Waves and Waves

On Friday, the city of Chicago was gifted with the presence of the one and only Kris Bryant.  While his power stroke hasn't completely followed as of yet, he's off to a pretty swell start - 6 for 14 with 4 walks.

Now, that excitement would have been enough to tide us Cubs fans over for a little while, injuries necessitated today's recall of another potential franchise savior:

Due to the injury to Tommy La Stella and the anemic offense of Jonathan Herrera, Addy Russell will now take the starting job at second base - a bit earlier than expected (only 13 career games at AAA).  Woohoo!!!

*As I type, Russell has gone 0-3 with 3 K's.  I have faith that his Barry Larkin-like tools will eventually emerge; rookies will struggle*

I actually pulled this card from an impulse driven purchase of a pack of Bowman Chrome before the Cubs acquired him from the A's last summer; I love when that happens!  Speaking of that trade, it's pretty clear that TheoJed absolutely fleeced Mr. Moneyball.  Nice to be on the winning side for once.

The shortstop may very well slot back into shortstop at some point, but second base has been a black hole so far this year.  Hopefully, when everyone is back and healthy, the Cubs can use their glut of high-upside middle infielders to their advantage.

Speaking of which, a high-upside middle infielder had to be sent back to AAA to make room on the roster:

Arismendy had a walk-off single against the Reds on April 13th, but he's been just 2-26 in total.  His ceiling appears to be as a Ben Zobrist-type super utility man, but he's going to need some regular at-bats to jump-start his bat.

So, off to Iowa he goes; hopefully, it proves to be a short stay.

In addition, the Cubs have added one other new face to the roster since my last post.  However, this roster move was nowhere near as exciting.  In fact, it wasn't exciting at all.

You all know Ricky Bobby, the man with two first names.  Well, meet the man with the backwards names.

It looks as though Germen's name is listed the same way it would be on a substitute teacher's class roster; but that is in fact the correct order of his moniker.

He was claimed off of waivers by the Cubs over the winter and was later snuck through them just before spring training.  That's Wrigley Roster Jenga, right there.

The fireballer was called up due to a taxed Cubs' bullpen, a result of the team being in so many close games.  Gosh, that's nice to type after the past few seasons worth of embarrassment.

Germen's likely a short-term replacement, until Neil Ramirez or Justin Grimm are ready to return.  But, if he can cut down on base-runners allowed, he could make a case to stick around.

 Get better soon guys!

No matter, Gonzalez is far from a top prospect and the Cubs will soon have a hard time finding space for those guys alone.  With Jorge Soler, Bryant and now Russell donning blue pinstripes, who do we Chicagoans focus our anticipation on now?

I hereby declare that C.J. Edwards watch has officially begun!  or maybe Kyle Schwarber?  then again, it could be Albert Almora...

Waves and waves of talent are washing ashore on the Northside.