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The Rundown Lite: D-backs Don’t Want to Sell, PCA & Javy in CF, Davis Injured Again

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Back in the day when I lived on a farm, we used to have big gatherings for the Fourth of July and then later in the fall to do a hayride through the country. During one of those summer affairs, my dad accidentally set fire to the ditch bank with some fireworks. Or at least that’s how I remember it more than 40 years later. Funny how our memories are really just echoes of echoes that eventually bear only a passing resemblance to long-lost reality.

What I know for sure is that our cul-de-sac neighbors spend a ton of money on fireworks each year, hosting a display that rivals those in most small towns. The event will last for well over an hour, after which the neighborhood will be littered with cardboard shell remnants. As dry as it’s been, I can only hope they don’t set my house on fire.

Provided we don’t have to file a massive insurance claim, my plan is to relax with Stephen King’s new book, “Never Flinch,” while watching season four of The Bear. I suppose I’ll indulge in a little Cubs baseball as well. Perhaps they’ll provide some excitement, whether it’s beating the Cardinals or getting busy on the trade scene. But for as much as Jed Hoyer would like to get that moving, it’s feeling like his potential partners would prefer to drag things out.

Snakes prefer to be buyers

The Diamondbacks have been one of the most popular partners for the Cubs in potential trade scenarios, but they remain within striking distance of the playoffs. Even though they are at .500 and 11.5 behind the Dodgers, making the World Series a couple years ago as a Wild Card team has given GM Mike Hazen a little more patience. He shared his thoughts about the upcoming deadline with The Show podcast recently.

“I want this team to put us in a position to buy,” Hazen said. “I want this team to put us in a position to be right beneath where we need to be. We don’t have to be all the way back in or ahead; we just need to be within a distance that we feel like we’re being responsible in adding to this team.”


A lot can change between now and the end of the month, and I’d suspect Hazen wants to set a course well ahead of July 31.

All-Star Game connection in CF

As if it wasn’t cool enough to see Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker named starters for the NL in the upcoming All-Star Game, Javy Baez will be in the outfield for the AL. Former Cubs prospect and current Tiger Gleyber Torres is in the lineup as well. It’s just wild that two guys who were traded for each other are starting in center for their respective leagues, especially considering that one of them was an MVP candidate at shortstop with the Cubs.

Javy’s journey has been a rocky over the last few years, to the point that there was serious talk about the Tigers possibly dumping him. Each number in his slash line was at least 100 points lower last year than it is right now, and his 43 wRC+ was a career low. Though he’s not quite back to his performance from 2018-19 with the Cubs, it’s great to see El Mago playing with joy again.


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LOL, Mets.

Davis remains snakebit

Once the Cubs’ top prospect, outfielder Brennen Davis suffered a series of injuries that kept him off the field and eventually led to his departure from the organization. His talent simply wasn’t enough to make up for his inability to stay healthy. Davis signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in the offseason and was tearing it across three levels with an 1.198 OPS and 12 homers in just 97 at-bats.

After ramping up at rookie ball, Davis spent a little time at Double-A before torching Triple-A pitching. Over 52 ABs at the highest level of the system, he was slashing .346/.407/.808 with seven homers and 15 RBI. Then he was placed on the IL after appearing to have injured his right foot on a catch at the wall.

Maybe this will just be an inconsequential injury and he can get back on the field quickly.

Trailer Time

I’ll leave you with a trailer for The Long Walk, a long-awaited adaptation of the Stephen King/Richard Bachman novel. Originally published in 1979, it was actually written in the mid-to-late 60s as a young King’s response to the way his friends and other young men were being conscripted to fight in Vietnam. Between this and The Running Man, it was pretty prescient of King to have been several decades ahead of the reality competition game show craze.


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