A Roster Move for Jorge Soler and Other Bullets

With Jorge Soler ready to officially sign his contract with the Cubs any day, he’ll need to be added to the 40-man roster, which means someone will have to be bounced. If the Cubs had their druthers, I’d guess they would like to be able to wait to officially add him until Geovany Soto or Welington Castillo is ready to return from the DL, so they can bounce someone like Koyie Hill from the 40-man without issue. If they can’t wait, though, it might be another catcher, Blake Lalli.

  • Geovany Soto, who played his first rehab game at AAA Iowa last night, says he expects to be in Iowa for about a week. He and Welington Castillo, who is, himself, on a rehab stint with AA Tennessee could be ready to return at the same time early next week. If that happens, the Cubs will have to decide if they want to carry three catchers (not likely), or if one of the three will work full-time at AAA Iowa. The best bet is that Castillo is that guy.
  • Ryan Dempster is your NL Player of the Week, which sounds about right, given his 15 straight scoreless innings. He actually shared the honor with Jason Kubel, but nobody cares about that part.
  • Scout’s Chris Emma interviews Shawon Dunston, Jr., and, surprise, he sounds like an awesome kid. Once again, the Cubs have a number of prospects on the way up who are not only exciting players, but good people who are easy to cheer for. I like that.
  • Kevin Goldstein had some kind words for one of the Cubs’ less heralded prospects, High A shortstop Arismendy Alcantara (I love saying his name out loud): “While the focus on the Cubs system is firmly on the Triple-A team and the prospects that will arrive in Wrigley this year, Alcantara has turned into a pop-up guy in the system. With five hits over the weekend, the 20-year-old Dominican is now batting .291/.315/.417 in 60 games this season. There are some holes in his game, in particular an overly-aggressive plate approach and sloppy throwing mechanics that have contributed to 22 errors, but he’s a line drive hitter with a quick bat, plus speed, and the tools to remain at short. Scouts see Alcantara as a good utility player, at the very least, and many give him a chance to be an everyday player if he continues to progress.”
  • Aaron Kurcz, the “other” half of the Theo Epstein compensation, is dominating AA for the Red Sox. I say good for him. That reminds me, once again: are the Cubs pretty much just not going to be giving the Padres any compensation for Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod? It’s not like the front offices have forgotten, so did they just decide to let it go? That would be mighty generous of the Padres.
  • Carrie Muskat answers questions, and notes that an AL scout told her he’d “love” to have Alfonso Soriano in his lineup. That’s good to hear.
  • Paul Sullivan plays swami and predicts future headlines for the Cubs.
  • Don’t forget to enter the BN Fantasy Contest. It’s free, you can win money, you can beat me, and you help BN just by entering. Full details here.
  • 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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