Rizzo having an effect on Cubs even before he's called up
The Cubs made several lineup changes for Monday night's 12-3 victory over the White Sox, all seeming to point to first base prospect Anthony Rizzo coming up from the minor leagues, perhaps sooner rather than later.
With the game being played with the designated hitter, manager Dale Sveum had some flexibility to experiment.
So Sveum moved first baseman Bryan LaHair to right field and right fielder David DeJesus to center. Backup catcher Steve Clevenger started at first base.
Rizzo isn't here yet, but, apparently, the Cubs figured there was no time like the present to get a look at LaHair in the outfield.
"When you get to an American League lineup like this, you can do a few more things with the lineup," Sveum said. "Obviously, LaHair playing right field might eventually happen. We all know that there's a day when Rizzo's going to be here. So it's kind of getting him acclimated to the outfield, too."
The Cubs obtained Rizzo in January in a trade with the Padres. Both team president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer have ties to Rizzo. Epstein drafted him in Boston and traded him to Hoyer when Hoyer was the GM at San Diego.
Rizzo entered Monday with 23 homers at Class AAA (Des Moines) Iowa to go along with a hitting line of .364/.426/.745.
Last year, Hoyer called Rizzo up to the Padres during the season, but Rizzo struggled.
"I think you have to look what happened last year," Epstein said. "Great numbers and then was rushed a little bit. He came up and struggled. It's important that we always put players in position to succeed. You always put your major league club in position to succeed.
"You see with the lineup tonight that we might be taking a look at players in different positions to allow the team to be in a position to succeed when we do potentially make a move. Those things, you don't necessarily want to rush into them. It's more the development than numbers."
