Don't know about the rest of youse, but the main reason I look forward to watching a Cubs spring training game on television has nothing do with the Cubs as we will know them during the season. We already know what the veterans can and, in the case of some of them (Neifi? I'm looking in your direction), can't do. So there's no great thrill for me to watch Aramis Ramirez knock in a run from a SAC Fly off, like he did on Sunday, although it was reassuring to see. Ramirez led the NL in SAC Flies in '02 and '03, but hasn't been as clutch the last two years. So that was good.

But the real reason I'm watching these games is to catch a glimpse of the prospects that we've been reading about for some time. Certainly, it was neat, on Sunday, to see that Felix Pie is a real person and not just another in an endless string of cynical marketing ploys developed by John McDonough. His hard-hit, opposite-field double off the wall was evidence enough. Ditto for Sean Marshall, who looked awfully promising in Sunday's game in his one inning.

The focus today, though, is on another youngster about whom we've heard a little bit last year--third base prospect, Scott Moore.

Of course, to begin with, the fact that he plays the hot corner is problematic for Moore. While there are questions about Ramirez' discipline and, as a consequence, his physical health (I mean, I'm just saying. The guy left the game yesterday with a finger infection. Finger infection?) , for the most part he's been everything you want in a third baseman. He's not only one of the top third baseman in the national league (an All-Star starter last year, in fact), but, along with Derrek Lee, is a cornerstone that this team is banking on to succeed (yes, even I, insane cynic that I am, concede that this organization is, after all, still trying to win. God help them).

But Moore's an interesting case. A first round draft choice out of high school by Detroit in 2002 (eighth pick overall), Moore got off to a typically fine start, as do most first round picks in the Gulf Coast League (.293/.349/.459) but then faltered, badly, in his first year of Low-A (West Mich.:.239/.325/.363). The nineteen-year old Moore still managed to get an undeserved promotion to High-A (Does this remind Cub fans of Corey Patterson? And, for the record, operating like the Tigers is not a good thing). And surprising no one but, perhaps, Detroit's GM Dave Dombrowski (or the scout who vouched for Moore's promotion, which he was clearly unready for), Moore followed up his rough first year at West Michigan with a more miserable debut in High-A. At Lakeland, Moore slunk to .223/.322/.384. Although his OPS was actually higher, he was not looking good in either year (Nothing to add. I just wanted to make this paragraph the "most parenthetical in the history of man (Cro-Magnon man excluded)")

And then the Tigers traded Moore to the Cubs. At twenty-one years old. And then Moore went out and did something that prospects usually do when they get mishandled, traded, or both from the Cubs. He started to shine.

At Daytona last season, his first year with the Cubs organization but his second year at High-A, Moore batted .281, with a .358 OBP and .485 SLG. His home run total increased from 14 to 20, and his doubles went from 13 to 31. To boot, the kid stole 22 bases, after having swiped only four the previous year. How the hell did that happen?

Anyway, the now twenty-two year old Moore (who struck out with one at-bat in Spring Training last year), got into Sunday's game, which was televised on WGN. The left-handed hitter patiently coaxed a walk out of 79-year old southpaw Jeff Fassero, and then came up later against baseball's biggest asshat, Steve Kline (another lefty, to be sure), and ripped the first pitch into right field for a single. He later scored.

I also see in this morning's boxscore that Moore went 1-1 yesterday, but his two at-bats against two veteran lefties on Sunday illustrated the point better than his numbers could. The kid clearly has promise.

It'd be kind of funny if Moore worked out. After everyone blabbing on about how long the Cubs had gone without a consistently good third baseman since Santo, including Ronnie himself, it'd be kind of funny if, in two years, the Cubs had two.

Still a ways to go, of course. And let's hope Ramirez' pinky is no big deal.