Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Cubs make Randy Wells cry

Randy Wells was demoted today.

No more nightlife escapades...no more mediocre pitching.  Off to Iowa...

At least for a little while until someone gets hurt of Jeff Samardzija pitches as we all expect him to (and that's poorly).

The Wells move was a bit of shock, but as I think about it, if the Cubs do think of him as a legit part to this team and a 6th starter, since he had an option left, keeping him stretched out as a starter was probably the right move.

Before spring training, Wells was probably the #3 starter on this team, but Volstad and Samardzija were just too good to not give a chance to.  Wells actually pitched pretty well himself this spring, so his demotion was less about how he did and more about how the other two guys did.

After spending almost 3 seasons in Chicago, this undoubtedly is a big blow to Wells.

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A number of other moves were made today...none of which were all that surprising.

Joe Mather...aka "The Beav"...made the team, along with Blake DeWitt.  Mather quickly made an announcement that he is now on the "wrong side" of the Cubs/Cardinals rivalry.

Steve Clevenger was picked over Welington "Beef Castle" Castillo...which makes me sad mainly because I wanted to use the nickname "Beef Castle" this season.

Casey Coleman was the only person who was surprised to learn that he didn't make the team...same goes for Travis "Not nearly as good as Kerry" Wood.

The Tony Campana wanna-be, Dave Sappelt, was also demoted today.  Others that didn't make the team: Scott Maine, the two Blakes not named DeWitt (Lalli and Parker), Edgar Gonzalez and Matt Tolbert.

Speaking of Tony Campana, no word on him being demoted yet, but based on what I see right now, there isn't a spot for him on the 25 man roster since DeWitt and Mather both made the team.  This means that Tony Campana will need to go back to AAA to learn to be something other than a pinch runner

The Cubs have all of their position players now in place and the rotation is also set, with Jed Hoyer reporting today that team will go with an order of Dempster, Garza, Samardzija, Maholm and Volstad.

The bullpen still has a little bit of shaking-out left to do.  I thought Wells was going to be the long relief guy...I was wrong.  There was one report that Frankie de la Cruz was released today, but I haven't seen any confirmation to that.  Wood (the good one), Marmol and Russell are definitely in.  Marcos Mateo will likely start the season on the DL.  Lendy Castillo has probably locked up a spot.  The Cubs are going to need a long relief guy...that will probably go to Rodrigo Lopez.  That leaves two spots.  Rafael Dolis will probably take one of them.  If De La Cruz isn't on the team, then I have to scratch my head a bit about who the last guy will be.  Newcomer into camp, Shawn Camp (camp/Camp...get it?) could earn that spot or Manny Corpas as well.

In the end, those last few bullpen spots don't matter very much since those slots usually are more of a mix and match throughout the season.

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And in one last note, the Theo compensation stuff is now officially over with Chris Carpenter getting injured, the Red Sox even more furious than they were, and the Cubs acquiring 19 year old 1st baseman, Jair Bogaerts.  I know nothing about Bogaerts other than he is the twin brother of Red Sox top prospect, shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

All that remains from the pillaging the Cubs did to front offices around baseball this year is compensation for Jed Hoyer...which will probably happen before the middle of April when the minor leagues start playing real games.

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One week until opening day.