Rob G.'s Archives

The Cubs are set to hire Padres bench coach Rick Renteria tomorrow as their new manager.

I was curious, so I figured some of you may be as well...

In a move that everyone should have expected, Dale Sveum was removed of his duties as the Cubs lineup filler-outer. Some new lucky schlub will now get that honor with a very nice paycheck, posssibly $3M or more if their name is Joe Girardi.

- Dale Sveum's ass must be pretty chapped from the hot seat he's been sitting in over the last week. Although he hasn't been fired yet, rumors earlier in the week had the Cubs targeting Joe Girardi and now another catcher is in the fold. Peter Gammons is saying that Brad Ausmus would be a person of interest if the Cubs do indeed decide to go another direction.

The Cubs have been playing out the string since about May...maybe June, but they can 'eff with the Pirates and Cardinals playoff jockeying this week. More importantly though, they're trying to at the very least maintain the 4th pick in the draft. The Astros clinched the #1 spot for the third year running yesterday and Miami and the White Sox should wrap up the #2 spot here by mid-week with a 4.5 game lead over the White Sox, who are 3.5 ahead of the Cubs. The Cubs could very well drop to the 5th spot in the draft as they own just a half game lead over the Twins, although the Cubs do own the tiebreaker against both the Twins and White Sox. Mathematically they could drop farther than the 5th spot, but that seems unlikely at this point (full draft pick standings in the left sidebar).

Remaining schedules for the candidates after the break...

The most exciting thing around the Cubsverse right now is the minor leagues competing in the playoffs. Meaningless as a victory may be to the big league club down the line, it's fun to follow and have a rooting interest in something, other than the Cubs losing for a better draft pick slot.

And the winners are...

SS Javier Baez, RF Jorge Soler, 3B Kris Bryant, RHP Matt Loosen, RHP Dallas Beeler, RHP Armando Rivera, RHP Arodyz Vizcaino and OF Albert Almora will be a member of the taxi squad.

Arizona Phil is going to have all kinds of fun.

You can peruse past AFL rosters over at Wiklifield.

...lightning round...go!

- David DeJesus ends up going to the Rays, essentially confirming hat the Nationals weren't all that interested in DeJesus afterall and claimed him only in a hope to block him from another team. Instead they ended up with $2.5M committment that they were able to shift to the Rays. The Rays will throw a player to be named later or cash (more likely cash) towards the Nats, which will then most likely get forwarded to the Cubs. You think they Western Union for that?

Looks like the Rays have use for DeJesus as they said he'll play against most righties, mostly instead of Kelly Johnson.

There's a lot of talk lately on what the Cubs future will look like and many of us are curious on just how young the Cubs will look in 2014. TheJedi have already hinted that a lot of youngsters will break camp with the team in 2014, but they say a lot of things and doesn't necessarily mean it's true. That being said, let's take a quick look at some possible options for the 25-man roster next year. Per usual, trades are nearly impossible to predict, so I don't really bother.

The Cubs have traded outfielder David DeJesus to the Washington Nationals for a player to be named later....hopefully one that can do as well as what the Cubs got for Scott Hairston. Since joining the Daytona Cubs, Ivan Pineyro has a 3.18 ERA in 6 starts over 34 IP, giving up just 1 HR, 4 BB's and striking out 27.

- The Dodgers have won 40 of their last 48. This has nothing to do with the Cubs right now except it gives me an opportunity to post this gif of our old friend LaTroy Hawkins after serving up the game tying home run.

- Back to the Cubs, they've lost 13 of their last 17 and have moved into a tie for the 4th draft pick with the Brewers, in which they own the tiebreaker.

The Cubs look to be comfortably back to being terrible...so terrible that Sunday's lineup is: DeJesus, Lake, Rizzo, Navarro, Schierholtz, Ransom, Watkins, Murphy, Villanueva.  Oof. And yes, that's Logan Watkins that has been promoted to take Luis Valbuena's spot, who went on the disabled list with an oblique injury. Watkins had a slash line of 243/333/379 over 412 AB's with 10 SB against 9 CS...hardly inspiring, but he seems to at least work the count. If there's much good news to be had, Yasiel Puig will sit out today after jamming his thumb against the brick wall.

But back on topic, Matt Garza said a lot of stupid things yesterday on twitter. To briefly summarize, he got beat by the A's and part of that beating included four bunts by the A's because, well Matt Garza and throwing to first base don't go together too well. The last of those bunts was by Eric Sogard and was a safety squeeze that gave the A's an insurance run, bumping the lead to 4-2. Garza, who I remind you has played major league baseball since 2006 and probably has seen a 1-run comeback or two in his day, didn't take kindly to this play for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but Matt Garza.  So he immediately jawed at Eric Sogard during the game and then took it to twitter and went full Archie Bunker.

TheJedi have already knocked out a number of trades earlier in the month, that today shouldn't bring too much excitement, but there's still a few pieces left on the trading block. One is Nate Schierholtz whom Jayson Stark reiterates is the most likely Cub to be dealt today. The Pirates and Rangers seem like the most likely spots at the moment.

As you all know by know, Alfonso Soriano was dealt to the New York Yankees along with a ton of cash for RHP Corey Black. According to Buster Olney, the Cubs will pay $4.7M of the remaining $6.5M owed Soriano in 2013 and then $13M of the $18M owed Soriano in 2014, saving $6.8M total on the deal and getting a decent relief prospect that Theo compared to Jessie Crain. Soriano went 0/5 in his Yankee return with a run scored and an RBI. Black will stay in Florida and head over to Daytona.

It appears Alfonso Soriano is indeed headed to his original franchise...Dale Sveum was told before the game to pull Soriano from the lineup and has been telling the press that a deal is 99% certain with the Yankees. Sveum isn't too good with percentages lately, so let's temper our expectations a bit.

Olney says a lower tier pitching prospect will be coming back to the Cubs once Soriano gives his formal approval. He also claims Cubs will pay the bulk of the $25M owed Soriano through 2014. I will update as more information becomes available.