Afternoon Bullets Are Still Bullets and Other Bullets

junior lake cubsHooray for afternoon Bullets. I think in the 2.5 years I’ve been doing daily morning Bullets, they’ve not shown up until the afternoon maybe four times. Once was probably due to late-night activities the evening prior, and then the other three have all been in the last week. Activity!

  • If you haven’t checked out the latest episode of the BN Podcast (or subscribed), check this one out, because there’s a huge section that is very appropriate now that Alfonso Soriano has been traded to the Yankees, and in light of Sahadev’s great Soriano piece today.
  • Keith Law caused a bit of a stir yesterday on Waddle and Silvy by describing Junior Lake rather harshly as a player, and suggesting that there was no chance he’d wind up a long-term, productive regular. I’m not sure why it riled folks up so much, given that Law has held that opinion on Lake for a long time (and he’s hardly alone), and it’s just, like, his opinion, man. Lake has huge upside, given the tools and physique, but he also has huge downside. None of this is new. If you want a more positive (but still reasonable) take on Lake, though, here’s one from Bradley Woodrum at FanGraphs, and here’s one from John Arguello at Cubs Den.
  • Tony Andracki at CSN runs down Alfonso Soriano’s career with the Cubs.
  • Speaking of Soriano, the Cubs will have to replace him on the 25-man roster. To the extent they wish to do it with an outfielder, it can’t be Dave Sappelt – since he was just optioned down to make room for David DeJesus, he cannot return for 10 days from the day of the option. The Cubs might bring up an extra reliever for a little while, given how taxed the bullpen is.
  • Dale Sveum sums up Scott Baker’s latest rehab start at Kane County, in which he gave up three earned runs on five hits and two walks over 3.0 innings with 2 Ks (per Cubs.com): “It was kind of like the other ones, not super sharp, not a lot coming out. He topped out at 88 [mph]. He’s a little bit short right now.” That doesn’t sound so good.
  • Tennessee Smokies hitting coach Desi Wilson has very good things to say about Javier Baez and about Arismendy Alcantara.
  • In case you missed yesterday’s update on the BN Blogathon fundraiser, and the story of a young Chicago Cubs fan who received a Cubs wish from Make-A-Wish, check it out, if you please.
  • 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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