The Cubs are starting Kerry Wood tonight against Houston. I have a feeling the young righthander has a big game in him tonight.

Be sure you don't miss any of the action.

As I sit down to write this, Jake Peavy, Randy Johnson, Milton Bradley, Bobby Abreu and Raul Ibanez are not Chicago Cubs.

Mark DeRosa is not a Philadelphia Phillie.

Felix Pie is not a Baltimore Oriole.

Ronny Cedeno, Jason Marquis, Kevin Hart, Michael Wuertz, Angel Guzman and Sean Marshall are not San Diego Padres.

Kerry Wood is not a Cleveland Indian.

And though it falls outside the normal purview of this blog, I am proud to point out that I did not vote to keep the State of Illinois' Chief Narcissist and Sociopath in office the last time he ran.

Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus is no fan of the Cubs' acquisition of Marlins closer Kevin Gregg last week.

In a piece posted Sunday at BP, Sheehan argues that the newest Cub is currently no better than the team's third- or fourth-best right-handed reliever, which is pretty sad given that he was acquired at the cost of the third-ranked prospect in the entire Cubs system, young Jose Ceda, "who at worst will probably be better than Gregg starting in 2010."

Continues Sheehan...

This deal smells like the Braves' acquisition of Dan Kolb in 2005, a team getting a pitcher whose save total belies the fact that he's just not nearly as good as that statistic, and having a front-row seat for the end of his career.

Kolb, you may recall, was a star in the Brewer bullpen for two years, 2003 and 2004, following four, mostly undistinguished years with the Rangers. In '03 and '04, Kolb saved a whole big bunch of games for Milwaukee (60, to be exact), had some dandy ERAs (1.96 and 2.98), and even made an All-Star appearance. He was traded to the Braves following the '04 season to replace John Smoltz in the Atlanta pen and didn't provide much relief at all, going 3-8, 5.93. He did save 11 games in 2005, but he blew 7 save opportunities, which was the same number he had squandered while accumulating those 60 saves in his two years in Milwaukee.

Kolb was traded back to the Brewers following the '05 season but was ineffective in 2006, as he was for the Pirates in 2007. He tried and failed to make the Red Sox roster coming out of Spring Training last season and is currently a free agent.

For the sake of comparison, Gregg saved 61 games for the Marlins the past two seasons with a 3.48 ERA, following four mostly undistinguished years with the Angels.

If the notion of Gregg as Kolb isn't enough to dampen your enthusiasm for last week's trade—assuming you had any—Sheehan goes on to argue that looking forward, he would rather have Kerry Wood's next three seasons than Francisco Rodriguez's...

...without even considering the difference in the money they'll make. Wood, having been through the surgeries and the comebacks and having adapted quite well to relief pitching, seems ready to be a high-strikeout, great-peripherals high-leverage reliever in his thirties, and because he's new to the role and hasn't pitched very much of late, I'd rather take a chance on him than on Rodriguez, whose command problems scare the heck out of me.

The biggest difference between the two (in 2008 was) their walk rates. Wood went to the bullpen and pounded the strike zone. Rodriguez hasn't been that guy in a few years, and is getting worse instead of better. There's a league gap here that favors Rodriguez, but that's in the past; I'm signing the guy's future, and I'd rather pay for Wood's future than Rodriguez's.

Kerry Wood, whose place in Cub history was assured for time immemorial the moment his 20-strikeout game ended in early May, 1998, is now just that—history. At least, in terms of his time in Cubbie blue. That was implied by the Cubs' acquisition of the Marlins' Kevin Gregg on Thursday and then confirmed by Cubs GM Jim Hendry. As quoted by Paul Sullivan in the Tribune:

"Honestly, we feel for his own good, and for the good of him and his family, there is going to be a longer and more lucrative deal somewhere else than there would be here now," Hendry said. "And it would be unfair to keep it dangling for another month or so and say, 'Let's see where the ownership situation is going, let's see what happens if we don't do this, we may do that.'

"He has been such a good citizen the last couple of years and always has come back to us for less money, and the chance to make up the difference he left on the table, taking the ball through thick and thin. And I really feel like the right thing to do for him and his family is don't put him in a situation where he'd have to do that again."

