Cubs Losing More than Games....

You can add Carlos Marmol and Aramis Ramirez to the list of Cubs who are hurting. The first was Bradley with his sore groin, now you have Carlos Marmol with a grade A strain in his knee, and Ramirez will miss at least 3 games with a strained calf.

The one good thing is losing your stars early in the season for a short time is not a huge deal but it could hurt. The Cubs are expected to call up a guy to back up the infield. Some rumored names are Bobby Scales, Andres Blanco, and Jake Fox. The Cubs should call up Fox, he can rake!

The Cubs have other issues as well, moving the lineup around they way Lou did is simply idiotic. Having Lee hit 4th and Soriano hit 3rd does not make sense. This is what he should do-

With Aram-
Theriot SS
Fukudome RF
Aram 3b
Soriano LF
Fontenot 2b
Lee 1st
Soto C
Pitcher

Without Aram
Theriot SS
Soto C
Fukudome RF
Soriano LF
Fontenot 2b
Lee 1st
Soto C
Pitcher

With Bradley and Aram back, everyday lineup-

Soriano LF
Lee 1st
Bradley RF
Aram 3b
Fukudome CF
Soto C
Fontenot 2b
Theriot SS
Pitcher

But that is just my opinion.

MIlton Bradley to Sit and Bye Luis....

- Sweet Lou will sit Milton Bradley until he is completely healthy and it seems he is far from that after going 0 for 4 with 3 Ks last night. He has been bothered by a bad groin and may be out for a while but is available to pinch hit. Lou does not see him going on the DL. I got to say they should put him on the DL and call up Jake Fox, he has been tearing the cover off the ball in Iowa. Plus he can backup almost ever position on the field. Just my thoughts.

- The Cubs DFA Luis Vizcaino and recalled Shark from Iowa.

Cubs To Call on Shark, Deal Cotts....UPDATE....

UPDATE @ 6:30pm- Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune says the Cubs will call up Jeff Samardzija Thursday to join the pen and not start. Bradley is back in the lineup and will not head to the DL and lefties Neal Cotts and Sean Marshall will not be sent to Iowa. Sullivan speculates that Luis Vizcaino may be released which would mean the Cubs would have to eat the 4 million they owe him. I think it would be silly for the Cubs to release Vizcaino, in 3 IP he has no ER and no BBs. He has been one of the only bright spots in the pen. I think Sullivan is off on this one. I think Neal Cotts may be headed to the DL even though there is nothing wrong with him. The other thing is that maybe Kevin Gregg could be headed to the DL because of his knee and how it has effected his pitching. The last game he pitched in was the 18th which would put 15 days at May 3rd, giving plenty of time for the Cubs to deal Cotts or find out who deserves a spot in the pen. Only time will tell.

Bruce Levine said today that the Cubs could call up Jeff Samardzija as soon as the Cubs deal one of their bullpen guys that are not performing. The Cubs can't send down Patton or Guzman because they could lose them so the likely candidates would be Cotts or even Vizcaino. Cotts has basically pitched his way out of the pen and Marshall then could be placed permanently in the pen with Shark starting in the rotation.

I still think the Cubs are fine with Marshall in the rotation and they should deal Cotts and call up Waddell, not Jeff. Let Jeff continue to work on his pitches. He has not exactly been dominate in Iowa giving up 3 ER in 6 innings. Waddell on the other hand has gave up no walks and has an 1.25 ERA in 4 innings of work.

More on this later....

Milton Suspended and other notes..

- Milton Bradley has been suspended two games and fined after making contact with umpire Larry Vanover. Larry is the one that made the awful call so he should be fined as well. Milton is appealing the suspension. I think he should just take it and take it now while he is still hurting.

- The Cubs sale is still moving but slowly. It could take until the beginning of June now. The good thing is Ricketts said the first order of business is setting payroll for the rest of the season.

- The Cubs could make a move very soon by calling up a reliever or two up from AAA if things do not start improving. Chad Fox, Jeff Stevens, Jose Ascaino, Jason Waddell, and Greg Reindhard have not gave up any ER yet in AAA Iowa. Waddell has yet to walk anyone in 3 innings of work. Nice to see the guys in Iowa putting pressure on the guys in Chicago.

That is it for now. Go Cubs!!!