Yesterday’s news that Matt Garza will start the season on the disabled list allowed the Chicago Cubs to announce that Jeff Samardzija will be the opening day starter. We know that Edwin Jackson, Scott Feldman and Travis Wood are likely to be the next three parts of the rotation, but who fills in the fifth spot until either Scott Baker or Garza are ready to go? You know who’s not worried about that question? Spellcheck.
“We feel like we got a good core of dudes here in the starting rotation that all have each other’s back,” Samardzija said. “We just want everybody healthy and ready to go. We know if we can string start after start with all of us healthy pitching, we’re going to be a formidable starting rotation.”
A good core of dudes is fine, Jeff, but what happens when a rusty part gets attached to it? It looks like Carlos Villanueva is next in line, but what happens if another starter goes down?
Cubs executives talk about needing nine or 10 starters to get through a 162-game season. Brooks Raley and Chris Rusin could provide depth at the back end. Sveum identified Drew Carpenter – a 27-year-old non-roster player who has made one career start in the big leagues – as next in line as a possible No. 6 starter.
Remember Boo Radley? Remember how we couldn’t tell him or Chris Rusin apart? I’d say remember Drew Carpenter, but I don’t think anyone, anywhere remembers him. And don’t forget, Casey Coleman is lurking somewhere in camp.
If you’re eager for bullpen news, non-roster invitee Hisanori Takahashi will be starting for the Cubs tomorrow. Dale Sveum hopes the elderly lefty has something left in his tank.
“He’s everything we expect,” Dale Sveum said Monday. “He’s a strike thrower, he can throw every pitch for a strike. Obviously, the velocity isn’t great but he was 89 [mph] yesterday. he has command of his pitches and can do a lot of things. He can pitch long, get left-handers out. He’s a veteran guy who knows how to pitch.”
Right now, the Cubs appear to have only one lefty slotted for the ‘pen in James Russell. Sveum would like another one.
“It’d be nice, especially a guy who can go multiple innings,” Sveum said. “Right now, you could be in a situation where we don’t have a long guy.”
Sounds like a ringing endorsement, Dale! And to round things out, the Cubs are giving Starlin Castro another week off from playing. He doesn’t need it, but they want him to have it, anyway. Or something.
“He’s fine,” Sveum said. “He did everything [Sunday] and there’s nothing going on. He took full [batting practice]. Today, he’ll be out here on the field taking a round of [batting practice], same as yesterday. We can’t even simulate any kind of discomfort or feeling in the hamstring.”
So, why give Castro another week?
“Because we have plenty of time,” Sveum said. “A week from now, you’re talking the 10th or 11th [of March], and we have 20 plus games after that. That’s plenty of time for him to get in Opening Day shape.”
Added Sveum: “If it was the regular season, he’d probably be playing.”
I wish my job would do that for me.
One more injury in the starting rotation, and I think I might have a shot at winning a spot on the roster.
“Lurking” is a good word for Casey Coleman.
Also, thanks to Carl for taking headlines today. My doggie died last night and I wasn’t feeling up to it.
xoxox Carl
So very sad to hear about the loss of the dog. There are few things I enjoyed more than watching Cubs games with my first service dog, Davis. Davis loved the Cubs, and seeing as he was a service dog, it was easy to teach him appropriate ways to express his love.
Any time I’d say Go Cubs he’d respond with some vocalization that would match the cadence I used to say Go Cubs. His favorite player was Moises Alou, but mainly because he thought pee hand’s name sounded awesome with a golden retriever’s accent- “Ar-Rooooooo!” Davis was quite happy when we moved to the SF Bay Area and be got to watch the the ace of spades in the “no hand-shake” kill deck finish up his career with Davis’ new favorite manager- Filipe.
Damn I miss my old buddy. And I miss yours too Julie, even though I never met the pooch.
I’m sorry Julie. It’s never easy to lose a pet, and dogs give so much to people…
Thanks, guys. I’m doing better today. It was just very sudden and unexpected. My husky mix is much older, I always thought she’d go long before my lab.
