Roster shuffle coming
The MRI on catcher Geovany Soto last night confirmed what the Cubs announced yesterday: Soto has a mild strain of the left oblique. They'll look at him tomorrow before the start of the series with the Cardinals, but don't look for them to call up a catcher from the minor leagues. If Soto can't go for a couple of days, Jake Fox will back up Koyie Hill.
The team today will announce that it will option pitcher Kevin Hart to Class AAA Iowa. This will be done mainly to get Hart some work at Iowa and perhaps at Class A Peoria as the minor-league all-star breaks are at hand, too. Hart is a good bet to start for the Cubs July 19 at Washington or July 20 at Philly.
With that, I expect the Cubs to bring up reliever Jeff Stevens from Class AAA Iowa to give them an arm in the bullpen. Stevens is one of the three pitchers the Cubs got from Cleveland for Mark DeRosa (who hits town tomorrow with the Cardinals, but on the DL). At Iowa, Stevens is 0-3 with a 2.18 ERA and 2 saves in 30 games. He has a tidy WHIP of 1.09, having pitched 41.1 innings and giving up 25 hits and 20 walks while striking out 43.
In a procedurual move, the Cubs will reinstate lefty reliever Jason Waddell from the DL and option him to Iowa. Waddell has been out since June 15 with a non-baseball-related medical issues. Best wishes to him.
maybe some of them are playing up to their (this year's) capabilities....
Figure the Chubs to be 7.5 games back after this weekend. This team is done, finished, caput! The Cards have their better pitchers going this series and with the way the Chubbies are hitting, they'll be lucky to crack four runs in a game. Pujols will tee off on Harden today for a couple of dingers. Maybe it's best that this club finally tank already and stop teasing us with all this back-and-forth mediocre nonsense.
Unfortunately if you look at the last 4 pitchers the Cubs have beaten, 3 are rookies (Vasquez/Burns/Jurgens), and 1 is (was) a converted reliever (McClung) who only lasted that start in a rotation. We're going to be facing one of the best pitchers in baseball Friday in Carpenter, and two other tough ones Sunday in Wainrght, and a 15 game winner from last year, Lohse. If the Cubs do not hit, it will be a repeat of the last series at Busch, ugly and frustrating. It's just not going to matter who is pitching for the Cubs if we the offense looks like it did the last two games against the road warrior (no road series wins in 2 months) Braves. Maybe the Cubs were peeking ahead to this series, let's hope they were and bring the kind of bats they swung against the Brewers. The thing is, St. Louis has the 3rd best team ERA in the NL, so no McClung's or Burns to tee off on. The Cubs have the personnel to win the division, it really just a matter of them actually performing to the level of capability. That may be easier said than done.
Soriano, fukudome, and Bradley as a unit the worse outfield offense/defense in the majors this year....
Soriano stinks in LF, Bradley in RF is average at best, they both are not hitting, and Fukudome is a very good RF playing Cf where he's good at best.....he lacks the CF speed.....you could live with his 260 in RF if you had a good LF/CF
now i know Lou can't hit for them, that's their fault they haven't produced, but he puts these no hit bad fielders out there. he keeps saying the baseball cards show this and that, true but things change and he should adjust to change and he doesn't, that's his fault....tear up them baseball cards and play some new ones
i mean if a guy stinks and you keep playing him, that's your fault......if he kept playing A. Miles and Freel everyday and they didn't produce, who would you blame? remember Baker and his guys?
it's his call for them to bunt or not, and everyone will say "but they can't bunt", true, but it's his team, his players, his fault. that's fundamentals he is not enforcing....his fault......B-4 every game he should have all the player practice bunting......remember that saying "the buck stops here". don't be like Ozzie and say "it's the players, they get paid to produce", that's a cop out.......change, enforce, bench, etc...and I'm not talking for 1-2 games,
going on what they've done so far in 2009, don't you think an outfield of Reed in LF, Fuld in CF, and fukudome in RF would be better? you would add speed which would cut off many gappers, fly balls that would be caught and not go for hits, and yes even hit better.......now if you want power you put Fox in left, Fuld CF, and Reed in right.....their record can't be any worse, they would bring speed, energy, excitement, the fans would rather have someone who tries then.......let the other 2 regain their form on the bench, batting cage, etc
Lou is going to swim or sink with the present outfield, the old cards, the history, his mind is made up.....Soriano can't stay away from the low outside slider and Lou can't help but play this outfield........his down fall.......
let me get this straight, Soriano is moved to sixth and Lou says "let's give it a chance"....i guess 3 games is enough......he benches him yesterday without giving notice and Soriano gets mad, rolls on the floor and cries, upset, saying if he'd have known he would not have come to the game ready to play.....so his reward for not being a team man is not only putting him back in the line up but moving him up to 5th?....have i got that right?......
I am thinking if there was anything left in the tank for this guy the Jays would have held on to him. The Jays are on the hook for the remainder of his salary this year and $10 mil next year. JP Ricciardi does not have the pocket book that the Sox or Yanks. They have two other bad contracts in Vernon Wells and Alex Rios. Dumping salary is one thing, but if you do not get anything in return is another.
in Freddy Sanchez? Could be a bat they need.
Unless you want to give up Vitters. I don't think they've been down that road.
Any chance the Cubs go after the recently released BJ Ryan?
I know he's out there. I'm working to ascertain the Cubs' interest level, if any.
I think ever since Ryan's surgery he hasn't been the same. His velo is way down.... like 85-87 range at best. I'm not sure he could even help the Cubs out right now. You have to believe that Toronto would have held onto this guy if they thought he would come back to be something close to what he was before being that they're paying him a very hefty salary.
I'm told they may have interest. He'll have to clear waivers. Whoever signs him probably will have him start at Triple-A.
For the research on the runner on 3rd and less then 2 outs.
That's just amazing. No wonder Santo goes ballastic everytime I am driving and they dont' score. I can't remember this being that bad. If you believe in momentum for baseball, it is a huge pick me up for the opposing team and a huge downer for the Cubs.
Talk about a team pressing. They can't score, and when they do have guys on that should be gimmees, they start pressing more and don't get them in.
What about the Cubs record in 1 run games? Figuring that they are under .500 in 1 run games, or when they score less then 3 or 4 runs, you could argue that this stat is the reason why. That is NOT on the coaches, GM, or manager. That is a player problem.