The Iowa Cubs Continue to Slump, Which Could Impact September and Other Bullets

iowa cubs logoSome alarm went off in our house in the middle of the night, lasted about two minutes, and then stopped. We have no idea what, or where, it was. So that’s fun.

  • Jake Arrieta drops the money Javier Baez quote after his homer yesterday (Cubs.com): “Everyone knows when he connects with that swing, he’ll hit it a long way. I don’t know if many of his home runs will touch the seats here, honestly.” Just awesome. So far, Javy has yet to hit one into the seats at Wrigley, as both of his homers have wound up on Waveland Avenue.
  • Speaking of Arrieta, his former manager Buck Showalter is very positive about the trade that sent him and Pedro Strop to the Cubs last year, and about how those two turned things around with the Cubs (CSN).
  • The Iowa Cubs have now dropped eight games in a row to fall a game under .500 in the PCL, and four games back in their division (behind two teams). With just 9 games left in the season, their playoff odds are extremely long, to say the least. If they do not make the playoffs, you can expect September call-ups to come shortly after September 1st, which is the final day of Iowa’s season. If you were trying to project Jorge Soler’s Wrigley debut – it’s not a mortal lock that he comes up, mind you, it’s just very likely – the Cubs are home that entire week. So, it could pretty much be any of those first seven days of September (except the 4th, which is an off-day). If not that week, the Cubs aren’t back to Wrigley until September 15. (It also remains possible that, particularly if the I-Cubs are eliminated before the final regular season game, Soler could be up in late August.)
  • None of that is to say root against the Iowa Cubs, of course. Making, and then playing in, the playoffs can be a great development experience, even in the minors.
  • Soler, by the way, homered last night. So did Kyle Schwarber, who says he’s figuring some things out at Daytona.
  • Grab a box of Kleenex, and then read this update on Anthony Rizzo, a couple homers, and a special fan.
  • Rick Renteria discusses his ill-fated challenge of an Arismendy Alcantara non-HBP the other night – and how it wound up costing the Cubs.
  • Some pictures from Star Wars Night at Wrigley this week. The one with Boba Fett is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself:
  • 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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