One of the strange things about minor league baseball moving to a six game weekly schedule against one opponent is that everybody above rookie ball has Mondays off. It’s the perfect day for me to take a day off and not do anything. It’s also the perfect day for players moving from one affiliate to another to actually get on a plane and arrive at their new affiliate so that they will not be rushed and they can settle in quickly.

Heading into today, transaction rumblings began on Sunday afternoon that Nelson Velasquez was going to be heading up to Chicago to make his MLB debut. Later that night, it was leaked that Matt Swarmer would be joining him and that Swarmer would start game one with the Brewers.

In addition, there were a couple of minor league moves made Sunday as LHRP Bryan King was promoted from Myrtle Beach to Tennessee and that RHRP Eury Ramos would be moved from Tennessee to Iowa. Neither of those moves were totally unexpected as King had already pitched at South Bend and Tennessee in 2021 and was on the IL all of April. Ramos had been dominant out of the pen at Tennessee throwing in the upper 90s with an ERA under 1.

Yesterday, we finally got to see Pete Crow-Armstrong get the call to South Bend. Imagine that outfield of Caissie, Crow-Armstrong, and Pinango, all 19 and 20-years-old. I am sure one current SB outfielder will be heading to Tennessee. In fact, he is already there from what I hear.

Here’s an interesting list of guys who SHOULD be promoted. We can cross Crow-Armstrong off the list and probably 3-4 more from what I am hearing. If Drew Smyly is put on the IL later today, we could have quite the day.

With the big league club having several players finishing their rehab, that should open up some space in Iowa along with the promotion of Velazquez. David Bote could probably join the Cubs today or tomorrow and Nick Madrigal is not that far away. In addition, Graham Lawson of Tennessee left Sunday’s game with an injury, possibly to his groin.

We could see a flurry of moves occur this morning and then it would slow to a trickle throughout the day. Tennessee and South Bend usually post their moves on the transaction wire fairly early in the morning while Iowa and Myrtle Beach usually announce by email in the early afternoon.

We are all excited at North Side Bound to see who moves today.

I will check back around 8:30-9 this morning. You know the drill.

9:00 AM

The outfield escalator should start any minute.

This has not been a well kept secret for a couple of prospects. Word began leaking Sunday evening behind the scenes that two OFs were headed to new environs. What is holding up the announcements of player movement today is the uncertainty of some pitching injuries at both the major league and minor league levels. As mentioned above, what is happening with Drew Smyly and Graham Lawson could have a cascade effect across the upper minors.

In the meantime, I can give you this cookie before the official transactions do drop – both of the outfielders that are moving up a level with PCA also bat left-handed and both played in South Bend at one point in 2019. You can probably guess it from there. I will announce who they “officially” are once MiLB or one of the affiliates does.

I will check back in at either 10 or 11.

10:00 AM

OK. I am now officially ready to report some transactions after my latest walk. I thought I would take one to kick start the movement. Small problem – The affiliates are not reporting anything yet. It better happen soon as I am on the committee at school that is going to be interviewing 3 science teachers for a position at our school. We start in two hours. Knowing my luck, news will break when I get in the tub in about a half an hour, or when I drive to school, or when the first interview starts (which is virtual).

10:20 AM

South Bend Cubs activated RHP Zach Leigh from the 7-day injured list as predicted!!!!

South Bend Cubs transferred C Caleb Knight to the Development List.

11:00 AM

Getting ready to head to school in about 15 minutes. I will let you know if something happened when I get there and then again after the first interview. My fingers are crossed we get a flood of them between 1-2.

11:43 AM

I am driving to a meeting Myrtle Beach just announced that they shipped out Pete Crow-Armstrong to South Bend and that Frank Hernandez from Spain will be joining the club. That’s going to be very exciting to see what Hernandez brings!

1:15 PM

No new emails or tweets in the past hour. I just finished a walk in hopes that something would happen. I will be doing 2 more interviews today from 2-4. So, knowing my luck, that is when South Bend, Iowa, and Tennessee will “officially” break their news about all the moves they made today.

1:16 PM

Well what do you know! When Knight was placed on the DL, I thought there was a chance that Opitz would get the call. I cannot wait to see him work with these pitchers at South Bend!

2:18 PM

Just waiting on Iowa and Tennessee.

4:40 PM

Just got home and one of the worst kept secrets is now out that Darius Hill gets the well deserved bump to Iowa!!!

There will be other moves this week once some injury concerns are dealt with.