Too Smart by Half, #1

 With both Chicago papers giving the managerial edge to Terry Francona of the Indians, I figured Joe Maddon would be chomping at the bit to prove them wrong.  I didn’t figure on the Cubs’ front office beating him to it.

The Cubs announced today they were adding Kyle Schwarber to the playoff roster.  Schwarber hasn’t played since April 7, when he tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee while proving he can’t play the outfield.  But the team deemed him fit to go after a weekend of hitting in the Arizona Fall League.  Apparently, Theo Epstein considers himself to be every bit the genius his manager is.  I mean, who hired whom here?

As a lowly I-don’t-wish-them-well White Sox fan, I can only guess at the thought processes of the enlightened.  I imagine the Cubs want another left-handed bat against a predominantly right-handed pitching staff.  The thinking is Schwarber will DH in Cleveland and pinch hit in Chicago.  An Ohio native, Schwarber made his big-league debut in Cleveland last year in an interleague series, going 6 for 9 with a homerun, a triple and 4 rbi’s.  Those must be the stats the smart guys are looking at.

For me it would be the 24 rbi’s Matt Szcur managed in 185 at-bats during the regular season.  Szczur can play all three outfield positions and has good speed.  But being a rightie who hit .259 didn’t carry much weight with the Theo braintrust.  One thing, though.  Do they really think Schwarber will get to pinch hit against a right hander?  Last time I checked, Andrew Miller was a leftie, and a lights-out one at that.  So, we’ll see.