What a difference a season makes.

At the end of last season, Carlos Silva was an injured, terribly ineffective pitcher, headed out of Seattle on a rail. He further continued down that road this year, coming to Spring Training overweight, and at the tail end of a competition for a rotation spot with the Cubs.

But, given a second chance, he's founded health, a rejuvenated sinker, and perhaps a permanent home after leading the Chicago Cubs to a 7-2 victory over the Houston Astros.

Silva, who pitched seven innings of two-run ball, picked up his first win of the season, and is now sporting a 0.69 ERA on the season.

"After the first game of Spring Training," Silva said, "we've been working on a lot of stuff. Hopefully we keep making the adjustment."

The Cubs apparently were going to follow his lead. After blowing a number of opportunities to score runs early off the now 1-9 Astros, Chicago founds new life in the seventh inning, highlighted by a three-run Derrek Lee homer off of Jeff Fulchino in the inning.

"It's good baseball," said manager Lou Piniella. "Usually that will score a run and get you runners on second and third. This time it got us a base hit, sacrifice fly and then the three-run homer."

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What were you expecting exactly? Consider me fairly non non-plussed about the Cubs 2010 opener, a 16-5 shellacking by the Atlanta Braves down at Turner Field, for a couple of different reasons actually.

Carlos Zambrano, although the 1 1/3 innings was by far his worst Opening Day start, tends to come out of the box with these sorts of appearances. Personally, I always thought he's a bit too amped, and his high fastballs yesterday didn't do anything to change that opinion. Here's to hoping that sinker—consistently about six inches too high on Monday, as were all his other pitches—gets a bit better as the season moves along, or the Cubs are in a world of trouble.

But the main reason is that this is pretty much about what I expected to see more often than not. Now, you can look at the errors committed, and say that those sorts of things happen, particularly on the Zambrano throw to third that allowed Martin Prado to score. And it does.

But what really grabs you are the bloop hits that fell in the first, between your defensively-challenged infielders, and a center fielder in Marlon Byrd who appeared hesitant to make a call. It's not so much the stuff in the boxscore, but the little things like that which often come back to bite teams. And it did.

Couple that with terrible relief outing from both Jeff Samardzija and Justin Berg, taking what was at least a semi-competitive game and turning it into a blowout, and you've got the formula for 2010 pretty much down. Get used to it, Cubs fans.

All that said, cheers to Marlon Byrd, who opened the season with a three-run homer, and did about as well as you could hope for covering a more spacious ballpark.

Jeers to Samardzija. Your situation just gets more and more curious.

Around baseball, cheers to Tim Lincecum (seven shutout innings) and Roy Halladay (7.0 innings, 1 ER, 9Ks). Watching these two compete for the NL Cy Young award is sure to be one of the highlights of this season.

Cheers to Albert Pujols, with two homers in the Cardinals win over the Reds. Cardinals fan or not, there's no denying that the man is simply a treat to baseball.

Jeers to ESPN, for pre-empting a portion of the Cardinals - Reds game with a simulcast of the Tiger Woods press conference. Yes, the conference that was being held on the first day of the Masters. Yes, the same one already being shown live on at least two other ESPN properties at the time. I'd love to know what MLB thinks of having one of their marquee events (Opening Day) pre-empted in this manner.

You overhype the (non)news with a media blitz, then use the blitz to give your innumerable pundits easy fodder for the next week. It's simply too damn self-indulgent, even for ESPN.

Well, baseball is back in season. There's always tomorrow to do better.

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2009 ended with a loss. And this season? (Cubbie Nation/file)

I really wasn’t going to do this.

Defining in advance the success or failure of 30 major league teams over a 162 game season is probably something of a fool’s errand. But after receiving yet another e-mail from an editor asking for predictions and prognostications on the upcoming 2010 season, I’m going to take my shot.

Let me say a few things specifically about the Cubs first. I like this team. Some of my readers might disagree with that statement, but there are some good things happening here, in my opinion. If the Cubs were committed to a rebuilding effort, this team would be a textbook case on how to properly do it.

By that I mean a competitive team, with significant money cycling off after the season, the best of an up-and-coming farm system competing for significant playing time, and a mindset that they won’t spend for the sake of spending. Not to mention that this may be the first time in my memory that I felt like you could stick every man on the bench—assuming a back-in-form Xavier Nady—into the lineup for a week or two, and lose little.

