Daniel Rufenacht ‏@druf1 19m
Chicago #Cubs will call up 3B Junior Lake from Triple-A.

This should be interesting.

To replace who?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

The future is now! The wait is over!

Actually, I am kind of excited by this news.

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You know me like that.

Bogusevic to the D/L

Baseball Heaven.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I do not want Olt. Bryant is supposed to end up in the outfield anyways but I still don't care for Olt offensively.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

If the Cubs could score Luke Jackson and Olt and then flip Olt plus Vogelbach or Lake to the Padres for Headley then I am on board. I will not let go of the Cubs getting Headley until he signs long term somewhere.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

They can flip Olt, but Headley has been brutal. Pass on him.

Yankees were told Chase isn't available. And as BC said, he's been bad. I'd definitely be interested in buying low, but not for Olt or Jackson, etc.

@Ken_Rosenthal: Sources: Right-hander C.J. Edwards, 8-2 with a 1.83 ERA for Rangers’ Class A Hickory club, is in play in Garza talks, sources say.
 

I would hope they would get a guy closer to major league ready than him.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I looked at the review of the Rangers top-10 a few days ago. It upset me knowing they were the most likely option. I was a huge fan of Olt, but he looks like another AAAA option. If they can pull their two best pitching prospects, which probably won't happen, I'll be interested.

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I'd take that in a package instead of Mike Olt. Didnt realize the guy is already 24. The Cubs don't need another Matt LaPorta bust.

yeah, see, with the big slugging rangers 1B prospects.... there was Chris Davis, who came up and had his 28HR season and then was the epitome of a AAAA player for awhile..... and then Justin Smoak was "the guy" who was the key cog in the trade to seattle for Cliff Lee.... and welp, suffice to say that where there's Smoak there isn't necessarily fire, unless you count managers potentially getting fired.

And then Olt was supposed to be the next Smoak, so when Chris Davis continued his AAAA quest he got shipped off to Baltimore on the cheaps, where the calm steadying influence of one Buck Showalter willed him to finally put together another solid MLB season in terms of ~.270/30/90 last year or whatever, and now the guy is god in baseball cleats doing his ~.310/37/90 by the damn all-star break.... it's obvious he wasn't going to do it in texas.

but yeah, since Texas still was keen to trot out the ghost of Mike Napoli @ 1B last year, and have the Mitch Moreland experience be your primary guy (when mitch is like a ~.290/15/60 type guy at best, so it seems) what does that say about Mike Olt? Idk if that speaks of the rangers going out of their way to overhype their "slugging" 1B prospects a la Davis, Smoak, and Olt..... but while Davis panned out in another organization, it sure looks like Smoak is "just a guy" and Olt, well, you figure if he was truly "the guy" who could be a perennial ~20-30 HR / 85-100/+ RBI guy he would be up manning the corner for Texas right now.

Michael George Olt - 1B #20 Round Rock Express (Triple-A Texas): 64g 230ab 34r 50h 16h2b 0h3b 10hr 28rbi 32bb 88k 0sb 0cs 11e .217avg .313obp .417slg .731ops

in other words....meh. especially cuz like, what are you gonna do when you've got THE FRANCHISE at 1B, aka one Anthony Jesus Rizzo at 1B? Can Olt play 3B/LF?

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Just read up on Olt, apparently he has suffered from a vision issue he had corrected. Hopefully that was holding him back.


My hopes are officially up:

@ChrisCotillo: So a Garza for Luke Jackson, CJ Edwards and Mike Olt deal is possible. Not done, but they're the names in play. #Cubs #Rangers

That looks like a pretty solid deal to me. But I am not getting any hopes up as we saw last year these things fall threw rather easily.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

They should sign Garza to an extension.

Jackson and Edwards were the guys I referenced earlier. I don't know if a better return is out there, but I'm still not crazy about it.

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@RobertMurrayMLB: The #Cubs 'may' prefer Luis Sardinas to Mike Olt, according to @CubsDen.

What is the scoop on that guy?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

solid

If there is a better return, they will get it.


This would be a solid return for a non-ace rental. I would be very happy.

If all 3 of those guys are in it then I think I'm good with it.

Jackson and Edwards come pretty close to being the best cubs pitching prospects from day 1 and the only other 2 right now that are better are Rosscup who came along with Garza and Hendricks who came from Texas last year. I'm still not sold on Olt but unless the Diamondbacks get in with 1 of their 2 elite pitching prospects I like this offer.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

From Fangraphs before the season started. He was #5 in the Rangers top-15:



Baseball reference page for 2013:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=sardin001lui&type=bgl&year=2013

He is still in High A.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I could be wrong, but the Texas, Texas, Texas stories seem like a marketing campaign.

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What make Jackson & Edwards so damn good? Are they Top 100 MLB guys or just top 10 Ranger guys??

I agree, but looks like no way that'll happen.

They better score big on this trade or I think they'll regret letting Garza go in a couple years.