I can’t say I’m surprised: Lou Piniella today announced that Kevin Gregg – and not Carlos Marmol – will begin the season as the Chicago Cubs closer. Rue if you must, but this is the correct decision, and not simply because of the Cubs’ strong financial incentive to make Gregg the closer. Gregg is an […]
The Sun Times’ Gordon Wittenmyer polled the remaining pitchers in Cubs camp regarding their thoughts on, well, themselves. They ranked each other in various categories, and it is certain not to breed subtle resentment and underlying hostility. But who cares about that part. It’s interesting as hell. Let’s take a look at some of the […]
Sick of the cheesy titles yet? Either Carlos Marmol or Kevin Gregg will be the closer, and Lou said today he’ll have a decision on that by the weekend — once Marmol pitches back-to-back days, Thursday and Friday. Piniella already hasn’t said which way he’s leaning but has admitted he has ideas about which way […]
Yesterday’s game against the Rockies was a big one with the bats, but more importantly, it showcased many of the arms trying to make the Cubs bullpen. Chad Gaudin started, though the spot he’s trying to secure is a bullpen spot, and gave up two runs (one earned) in two innings. Struck out two, walked […]
In case you hadn’t noticed, Spring Training Battlewatch has come to a close. With fewer and fewer battles remaining, it’s time to focus on the specific battles remaining. The closer competition is entering its final stages. Manager Lou Piniella had previously said he expected to announce the closer by the end of last week, but […]
Today, instead of looking at box scores, let’s just look at some things manager Lou Piniella said yesterday. “There are two jobs open in that bullpen as far as I’m concerned,” Piniella said. “We’ve got probably about six candidates, and we’ll let them compete here the last two weeks and see who wants to grab […]
The Chicago Cubs exacted more fake revenge on the Los Angeles Dodgers for last year’s pathetically, embarrassingly, awfully, ridiculously, pathetically, I know I already said pathetically but it was really pathetic, terribly poor playoff effort. Battles! Esteban German and Corey Koskie – making his debut – split time at third. Koskie went 1-2 with a […]
Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella has said he’s likely to announce the team’s closer for the upcoming season by the end of this week. Despite popular opinion to the contrary, Piniella has indicated that Kevin Gregg is at least as likely to claim the role as Carlos Marmol. How could this be? Marmol is obviously […]
The Chicago Cubs lost to the White Sox… again. Good thing it’s just fake baseball. Though the games are fake, the… battles… are… REAL! (you tittered right there, didn’t you?) Jake Fox went 2-4, to keep up the relatively nice Spring. He played first base in this one, so he’s logging time at a variety […]
The Chicago Cubs acquired Kevin Gregg from the Florida Marlins at the outset of the off-season, and the deal was roundly reviled for two reasons: 1.) It meant Kerry Wood was not coming back; and 2.) The Cubs had to part with vaunted prospect, Jose Ceda, to get Gregg. Well, I’m here to tell you […]
Earlier in the off-season, the Cubs moved Felix Pie, Ronny Cedeno, and Michael Wuertz out of town – major league caliber players, for whom there was likely not a spot on the 2009 Chicago Cubs. And because they were out of minor league options (typically, a player has three “option years” in which the major […]
The prevailing wisdom is that Carlos Marmol will take over as the Cubs’ closer this year, based on the fact that he is a large-eared super-bad-ass-master on the mound. But, maybe Kevin Gregg is, too (snicker). The Cubs acquired Kevin Gregg from Florida this offseason, and Piniella doesn’t want to declare Marmol the closer until […]
While I appreciate the difficulty a “general” sports media source may have in covering every single team in every single sport with the same depth that a blog dedicated to a particular team with a razor-sharp focus (and ninja writing skills, I might add) might be able to. But sometimes, as is the case with […]
As the Cubs have always done, they wrapped a one-year deal for Kevin Gregg before his case went to arbitration. Cubs agreed to terms with RHP Kevin Gregg on a one-year, $4.2 million contract. Florida traded Gregg in large part because he was due for a big raise via arbitration and sure enough he settles […]
It’s almost here! Squeals of excitement! The Cubs Convention is this weekend, and although I’ve never been, I imagine it to be like the scene in Charlie in the Chocolate Factory where they enter that first room and everything is edible, and everyone starts eating everything in sight. You know, except that “everyone” is just […]
Bruce Miles drops some knowledge on us from this year’s Cubs Caravan, and Carrie Muskat does the same, and here’s the ultramega shorthand: Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg are the last two inning guys, but a closer hasn’t yet been chosen. Jeff Samardzija could be in the rotation next year for the Cubs (that’s what […]
Many years ago – well, two, I guess – when I was but a humble poster on Chicago Cubs message boards, I was absolutely incensed at one of Jim Hendry’s signings. The Cubs were looking for a second baseman to replace Todd Walker/Tony Womack/Neifi Perez/Horror. Walker had played relatively well in his time with the […]
Something we plan on doing regularly here at Bleacher Nation is explaining why the latest Chicago Cubs news and rumors suck. Does that mean that the person writing about it sucks? No. Does it even mean they’re wrong? Not necessarily. It’s just a thing we like to say. So if it ever happens to you […]
