Theo Epstein Shows Off His Bunting Skills

When Dale Sveum took the reigns of the Chicago Cubs prior to last season, he unveiled a fun little bunting contest to loosen up Spring Training.

And since Sveum is back for season two...so is the bunting contest!

On Saturday, for some reason, the front office staff took part in the contest in an effort to round out the field of 64 contestants.  64 you ask?  Yes, according to ESPN Chicago's Jesse Rogers the breakdown consists of 62 players (including last season's champion David DeJesus), a bullpen coach and the yet-to-be named 64th participant.

Alright, you know darn well this thing wouldn't get any mention whatsoever if it was full of random office employees.  Yeah, you guessed it...team president Theo Epstein took part in the contest, beating general manager Jed Hoyer in the first round.


But, alas, Epstein's success was short lived.  He lost to his 25-year-old wunderkind director of baseball operations Scott Harris who, in turn, lost to assistant video coordinator Nate Halm.


"Nate might get an invite to camp on a minor league contract," Epstein joked with the Chicago Tribune.  "That was impressive."

Feel free to click the picture below to see Epstein flaunt his bunting prowess.

Another Day...Another Hunting-Related Injury

Oh, baseball...another day, another report of a hunting-related injury.

Seriously?

Tuesday, Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum revealed that his former teammate, Hall of Famer Robin Yount accidentally shot him in the right ear during a quail hunting incident.

Wednesday, word leaked out that San Diego Padres pitcher Andrew Cashner was going to start the season on the shelf due to, get this, an injury sustained while "trimming a carcass".  As the story goes, a friend of the 26-year-old "slipped" and punctured a tendon on Cashner's throwing hand.

My hope is that one or both men were wearing the Friars god-awful camouflage uniforms.

Yikes.

Both incidents conjure up memories of the injury sustained by then-Colorado Rockies rookie Clint Barmes.  Remember when dud fell and broke his collar bone while lugging a package of deer meat?

Now, I don't know about you...but if I made the kind of money these guys do (and, yes, I realize Cashner and Barmes aren't among the highest priced out there), I'd be paying someone to pour my cereal.

The Chicago Cubs Have Found Their Man

Wednesday afternoon, the Boston Red Sox interviewed their one-time third base coach Dale Sveum for their vacant managerial opening.

He was rumored to be the leading candidate for the job.

Late Wednesday night, multiple sources, including Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman, tweeted that Sveum was offered the Chicago Cubs top spot.

Oh, the off season chicanery between the Red Sox and Cubs continues!

The National League Central is familar territory for the 47-year-old.  The former infielder served as the Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach this past season and has been with their organization since 2006. 

And if Heyman is right, this will be the first full-time managerial gig for Sveum who, in September 2008, assumed the reigns of the Milwaukee Brewers after Ned Yost was let go.

His .583 career winning percentage is better than all but two (Frank Chance and Al Spalding) of the 57 skippers (interim and otherwise) in Cubs history.

But, then again...Sveum only managed the Brewers for those 12 regular season games.

"(Dale's a) great guy who finally will get his chance," Sveum's former Brewers teammate Darryl Hamilton told The Hall. "After taking over for the Brewers (in 2008 and) going into the playoffs, I was surprise that this did not happen sooner."

Alright, a quick, random fun fact about Sveum courtesy of Wikipedia, dude played for five different managers who would, at some point, win a Manager of the Year Award...Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre, Lou Piniella, Jim Leyland and Gene Lamont.

So...how long until the "Fire Dale Sveum" group on Facebook gets re-activated?