The Cubs dropped their third game in a row and the second to the Tigers on Wednesday, losing 5-3. The Cubs left 13 runners on base and were 1-15 with runners in scoring position.
Rich Harden only gave up two earned runs on four hits in 5.1 innings. He also walked four and struckout three.
On a more positive note, Derrick Lee ran his hitting streak to 22 games.
The Cubs wrap up their series in Detroit this afternoon. Ted Lilly (7-4) will pitch for the Cubs against Armando Gallarraga (3-7).
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If you’ve ever looked for a reason why fans should not vote for the All-Star game, here’s some ammo. Alfonso Soriano is currently fourth in voting for NL outfielders. He is hitting .227/.291/.426 so far this year with 70 strikeouts in just 65 games played. Not exactly all-star caliber play.
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The Cubs signed their first round pick, Brett Jackson, a 20-year old CF out of Cal. According to Baseball Prospectus, the assumption is that Jackson signed for a bonus of $975,000. I’ve heard the bonus was more than $1 million, but I don’t have anything to back that up.
According to Carrie Muskat at MLB.com, Jackson will take a physical and will then report to Class A Boise.
The Cubs second round pick, D.J. LeMahieu is expected to sign soon. LeMahieu just finished up the College World Series, helping the LSU Tigers beat the Texas Longhorns in the final game. LeMahieu hit a homerun in the seventh, tied the game in the ninth with a two-run double, and scored the winning run in the 13th inning.
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The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Aramis Ramirez went through a rigourous workout on Wednesday in Detroit. After resting today, Ramirez is expecting to start taking batting practice on Friday.
Ramirez says that his shoulder is still very painful and that he may need to rest periodically during the second half of the season. Lou Pineilla echoed Ramirez by saying that it will be “tough” for Ramirez to come back to play a day game after a night game.
Ramirez needs about a week before he can hit in a live game and then will need another week of minor league rehab before he’ll be ready to play for the Cubs again. That puts him about two week aways from rejoining the team.
In an article on FoxSports.com, Randy Bush is quoted as saying that the Cubs will have a better idea of what they need to do at the trade deadline once Ramirez comes back. The Cubs want to see how well and how often Ramirez can play before making any decisions.
Even if Ramirez comes back at full strength (which is a big “if”), the Cubs still have needs. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but bringing Mark DeRosa back could really shore up the infield and could send Mike Fontenot and Aaron Miles back to the bench where they belong. DeRosa would also be a great asset as an outfielder, especially if Milton Bradley doesn’t remember how to hit.
I’m especially anxious to bring DeRosa back to the Cubs because there are reports out right now that the Cardinals are the leading candidate to trade for DeRosa. Jim Hendry made a mistake when he traded DeRosa this past winter. He’ll be compounding that error if he let’s St. Louis trade for DeRosa.