Happy that he died in his sleep, at my husband’s feet, relaxed and happy.
Sorry for your loss Julie, losing a pet is always tough.
We have three dogs, and the older two have had all kinds of medical problems (both blind, one probably has some neurological issues), but our youngest dog has always been the sparkplug of the bunch. We found out a week or so ago that she might have cancer, which really jarred us. Luckily it turned out to be benign. She and her brother are extremely close and I don’t know what would happen to the other when one of them dies
I’m worried about my husky. She and Topher grew up together, she was 2 or 3 when we got him, and now she’s 13. We’ve been preparing ourselves to say goodbye to her in the next year or so, but I never imagined we’d say goodbye to Topher first. He was a lab, springer, border collie mix. Always playing. He was playing yesterday just before he died.
We adopted a 10 year old dog with serious weight problems back when we lived in Madison. We got him down to pretty trim but his age and previous poor health led to heart problems. He almost died a week before Christmas because his heart was crushing his windpipe. Our vet managed to stabilize him with some meds but warned us that once he stops responding to the meds there’s nothing else they can do. He didn’t think Zeus would live through the winter, but he managed to make it almost another year, and was perfectly normal until the day he died. We have pictures of him running around the dog park the day before (his favorite place). We knew we were playing with house money all that year.
He knew it too – the dog was an inveterate scoundrel who would steal the food off the table if you weren’t paying attention. Then he would just turn on his big, sad eyes on us.
Every time one of our pets is getting to “that point,” I PRAY that they pass away in their sleep. The alternative is too painful to go through.
*thumbs down*
It’s okay to talk about baseball, guys.
Scott Baker’s still out there, if we’re talking rotation depth. He should only be out for the first 2 weeks or so.
I thought Baker was supposed to return in May?
What I’ve been hearing is that he’s ahead of schedule, but who knows with this team and injuries. At least they don’t really have as much incentive to bullshit people about Baker right now.
Nevermind. Just saw that his ETA is Mid-April:
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/18433465-573/dale-sveum-starter-scott-baker-is-right-on-schedule.html
I mentioned Scott Baker in the first paragraph, thank you very much.
I didn’t read every word (laughing)
You’re a big jerk!
Crazy. It was just like, two weeks ago, that I felt really really good about this rotation. Not Prior, Wood, Zambrano good, but okay.
And now? Pffft.
Well, it still could be Spellcheck, EJackson, Zambrano good.
(anything), (anything), Zambrano is pretty much shitty right now.
Has he signed in Japan yet?
He’s playing for Venezuela in the WBC…
Wow…that team must be desperate for some pitching.
Yeah. It’s almost like he has no endurance anymore. He was a pretty stable player until PED testing. Now it would almost seem he can’t cut it on HGH alone and has mood swing issues from his cycling on and off testosterone boosting agents. You’ve got to remember that there is PED testing in baseball because the union couldn’t coordinate doping cycles to keep the number of positives below the threshold for testing with penalties.
Carrie Muskat just tweeted that the lineup so far is Samardzija, Jackson, maybe Feldman. Dale still sorting it out.
Yeah.
I’m cool with a three man rotation.
Yeah. It will probably be easier for everyone if the Cubs just forfeit every 4th and 5th day. Occasionally the schedule will work out that we can skip the 5th day forfeit and trot out the #1, so they’ve got that going for them.
Marmol is on the block big again…
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/03/carlos-marmol-drawing-trade-interest.html
I don’t think he ever was off the block.
Bruce Miles has insisted, for months, that Marmol will be traded before opening day.
What does the article mean that he “can veto a trade to four West Coast clubs?” Why is that specific detail about West Coast teams mentioned?
He can veto a trade to any club, since he has 10-5 rights. He has a list of teams that he prefers though.
Oh whoops, I thought this was about Soriano for some reason. Disregard that comment.
Wittenmeyer says nothing to this report and that the Cubs don’t expect to move Marmol until after the season starts, probably at the deadline.