Louย Pinellaย and JimHendryย what are you waiting for ??
Now for the second time in two days we have seen comments regarding Jake Fox of the Chicago Cubs. Both Paul Sullivan and Dick Van Dyke of the Chicago Tribune continue to make sure his name is well noticed in their columns. As Jake Fox, 26, waits for his turn and he may be waiting for a bit. With this Cubs roster fairly full, General Manager Jimย Hendryย and Lou Pinellaย have no place to get him on the roster, or so they say!
This reminds me how Micah waited patientlyย for his number to be called last year as he batted .362 with 25 homers and 100ย RBI'sย in only 71 games played. Let me remind you Jake Fox is batting .431 withย 17ย home runs and 50 RBI's. Furthermore hisย OBPย is .513 with a slugging percentage of .964. Jake leads Triple A with his offense and is hoping he will get his break soon, as he should.ย
We seen Bobby Scales get called up and Ryan Freelย get acquired by Cubs management and surely it may take a key injury or Cubs collapse for his chance to come up and play be for real. I do question Jimย Hendryย as when your bigย bopper Aramisย Ramirez is sitting for sometime. it only makes sense to replace this loss with a player whom can be a difference maker. There is room for Fox to come up to the Majors.
Fox does have a glove as some people will say he can't play in the field. Jake has played some time at third for Lou in Spring. He has also played behind home plate and first base. In addition he can play the outfield corners if need be.
As we are still early in the baseball season, the Cubs and most major league teams have no reason to panic if indeed their teams are playing inconsistent or just average ball. As Cub fans hope this team not only can win while there star players are out, they just hope they can gel more as the season goes on and to surprise many of the opposition in theย NL.
For Chicago, withoutย Zambranoย getting put on the DLย andย Aramisย Ramierezย going down, how would have we been able to see Randy Wells show his excellence and Bobby Scales a 11 year minor leaguerย waiting for his chance to show his talent. Both of these players will now be key resources in the Cubs season. Fair or unfair Jake Fox's numbers are more than proof to bring him up and help this team.
There are multiple options in using Jake off the bench or platooned with Derek Lee who isn't producing along with Bradley who hasn't yet found his golden bat. For fans and the team, it just doesn't make sense to keep a caliber type player in Fox down in Triple A. I do really hope something will triggerย Pinellaย andย Hendryย to just get this guy up. I can sit here and hand out all the ways in utilizing Jake, but nothing matters unless Hendryย pulls the trigger and brings this man up.
Finally, as Jimย Hendryย is a great GM, there is know doubt he has his favorites and also makes questionable moves. You ask yourself why did we trade for a guy in Aaronย Heilamanย whose stats are less than good? Then we bring up a youngster in Jeffย Samardgiaย who isn't yet ready for this relief role as he is still learning. You have another fellow in Jeff Stevens who is throwing lights out and could really help the middle part of this bullpen.
I would like to see Guzman, Wells, Marshall, and Stevens leading this pen.ย Cottsย andย Heilaman should find another place to pitch outside the confines of Wrigley. With all this said, we will see how things work out by middle of June. For the Cubs sake, it may be better for them to playย subparย just so they can have these other players down in Triple A come up and play their game.
It will be another month or so before we truly know where this club stands.
Let me know your thoughts!
