Randy Wells pitched 3 scoreless innings in the Cubs 5-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.  He allowed just 1 hit while striking out 2 and walking none in his efficient outing.  This is great news for Cubs fans as Wells continues to look like a solid #3 starter until Ted Lilly’s return at the end of April.

The Cubs have a TON of issues in their pitching staff after starters Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Wells and Lilly, set-up man John Garbow and closer Carlos Marmol.  Wells had 1 great season in 2009, but that was his 1st full year at the major league and there was still some concern as to whether he would be able to duplicate that effort in 2010.  Wells clearly took the off-season seriously and is looking like he is ready to pick up right where he left off in 2009.  This is definitely a big positive for the Cubs – let’s hope we hear more positives out of Mesa over the next few weeks leading up to the 2010 MLB schedule at Wrigley Field…

One negative – although Marmol struck out the side in the 4th inning, he gave up 1 earned run on 2 hits and a walk.  Youngster James Russell who is competing for a spot in the Cubs bullpen pitched a perfect 8th inning with 3 strikeouts – he has yet to give up a run this spring.

Ryan Dempster provided a solid spring training debut – pitching 2 scoreless innings retiring all 6 batters that he faced in the Cubs 10-3 win over the Oakland A’s on Monday.  This is good news for a Cubs pitching staff that is dealing with its share of troubles.  The Cubs should be good at the front end of the starting rotation once Ted Lily returns, but the 5th starter spot and the bullpen could have some issues.  A good Dempster showing in 2010 will mean some stability that should help keep the Cubs bullpen fresh and ready for a grueling 162 game MLB schedule.

Sean Marshall worked 2 innings giving up 1 run on a solo home run and 1 other hit.

Jeff Samardzija worked 2 scoreless innings giving up 1 hit and 1 walk in the process.

Tom Gorzelanny gave up 2 runs on a home run in his 2 innings of work.

Marshall, Samardzija and Gorzelanny (along with Carlos Silva) are competing for the final starting slots in the rotation.  The other 2 will likely end up in the bullpen and once Ted Lilly returns, a 3rd out of the group will get dropped back into the bullpen or sent to Triple-A to continue working as a starter.

Two good hitting performances in the game – Ryan Theriot was 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored, while Mike Fontenot was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s and 1 run scored.  Kosuke Fukodome had another hit in the 2-hole behind Theriot and is hitting .500 during the first few games of spring.

Manager Lou Pinella has gotta be happy with some of these performances…

Ted Lilly is continuing to make positive progress from his winter left shoulder surgery.  This is great news for the Chicago Cubs pitching staff who has had to deal with injuries to Angel Guzman and Jeff Gray and poor performances from Carlos Silva, Jeff Stevens and John Gaub.

Lilly threw 30 pitches off of the mound on Sunday – the 2nd time that he has tested his arm off of a mound this spring.  Lilly is still not expected to be ready by opening day, but if he continues at this pace with no further setbacks, he should be ready to go by the 3rd or 4th week of the 2010 MLB season.

Pitching Coach Larry Rothschild had this to say about Lilly’s progress since recovering from a nasty flu at the start of spring training — “So far, no bumps in the road and we’ll just keep progressing… You always look for any bumps in the road that might come up and hopefully limit the time if there are any.  He’s already had the virus so hopefully that’s all behind him.”

It looks like Angel Guzman has a torn ligament in his right throwing arm and Carlos Silva was miserable in his 1st appearance this spring against the White Sox on Saturday.  Silva gave up 6 ER on 7 hits in just 2 innings of work, including 2 home runs to White Sox slugger Carlos Quentin.  Ouch.  Looks like Silva might not be ready for the starting rotation after all.  Too bad the Cubs had to take on his $26 million over the next 2 years simply to unload Milton Bradley to the Seattle Mariners this winter.  That could be a major disaster if the Silva doesn’t show enough to even make the Cubs roster at the end of the month.  It would be really hard to waive a player owed that much money and even if the Cubs were able to trade him to a team that desperately needed a starting pitcher, the Cubs would likely have to take on a good chunk of that salary to make the deal work.  Nice work, Jim (Hendry)!

We’ll keep you posted – with the Sunday rainouts against the White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers in split squad action, let’s hope the Cubs can get back on track in today’s game against the Oakland A’s.

