Giants 8 (1-1) Cubs 6 (1-1)

Not a very good day for Cubs pitching. Giants 3rd baseman Ryan Rohlinger hit a grand slam off of Les Walrond in the 8th inning, and outfielder Eddy Martinez-Esteve also homered off of non-roster invite Shingo Takatsu in the 7th inning. The Cubs bats had a spark in them today. Mike Fontenot, Luis Figueroa, and Casey McGehee all doubled. Fukudome was 0 for 1,and Soriano went 0 for 2 in his Spring Training debut. Non- roster invites Luis Figueroa and Casey McGehee had the most impressive days both going 2 for 2. Now to the pitching. Carlos Zambrano lasted 2 innings of shutout ball and had 2K's. Rich Hill took over after that and had a rocky day 2 innings and giving up 1 runs and 3 hits. Carlos Marmol closed out the game pitching a scoreless 9th inning.

Roberts Watch- 2-3, 1 double, 2 SB

Brian Roberts Trade Update

Some new developments in the Brian Roberts rumors. The Cubs sent scouts to the Orioles, Marlins Spring Training game on Thursday, and they could not of picked a better day to do it. Roberts smoked Marlin pitching by going 1 for 2 with a double. With DeRosa's recent heart condition, it points to an urgency in the Cubs to acquire Roberts. Most are thinking a deal could include Gallagher, Cedeno, and Jose Ceda or Donald Veal. A new name was thrown around today, Tony Thomas a speedy sceond baseman who we drafted 97 th overall in the 2007 draft.

Another note the Mets have expressed interest in Matt Murton, and it is unlikely that a deal will get done for Coco Crisp or Marlon Byrd because Murton alone would not get a deal done.

More hopefully to come!

Cubs 12 Giants 6

The Cubs kicked off the Spring Training games today, and boy was our offense eager to get to the plate. They exploded on the Giants with 12 runs. Pie and Fontenot both homered to give the Cubs 2 runs and the rest of the 10 were all RBIs. Ryan Dempster started the game, and was solid giving up only a homer to Randy Winn in the 1st inning. Dempster lasted 2 solid innings and then the bullpen took over. Gallagher pitched 2 solid innings also giving up only 1 earned run. Kevin Hart closed the game out, and the Cubs sealed the deal defeating the Giants 12 to 6.

DeRosa Update; Happy 33rd Mark

According to Mark DeRosa he is fine, but according to doctors DeRosa is not alright. DeRosa has been diagnosed with atrial arrhythmia. He is back in Chicago at the moment receiving treatment. For those of you who have no idea what atrial arrhythmia is the Chicago Tribune cleared it up a bit. They describe it as, "A type of irregular heartbeat doctors can correct with medication or a procedure with a heart catheter that involves burning off a pea-sized piece of heart tissue. The treatment has a 98 percent success rate and typically allows athletes to resume their normal routine within a couple of weeks." All that I know is that I want DeRosa, one of my favorite players on the Cubs, to be alright. For those of you who did not know this, Mark DeRosa is celebrating his birthday today, he will be turning 33.

Roberts Dealt Soon?

The Philadelphia Inquirer had an interesting tidbit today. They say that once the Orioles decide what pitchers they want that soon after the trade will be finalized. It had been reported before that the Orioles want to scout the Cubs in Spring Training to see who they want in return for Roberts. I am one of the fans who want Brian Roberts, but I want it done either now or very soon. I just want it done because I am sick of hearing about it.

DeRosa Taken To Hospital

Mark DeRosa was taken to a local Mesa hospital today, he was experiencing an irregular heart beat while taking ground balls in practice. DeRosa has had this happen to him before, and usually he does some breathing exercises and it goes away, but today it didn't. DeRosa, fortunately is alright, but it is always scary when something goes wrong with someones heart. Mark is easily a fan favorite and I am sure everyone, including me, want him to get better and out on the field as soon as possible.

Cubs Notes

It is official, Ryan Dempster will start the Cactus League opener next Thursday against the San Francisco Giants. "'Z' said he didn't want it any more," Dempster said, jokingly, about Zambrano.

Lou Pinella was recently on the Mike North show and confirmed he is considering hitting Kosuke Fukudome 3rd and moving Derrek Lee back to 4th and Ramirez to 5th. I am not opposed to this projected line-up, but if we get Roberts to we hit Soriano 6th? Or maybe Second?

Speaking of Roberts talks between the Cubs and the Orioles, about the all-star second baseman, have cooled in the past couple of days. The Orioles are asking for Gallagher, Ceda or Veal, and a couple more lesser players for Roberts. At this point the Orioles are just being unreasonable and I hope we never do buisness with them again.

It looks like the talks between the Cubs and the Rangers about Marlon Byrd are diminishing as we speak.

The poll for this week looks pretty unanimous, so who do you think we are going to get before the end of the offseason?

