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UPDATE, 9:15 p.m. CDT: All of this was fun, but none of it was true. Here is what actually happened.
Source: Anthony Rizzo left Iowa Cubs game with right wrist soreness after a swing and miss. It's not a sign he's about to be promoted.
— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) May 28, 2012
After the jump, here's the rest of the story as I originally posted it at 8:32 p.m. CDT (took only about 40 minutes of rapid-fire tweets to get the whole story):
We're dealing strictly in rumors here, but this happened with Anthony Rizzo in the Iowa Cubs/Memphis Redbirds game in Memphis Sunday night:
Samson pinch-hits for Rizzo in top 6 and stays in game at 1B. Iowa leads Memphis 3-1 in middle of 6th.
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) May 28, 2012
Now why would you take your best hitter out of a fairly close game in the sixth inning? That, obviously, led to some Twitter speculation, because that was followed by this:
We have no further information on Rizzo. FWIW: All transactions involving Iowa Cubs players are always announced first in Chicago.
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) May 28, 2012
Which means people were assuming this meant a Rizzo callup. So then this happened:
Radio report: Rizzo leaves Iowa Cubs dugout, heads to clubhouse.
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) May 28, 2012
Hmmm. Packing, maybe, for a trip to Chicago? There are, of course, denials:
Excellent source in Des Moines tells me that Rizzo is not getting called up to the Cubs. Repeat: NOT GETTING CALLED UP.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) May 28, 2012
Given the fact that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer usually play things very close to the vest, I'm guessing that an "excellent source" in Des Moines wouldn't necessarily know whether Rizzo was being called up or not, given the earlier Iowa Cubs tweet that info comes out of Chicago.
Many have called for Rizzo to be recalled now. Yes, I am aware this could cost the Cubs a year of free-agent control -- six years from now. While that does have meaning, so does a 12-game losing streak with the club in free-fall and interest likely to be waning.
Why not call up Rizzo -- especially since the opponent the next three days is his former team, the San Diego Padres, and the first two starting pitchers he'd face would be Jeff Suppan and Eric Stults?
If this complete speculation turns out to be true, I say go for it. At least it'll create a little buzz around this moribund team.