It's as good of an excuse as any: "Lou Piniella plans to experiment with the Cubs lineup, dropping leadoff man Alfonso Soriano to No. 2 in an attempt to keep him healthy while inserting Kosuke Fukudome fifth," reports MLB.com. Soriano continues to have difficulties with his quadriceps and the move is designed to have him making fewer steal attempts, apparently. Whether that is a valid reason or not, having his free-swinging ways move down in the order is a move in the right direction.

Unfortunately, this now apparently means that the Cubs' worst hitter in the everyday lineup -- Ryan Theriot -- is going to be leading off instead of hitting second.

So who should be in the leadoff spot? Mark DeRosa appears to be the best option, absent doing something radical like putting Derrek Lee there or moving Fukudome to center and placing Matt Murton in right field and the leadoff spot.

All of this is, of course, subject to change, and to change quickly.

And it may change with a trade. As much as the Cubs like Theriot, I believe they would prefer a better hitter in the leadoff spot. Moving Soriano down may make a trade for Brian Roberts or a center fielder even more likely.

Cubs f/x thinks Soriano and Fukudome should switch in Piniella's experimentation. Perhaps. But the idea that Fukudome is an ideal #2 hitter is based on his Japanese numbers. I would like to see a couple of month's worth of performance before handing him the keys to a table-setting position in the order.

Well, if that's the case, he can go somewhere else. Win a spot in the rotation, you don't have to worry about it. ... I've got seven starters here for five spots, you know? It's a little bit too early to start talking about what he wants to do or not do.

....

You know, that galls me about Marquis, it really does. I'm not pleased with that comment. We've had a good camp over here, everybody's getting an opportunity. Go out and win a spot in the rotation.

Marquis would do well to go to Piniella immediately and unequivocally apologize and state that he's ready, willing, and able to compete for, and win, a spot in the rotation. Who's Marquis afraid of? Ryan Dempster? Jon Lieber?

Good and bad out of the Winter Meetings in Nashville:

Bad: Felix Pie, Sam Fuld, Tyler Colvin, and Jeff Samardzija are "untouchables," according to Jim Hendry. All four are nice prospects, but why would any of them be off-limits in a trade?

Good: Lou Piniella says that Ryan Dempster does not have a starting rotation spot locked up. Kevin Hart, Sean Gallagher, and Sean Marshall will get opportunities as well.

Bad: Ryan Theriot has locked up the starting shortstop spot for 2008, according to Piniella. If Dempster is going to have competition, why won't Theriot? What harm exists in letting Ronny Cedeno compete for the starting job in spring training?

Good: The Cubs are exploring a trade for Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, reports the Baltimore Sun. Roberts just turned 30 and has had .305, .264, .285 EqA's the past three seasons with good defense. Another Cubs Blog has more on Roberts rumors.

Good: A number of teams are interested in Mark Prior, hopefully driving up the asking price.

Who Knows?: The Cubs obtained Twins relief pitcher Tim Lahey in today's Rule 5 draft. Lahey, 25, had a 3.45 ERA in 78.1 innings in double-A last year, with 56 K's and 33 BB's. Another Cubs Blog has more on Lahey. The Cubs lost swingman Randy Wells, who had a 4.52 ERA in 95.2 innings for triple-A Iowa last year, striking out 101 and walking 41.

The Sun Times Chris De Luca seems to think so.

http://tinyurl.com/2pg4s6

The second-guessers -- Phil Rogers, Jay Mariotti, Gordon Wittenmyer, Melissa Isaacson, Rick Morrissey, Mike Downey, Mike Imrem, and Barry Rozner (talk about group think) -- were out in full force this morning after the Cubs' 3-1 loss in Game 1 of the NLDS. All of them consider Lou Piniella's removal of Carlos Zambrano to start the seventh inning in favor of Carlos Marmol to have been the cause of the Cubs' loss.

The real cause, of course, was Brandon Webb's mastery of the Cubs' hitters, the particular angle of some line drives off Cubs' bats, and Marmol's inability to locate his pitches in the 7th inning. But not to the aforementioned writers, who have created a new Zambrano in their mind, some unstoppable force who would of course not allowed any runs going forward. Either that, or they just could not come up with another angle on this game.

In making their judgments, they ignore the information Piniella had to go on when he made the decision, namely, that Marmol is a better pitcher than Zambrano over a 1-2 inning stretch.

There will be no CubsNet.com NLDS preview. After all, who am I to outwrite the previews proffered by Nate Silver, David Pinto, Al Yellon, and Marc Hulet / Bryan Smith? (For my money, Silver's is the best. Come to think of it, it is my money, as I'm paying for the BP subscription.) So, instead, what you get from CubsNet.com is a NLDS foreward. I am not the writer of the main story. I am merely anticipating the next page like the rest of you.

The Cubs outscored the Diamondbacks and gave up fewer runs than the Diamondbacks.

The Cubs have just an average offense (8th in the NL), but it is significantly better than Arizona's. As Silver wrote, "The Diamondbacks . . . have one of the worst lineups ever for a team that reached the playoffs, a group that resembles the 1988 Dodgers sans Kirk Gibson."

