God’s Wrath Watch: Angel Guzman Throws

Chicago Cubs reliever Angel Guzman – and candidate for 8th inning duties – managed to throw today at Cubs camp, and reportedly felt good. He threw about 25 to 30 pitches from 45 feet, so he’s still got a bit of a way to go, but the good news is that he felt good and will throw again tomorrow.

Guzman was one of the Cubs’ best relievers last year, so his surprise offseason knee surgery and recent shoulder issues have been a bit scary.

Spring Training Bench Battle: Piniella Confirms There Are Just Two Open Spots

God’s Wrath Watch: Ted Lilly is Sick

Chicago Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly is just waiting for the plague of frogs.

It’s been a rough offseason for Lilly, who is recovering from knee and shoulder issues, has been sick all week. Everyone hoped it wouldn’t actually be a set back, given that Lilly was largely resting anyway, but Lilly himself said it’s been a problem.

Lilly, already behind the other Cubs pitchers because of rehab from minor shoulder surgery in November, returned to camp Friday and threw lightly but still wasn’t back to his strength level of last weekend.

Unable to pitch for five days because of a virus, Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly has lost strength and probably won’t be able to meet his goal of starting the season on time. “I needed this time,” he said.

”This is definitely a setback,” said Lilly, the Cubs’ lone 2009 All-Star, who was trying to beat the team’s estimate that he’d return two to four weeks into the season.

”I lost, due to this, valuable time in spring training. I needed this time. I’m behind now, as far as training goes. I haven’t really been on my feet much at all in the past five days. Being out the four or five days that I’ve been out, it’s going to cost me more [rehab time] than that. … I guess in one regard it’s fortunate it’s not my shoulder or anything like that.”

Lilly, who leads the Cubs with 44 victories in the last three seasons, said he’d still like to work his way back to opening the season on time but didn’t sound very confident about it.

”I don’t know,” he said. ”I’m just going to get back as soon as I can. I don’t want to start the season on the disabled list. I don’t feel good about that. I don’t like being on that list or associated with it in any way, shape or form.

”I’ll work to get back out there pitching as soon as possible.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.

If all this means is that Lilly won’t meet his personal goal of being ready to go for the first week of the season, so be it. It was a very optimistic goal anyway, and the Cubs can stand to go with four pitchers for the first couple of weeks anyway.

Any additional delay beyond that, however, and it could have a profoundly negative impact on a Cubs team whose margins for success are already razor thin.

Bud Selig is a Hero, a Champion, and is Quite Handsome

Apparently this week, ESPN analyst and podcaster Peter Pascarelli really screwed up. He screwed up so badly that he immediately released an expansive, contrition-filled, Tiger Woods-style apology. He screwed up so badly that he’s reportedly been removed from his podcast.

His screw up? He made a crack about Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

The offending quote – all traces of which have been thoroughly scrubbed from ESPN – essentially made light of the Brewers’ recent decision to erect a statue in honor Selig, and suggested that the pigeons of Wisconsin will have a new place to relieve themselves. Think what you will of Selig, but that’s kind of funny. It’s also incredibly innocuous.

But apparently not to ESPN. Pascarelli sprinted to record a “special edition” podcast the next day, profusely apologizing for his terrible judgment. And now, he’s unlikely to return to the podcast.

So what’s this really all about? Access! ESPN has it, and doesn’t want to lose it. Maybe this was a directive from the Commissioner’s office (unlikely), but it is more likely simply to have been an internal overreaction at ESPN – “Oh God, someone said something bad about Selig! Fix it or they’ll cut us off!”

I get it, I suppose, but this seems a bit over the top, no? Just to be safe, I want to reiterate how excellent I think Bud Selig is. You think ESPN can hook me up with an interview now?

Grumble: The Cardinals Just Signed Felipe Lopez

It’s not a game-changer, but Felipe Lopez is a guy worth having on your team. And now he’s on the wrong team.

The St. Louis Cardinals reached an agreement with free agent infielder Felipe Lopez on a one-year, $2 million deal, a source told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

The deal is still pending the completion of a physical, the source said.

Lopez batted .310, with a .383 on-base percentage, last season for the Diamondbacks and Brewers. The only other free agent on the market this winter who matched or beat him in both of those categories was Matt Holliday. ESPN.

