Sunday, March 29, 2009

Cubs Closer, Cuts, and Pregame Recap

Kevin Gregg is the Cubs closer. Scroll down on the blog for a great post with lots of good info.

We will find out who the backup catcher is on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Ron Santo chatted with Lou on the Cubs Pregame show On WGN Radio:
  • Lou says "it really has been" a long Spring Training.
  • This camp is about 1/3 of a baseball season.
  • Piniella is ready to get on the plane to go to New York.
  • Lou wasn't feeling too good yesterday, and is glad that he got to miss out on the bus ride to Tuscan.
  • The goal is to have a fresh, ready to go team when the season starts.
  • Lou says for the most part we are ready to start.
  • Piniella is concerned about Soto missing a lot of time in camp.
  • Kosuke also needs some ABs.
  • Dempster's concentration needs to get better.
  • On the positive side, Soriano and Lee are starting to swing the bat and Ramirez is coming along.
  • He is proud of the guys for working hard.
  • Lou had to give Carlos Marmol the bad news that Gregg is going to start the year as the closer.
  • Piniella noted that Gregg has pitched really well this spring.
  • The Cubs feel that they have 2 guys that can pitch the 9th inning.
  • Lou likes Bradley's edge and the Cubs just need to keep him on the field.
  • Milton fits perfectly in the 4 spot in the lineup for the Cubs.
  • Piniella would like to get Hoffpauir lots of ABs.
  • Miles is really coming on.
  • The Cubs have a lot of good things going on.
  • Lilly is pitching today, he is a little bit behind because of the WBC.
  • There is an 80% chance of rain in New York next Friday and the Cubs are concerned that Lilly will miss his last spring start.

Roster Cuts:

  • Kevin Hart
  • Randy Wells
  • So Taguchi
  • Mark Johnson
  • Eseban German
  • Andres Blanco

All these guys headed to minor league camp. The only surprise is So Taguchi because I've heard a lot lately about So making the team instead of Joey Gathright. Taguchi could be called up if there is an injury to a Cub outfielder this year. There are now 30 guys left in camp.

Here is a list of those 30 guys. Locks to make the team are in bold:

  • Neal Cotts
  • Ryan Dempster
  • Chad Gaudin
  • Kevin Gregg
  • Angel Guzman
  • Rich Harden
  • Aaron Heilman
  • Ted Lilly
  • Carlos Marmol
  • Sean Marshall
  • David Patton
  • Jeff Samardzija
  • Luis Vizcaino
  • Carlos Zambrano
  • Paul Bako
  • Koyie Hill
  • Geovany Soto
  • Mike Fontenot
  • Micah Hoffpauir
  • Derrek Lee
  • Aaron Miles
  • Aramis Ramirez
  • Ryan Theriot
  • Milton Bradley
  • Kosuke Fukudome
  • Joey Gathright
  • Reed Johnson
  • Alfonso Soriano
  • Chad Fox
  • Mike Stanton

So there are 5 more cuts to come, 4 of them will be pitchers and the other one will be either Bako or Hill.

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