Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald reported that after Ian Stewart returned to Iowa, he has spent his time on the bench. Miles infers that the Cubs front office is not happy with Stewart or his attitude:
The Cubs' handling of the Ian Stewart situation was the first real
indication of how this organization will deal with a player it's unhappy
with.
Stewart did not start again Thursday for Class AAA Iowa, one
day after the Cubs took him off the 40-man roster by outrighting him
after he cleared waivers.
General manager Jed Hoyer expressed his disappointment
earlier this week that Stewart took the full 72 hours allowed to report
to Iowa after the Cubs optioned him there. What seemed to rankle the
Cubs was Stewart already was with Iowa on a rehab assignment, and he
needed at-bats.
In addition to taking Stewart off the 40-man, they're giving
playing time at third to Josh Vitters. So Epstein and Hoyer essentially
have told Stewart that if he wants to collect his $2 million, he can do
it as a Triple-A player on the bench.
At the time, I never thought the Cubs trade for Stewart was a good one. It was a knee jerk reaction by the new bosses to fill a huge line up gap when Aramis Ramirez left the team. The Cubs have up two major league ready prospects, Tyler Colvin and D.J. LeMahieu for Stewart, whose last good season was in 2009. Stewart continued with more injuries, only playing 55 games for the Cubs in 2012. Colvin and LeMahieu contributed to the Rockies last season.
Despite getting no production from Stewart, the Cubs doubled down on their bet and re-signed Stewart to a $2 million contract. Stewart immediately got hurt in spring training. But instead of cutting him before opening day (and saving $1.5 million), the Cubs put him on the disabled list, guaranteeing his full salary. (Note: Esptein said that the baseball team had "maxed" out its budget by the beginning of the year. The one move cost the Cubs a serviceable FA bench player.) Then Stewart went to his rehab assignment and was horrible, batting a weak .096, and playing poor defense.
Colvin is a much better player than Stewart. He could play all three outfield positions and first base (a position that still has no real back up for Rizzo). Even though he got off to a poor spring, Colvin is batting .290 with 4 HRs, 15 RBI, 2 SB at AAA. In addition, LeMahieu is batting .376, 1 HR, 17 RBI, 5 SB in AAA.
It is clear that both Colvin and LeMahieu make it back to the
majors with Colorado before Stewart is recalled to any major league team. It is doubtful that Stewart will return to the Cubs lineup since Valbuena and Ransom seem to have locked down third base for Sveum. The whole Stewart saga continues to raise the question on how well is the new front office in spending payroll dollars.
