Spring Training Miscellany: Cubs 3, A’s 1 – March 23, 2011

When is a win not a win? I think you know where this is going…

  • So Carlos Silva decided to have his best Spring outing at the worst possible time. Six innings, just three hits, one earned, and three Ks. Does that win him the fifth starter spot? Eh. When combined with Andrew Cashner’s inability to get stretched out? Probably. At least for the first few weeks of the season. All the folks betting on Cashner might come up losers. If Silva does win the job, I am not going to complain too outwardly to start. But if he has more than one – yes, just one – crap outing in April, it’s game over. He should be gone.
  • Casey Coleman reminded folks that he still wouldn’t mind a job in the big league pen, throwing a scoreless inning. Ditto Marcos Mateo. The fact that these two survived today’s bullpen cuts suggests they are very much in the running for the final bullpen spot.
  • Reed Johnson solidified his hold on the fifth outfielder spot with a 2-4 day, while Fernando Perez went 0-fer again.
  • Most interesting bit of news, outside of the Silva stuff, was Geovany Soto batting fifth – ahead of Alfonso Soriano. Very interesting (and laudable), indeed.
  •  

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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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