It’s been a rough year so far for the Chicago Cubs. They’ve had so many injuries that the lineup resembles a AAA roster on many days. Although they have gotten a lot of bad paper off the books, there’s still a few albatross contracts hanging around their neck; like outfielder Alfonso Soriano, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left quadriceps strain today.
The Cubbies recalled outfielder Tyler Colvin from Triple-A Iowa, and he will be available tonight for the Cubs epic pillow fight against the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field. Get ready two of the worst teams in baseball slugging it out!
By Paul M. Banks
Soriano exited yesterday’s game after injuring his quadriceps during a groundout to end the first inning. He is batting .271 (48-for-177) with a team-leading 12 home runs and 29 RBI in 49 games this season. He’s been the team’s saving grace (kind of) when it comes to power numbers, but he is of course a nuclear meltdown of train wrecks in the field (I didn’t know which metaphor to use in order to explain his abysmal defense, so I just used both) I’d show you some links of Soriano’s horrendous defense, but MLB is Nazi in their allowance of video on the internet, so I’m not sure where to find the video.
Colvin returns to the Cubs roster after spending the last two weeks in Iowa , where he batted .260 (13-for-50) with five doubles, two triples, one home run and eight RBI in 12 games.He was expected to be one of the young cornerstones of the franchise, especially after the 25-year-old Colvin made the Opening Day roster for the second year in a row.
But that’s not the case as he’s had a pathetic 2011 batting .113 (7-for-62) with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBI in 28 games before being optioned to Iowa on May 17.
In 2010, Colvin spent the entire campaign at the big league level and batted .254 (91-for-358) with 20 home runs and 56 RBI in 135 games. His 20 home runs were fourth-most by a Cubs rookie in franchise history and second-most among all major league rookies last season (Florida ’s Mike Stanton had 22 home runs). So there’s hope.