I'd love to see the Cubs bring up Gallagher and Samardzjia, and package Marquis and Wuertz (or Hart) for elsewhere. Some nice young, refreshing arms would look wonderful with Z and Dempster right now (and could be a surprise rotation wild card). And if you can ship off Marquis, you can take his salary and eat some of Soriano's contract and then jetison him (and Felix "I still can't figure out how to hit" Pie) for a McLouth.

You wonder how stupid guys like Soriano and Pie are that can't (or won't) make adjustments at the major league level. Some said it best yesterday...the Nats, Yankees, and Ranger knew something about Soriano. His could be one of the worst contracts the Cubs ever inked. Yes, he had two good months last year...but time to ship him!

Cary,

This isn't fantasy baseball. It is not just that easy to say "ship him out". Soriano still hit .299 with 30 home runs last year. He has played in 15 games this year maybe, and you are calling it the worst contract ever. Have you ever heard of Todd Hundley? Yes Soriano is off to a terrible start this year, just as he has been off to a terrible start every April.

You can dislike Soriano, but don't jump back on the bandwagon when he hits 15 homers in June.

AMEN Pete

I love the "past history" mentality of some. So Soriano had 30 HR's and a whopping 70 RBI's last year. Folks, you'll get those RBI's from DeRosa. Or you'll come close with R. Johnson, who also won't let a routine fly pass by, and cost another game. This is the problem....a guy has two good months, and we say "don't worry, his track record proves he'll turn it around". If his track record is so great, then I'd ship him off while his supposed value is high, and get a great #2 starter in return. But we know that isn't the case, and we also know that between his injuries and poor pitch selection that he's not going to turn it....his numbers may improve, but not to the extent to the benefit of the team chemistry.

In regards to Todd Hundley, his contract was no where near that of Soriano's, and we were smart to dump him early on (and his salary) and got a useful Karros. So atleast on that one we called a bad sign-on early on, and remedied it.

As a final statement, most players would have gone down to the minors for a bit to get their stroke and timing back. But not Soriano, who now we have to inject back in the lineup in game situations to get his timing back, at the expense of the momentum Johnson brought. Now that makes good sense.

I'm personally not down on the team one bit, but let's call it like it is sometimes, and stop looking at the past. Soriano is another Andruw Jones...a big fat contract, and no motivation to adjust. Atleast LA only signed AJ for two years.

I speak to the Soriano and the pen issues and offer some separate trade ideas on Neil's prior "Meltdown" topic. The essence is that we can't trade Soriano unless he is performing well, but we can get a stud pitcher now--and should.

Can someone please tell why we're calling up Chad Fox? I mean I know Hart has struggled a bit, but Chad Fox?

Drew: my best guess is that Scott Eyre may be close to returning, and they dont want to waste an option on Cotts or Gallagher for the short term (if thats how it works).

In other news, Gallardo out for the season with a torn ACL is unfortunate for the kid, but good news for us!

Why all the hate for Soriano? He started slowly last year, and without him, we would not have made the playoffs. I can't wait to hear you all when Reed Johnson goes cold and Soriano is having multi homer games, stealing bases, and throwing runners out...just have some patience, this is the same thing that was going on a year ago!

We are jumping on Soriano unfairly. Yes I dont like his free swinging and his mental problem with not hitting in the lead off position. But, just because he had a bad start is not a reason to give up on him. All this talk about trading him is crazy. Last year everybody was praising him. So, now everytime we lose in a game that Soriano goes 1-4 or 0-4 its going to be his fault?

Ramirez went 0-3 and stuck out 3 times and Lee went 1-4 and left 3 guys on. Should we trade them too.

And I'm sorry but anybody that thinks that anybody would of been able to get to that ball yesterday is crazy.

The only reason we lost yesterday is Woods blown-save. And even though my patience with Woods is running thin, I'm not ready to jump off of his band wagon just yet.

Get realistic people!!!! Your complaining just to complain and Soriano doesn't deserve the ridicule he's getting on this website, period.

