The Little Boy is under the weather, so he’ll be home with me today. Parental Posting Ability is in effect. Fortunately, The Wife was able to delay her day just long enough to stay with him while I did my morning interview on Good Day Chicago. If you missed it, you should be able to scroll back in this live feed to about 6:39am CT to see the spot. Just know: if I could have seen myself, I would have smiled more, and I would have tilted my computer down just a touch. Otherwise, I thought it went quite well – those folks are pros.
Yesterday, Starlin Castro botched a tailor-made double play at second base when he simply missed the ball, loading the bases with one out. Carlos Villanueva could have stewed about it, but he got out of the inning, and it sounds like he used it as an opportunity to be positive with Castro (Cubs.com). That Stache is quite the leader. Oh, and as Villanueva adds in that recap, “[Ricky Renteria] is a big hugger.” You knew he would be, didn’t you?
Speaking of Castro, it sounds like the move down to 6th in the order, which is not necessarily a regular or permanent thing, went over well with the young shortstop (Cubs.com). Ricky Renteria didn’t speak with Castro before the move, but it sounds like it was because he knew Castro would be fine with it. Lineup issues vis a vis Castro were something of a rumored issue with Dale Sveum at the helm, so you’d like to see it never even come up with RR. So far, so good.
Tony Andracki writes about dominant (so far) reliever Justin Grimm, who does still have his eyes set on starting, long-term. I have no issue with transitioning a guy to the big league rotation by way of the big league bullpen – it’s a different role and different approach, but you still have to learn how to get out the best hitters in baseball. A number of organizations have had great success with that kind of development path (which is not to say that this is definitely what’s happening with Grimm – it is just to say that he’s not necessarily locked into the bullpen long-term just because he’s there now). The only caveat I’d throw in is that it’s tough to go from relieving one year to starting the next, because of the expected dramatic innings jump. If Grimm throws just 60 or so innings in relief this year, it’s hard to go much beyond 140 or so as a starter next year. Jeff Samardzija went from 88 in 2011 to 174.1 in 2012, but he’s fairly exceptional in a number of ways. I like the idea of Grimm as a starter in the future, though, so this is something to keep an eye on.
To the surprise of no one who thinks and considers things for more than 10 seconds, the free parking lot and shuttle the Cubs offered this weekend went along without issue (DNAInfo), despite the fears of folks in the area. Chicago politics in a nutshell, there in some quotes from the alderman in whose ward the parking lot sits, and who notes that the Cubs will have now go through some legal review process about the propriety of using that remote lot. You know, the remote lot that the City of Chicago demanded they establish.
I don’t know what the opposite of prospect porn is, but this is probably it. Thankfully it’s not a Cubs prospect, but you still feel bad for the guy and for Pirates fans – because this can seemingly happen to anyone at any time:
Crud. Hate that for anyone, even NL Central clubs/players. RT @Dejan_Kovacevic Jameson Taillon will have Tommy John surgery, per @Pirates.
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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NEWSLETTER
The Little Boy is under the weather, so he’ll be home with me today. Parental Posting Ability is in effect. Fortunately, The Wife was able to delay her day just long enough to stay with him while I did my morning interview on Good Day Chicago. If you missed it, you should be able to scroll back in this live feed to about 6:39am CT to see the spot. Just know: if I could have seen myself, I would have smiled more, and I would have tilted my computer down just a touch. Otherwise, I thought it went quite well – those folks are pros.
