Ooh, Let’s Make Puns Using Junior Lake’s Name and Other Bullets

junior lake cubsThe Wife is off to a conference, which means I’ve got the kiddos today, tomorrow, and Friday (with some help from The Mother). Hopefully you won’t notice when I am distracted by their adorableness.

  • Dale Sveum told the media that David DeJesus’s rehab is going very well, and that he could be activated soon – as early as today. With Junior Lake tearing the cover off of the ball, it’ll be hard to sit him (let alone send him down), but I also don’t see how you can bench any of Alfonso Soriano, David DeJesus or Nate Schierholtz the week before the Trade Deadline. Lake may just have to be content to be a right-handed platoon-mate for a few days – that is assuming at least one of the outfielders is traded by July 31. I know that he might give the Cubs a slightly better chance to win these games, but you’ve got to take a longer view, given where the Cubs are. Lake can be a full-time starter beginning in August …
  • Speaking of Lake, Sveum continues to gush. “He’s playing as well as anybody can imagine,” Sveum said, per Cubs.com. “Every at-bat has been quality and getting good pitches. Right now, he looks really, really good. He looks like he likes this stuff and performs better at this level.” Get every Lake-related pun out of your system now. I don’t want to hear them after today.
  • When DeJesus does come back, someone’s going to be dropped from the 25-man roster. Because he can be freely optioned to Iowa, your early leader is Dave Sappelt, though Julio Borbon is another possibility.
  • Sveum, who was ejected last night after Cody Ransom struck out, clearly doesn’t like umpires doing any eyeballin’. “I didn’t quite like the way [the umpire] handled staring at Cody and following him,” Sveum said, per Cubs.com. “It was over with. He didn’t need to keep staring at my player and baiting him.” Seriously: don’t eyeball Sveum or his players.
  • The Cubs front office and coaching staff toured the new facilities in Arizona, which are still under construction. The goal is still to have the park open for Cubs’ Spring Training next year.
  • Josh Vitters is keeping a positive attitude in the wake of the Cubs’ acquisition of fellow AAA third baseman Mike Olt, and the drafting of top college third baseman Kris Bryant. “I think, without a doubt in my mind, that I’m going to be the Cubs’ third baseman of the future,” Vitters told Tommy Birch. “I would be worried if I was not confident but I’m actually very confident. I’m going to work my butt off and that’s really I can do.” Rather than that striking you as arrogant, it should strike you as appropriate. That’s the attitude you want Vitters to have. That said, his bat is what’s going to get him back to the majors, rather than his position. Third base, full-time, probably isn’t in his future. But if he can play passably in left field, mixing in some third and first, he could be a bench option, at least. He hasn’t even turned 24 yet.
  • A nice profile on infield prospect Arismendy Alcantara, who is moving up rapidly in the prospect world.
  • Fran Spielman reports that the Cubs want the right to put an advertising arch over Clark Street in place of the pedestrian bridge if they are forced to permanently scratch the bridge. A pedestrian bridge is functional and looks better, even if it has some advertising on it. Why is this such a fight?
  • Scott Baker will make his third rehab start at Kane County today. The first two haven’t gone as well as you’d hope, but it’s just Spring Training for him.
  • In case you missed yesterday’s post on BN shirts around the world, you should check it out not only because it’s fun, but because there’s a special offer that lasts through today, only (free shipping on any order when you use the code “XMASINJULY”). You can get BN shirts 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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