He has won his 8th game of the year yesterday and is off to the best Cubs’ start in the last 100 years (Editor’s note: According to the Score, Ken Holtzman was last Cubs starter to start 8-0, when he did it in 1967

Sorry, meant off to the best start of a Cubs' career since 1910 when King Cole went 8-0 to start his career as a Cubs. BY the way after starting 8-0 he went 12-4 the rest of the way to finish 20-4 for the Cubs. Of course that was a different Cubs team.

Well, I pointed out that he was coming back to earth last week, and since then he's had perhaps his best two starts of the year. So, you're welcome, Cubs nation.

Since the Cubs are at least 3 years from being relavent again, Is there anyone on the current team that will be on the next good one. Marmol? Soriano (only because he has to be).

Castro? Colvin will probably be a 4th OF'er or so if the Cubs don't go all Pagan on him. Soto, Wells, Cashner, and possibly Sean Marshall.

Castro, hopefully. He's had some Shawn Dunstony moments here and there but he's a super young shortstop. I don't know what to think about Soto. Haven't really seen Cashner. Has anyone?

Is there anyone on the current team that will be on the next good one. Marmol? Soriano (only because he has to be).

They're extending him to 2018?

Haven't really seen Cashner. Has anyone?

I saw his one-pitch debut, where he got Ronny Cedeno to pop out.

I saw Cashner in his second appearance. Not sure how his stuff will translate to starting, cause right now his fastball is pretty straight (95-97 range), but he wasn't locating his slider or change (85-87) for strikes. Brenly kept talking about his easy delivery; it looks like he's barely throwing out there.

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I personally think Colvin's ceiling is a 4th OF, but if you were to only listen to the Chicago media you'd think he's a future star in RF. So I'm not quite sure what the Cubs expect out of him long term.

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Sorry, meant off to the best start of a Cubs' career since 1910 when King Cole went 8-0 to start his career as a Cubs. BY the way after starting 8-0 he went 12-4 the rest of the way to finish 20-4 for the Cubs. Of course that was a different Cubs team.

No problem, just added it as a little flavor as well.

Editor’s note: According to the Score, Ken Holtzman was last Cubs starter to start 8-0, when he did it in 1967

Most Cub fans probably know this, but Holtzman went 9-0 in 1967 while spending part of the year in the Army. He would get weekend passes to come to where the Cubs were playing and pitch.

Haven't really seen Cashner. Has anyone?

Never saw him play.

Personally, I'd be thrilled if Colvin could make a career of it as a fourth OFer. Lefty power off the bench has been a huge thorn in this team's side over the years. Unfortunately, it isn't worth much when the team is otherwise weak offensively, but he seems to be a viable major league player.

Castro has been terrible and looks completely overmatched. But he clearly has a lot of talent and personally I have no problem with the Cubs sticking with him, as long as his presence in the majors builds rather than erodes his confidence. If the team is going to be this mediocre, give the guy a shot. He seems to know what he's doing defensively. I don't expect anything better from Ryan Theriot, so what's the harm.

How mind-blowingly freakish would be to see Carlos Silva crack the 20 win mark? What would even be odder is that if he does that he is still unlikely to get any votes for the CYA.

Why would you say that? Of course he would.

His BABIP has dropped down to .269, compared to his career average of .311.

I'm not as down on Castro's performance so far - the kid is only 20. I think we have to evaluate what we've seen so far with that caveat. The Cubs are paying Jamarillo a ton of money to be the hitting coach, so it makes sense for them to want Castro working with him. He started hot, scouts found his weaknesses, and now it's time to see him adjust. Even if he finishes this season with worse numbers than where he's at now, it very easily could be a successful year for him.

Lefty power off the bench has been a huge thorn in this team's side over the years.

Huh? Hofpauir and Ward did a good job of providing lefty power off the bench the last 3 years. (Personally, lefty power off the bench is the least of my concerns ... and if Colvin can hit for anything like a 200 ISO consistently (currently 314), he's starting material.)

does this mean Silva gets traded before the deadline?

I'm pretty sure Lilly will be the first to go. His contract is up while Silva will still be pretty cheap next year (thanks Cubs).

I am increasingly of the opinion that the Cubs need to trade off a starter quite soon. I probably shouldn't, but I'm becoming a believer in Gorz. He's only thrown 90 innings for the Cubs but in those innings he has 94 K, 35 BB and 8 HR. The WHIP is still too high (9 H/9 but mainly it's the walk rate). He'll be 28 next year which is often the year a pitcher starts to put it together (i.e. learn control). I hate seeing him go to the pen in favor of Zambrano ... admittedly the other option right now is Wells who I also don't want to see go to the pen, yet I want Z back in the rotation. Therefore, trade a starter.

