Kevin Gregg is Officially the Closer … in 2013 and Other Bullets

kevin gregg cubsThe Little Boy’s got a cold, which, for a two month old, pretty much means you’ve just got to watch him be uncomfortable. At least we’re second time parents. If this had been The Little Girl, we would have been to the doctor three times by now.

  • Yesterday I wrote in this space that, regardless of what Dale Sveum says, Kevin Gregg is clearly the closer at this point. And, what do you know, a few hours later, Sveum made it official, naming Gregg as his closer. “The problems we had, it was a great, great pickup and he’s ran with it, and done a heck of a job,” Sveum said, per Carrie Muskat. “[Gregg] is a veteran guy who doesn’t panic. He’s been in those situations before. Those last three outs aren’t made for everybody. He throws strikes and has some life on his fastball. He can work both sides of the plate, that’s the good thing about it.” And then Sveum said something that will make you smile, after confirming that Gregg was the closer. “He’s obviously earned it and there’s a bigger sample out there now to know that.” Sample size statements! I love it. Even if I’m not so sure that there’s a large enough sample yet to say that Gregg has stepped up his game this year (although the visuals certainly match the results), I’m just glad to see Sveum speaking that way. He may use some folksy language at times, but this is a guy who understands modern baseball analysis.
  • The back-end of the bullpen, in the run-up to Kevin Gregg, might be getting better on Friday: Kyuji Fujikawa successfully completed his second rehab outing yesterday, and is scheduled to rejoin the club tomorrow. Rafael Dolis figures to be the guy optioned back to Iowa to make room.
  • The Cubs’ .978 fielding percentage is tied for the worst in baseball. Given the dominance of the starting pitching, however, a great deal of which comes with low BABIPs, it’s fair to wonder: are the Cubs making a lot of errors, but also a lot of nice plays? Are they really the worst defensive team in baseball?
  • Each of Darwin Barney and Welington Castillo got some extra practice yesterday – Barney at the dish and Castillo behind it.
  • Don’t forget: the next fantasy contest is coming up later today. It’s a chance for you to win big money AND win extra money by beating me, personally. Space is limited, to keep your eyes open for the sign-up.
  • TCR has the Cubs’ first Venezuelan Summer League roster (it is a level akin to the Dominican Summer League – it’s below rookie ball). The VSL team takes the place of the second DSL team the Cubs had been using.
  • The Iowa Cubs have a Harlem Shake video, because it’s better late than never.
  • When national folks swoop in to comment on the Wrigley renovation stuff, they invariably say things that are (1) inaccurate, (2) incomplete, and (3) hopelessly tardy. Just stop. I’ve been swimming in this stuff for months (years, really), and I only barely feel qualified to editorialize about the myriad complexities of the story.
  • An extremely sad story, as a woman who choked on a hot dog at Wrigley Field on Sunday passed away.
  • 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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