Roberts Update

With signing of Alex Cintron I am thinking, hmm... why would we sign an old back up shortstop when we have a young shortstop in Ronny Cedeno? The only thing I could come up with is, there has to be a new development in the negotiations with the Orioles about Brian Roberts. It may just be me, but to me it makes sense. My thinking is we should trade Gallagher, as much as I don't want to give him up, Colvin, Cedeno, Marshall, and Murton for Roberts and if we can get Jay Payton we get him, but if we can't we settle with Brian Roberts.

Cubs Sign Cintron

The Cubs made a minor move today by signing infielder Alex Cintron to a minor league deal. This move kind of makes sense. If we only got him to be able to trade Cedeno for Roberts, I like it, but if it was for any other reason I am not a fan of it.

Kyle Kendrick Gets Punked

Wow, this will be the best prank in baseball this year. Kendrick's face is priceless.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0nKKqPOiJxI

Zambrano Declared Opening Day Starter

It is official. Carlos Zambrano, "Big Z", will get his fouth straight opening day start. Zambrano says he was just kidding when he said he did not mind not starting on opening day this season. It is great to start hearing news about opening day. Hopefully he can start the season out with a bang and hopefully he is not only pitching in the opening day, lets hope he is pitching in the final game for the Cubs in 2008, which would be what we hope is the World Series.

2008 Cubs Projections

Spring training is now among us, so here are our 2008 Cubs projections!
(As the roster stands now)

BATTING ORDER

LF Alfonso Soriano
.291 AVG, 34 HRs, 86 RBIs

SS Ryan Theriot
.273 AVG, 4 HRs, 36 RBIs

1B Derrek Lee
.321 AVG, 26 HRs, 102 RBIs

3B Aramis Ramirez
.303 AVG, 36 HRs, 121 RBIs

RF Kosuke Fukudome
.287 AVG, 13 HRs, 78 RBIs

2B Mark DeRosa
.297 AVG, 12 HRs, 62 RBIs

C Geovanny Soto
.282 AVG, 19 HRs, 69 RBIs

CF Felix Pie
.268 AVG, 9 HRs, 46 RBIs


PITCHING ROTATION

Carlos Zambrano
17-9, 3.42 ERA, 201 K

Ted Lilly
14-8, 3.83 ERA, 162 K

Rich Hill
12-9, 4.18 ERA, 186 K

Jason Marquis
10-11, 4.78 ERA, 102 K

Jon Lieber
9-8, 4.92 ERA, 84 K

Bedard To Mariners Finalized, Roberts To Cubs Next?

The Mariners and the Orioles have finally completed a deal that sends Erik Bedard to the Mariners in return for Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Tony Butler and Kam Mickolio. This most likely means the Orioles will now shift their focus to trading Brian Roberts. There is two offers i could see. One, Marshall, Murton, Cedeno, and probably Marquis, for Roberts. The second one would involve George Sherrill. I would think something like, Gallagher, Colvin, Cedeno, and Murton and Marshall would maybe get it worked out. Hopefully something can get done and will be able to report to spring training the same day as Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, etc. report.

Giants Are Super Bowl Champions

Congratulations to the New York Giants. They beat the New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII. Eli Manning was named Super Bowl MVP, with 255 yards 2 touchdowns and 1 interceptions. Again congrats, and thank god the Patriots finally lost!

Roberts Trade Update

Bruce Levine had an interesting update on the Brian Roberts deal, Saturday. Levine mentioned that a deal for Roberts could be done in the coming weeks. Levine also noted that Andy MacPhail has extended his deadline for a trade for Roberts to, Febuary 15th, when the Orioles report to camp. So a deal is imminent, and should be done soon, if it happens at all.
Updates hopefully soon.

Marquis To Be Traded?

Jason Marquis is on the block, according to an AL executive. The Cubs aere looking to trade Marquis for a reliever and a few prospects. A report is also saying that since the Orioles traded away Bedard, so we think, they would like to acquire another inning eater to replace him. Some think a deal would get done faster for Roberts if the Cubs included Marquis in a deal along with a young pitcher like Gallagher or Marshall, along with two other position players. The Cubs are not going to just give Marquis away for no one, we are looking to trade for someone that is actually good and would provide something to this team.
More Info Later

Cubs Made Last Minute Bid For Santana?

Jim Hendry did at least try to aquire Johan Santana. Dave Kaplan said that Hendry called the Twins about Santana earlier this week, but were informed that Santana only wanted to play for a team whose spring training facilities were located in Florida, and that an extension would be needed for Santana before the trade would be approved. With the impending sale of the Cubs, Bud Selig would likely not approve any signing of this caliber; at least until a new owner was appointed.

There is really nothing new on the Roberts deal as of now. It appears that Bedard will need to be traded before Roberts goes anywhere. Angelos is looking to destroy the farm of every team he does buisness with, and so far, he is succeeding.