Cubs Rumors from Around the Globe
- Alfonso Soriano had a "scheduled" off day on Wednesday versus the Diamondbacks despite some gaudy career numbers against Ian Kennedy (6-for-13, 3 HR's, 7 RBI's, 3 BB's). The Twitter-verse was having none of it and the conspiracies flowed that the Cubs were just awaiting his approval on a deal. Soriano showed up though for a pre-game chat with the reporters and spilled the beans that he would accept the a trade to the Yankees and apparently gave TheJedi a list of a few other teams he'd be willing to say yes to...so it's Soriano waiting on the Cubs and the rest of the league. As of now, a trade has not been made, but somehow Soriano didn't manage to even get an at-bat in a 12-inning affair last night that the Cubs eventually won 7-6.
- Speaking of Wednesday's game, the bullpen is pretty taxed, wonder if they'll try and get someone up to the club by gametime. Carlos Villanueva is starting Thursday which could going to the pen early and they'll certainly be without Gregg and Rondon as you can see below (and possibly Guerrier if they don't want to go a 4th day with him although his pitch counts have been low). That leaves Russell, Parker, Strop and Bowden for the most part.
Pitcher | Mon | Tues | Wed |
Russell | 21 | 3 | |
Parker | 9 | 8 | |
Guerrier | 2 | 6 | 14 |
Strop | 15 | 12 | |
Gregg | 14 | 40 | |
Bowden | 0 | 37 | |
Rondon | 0 | 30 | 25 |
- The other major rumor was that the Pirates and Braves seem keen on James Russell.
- Matt Garza pitched a gem in his first start for Texas: 7.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K with the only unearned run courtesy of his own throwing error. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Also, the Yanks had Lyle Overbay batting cleanup and Vernon Wells is a regular batting 5th...so don't get too excited yet Ranger fans.
- In the minors, Kris Bryant got his first hit with Boise with a double, ending up 1-for-4 on the night. Javier Baez doubled and hit his 6th home run in AA (23rd on the season). Dae-Eun Rhee pitched for the Smokies in that game and went a solid 5 innings giving up a run and racking up 6 K's against 3 BB's. Mike Olt made his debut for Iowa and went 1-for-5 with 3 K's. Speaking of the minors, check out MLBFarm.com...cool stuff.
Comments