The Cubs Chronicle

The AP reports that “Sammy Sosa was humiliated by being dropped to sixth in the Chicago Cubs lineup, and claims he was mistreated by the club.” Sosa told the Hoy newspaper in Santo Domingo, D.R., “I’m a cleanup hitter or third because I’ve earned that right with almost 600 career home runs.” (more…)

Bryan Stroh has his top 10 Cubs prospects up at The Cub Reporter. He lists second baseman / third baseman Brendan Harris at #9, one of the few top positions prospects the Cubs have. Harris should be the starting second baseman at Iowa this year.

But here’s something interesting:

I actually expect Grudzielanek will have a higher OPS than that this year for the simple reason of Todd Walker’s existence on the roster. Walker should get the vast majority of at-bats against righthanded pitchers, against whom Grudzielanek struggles. Grudzielanek hits lefties quite well (914 OPS last year; 814 over the past three). But what PECOTA suggests is that Harris would actually be the better platoon partner. Of course, that wouldn’t be the safe move, and Harris’s development might be better served playing full-time at Iowa.

UPDATE (2/2/2004 10:35pm): Cubs Pundit notes that Dusty Baker has made comments suggesting we shouldn’t be too hasty in assuming Todd Walker will get the majority of at-bats at second base.

Dusty Baker has decided to change the rotation a bit, reports the Chicago Tribune:

Manager Dusty Baker announced Prior would be given an extra day’s rest to pitch against St. Louis at Wrigley and that Matt Clement will pitch Friday against Milwaukee, with Shawn Estes being pushed back a day to Saturday. Sunday’s starter hasn’t been announced, but it figures to be right-hander Juan Cruz, who then would be eligible for the postseason because he was called up Aug. 31.

I like Prior being given extra rest. The return of Cruz was expected because of the double-header against St. Louis on Sept. 2. Estes pitched well in two starts the last time Cruz was in the rotation, so who knows? – Maybe that means he’ll pitch well again with his job in direct jeopardy again.

Repeating what I said in the comments section of this post, even if David Kelton proves he can play centerfield at Iowa, and Jim Hendry calls him up, I don’t think we have any reason to believe that Dusty Baker would play Kelton over Tom Goodwin.

The Cub Reporter has listed other centerfield options here and here.

Meanwhile, Brian Carstens thinks that the Cubs will use their injury woes this season to convince themselves that they really were a good team, they just had some bad luck, and so all they need is a few veteran role players to be good next season, thus delaying the youth movement.