FanHouse NealCotts

After the Cubs finally broke their crippling eight-game losing streak Tuesday, they made a slight overhaul to their bench and how it's going to be used. Aaron Miles is headed to the disabled list, while Bobby Scales and Neal Cotts (mercifully) have been optioned to the minors. In their place, the Cubs have recalled Jake Fox, Andres Blanco and Jason Waddell.

Waddell will replace Cotts as the lone left-hander in the bullpen, but the big news here lies in the call of Fox and a possible infield shuffle.

Through the first 36 games of the season, it's been quite the bumpy ride for the Cubs. They've gone through as much adversity as they faced during the entire 97-win campaign that was the 2008 regular season. There have been myriad injuries, a suspension, many players suffering through extended slumps, excessive booing by the fans, bullpen meltdowns, and a much, much tougher division.

And yet, Lou Piniella's troops are 21-15. You know what their record was after 36 games in 2008? An identical 21-15.

The biggest weakness in the early going of 2009 for the Cubs has been bullpen depth. Carlos Marmol and Aaron Heilman have been good, but they can't pitch every night. It appears the Cubs are going to halt the project of stretching Jeff Samardzija out so he can be a starter in favor of adding him to the bullpen. He would be part of the bridge to the eighth inning, giving Lou Piniella another option to Heilman.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, in order to make room for Samardzija, the Cubs will designate Luis Vizcaino for assignment, meaning they have 10 days to trade him, or else he'll be released.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

One fantasy baseball question becoming increasingly more prevalent these days is very succinct: Is David Ortiz done? The problem? It's a tough question to answer. What do we actually mean by "done?" Is he ever going to be the guy who hit 54 home runs or the one who drove home 148 runs again? No. Not a chance.

The biggest question surrounding the Cubs this spring was answered by Lou Piniella on Sunday when he made it official and announced that Kevin Gregg, not Carlos Marmol, will be the Cubs closer this season.

Gregg was brought in this winter after a trade on a one-year $4.2 million deal after saving 61 games with the Florida Marlins the last two seasons to help replace Kerry Wood, who signed with Cleveland, at the back end of the bullpen. Many of the team's fans were in favor of Marmol, but Gregg out-pitched him this spring and gives Piniella more flexibility with his bullpen as closer.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Team who decided 97 wins wasn't enough. Seriously, why would you go out and intentionally make your team worse? Sorry, I'll spare you the huge homeristic rant right now. Instead, I'll just say that you can find good fantasy options at nearly every turn with this team, even though you shouldn't be taking any in the first few rounds.

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Matt Snyder and Will Brinson discuss the NLDS between the Cubs and Dodgers.

We'll run through different aspects of each team -- starting rotation, bullpen, defense, starting lineup, bench, manager, and end with a prediction. We'll do it with numbers and snarky commentary (most of which was used by Brinson), and we'll get right to it after the jump.

The mantra of every single non-Cubs fan in the world is the same heading into this postseason, and it couldn't be more misguided.

If you really don't think the Cubs are going to the win the World Series, that's fine. It's neither offensive nor outlandish, as long as your reasons are rational. If your reason is something along the lines of "because they are the Cubs" or has anything to do with any circumstance outside Lou Pinella and his 25 troops, however, you have no idea what you're talking about. Wake up.

Let me lay it out for you. Jerseys and logos don't cause winners and losers. Players and managers do. The Cubs franchise hasn't won the World Series since 1908. That's as much a coincidence as anything else. There's been bad management, what some would call bad luck, and plenty of bad players ... none of which have been inflicting the team during this 2008 season.

If you think teams need postseason experience to excel -- you better not look at last year's Rockies -- then the Cubs have plenty of it. The team was in the playoffs last year. They got swept, but as Ryan Theriot said, "sometimes you have to lose before you win." It's a learning curve.

It's not uncommon for the White Sox and Cubs to make trades with each other. Just this offseason both teams decided to swap bad relievers when Neal Cotts went to the Cubs, and David Aardsma moved to the White Sox. There was also the trade years ago that sent Matt Karchner to the Cubs for some kid pitcher named Jon Garland. Cubs fans love when you bring that trade up.

It appears the two teams are about to come together again, as the Cubs look for somebody who can fill in for the injured Alfonso Soriano.

A major league source confirmed the Cubs put in a waiver claim on White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik, one of the heroes of the 2005 World Series season.

Now here's what can happen next. The Sox can either try to work out a trade with the Cubs for Podsednik, they'd probably just ask for an infield or pitching prospect in return. If no deal is worked out, the Sox could just let Podsednik go to the Cubs and let them take on the remainder of his $2.9 million salary (About $800,000). Or the Sox could just say screw it and keep Podsednik.

The least likely scenario is the one where Podsednik stays with the White Sox. Whether they get anything in return or not, the Sox just want to move on. Ozzie Guillen has already stated publicly that Pods cannot be counted on, and the team has liked what it's seen from Jerry Owens in the lead-off spot.

There's also the fact the Sox will just be happy to save the $800,000, so yet another one of the 2005 World Series heroes will soon be leaving the south side of Chicago.