"Parra" Necesitan Profundidad en el Toril

Bilingual puns!  What's better than a bad joke with culture?

I know I've been away from the blog and the blogosphere for the past few days; but, I have a good excuse.  After several years of scrolling through Monster, Indeed, LinkedIn, etc. job listings without much success, I've finally nailed down a new job with an actual career path.  Yay, me!

So, this newly-crowned school district Technology Assistant has been spending the past few days running around and getting acquainted with my new surroundings, as well as adapting to the chaos that can be computer systems in a school filled with tiny ones.

As a direct result, I initially missed the "bombshell" acquisition that my chosen team made yesterday, inking lefty reliever Manny Parra to a minor league deal with an invitation to MLB camp.

Travis Wood, Clayton Richard, Rex Brothers, Jack Leathersich and Edgar Olmos... those are the names of all the other lefties that are already in Mesa with the parent club.  As it stands, that would appear to be an awful lot of competition "Parra" Manny.

Looks can be deceiving though - Wood and Richard are competing for rotation spots too, not to mention they're both effective as multi-inning relievers (more valuable than a specialist), Leathersich is coming off of TJ surgery and won't be ready until mid-season and Brothers/Olmos are both new faces without much of a proven track record.

Luckily for Parra, since being moved from the Milwaukee starting rotation and into the bullpen in 2012, his overall numbers have improved.  That said, he allowed a .271/.302/.441 line against lefties as a Red in 2015 - not exactly ideal.

This deal was done purely for depth, in case any of the previously mentioned names is wildly ineffective or gets injured for an extended length of time.  If he's willing, I can easily envision the Cubs stashing his arm in Iowa, as a mid-season replacement for what will likely be a tired 'pen during dog days of summer.

Any seasoned baseball fan knows that pitching depth is an illusion.  Taking a flier on a guy with an MLB track record on a minors deal is always a good idea.

If he does make an appearance as injuries and ineffectiveness occur throughout 2016 or if he manages to stun me and make the team out of camp, I'm overly-ready to add his name to my CATRC binder.  As you can see, I somehow have managed to acquire several cards of this pedestrian reliever from just my random purchases of loose packs.  So "Manny" Parras...

Okay, okay - I'll knock it off with the lame puns based on the poor guy's name.

In the meantime, I'll be doing my best to keep on a regular posting schedule for Wrigley Roster Jenga; I wouldn't want to keep my adoring fan waiting (hi, Mom!), after all.  Once I get settled into the new office, I imagine it'll be much easier to find the time and the motivation to bang out at least a short post every couple of days.

"¡Parra" mis afficianados!

I really just can't help myself - I have a problem.