But supposedly, this team was created with the goal of competing for a pennant, which as composed, is most unlikely.  Good front-line pitching and solid, albeit not great offensive players will not make up for an inability to catch the ball. It won’t make up for rookies in the bullpen. It won’t make up for so-so table setters. It won’t make up for a manager that seemed asleep at times last season, and remains uncommitted about managing in the future. And it won’t make money appear at mid-season to acquire major talent.

Pains me as it is to say, no team in the NL Central has done much to make up ground to the Cardinals, who may have actually gotten a bit better with the progression of players like Adam Wainwright and Colby Rasmus, and a full season of Matt Holliday.

Could this change? Maybe, but as constituted, this looks like a nice 85-win team, not the sort of contender that the Cubs organization is selling. By my count, unfortunately, that’s a third-place team in what I think will be a surprisingly competitive NL Central.

Now, as a Cubs fan, here’s to them making me look like that fool after all.


NL Central
1)    Cardinals
2)    Brewers
3)    Cubs
4)    Reds
5)    Astros
6)    Pirates

NL East
1)    Braves
2)    Phillies (wild card)
3)    Mets
4)    Nationals
5)    Marlins

NL West
1)    Giants
2)    Rockies
3)    Dodgers
4)    Padres
5)    Diamondbacks

AL East
1)    Rays
2)    Yankees (wild card)
3)    Red Sox
4)    Orioles
5)    Blue Jays

AL Central
1)    White Sox
2)    Twins
3)    Tigers
4)    Indians
5)    Royals

AL West
1)    Angels
2)    Rangers
3)    Mariners
4)    A’s

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The Cubs made big moves Friday, releasing seven players, while setting both their rotation and bullpen in the process. Tom Gorzelanny and Carlos Silva round out the rotation, with James Russell becoming—as of now—the last man in the 'pen to start the season.

What, 10 more days til Opening Day? Let's just say that I'm in extra great anticipation of the upcoming season, as I've begun marking days off, and checking scores on an almost daily basis already. W

hy, you ask? Well aside from my general love of baseball, the 2010 Cubs are turning themselves into something of a scientific test bed for baseball ideas. Lab rats, if you will. Apropos for a team that spent the last few years working on "chemistry" in the clubhouse almost as much as they have "talent" on the field.

So, while these moves answer most roster questions, they leave quite a few much bigger questions unanswered, and in cases, leave the questions unasked altogether. I won't hold my breath waiting for a beat reporter to ask them, but I'll put them to you; you probably know better anyway.

1) What is the long-term plan for Jeff Samardzija? It's three years, and $10 million later, and Samardzija is as much a curiosity as he was on draft day. The organization keeps suggesting that he's starter material—which is probably the best use of their dollars—yet waited a few years to really start work on his secondary pitches, which are still very much works in progress.

He's still got repetition issues with his delivery, and I've not seen one season of professional baseball in which he's been gone over 150 innings, and this season looks to be no different. Is his highest and best use a middle reliever, and if if isn't, shouldn't you be working toward that?

2) If a .91 WHIP and 1.64 ERA this spring isn't enough to win you a job in the rotation, then what is? Yes, Sean Marshall has again been hosed. If your bullpen dictates that you need to make a move like this, you're better served just addressing your bullpen.

3) How successful can the Cub be sacrificing defense for offense, even on the bench? And why do it? Manager Lou Piniella looks giddy about the idea of bringing both Kevin Millar and Chad Tracy up north, which probably puts Andres Blanco out of a job, or at least on a long DL stint.

Using your already average defensively starting second baseman as your backup shortstop is curious, to be sure. Couple that with talk of grabbing Tyler Colvin over Sam Fuld to round out the bench, a lesser defender by any standard, and this team looks extremely questionable catching the ball. We won't even start with Xavier Nady, who still is being told not to attempt "competitive" throws from the outfield.

There used to be an understanding that defense up the middle was what separated average teams from good teams. It didn't matter if you middle infielder and 5th outfielder could hit, just be versatile, and catch the damn ball. What gives?

