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If you haven't already, check out Kevin Aumiller's analysis of who could be traded before July 31. Kevin's convinced at least one more deal is going to get done. I think it's likely but not guaranteed.
“There are some other players who we only control for the rest of this season (and) it might make more sense for the organization to get a piece back that has longer control,” Epstein said. “There are players that we control for longer that other teams are interested in. We’ll just continue to have talks and see where it goes. “But we feel like we’ve been productive in adding talented young players to the organization so far this month. And we wouldn’t mind adding more if those things make sense.”
Pretty noncommittal, I'd say, with words like "if", "might" and "see where it goes". I assume the "rest of this season" guys he's talking about are Nate Schierholtz, Kevin Gregg and Dioner Navarro, primarily. It makes a lot of sense to deal Gregg, if there's a decent return. Maybe not so much for Schierholtz or Navarro, who could help inexpensively in the future.
As far as the current reports about the Cubs listening to offers for Jeff Samardzija, of course you listen. The price is probably way too high for the Cubs to deal him.
Se -- four days to go. We'll see. In the meantime, there's a game tonight.
Cubs lineup:
Lake CF, Ransom 3B, Rizzo 1B, Navarro C, Castro SS, Schierholtz RT, Gillespie LF, Barney 2B, Rusin P
Giants lineup:
Torres CF, Scutaro 2B, Posey C, Sandoval 3B, Pence RF, Francoeur LF, Arias SS, Belt 1B, Bumgarner P
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Chris Rusin has had one good start and one mediocre one since he began to become the designated fill-in-for-the-traded-guy starter this year. Looks like he could stick for a while, if he can continue to throw the way he did in his last outing. He has never faced the Giants nor anyone on their roster. You know what usually happens when the Cubs face a pitcher like this; maybe they can turn the tables tonight.
Madison Bumgarner threw 6⅔ good innings against the Cubs April 13 at Wrigley Field. Have a look at that lineup. Five of the eight starting position players in that game (and two other players who appeared in that game) aren't on the Cubs now, a little over three months later. Bumgarner has been quite consistent this year; he has thrown exactly seven innings in each of his last seven starts, posting a 1.84 ERA and 0.796 WHIP over that span. Clearly, we are doomed.
Bumgarner still looks sad. Maybe it's because in real life, he's three inches taller than Chris Rusin, even though Rusin looks bigger in the photo.
Today's game is on CSN Chicago.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Giants site McCovey Chronicles.
Here's the scoop on game threads for 2013. You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.
You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.