it's kinda like Jenga.
Jed Hoyer's gotta push out two guys.
And the question is... will this be about the future?
Will it be about now?
Will he just let it go and some current players on the roster suddenly develop injuries, allowing major decisions to be made down the road?
This all started with the owner's lockout resulting in the shortened spring, and everyone agreed it would be okay to have 2 extra players - 28 - on the active roster, mostly to help the pitching staffs.
Until tomorrow, then it's back to the normal 26.
And within those 26, teams are allowed to have 14 pitchers on the active roster until May 29th, when it goes down to 13.
Bleacher Nation article about that here.
So... it's all actually pretty complicated.
And each player is different, depending on.. stuff.
Some players, like Michael Hermosillo, are out of options.
If the Cubs decided they need to lose him, he'll go on waivers and surely get picked up by another team.
Is he part of the future?
Some players, like Alfonso Rivas, can just flip back to the minors and no big deal.
But Rivas is at a point where everyone would like to see what he can really do, and he's been amazing.
Some players, like Jason Hayward, are established vets with big contracts who may be sort of irrelevant for the future, and actually taking a space that could be better suited to letting a kid play.
Emotions aside and no matter what you think of J-Hey, we've seen Jed do some drastic things in the name of the future.
Eating the last two years of Heyward's contract would not surprise me in the least.
Pitchers... the Cubs currently have 15, which will have to reduce to 14 so they'll definitely take at least one pitcher off the roster.
Then, what if some other team has someone without options that they put on waivers, and the Cubs think that guy would be a good fit?
Do the Cubs pick him up?
See?
It's just two slots, but your head spins with all that might happen.
Tomorrow the Cubs will have a different look and that'll offer us a peek at what Hoyer's thinking for this year, next year and beyond.
Meanwhile in Milwaukee... ahhh never mind.
One more game there at 1:10 today, then a day off, and then the White Sox come to Wrigley.
They're a train wreck right now, matching the Cubs with just 2 wins in their last 10.
Hopefully the Cubs are catching them at the right time and later we won't be hearing, "Well the Cubs sure cured whatever was wrong with the Sox..."
This afternoon will be Marcus Stroman vs Corbin Burnes, who the Cubs beat earlier.
Stroman looked way better his last time out, and it would be so nice to see him go deep and the Cubs pull one W out of Milwaukee.
With the weird weather (tornado warning went off last night complete with sirens j u s t as I was putting ribs on the grill), I'll happily hang out indoors and watch.
Go Cubs.
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