Ian Happ is finally where he belongs

The Cubs did the expected and put Shōta Imanaga on the injured list with a strained left hamstring, and to replace him on the roster they called up Ginger Spice, Gerri Halliwell. It's a bold move, but I think it's probably overdue for the Cubs to try some "Girl Power!"

Wait, what's that? Gavin Hollowell? Fine. Whatever.

The Cubs won't have to make a decision on who will make Shōta's scheduled Saturday start until...well, Saturday, so there's plenty of time to trade for Sandy Alcantara, Sandy Koufax or former Sox pitcher Sandy Consuegra.

I'm being told Sandy Consuegra died in 2005. I'd still like his chances of going five innings better than Jordan Wicks'.

Yesterday, (it was free so if you didn't read it, that's on you--and I mistakenly disparaged Jerry Merryweather for two awful relief appearances when it was just one), I walked you throw why it's problematic to just do the tempting thing and bring up hot shot prospect Cade Horton to take Shōta's spot.

The problem is that while Horton has light's out stuff, that he's only pitched 199 innings since high school.

Seriously. Over the last four-plus seasons he's averaging fewer than 50 innings a year.

Now, that won't stop you from giving him a start or two while you wait for Shōta's hammy to unwind, but it's unrealistic to think Cade can come up to stay.

But, for entertainment's sake, we absolutely should want him to get the nod in New York against the Mets this weekend.

The Cubs said that the MRI results show that Shōta's hamstring injury is "mild." Not spicy, or medium, just mild. And it's cute when Cubs' fans take comfort in the always optimistic and normally completely wrong initial Cubs' diagnoses of every injury.

Remember when Kyle Schwarber shredded two ligaments in his knee and the first report was that he had a sprained ankle?

My favorite Cub, Ian Happ, has done a very nice job this year in the leadoff spot. he's sporting a .373 on base average, which is the most important aspect of that job. My biggest frustration with him was mostly the fault of his ex-boyfriend, David Ross and how Ross used him. In 2023, Ross insisted on batting Happ third, even though he did fuck-all while batting there. The biggest problem was that Happ was striking out an inordinate amount (124 in 469 at bats) and not hitting for any power (.414 slugging.) What Happ was doing was getting on base at .358.

And, the Cubs had nobody to actually lead off. Nico Hoerner did it 74 times and had just a .325 on base. Christopher Morel did it 14 times (why?) with a .314 on base. The guy who did it best was Mike Tauchman who led off 63 times and that's a glaring red flag. His on base was .357. But here's where it really got stupid, even for Ross.