4) What does this need to back extra offensive punch on the bench say about the Cubs faith in their starters, particularly Alfonso Soriano, and Kosuke Fukudome?

5) Three rookies in the bullpen? On a Lou Piniella team? Please, please, please fix this before leaving Spring Training. Othrwise, I give the date that Piniella comes undone at these guys costing the team games at May 4.

How does a team that feels that they can compete do this willingly?

A drop in defense across the board, an inexperienced bullpen, questions about the offense, and financial constraints. Yet the Cubs to a man say that they feel good about 2010. Like I said, it's quite the experiment.

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That's my first thought after running through the morning news, and finding these delightfully insane, and completely narcissistic interviews with Milton Bradley and Torii Hunter.

First, we have ESPN sitting down with Milton Bradley to discuss at length, his time in Chicago. Bless ESPN, who never resists an opportunity to facilitate flinging in the name of ratings, but this piece may have been the worst thing I've seen since Bonds on Bonds.

Asked about his manager, Lou Piniella:

"The next day, he called me into his office and wanted to apologize. I felt you put me on blast, called me out in front of everybody, you're going to apologize in front of everybody."

Nice. Except for the fact that he did, on numerous occasions.

From a Chicago Tribune article at that time:

"But I told him it wasn't right, and I apologized for it. But I also told him that we just can't continue to have the shenanigans that we've put up with it. I told him he's going to hurt somebody. He's going to hurt himself. But at the same time, I did talk to him and I did apologize for that last comment."

The organization? When asked about the source of his hate mail, and where some of it may have come from the Cubs themselves, given the lack of postage:

"I would hope not, but ... who knows? I don't know. I don't even care to know."

And my favorite money quote:

"I don't think the entire city of Chicago is racist or anything like that. If you weren't booing me, I'm not talking to you."

If you like Milton Bradley, then it's all good. And if you don't, well then, you're a racist. I booed on occasion. I wonder whether that applies to me, too?

This all actually pales in comparison to Torii Hunter, who chose to go equally batsh@#$t in his interview with USA Today on race in baseball. To wit:

People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African American. They're not us. They're impostors."

As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us.

It's like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican Republic or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper.

It's like, why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?

Huh?

Let me share a couple of thoughts with you.

Inner-city kids until recently have wanted to play baseball professionally about as much as they wanted to become NASCAR drivers. The interest simply was not there, and where there was, the economics made it difficult, not the lack of interest on behalf of the MLB in recruiting these kids. 

Gloves, ball, bats, and lack of fields in most neighborhoods made baseball cost prohibitive in much of the 80s and 90s, especially when all you needed was a cheap basketball for the whole neighborhood to play that sport.

Of course the money often wasn't there, again, because NO ONE WANTED TO PLAY!!

Hmm...let's see. Top pick in the 2007 draft? David Price—black.

2008? Tim Beckham—black.

Top prospect in baseball? Jason Heyward—black.

Seems to me like baseball pretty much takes talent wherever they can find it, regardless of race. And don't even get me started on the contract that the Reds gave Aroldis Chapman.

It was a bag of chips, and all that, to boot.

You know, you grow up in the inner city, it's very easy to see racism around every corner, and in many cases, it's often very real. But watching a couple of black men cite racism over a league and its fans who that will make them millionaires MANY times over,  and more often than not, shower them in adoration is truly enough to make me weep.

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Lost amongst the news of Carlos Zambrano's secret handshake with Kevin Millar, Angel Guzman being shut down, Ted Lilly being flu-ridden, and the existential question of should Lou Piniella tweet or not tweet, came a small snippet out of Arizona expanding on the Cubs competition for spots on the pitching staff.

According to Piniella, he regards it as a race between Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny, and, wait for it...Sean Marshall.

With that statement comes something of a drastic change in position, as the organization has long maintained that Marshall lacks the stamina to start, vacillating instead between using him in the bullpen out that fact, or as a matter of necessity.

I don't buy the argument; never have. While there is certainly a drop-off in statistics when Marshall starts (1.35 vs. 1.43 WHIP, for example), his numbers as a starter are on par with your expectations for a back-of-the-rotation guy, if not better.

Think I'm kidding? Take a look at some of the free agent class of 2007 for a comparison, which was the off-season after the year that Marshall broke into the majors. Needless to say, all were paid substantially more over the last few seasons than Sean.