To land Gregg, the Cubs shipped 6-foot-4, 275-pound, 100 mph-throwin' relief prospect Jose Ceda to the Marlins.

From the Miami Herald:

The Marlins have been actively shopping Gregg, who stands to receive more than $4 million next season through salary arbitration. Matt Lindstrom is the current frontrunner to take over the closer's role next season.

Gregg, who has been the Marlins' closer the past two seasons, totaled 61 saves for the Marlins in 2007 and '08. But his nine blown saves last season was tied for most in the majors, and Gregg lost his ninth-inning role in September after missing time with patella tendinitis in his left knee.

He had surgery on the knee nearly three weeks ago and is expected to be ready for spring training.

Also from the Herald, regarding the 21-year-old Ceda, who came to the Cubs organization in the 2006 deal that sent Todd Walker to the Padres and has 227 strikeouts in 180 2/3 minor league innings:

Ceda was considered to have one of the best arms in the Cubs organization. Scouting reports say that while his change-up needs work, he throws a hard slider and a fastball that approaches 100 miles per hour. He has averaged more than 11 strikeouts per nine innings during his three seasons in the minors.

But his size...has raised eyebrows. His minor-league teammates fined him $10 in a kangaroo court for asking a young boy at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter to buy him ice cream when Daytona played there last summer.

I'm going to take more time than I have right now to say goodbye to Kerry Wood. He always struck me as a first-class guy and it saddens me to think that if the Cubs finally get to the World Series next year or anytime soon, it will be without Kerry Wood there to enjoy it.

From reader comments during Thursday night's stirring 6-4 Cubs victory, the Cubs' 50th home victory of the season, as they appeared at The Good Phight, an excellent Phillies fans blog:

Before tonight's 6-3 win over the Marlins, the Cubs officially disabled Kerry Wood. After the win, the Cubs officially summoned righthander Jeff Samardzija from Iowa.

Though Samardzija appeared to be a candidate to share in middle-inning relief duties while Wood was out and Carlos Marmol slipped into the closer's role, Gordon Wittenmyer writes in the Sun-Times that Samardzija might start one of this weekend's games against Florida, which would allow Lou Piniella to give Rich Harden an extra day's rest. As Wittenmyer points out,

A Saturday start would push back Rich Harden's scheduled start to his sixth day -- a schedule that produced good results for Harden with Oakland earlier this year.

In fact, with the A's this season, Harden started seven times on five days rest. In those seven starts, he went 4-0, 1.43, with 60 strikeouts in 44 innings. Which is nice.

As for Thursday night's game, it was more "Fun with Carlos" as Marmol walked three men in just an inning-and-a-third on the way to his fourth save.

The save opportunities may end soon for Marmol, however, as the start of Wood's DL stint was backdated to July 14th, which means he will be eligible to return to the Cubs next Tuesday, when the team will play the second of four games against the Brewers.

— Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I found no fewer than eight positives in the concluding game of the Cubs' mostly miserable 2-4 road trip.

— According to the Sun-Times, Tribune Company has pared the field of potential purchasers of the team and the ballpark down to five, with all of those parties having bid at least $1 billion. Mark Cuban is among the five; John Canning, Milwaukee businessman and friend of Bud Selig, is apparently not.

— In light of Kerry Wood's ongoing blister problem, the S-T's Gordon Wittenmyer became the first reporter covering the team to utter those two words, one of which is virtually impossible to spell correctly: Jeff Samardzija.

The blister on [Wood's] right index finger hasn't come close to healing the way the club expected by now, and Wood could be facing another trip to the disabled list after seeing a specialist in Chicago [Thursday]. That might open the way for hard-throwing prospect Jeff Samardzija to make his major-league debut.

Since his recent promotion from Double-A ball, Samardzija has started six games for the I-Cubs, going 4-1, 3.13, fanning 40 and walking 16 in 37 1/3 innings. This past Monday, the former Notre Dame football star held Nashville to 2 hits and 1 run over 6 innings while striking out 9.

— I'll be out of town next week, when manager Ryne Sandberg leads his Class-A Midwest League Peoria Cubs into battle against the Kane County Cougars in the special "Road to Wrigley" game right there at Clark & Addison, but it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. The Cubs have decided to open the upper deck for the contest, with some of the seats going for as little as $5. All in all, a brilliant promotional idea. Hard to believe the Cubs could have come up with such a thing in the absence of former marketing genius-in-residence John McDonough, now President of the Blackhawks, speaking of which...

