The Cubs have selected the contract of veteran outfielder Carlos Gonzalez from Triple-A, per a team announcement. His promotion was first reported by Daniel Alvarez Montas of El Extra Base (Twitter link). In a corresponding move, outfielder/first baseman Jim Adduci has been designated for assignment (as ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers suggested would be the case).
Gonzalez, 33, began the season on a minor league deal with the Indians but cracked the big league roster there in late April. His time with Cleveland didn’t prove fruitful, however, as he struggled to a .210/.282/.276 batting line with a pair of home runs, a double and 33 strikeouts in 117 plate appearances. The former All-Star, batting champion and MVP candidate signed a minor league deal with Chicago last week. His power and overall offensive performance has waned in recent seasons, but Gonzalez did hit .276/.329/.467 with 16 homers for the Rox a season ago.
The Cubs are essentially taking a free look at Gonzalez to see if he can help to provide some left-handed punch to their lineup. At the moment, with Ben Zobrist away from the team indefinitely and Ian Happ posting pedestrian numbers in Iowa, the Cubs’ only lefty bats off the bench were Adduci and backup catcher Victor Caratini (a switch-hitter). He’ll get a new chance to prove he still has some fuel left in the tank and will be thrown right into the mix; Gonzalez is hitting fifth and playing right field for the Cubs today.
Adduci, 34, went hitless in five plate appearances with Chicago after joining the roster last week. He batted .261/.306/.478 through 41 games in Iowa prior to his call back to the Majors and hit .267/.290/.386 in 185 plate appearances for the Tigers last season.
The Cubs mad a roster move, and it’s Adduci.
(he pronounces his name ah-DOO-see… so it’s like “a doozy”… ah, screw it)
Hey you tried
I appreciate the attempt
I’d like to see the orioles to get Ian Happ. Has the contact issues to work out but they don’t have a long term 2B option. Unfortunately the Orioles probably don’t have anyone that the Cubs really could use at the moment.
Givens maybe if he figures it out with his control issues
CarGo was a major flop with the Tribe this year, as was Hanley Ramirez. If I were to start listing major flops still on the Indians roster, I would have to name just about everyone employed by the ballclub.
Should the Tribe’s rebuild begin sooner rather than later? Oh, wait a minute. It has already begun. Let me rephrase it: Should the Tribe commence trading everyone on the roster who has any value at all?
Think of the haul they could have gotten this past offseason if they had unloaded everybody. They could have a farm better than the Padres right now and a new window would open quickly. They were fooling themselves if they thought they had a shot at a championship this year. Way too many holes. The return they could have gotten for Hand, Clevinger, Carrasco, Kluber, and Bauer is unthinkable. If they would have put Lindor and Ramirez on the market as well they could have easily wiped out several teams farm systems.
When did having a farm become more important than the current major league team? Seriously, this is why so many teams are struggling to put fans in stadiums. Yes, the future is important to be concerned with, but not at the expense of the present. Without having fans in the present, the future might not even happen.
Worked out pretty well for the Cubs and Astros.
And it didn’t work out well for a lot of other teams.
You also have to consider timing. 3/5 of the division is currently either rebuilding or will be as soon as Royals ownership sees the obvious, so now is a great time to go for it.
Because many of those other teams never fully committed to a rebuild like Cincy: let Cozart leave for nothing, flipped Chapman for nothing, lost Bruce for nothing, etc then jumped the gun on buying.
The teams who fully commit found success.
Well they didn’t lose Chapman or Bruce for nothing. The players they received did not work out, but most prospects don’t work out.
They traded Todd Frazier at his peak and got Jose Peraza and Schebler, who both have contributed and could continue to do so. They also got Brandon Dixon in that deal who was a good pinch hitter before he left. The funny thing is that at the time of that trade people said the Reds got ripped off and the Dodgers got the best of that deal. Except the Dodgers prospects pretty much all flopped (Thompson, Franklin) or left before they turned a corner (Montas).
The point is that you just never know.
The players you mentioned are a pretty good core. Why trade them? Trade a pitcher, get healthy and the Indians can be a solid contender next year.
Giants have had nine left fielders in two months. Cry me a river about flops.
Stick to your day job and running your fantasy baseball league.
I think that rebuild started when the Cubs beat them in the W.S…..just nobody announced it
Neither the Cubs nor the Indians should predict that CarGo’s bat will beat the Indians in the 2019 World Series. The Cubs might get to the Series, but the Tribe will be watching it on TV
Your sentence has me lost
Brilliant!
Here’s to hoping he can be 2019’s Jim Edmonds.
Thecoffinnail said it perfectly. If, if, if….
Kind of weird that he was brought up the day the Rockies series begins.
They play the Angels in a makeup game today
Ah, I was looking at the Rox schedule.
Cubs looking some lightning in a bottle here. St. Louis returns later this week, with an all right-handed rotation. He should see plenty of playing time. Neither team has hit well recently. Maybe he can create some spark.
Hard to figure what happened to CarGo the past couple of seasons. He just fell off the radar completely and he was still in Colo too!!! He a good dude and maybe he can make a difference with a contender