Sean Marshall (as starter) - 4.86 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 6.1 SO/9

Jeff Suppan—4.69 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 4.9 SO/9

Adam Eaton—4.90 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 6.5 SO/9

Gil Meche—4.42 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 6.6 SO/9

Jason Marquis—4.40 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 5.2 SO/9

Get the point? I think the Cubs have. And if nothing else, it's a good signal that the on-field management doesn't feel the least bit obligated to assure acquisitions Gorzelanny and Silva of anything. I'm scoring one for Lou.

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With less than a week before the official start of spring training, the Chicago Cubs are still looking to fill arguably their greatest offseason need: a reliable right-handed setup man for their new closer Carlos Marmol.

After "kicking the tires" on a host of potential candidates such as Frasor, Park, and Gregerson, Chicago is left with no better solution than they had at the end of the '09 season.

For the Cubs, the internal options are not terrible.  John Grabow may have found his stride, as indicated by his 3.24 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in his stint with the Cubs.  And certainly, Angel Guzman finally delivered on his potential and showed he's capable of being at least an adequate late-inning man.

But apparently the Cubs don't agree and are still searching for a set-up man.  There are potential suitors on the free agent market.  And the aforementioned trade scenarios may still happen.  But here are a few alternatives that could fill the void.

Manny Corpas (Rockies)

Corpas is a competent reliever with lots of upside.  He was forced out of his closer role last season by the Huston Street acquisition, then out of the bullpen altogether by injury.

But Manny looks like he's healthy this year, and is expected to be ready for Opening Day after his elbow surgery last season.  Unfortunately for him, the combination of Street and Rafael Betancourt is a talented one that leaves him a bit out in the cold in Colorado.  This writer is wondering if this isn't a good time for Colorado to send the ex-closer packing, if only for chemistry's sake.

Dustin McGowan (Blue Jays)

There's been a lot of talk about Toronto trading away either Jason Frasor or Scott Downs after their signing of Kevin Gregg.  But little has been said about the anticipated return of McGowan, arguably the most talented of them all. 

According to press reports, he's throwing smoothly, and is looking great.  The problem for the Jays, however, is that he's a pitcher out of options.  In other words, they'll need to keep him on what looks like an already competent staff, or place him on waivers and release him.

A better solution might be to move him for a similar talent who at least has options available, allowing them to get out in front of the issue now, and not lose value if he has a bad camp.  The Cubs might be better able to take a risk on him, working him into the role as he competes for setup innings with Grabow.

Ramon Troncoso (Dodgers)

If you believe the rumor mill, the Dodgers would much prefer to make George Sherrill contract away (because of his contract) and keep Troncoso instead.  And this writer would prefer to have Troncoso.  But Sherrill isn't going anywhere, and economic conditions prevent L.A. from addressing the back of their rotation without that relief...well, almost.

If the Cubs are confident about the medical status of Ted Lilly, and if they believe that the combination of Parisi, Samardzija, Marshall, and Silva can provide adequate innings for the first six weeks or so of the season, then quietly moving Gorzelanny for Ramon might be an adequate solution for all involved.

Given the spacious parks of the NL West, and fly ball graveyard that is Chavez Ravine, this might even be great for the Dodgers, as they would alleviate the Gorzelanny fly-ball tendencies.

Personally, I think the Cubs might do well sticking it out with Guzman for awhile in that role, given some of the options available.  However, if they're going to beef up the bullpen, the low-risk/high-upside players mentioned are likely a much better play than the solutions that have been discussed to date.

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Couple that with the players that have passed by them; guys like Carlos Betran, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Bobby Abreu, and you can't help but get spooked when Hendry decides to dip his check-writing pen into the inkwell for a outfield solution. I certainly did in reviewing the Cubs decision to sign Marlon Byrd to a three-year/$15 million deal yesterday.

But I've slept on it, debated it a bit, and in the end, I'm going to say something a bit shocking; I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and say I'm okay with the signing.

Now, on the larger scale, it doesn't make up for fumbling on Granderson, and failing to bring in Mike Cameron this offseason—a much more consistent talent, and better defender—nor the fact that there is no one within the system that could fill this role within the next year to two. And certainly the question of how much his contract structuring over the past few seasons have resulted in this new fiscal conservativeness. Fair questions, all.

