Wednesday, March 30, 2005

92 pitches?

This afternoon in Mesa, Kerry Wood threw 92 pitches(in 5 innings) against the Rockies. The Northsiders won the game 5-4. Like the score matters.

How smart is it to have a fragile pitcher throw 92 pitches in his first real game since March 9? Wood was unable to make his start last Thursday because of his bad back. Now the Cubs have him throwing nearly 100 pitches. He'll go again on Sunday against the minor leaguers and be ready next Friday to pitch the Home Opener at the Friendly Confines. Can this really go according to plan? I won't bet on it...

Cubs reduce roster to 30
Adios: Cody Ransom (traded to TEX for PTBNL); Stephen Randolph (released); Angel Echevarria and Calvin Murray(reassigned to minor league camp); Will Ohman (optioned to Iowa)

Looking at the Cubs current roster, it looks like David Kelton will be the odd man out as far as position players--unless Baker decides to only take eleven pitchers north. With only one healthy "innings eater"(Zambrano) I'll bet he takes 12. As far as pitchers go, if Mark Prior goes on the DL both Mitre and Wellemeyer will likely head north with Dusty's twelve man staff.

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