— Having lived my entire life in the Chicago area, I am at peace with the idea that the weather here will be completely inhospitable to human life from November 1st through April 30th every year, without exception. However, this year on December 31st, I'm really, really, really going to pray that the high temperature on New Year's Day, 2009 hits about 85 degrees.

Yesterday at The Cub Reporter I wrote about the Nasty Boys-level excellence of the '08 Cubs relief trio of Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry...and Howry promptly went out and allowed the Braves 4 hits and 2 runs in just 2/3 of an inning.

Today I wrote about the recent flurry of injuries that had settled over St. Louis, requested that the Fates continue to smile on the eminently healthy Chicago Cubs...and Atlanta's Jeff Bennett sends Alfonso Soriano on a 6-week vacation.

I think I've done quite enough for today, don't you?

Oops, one thing: a correction to yesterday's post, in which I noted that Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood got the night off. In fact, Marmol slipped into the game in the top of the seventh, retired the only hitter he faced, and preserved the lead which Bob Howry then nearly coughed up in the next inning.

Earlier today, I posted a piece at The Cub Reporter comparing the 1990 Cincinnati Reds' "Nasty Boys"—Randy Myers, Rob Dibble, and Norm Charlton—to the 2008 Cubs relief trio of Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry. (That Reds team, too, was managed by Lou Piniella.)

Doing the research reminded me how devastating Myers and Dibble were that season. It also underscored for me how much Wood, Marmol, and Howry are pitching. Through Sunday's game at Los Angeles, Wood and Marmol are on pace to throw in 84 games; Howry is on pace for 76.

If Wood and Marmol match the 84-game projections, they will tie the Cubs' all-time single season record, a mark currently held by Dick Tidrow (1983), Ted Abernathy (1965), and—did you see this one coming?—Bob Howry (2006).

If the 34-year-old Howry maintains his 76-game pace, his three-season career with the Cubs would include the 1st, 5th, and 7th-highest single-season appearance totals by a Cubs hurler.

I was glad to see the Cubs rally for four runs in the last of the eighth inning Tuesday night to turn a one-run game against the Braves into a five-run game. That meant both Marmol and Wood got a night off, though Wood was poised to enter the game in the middle of the ninth inning before Jon Lieber induced Jeff Francoeur to hit into a game-ending double play with two men on base.

All of this is somewhat beside the point, of course. As this site, flagged by The Hardball Times, makes crystal clear, we already know who is going to triumph in the 2008 World Series—I can't believe it's finally going to happen!—and who is going to crumble in defeat. (Tough luck, Ozzie!)

After Ted Lilly allowed Padres lead-off man Scott Hairston to launch a pitch over the leftfield wall last night, it looked like the Cubs might be destined for yet another comeback win in which the starting pitcher was, at best, a benign influence in the final result.

But as you probably know by now, Lilly kept San Diego off the scoreboard until the eighth inning, when he served up a leadoff double to Brian Giles and one out later, after Lilly had parted in favor of Carlos Marmol, Giles scored on a sacrifice fly, a run that proved the difference in the Padres' 2-1 win.

The winning streak ended and so, too, did another streak: the Cubs had gone six games previous to Wednesday without getting a Quality Start (at least 6 IP with 3 runs or fewer allowed).

Needless to say, it's victories and not Quality Starts that cause teams to be crowned division champions, pennant winners, and World Series champs. Given the strain that has been borne by the Cub bullpen, however, even through the recent winning streak, it's easy to foresee at least one of Wood, Marmol, or Howry breaking down if the starters don't start delivering as Ted Lilly did, though in defeat, Wednesday night.

Ten years to the day since he pitched nine innings, allowed one hit, struck out 20, and was the winning pitcher, Kerry Wood pitched one inning, allowed one hit, struck out two, and saved a win for Carlos Zambrano.

Wednesday marks another anniversary. It's 5 years and 285 days since Jon Lieber's last start as a Chicago Cub, that is, until 11:00am Wednesday morning, when Lieber, assuming Rich Hill's spot in the rotation, pitches against the Reds' Edinson Volquez in the finale of the road trip.

