If you’ve been waiting for some good news to come out of the Chicago Cubs front office lately, and the signing of Scott Hairston didn’t really float your boat, take heart. It appears that Matt Garza may have been serious when he yelled at Cubs fans on Twitter for speculating about his health. For behold! Today we have the first official report that Matt Garza has pitched, pain-free, from the bullpen. And it was glorious to behold.
MESA, Ariz. — The Chicago Cubs’ prospects for a solid pitching rotation were enhanced on Monday when Matt Garza threw a bullpen session for the first time since the end of July and had no complications.
Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer and pitching coach Chris Bosio watched Garza throw 30 pain-free pitches at the team’s minor league complex.
“Matty looks like he is in great shape,” Bosio said. “It looks like he worked hard in the offseason. His legs are in great shape and I believe he is ahead of where he was last year when he reported.”
Glad to hear that things are going so well for Matty. Less-glad to hear him called “Matty,” as all nicknames that are constructed by taking a player’s name and adding “y” to the end immediately transport me back to the days of Mike Quade, an event that my therapist wants me to avoid at all costs.
It appears that Punxatawney Phil didn’t see his shadow on Saturday (or maybe he did, I can’t really remember), which tells me that it’s time for our annual LOHO Predict the Lineup Contest! To win, all you have to do is correctly predict the Cubs lineup on Opening Day, in order, along with the starting rotation. Oh, and because it wouldn’t really be fair for you to have the benefit of watching the team in Spring Training, your predictions are due no later than this Friday, February 8, 2013. After that, I’ll close this thread down and we’ll lock it up with Price Waterhouse or something until the Opening Day lineup is announced.
Winner will get a copy of the the terrific book “100 Things Cubs Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die,” written by my dear friend and partner-in-crime, Jimmy Greenfield. If I’m feeling especially gracious, I might even ask him to autograph it for you.
Don’t forget that Wrigley Talk Friday returns this week on Friday, February 8, 2 pm CT. We promise to make it worth your while (wink, wink). You can find WTF over at Blog Talk Radio, or you can download later from iTunes.
DeJesus CF
Barney 2B
Castro SS
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Stewart 3B
Castillo C
Schierholtz RF
Garza P
Garza
Samardzija
E Jackson
Villanueva
Feldman
When I am considering the pieces that are currently on the roster, I just keep wanting to call the local hangman for a necktie recommendation.
I mean the rotation is a major upgrade from the past 2 years and we’re set at 1st, 2nd, and Short, but outside of that there’s this giant sea of suck I’m trying to navigate with a spork as my rudder and oar.
“…but outside of that there’s this giant sea of suck I’m trying to navigate with a spork as my rudder and oar.”
Immediately one of my favorite quotes ever on this site.
I almost want to put that on the banner . . permanently.
I might even have to find a way to work that into my Masters thesis.
DeJesus RF
Castro SS
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castillo C
Barney 2B
Jackson CF
Valbuena 3B
Garza
Samardzija
EJax
Feldman
Wood
Feldman? From across the hall?
That was my immediate thought as soon as I wrote “Feldman”
Re: Garza- what’s the deal with the Cubs coach’s and front office comments on player’s body parts? The other day it was one players hands and chest, today it’s Garza’s legs. Did he injure his legs last year, or his arm? As for “Matty”, my brother was called that when he was 3. When I hear “Matty” I only think of the last name Alou.
I know. It’s creepy.
I think I should examine his legs and be the judge.
Looks like Chris Carpenter might be retiring today (the GOOD one, not ours).
No retirement announcement, but Cardinals say Carpenter is “high likely” to miss the entire 2013 season.
He has ~ 15 million reasons to hold off on retiring until next offseason.
Uh…Soriano wants a contract extention?
Anybody else here or read this?
Does he want a raise too?
I meant ‘hear’.
I kept looking at that and couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
Kind of like “…fans speculating about Garza’s ‘healthy’”.
Yeah, when I read about Garza’s “healthy”, I was wondering “when did Matty get Kruk’d” but then I realized it was a typo.
I want a Cubs World Series win in 2013- doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
I’d guess that the Soriano extension is just signals being sent out to the teams who will be interested in him this spring.
That signal seems more like,”Danger! Will Robinson!”, then “Trade for me now!”….
For what the Cubs are going to pick up on salary to get the prospect they want, an extension for a “1 + mutual option on years 2 and 3″ contract might not be a terrible idea. By the time teams break camp an AL team out there will see Soriano as an upgrade at DH that you can hide in LF when playing at NL parks. Toss the Cubs a prospect at 3rd, C, or OF and that deal is done.
Soriano has 2 years left as a NL Left Fielder, 5 as a DH. He’ll have a MLB Contract for the next 5. The only reason we hate him so much is because he represents a major overpay that didn’t deliver the overhyped promises.
When the Cubs make promises, I immediately try to plug my ears so when the promise is broken, I can ALMOST pretend I didn’t hear it.
Can anyone link to this Soriano story? Don’t see it anywhere.
I don’t even know who plays on this team anymore, how the hell am I supposed to guess who will be playing?
Bourne CF
Barney 2B
Castro SS
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Bleurgh 3B
Bleurgh RF
Castillo C
Garza P
Garza
Samardzija
E Jackson
Bleurgh
Bleurgh
God this team sucks
There is a worse baseball team: Cal Tech just won their first game since 2003. That broke a 228 game losing streak….
We need to get some Cubs jerseys with the name “Bleurgh” on the back…:)
Martin CF
Barney 2B
Rizzo 1B
Olt 3B
Schierholtz LF
Castro SS
Dejesus RF
Castillo C
Pitcher
Shark(Opening Day)
E. Jackson
Baker
Wood
Feldman
That’s the one I want to see. Especially since Wood ends up as the long man in the pen by season’s end.
CF DeJesus
SS Castro
1B Rizzo
LF Soriano
RF Schierholtz
3B Stewart
C Castillo
2B Barney
Garza
Jackson
Shark
Wood
Feldman
(Baker comes off the DL in early May and bounces whichever was worse of Feldman and Wood)
Julie linked this on FB
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ryan-braun-s-name-listed-in-biogenesis-clinic-records-235650670.html
I think I could hear her scream of excitement from here.
Because it’s the beeeest daaaay EVEEEERRRRR!
I feel like I should do some research to answer this question, but I don’t know if I want to look at the roster that closely
Maybe I’ll just go in reverse alphabetical order. That would make Ian Stewart at 3rd & Dave Sappelt at LF.
Didn’t we think Sappelt would be DFA’ed by then?
That would involve research and/or processing current knowledge in making predictions. I think random might be more effective.
I assume it’s one entry per person…
DeJesus CF
Castro SS
Schierholtz RF
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Stewart or whomever’s playing 3B by then
Meatcastle C
Barney 2B
Garza
Jackson
Samardzija
Feldman
Villanueva
Do we seriously NOT have a lefty starter??
Travis Wood is a LHP
I had to look up who was even on the team this year still:
1st-Rizzo
2nd- Barney
3rd- Stewart
SS- Castro
LF- Alfonso Stuck-with-Contract
CF- Hairston
RF- DeJesus
Catcher- The Beefcastle
Pitchers:
Spellcheck
“Leggy” Garza
Eddie Jackson
T. Wood
Marmol
This lineup does not either inspire confidence nor should stir fear in opposing team’s hearts…
DeJesus CF
Barney 2B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Bourne RF
Stewart 3B
Clevenger C
Samardzija P
Rotation:
Samardzija
Garza
Jackson
Wood
Baker