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.
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.
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.
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.
Cubs second basemen / utility player Mark DeRosa was hospitalized on Saturday with an irregular heartbeat. DeRosa was fielding groundballs at second base when he became short of breath and after being checked out by the trainer, he was taken off the field on a stretcher even though he was sitting up.
DeRosa stayed Saturday night in the hospital while tests were being run, and then was released on Sunday. He shouldn’t miss much time with team, and will probably be back later in the week but will be monitored very closely.
Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster had something pretty funny to say on the first day that pitchers and catchers reported to spring training. He said that the Cubs would win the world series and end their 100 year draught. Hmm that is pretty funny! Especially coming from Dempster lol.
Dempster is a joker in the clubhouse, but he said he was very serious that the Chicago Cubs would win the world series this year. He said he didn’t work so hard, and his teammates didn’t work so hard, so they could watch the world series from home again.
Time will tell if Dempster’s prediction comes true.