Lou Piniella pulled Rich Hill from the first inning of tonight's game at St. Louis before he had given up a hit, but after he had walked four Cardinal hitters and forced in the first run of the evening. Coupled with Jon Lieber's mostly successful relief work this year (three scoreless innings of relief tonight at this writing, lowering Lieber's ERA to 1.93), Kerry Wood's third blown save of the season on Thursday, and Piniella's blow-up at a question asked by Jesse Rogers of WSCR in the post-game press conference, I'm wondering which of the following will occur first:

• Jon Lieber takes Rich Hill's turn in the starting rotation
• Carlos Marmol is given a save opportunity ahead of Kerry Wood
• Piniella goes truly berserk at a reporter

My guess is they will happen in the order I've listed them, but I think they'll all happen in the near future.

Since the season began, I've been writing a "Cubs Hits Of The Week" piece each Monday at The Cub Reporter, based on the Win Probability Added resulting from each Cub at-bat during the preceding week.

Last week was interesting because as well as the Cubs played (five wins in six starts between Monday, 4/14, and Sunday, 4/20), there weren't many dramatic, game-altering, high-WPA hits. That's what you get for jumping to early leads then thumping opponents into submission.

Wednesday night's game at Colorado, won 7-6 in thrilling, 10-inning fashion by the Cubs, was another matter entirely. Between the Cubs and the Rockies, from just the sixth inning on, there were four hits with higher WPAs than anything the Cubs delivered all of last week.

(Again, that's not to suggest the Cubs weren't hitting last week. They did, after all, put together back-to-back 13-run games against Pittsburgh after putting 12 runs on the board last Wednesday against the Reds. The point is that the games were mostly one-sided Cub victories, which depressed the WPA of any individual Cub hit.)

As for Wednesday night's win, Aramis Ramirez's ninth-inning homer to put the Cubs up, 6-5, registered a game-high WPA of .638. The fact that Kerry Wood couldn't protect that one-run lead in the last of the ninth simply opened the door for Ryan Theriot's game-winning--and .351 WPA-registering--tenth-inning single.

A fine win and one that was rich in big hits, which was a bonus: those 12-3, 13-1, and 13-6 victories get to be SO tedious.

Cub players, as quoted by Paul Sullivan in the Tribune, wish to absolve Dusty Baker of:

1. Overusing, and thus causing the arm problems suffered by, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior
2. Facilitating the Kent Mercker/Steve Stone kerfuffle
3. Responsibility for the Cubs' collapse in 2004
4. Enabling Carlos Zambrano's temper tantrums and generally juvenile behavior
5. Preventing Ryan Theriot's development by playing him behind Neifi Perez
6. Not being Lou Piniella

That's a lot to not be reponsible for. Good thing we got that cleared up.

Since I last posted, the Cubs have won three games in a row and improved their record to better than .500 for the first time this season; Kerry Wood picked up his second and third saves of the season; and Kosuke Fukudome is well on his way to earning a statue of his very own.

Monday's game, in which Ted Lilly couldn't stick around long enough to earn his first win of the season despite the fact that the Cubs had staked him to an early 7-0 lead, was damned ugly in just about every way a 12-inning victory can be.

What made it all the more challenging was the fact that Lou Piniella had committed to giving Wood and his right arm the day off. That forced Jon Lieber to pitch three innings of relief--it's not often a long relief assignment begins in the ninth inning--but Lieber came through with three scoreless innings. The Cubs then pushed across the winning runs in the top of the 12th, which meant Lieber collected the win and Carlos Marmol, the fill-in closer on this day, picked up his first save.

Deserving ends for Lieber and Marmol, I would say, but it will be nice to know Wood is available for duty once again on Wednesday night, when the Cubs and Pirates resume their three-game series.

---

Carlos Zambrano, who had a 5.77 ERA with 25 K and 19 BB in 34 1/3 innings last April, is having a much better go of it so far in 2008. Z followed up his 6 2/3 shutout innings on Opening Day by giving up two runs in seven innings on Saturday on the way to his first win of the season. Maybe most impressive of all, Zambrano has walked just one man in 13 2/3 IP. For that matter, Kerry Wood, who didn't issue any walks in Arizona this spring, has issued just one BB in four innings.

