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Cub Notes On A Snowy Tuesday
– Gordon Wittenmyer writes in today's Sun-Times that Mark DeRosa's cardiac issues are not a major concern to DeRo or Cub doctors, nor will they be the impetus for any personnel moves by Jim Hendry.
Wittenmyer also thinks the Cubs are more likely to add that proverbial, right-handed hitting, three-position outfielder before Opening Day than they are He Who Must Not Be Named.
– Baseball Musings sizes up a potential Cubs rotation of Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Dempster, and Marquis (Where is your Lieber?) based on the Marcel the Monkey projections and foresees a cumulative 4.28 ERA for the fivesome. That's a few ticks above the 4.19 ERA Cub starters pitched to last season, when their ERA was second best in the NL, but still pretty solid.
One highly questionable element in the projection: Ryan Dempster's projected 4.50 ERA. Only once in his career as a starting pitcher--Dempster's All-Star season in 2000 down in pitcher-friendly Florida--has Dempster ever had an ERA at or below 4.50.
– Yesterday I offered a semi-synopsis of the Cubs chapter from Baseball Prospectus 2008. Last night the Hardball Times season preview showed up in my mailbox.
Without summarizing the Cubs chapter, I will simply report that there is one, and Joe Aiello of View From The Bleachers does a nice job with the write-up. Also, the book weighs about a third as much as BP08. And it includes cartoons.
– Thanks to all who nominated The Cub Reporter for the various Strode Awards being handed out by the boys at Cubscast. Sadly, like Ellen Page, we missed out on the major hardware, though we were honored for having coined the term "cubbery." (Congratulations to reader Chad, the actual coiner. Rob G. has agreed to waive Chad's TCR subscription fee for the next month as his prize.)
We hope to do better next year. Either that, or we'll just have a bunch of you join us in egging Cubcast's treehouse.