Many of us long for the day when a manager's management of the bullpen is not dictated by that nefarious of taskmasters: the save statistic. Since Cubs' closer Ryan Dempster has been injured following the game on June 22, Lou Piniella has been freed. The Cubs have won seven of eight since Dempster's oblique injury (in addition to the last game Dempster pitched in). Piniella initially announced that Bob Howry would be the closer in Dempster's absence, as the Chicago Tribune reported. During Dempster's absence, however, three different relievers have notched saves -- Howry (2), lefty Will Ohman (1), and bullet-throwing Carlos Marmol (1).

Read more below the fold.

Yesterday, Brian mentioned in the comments that "one thing that appears not to have changed with the new regime: the public posturing by the manager seems mostly designed to deflect blame away from himself."

ESPN.com's Buster Olney adds to that today:

The new manager has been openly critical of the players, repeatedly suggesting in his post-game remarks that the problems lie with them, and privately, some players are very critical of the manager and what they view as his tendency to turn them into scapegoats.
. . . .
Piniella needs to start mending fences with his players quickly, displaying more patience and support. Fair or not, some of them already are hardening this view of him -- that he tends to make decisions based on emotion and impatience, and that he tends to blame them for failure, while being readily available for praise when the team succeeds. Which is how many of the Devil Rays came to view him during his tenure with Tampa Bay, but those players were young and absorbed the criticism. The Cubs, a team of veterans, are not reacting as sedately.

Losing breeds contempt. The Cubs need to start winning.

The Daily Herald's Bruce Miles writes in today's paper that "there have been rumblings that Piniella is growing impatient with the roster given to him by Hendry." I'd be curious to know what Piniella wants.

The Cubs are currently 6th in the National League in runs scored, but there are certainly problems on offense. Three of the top four outfielders have slugging percentages below .400. Jacque Jones, Matt Murton, and Cliff Floyd have just four home runs between them. None of them have ever had slugging percentages that low over a full season, excepting Floyd's rookie year as a 21-year-old in 1994. Jones is hitting .245/.302/.335 as the starting centerfielder. Much more of that and the Cubs will be compelled to replace him with Felix Pie for good. The trouble is that Jones is signed through next season, and for $6.3M.

The Cubs are 4th in the National League in fewest runs allowed per game (4.19). Yet Lou Piniella has decided to throw the pitchers in a blender, open the lid, and allow everyone to fall where they may. Good strategy or no, it makes for exciting times. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Ryan Dempster might be entering the rotation within a week or two. Angel Guzman (0 minor league saves) will soon become the Cubs' closer.

The exact timing of this is unclear. After Sunday's game, Dempster said he was moving into rotation. Then, after a meeting, he emerged and said not yet. But, the move of Guzman to closer "is imminent, according to a source close to the manager."

It bears remembering that Dempster has been a successful starting pitcher in exactly one season, that being seven years ago when he was 23-years-old.

Meanwhile, the ostensible setup men, Bobby Howry and Scott Eyre, have been getting beat up this year, and new bullpen member Carlos Marmol is throwing bullets like no one in the Cubs' pen since Kyle Farnsworth.

Lou Piniella may not have had a consistent lineup this season, but the Chicago dailies have been running a consistent theme lately: lamenting the changing lineup. Tuesday's Chicago Tribune treats us to Dave van Dyck's "All Cubs know is who's on first." (Well, and third, and left, and catcher.) Why is it so important to the Chicago MSM to have a settled lineup? The Cubs entered Monday's games 6th in the National League in runs per game (4.9), and well above the league average (4.44), and rising. And that is with the outfield having shown almost no power during the month of April. It is not a bad thing that the manager mixes and matches to put forth the best lineup that day. It is not as if Piniella is doing things like putting Neifi Perez (or, as the case may be, Cesar Izturis) at the top of the order. And it is not a bad thing that the Cubs finally have some bench players worth playing. I don't blame Piniella if he is "growing weary and more than a little impatient with questions about his lineup choices." I'm growing weary with articles discussing the beat reporters' collective obsession.

The control the strike zone message Lou Piniella has been preaching since his arrival is good. The execution, today at least, not so much.

The man apparently on the verge of signing a 5-year, $80M extension, Carlos Zambrano, threw like the man who led the National League in walks last season rather than the man who would win a Cy Young. 47 balls to 45 strikes, leadings to 5 walks, a hit batter, and a wild pitch. Combine that with Adam Dunn's (1071 OPS the last three seasons against the Cubs) power, and Zambrano had less than an ideal opening to his promised Cy Young campaign.

The Daily Herald's Bruce Miles reports that Lou Piniella said yesterday that Alfonso Soriano will not be playing center field in 2007, but will play one of the corner outfield spots. That means one of three things: the Cubs will either 1) sign a stopgap center fielder like Kenny Lofton; 2) move Jacque Jones to center field; or 3) let Felix Pie, Eric Patterson, and Angel Pagan fight it out in spring training. (On Patterson playing center, see View from the Bleachers.)

The Daily Herald wrote a letter to newbie Cubs manager Lou Piniella.

I'd like to know what you would want Lou to know.

So please, reply here with your "Dear Lou" letter.

From the Daily Herald...

Our letter to Lou Piniella
The Man Who Has No Idea What He's Gotten Himself Into
http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=...