Injuries to Angel Guzman and Jeff Gray have opened up competition for a few extra bullpen slots for the 2010 Cubs.

Guzman who has had a history of arm injuries will have an MRI on his sore right shoulder this weekend.  Guzman will likely not be ready for opening day and his 2010 status is now up in the air again.  After a solid 2009 in which he appeared in a career-high 55 games (with a 2.95 ERA), this is a big blow for the Cubs who had thought he put his injury woes behind him.

Jeff Gray has been dealing with a sore groin all spring.  Gray was projected to be the right-handed set-up man for Closer Carlos Marmol, so the longer he sits, the more dire the situation for the Cubs.

Right now, the 3 locks for bullpen spots are Marmol, John Grabow and Esmailin Caridad.  Sean Marshall and Jeff Samardzija could also land spots in the rotation if they do not win one of the 2 open starting rotation spots.

Other bullpen candidates include Jeff Stevens, John Gaub, Thomas Diamond, Blake Parker and Andrew Cashner.  Manager Lou Pinella likes what he’s seen out of Cashner so far: “Cashner’s a nice looking young kid.  That’s going to be up to the organization.  First of all, let’s see how he pitches here.  Let’s see what the organization has planned as far as starter, reliever.  I think Jim will make that decision and rightfully so.”

This is not good news for the Cubs.  GM Jim Hendry might have to work a little magic to pick up a more established reliever once spring training camps break in early April.  If not, we could be looking at a lot of young kids pitching a lot of meaningful innings for the Cubs at Wrigley Field in 2010.

Carlos Zambrano cruised through 2 scoreless innings in his spring training debut on Friday.  The Cubs rallied to defeat the D’Backs with a 2-run 9th inning that gave the Cubs an 8-7 win to the delight of the “Wrigley Field West” faithful in Mesa.

Zambrano worked 2 innings and did not allow a hit or a walk.  He had 1 strikeout.

Jeff Stevens and John Gaub – both contenders for a spot in the Cubs bullpen – did not look good in their spring debuts.  Stevens gave up 4 ER on 3 hits and 1 walk in 1 2/3 innings pitched.  He did have 3 K’s.  Gaub gave up an earned run on 2 hits in 1 1/3 innings pitched.  Not what we want to see from our relievers, especially with Angel Guzman and Jeff Gray sidelined with injuries early this spring.

On a positive note, the Cubs position player stars of the future excelled in the win.  Tyler Colvin was 3 for 3 in Thursday’s opener and followed that fine effort up with 2 more doubles and 2 RBI’s in Friday’s win.  Josh Vitters had 2 hits and scored 2 runs, while Starling Castro also had 2 hits with 1 run scored.  These are the stars of the future for the Cubs, so look for them to see some extended action this spring and plenty of action at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field in the near future.

The Chicago Cubs got off to a good start with a decisive 9-3 win over the Oakland A’s in the Cactus League opener.  Two important pitchers got off to good starts for the Cubs.  Randy Wells pitched 2 scoreless innings striking out 2 A’s batters, while Sean Marshall pitched 2 hitless and scoreless innings while striking out one.  Wells is locked in as the Cubs 3rd/4th starter, while Marshall is competing for a spot in the rotation and will end up in the bullpen if he doesn’t earn a starting spot.

Derrke Lee had 2 hits including a home run to lead off the club’s 4th inning.  Marlon Byrd and Sam Fuld also hit home runs in the win, while Starlin Castro showed off his speed with a triple in the 8th inning.

Good news all around Cubs fans.  Pitching is the key to any team’s chances of winning a pennant, so it’s good to see Wells and Marshall look sharp in their 1st appearances of the spring.

Alfonso Soriano continues to improve his conditioning this Spring and it looks like he will be ready to start against the cross-town-rival White Sox on Saturday in Mesa.  Soriano’s rehabbed knee is responding well so far and he has been working with new Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo (his old hitting coach with the Texas Rangers) on shortening his stride during his swing.  Hopefully all the extra work will pay off for Soriano in 2010.

Manager Lou Pinella is optimistic about getting much better production from the $18-million man this season: “He’s healthy, and we expect him to be a better all-around player. We’re not going to expect 30 stolen bases from him or anything like that.  Hitting in the 6th hole, he can save his legs a little more… What we need from Alfonso is some power and RBI production… Let’s hope he has an injury-free season and gets back to where he was a couple of years ago and [is] a little more disciplined and [has] a healthy season, and a productive one.”

