First Cuts

Well, the Cubs have made their first round of cuts.  They trimmed their roster from 58 players to 44.  Infielder Scott Moore and left-handed pitcher Clay Rapada have been optioned to Triple-A Iowa. Neither were too impressive.  Infielder Brian Dopirak has been optioned to Double-A Tennessee.  I like Dopirak, but there really isn’t room for him on the roster anytime soon.  I wonder if he could be trade bait?   Pitcher Jeff Samardzija has been optioned to Single-A Daytona. Samardzija pitched today against the Giants and gave up four hits and one walk while striking out two over two innings.  Samardzija looked great up here and I have a feeling that we’ll see Jeff at Wrigley in the not too distant future. Ten non-roster invitees have been returned to minor league camp, including right-handed pitchers Jason Anderson, Sean Gallagher, Adam Harben, Ben Howard, John Webb and Randy Wells. Infielders Mike Kinkade and Eric Patterson, as well as outfielders Tyler Colvin and Chris Walker, have also been returned to minor league camp.

Not Even Funny

Seeing the replay of Carlos Zambrano falling on his shoulder was enough to turn the stomach.  In the first inning, with a runner on and two outs against Matt Morris, Zambrano hit the ball to deep right and took off. Zambrano was running around the bases, but stumbled and fell between second and third. The scary thing was that he was thinking about going home for an inside the park home run. Zambrano finished the game giving up two runs on three hits and two walks over four innings, while striking out five. The Cubs won the game 10-5. Hendry was right when he said;

"I was more worried about his hamstring than his belly flop, to be honest with you. Let’s applaud him for playing the game right, running every ball out. If he’s not running the ground ball to short out hard, then he’s not hustling. I’ll take a guy any day on my club that you have to pull back the reins a little bit than somebody you have to jump start."

Some people worry about giving Carlos a big contract because they are worried that he may just get out of shape and lose motivation. I don’t buy that.  This guy is an insane competitor.  Who really tries to hit an inside the park home run in spring training?  He’s always looking for a challenge and even though he may say things like the Cubs are going to win the world series and he’s going to win the Cy Young, and least you know he cares and wants to win.

I didn’t see enough of that from the Cubs last year.

I do this year.