Well, one thing is becoming crystal clear in this murky Cubs season: Jake Fox can hit a baseball.

Now, I realize I haven’t been his biggest supporter but that is largely due to erroneous reports that his defense was so bad that packing a glove was arbitrary.

The truth is, however, that while Fox will never be more than an average (at best) fielder at any position, his defensive shortcomings have been greatly exaggerated by the organization. His bat may actually more than make up for his glove. Read the rest of this entry »

Cubs catcher Geovany Soto tested positive for marijuana at the WBC

Let me start by saying that in my world, this is not that big a deal. Yes, the drug is illegal, but to me, it is relatively harmless, especially when compared with harder drugs.

Still, I found Geo’s explanation that this was “an isolated incident” to be borderline ridiculous. Read the rest of this entry »

So long, Neal. And hey, lose the phone number and address, okay?

The Chicago Cubs made some moves today as previously reported by other writers in our Cubs Community. My initial thought is that all this activity is similar to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m as anxious to see if Jake Fox can hit major league pitching as you are. First of all, we’ve seen minor league phenoms before that couldn’t hit major league pitching. They’re usually called 4A players. Read the rest of this entry »

There are 38 days and six hours from the time of writing this article until Opening Day for the Cubs against the Houston Astros, and even longer before the Cubs play at Wrigley Field, as their first two series are on the road against the Astros and Milwaukee Brewers.

But for now, we have only the first two Spring Training games to talk about, so lets take a look at what we have.

The Cubs were able to take the first Spring Training game against the Dodgers (wonder how that got scheduled) by the final of 5-3, however, pitcher Jeff Samardzija gave up two runs, both in his second and final inning of work.

“Actually, I felt a little better in the second inning,” Samardzija said. “It’s funny how that works. You make some decent pitches and get out of an inning one, two, three, and then you make some good pitches and give up a couple runs.”

Also in the game, Micah Hoffpauir hit a grand slam and Cubbie hopeful Mitch Atkins gave up one run and three hits over two innings.

In the Cubs second Spring Training game, they took down the Brew Crew 7-3 in Sean Marshall’s first shot to prove that he can handle the fifth starting spot this season.

Marshall gave up one run on four hits in two innings, nothing stellar but not horrible either.

We also had our first Carlos Mamol showing, he pitched one inning, allowing one run and one hit.

Jake Fox, another Cubbie hopeful, started at first base and hit a three-run home run.

Ted Lilly makes his lone Spring Training today against the Rangers, as the Cubs look to continue their perfect Spring Training (maybe not a good thing after the Detroit Lions).

Although Spring Training is a nice warm-up for the regular season, I look forward to, in 38-days, watching the Cubs take on the Astros as the regular season starts.

-Joe Willett