Jeff Samardzija Gets an Extra Day of Rest and Other Bullets

In case the earlier mention of familial obligations wasn’t enough for you, I’m on daddy duty most of the day today, as The Wife is out getting educated. So, you might not see much more of me around today after these Bullets, until later today. I know, your Saturday morning is ruined. Go watch cartoons or ‘Saved by the Bell.’

  • The Cubs have flipped Jeff Samardzija and Chris Volstad in the rotation, allowing Volstad to go on normal rest, and Samardzija to get an extra day of rest. The Cubs have said they’re going to try and monitor Samardzija’s starts and watch his pitch counts (he was cruising last time out when he was removed after 90 pitches), so I doubt there’s anything to be worried about here. Volstad will now pitch the finale in the Phillies series.
  • Dale Sveum says we can expect to continue seeing Tony Campana out in center field. For now, Campana is expected to get about 80% of the starts out there, though he might get a day off today.
  • Ryan Dempster is fully healthy, and ready to return from quad soreness for his next start on Thursday. Randy Wells will go today, and then we’ll just have to see what happens when Dempster returns. Kerry Wood, on the other hand, is taking longer to come back from shoulder fatigue. Although eligible to return this weekend, the Cubs aren’t even expecting him back until late in the week at the earliest. He’ll throw a simulated game on Monday, and then possibly again on Thursday, assuming the first goes well. It’s also possible he could return on Thursday, which would make for a whole mess of roster moves.
  • Phillies manager Charlie Manuel on Paul Maholm’s success last night: “Once [Maholm] got out of the first-inning jam, he really got going. He changed speeds well. He was throwing a little slider to the right-handers and getting to them. Once he got ahead, he threw some high fastballs and got away with it. We didn’t do [anything] with it and chased some. Actually, that’s kind of how we’ve been on left-handers so far this year.” Sound familiar? I could hear Mike Quade, Lou Piniella, and Dusty Baker saying the same thing about any soft-tossing lefty over the past decade.
  • Although the Cubs’ new Spring Training complex in Mesa, Arizona will require the removal of some historic trees, they aren’t just being ripped out of the ground to die. There’s going to be a whole process for removing, preserving, and relocating them. Nice.
  • I’ll have more on this soon, but you should think about checking out the Cubs’ “Social Media Night” on May 16. Buying a ticket to the game gets you access to a social media panel before the game (I’m not on the panel, but I’ll be in attendance), a shirt, a hot dog voucher, a copy of Vine Line, and social media cards (some of which are autographed by Cubs players). The tickets are bleacher tickets (you have to buy them through that page if you want the deal), and I’ll be there in the bleachers, too. It’s a Wednesday night game against the Phillies. I’m just getting it on your radar.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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