The Cubs waiver claim of RHP Anthony Varvaro has been voided by the MLB Commissioner and he has been returned to the Boston Red Sox, where he will be placed on the BoSox MLB 60-day DL. Varvaro will undergo surgery to repair a torn elbow flexor tendon later this week.
Fausto Carmona threw six innings of two-hit shutout ball and Austin Kearns reached base three times and scored two runs, leading the Cleveland Indians to 9-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Cactus League action at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park this afternoon in warm & sunny Mesa.
Starlin Castro smacked an RBI double into the left-center gap to drive-in the tying run, and then scored the go-ahead tally on a Micah Hoffpauir double, as the Cubs rallied from a 6-2 deficit to edge the Los Angeles Angels 8-7 at Tempe Diablo Stadium this afternoon.
Joe Inglett clubbed a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the 9th, as the Milwaukee Brewers overcame an early 3-0 deficit and defeated the Cubs 5-3 in Cactus League action at cold and rainy Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park this afternoon in Mesa.
The start of the game was delayed almost an hour as a noon-time downpour flooded HoHoKam Park. But the rain did stop, and the dark clouds gradually broke apart, even allowing the sun to shine through by mid-game.
The Cubs added pitchers John Gaub, Blake Parker and Rafael Dolis along with catcher Welington Castillo and OF James Adduci to their 40-man roster. All five were eligible to be selected in the upcoming Rule 5 draft and the deadline was today to add them. Arizona Phil has been keeping track of this on the right sidebar of course. He had Matt Camp on his short list of players he thought the Cubs would protect - rather than Adduci - but he got the other four.
Besides Camp, I would guess that Steve Clevenger, Alessandro Maestri, Thomas Diamond, J.R.Mathes or Greg Reinhard might draw a little interest.
Mike Leake (CIN) threw four innings of shutout ball and Lance Zawadzki (SD) had three hits, including a solo home run and a two-run double, leading the Peoria Saguaros to an 8-1 victory over the Mesa Solar Sox at HoHoKam Park this afternoon.
With two of the AFL's top starting pitchers on the hill, naturally the game turned into a slugfest, as the Mesa Solar Sox scored eight unanswered runs in the middle innings to overcome a 4-0 deficit, only to blow a four-run 8th inning lead, before scoring the game-winning run on a two-out single in the bottom of the 9th, en route to a 9-8 victory over Surprise Rafters in Arizona Fall League action this afternoon at HoHoKam Park in Mesa.
(And next time you come by, bring my stomach!)...
With most all of the Cubs front office personnel, Scouting Department, and Player Development staff watching from the picnic area high above the third-base dugout, Michael Brenly singled twice and scored once, Starlin Castro singled twice (increasing his AFL-leading batting average to .433) and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and four Cubs pitchers combined to throw seven innings of one-run ball, as the Mesa Solar Sox dropped the Peoria Javelinas 8-1 in Arizona Fall League action at HoHoKam Park in Mesa this afternoon.
Recent comments
Cubster 09/30/2023 - 09:09 pm (view)
Candelario back at 3B and Canario is DH.
crunch 09/30/2023 - 09:47 pm (view)
morel gets 2nd…nico sitting
Cubster 09/30/2023 - 09:03 pm (view)
Hopefully, Jordan Wicks won’t be 2024’s Keegan Thompson. Similarly, hope KT is the 2022 version of himself.
George Altman 09/30/2023 - 09:27 am (view)
100% Agree, Crunch.
Now on to the Hot Stove season where I hope Ricketts can be convinced they need (and will have to spend whatever $$$ this becomes) on the following:
SP2 or SP3
Bellinger or comparable LH bat who can play 1B or CF.
A 3B (preferably LH bat)
At least 2, if not 3 RPs better than Fulmer.
Dolorous Jon Lester 09/30/2023 - 09:09 am (view)
Totally, I was not expecting to watch meaningful baseball the final two months of the season, let alone the final week.
Cubster 09/30/2023 - 09:51 am (view)
This week’s collapse reminds me of the last week in the 2004 Season with Sosa-Alou. That team was expected to win, this team not so much. We’ll always have July-August 2023, that was fun. Thanks Crunch, your commentary has been a highlight too.
crunch 09/30/2023 - 09:59 am (view)
it is highly likely they're done. even doing very well by normal standards would most likely end in a tie, which means they don't make the post-season. they're still in it on paper, not on vegas odds.
in all seriousness...i'll take the 2 extra months of baseball that mattered. 160+ games mattered this year and it was worth tuning in to watch.
i feel like i should be a little more disappointed, but in the weeks coming into the trade deadline i strongly assumed they were already sellers and the season was pretty much chalked up to dead. the run they made up to the point where the upper management decided to go all-in was fun.
my only armchair GM regret is only adding a mid-level pen arm like cuas at the trade deadline. oddly, that cuas trade seems like one they would be looking to make whether they were going for a post-season run or not. they didn't seem to want to make room for velazquez.
long story short, it's been a fun ride and i'm glad i took it. it would be damn nice if we could get a little bit more fairy tale magic.
Dolorous Jon Lester 09/29/2023 - 09:17 pm (view)
They’re done. They’ve been done since that disaster of a road trip to Colorado and Arizona, with the Arizona and Pittsburgh home series bookending it.
Pour one out for the 23 Cubs. A fun ride for a good portion of the year, much more fun than I’d anticipated.
crunch 09/29/2023 - 09:16 pm (view)
cubs lose, marlins win, reds win...
cubs have a 6-14 record since the early september sweep of SF. 6 of the 14 losses are 1-run losses.
still technically in it...looking very unlikely, though.
crunch 09/29/2023 - 09:17 pm (view)
morel out here channeling baez and taking extra bases twice in this game...and getting away with it...double and triple.