We’ve all been dying to see the unflappable Ian Stewart return from wrist surgery as a competent hitter. Unfortunately, he injured his quad in the first spring game and has been sitting out ever since. However, he may return to play baseball for the Chicago Cubs next weekend! Yes, you heard it right. He might be back in another week.
Manager Dale Sveum said Sunday morning he doesn’t think Stewart will be back until next weekend at the earliest, after projecting a midweek return a few days ago.
“It seems to be getting pushed back every day,” Sveum observed.
But don’t worry about young Mr. Stewart, as he isn’t worried about not being the everyday third baseman.
“I don’t think there’s any other way to look at it,” Stewart said. “I feel like I’m the third baseman here until they get rid of me. I feel like if I’m healthy and ready to go, I’ll be playing third every day.”
But what about his non-guaranteed contract and the fact that the Cubs only have to pay 25% of it if they drop him by March 31?
“I have absolutely no concern about that at all,” Stewart said. “Whatever concern there is, I’m not aware of that as far as if the coaching staff is talking about it, they have not brought that up to me. Therefore, I am not concerned about it.”
(snip)
“I know Dale has talked about cramming to get ready for the season, and that’s understandable because the goal is to be on the team, be there Opening Day,” Stewart said. “But I think the ultimate goal is to be healthy for as much of the season as I can be. And whether that’s being there on Opening Day playing and not being 100 percent and just trying to do it, or taking our time just a little bit, making sure I’m 100 percent healthy so I can be there for the long haul without risk of re-injuring it.”
I think Mr. Stewart is lucky it won’t only be Dale Sveum making decisions about the roster.
In other news, David DeJesus successfully defended his title in the bunting tournament.
David DeJesus successfully defended the Cubs bunt tournament championship on Sunday, beating upstart Nate Halm, a video staffer who advanced from the front office bracket. Halm, of Mahomet, Ill., who played baseball at Miami of Ohio and also in Germany for a semi pro team, was a late entry in the tournament, subbing for the team masseuse, Vyascheslav Kodryan, who couldn’t compete because the event was held on a Saturday, which was his day off.
DeJesus must be elated at winning something.
“He put the pressure on,” DeJesus said of Halm, who led after three rounds of the five-round final. “He was definitely a good bunter. I just wanted to roll on my ball, make sure I was loose, keep the muscles nice and fresh, and I was able to win by 10.”
Good deal, David. You’re the best bunter on the worst offense in the National League in spring training so far.
The Cubs entered Sunday as the worst-hitting (.247), worst-at-getting-on-base (.307) and third-lowest-scoring (4.5-run average) team in the National League this spring.
Is Dale Sveum worried about the offense once the team heads north?
“It’s not going to be a prolific offense,’’ he said, “but it’s going to be an offense that’ll keep the line moving a little better than they did last year.”
And despite what he has seen in camp, there’s still another three weeks from Monday until the season opens.
“I’ll be more concerned when I’m putting my regular eight guys out there,” he said, “and [wait until] Rizzo’s here and Castro’s here before I start worrying about that.”
They still won’t be very good.
Ian Stewart doesn’t lack for confidence, does he?
Confidence was never his problem. His problem was being good at playing baseball.
And being good at not getting hurt.
He was also good at getting T. Colvin on a team where he’d get regular at-bats. #waysianstewartdoesntsuck
Watkins, McNutt, Cabrera and Brooks Raley sent to AAA. I’d be more comfortable if Raley were farther away.
I would feel that way about Raley too if we had anyone else on the 40 man to be the backup lefty starter. For a while there I thought he was the most expendable part on the 40 man, but then I realized that if Theo and Jed value left handed starting enough to keep Travis Wood around, then you need a backup plan for that super valuable position.
AAA might be handy in case any of the players are part of a trade….
AAA is where mediocre players go to die.
The Yankees want Derrek Lee to come out of retirement.
Um . . . ?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-yankees-lee-20130311,0,5529214.story
The Yankees should call up the Orioles to find out how good an unmotivated Derrek Lee is.
(The Yankees are also looking to try to get Chipper Jones out of retirement.)
And Scott Rolen, apparently.
geez, why are the yankees so desperate for defunct players?
Maybe the Yankees will build a Frankenplayer out of all of the retired/old players…
Rivera, Pettitte, Jeter, Ichiro…they are already well on their way.
is it bad i’m already more interested in the possibility of a frankenplayer than of the entire upcoming season?
we shall make him dance during the 7th inning stretch to ‘putting on the ritz’.
So I haven’t been around much the last few days…
My grandmother died Saturday morning.
91 years…
She never saw a Cubs world championship.
It’s been a pretty rough weekend.
i’m so sorry. (hugs)
my condolences, doc. when they do win the series, i’m sure she’ll be celebrating with the rest of us
I’m sorry for your loss. Losing grandparents is pretty rough, at any age…
Thanks everyone.
Sad news.
Sorry for your loss, Doc. Peace to your family.
Carl, Please tell me you pulled this paragraph out of your ass…
“David DeJesus successfully defended the Cubs bunt tournament championship on Sunday, beating upstart Nate Halm, a video staffer who advanced from the front office bracket. Halm, of Mahomet, Ill., who played baseball at Miami of Ohio and also in Germany for a semi pro team, was a late entry in the tournament, subbing for the team masseuse, Vyascheslav Kodryan, who couldn’t compete because the event was held on a Saturday, which was his day off.”
Unfortunately…no.
The second best bunter in the organization is the video guy.
This is going to be a great season.
Granted, I’d prefer they not bunt.
They aren’t capable of doing much else either.
Why do the Cubs even let front office people/non-players be in the tournament? Can you imagine if that guy had won? How embarrassing.
I’m guessing that it was a stretch for them just to find 62 players in their organization that were actually capable of bunting (based on what we’ve seen from coming from this farm system the last 30 years).
Garza threw 25 times at 45 feet today…
Um…
Honestly, this is looking more and more like a Mark Prior type of rehab every day. I seems like we’ve been hearing the same thing for a couple weeks now and he never seems to be getting any closer to actually pitching.
Remember, he hasn’t pitched since last July.
I also haven’t been around for a few days, but I don’t have a real reason. I decided to check in to see if you guys had burned the place down yet. Still standing, but I smell smoke…
Oh guess what? Now Ian Stewart is coming back on Thursday. Methinks someone has been reading all the writing about him today.
Can we push it back to Halloween?
I’d settle for April Fools Day….
No good,as in optimistic, news to report?
Mama Mia! Rizzo and Italy are in the 2nd round.
THIS is a fun write-up.
atmlb.com/ZgAvsq
He is a good guy.