Lou Piniella used his probable Opening Day lineup Tuesday in a 6-5 victory over Kansas City, although he had to insert a few qualifiers while announcing it.
“Unless there is an injury or unless there’s a trade or whatever, this possibly could be our Opening Day lineup,” Piniella said.
That lineup of Ryan Theriot, Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Mark DeRosa, Geovany Soto and Felix Pie combined for five of the Cubs 10 hits, including two infield hits, so if you’re filling out your Opening Day scorecard, be sure to use a pencil.
Everything is open to change if the Cubs manage to acquire second baseman Brian Roberts to lead off by the end of spring training. Then, Theriot moves to the bottom of the order and DeRosa goes into limbo as a super-utilityman.
Piniella, however, said he would like to have everyone’s role set by Monday, one week before Opening Day against Milwaukee.
“That’s what I’d like to do, so everybody would know exactly what we’re doing, how we’re going to go about doing it,” he said. “I’m clinging, hopefully, that we can do that. … I think it’d be very settling and very beneficial for us.”
Ramirez, who hit a three-run homer Tuesday, said he’s behind DeRosa in the long-running DeRosa-Roberts debate.
“I know those guys are talking about Brian Roberts, but DeRosa had a pretty good year last year, and the year before that too,” Ramirez said. “The guy can play. He hit [better than] .290 with [72] RBIs, and that’s a pretty good year for a second baseman. Besides he plays good defense. You can always upgrade your team, but I don’t know where you can upgrade it besides getting Brian Roberts.”
Piniella also announced Tuesday he would announce his closer by the end of this week, as well as one of the two starting spots behind Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill. Kerry Wood, the probable closer, will pitch back-to-back outings for the first time this spring Wednesday and Thursday.
Ryan Dempster is the odds-on favorite to pitch in the rotation’s No. 3 spot. That leaves Jon Lieber and Jason Marquis fighting for the fifth spot. Lieber has a 1.80 ERA this spring, while Marquis’ ERA is at 1.93 after Tuesday’s five-inning gem against the Royals.
Piniella said “they all deserve a spot” based on their spring performances, though obviously one has to go. It likely will be Marquis if he doesn’t make the rotation.
“A lot of things here are [dependent] on what can happen trade-wise or not,” Piniella said. “That’s why you have to be a little cautious in what you say, or don’t say. I don’t have any indications [of an imminent trade] at all.”
Marquis reiterated he wants to stay with the Cubs and wouldn’t address trade talk or the possibility of going to the bullpen. Marquis’ spring stats speak for themselves.
“I did everything I could do to make myself happy,” he said, adding, “sometimes stats and stuff can be misleading.”
When asked if he thought about the possibility of a trade to the “defending champions,” Marquis looked puzzled and replied: “Who won the World Series last year?”
Reminded about the Red Sox’s championship, Marquis said: “No, really, I didn’t remember.”
Spoken like a true New Yorker.
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psullivan@tribune.com
