Allyssa Milano says have a happy Labor day holiday.
Just a little rant from me after a game where Soriano left his pants on the left field chalk line. After he did the pretzel dance, I thought that chalk outline was from a CSI scene. Someone should press criminal charges for that effort.Tired ol' Lou Piniella just grunts and shrugs his shoulders. "Ah, ah, ah...Whaddya expect me to do about it?" Clearly he's been beaten into submission by overexposure to Cubbery.
After torturing myself by listening to local sports talk outlets, with the only brief reprieve coming from occasional banter about a meaningless preseason Bears game, I think I've had enough pain to land on my own personal DL. Steve Stone with glee in his voice said, "that's what you get for playing a DH in left field." I get the message. Listening how the Cubs are held hostage to their long term contracts with no end in sight (well it's 3-5 years before we see the end to this tunnel), forcing them to play overpaid, under performing players (Soriano in the role of 40/40 guy and Bradley in the role of rbi machine) or under performing players with a brief track record of performance (Geo Soto, Kevin Gregg, The not-Hanks...Aaron Miles and Heilman) or under performing players without a track record of performance (better when in small doses, Fonte-NOT), it dawned on me that there is a simple solution.
"My right big toe is kind of sore, why do you ask?"
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Somewhere in the Cubs locker room, Bill Murray chimes in...
"an Army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtbBmwgxKc0
I wonder how what converstion went.
"Hey Shawn, do you have anything that hurts?"
"My right big toe is kind of sore, why do you ask?"
i'm not sure the author of that report knows what "lights-out" reliever means.
if he means a reliever with spotty control that will throw 20+ pitches an inning in AAA is "lights-out" i wonder how high the praise goes for someone that deserves it.
he's got good velocity at least. he's worth taking a chance on.
s.camp on the DL (evidently sucking is an injury these days) with a "sprained right big toe" (no, seriously)...r.dolis up
File this under the banner of how's the Cubs organizational depth coming along...
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Must have stubbed that toe throwing the grand slam last night. How convenient.
per Roto...
But for 2013 the Cubs rotation depth is greatly improved.
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JB: I completely agree about the 2013 improvement.
In fact, the debacle that was 2012 was accelerated when Maholm/Dempster/Garza were gone which is a tough nut to crack for any team. If the trade deadline subtracts 2 starters this year from the Cubs they likely will have Villanueva and even Scott Baker should be ready by then...and if not then one AAA guy (Rusin, Vizcaino).
But for 2013 the Cubs rotation depth is greatly improved. Villanueva just shifted to the bullpen, Rusin is pitching well enough in Iowa that a half-dozen MLB teams would promote him today to their rotations, and this is all in spite of the total washout that is Scott Baker.
As for the Cardinals, they called up Tyler Lyons. His control will keep him in games, but I don't think he's about to embark a Hall of Fame career.
per mlbtr...StL starting lefty, Jaime Garcia to undergo shoulder labrum repair after seeing Dr. Andrews and is out for the rest of the year. Some quote about Andrews surprised to see how well Garcia was pitching given how large (40%) the labral tear is.
We can measure how far the Cubs system is working by injuries like this, just watch how well Garcia's replacement in the rotation does. In 2011-12 the Cubs would be bringing up Justin Germano, Jason Berken, Chris Volstad or Rodrigo Lopez. Webster had a pic of RodLo in its definition of hitting rock bottom.
Right thing to do, thanks 54 best LB in Bears history
Side note I was at Kerry Wood's & Urlacher's last games (Seattle )
Can't wait to get my Bulls opener tix
Urlacher retiring from NFL
http://espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/story/_/id/9301402/...
Cubs prioritize Vitters' development over Stewart
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130521&c...
Dave Duncan has took a leave of absence back in January 2012 (wife has cancer). So I don't know how much he's around these days.
Something to keep in mind about Michael Bowden, is that even if he clears waivers, he can refuse an Outright Assignment to the minors & elect free-ageny because he has been outrighted previously in his career.
JOHN B: Exactly. I think if the Cubs make a deal with the Rangers, it's Texas who would want some of the Cubs ISBP value, not the other-way around.
And remember too that the best 16-year old international prospects usually sign right at the start of the ISP on July 2nd, so there could be a flurry of trades on July 2 that would allow a club like the Rangers to add ISBP values that would enable them to sign the #1 Venezuelan or Dominican prospect.
JOHN B: 2012-13 International Signing Bonus Pool (ISBP) values ($2.9M per club) CANNOT be traded, and 2013-14 ISBP values (which are divided into 1/4 values of unequal amounts and which vary depending on the club's 2012 winning percentage ranking) cannot be traded until the start of the 2013-14 International Signing Period (ISP) on July 2nd. (The 2012-13 ISP closes on June 15th, and no international players can be signed during the period of time extending from June 16 to July 1.
Thank you. It sounds like the Cubs could maybe even be more logical sellers of an ISBP share than buyers. Packaging a share with Garza or Feldman might increase the eliteness of the in-system prospect(s) coming back to the Cubs.