Only 10 of the 25 players on the Cubs opening day roster have been with the team from the start and the trade of Matt Garza gives management time to sell off Alfonso Soriano and some of the smaller pieces. "The Garza trade process was pretty all-consuming for a lot of us including me" President Theo Epstein said before Tuesday night's loss to the Diamondbacks. "Now we can focus on some other things that we thought would happen closer to the deadline." Aside from Soriano the other pieces who could be gone are Kevin Gregg Dioner Navarro David DeJesus and James Russell. "There are names left here that are still of interest in a lot of discussions" Epstein said. "We're obviously in that position where if we can improve the future of the organization by continuing to build a strong farm system and it comes at the expense of a win or two the rest of the season unfortunately that's the position we're in. It makes sense to contemplate those moves. I'm not pleased we're in this position but I am really pleased with the talent we've been able to bring into this organization in the month of July." Lake effect: Junior Lake has been with the Cubs for only five days but his energy level already has had an effect. Lake went 3-for-5 Tuesday night to lift his batting average to .545 and he hit the second home run of his career in the ninth inning. But the Cubs fell 10-4 to the Diamondbacks before a crowd of 21278 at Chase Field. Manager Dale Sveum is hoping Lake can be the Cubs' version of Dodgers star Yasiel Puig. "It's still a small sample (size)" he said. "Puig did it for a month but there's no question in my mind for four days anyway he has sparked a couple of wins. (Monday) night he took over the game and basically won the game himself. … Those are the kind of players you have to have." - See more at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...-cubs-dbacks-chicago-20130724,0,7927314.story
