Hopefully Kurt isn't sitting up there in Canadia, developing a complex because nobody else wrote this weekend.  Let me fill you in a tad on my life - there isn't a computer in my house that I can call "my own", and the only one I know the password to has some funky browser configured in some funky way that does not allow me to post to GROTA.  I tried several times to get my Stanton preview in, but hey, you didn't miss much.  I can summarize it in two words: burnt. toast.  Kurt pretty much covered it anyway.  The bullpen is definitely a fluid situation right now, with Gaudin and Vizcaino stinking up the joint, and Kevin Hart actually putting a good one into the books for once - Sweet Lou will need every last fake game to build his pen.

But the good news is: The Hoff is a Lock!  Both papers are reporting that our favorite Micah has hit his way on the roster, and Sweet Louie ain't so worried about carrying a "specific 3B backup" anymore.  So it appears that Johnson and Gathright and Hoffpauir are coming north.  I wonder about the wisdom of this - we all know that Johnson proved himself to be quite a ballplayer last year, and we all can see the potential in a lightning quick stud who can handle the bat a little.  It just seems to me both guys fill the same role, and compounded with the over $30 million we are paying Fukie, who also fills roughly the same role, Lou's vaunted versatility takes a hit.  He's deep in go-get-it outfielders, but thin in infielders. 

I guess he figures good glove infielders are a dime a dozen, and he can dip his fish net into the farm system pool and snag a couple by accident.  Guys like Johnson and Gathright aren't as plentiful, I guess.  If Fontentot, Theriot, or Milesinot hurt themselves, help is just a bus trip away.

I had heard rumors today that the Cubs had released Vizcaino, but I can find no corraboration out on the webs.  I'll keep you posted.