No DL for Ramirez
Aramis Ramirez underwent an MRI on his left calf today, and it showed some inflammation, according to the Cubs. Just in case, the Cubs had infielder Bobby Scales at the ballpark from Class AAA Iowa, but Ramirez tested the calf on the outfield grass and said he wasn't far away from returning. So he won't go on the DL, and Scales will go back to Iowa.
Lou sounded like something else might have been afoot, but the Cubs said there would be no roster move at all today.
"The feeling is in the next few days we can get him out there to play," Lou said. "Which means, probably, that we'll have to do something else as far as a roster spot is concerned."
That turned out to be nothing, but it was interesting nonetheless. The Cubs are short in the infield, and unless they were going to do something like move outfielder Joey Gathright, they'll stay that way until Ramirez comes back.
I asked Jim Hendry about the team carrying an extra outfielder instead of the infielder.
"If Ramy was healthy and didn't miss any games, the other guys would be getting a day, rest more here or there," Jim said. "Obviously, you want Ramy to be playing that 140-145 (games) mark, and you're playing the other guys at third base only 20 games. If he was going to be out for an extended period of time, then you'd probably be looking at different areas. At the same time, we never assumed that club we're going to break with certainly is never the 25 you're going to (have all year). If there comes a time where we need to go with an infielder and one less outfielder, that may come down the road. The same with 12 pitchers. You'd like to have stretch where if everybody was throwing real well out of the pen, do you need 12 every day, or do you need another player? You have to let it play out for a while."
The lineup
Soriano, LF
Theriot, SS
Fukudome, CF
Lee, 1B
Bradley, RF
Fontenot, 3B
Hill, C
Miles, 2B
Marshall, P
Look for Hill and Soto to share time at catcher for a while as the Cubs try to get Soto out of his slump. Lou said there were two schools of thought: Let a guy play through it or give a player a mental breather now and then.
Why not bring up camp and kill 2 birds with one stone? He is another Chone Figgins, can play any position like he is an everyday player at that position. I've watched him all of his life and if you had ever seen him play you would agree, "he is a a special player"
they tall about a short infield, this would have been a good time to bring Fox up, play him at 3rd and forget about his defense.....could he be worse then what we got?.....at least he's tall.......we could use his hitting.....
no comment
What a horrible night. Hawks give away a game, and the Cubs look god awful.
marmol is in because he's THE guy in that bullpen. Instead of letting him sit and stew after walking the world, Piniella gave him a chance to rebound. OF course he imploded and that is WHY he can't close. He can't move past the previous game if he sucks.
How many games are the Cubs going to give away? It's really getting old. Nice depth, Jabba. Go fit into that med short sleeved button up shirt.
10-11.......inexcusable.
It is one thing to play like little leaguers, but it quite another for a professional manager of Piniella's experience to give games away!
1) WHAT was Marmol doing in this game? He got his "work" (if you can call it that) in yesterday, and failed miserably, showing that he was NOT ready to be in a big league game. If he needed "work" it should have been at Iowa or on the DL.
Even if you could find a way to justify letting him start the inning, he should have been GONE after he walked the first hitter! Result: 2 walks and an error on a rattled pitcher that shouldn't have been there, and Marshall LOSES a good chance for a win he VERY much deserved.
2) WHY was Johnson brought in to pinch hit for Fontenot??? That MIGHT have been a reasonable ploy, if the Cubs had extra infielders, but they don't. Fontenot has shown that he can hit lefties as well or better than righties and is about as HOT a hitter as the Cubs have had this week. BUT if he was hell-bent on PH for Fonty, WHY use up a player in an extra inning game, with a short bench, that could be valuable later.
With two outs and one active player that could ONLY be used in this game as a PH, and a clutch RH hitter at that (Ramirez), WHY wasn't he used instead of Johnson, who hasn't exactly been even luke warm as a hitter lately?
SURE, Theriot should have caught the throw from Lee in the 10th, but then the Cubs shouldn't have been in that spot in the first place, thanks to Piniella~! But then why also was Lee in the game. His swings at the plate show a definite lack of confidence. He is not attacking the pitch like he used to. His swings are more like feeling for the pitch. And Lou (you remember Lou, the manager who wanted LH hitters in the middle of the lineup had a productive LH hitting 1bman sitting on the bench.
3) Joey Gathright must have had a photo shoot of him jumping over a Hummer after the game, and LOU didn't want to tire him out. That's about the only logical reason I can think of for saving him. He has proven that his only value is as a PR, and late inning defender, but the Cubs took a chance on Z getting injured by leaving him in the game in the 8th. And then in the 9th the Cubs get taken out of the inning because a gimpy Bradley couldn't get to 2nd in time to keep the inning alive on a tough play up the middle by the Marlin's shortstop. WHERE was Gathright, Lou? What were you saving him for? If you had employed Ramirez instead of Johnson as the PH, you might have won, but you certainly would have had Johnson available later if you needed an OF, so there just was NO reason Gathright shouldn't have been used. He wasn't sick. He was standing in the dugout, looking as dumbfounded as I felt, when he wasn't used in either of the those situations. Had he been used for Bradley, and the Cubs still failed to score, Joey would have been in CF (with Bradley out & Fukudome moved to RF) when the blooper was hit that Fukudome misread into a double. Even if Joey had misread it to the same degree as Fukudome, he could have outrun his mistake and the whole inning is changed!
I don't know the final score because I got sick of watching Lou's jack-ass moves in this game, and shut it off after the Marlins scored a run in the 10th.
Lou, your senior moments as Cubs manager are running together and forming gaping mental blackouts. It's time to wake up or retire!
Why do you not pinch run Gathright for Zambrano? Paulino hasn't show the ability to throw the ball even near 2nd base. If he is going to be on the roster, you have to use him there. And that is not even taking into account, not wanting to get Zambrano hurt.....Sometimes I just don't understand Lou.
I ask because Matt Camp took his Iowa roster spot. There's no spot for Camp to go back to with Tennessee, because the Smokies received 3B Marquez Smith from Daytona. Iowa has several DL options it can use to make a roster spot for Scales even with Camp there; but Lou's comment about the roster spot leaves me wondering if they somehow intend to make room anyway.
Scales was already in street clothes by the end of batting practice. We were thinking what you were, mlp, that something might come down tomorrow. However, Hendry said Scales would be on his way to rejoin the I-Cubs even tonight, if he could catch a flight. If not, it would be in the morning. But as always, stay tuned.
Cubs need to make a move for sure. Gathright is not needed. You have two guys already who can play CF. It makes more sense to have a Jake Fox up. Also, Cubs need to make a move in the pen. Patton is taking up a spot that we need to fill with another left handed reliever. Patton does not appear to be ready to contribute to a team that is looking for a championship.
So he got thisclose to the callup he's been waiting for this past decade. What a letdown for him.
He's a nice guy whom I got to know in spring training the last couple years. Jim Hendry says he'll get his chance at some point this year. I hope so.
In the immortal words of the guard who was guarding the holy grail in the 3rd Indy movie, "they chose wisely". You could tell the last game Soto played he looked out of sorts.
Good news on A-Ram.
Lou's right; need the intensity to pick up. Sad that this issue has come up already and we're not even out of April yet. No one is going to hand these guys the Central crown this year.