Ian Stewart Is Moving On

UPDATED with this tweet from the Cubs; below is the original article, written before the announcement:

The suspension of Ian Stewart was settled and upheld, and the #Cubs have granted him his unconditional release.

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 25, 2013

Here's the rest of the original article as written Tuesday morning.

It could be that in the very near future, Ian Stewart could be an ex-Cub, according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman:

Third baseman Ian Stewart and the Cubs are on the verge of working out an arrangement for Stewart to leave the organization, people familiar with the situation said. This comes two weeks after he expressed frustration with his situation via a couple of revealing tweets.

The resolution allowing him to move to another organization is expected to come within a couple of days.

It isn't known what financial concessions, if any, are being made, but Stewart's contract is guaranteed, so he has no obligation or even impetus to give back money to the team, beyond his desire to move on. Stewart's contract with the Cubs is worth $2 million; he has about $1 million left on it.

While Stewart isn't obligated to give money back, I'd disagree with Heyman regarding "impetus" -- Stewart surely has impetus to give some money back if it gains him his release, which is what Stewart wants. At this point, it's likely what the Cubs want, too, as given the various things Stewart has done that have angered management, it's very unlikely Stewart would ever play another game in a major-league Cubs uniform.

It's too bad that this deal didn't work out; Stewart had talent and showed it for a while at the big-league level with the Rockies, but injuries doomed his Cubs career. He's curently hitting .168/.286/.372 in 113 at-bats for Triple-A Iowa. That's an improvement over his start there. Oddly enough, when I tried to click on his name at the Iowa Cubs website to find out what he'd done in his last 10 games, I got this page, which wants to tell me a story about a star of the TV series "Wonder Years" and Marilyn Manson.

Which just about sums up Ian Stewart's Cubs career, too. I suppose someone else will take a flyer on him, but I don't see his chances of making it back as being very good.