Chicago

On Sunday afternoon, the Chicago Tribune reported that Lou Piniella has named Kevin Gregg as the closer for 2009.

For two years, Marmol has been lights out in the setup role and looked like a shoo-in for the Cubs closer role in the future. Kevin Gregg, on the other hand, has pitched well, but doesn't have nearly the talent that Marmol has.

Most people are surprised with this decision, as the closer battle in Spring Training seemed more like a token contest rather than an actual competition for the role.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Sunday afternoon that Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Piniella has formally chosen Kevin Gregg as his closer to start the 2009 season.

This leaves Carlos Marmol as the setup man, a role in which he earned a trip to the All-Star Game last season.

Gregg was acquired in a trade for pitching prospect Jose Ceda earlier this winter, and has had a dominating spring camp in Arizona. In nine games, Gregg has 8.1 innings pitched, one win, ten strikeouts and zero earned runs allowed added to no losses and just two walks.

After two years of playoff disappointment, the Chicago Cubs are gearing up for another World Series run. The Cubs are the most balanced team in the NL, if not, in all of baseball.

Last year as a team, the Cubs batted .278 and had and on-base-percentage of .354. As a staff, the Cubs had a 3.87 ERA.  All of these stratistics lead to them winning the NL Central for the second season in a row.  Here is a closer look at each of the positions for the Chicago Cubs.

Catcher

Today is "Earth Hour", where people are encouraged to shut off their lights for one hour in a symbolic act to conserve energy. But in Arizona, there is nothing symbolic about the decisions Lou Piniella, Larry Rothschild and the gang have to make.

In the bullpen, only four spots are set. The closer will either be Carlos Marmol or Kevin Gregg, with the slight edge going to Marmol at this point. However, Gregg has pitched very well this spring. Either way, one will pitch in the eighth and one in the ninth.

In the past couple weeks, the hot topic of fantasy nerds and GM wanna-be's has been Jay Cutler's pending divorce from the Denver Broncos. How much is a young stud quarterback worth in a trade?

Today, maybe a bigger name wandered into the mix. Quietly, maybe one of the five best professional athletes under the age of 26 made (and subsequently backed away from) a statement of wanting out.