In other words, between the two of them, Zambrano and Wood have passed two hitters in 17 2/3 innings.

That'll work.

On Thursday, the Cubs took their first lead in a game this season and went on to win for the first time, 6-3 over the Brewers.

Alfonso Soriano, in his return to the leadoff spot, had his first hit, first stolen base and first two RBIs.

Aramis Ramirez had his first hit and first home run.

Ryan Dempster won in his first starting assignment since 2005.

After 212 Major League appearances, Kerry Wood earned his first career save.

And on Chicago's WSCR radio, serially unfunny afternoon drive-time host Dan Bernstein managed to say something amusing:

Instead of being nicknamed "The Hebrew Hammer," the Brewers' defensively challenged slugger, Ryan Braun, should be known as "The Kosher Butcher."

It's not a decision on who will make up the five-man starting rotation. (After promising earlier in the week to unveil the rotation today, Lou Piniella said the announcement will now come Monday.)

It's not the official anointing of Kerry Wood as Cubs closer. (Again, stay tuned until Monday.)

It's not an answer to the question of who besides Felix Pie is capable of player center field. (Piniella says he doesn't currently have an answer; is he waiting for Jim Hendry to close a deal over the weekend?)

And the news is not that Piniella has settled confidently on a batting order. (He plans to do more experimenting, starting with Saturday's game against the White Sox, in which Kosuke Fukudome will get a chance to hit second, with Theriot leading off and Soriano, Ramirez, and Lee hitting 3-4-5.)

The big news is that apparently, Fukudome's nickname is "Fooky."

Cubs starter Rich Hill walked six Colorado Rockies in just an inning-and-a-third Thursday.

Acknowledging that a March Cactus League game does not a regular season contest make, here's how bad that is:

In the past 50 years of National League play, only three starting pitchers have walked more than six hitters in starts lasting 1 1/3 IP or less.

At the top of that list? Our closer-to-be Kerry Wood, who walked eight men in a 2000 start against the Cardinals.

Speaking of Wood, he displayed mid-season-quality, Roger Clemens-style surliness in his post-game interview Thursday, obviously angry at what he saw as alarmist reporting on his achy back and missed outing on Wednesday.

Wood pitched an inning today against the Rockies, giving up two hits and a run in one inning of work. Carrie Muskat at cubs.com explains what's next for Wood:

The next step depends on how Wood feels on Friday. He could throw in a Minor League game, possibly joining Carlos Zambrano who was slated to throw 85-90 pitches against the Athletics' Triple-A team, or he could throw one inning at Fitch Park against the Cubs' Minor Leaguers. If he can't go on Friday, then Wood would probably pitch Sunday and Monday for the requisite consecutive outings which the Cubs want to see before officially naming him as the closer. It's day to day.

I'm not surprised that we're reading Cubs Spring Training stories about how good Kerry Wood looks or how Alfonso Soriano is ready to bounce back from that nasty quadriceps injury or how Lou Piniella is feeling pretty doggone good about his ballclub.

But I'll be the first to admit that not until the last couple days did I ever expect to read, "Aramis Ramirez Shuns Cockfighting Questions."

(Okay, I'll come clean. I stole that headline from The Sporting News. Back in the early and middle '70s, when I used to read the magazine faithfully, the weekly report on each MLB team would end with a series of notes introduced by a cute, distinctive little subhead, e.g., "Twin-klings" for the Twins notes, "A's Acorns" for Oakland A's notes, "Bruin Briefs" for the Cubs, etc. So yes, I plagiarized the headline. Don't tell the Clinton campaign!)

– The Cubs have complemented Ryan Theriot and Ronny Cedeno by adding a third member to the Light-Hitting Middle Infielders Club.

– For all the talk of Kerry Wood as closer, Lou Piniella says he is not even the leading candidate for the job right now.

– On last night's WGN Sports Central show, David Kaplan was interviewing Ryan Dempster, the Cubs' resident practical joker. Kaplan told Dempster if he needed inspiration before planning his next prank, he should check out this comic triumph from the Land of Phillie.

– There may be a new, mean-spirited, bald-headed guy calling the shots at Tribune Company, but some things remain the same: the Cubbies just can't get enough of that courtroom action.