Today the Cubs head back to Goodyear (still just the city, not the tire) to take on the Cincinnati Reds. Matt Garza takes the ball for the Cubs, hopefully getting close to a regular season pitch count. New Reds ace Mat Latos starts on the other side, but is missing a “T” in his name. Can’t trust a guy like that.
The game is at 3:05 CT, and audio is available on MLB.com.
Today’s lineup hints at either Starlin Castro batting 2nd or Starlin Castro batting 3rd, all without him being in it:
1. David DeJesus, RF
2. Darwin Barney, 2B
3. Alfonso Soriano, LF
4. Bryan LaHair, 1B
5. Joe Mather, 3B
6. Marlon Byrd, CF
7. Alfredo Amezaga, SS
8. Welington Castillo, C
9. Matt Garza, P
Can you expound on your last statement?
how does this lineup hint at Castro batting 2nd or 3rd?
It’s got Barney batting 2nd, hinting Castro could bat 3rd, and it has Soriano and Lahair batting 3rd and 4th, hinting that Castro could bat 2nd. Made sense to me.
That’d be it.
That is what I got out of it seeing as Amezega has almost no chance of making the team but can use all the looks we can get out of him.
“Today’s lineup hints at either Starlin Castro batting 2nd or 3rd, all without him being in it:”
“Either starlin castro”
Wait, when did we get more than one Starlin Castro?
LOL. Nice one.
Yes! Syntax jokes! I love them!
That is so awesome. I thought I was the only person who loved syntax jokes, lmao.
Brett turned into a cannibal over st. patty’s day, fyi.
That’s why he keeps mentioning the need for well “seasoned” players.
“Restocking the cupboard with prospects” just took on a new meaning.
Grade A prospects must be tender but also very moist.
This could get unseemly… well, I mean, more than it already is…
Ha ha just warning people should you ever invite them all to a Dinner party and you decide to dress like Anthony Hopkins.
I did a lot of regretful things…
sorry couldn’t help it
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/computational_linguists.png
Yea, those computational linguists really frost me!
Love your handle, by the way.
LMAO!
I don’t make them because I think they annoy people. But I think them in my head and chuckle.
I’ve long struggled to lose my reputation as a ‘grammar nazi,’ so I usually try to keep them inside my head.
I love this “Pre-Gamin’” thing…
In fact, this morning…I took care of some other business while pre-showerin’, was pre-shavin’ for a bit, and even spent a little time pre-dumpin’.
Before I got in the car, I was pre-drivin’, and feeling badly over my pre-mature resmaculation.
As you can tell, I am off my pre-scribed medications, and pre-dining on trans-fats and refined sugars.
Technically, isn’t everything pre-everything else? Like, I’m pre-dumpin’ right now.
Precisely
I am *not* pre-dumping. Nor post-dumping.
Excellent point…they say that “life is what happens while you’re making other plans”.
With this in mind…I’m wishing everyone consistent and productive pre-dumpin’ experiences.
(And…I was just playing with the “pre-gamin’ stuff. You remain the most inventive and readable Cubs writer of them all.
No pre-bullshit about it. )
Thanks, Evo, as usual.
Barney up to .382 this spring with two hits today.
Who wants to insist that ST stats mean something?
I DO!!! Ian Stewart’s hitting .258 w/ a .343 OBP! ZOMG!!!
And one more home run than I expect him to hit in the regular season
my hope is that Barney SLGs at least .400 this year. he’s not going to learn how to take a walk this late in his career so it’s nice that he roided up over the offseason and is showing extra base power
.280/.325/.400 would be very acceptable from Barney and probably much needed to fight off competition
Matt Garza gets on base both times at the plate so far! I dont care if the first time was off an Error, he ended up scoring and that makes me happy. But Dejesus is making me sad. If he keeps floundering at the plate like this I dont think we should be starting him.
And down goes another Reds pitcher. Thanks, Dusty!
Yea, I am watching gameday and all it said was Injury delay at first rather than who it was that was injured. Thought it was Soriano for a sec and feared it was Garza pulling a hammy as he walked to first. Any break in the challenge for the NL Central is welcome as far as I am concerned.
Ain’t nothing like losing your big-splurge free agent rotation ace!
Yea, real bummer for any Reds fans but cant say it doesnt make me a little happy.
i know this is heresy here but what if, just what if Castro is being shopped quietly ….and what if it has something to do with his off season antics as part of a deal/…just hypothecizing
Burn the witch! I dont think he would be shopped for that reason. However, I dont think he is untouchable if a tremendous deal comes rolling in for him but I dont see the real benefits of that happening for a couple years when we may have a decent enough SS to replace him and by then he may have gained enough power to move over to 3rd. His offseason business doesnt seem to have effected his playing nor the clubhouse manner so there is no need to try and get rid of him.
I wouldn’t be opposed to shopping Castro. He’s going to get expensive soon, and I’m not a huge fan of his SS defense (I’ve argued all offseason that he still has plenty of time to improve it, but there’s still the chance that he doesn’t). I also think he’s a bit overvalued thanks to consecutive seasons of nice BABIP that he probably can’t quite maintain.
But it would have to be one epic haul.
Even if he does become expensive, at the moment he is worth it and as his power and defense get better he will be more worth it. I can see him being apart of our lineup for many more years and if he gets traded he needs to bring in at least 2 people destined to be good MLB regulars and I just dont see any team committing to that.
You’d need an epic haul either headed by an elite position player or starting pitcher with similar service time, or multiple high ranking prospects. Considering that most organizations would view the sort of guys it would take to get Castro as untouchable themselves, especially in the numbers it would require to get Castro, the idea that Castro would in fact be traded is not particularly likely.
I agree I dont think its going to happen but its not impossible just improbable
Thanks Marshall for the Wild Pitch. Glad to see you are still playing for us.
EDIT: Gameday is showing that Marshall never left the mound and is now pitching against the Reds as well. Apparently he is playing for us.
Lendy! What the balk do you think you are doing!