Welp, this was about as quick a turnaround as you will see for transactions. It was, after all, just Friday when a few moves went down. And then came Saturday when many more moves took place. Here’s a look at the weekend’s long list.

*The Iowa Cubs sent LHP Brailyn Marquez on a rehab assignment to the South Bend Cubs.
*The Tennessee Smokies sent LHP Stephen Gonsalves on a rehab assignment to the South Bend Cubs.
*Alexander Canario is back with the Iowa Cubs
*Jake Washer headed to the development list and then came off it two days later.
*Riley Thompson came off the Development List.
*Dom Nunez went on the 7-Day IL.
*PJ Higgins was assigned to Iowa after being acquired from the Diamondbacks for cash.
*Rowan Wick was released.
*Bradlee Beesley is back in Tennessee. 
*Christian Franklin is in South Bend. 
*Yovanny Cruz is now on a rehab stint in the ACL. 
*PCA and BJ Murray were activated by the Smokies after attending the Futures Game.
*Liam Spence moved from Tennessee to South Bend.
*RHP Johzan Oquendo was suspended and then activated.
*OF Cristian More was called up to Myrtle Beach from the ACL.
*Oferman Hernandez switched from the Red to the Blue team.

Draft Signings Muddying the Waters

This weekend, the Cubs announced they had signed 7 of their 20 draft picks. In addition, the Cubs are said to have also signed two undrafted free agents. All those players will need a place to play and all will go through orientation for a week before some time in the Arizona Complex League, unless the Cubs think that individual is ready to play at a full season squad right away. Where they go should be very interesting but we are probably a week away from a full on wave of assignments of draft picks.

There are only a couple of big days of transactions left

One is when all the draft picks get in and they’ve done their orientation and some of the college guys get into an Arizona Complex League Game. Those guys will then be shipped off to Myrtle Beach or South Bend.

The other big day is when the Arizona Complex League ends on August 22. Considering the Cubs are in last place in that league, they don’t need to be worried about playoffs. Some of those guys will go to Myrtle Beach to get a head start for next season. And that usually works out fairly well for those guys. It makes the a0djustment in the spring much easier, Plus, this year, they will get a taste of the playoffs.

Here are some moves I would like to see today

1. PCA – The Cubs don’t need to be wasting his time down in Double-A when they can clearly get him to Iowa and get him a couple hundred plate appearances this year at that level.

2. Horton – If he doesn’t go today, he’s definitely going on August 1 when the draft picks are all in. There’s no need for him to the wasting bullets at South Bend when he could use those bullets more wisely at Tennessee.

3. Parker Chavers – I’ve been plugging for him for two months and I’m ready to send him to South Bend.

4. Yohendrick Pinango – We are starting to see a lot of maturity in him this year in terms of just how he carries himself in practice and his improvement this year after a rough first six weeks of the season. It’s good to see him hitting for average and for some power, but mainly hitting, walking, and making productive outs as well as cutting down his strikeouts.

5. Grant Kipp, Nick Hull, Brandon Birdsell – They are all ready to move up a level.

Bonus – Realistically, you could move three relievers from each affiliate up a level in the system would be fine. There’s been a bit of a log jam this year, and the time has come to unclog it.

Bonus Bonus – It’s a longshot, but I would love to see Ramon Eriandys of the DSL Blue squad make it stateside. He is just an OBP machine down there and a recent signee from Cuba. He is at .491 with a wRC+ of 159. Wow!

Maybe today will be the day.

I will be back around 9:30 or 10 with an update and then throughout the day as I’ve got nothing planned but working on school stuff.

9:00 AM

Not much going on right now. I am listening to the latest Cubs on Deck episode. I will be going for a walk here soon and then I am working on my deck this morning. We will see how that goes in spurring some moves. Hopefully, the DSL gets some action in today as the rain has been messing with their weekend. So, until later this morning…I will check back in around 10.

11:30 AM

Still nothing. Not surprising. I am going back outside to continue working on my deck. The lunch time emails from Iowa and Myrtle Beach should be rolling in soon.

12:35 PM

Myrtle Beach email came in. Nothing happening there.

1:15 PM

Still waiting on the Iowa email. Due to a snafu a few weeks ago, most transactions are not being released until 4 central now. That is when I expect to see a few moves. Iowa, because of its relationship to Chicago in the system operates a little sooner. Still, we wait.

3:15 PM

The witching hour is coming. Looks like the transactions will happen at four as there will be a few moves and could even include a few cuts. Sadly, that is a part of this business. It is part of what goes down at this time of year. Per MLB roster rules, the Cubs can only have 180 stateside prospects. Draft picks signing makes that difficult.

4:30 PM

This waiting is just excruciating!

4:40 PM

Welp, Mervis is staying put.

4:52 PM

C Jake Washer (to development list) for Iowa, This was expected the Cubs picked up PJ Higgins from Arizona.

5:25 PM

Tennessee Smokies activated OF Bradlee Beesley from the 7-day injured list.

Liam Spence was “officially” assigned to South Bend from Tennessee, even though he was in Davenport last weekend.

I wish there was more to report, but for now this will have to do.

5:35 PM

Apparently, it is not the end