The Brooks Raley Roster Dance and Other Bullets

Anyone hear this brand new “Call Me Maybe” song? Boy, I sure do hope they play that song on an endless loop on the radio for the next three months. There is zero chance that it will eventually feel like a spider laying eggs in my brain.

  • The Cubs sent Brooks Raley back to Iowa yesterday, which was required by the 26-man roster rule. But, just as when he was sent down after his last start, this is meaningless – he could be right back up for his next start. The Cubs are taking advantage of a loophole in the 26-man roster exception, which does not require a team to leave a player down in the minors for the usual 10 days when he’s sent back down after being the 26th man. In other words, by the time his next turn in the rotation rolls around, he will have “been down” for the required 10 days. It’s like the 26th man call-up day, on Saturday, never even happened.
  • Speaking of shuffling up AAA starters, the Cubs are going to consider giving Chris Rusin a start this week. The 25-year-old lefty has had an up and down year at Iowa, and the Cubs will probably need a fill-in starter on Tuesday, thanks to the doubleheader on Saturday. Rusin is not on the 40-man roster, so the Cubs would have to open up a spot for him if they want to bring him up.
  • Theo Epstein was on the Score yesterday with Matt Spiegel and Barry Rozner, and he was his typical cagey self, but did all but confirm that a Starlin Castro extension is going to be finalized soon. Although he wouldn’t comment specifically, he went out of his way to explain that the finalizing steps on these type of deals typically include a back and forth on the specific language of the deal and then a physical. In other words, the deal is coming.
  • Dale Sveum liked Brett Jackson’s aggressiveness in trying to steal third base with one out in the 9th yesterday, but didn’t like the execution. In short, Sveum thought Jackson got a poor jump, should have realized he got a poor jump, and then should have retreated to second.
  • Welington Castillo is dealing with a foot issue, which could keep him out of action for a little while. It isn’t serious, though, and he was able to play through it on Saturday so that Steve Clevenger didn’t have to catch both sides of the doubleheader. Dale Sveum did say that Castillo was feeling a lot better yesterday, though.
  • John Sickels gives a little info on Jorge Soler’s season so far, and on what he’s hearing from scouts. The short version is that the scouts and the numbers, so far, indicate what we’d already thought about him: good power, good arm, good upside. It’s just a matter of seeing how well he hits as he moves up the system.
  • The MLBullets at BCB look at Melky’s website plan, among other things.
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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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