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The Fantastic Five +1: Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, Wells, Silva, Gorzelanny

Chicago Cubs 2010 Starting Rotation

Lou Pinella has named the starting rotation for opening day 2010 and it will be Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells along with new Cubs Carlos Silva and Tom Gorzelanny.

Of course one of those last two guys, Silva or Gorzo, will lose their job to the Legend That Is Ted Lilly as soon as The Bulldog is done rehabbing from offseason surgery.  Mr Consistency is right on schedule for a return three weeks after the start of the season.

So stare in awe at the Chicago Cubs rotation: ZAMBRANO, LILLY, DEMPSTER, WELLS & SILVA

That is the best rotation in the National League. Okay, the National League Central.

Wait, you say St Louis is better?  No thanks.  Adam Wainwright had one good year. Chris Carpenter’s arm will not escape the strain caused by pitching almost 200 innings for the first time since 2006 and he will not be the same pitcher this year and will certainly hit the DL.  Brad Penny was much improved last season and still struggled to post an ERA under 5.  Kyle Lohse is a bum who also has had only one good year and it sure wasn’t last year.  Then they’ve got Jaime Garcie in the #5 spot with a whole 16 innings of experience under his belt.  The Cardinals rotation is not as good as people think and their bullpen is full of turdshiners as well.

What about the Milwaukee Brewers? Yovani Gallardo, Randy Wolf, Doug Davis, and Jeff Suppan and some other guy.  Gallardo seems like he’s legit, Randy Wolf is okay and then it’s all downhill without any upside after that.  People want to pick the Brewers to win the division every year but Milwaukee still has yet to do it even when they had Sabathia and Sheets.  I love Milwaukee and Wisconsin but I’m sorry your baseball team blows except for cheese-fry-vegetarian Fielder and the douche you love-to-hate Ryan Braun.

Cincinatti Reds, you never know, they’ve got good arms but they’ve also got Dusty Baker so it evens out to another fourth place finish for them.

The Houston Astros will start the season with Roy Oswalt on the DL so it’s already to late for them again.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will have a pitching staff and it will not scare anyone.

That leaves the Chicago Cubs with the best rotation in the National League Central.  You’ve got the focused Carlos Zambrano showing up to camp early, in shape and determined to leave the drama behind.  A dangerous pitcher just got more so. You’ll have Ted Lilly who will pitch the same solid quality start game in game out.  You have the re-focused Ryan Dempster who dealt with a family health emergency during last season and yet still showed up to pitch every fifth day.

The kid Randy Wells continues to just go out and “pitch” as they say, making the most of what he has and showing incredible poise for a pitcher with only a season of experience.  Then you’ve got Carlos Silva.  Oh yeah, he still showed up to camp overweight but he showed up with something to prove and has been able to throw all his pitches effectively, including his sinker that will be a good fit for Wrigley. Silva is going to have a comeback year, win 10-11 games and be an acceptable fifth man in the rotation.  And you’ve got Gorzelanny too, who occasionally pitches like Greg Maddux and even litterally had Greg Maddux whispering pitching secrets in his ear all spring.

That’s right, in case you forgot, Greg Maddux is the new Special Assistant to the General Manager in charge of evaluating the pitchers.  Future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux has been in camp every day, watching and coaching the pitchers.  Now that is PRICELESS!  No other team has that advantage.

For the Chicago Cubs starting rotation and bullpen…

This Is The Year!

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