If Lopez puts up similar numbers this year (though there’s reason to think he has no chance, given a highly elevated BABIP last year), the Cards will have just stolen a potential All-Star.

Either way, Lopez is versatile and solid with the glove. He’s valuable, even if he’s on the bench.

Crap.

Esmailin Caridad Has Already Won a Bullpen Spot?

The race to take a spot in the Chicago Cubs bullpen is a wildly crowded one. Carlos Marmol, Angel Guzman (if healthy), and two of the would-be starting pitchers (Sean Marshall, Tom Gorzelanny, Jeff Samardzija, and Carlos Silva (sigh)) seem like mortal locks to make the pen.

But is a fifth pitcher already locked in as well?

Piniella said rookie right-hander Esmailin Caridad, who debuted last August and had a 1.40 ERA in 14 appearances, is all but assured a spot in the bullpen.

”He’s on the team; he’s almost got to pitch himself off,” Piniella said. ”I don’t think he will. I like this young man. He competes. He’s got a good arm. He can pitch a lot. And he handled himself here quite well the last two months or so of the season that he was here.”

In fact, it might not be out of the question to see Caridad pitch himself into a late-inning setup role, especially if Guzman’s recovery goes longer than expected.

”He’s got the stuff for it,” Piniella said. ”Now, does he have the experience, the savvy? We’ll have to wait and see. One good thing about this young man is he’s not scared.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.

Caridad has been high on the Cubs’ radar since late 2008, but I’ll be frank: I had no idea that he was this locked in. Given that the list of other pitchers competing for spots in the bullpen is almost too long to recount without missing someone (Jeff Gray, Mike Parisi, Jeff Stevens, Justin Berg, Blake Parker, John Gaub, Thomas Diamond, James Russell, J.R. Mathis, Jeff Kennard, Vince Perkins, Casey Coleman, and Andrew Cashner), it’s hard to imagine that Caridad is locked in.

But so Piniella has said. I guess we’ll see how it plays out, and hopefully Caridad doesn’t get complacent.

God’s Wrath Watch: Angel Guzman Shut Down

Chicago Cubs reliever Angel Guzman is being counted on at the back end of the bullpen, but he’s going to have to get healthy first. Already recovering from double secret knee surgery, Guzman has now been shut down after experiencing discomfort in his throwing shoulder. Grumble.

The Cubs’ medical staff seems optimistic that the shoulder won’t cost Guzman more than a few days, and that should allow the staff’s best reliever of 2009 to open the season on time.

”He’s not seeing a doctor or anything like that,” said general manager Jim Hendry, who called it a precautionary move.

Guzman, whose brother and a friend were killed in a robbery in Venezuela last month, also was rehabbing from minor knee surgery.

”He’s still certainly capable, if this is just a minor setback, of being ready,” Hendry said. ”He’s only got to get ready for relief work. We always felt he probably wouldn’t be in games until the middle of the [exhibition] schedule anyhow.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.

I like that they’re thinking it’s only a couple of days, and I like that they’re terming it “precautionary.” I even like that he wasn’t going to be in games until mid-March anyway.

But any time “discomfort” comes up, it feels like a sign of things to come. And for a guy like Guzman, whose career has been filled with more injuries than successes, it doubly feels that way.

Cubs Take Out Unsuccessful Hit on Ryan Theriot

The Chicago Cubs were clearly so upset that shortstop Ryan Theriot decided to take them to arbitration this year that they sent out youngster Rafael Dolis to plunk Theriot in batting practice. Fortunately for Theriot, he escaped with only a bruised hand.

“Everything’s fine,” Theriot said. “It happens sometimes in live [batting practice] but everything’s cool.”

Dolis, 22, who pitched at Class A Daytona last season, said he didn’t throw another fastball inside after the errant pitch to Theriot. This was the second day of live batting practice.

“The kid pitcher felt worse about it than anybody else,” Lou Piniella said. “He was almost apologetic and I heard the pitching coach say, ‘Get back up there and throw it.’”

Did Theriot consider charging the mound?

“No — that guy’s huge,” Theriot said of the 6-foot 4-inch, 215-pound right-hander. Muskat Ramblings.

These things happen, obviously, but it’s good news that no one was hurt. Live batting practice is always a little dicey because you’ve got two players on the line with every pitch.

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