Bryan LaHair named Cubs’ cleanup hitter after BSOHL claim

By Matthew PouliotFeb 23, 2012, 7:34 PM EST
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A fitting reward, is it not?

Cubs manager Dale Sveum said today that while he’s still figuring out the rest of his lineup, he’s currently planning to use David DeJesus as a leadoff man and Bryan LaHair in the cleanup spot.

It’s quite a show of faith in LaHair, a 29-year-old who has hit .262/.335/.395 with five homers and 16 RBI in 195 major league at-bats.

Alfonso Soriano was the other candidate to bat fourth for the Cubs. He’ll probably follow LaHair in a lineup that could look like:

RF David DeJesus – L
SS Starlin Castro – R
CF Marlon Byrd – R
1B Bryan LaHair – L
LF Alfonso Soriano – R
C Geovany Soto – R
3B Ian Stewart – L
2B Darwin Barney – R

Alternatively, the Cubs could move Barney up to the two hole and go with Castro third and Byrd fifth. Barney, though, was pretty brutal offensively after a nice April last season. It’s better if he hits eighth.

Brewers have 3 positive COVID tests at alternate site

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Associated PressSep 19, 2020, 9:56 PM EDT
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MILWAUKEE — The Brewers had two players and a staff member test positive for the coronavirus at their alternate training site in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Milwaukee president of baseball operations David Stearns confirmed the positive results Saturday and said they shouldn’t impact the major league team. Teams are using alternate training sites this season to keep reserve players sharp because the minor league season was canceled due to the pandemic.

Stearns said the positive tests came Monday and did not name the two players or the staff member. Players must give their permission for their names to be revealed after positive tests.

The entire camp was placed in quarantine.

“We have gone through contact tracing,” Stearns said. “We do not believe it will have any impact at all on our major league team. We’ve been fortunate to get through this season relatively unscathed in this area. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get all the way there at our alternate site.”

Milwaukee entered Saturday one game behind the Reds and Cardinals for second place in the NL Central, with the top two teams qualifying for the postseason.

The Brewers still will be able to take taxi squad players with them on the team’s trip to Cincinnati and St. Louis in the final week of the season. He said those players have had repeated negative tests and the team is “confident” there would be no possible spread of the virus.

“Because of the nature of who these individuals were, it’s really not going to affect the quarantine group at all,” Stearns said. “We’re very fortunate that the group of players who could potentially be on a postseason roster for us aren’t interacting all that much with the individuals that tested positive.”