Drew, I saw this move coming. I think they are sending Hart down to stretch him out. Piniella needs options in the pen and right now he does not have them. Other than Carlos Marmol....and for the most part Kerry Wood.

I would think more moves are coming.

Austin, on the Cotts and Gallagher options, they would not be wasted. Options are based on years, not on how many times a player is recalled or optioned out.

Gallagher is not a reliever as Raul pointed out.

On the Scott Eyre front, a report in the Sun-Times earlier in the week said, "Eyre is not expected back for a couple of weeks."

Everybody is just afraid that we aren't going to keep up the pace that we started the season with. Well guess what, were not going to whether Soriano is in the lineup or not. We have had a bunch of home games at the start of the season, our offense has been hot, Lee is hitting out of his mind, Fuko has been unreal, not many injuries, Cedeno, Soto, Theriot have been playing over their heads.

But guess what its not going to last. We have a great team but there will be times that we struggle during the season, everybody isn't going to have a 300 average at the end of the season.

These are the same people that wanted to bench Theriot when he was hitting .350 because he bobbled a ball on a double-play ball.

Come on, please!!! Be reasonable. This is probably the best Cubs team I've seen since I've been born and we are going to do some damage this season and Soriano will be a big part of that.

Ridicule or not, I don't think there is anyone on this site that would be agreeable to paying Soriano the money's he's making for the level of production in return.

Two months of production last season doesn't warrant $14m a year. But not to worry....just 6+ years left on this contract. Wow!

Also, if I'm a betting man, Soriano will be back on the DL before the all-star break. I hope I'm wrong, but just a good hunch.

Neil, I need help to make sense of the Fox move and the possible Eyre move. For laughs, Fox has a 54.000 ERA at Tennessee (.2 inning pitched) per their stats--and only 4 inninigs pitched at Daytona (1 hit, O runs). Eyre has allowed 5 hits in 5 innings at Daytona and 0 hits in 2 innings at Tennessee. Why wouldn't Ascaino with a 2.51 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 14 innings at AAA get the call? This all seems totally irrational to me.

And have you dismissed Lieber, Wuertz and Marshall in our pen?

Is this a day for strangeness? Turnbow was simply cut by the Brewers a couple of hours ago. No option or assignment, just cut. And his last inning/nightmare against the Cubs may haunt him forever. Maybe we are showcasing Fox to ready a deal with the Brewers. (Just kidding)

The Brewers' site says Turnbow was designated for assignment and not simply cut (as the press account stated). Since nobody is likely to trade for his $3 mil. contract he likely ends up in the minors.

He produced all last year until he got hurt. Players go up and down in there production. Can you say that Lee and Ramirez have been consistant all their carreer for every month of every season?? no. How many homeruns did Lee have last year??
Did they overpay for him last year, yes. But what else is new, thats baseball nowadays.

So the guy that led us in homeruns last year didn't produce???? Not to mention that he was hurt for about 3 weeks.

Jim, the Fox move in my opinion is trying to find a veteran arm in the pen. Nothing more. If he works, great if not he gets released and they move on.

Like I said before, I expect more changes. I like Sean Marshall.....you can go back and read how much I like Marshall. I think Marshall would be better in the rotation and if Hill continues to struggle (that's the reason I think tonight is a big game) Marshall would be sent down in order to stretch him out.

As far as Wuertz, I think he is real close to being sent down. He has been horrible, for the most part of late. I remember a couple of good outings, but for the most part in non-pressure situations.

Ascanio has been good, the stats look good. I was thinking they would flip Ascanio for Wuertz. The one win Ascanio has, was a blown save.

Jon Lieber has been great, I was thinking middle and short relievers....no the long man. Lieber should be undefeated right now.

Also, I really like Kevin Hart. I think it was a move to just stretch him out. Hart will be starting soon for the Cubs. Remember Marquis is usually a lot better in April and May....and this April for the most part, not good.