Is It Really a Big Deal That Mike Olt Didn’t Start Yesterday? And Other Bullets

mike olt!We awoke this morning to find a tick in The Little Girl’s hair. It hadn’t engorged itself, and was relatively easily removed, but man – there’s just about nothing out there that will spiral your fear-Googling like finding a tick in your little kid’s hair.

  • Patrick Mooney takes a deep and interesting look at the Tommy John epidemic from the Cubs’ perspective, with great quotes and insight from Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio. Although Bosio says that the Cubs really emphasize health and clean mechanics … but if a guy’s elbow is going to pop, it’s going to pop. You can’t always prevent it.
  • Mooney also writes about the Cubs’ lineup decisions, within the context of Mike Olt sitting out last night after starting to heat up. Honestly, I didn’t even think about the decision to have Luis Valbuena in there instead of Olt (or Darwin Barney), because Wainwright is tough on righties (except Barney for some reason), and the Cubs still occasionally have to get guys like Barney and Valbuena in there. Olt had played for about a week straight, and it was no big deal to give him a day off. It just didn’t really cross my mind, because I know that Olt’s playing time is ticking up at an appropriate pace, and he’s getting more and more of a chance to play regularly (which, from my perspective, was always the plan for him). I guess a lot of other folks out there had a beef with Olt not being in the lineup, though, and Mooney puts it well: “It’s a function of the news cycle: Team releases lineup, the Twitterverse goes wild breaking it down, the manager explains his decisions during the media briefing and something has to fill space on the Internet before first pitch.” So we get lineup analysis/griping pieces almost every single day.
  • The Cubs have played 38 games, by the way. Mike Olt has appeared in 33, and has started 23 of them. He’s started 18 of those 23 since April 13, and, before last night, he’d started the Cubs’ last six games in a row. Clearly, it’s picking up.
  • You can read Ricky Renteria’s thoughts on Olt here from Carrie Muskat. Nothing too groundbreaking there: Olt will continue to play more and more, but other guys have to be worked into the lineup, too.
  • Jake Arrieta was very hard on himself last night for lasting just four innings because of self-described inefficiency. (Cubs.com)
  • Tickets to Theo Epstein’s foundation-supporting fundraiser (the one where he plays music with Peter Gammons and other musicians) go on sale this Saturday, for the event, which is June 20.
  • 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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