Reliever Randy Myers said Thursday night he figures he has less than 72 hours left as the Cubs’ player representative and bullpen closer.
“I expect to be traded before Sunday night,” said Myers. “The Cubs have a history of getting rid of their player reps. Anytime there’s a player rep on this club, they like to get rid of him.”
Some recent player reps have been Bob Scanlan, Joe Girardi, Steve Wilson and Scott Sanderson. Girardi was the only one of those four who wasn’t traded. He was let go in the expansion draft.
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Myers has been a subject of trade rumors for months, but that has little or nothing to do with his union status. He happens to be one of the most effective left-handed closers in all of baseball.
Still, Myers thinks his union activities are part of the reason the Cubs would like to deal him. Sunday is the deadline for trading players without having to clear waivers.
Plan B: Myers said the team has already taken steps to handle its union matters if he is traded. “We’ve got two or three guys who will step in and handle specific areas,” said Myers. “We don’t want to name one specific guy as the alternate right now because of what I said-the way this team tends to deal with player reps.”
Frank or Turk? Pitcher Anthony Young threw for 10 minutes on the side Thursday afternoon and experienced pain in his elbow again. He has been scratched from his next scheduled start on Sunday and probably will go on the disabled list.
The Cubs will have to call up a starter from the minors to replace him. The leading candidates are right-handers Frank Castillo and Turk Wendell and lefty Blaise Ilsley. Wendell has been dazzling lately, winning his last five decisions and throwing three complete games in his last five starts. And he last pitched for Triple-A Iowa on Monday, so he would be available to start Sunday.
Castillo has pitched well lately, too. He is 4-2 at Iowa but started and went eight innings Wednesday night, which means he would have to pitch on just three days’ rest if he were called up to take Young’s spot Sunday.