July Really Was a Great Month for the Cubs and Other Bullets

theo epstein about thatI’m still feeling intermittent residual effects from the Blogathon. A healthy headache and some grogginess today. I think my body got used to the sharp increase in caffeine very quickly, and now it’s howling at me for shutting off the supply …

  • Not that you would expect him to think otherwise, but Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein is pleased with what the organization was able to accomplish in July. “I thought it was really a productive month of July,” Epstein said, per Cubs.com. “We acquired a lot of young talent. A few buy-low guys, a few upside prospects, a few complementary type players. Obviously, it was quiet right at the Deadline, but looking at the month as a whole, we were really pleased. We’ll see how it plays out, but all in all, I think things went well.” You can read more of Epstein’s positive thoughts in that article. I think that’s just about right. Draft signings? Great. International signings? Great. Trades for good, young pieces? Great. Wrigley renovation (political) approval? Great. Hell, the Cubs even had a winning record in July!
  • In a separate piece on Junior Lake, Epstein offered a fantastic summation (per Cubs.com): “I told Dale when he came up here, ‘He’s going to do things on the baseball field you haven’t seen before – both good and bad – until he fully develops and matures. But it’s going to be fun to watch and it’s great to see this ball of clay being formed before your eyes.” After his four-hit day yesterday – already the second of his career – Lake is hitting .358/.377/.582. The good news is that his BABIP continues to creep downward to a more reasonable range, though it remains an unsustainably high .408.
  • More from Epstein on the progress of prospects, and how, even if they all start emerging at the big league level at the same time, that doesn’t mean the team will be winning just yet.
  • Reflections on Travis Wood’s rare bad day yesterday.
  • The Cubs have been inducted into the inaugural class at the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame. The Cubs have had a long-standing positive relationship with LGBT community, even before the Ricketts Family took over. Today’s game will be the “Out at Wrigley” game, which will include rainbow flags flying, and special tickets that will also get you into the Hall of Fame induction ceremony later tonight.
  • 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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