A couple of random notes before the hustle and bustle of the next two weeks hit (Rule 4 Draft is Monday-Wednesday, Hawks Roster finalized in a week, season opens June 18)…

Big news was out of Chicago on May 31, as the first former Hawk from the 2008 season was promoted to the Big Leagues.  Andrew Cashner was called up from AAA Iowa after a stellar start to the 2010 season to fill the void of the struggling John Grabow in the bullpen.  In three appearances with the big club (one in Pittsburgh and two in Houston), Cashner has thrown 3.2 scoreless innings of relief.  Also back in the big leagues is Robb Quinlan with the Angels, called up after Kendry Morales broke his leg in a celebration following a walk-off homer against the Mariners.

Other news – Extended Spring Training has come to a close, with the Cubs going 19-27-8 in 54 games against fellow Cactus League opponents.  We will have an recap of the final “unofficial” stats from Extended in the coming days.

Also from EST, my guess is that upwards of 20 players will be heading to Boise to help comprise the 2010 Hawks – depending on how quickly the Cubs sign their Rule 4 draft picks in the next week.  I will have a full roster of the 50 or so players still in Mesa in the next couple days as well.

Things to think about – the radio broadcast for 2010 is starting to take shape, with a couple new ideas.  Hawk Talk (pregame show title for two years) has been renamed HawksTown Tonight (conceived from the new branding initiative), and the postgame show has been tabbed the Coors Extra Innings Report.  Also, our first interviews for our Wednesday GoCubsGo segment have been recorded – as have interviews with our major league correspondents.