The Tribune reported this past weekend that Lou Piniella is close to naming Kerry Wood as the team's closer. This is an idea that excites Cub fans of the kool-aid chugging variety, like our fellow blogger Al Yellon, while annoying and possibly upsetting the more caustic crowd, who realize that the Cub reliever with the best stuff is probably Marmol.

Me, I like to drink a little bit of kool-aid meself, and I think this is a great thing.

On the other hand, I think a lot of intelligent Cub fans will be waiting for the shoe to drop. When will Wood's shoulder explode again? Will he be able to handle pitching two or three days in a row? These are all questions that will have to be answered in time, but while we certainly don't want to find out the hard way that Wood's arm can't take the abuse, at least we know that the Cubs continue to have two or three other guys who could step into the closer role and git 'er done.

In terms of their overall spring training play, the Cubs have been angering Piniella and have been losing ball games. But I truly believe that their record matters nil. The Cubs have a good team, and if they can get all their cylinders going, then they should win an awful lot of games this year.

Bee-Ro a Cub?

The Sloth will be happy to know that ESPN is reporting a "probable" trade between the Cubs and the Orioles for Brian Roberts.  The players reportedly offered to the Orioles include Jose Ceda, infielder Ronny Cedeno, and pitchers Sean Gallagher and Donnie Veal.  While I am a true Gallagher mark, and I believe he will prove to be a very effective major league pitcher, Cub fans should be happy if this is how the trade looks.  I'm not even sure why the Orioles would accept Cedeno, unless they don't mind the Cubs getting revenge for Manny Alexander.

If Roberts does indeed find himself on the north side, then the Cubs will have a pretty good, pretty scary lineup with no weak spots but a few question marks.