Cubs vs. Cardinals Preview, Saturday 8/10, 6:15 CT: Standing Pat

The Cubs made three significant trades during July, then didn't deal on deadline day.

If you think the Cubs might make a deal during the waiver period in August, think again, writes Patrick Mooney at CSN Chicago:

It sounds like moving someone like closer Kevin Gregg and/or outfielders David DeJesus and Nate Schierholtz – three names mentioned frequently before the July 31 non-waiver deadline – would be another long shot.

"We’ve had a lot of discussions about what we will do," general manager Jed Hoyer said before Friday’s 3-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. "Sori would have been probably the most analogous thing to Rios. We made that deal in July, so we don’t have a similar move for August.

"The guys you are probably talking about are probably not likely to clear."

DeJesus' option is likely to be picked up. Schierholtz has proven valuable and won't likely be expensive to re-sign. The only one of those three who could have brought back a decent return is Gregg. The Cubs did quite well in their July deals, so personally, I'm satisfied with them sticking with what they have for now.

Cubs lineup:

DeJesus CF, Lake LF, Rizzo 1B, Castillo C, Schierholtz RF, Castro SS, Ransom 3B, Barney 2B, Villanueva P

Cardinals lineup:

Carpenter 2B, Beltran RF, Craig 1B, Holliday LF, Freese 3B, Jay CF, Johnson C, Descalso SS, Wacha P

Today's Starting Pitchers

Carlos Villanueva Cubs vs. Michael Wacha Cardinals vs. StL -- vs. Cubs

Carlos Villanueva has two starts and one relief appearance against the Cardinals this year, totaling 13⅓ innings with five earned runs allowed (3.38 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, no home runs). It's been rumored that Jake Arrieta could be re-joining the Cubs and be plugged into the rotation sometime during the next homestand; Villanueva would likely be odd-man-out and back to the pen. If this is Carlos' last start this year, let's hope he makes it a good one.

Michael Wacha was the Cardinals' No. 1 pick in last year's draft (12th overall), showing that you can fast-track a first-round pick to the major leagues within one year. Wacha, still just 21, will be making his fourth major-league start. Two of the previous three have been good, one, not so much. Obviously, he has never faced the Cubs nor anyone on the current roster at the MLB level -- however, he pitched for Triple-A Memphis against Iowa July 2 at Des Moines. In that game, Junior Lake went 3-for-4; Donnie Murphy hit a home run off Wacha and Logan Watkins went 1-for-4. So, at least some of the current Cubs have faced him, and not that long ago.

Today's game is on WGN.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos.

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.