Steve Stone Talks Cubs Rumors and Other Bullets

I said going into the Phillies series that I’d be happy with a split, so I suppose I have to hold myself to that. But, man, the Cubs came so close to winning the series in thrilling fashion last night. It still stings a little. I’m a hopeless romantic.

  • It sounds like a broken record with respect to Chris Volstad, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Here’s Dale Sveum on Volstad’s start last night: “Volstad just pitched his butt off to keep us in the game. Really, the whole game. The first inning, there were just some unfortunate breaks that went against us. A perfectly placed bunt, a little off-the-end squibber and then another seeing-eye base hit. He threw the ball unbelievable. He just had some tough breaks.”
  • Kerry Wood had a good throwing session yesterday, and is on schedule to return on Thursday (the same day as Ryan Dempster). When he returns, Dale Sveum says he might not put Wood right back into the 8th inning role. “Just to take a little stress off the whole situation, when he first comes back, we’ll possibly just move him into the seventh-inning role and see what happens,” Sveum said. Rafael Dolis would probably stay in the 8th inning, despite last night’s blown game.
  • For all his ridiculously awesome hitting, Bryan LaHair still feels the effect of his late Spring back injury. “Once the nerve gets damaged it takes a while to regenerate; it’s usually the last thing that regenerates,” LaHair said. “I still have pain in my foot but it’s not something that will hold me back. It’s something that’s just annoying more than anything.” It’s impossible not to be a huge Bryan LaHair fan right now. Impossible. I dare you.
  • Alfonso Soriano on his homerless April, per the Trib: “I’m surprised how I’m doing. I feel the same, but I haven’t hit one yet. I think when I hit one homer, I’ll be OK. There’s still five months left, so when I hit one I’ll be fine.” I hate to be the one to say it, but hitting just one homer this year isn’t a whole lot. Ba dum ching.
  • A small update on Junior Lake, whom you’ve by now noticed has yet to make his 2012 Minor League debut. As Luke and I have said, he’s still in Mesa, working out in extended Spring Training thanks to an injured back, but Carrie Muskat says the Cubs are hopeful that he’ll be assigned to a team within the next 10 days.
  • Quite a few great discussions going on right now over at the Message Board, including what the Cubs could hope to get from the Red Sox if they traded Matt Garza, whether Bryan LaHair is for real, whether Rudy Jaramillo’s tenure with the Cubs has been a success, what’s to be done with top pitching prospect Trey McNutt, and even the size of the universe. Head over. Join the discussion.
  • Steve Stone was on CTL last night, and he touched on a number of Cubs rumor subjects, including what happens to Bryan LaHair when Anthony Rizzo is ready, which players the Cubs are most likely to trade (Matt Garza has the most value, which, like, duh), and what the Cubs might look like in the next few years:
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    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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