So long, Neal. And hey, lose the phone number and address, okay?
The Chicago Cubs made some moves today as previously reported by other writers in our Cubs Community. My initial thought is that all this activity is similar to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as anxious to see if Jake Fox can hit major league pitching as you are. First of all, we've seen minor league phenoms before that couldn't hit major league pitching. They're usually called 4A players.
Maybe Fox will be able to hit in the bigs. But at 26, it is questionable.
Second, where will Lou play Fox? He should be kept far away from any glove other than a first baseman's mitt. Even there, he's bad defensively.
Plus, we already have two first baseman on the 25-man in Derrek Lee and Micah Hoffpauir.
Still, Fox is intriguiing. His numbers at Iowa this year were simply ridiculous—.423/.503/.886 with an otherworldly 1.389 OPS has to be making Lou salivate.
I just believe that defense is important to team winning. Having guys around like Hoffpauir and now Fox is like trying to fit the proverbial square peg in a round hole. Both would make fine designated hitters in the American League, perhaps.
Having said all that, it is about time the Cubs got rid of Neal Cotts. I've only been begging for his departure since last season. Now, Jason Waddell won't be much better if his stats at Iowa are any indication.
Left-handed batters are hitting .346 against Waddell this year, and he has a 5.40 ERA overall. But, I'd rather have a no-armed man than Cotts at this point.
Like a cool drink of water to a desert dweller, along came the refreshing Bobby Scales. But like a tsunami, he is washed away quicker than you can blink your eye.
The Cubs also placed the disappointing Aaron Miles on the disabled list with a shoulder injury.
Now, many of you never liked the Miles signing. I have to admit that I was in favor of it at the time, mainly because he hit .317 last year for the Cardinals, but also because I thought he would help replace some of the lost versatility that the departure of Mark DeRosa created.
I was wrong.
Replacing Miles on the roster for the time being is infielder Andres Blanco. He is a 25-year-old switch hitter whose primary position is shortstop. Blanco was hitting .314 at Iowa.
However, it's the starters that are going to make or break this season. Still, youth often brings energy and, as I say, the way Miles was playing and the way Cotts was pitching, these changes can't be any worse.
Yet, if the Cubs want to enact more substanitive changes, they will need to make trades, not this relatively minor shuffling of the deck.
Are the Cubs sinking? Only time will tell. They've now won consecutive games, so yee-haw!
Meanwhile, let's hope the season turns out a bit better than that supposedly unsinkable ship, come to think of it.
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