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The Rundown Lite: Cubs Prepping for Draft, Caissie Crushing, Let’s Get Some Runs, Effross Back in Bigs

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The calendar says it’s Wednesday, but I can’t tell whether it feels more like Tuesday or Thursday. Maybe you’re far less weird than me — which is a low bar to clear — about how each day of the week is supposed to vibe, and the long holiday weekend followed by Monday’s concert messed up the rotation. The good news is that we’ve got another concert tonight, followed by another baseball tournament this weekend.

We also have a series of big milestones coming up over the remainder of the month. My son gets his driver’s license next week; my wife’s student loans will finally be paid off the following week; then we will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary on July 30. Incidentally, that’s the first day of school around here because we’re on a balanced calendar. That means we’ve only got three weeks of summer left.

It’s pretty wild how the baseball season runs pretty much year-round, which no one will ever convince me isn’t a huge factor in the injury rate among baseball players. We often view injuries as acute, and for obvious reason, but I firmly believe overuse at younger ages creates underlying chronic issues that may not manifest until later. Some do pop up early as well, hence the increase in elbow reconstruction among teenagers.

During our drive home from Chicago, my son and I laid out the importance of taking time off from throwing and making sure the high school coaches understood the reasoning. After several inches of growth and a jump of about 7-8 mph in velocity last year, workload management is more important than ever. The goal is to have him in the mid-80s by next season, which is pretty strong even if it doesn’t quite compare to what Striker Pence is doing.

Yes, he’s related to Hunter (nephew). The kid turned 16 a few months ago and he’s already 6-foot-6 with a high-90s heater heading into his sophomore year of high school. In two years, he’ll either be cashing big NIL checks or collecting a huge signing bonus from an MLB team with a very high draft pick.


Draft starts Sunday

That team won’t be the Cubs, provided things go well in the interim. Not that getting a top pick matters as much when you’ve got Dan Kantrovitz running the show as VP of scouting. While we can probably nitpick a few things from a development standpoint, particularly when it comes to pitching — which I think is improving — Kantrovitz and company appear to be knocking it out of the park year after year with their selections.

“Our goal is to draft good players,” Kantrovitz told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. “Some are going to be playing for other teams. To the extent that we can help [the front office] with their construction of a championship-caliber club, we’re all in.”

For context, this conversation took place not long after the Cubs played the Astros in Houston. One game saw the Cubs’ last three first-round picks all on the field at the same time: Cade Horton (2022) facing Cam Smith (2024) with Matt Shaw (2023) playing third base. Smith’s homers in the series led to a lot of conversation about the Cubs possibly giving up too much for Kyle Tucker (they didn’t) or parting with the wrong third baseman (time will tell), but I’m focused more on the process than the results right now.


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Kantrovitz isn’t responsible for how the rest of the organization develops and deploys the players he drafts, and there’s a point at which you have to trade prospects to make the MLB team better. With the draft starting on Sunday, the Cubs will be adding another wave of talent to the system. They have picks 17, 56, and 90 on the first day, and their ~$9.6 million pool is enough to get a little splashy as needed.

If Jed Hoyer is as aggressive as many believe he needs to be at the deadline, the Cubs are going to need some impact prospects from this new crop.

Caissie on a heater

Owen Caissie got off to a bit of a slow start this spring due to offseason core muscle surgery, but he’s sure making up for lost time. After being International League Player of the Week for slashing .476/.560/1.143 with two doubles, four home runs, six RBI, and four walks over five games, the big Canadian ginger went 2-for-5 with a pair of solo homers to get him to 18 on the season.

Coincidentally, that game took place against the St. Paul Saints in their hometown, meaning both the Chicago and Iowa versions of the Cubs are playing in the Twin Cities. Thursday is getaway day for the big club, so you can watch both teams if you’re in the area. Back to Caissie, whose performance has some clamoring for a promotion.

Part of that is continued foolishness related to Ian Happ‘s fitness, or lack thereof, to be an everyday player. I’ll not offer further comment on that other than to say a lot of people grossly underestimate Happ while also assuming Caissie is a sure thing. As for a promotion, it makes no sense to bring Caissie to the bigs only to have him get the same at-bats that would otherwise go to a fifth outfielder.

I’d even go so far as to say a trade is more likely than a promotion, at least if we focus our attention on the next three weeks. There may be a little wrinkle in that notion, as Kevin Alcantara left last night’s game with a leg issue that has been dogging him for a few weeks. That might actually make Caissie more likely to be traded, but we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

The Cubs can and should be looking to add in a big way ahead of the deadline, it’s just a matter of how much they’re willing to part with to move from likely division winners to World Series contenders.

Effross back with Yankees

Longtime CI readers may remember our interviews with Effross going back to his days as a prospect pitching at Myrtle Beach. We were also the first to bring you details of his move to a sidearm delivery, a change that resulted in him shooting through the system and reaching the bigs as a valued reliever. He even made an appearance on The Rant podcast a few years back.

Tying it back to a previous topic, Effross was traded to the Yankees in 2022 for Hayden Wesneski. Both pitchers ended up having elbow reconstruction, with Effross’s coming late in the ’22 season. He was actually in line to close playoff games for the Yanks before the injury, which followed a shoulder issue and preceded a back fracture. Effross then suffered a left hamstring strain late in spring training.

He missed all of 2023 and only pitched 3.1 innings last season, but now he’s back up with the Yankees and has pitched three times in the last five days. With five strikeouts and just one walk over four innings, he appears to be doing quite well. Despite the uniform, he remains a very easy guy to root for.

Harry Caray’s tagline

There was a bit of an online kerfuffle yesterday when Joe Johnson of Obvious Shirts starting freaking out a little bit about Caray’s infamous post-stretch taglines. The most famous of those was, “Let’s get some runs!” which is what I say every time I sing it. That’s probably a function of growing up in the 80s and 90s, when the Cubs were often behind.

As many people noted in the comments, that phrase was typically reserved for when the Cubs were tied or losing. When they were ahead, he’d switch it up to something like “Let’s keep it going!” Crawly confirmed as much with longtime organist Gary Pressy. My brain is smooth like an egg, so it only retains so much from 30 years ago, and I just stick with the “runs” one because that feels right to me.

Trailer time

I gotta run, but here’s a double feature with both Predator and Alien. Enjoy!


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