I think both of those players are better in other spots in the batting order.

What do you think Cubs fans? Was Lou drunk when he thought this up? lol!

The Chicago Cubs have once again trimmed down their Spring Training roster as they sent down six more players.

The most notable players to be sent down are Jake Fox and Jeff Samardzija.  Fox will be headed to Triple-A Iowa and Samardzija will be headed to Double-A West Tennessee.

Others being sent down include:

Juan Mateo – Triple A
Ed Campusano, Luis Figueroa, and J.D. Closser to minor league camp

I think we will see Fox and Mateo called up and some point in the season due to injuries etc.  They will be some of the first minor leagues called up unless they completely suck it up in Iowa.

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On Friday the Chicago Cubs trimmed their spring roster to 50 players after sending down 7 players.  Billy Petrick was sent to Triple A Iowa, while Tyler Colvin was the most notable player that was send to minor league camp.

Colvin isn’t the only player being sent to minor league camp as Esmailin Caridad, Jose Ceda, Geoff Jones, Andres Torres, Bobby Scales, Wellington Castillo, and Josh Donaldson we also sent to minor league camp.

There was some rumblings between Jason Marquis and Lou Piniella over the weekend to go along with a broken finger for Alfonso Soriano out of Cubs spring training in Mesa, Arizona.

Marquis said that he is a starter in the big leagues and that he should be in the starting rotation with the Cubs or even another team.  Piniella then came back and said that maybe he should be pitching for another team then.  After both of them cooled down, Piniella said that everything was ok between the two of them.   I wonder if Marquis could possibly be included in the trade for Brian Roberts if that ever happens?

The Cubs will have to do without Alfonso Soriano for five to seven days as well as he suffered a broken middle finger while taking flyballs in practice.  Reports are saying that it isn’t too serious, and he just can’t use the finger for a little while.  Soriano can keep up with his running / conditioning so he will just have to put in some extra time in the batting cages to catch up.

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