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.

But where could he play in 2010? Even if the Cubs are able to dispose of Milton Bradley, it is unlikely that Soriano would move to right to make room for Fox in left.

That leaves second base. Now, I have previously touched on this subject and have written that my belief is that this position requires too much footwork and accuracy in turning the double play to actually consider Jake Fox doing it on a daily basis. Especially on a Cubs team that is already below average defensively.

If only the National League had the DH…alas, that is not an option, so Fox likely will be a spot starter and pinch hitter for the Cubs in 2010.

But it is difficult to ignore a bat as powerful as Fox in a season when the Cubs are dead last in batting average with runners in scoring position. Yes, it is the offense that has led to this disappointing season, Cubs fans. Sure, the bullpen has struggled at times, and the rotation has had its bumps, but the offense has been offensive in 2009.

How about catcher? Well, it is true that Jake was drafted as a catcher, but he was apparently moved from that position because he was so bad there. And let’s face it, Geo Soto may have had a lousy season, but I doubt the Cubs are ready to completely give up on the 2008 Rookie-of-the-Year so soon.

Meanwhile, it is worth discussing because it has been refreshing to see his offensive prowess in a season where hitting has been such an eyesore.

Just like Ryan Theriot, this makes you wonder why the Cubs waited so long to give Fox his chance. You have to question the Cubs scouting, no?

I don’t know what position he will play next season, but I am getting convinced that Jake can rake, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

Still, I found Geo’s explanation that this was “an isolated incident” to be borderline ridiculous.

Look, the WBC is a big deal to Puerto Rico. And Geo knew, in advance, that he would be tested.

Recognizing that, I feel that someone really has to be a habitual pot smoker for him to not be willing (or able) to quit long enough to pass a drug test.

Thus, whether it was the guilt of knowing that the news was going to come out, or the fact that the drug made Geo hungry enough to eat half of Puerto Rico, it obviously has affected his season.

Geo came into the season fat and looking sluggish. Now, whether due to the weight of the impending announcement off his shoulders, or perhaps some new-found sobriety, Soto is starting to hit the ball with more authority. His performance is critical for the Cubs.

Dare I say he’s “smoking” hot?

Cubs Manager Lou Piniella Admits He Smoked Dope Too

Hey, the Cubs clubhouse must be a wild place following a victory, what with all the pot heads on this team! Seriously, however, Lou’s admission that he once tried marijuana is hilarious.

Lou said it did nothing for him, which, as smokers know, is often what happens the first couple times one tries pot.

But it is still a funny visual to think of the crazy Cubs manager high on dope, isn’t it?

Should we change his nickname from “Sweet Lou” to “Sweet Leaf Lou”?

Milton Bradley Told to Take His Glove and Go Home

Finally, Lou gets some guts and does what he admits he should have done before: stand up to this idiot and take charge of his clubhouse.

This was the Lou we all thought we were getting when he was hired to replace the sleepy dude, Dusty Baker.

Look, this should be no surprise to the Cubs. Didn’t Jim Hendry say that the team was lacking fire? Well, Bradley gets angry and does his best Big Z impression and he gets tossed while Lou chuckles at Zambrano?

Well, not so fast. Apparently there is more to this story than has been reported. According to sources on the Bleed Cubbie Blue website, Bradley had words with Carlos Zambrano, and has routinely been the last player to arrive to games.

The site goes on to quote unnamed sources as indicating that writers in the other cities where Milton has played have called him “a clubhouse cancer in the truest sense of the word”.

A former teammate called Bradley “the biggest a-hole he had ever had as a teammate.”

While many of us suspected this was a marriage doomed to fail, few of us thought that Milton would struggle as badly on offense as he has.

I guess his antics are much more tolerable when the team is winning and he is hitting.

This is on you, Jim Hendry. I wish the Cubs would just release him. But that won’t happen, not with a guaranteed $30 million over three years.

Cubs Take Game One vs. White Sox

In the “my bad team is better than your bad team” series, the Cubs drew first blood. So much for momentum.

The Sox had just come off of winning a three-game series vs. the best team in baseball, while the Cubs had lost four in a row.

Yet the Cubbies walk into the Cell and edge the Sox. Yes, baseball is an unpredictable sport.

What to do with Jake Fox?

In many ways, this is a welcome problem to have. With no designated hitter in the NL, the Cubs seem to have cornered the market on players who can hit but don’t have a position.

While Fox has looked fine at third base so far, the reports are that he is brutal defensively. But we do know the man can hit AAA pitching.

We cannot get too carried away by his recent power surge because, as we learned from the hot starts of Kosuke Fukudome and the early impressions of Micah Hoffpauir, major league pitchers eventually learn to adjust.

But the early returns seem to indicate that Jake can rake. If so, I believe Lou will continue to find a spot for him, even if it’s behind the plate, where he started his career.

Mark DeRosa is Traded to the Cardinals

Sure, the trade that sent DeRosa to the Indians was awful. And sure, we’re all sorry that the Cubs couldn’t re-acquire him.

But the real salt-in-the-wound moment came when Cleveland traded the versatile DeRosa to the St. Louis Cardinals. I mean, come on, did it have to be the Cardinals?

Look, Mark isn’t an elite player, but he can play many positions, has some power (his 13 homers would be second on the current Cubs squad), and he is a stand up guy in the clubhouse.

Jim Hendry, your off-season just got worse, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

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.

Maybe Fox will be able to hit in the bigs. But at 26, it is questionable.

Second, where will Lou play Fox? He should be kept far away from any glove other than a first baseman’s mitt. Even there, he’s bad defensively.

Plus, we already have two first baseman on the 25-man in Derrek Lee and Micah Hoffpauir.

Still, Fox is intriguiing. His numbers at Iowa this year were simply ridiculous—.423/.503/.886 with an otherworldly 1.389 OPS has to be making Lou salivate.

I just believe that defense is important to team winning. Having guys around like Hoffpauir and now Fox is like trying to fit the proverbial square peg in a round hole. Both would make fine designated hitters in the American League, perhaps.

Having said all that, it is about time the Cubs got rid of Neal Cotts. I’ve only been begging for his departure since last season. Now, Jason Waddell won’t be much better if his stats at Iowa are any indication.

Cotts (above) was sent to Triple-A Iowa

Left-handed batters are hitting .346 against Waddell this year, and he has a 5.40 ERA overall. But, I’d rather have a no-armed man than Cotts at this point.

Like a cool drink of water to a desert dweller, along came the refreshing Bobby Scales. But like a tsunami, he is washed away quicker than you can blink your eye.

The Cubs also placed the disappointing Aaron Miles on the disabled list with a shoulder injury.

Now, many of you never liked the Miles signing. I have to admit that I was in favor of it at the time, mainly because he hit .317 last year for the Cardinals, but also because I thought he would help replace some of the lost versatility that the departure of Mark DeRosa created.

I was wrong.

Replacing Miles on the roster for the time being is infielder Andres Blanco. He is a 25-year-old switch hitter whose primary position is shortstop. Blanco was hitting .314 at Iowa.

However, it’s the starters that are going to make or break this season. Still, youth often brings energy and, as I say, the way Miles was playing and the way Cotts was pitching, these changes can’t be any worse.

Yet, if the Cubs want to enact more substanitive changes, they will need to make trades, not this relatively minor shuffling of the deck.

Are the Cubs sinking? Only time will tell. They’ve now won consecutive games, so yee-haw!

Meanwhile, let’s hope the season turns out a bit better than that supposedly unsinkable ship, come to think of it.

-Bob Warja

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