Baseball Prospectus' Marc Normandin profiles former Cubs and top flight prospect and current fourth outfielder type Corey Patterson. (Sub. req'd.) "Patterson's inability to make changes in his game has kept him from improving from the player he was in his earlier years, and his tendency to pull the ball with the power he doesn't have is part of this discussion." ... more

The Chicago Tribune's Phil Rogers says that the long-rumored trade for Brian Roberts "is almost certainly going to happen," perhaps yet this week. (Hat tip: Bleed Cubbie Blue.) The Cubs may have to give up Sean Marshall, Sean Gallagher, and Ronny Cedeno. That's a steep price for a good player, but who has only been an above-average league hitter in two of the five seasons he has played at least 100 games. Especially since it eliminates the top competition for Ryan Dempster in the fifth starter's slot.

In any event, Rogers goes on to speculate that the lineup would look like this: Roberts, Ryan Theriot, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Derrek Lee, Geovany Soto and Felix Pie.

He does not explain why it would be a good idea to put the Cubs' best hitter (Lee) in the sixth spot and their worst hitter (Theriot) in the second spot. The much more likely scenario would have Soriano and Roberts hitting in the 1-2 spots.

Side question: If that ends up being the lineup, when is the last time the Cubs had a lineup that fast.