The Cubs might have finally had enough and moved on from Ian Stewart. According to a report from Patrick Mooney, the Cubs have lost patience with Stewart and “it’s hard to picture how he ever gets back into the team’s plans again.”
This comes in the wake of Wednesday’s announcement that Ian Stewart had cleared waivers and was outrighted off the 40-man roster to Triple-A Iowa. Stewart has yet to play with the I-Cubs after being optioned down to the minors last Friday. The way Stewart handled his demotion, choosing to leave the team he was rehabbing with because he could, has apparently rubbed the front office the wrong way. And his latest move comes after he decided last year to go “off the grid,” as Comcast SportsNet reported it, and rehab on his own.
According to reports from Patrick Mooney and Gordon Wittenmyer, Stewart’s decision to take the 72 hours before reporting to the team he was rehabbing with after being optioned down, surprised and ticked off the front office.
The Cubs are still on the hook for the entire $2 million contract they signed him to less than a week after he was non-tendered as long as he remains in the organization, or the Cubs release him.
While the three players they have given up for Stewart may or may not end up being productive big league ballplayers, the system as a whole would be just a little deeper if Tyler Colvin, D.J. LeMahieu and Jeff Beliveau were still with the organization.
The Cubs felt and gambled on Stewart being a change of scenery guy and that he would be able to get his baseball career back on track with the Cubs. To this point, the front office has swung at and missed with Stewart twice … and it does not appear there will be a third time.