The self-proclaimed Sports Guy, Billy Simmons, has a column coming out in the April 11 issue of ESPN The Magazine. In it he tries to sound nice about waiting for Cub's fans to break their "curse" and join the Red Sox fans. He implies that we have had this bond for years, yet I don't feel it.

Confirming what became almost certain yesterday, the Cubs today optioned Will Ohman to Triple-A Iowa, reports MLB.com. The Cubs also traded Cody Ransom to Texas for a PTBNL, reassigned Calvin Murray and Angel Echevarria to minor league camp, and released Stephen Randolph. As for Randolph, let's hope that the PTBNL the Cubs gave up to get him really turns out to be a no one.

The Cubs traded minor league pitcher Ronald Bay to the Cleveland Indians today for lefthanded pitcher Cliff Bartosh. Bartosh immediately becomes a contender for the final bullpen spot.

Why add my voice to the large number of Cub blogs? Good question. A big reason involves that sense of community a Cub fan feels, that desire to be an active citizen in CubNation. After reading so many of the blogs here, I naturally wanted to weigh in and share my opinions with the rest of you. I understand there's no guarantee anybody will read any of this, but it feels good to take a seat, sip a cold one, and get in on the discussion.

I've always enjoyed going to the ballpark and finding myself caught up in conversations or arguments with perfect strangers. That to me is part of the fun of being there, the interaction with fellow fans of whatever stripe. Some question every move, wondering "what are they thinking?". Others rabidly back every thing their beloved team does, even down to drinking the kool-aid. I'm somewhere in between.

Phil Rogers writes in Monday's Chicago Tribune ("Dubois' raw deal just a matter of bad timing," 3/28/2005):

There might be 29 better teams for an unproven player to try to establish himself than with the Sammy Sosa-free Cubs of 2005.

Wrong place, wrong time.

The Chicago Cubs announced today that they have reduced their spring training roster to 35 players. Pitcher Angel Guzman and infielder Ronny Cedeno have been optioned to Triple-A Iowa. Catcher Casey Kopitzke and pitcher Jermaine Van Buren have been returned to minor league camp.

CubsNet.com has added the quicktags module to the site, allowing users to more easily insert italics, bold-face type, and blockquotes into their posts and comments.

The Portsmouth Herald (N.H.) profiles Jason Kosow and Sam Fuld, two local players in the Cubs' minor league camp.

Cub southpaw and 2004 hero Glendon Rusch has been less then stellar thusfar in his Spring Training starts... until Wood was scratched from his start Thursday.

Glendon was called in to fill in, and how did he handle it? Five shutout innings.

If Dempster can build up Rotation-level endurance, maybe Rusch's mentality really IS better as a swing-man and spotstarter.

In this morning's paper, the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan wrote: "The Cubs seldom have had a Cactus League game with as much importance as Kerry Wood's start against Oakland on Thursday at HoHoKam Park. The outcome of the game has little meaning, but a strong return by Wood after a two-week absence with shoulder bursitis could provide the Cubs with a psychological boost as Opening Day approaches. No matter how Wood performs, his presence alone will lift the spirits in the clubhouse."

Does this mean, then, that the Cubs' are going to go through some depression to start the season?:

Check out the original post at thesportspundit.com.

Earlier this week, when Cubs reliever LaTroy Hawkins walked in the clubhouse and found closer Joe Borowski in a sling, this is what he thought:

"I really thought it was a joke," Hawkins said. "Then he told me about what happened. It's becoming like 'Groundhog Day.' [Mark] Prior, Woody [Kerry Wood], Borowski. It's mind-boggling, especially after Joe has worked so darn hard, but we have to play through it."

What Hawkins didn't say, was that he probably [pooped] his pants at the thought of having to close again. Let's take a look at LaTroy with the help of the newly purchased Baseball Prospectus 2005.

It's true that Mitre has an ERA+ of 65 in 60.3 career big league innnings, but it's also true that he only turned 24 in February. And this is what I see: a guy who has had success at every level of the minor leagues that he has been at. In 2001, Mitre had a 3.07 ERA in 91 innings for short-season-A Boise, with a 3.9 K/BB ratio. In 2002, 2.83 and 3.6 in 168 innings for low-A Lansing. In 2003, 3.34 and 3.1 in 145 innings for Double-A West Tennessee. Last year, 2.98 and 2.4 in 102 innings for Triple-A Iowa.

MLB.com quotes Dusty Baker as saying today about Nomar Garciaparra, "The guy can hit. He's a good fielder, [has] an excellent arm. When I look up his record, the guy has a lifetime .322 [batting average], that's unbelievable. For a right-handed hitter to hit .370 without a lot of speed, that's something, too." (Emphasis added.)

We are talking about the same Garciaparra, right?

How about this: Ryne Sandberg has started writing a column for Yahoo! Sports. His first addresses the topic of the day: steroids. Sandberg writes: "I have a question for Congress: Why don't you give Major League Baseball's new steroid testing policy a chance?"