Clockwerk
Forum Addict
Koenig, look at it like this: At least Boston is failing.
Koenig, look at it like this: At least Boston is failing.
They need to stop milking this series.Forget the "Crosstown Classic," the "City Series" or whatever else Cubs vs. White Sox games have been called in the past.
Early-rising Cubs and White Sox officials and marketing executives got together Monday morning to announce what will be called the BP Crosstown Cup. Henceforth, the team with the most wins in the annual interleague series will be formally awarded the rivalry's namesake trophy.
But there was no Cup at the announcement news conference -- not even a rendering -- and there was no Mayor Daley. The three-foot tall Cup supposedly is in production, but will be ready before the Cubs and Sox meet for the first time June 11-13 at Wrigley Field.
By the time the last of the six all-Chicago games are finished June 27 at U.S. Cellular Field, the Cup will be presented to the winner, with the last team to win holding the tiebreaker.
For those keeping score, the Cubs came out the early winners at the news conference held in front of The Bean, which is, after all, on the north side of Madison Street.
The Cubs were represented by new owner Tom Ricketts, president Crane Kenney, manager Lou Piniella and players Marlon Byrd and Randy Wells. The Sox had none of the ownership group, which was represented by marketing director Brooks Boyer. And while manager Ozzie Guillen was a no-show, players A. J. Pierzynski and Gordon Beckham did attend.
"I haven't seen it, I've heard it's awesome," Pierzynski said of the new trophy.
Reyes tried his best to give it to you guys.The Braves find new levels of ineptitude.
I'm not sure what this means. Are Hendry and Lou panicking already? Are we trading Theriot for a bullpen arm?Chicago Cubs prospect Starlin Castro?s ascension to the major leagues could be right around the corner, according to a major-league source.
The 20-year-old shortstop is being monitored on a daily basis by the Cubs organization to determine when the time will be to start his major-league career.
Castro has been hitting over .300 and playing solid defense all month at Double-A Tennessee.
There are more than a couple of issues involved in promoting Castro. One is moving current shortstop Ryan Theriot to second base, and the other is deciding to move one of their backup infielders, either Chad Tracy, Mike Fontenot or Jeff Baker.
Before the Cubs organization decides to promote Castro, it wants to make sure a gameplan is in place for playing him at least five or six times per week. Manager Lou Piniella and his staff will be a part of that process and will help general manager Jim Hendry and his staff make that determination.
The Castro-Theriot combination will give the Cubs more range and better defense up the middle. Theriot has done a solid job of manning the position since 2007, however, skills-wise he doesn?t have the arm or range of an exceptional defensive player like Castro.
A certain amount of adjustment will be a key for Castro being a successful major-league player. The organization feels that the young shortstop has the baseball IQ and intelligence to deal with a certain amount of failure that goes along with seeing big-league pitching on an everyday basis.
The Cubs are counting on any adjustment that Castro has to make on offense not affecting his solid defensive game.
Assistant general manager Randy Bush is with the Tennessee team, making some evaluations that could help Hendry decide when to sit down with Piniella and his staff to make this move. Castro could be playing at Clark and Addison at any point. It could be determined that Castro should go to Triple-A for a short period before going to the majors.
It?s undetermined at this time when he?ll be brought up.
Twins getting screwed by the umps...