But Hendry did three things here that I can at least respect, especially given that I believe that Byrd should at least be an average centerfielder in 2010.

One, he again respected the opinions of his manager and coaching staff, working to get them the talent that they say they need. I think Rudy Jaramillo had a great deal of input into this signing, and when the best in the business vouches for someone, you have to listen.

Two, the deal structure makes it likely that the Cubs maintain better than expected payroll flexibility over at least the next two seasons. With $3.5 million reportedly guaranteed in 2010, and another $5.5 in 2011, they're basically paying this guy with the cash received from the Bradley deal. Ideally, you might even be able to move him after 2010 if need be with minimum fuss. The 2/12 contract at that point isn't exactly an albatross.

And finally, Hendry didn't overpay. Maybe you don't like Byrd—I certainly don't—but all indications so far is that he didn't get caught bidding against himself, and he paid the market rate for this mid-level talent.

So, I'm going to say that this is no worse than a "meh" deal with some upside in the short run, and the potential to be a steal if Hendry came make him go away before the 2012 season. Welcome to Chicago, Marlon, and here's to hoping that your skin is thicker than the last guy.

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Couple that with the players that have passed by them; guys like Carlos Betran, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Bobby Abreu, and you can't help but get spooked when Hendry decides to dip his check-writing pen into the inkwell for a outfield solution. I certainly did in reviewing the Cubs decision to sign Marlon Byrd to a three-year/$15 million deal yesterday.

But I've slept on it, debated it a bit, and in the end, I'm going to say something a bit shocking; I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and say I'm okay with the signing.

Now, on the larger scale, it doesn't make up for fumbling on Granderson, and failing to bring in Mike Cameron this offseason—a much more consistent talent, and better defender—nor the fact that there is no one within the system that could fill this role within the next year to two. And certainly the question of how much his contract structuring over the past few seasons have resulted in this new fiscal conservativeness. Fair questions, all.

But Hendry did three things here that I can at least respect, especially given that I believe that Byrd should at least be an average centerfielder in 2010.

One, he again respected the opinions of his manager and coaching staff, working to get them the talent that they say they need. I think Rudy Jaramillo had a great deal of input into this signing, and when the best in the business vouches for someone, you have to listen.

Two, the deal structure makes it likely that the Cubs maintain better than expected payroll flexibility over at least the next two seasons. With $3.5 million reportedly guaranteed in 2010, and another $5.5 in 2011, they're basically paying this guy with the cash received from the Bradley deal. Ideally, you might even be able to move him after 2010 if need be with minimum fuss. The 2/12 contract at that point isn't exactly an albatross.

And finally, Hendry didn't overpay. Maybe you don't like Byrd—I certainly don't—but all indications so far is that he didn't get caught bidding against himself, and he paid the market rate for this mid-level talent.

So, I'm going to say that this is no worse than a "meh" deal with some upside in the short run, and the potential to be a steal if Hendry can make him go away before the 2012 season. Welcome to Chicago, Marlon, and here's to hoping that your skin is thicker than the last guy.

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Last year, I ran what I hoped to become a tradition here at Cubbie Nation, the current team captured in pictures.

The premise is pretty simple. Teams and seasons come and go, and for as much time as we give to being with them, there's something wrong about the notion that many of these guys are gone, if not altogether forgotten, by the time the playoffs have ended.

You know the guys. The Jose Ascanios, Kevin Harts, and Andres Blancos of the game. Maybe we'll see them again; maybe not. But you wore the uniform, and we cheered for you, so consider this my way of saying thanks. One photo for each (sans Mitch Atkins and Chad Fox) man who spent time on the 25-man roster, captured in a way that only a fan can.

This year, the photo galleries have been moved to my new multmedia site, Triple Play New Media. You can find it here. Cubbie Nation will be undergoing some pretty extreme upgrades by the start of next season, and as such we've moved the media galleries over to a professionally hosted site that specializes in serving photos. I think you'll find it makes for a much better viewing experience.

Some folks have said they've been completely blown away; other said do better. Why don't you take a look, drop me a note, and let me know what you think. And Happy New Year from Cubbie Nation.

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