Ten days ago, the Cubs had hoped that Roberto Novoa would return in a few days following a respiratory infection. That respiratory infection was pneumonia, and Novoa is still out. "Novoa is sick; he’s very sick," today's Daily Herald quotes Dusty Baker as saying. That is unfortunate for Novoa, who otherwise would have a good chance of making the club this year, given the lackluster performances of Michael Wuertz, Will Ohman, and Todd Wellemeyer this spring. As things stand, I still say that Wuertz and Ohman are the most likely to break camp with the big league club. Wellemeyer, however, finally threw 2 scoreless innings two days ago, and John Koronka has the lowest ERA of the bunch at 4.26 (in 6.1 innings).

There's a chance the Cubs could take seven relievers to open the season, to go along with their initial four-man rotation. I believe that would be a mistake. Given the 3 days off in the first 8 days of the season, it would be hard to get the seventh man in the 'pen sufficient work to remain effective.