Cubs Roster Moves
Grabow Deal Near Completion
Bruce Levine is reporting that a deal with John Grabow should be completed today for two years and nearly 7.5 million. I had expressed my indifference in the past over resigning Grabow. Oh sure, his ERA has been pretty good the last two years, but with a BB/9 rate near 5 last year and 4.15 for his career, I don't think anyone would really miss him if he got away. I was asked in the comments yesterday how I'd handle this situation and here was my response.
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Scales Sent Outright to AAA
The 32-year old switch-hitter made his big league debut in 2009, hitting 242/312/411 in 51 games (138 PA) for the Cubs, while playing 2B, 3B, LF, and RF. Scales was acquired by the Cubs from Iowa on May 4th, after spending ten-plus seasons and playing 1,000+ games in the minor leagues with San Diego, Philadelphia, Boston, and the Cubs.
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The One Good Thing About This Bradley Mess
If there's anything good about this Milton Bradley suspension other than not having to read about the last idiotic thing Milton said, is that the Cubs are calling up Tyler Colvin. Well it would be good if Lou Piniella wasn't managing, because then he would just play Sam Fuld, Jake Fox or Micah Hoffpauir and Tyler Colvin the rest of the season with a few at-bats for Kosuke Fukudome sprinkled in, but instead I imagine it'll be more Scales, Fuld and Fukudome than anything else and that makes me want to throw a brick at the TV screen.
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Cubs Acquire Diamond in the Rough
The Cubs were awarded a waiver claim today, acquiring 26-year old RHP Thomas Diamond from the Texas Rangers.
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The Return of the Lillyhammer
The Cubs enter the Pacific Time Zone, which coincides perfectly with California native Ted Lilly's return to the Cubs. The Padres might as well just save their energy and give the Cubs this win. To make room on the roster, the Cubs optioned their entire pitching staff to Iowa1, because they won't be needed anymore (I'm auditioning for the TLFC).
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Disabled List Welcomes Yet Another Cub
As expected, Carlos Zambrano will be placed on the disabled list with recurring back spasms. It'll be back-dated to August 2nd though and he could return as soon as August 17th. If he can return by the 17th, it would mean just one start would need to be covered on Wednesday, August 12th versus the Phillies.
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Soto Activated; Hoff Sent Down
The Cubs had to make a roster move today to accommodate Geovany Soto and the victim was Micah Hoffpauir. He'll surely be back up when rosters expand on September 1st and possibly sooner. After a good start to the season, he sort of crescendoed at a .920 OPS on May 20th and since then has hit 182/217/336 in 115 PA with 4 HR's, mostly in part-time duty.
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Cubs Get Grabow
Chris DeLuca tweets that the Cubs have acquired left-hander John Grabow from the Pirates. You can read my thoughts about him from earlier today. ESPN confirms that the deal is being finalized. I'll update as details emerge...
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Cubs Get a B.J.
The Cubs have signed recently released Toronto Blue Jays reliever B.J. Ryan, according to the Chicago Tribune. The article says he'll first report to Mesa and then Triple A Iowa before supposedly joining the Cubs at some point in the 2009 season.
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Cubs Send Down Hart and Waddell, Recall Stevens
The Cubs have optioned RHP Kevin Hart and LHP Jason Waddell to AAA Iowa, and have (apparently) recalled RHP Jeff Stevens from the same club. The Stevens move will not be made official until just prior to tomorrow's game, so something could conceivably happen in the meantime to alter things.
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Recent comments
Finwe Noldaran (view)
Phil: Great to see what Rosario is doing!
Do you think having Rosario may have influenced/impacted the front office's decision on including Hope in the trade for Busch at all?
crunch (view)
it's so crazy we got a new "barnstorming" harlem globetrotters-type baseball product that was introduced less than 5 years ago and is wildly popular all over the nation.
a notion left long in the past, unearthed, polished for modern audiences and popular as ever.
Arizona Phil (view)
No question right now Alfonsin Rosario is one of the Cubs Top 20 prospects (probably Top 15). Rosario is to the Cubs what Zyhir Hope is to the Dodgers.
Arizona Phil (view)
The Savannah Bananas will be playing the Party Animals at Sloan Park in Mesa this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The games are sold out (15,000+ each night), and berm tickets are going for well over $100.
Arizona Phil (view)
RAISIN: In the game versus the A's at Fitch Park last Friday, Mule threw half FB and half SL (16/16), and one CH (which coincidentally was the only hard-hit ball off him -- a near HR line-drive double off the LF fence). FB was 91-94 and the SL (really more of a "slurve") was 80-82, and he got three swing & miss on each pitch (six swing & miss total out of his 20 strikes). So I think it is safe to say that right now, Mule is strictly a two-pitch pitcher (FB/SL),
Sonicwind75 (view)
Recalled it was sampled in a Nas song. Did a little sleuthing. It was a Nas song called "Hate Me Now" that featured Puff Daddy. Imploring the crowd to hate somebody seems a bit overly dramatic for a keyboardist but perhaps there is some other connection to the song.
In general there has been a weird overuse of Carmina Burana's O Fortuna in sports and commercials in past decade or so. Maybe it is a fallback choice if there isn't anything else.
Sidenote, while the O Fortuna part has become a bit pop-culture cliched; the overall piece is very interesting and rather expansive in scope. I played percussion in a production of it while in college. There is a rather jovial movement set in a tavern. In the score it calls for the clinking of beer steins. Let's just say we did a lot of research to determine the best sounding beer steins.
crunch (view)
ooof...this is just as likely as anything. professional organists are weird humans.
SheffieldCornelia (view)
Maybe it is only played when the hitter thus far in the game is "oh for two"-na at the plate?
crunch (view)
who was AB when it was being played? it could be something as corny as playing it for nick fortes because fortes/fortuna...fortes...marlins...fish...tuna...sigh.
while the cubs organ player isn't a frequent groaner weaponizing the organ song selection, they all dabble in it.
crunch (view)
in 2016 hendricks threw 190 innings for 45 earned runs.
in the shortened 2020 season hendricks threw 81.1ip for 26 earned runs.
in 2024 hendricks has thrown 21ip for 28 earned runs.