Irregular Joe?

Well, the Cubs first spring training game is tomorrow and there's already controversy on whether or not Joe Borowski is healthy or not. ESPN 1000 reported on Tuesday that Borowski was throwing in the mid to low 80s. However, there was a report in the Sun-Times yesterday that said Joe's fastball was back up in the low 90s. Which is true? Well, nobody knows, because the Sun-Times article states at the end that no radar guns have been used in camp to this point, so basically all this speed judging is being by reporters standing on the sidelines and guessing, or asking hitters "what do you think Borowski's velocity was today?". I for one am hoping that Borowski is all the way back from his shoulder injury. Last spring his 2003 season was billed as a fluke, and fans couldn't wait to shoehorn shiny new relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins into the closer's role. We all know what happened then, Borowski lost velocity and tried to gut out his injury and was then shut down for the year. Hawkins became closer and saved a sub-par 72% of his chances, including the spectacular meltdown against the Mets in the final week. I'm one of those people that feels that mental makeup is important for a closer, that it takes more than just good stuff to do the job. Witness Borowski in 2004, pitching with a bad shoulder, was able to save 9 of 11 games on pure guts alone. If Joe's healthy this year, I think he should take back the closer role. That'd give Hawkins his setup gig back and give the Cubs more flexibility with Ryan Dempster. But that's getting a little bit ahead of everything. Tomorrow, they break out the radar guns.