Amen to that — Soriano can’t be as bad as his .241 batting average and .303 on-base percentage during the 2009 MLB schedule.  Despite playing in only 109 games in 2008 due to injuries, he still clubbed 29 HR’s and drove in 75 runs in 453 at-bats.  If he can get close to that in 2010, that would be a huge improvement for the Cubs.  It would also mean that Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez would have a little more protection in the middle of the lineup.  That can only mean good things for the Cubs offensive production in 2010…

The Chicago Cubs are on the verge of signing Juan Yasser Serrano.  Serrano is a highly touted right-handed Cuban pitching prospect.  Serrano defected from Cuba in April 2009 after pitching for the Cuban Junior National Team in an international tournament.  So far the Cubs have denied all reports regarding Serrano.  Other sources have indicated that the Serrano signing should happen within the next month or so.  Serrano still needs to complete a physical and some additional legal paperwork, but it looks like all signs are a go for Serrano.

This would be a solid acquisition for the Cubs.  You always hear about the Red Sox or Yankees landing these “can’t miss” pitchers from abroad, so it would be great if the Cubs started getting in the mix with these guys too.  We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything more definitive with Serrano in the upcoming weeks.

Randy Wells will open up the Cubs spring training slate with the opening start against the Oakland A’s on Thursday.  Wells started the 2009 season at Triple-A Iowa but ended up being the Cubs most reliable starting pitcher taking advantage of a slew of injuries to Cubs regulars during the course of the long MLB schedule.  Wells ended up making 27 starts, going 12-10 with a stellar 3.05 ERA.  He struck out 104 batters while walking just 46 in 165 1/3 innings pitched.  That all added up to a nifty 1.28 WHIP.  Wells locked up a starting spot in the 2010 Cubs rotation with his consistent performance in 2009.  Manager Lou Pinella will look to Wells to anchor the 4th spot in the rotation once Ted Lilly returns from his shoulder surgery.

Wells credits playing guitar and trying to write songs with keeping him on an even-feel during the long MLB season.  He has played guitar for about 4 years and in the last year has gotten serious about expanding his playing abilities and writing music.  It’s not easy according to the righty: “I’m just starting out.  I enjoy writing down thoughts and memories.  We get to do so much cool stuff.  It’s nice to write down and remember it.  It’s like taking pictures… It keep syou out of trouble and from spending money and doing dumb stuff.”

Whatever it takes I guess.  With questions at the back end of the rotation until Lilly’s return towards the end of April, it is really important for Wells to get off to a good start in 2010.  Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster should be fine at the front end, but it will be up to Wells to bridge that gap in the 3-spot in front of a quartet of hopefuls – Jeff Samardzija, Sean Marshall, Carlos Silva and Tom Gorzelanny.  We’ll keep you posted here after a few weeks go by during spring training.  If 1 of the 4 breaks out with a few good appearances in a row, they could lock up a slot in the starting rotation fairly early on.

Cubs Closer Carlos Marmol is already looking sharp during this throwing sessions this spring.  That has got to be good news for Cubs Manager Lou Pinella and the rest of the Cubs pitching staff.  Pinella had this to say about Marmol’s status: “Marmol’s throwing the ball so easy and is so far ahead of where he was last spring.  He’s confident and is working himself into shape.”

Koyie Hill caught Marmol for part of his batting practice session and he echoed Pinella’s sentiments: “Marmol looked very sharp today with his control, breaking ball.  We’re going to need him, too.  He’s another one who takes a lot of pride and works very hard in what he does.  It’s not by accident.  It’s not just because he’s gifted and has a lot of ability, it’s because he works his tail off.  You can tell.”

Starlin Castro – perhaps the Cubs shortstop of the future – even took a few swings off of Marmol.  He stayed his ground on a slider that didn’t break and got plunked in the middle of the back.  Pinella was impressed with Castro’s batting – “He didn’t leave — he stood there, to his credit.”  Aramis Ramirez decided to skip Marmol’s batting practice session.  Ramirez only likes to take BP from coaches during live batting practices or in the cages.  So he avoided having to face the nasty Marmol.

That is great news for Cubs fans.  If Marmol can pick up where he left off in 2009, he could see a 30+ save-year for Marmol in 2010.  And if that happens, that would probably mean good things for the Cubs overall record in 2010.