Alberto Gonzalez

Alberto Gonzalez signed with the Cubs as a free agent this past off season. What seems like an eternity ago, the Cubs began the season with Gonzalez as one of their rotating second basemen. Why, you might ask? Didn't Darwin Barney win a Gold Glove last year at that position?

Yep. But in a meaningless, final Spring Training game, Barney was chasing a foul ball and ran into the stands/fence/wall, putting a gash in his leg that required 5 stitches. And sent him to the 15-day DL.

Gonzalez played in 11 of the first 13 games of the season, splitting the time between starting and coming in off the bench. Unofrtunately for Gonzalez, once Barney came back from the DL, he was waived and ultimately sent to Triple-A Iowa.

Just a few weeks later, the Yankees came a calling and a deal was worked out for a player to be named later and some cash money. I looked (quickly) but still don't see what the Cubs ended up getting, if anything yet.

The ATCRCS card above and the 2013 Team set card below were signed by Gonzalez with a little help from an SCN member when the Yankees visited his local team back in July. He helped me knock out a couple of former Cubs on the Mets and Yankees so I'll have a few more to show off in the coming days/weeks.

This guy gets really pumped for his double plays! Ah, the optimism of playing for the Cubs in April...

5 More for 2013

I knocked out the creation of 5 more custom cards for the 2013 team set. Four of the five are not currently with the big league club.

Wrigley Wax did a nice writeup on Alex Burnett's short stint the other day. He was designated for assignment but cleared waivers so he is currently with the Cubs Triple-A affiliate in Iowa.

Steve Clevenger, normally a catcher, started the season in the rotation at third with Luis Valbuena but got hurt early on. He is rehabbing with Iowa right now.

Brent Lillibridge was designated for assignment once Darwin Barney was activated from the disabled list. He also cleared waivers and is in Iowa.

Shortly thereafter, Alberto Gonzalez was also DFA'd. With the return on Barney and the pickup of outfielder Julio Borbon, the Cubs needed more room. He cleared waivers, was sent to Iowa and then traded to the New York Yankees for a player to named later or cash a couple of weeks later.

Ryan Sweeney is the only player in the group currently on the roster. He started the season in Iowa and swapped places with outfielder Dave Sappelt who got off to a poor start in Chicago.

This brings me to 31/36 of the 2013 Cubs roster done with more on the way. You can see the rest here.