Hoyer knows Rizzo cant be the savior for Cubs

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Across the Twitter universe, the Anthony Rizzo to Wrigley Field rumors caught fire on Sunday night.

But that was just someone being overanxious and connecting the wrong dots on the official Iowa Cubs account. Rizzo left that Triple-A game with a sore right wrist after a swing and miss. He wasnt catching a flight to Chicago.

The initial X-rays in Memphis were negative, and the Cubs were still gathering information on Monday, describing the injury as nothing serious.

During their 12-game losing streak, the Cubs had been shut out twice, and only two times scored more than four runs. But at the moment, theyre not looking at Rizzo to generate a spark.

No young player should ever be viewed as the savior or the changer of a major-league offense, general manager Jed Hoyer said. We have a lot of veterans on this team and were going to get through this and get on the right track because of those veteran guys, not because of young guys coming up from the minor leagues.

Whether thats Rizzo, whether thats other guys, we cant count on those guys as saviors. Theyre big parts of our future, but thats not their role for us in 2012.

Hoyer will be guided by experience. Last June, the Padres needed a jumpstart. They werent getting enough offense out of Brad Hawpe, so Hoyer promoted Rizzo, then 21, from Triple-A Tucson.

In 52 games there, Rizzo had hit .365 with 16 homers and 63 RBI. It didnt translate to San Diego, where he hit .141 with 46 strikeouts in 128 at-bats.

Rizzo has described that video as sickening to watch. Hes fixed his swing to the point where hes hitting .354 with 17 homers and 46 RBI in his first 48 games at Iowa.

Ive certainly taken the blame for bringing him up last yearin almost an identical situation I might addwhen youre struggling to score runs, Hoyer said. We brought him up because we werent getting any production at first base. (And) as things sped up on (Rizzo), he had some mechanical flaws.

Hes worked hard to close those holes. It doesnt mean hes not going to have his struggles at times when he gets up here, like every young player. But I think weve liked what weve seen, his willingness to make adjustments and the way hes gone about his business in Triple-A.

Looking to add some power to his lineup, manager Dale Sveum said the front office could consider calling up Rizzo for road interleague series against the Twins (June 8-10) and White Sox (June 18-20), when the Cubs will need a designated hitter.

Everythings on the table this time of year, Hoyer said, but right now we got to get to the bottom of the reason he came out of the game (on Sunday). Were not going to bring him up until we feel like its his time to come up here and make those adjustments.

Were not bringing him up here as a changer of our fortunes. Thats not fair to him.

Team president Theo Epstein has implicitly downplayed the idea of major-league service time being at the center of this decision.

But the Cubs have obviously calculated that waiting until late June to promote Rizzo would preserve a year of club control and delay his free agency.

Were not going to rush him, Epstein said. Were going to wait until the time is right, his development being the primary factor.

So back to our regularly scheduled Rizzo Watch. Just dont believe every tweet you read.

I got to concern myself with Cubs standards, Epstein said. Its hard to also worry about journalistic standards sometimes, or whatever the heck happened down there. I guess it was our fault, or our affiliates fault. It happens. I understand it. Its part of the modern world.

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