Lilly should bring back something nice but I assume teams want to see a few more solid starts to be sure he's over his injury -- his peripherals aren't particularly good right now but he's still got 6 QS in 8 starts. Dempster would bring back lots of nice stuff I suspect but I can't imagine Hendry making that move (and I'm not sure he should either). Silva -- who knows what he'll bring back?

My faith here (I can't believe I'm saying this) is in current Cubs management/coaching in terms of identifying and developing good pitching talent, especially starters. Lilly's been a better pitcher with us; the transformation of Dempster is astounding; Wells keeps pitching well; Silva and Marquis were more than we could hope for; Gorz has taken big strides; Marmol is unhittable (why anybody bothers to swing is beyond me, just wait for your walk or take 3 strikes and sit down); Marshall (!) is K'ing 11 per 9. The Cubs led the NL in Ks from 2005-2008, were 2nd in 2009 ... and somehow just 5th right now despite a team K rate of 7.9.

Anyway, somebody there knows what they're doing.

Good points, Walt.

Trading Lilly involves one add'l element: as a FA this winter, you might (or might not) get draft pick compensation (if his new team offers him arbitration, he declines, and signs elsewhere). That should up his value, unless he stinks or gets hurt and you don't offer him arbitration; the prospects you get back should exceed his value down the stretch to a contender, IOW.

But I'm not sure the Cubs can be classified as non-contenders (sellers) yet. And if you're trying to sort out the staff by trading a (surplus) starter for a solution to a problem, exactly where is that problem? 1B and 3B are, right now, giant piles of suck - but both those guys might yet turn it around. 2B? Set-up relief? Exactly what piece do you want to acquire to make this team a better contender?

P.S. Liked the Kenny Holtzman info. Not a Cubs fan growing up, but I played Strat-O-Matic and his '67 card was sweet.

Cashner sort of reminds me of Kyle Farnsworth, of all people. His pants aren't as tight, and he doesn't throw quite as hard, although it looks like he maybe could if he wanted to. But stuff-wise, he seems pretty similar: fastball that seems to stay up high (in a good sense), and breaking stuff that doesn't seem anywhere good enough to be a starter.

But of course that's based on watching him over a couple innings on Sunday, so grain of salt, etc.

I don't think the cubs are going to be getting any mlb starters back in trades of lilly and silva so you really don't have to worry about fixing a problem that exists now. Just get me some good prospects and we'll figure out where to put thm later.

Why would you say that? Of course he would.

Will Silva get any first place votes? Will he be the second or third best pitcher in the league? Right now you got Jimenez, Halladay, and Wainwright as guys who are going to get votes before Silva does.

Silva has gone 8-0 and he hardly gets any attention outside of Chicago for that. He simply isn't a story.

Great, now even the strategy of letting your starting pitcher throw 8 shutout/near shutout innings and then handing the ball over to Marmol/Marshall doesn't even work. Gahh, this offense sucks!

Colvin, Fukudome, and Hill started and went a combined 5-12. Fontenot's hot streak appears to be over as well. He has gone 1-16 over his last 5 games.

Right now you got Jimenez, Halladay, and Wainwright as guys who are going to get votes before Silva does.

And Mike Pelfrey. Now 8-1 with a 2.23 ERA.

There was about 5 or so guys I was going to list off in the next sentence that I was going to put under the heading "doing somethings better than Silva, doing good and have a good rep, or are simply better than Silva" but I was typing with a palm pre so I cut it short.

Unless Carlos goes something like 24-0 or lots of other guys fall off it is highly doubtful Silva gets any votes save a vote or two at the back end by Chicago writers.

Will Silva get any first place votes? Will he be the second or third best pitcher in the league? Right now you got Jimenez, Halladay, and Wainwright as guys who are going to get votes before Silva does.

Don't forget that in reaction to last year's debacle when self-proclaimed statheads gave votes to unlikely CY candidates (as opposed to the annual tradition of idiot writers giving votes to unqualified CY candidates), the ballot was expanded. How that was supposed to help the situation I wasn't quite clear but it will likely mean an end to my 40-year streak (since they expanded to 3 votes) of finishing 12th or better in NL CYA voting.

But, yeah, if Silva were to win 20, he'd get votes unless there are a lot of guys who win 20 this year. Heck, Mike Bielecki got a vote in 1989.

Did they actually expand the ballot? I don't remember hearing about that and I can't find info on the web about that anywhere.

As for Mike and his lone vote like I said above outside of a Chicago writer I'll doubt he gets a vote unless he goes something like 24-0 or a lot of other guys seriously fall off.

Silva finally takes a loss. He comes up one win short of tying King Cole for the most consecutive wins to start a Cubs' career.

Pretty stupid way to take a loss but to be fair Silva had some no decisions and wins in games in which he should have gotten the loss so things even out. Still I'd say the Cubs got their money worth from Silva regardless of what comes next. Sell him and sell him high Hendry. don't wait until he reaches the usual cub level of lowest possible value before trading him.